Tell Me Something Tuesday is a weekly meme created by Heidi at Rainy Day Ramblings in order to discuss a wide range of topics from books to blogging (and some slightly more personal matters throw in for good measure). After Heidi stopped blogging (apparently for good), five of us took over as hosts while providing new questions. The current team is composed of Berls at Because Reading Is Better Than Real Life, Jen at That's What I'm Talking About, Karen at For What It's Worth, Linda at Book Girl of Mur-y-Castell and Roberta at Offbeat YA. This week's question is...
HOW DO YOU MEASURE BLOGGING SUCCESS? FOLLOWERS, PAGE VIEWS, INTERACTIONS, ETC.
In a word (or, well, two)? Engagement level - as in, a mixture of many ACTIVE followers (we all know that sometimes people hop on follow-for-follow trains, or follow a blog because it offers giveaways on a regular basis, which doesn't mean its subscribers do read the posts) and authors/publishers willing to work with the blogger (that is, actually offering them review copies and involving them in the road to publication, not just giving them the random, if very appreciated, approval on NetGalley or Edelweiss). And to be precise...active followers who aren't necessarily your friends, though I'm personally beyond grateful for their support 💚. Ideally, as a successful blogger, you would have perfect strangers (AND friends) telling you that they picked up a book because you sold them on it, but let's face it, it rarely happens - also because we usually need a tad more than a single review to be sure we want to read a book 😉.
One thing that doesn't factor into blogging success in my opinion: followers without interactions. I've seen blogs with an impressive number of followers and hardly any comments...maybe because the blog's owners aren't actually having a conversation with their followers anywhere...so I wouldn't say they're successful just because a number of people clicked on their follow button on whatever platform. Page views, too, give me pause. The fact that someone stumbled on your blog doesn't necessarily mean that they did more than skimming your posts...but I don't even track my own page views, so what do I know? 😂
Then again, I DO know something...that mine isn't a successful blog according to any of these rules, and I've made peace with it. I don't have the time and energy to change that. Not to mention, I mainly focus on unsung books, and that's not how you have followers flock to your virtual corner of the internet. And that's OK! If I can steer at least one person now and then towards a book, or have a meaningful relationship/exchange with an author whose books I love(d), I'm happy. Plus, I've made friends from all places and walks of life, and that's the best reward this blogging gig has ever given me...🧡
Well, that's it for now. Did you enjoy this post? Would you like to participate in the meme on a regular or semi-regular basis, and get emailed the prompt list? Just head over here and fill in Jen's form! (Of course, you can jump in anytime you like - you are under no obligation to actually do all the posts, or even most of them, just because you signed up, and you can remove yourself from the list at any time). And if you're interested in participating in a more casual manner, or only in commenting, here is the TMST prompt list for the rest of March and the month of April:
- March 21st: Tell us about some famous author from your city/state/country
- March 28th: What is your ideal book/audiobook length?
- April 4th: What are some of your favourite indie/small pub authors/books? (a question I submitted)
- April 11th: How long do you stick with a series you loved, if you start not enjoying the books?
- April 18th: What were your expectations when you started blogging? (a question I submitted)
- April 25th: If you could go back and change one thing about your life, what would it be? (a question I submitted)
I'll be back for the meme on March 28th, but as usual, I'm looking forward to your answers to the question I skipped...
Now tell me something...which do you think are the marks of a successful blog? and by those standards, do you deem yours as such?
Engagement level - oh yes. The only way I know if people read my post is if they comment because there's no way to track them, at least, I don't go about checking on stats to see which post is popular.
ReplyDeleteSome people do think having a lot of readers as being successful and in a way, it's true. The numbers do count somehow. There seems to be some rules about book bloggers needing to have a certain number of readers in order to get review books or something. Maybe some of those bloggers decided they need numbers rather than interactions?
But like you, I guess my blog is not successful either if we follow those rules. But I think having a few readers is consider successful because that's really all we can expect. Most everything is a popularity contest that I know I'll never win so it's better not to try to be popular but to just do what you like and let readers come or not. People have varying interest and we can't fault people for only reading books they want.
Have a lovely day.
"There seems to be some rules about book bloggers needing to have a certain number of readers in order to get review books or something. Maybe some of those bloggers decided they need numbers rather than interactions?"
