Sorry cookies. You know I love you guys.
I'm not joking. I love cookies, but if I had to pick between an amazing cookie and an amazing comment, the comment totally wins.
Blogging can sometimes be a very selfish hobby. It's about what I feel about a book, or what book I'm waiting for, or what I think about something. It's very easy and even relaxing to blog in a bubble. When it's only about you, you have more energy. You post what you want when you want to.
I've been there and I've done that. When I first started blogging at Tantalizing Illusions, I wanted so badly to be successful. I did the popular memes, reviews and I tried to find a pretty blog design. I also did my best to know about all YA trends. I was a little insane that year. I read over 300 books. I would have sixty library books checked out at once, all stacked in precarious piles near my bed. Needless to say, I exhausted myself and didn't get the results I was looking for.
The truth, or at least what is true for me, is that pageviews matter, but in a small way compared to comments. Comments show me that someone read something and cared enough to tell me they did so. Even the shortest comment is validation because it's too easy to get fake pageviews through spam bots.
A comment can brighten my day like nothing else in the world. It's a little bit of validation for the hours I put in to the blog. It's like, "Hey there, I'm listening. I care about what you have to say." That matters a lot to me because I have a lot of interests and likes that maybe some of my friends don't understand. I don't want to bore them with book talk, so I go to a place that appreciates my nerdiness.
I understand blogging is hard. It's the comments that always renew my interest in blogging. The little tokens of people's attention. That's why I try to comment on every blog I visit. 90% of the time, I will comment if I visit a blog because I want the blogger to know that I thought their post was interesting and worth a read.
It's so important to me that I've tried to incorporate it into day-to-day blogging life. Right after writing/scheduling a post, editing the slider, checking the blog's Twitter account, I also make sure to visit the community. I try to comment on at least five other blogs. I try to leave meaningful comments.
I think it's up to every single blogger to help support the community and share the love of YA. Comments mean a lot to me, so I try to make sure I show some love for other bloggers too. Share the love, y'know?
Blogging can be so competitive, but the more you comment*, literally everyone wins because the community grows stronger.
*real comments. Not spam.
What do you think? How high on your list of priorities is commenting on other people's blogs?
I completely agree! Comments literally make me smile. I cherish them. I also have a routine like you do. I try to follow blogs everyday, and if I skip one, I'll look to see what they posted. I love commenting because I love sharing my opinions about things, but I find it a little discouraging if the blogger never comments back (they don't necessarily have to follow my blog, sometimes just commenting on the comment I write is enough of a conversation for me). It's like talking to a wall at a certain point, and you feel closed off, so if that happens, I tend to draw back on my visits to the blog. But I'm so glad I found yours! You two ladies are awesome :D And I love your cover wars meme.
ReplyDeleteAw thank you!
DeleteAnd definitely. The reason I originally started blogging was that I couldn't do book talk with the people around me in real life either because they don't read, or they have different tastes. Blogging has helped me really explore my tastes and maybe expand them a little through the conversations I have with different bloggers.
Plus, it helps me keep faith in all the brilliant people in the world because most of the people I've "met" (like you) are just so nice!
-P.E.
Agree agree! (Although cookies... do we really have to choose? Can we have both? ;P)
ReplyDeleteBasically if we're following a blog that we never want to comment on, we usually stop following it. Which, btw, does NOT mean that it's a bad blog! But we want to develop relationships with blogs, and for various reasons, sometimes a blog isn't a good fit for that for us.
And for blogs that are a good fit that we follow, we try to leave comments anytime we have something to say besides "Yup!"
The commenting/relationship-building aspect is also what drove us to focus on a discussion blog instead of a review blog. It's just what we knew would work best for us. And there are already so many great review blogs out there (many of which we follow!).
(You're right- both are better!)
DeleteI know what you mean. Every blog I follow, I try to find a post I read that I was thinking I wanted to comment on. Often, I'll just say how a review has helped me out but it's really the discussion posts that I adore.
Also, I love what you guys do. There's totally a place for book discussion and talk. I know it's really hard to think of new topics for discussion and to stay original sometimes, but discussion posts are often the most fun to write just because I'm always blown away by the responses.
-P.E.
I agree. Comments are so much more important than pageviews. I don't mind short comments, but the ones that piss me off are, "Nice blog post, come visit mine." They probably copy-pasted that on 20 other blogs today. Other than that, I completely agree. I try to comment on blogs as much as I can, but I still suck. Editing takes up so much of my time so I don't get too do it often--plus still find time to read and blog and spend time with the hubby. I TRY! I know how much they mean to people because they mean the world to me!
ReplyDeleteI think trying is what counts the most. I've been so busy this week and I haven't done as much commenting on blogs as I wanted to, but I try to make up for it when I have free time and on weekends.
DeleteAlso, the short comments like that are annoying. I'm totally fine with someone linking their blog in the comments, especially if they're new because I want to know who is commenting, but I don't like pageview grabs and stuff.
-P.E.
Very true. A meaningful comment always really touches my heart. When I can tell someone really engaged with my post and got something from it, that feeling is amazing!
ReplyDeleteLike Kara, I hate comments that are obviously fishing for a comment back. Thanks for the pageview and empty comment, but, no, I won't come to your blog.
I do try to comment back, but I won't if I don't feel like the person really engaged and I also won't force myself. If I'm too busy or if I scroll through their recent posts and have nothing to say about any of them, I go on my way. If not commenting back sometimes loses me a reader, that's a shame, but I'd prefer to have readers come around because they find me interesting and not because they want me to come to their blog. Plus, I feel disingenuous forcing myself to leave comments on a post, like I'm lying to the blogger or something. I don't want to be that guy.
I totally agree with that. If I have a comment, I'll write it I have no thoughts that this person is now obligated to comment back. Like, if they like my blog or my post, I'd love to hear from them. But if not, don't force it. As much as I'm a blogger, I'm also a blog reader.
Delete-P.E.
Quite true! I adore comments- seriously, even just getting one meaningful comment makes my day! (Although I must admit, at times I might choose cookies over comments. I get hungry sometimes okay! Don't judge me haha)
ReplyDeleteCommenting on other people's blogs is pretty high on my priority list, but I guess there are a lot of instances where I just don't have the time to go around commenting on everyone's blogs. Or I do have the time but get distracted by YouTube or Twitter :P
Haha distractions are insane. I try to set a goal for myself based on the time I have. I won't force myself to comment, but I will make an effort to let someone know if their post was appreciated or not.
DeleteAnd I'm totally not judging. We all have those days where a cookie can save our lives. (Well, maybe not literally, but that feeling when you get a cookie is amazing. Kinda like the feeling where you get a great comment :p)
-P.E.
Comments are so important to me. I'd rather have 10 bookish friends who comment on my blog than 1000 new pageviews. It feels like a reward for you time and effort when someone leaves a comment - and it's so much fun to see different opinions :)
ReplyDeleteMel@thedailyprophecy.
I definitely agree. A pageview could mean anything- there are plenty of spam bots that patrol the web, but a comment is a sign that someone truly cared.
Delete-P.E.
I totally try to comment on as many posts as I can (even if they're a week...or more late). It wasn't until I made it a point to comment more that I started getting more comments in return-I wish I had figured that out sooner! However I would still take a cookie over a comment-I have a serious sweet tooth.
ReplyDeleteThat's what I notice too! It's important to be a part of the blogosphere if you want visits, and comments are one of the best ways to do that. And to tell you the truth, I might sometimes pick a cookie over a comment. Just sometimes.
Delete-P.E. @ The Sirenic Codex