Advice for bloggers, young and old

Here's a gem via Right Wing News -- advice from Andrew Sullivan to bloggers on building an audience:

John Hawkins: You're the biggest standalone political blogger out there so I'm sure you're qualified to give the rest of us some advice on how to build an audience as large as yours. How 'bout it?

Andrew Sullivan: Just keep writing as provocatively and interestingly as possible; share a bit of yourself; acknowledge your own errors; change your mind sometimes; link promiscuously; and always read and listen to your readers. The point is to develop a form of writing that is deliberately provisional, that is conversational, that is half a dialogue rather than wholly a monologue. But we all have different styles and there are many ways to find and build an audience.

(Via the Peace Loving IMAO, whose satire was not appreciated recently by another blogger not particularly fond of gay gun nuts.)

And if Sullivan doesn't do it for you, more excellent advice to bloggers (which really cracked me up) can be found at Anger Management. Here's a sample:

It’s difficult to believe, but no one gives a shit about what you think. No, not even if you’re Andrew Sullivan. The Internet is overcrowded with opinions and there is no demand for more. I know what you’re thinking: "But Don, isn’t your blog’s slogan, 'Because there aren’t enough opinions on the Internet!'?" Um, that was sarcastic, ass.

The fact is, people don’t care what you have to say. Their only concern is how you say it. No matter what you choose to say, the real question is: are you interesting? This is true whether you’re writing about your trip to the mall or whether you’re addressing the moral status of nuking Iran.

That said, it’s not enough to be interesting. If you want to be a blog superstar, you have to stand out from all the other interesting bloggers, and to do this, you must be uniquely interesting. This means, finding your niche.

Ruthless yet true....

Both Sullivan and Watkins are geniuses, and the fact that they are at vastly different points in their respective careers makes both of their perspectives "must-reads."

(Just don't ask me to say who is better! You'd have to pay me, and I am already in debt to Don Watkins, placing me in a clear conflict of interest.)

posted by Eric on 11.04.03 at 02:19 PM





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