DeleteThat rule sort of exists...well, at least it seems to exist when you request books from a big publisher...but sometimes I've been pleasantly surprised by medium-sized ones that have given me access to their books on NetGalley or Edelweiss even if my blog is small, so who knows? Maybe sometimes they go for the reviews' quality, or the blog being taken care of and updated regularly, or they grant books without giving it too much thought...And who knows, maybe those bloggers did/do decide they wanted numbers first, or maybe they had/have too many ARCs to review and too little time to talk with their followers LOL.
"Most everything is a popularity contest that I know I'll never win so it's better not to try to be popular but to just do what you like and let readers come or not. People have varying interest and we can't fault people for only reading books they want."
Absolutely - and funnily enough, some of us seem to be friends even if we like totally different books...
I recall the few times I've had strangers reach out and tell me that they picked up a book because of my review. That is such a win! Another win, which I didn't mention, is having an author use a quote from my review in their marketing. It's happened a few times and it made my day when it did! Not that I write my reviews for authors, but still, so cool!
ReplyDeleteI've only managed to pitch "my" books to friends, at least that I know of - it must be great to have a complete stranger go out of their way to tell you that! Same for the quotes.
DeleteI have seen blogs with so many followers and no engagement. There was a point in time where everyone just followed everyone else. My dream is for non-bloggers to join the party. Before I was blogging, I was visiting and commenting on book blogs. I like talking about books! Right now I feel good about putting out posts, and I am lucky to have such a wonderful group of "regulars". I also am not willing to put in the time and be on all platforms to build a following.
ReplyDelete"There was a point in time where everyone just followed everyone else. My dream is for non-bloggers to join the party."
DeleteI agree a lot! But it sounds like there aren't many (if any) blog readers who aren't bloggers themselves LOL. Maybe just a few people on Goodreads who only review books there, but I don't know if they comment on blogs...
I agree with everything in your comment, really.
I agree about the friends bit. I remember the days of huge blogs and follow parties, but honestly it's the friends I've made that matter. I was looking at a blog post of mine from 2013 (!) and it was amazing to me to see some bloggers commenting that STILL do, and I'm like... wow. Plus newer friends I've made like yourself and others (and thank you, BTW).
ReplyDelete"I was looking at a blog post of mine from 2013 (!) and it was amazing to me to see some bloggers commenting that STILL do, and I'm like... wow."
DeleteI hear you! I only have a couple of friends from back then (one being Karen), so it must be awesome to have a number of them.
Thank you too! I love how we end up having whole conversations in comments. You're pretty much unique when it comes to that 💚.
Well, most of them are gone ha ha, but there are a few...
DeleteAw thanks! I like it too. I'm terrible at replying t omy own comments (and I used to be so much better at it... when I look back at say 2017 or 2018 I'm shocked at how much BETTER I was to replying... ha ha) but often I'll go to the commenter's blog and answer there because I know at least they'll see it... but yes I love having conversations in the comments :)
It's funny when I ask you/tell you something on your blog and you reply/address it on mine 😂 - but hey, it works! That's what counts.
DeleteYeah, talking about indie books that a lot of people haven't heard of does not bring in all the followers, I'm in the same boat. But we're reading the books we wanna read and writing the posts we wanna write, we don't need success 😂
ReplyDeleteLOL, absolutely! Though it would be neat to be able to convince more people to read those books 😉.
DeleteIt would be! That's the most disappointing part. I love some books so much, and I genuinely just want more people to read them!
DeleteI always feel successful when people comment on my posts. For some reason that's more important than stats to me.
ReplyDeleteI totally understand!
DeleteI never pay attention to engagement tbh. My blog is just a fun hobby and I'm appreciative of the friends who do comment :)
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely! That's a success in itself.
DeleteI don't pay a lot of attention to page views but I do comments. The fact that there are other bloggers that read my blog and comment still amazes me sometimes. I started blogging not thinking anyone would read what I was posting. So I love that people interact with me on posts.
ReplyDeleteThat's validating in a way no amount of page views will ever be...even if publishers seem to think otherwise LOL.
DeleteMy blog is a drop in an ocean, but I am ok with that now :)
ReplyDeleteYou're so poetic 🙂.
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