"Movie stars have directors. Olympic athletes have coaches. I'm just a blogger. I have you," wrote Liz Strauss in one of the most clear-headed blogging style posts I've ever read. "Sometimes the customer needs to be in the driver's seat. Please take the keys."
That essay spawned nearly 60 comments, a community debate about blogging interaction and writing that I would kill to have on my own site. Instead of resorting to a life of a crime, I decided to call in an expert.
That's why I picked Strauss for my deceptively simple feature: Five Easy Questions. In the spirit of Jack Nicholson’s mad piano player, I run a serialized set of weekly interviews with writing pioneers—delivering some practical, unexpected advice about web publishing...
Jason Boog:
One of my biggest problems on my blog is comments. I really envy bloggers (like you) who have created a flourishing discussion alongside their posts. I've read hundreds of blogs by writers that have the same problem. What can I do, as a fledgling writer, to get my readers to interact with me? How can I build a better community around my blog?
Liz Strauss:
I had that problem for a while...
To a certain degree, I think the Know More Media-style of post makes it even harder to draw comments. There has to be enough there to talk about, but you can't fully complete the thought. That last part was, and still is my downfall. Having been a teacher, I keep trying to teach the WHOLE lesson, and I have to remind myself that if I do, then all my readers can say is "Gee Liz, that was good."
How did I learn that? When I started feeling that I was doing something wrong. Before, I'd had great comments going. I wanted to know what was wrong and didn't know how to ask.
Then someone had let it slip that he didn't comment because my posts were so good. I ran with that, and I wrote a post calle An Open Thought: Please Take the Keys.
It took a few minutes to get folks talking, but we were back to a community blog ever since.
I think so much of comments and commenting has to do with being there and being a person that people know and want to talk to. Folks have to feel like there is someone living there on the other side of the screen.
Hi Jason,
People don't know it, but I not only live on the other side of the screen. I'm actually inside of their computers. I go on the airplane with them and everything. I'm even in their hotel rooms. Spooky thought. Isn't it?
Posted by: Liz Strauss | June 8, 2006 8:08 AM | Permalink to Comment