Comments are a Girl’s Best Friend

Oh, I know that it’s supposed to be diamonds, but as a writer, in today’s self-promoting market, comments are my diamonds. Every writer has heard the advice given to write for your readers, but how do we do that without knowing who are readers are? As writers, we need feedback to determine if what we have said has value to our readers, or if we have totally missed the mark. Reader comments serve as that feedback, and let us know that what we have written is actually being read. It is a wonderful feeling to know that someone has taken the time to read what we have worked so hard to produce, even if the feedback is negative. Of course, there are other ways to express appreciation when you read something that you like, such as the “Like” buttons on Facebook and LinkedIn, or by “sharing” on any of the social networks, or “Tweeting” it on Twitter, but the author doesn’t always get to know about these gestures. That doesn’t mean they are not appreciated by the writer, but we get to see comments and reply, when appropriate.
Every site that I publish on has a place for comments, but for some reason, I get relatively few. I don’t know if no one is reading my work, or if I’m just boring my readers to death! When this blog was on Today.com, I received comments that let me know if I should publish similar types of posts or take the blog in a different direction. Since I moved the blog to WordPress, I haven’t experienced such good fortune. However, it isn’t just here on this site. Readers of my Southern Colorado Literature Examiner page and on Hubpages have remained silent lately, as have the readers of the articles, stories and poetry that I have published through Triond, which have individual URLs. On the Examiner site, comments serve another purpose, as well. Examiner uses comments as one of the criteria to determine how much I get paid per viewing of my page, along with the number of subscribers and the quality of my readers, (which I am not sure how they determine).

I am aware of the value of comments, so I try to read blogs that I particularly like as often as possible, and I comment frequently. Many of my author friends can tell you that this is true, because some of them have some really great writing blogs, which I also subscribe to, including: Earth, Air, Fire and Ink – by Buena Vista memoirist, Maria Weber; A Writer Afoot – by Colorado Springs author, Barbara O’Neal; Walking Nature Home – by Salida author, Susan J. Tweit; Beth Groundwater’s blogspot – by Colorado Springs mystery author, Beth Groundwater; Blog of Fascination – by a very unique author, Art Rosch; The Writing Bug – by Northern Colorado Writers members, Kerrie Flanagan, Trai Cartwright, Jennifer Carter, Jenny Sunstedt, and Brooke Favero; The Urban Muse – by freelance writer, Susan Johnston; and Writer Unboxed – a blog about the business and craft of writing genre fiction that has made the Writer’s Digest “101 Best Websites for Writers” for four years running.
So, readers, while you are here, ( or when visiting any of my other sites), please take the time to post a comment to let me know if my writing has interested you, moved you or put you t o sleep. Note that both this site and my Examiner site have the option of subscribing to email, so that you are notified by email each time that I publish. It doesn’t cost anything, and is a small gesture that will let me know that you like what I write. Comments and/or subscriptions at any of my sites will be greatly appreciated. They will help me determine what types of writing I should publish in the future and it’s a lot cheaper than diamonds.