To improve the blog as it enters its third year, I had to look at some of the things I didn't do well . These are not New Year Resolutions and there are no timelines to them. I will get to them, when I get to them.
Still, for 2008, you can look forward to:
1. More book reviews, done regularly to some sort of schedule – I didn’t do book reviews regularly, and I didn’t do many. But I have learnt that they are popular among readers, so I need to get off my duff to read and write.
2. Author interviews – Again, I didn’t do enough of them. Partly because I don’t know many South African children’s authors and partly because they are not aware this blog exists and they can get some publicity.
Through chatting with some local authors, I also realized that some of them under-estimate the power of a blog, or the number of people who actually visit this one. So I went of in a huff if they didn’t immediately jump at the opportunity, deciding that I don’t have the time or the inclination to chase them. Well, if I plan to increase my author interviews here, I will have to find that inclination to chase authors and use it:-)
3. Following up on themes – There have been times when I start out on a certain theme, and then get distracted by work or life, and let it go. Blogs are about conversations and exploring topics and themes.
4. More targeted posts – Sometimes I drift off on irrelevant stuff. That may be interesting when it’s not often. But people come here to read my children’s stories, and about the process through which those stories were created. The rest is fluff, and if I don’t provide what they came for, they will move on. [ For clarity, see point 1, 2 and 3 above]
5. Write more children's stories - That's what people come here for, isn't it?
6. Attract local parents, teachers, librarians to this site - The bottomline is that these are the people who will read my stories to their children and students. That's who I need to be talking to. Sadly, I haven't even begun to start writing articles that would make them want to come back here, if they do find me through search engines.
7. More guest posts, by local authors and parents - I want to open this space for other South African authors to talk about their books, writing processes and creative life. Give them an opportunity to mouth off, and my readers to listen to some else for a change. For guest posts, I don't have many rules, except what you say should be related to the objective and spirit of this blog.
I also want to provide space for parents to tell us writers about what they want, need, what makes them buy a book or pass it by. What kind of stories fascinated your children, and which books were ignored, regardless of how important the message was supposed to be?
1 comment:
For your new year, I'd be delighted to send you a review copy of my own children's book. Email me off line with your address.
Post a Comment