by: Joelle Charbonneau

In the last year, I’ve heard people starting to call into
question the relevance of blogs.  Years
ago, and I’m not talking all that many years ago, blogs were fresh and
different.  Only a couple of authors
blogged.  The novelty of that daily or
weekly contact with a favorite author made those blogs must-reads for a lot of
fans.  The popularity of those blogs made
blogging the ‘it’ thing to do.  Suddenly,
all authors needed to blog.  Publishers,
editors, public relations and marketing folk and agents all embraced blogging
as the new, surefire way for an author to gain a following.  It’s easy to understand why.  In the good old days-AKA early 2000s and
all the years before-readers had to go to an author event to connect on a
personal level with their favorite authors. 
Travel gets expensive, so it is no wonder writers and their publishing
teams embraced the lower cost, longer reaching arm that blogging provided.

Yay for technology.

Or not. 

Fast forward to the here and now.  The internet has grown exponentially in the
past decade.  Almost every business has a
web presence and a large percentage of authors blog on places on the web like
(but not near as fun as) this one.  Where
blogging was once a unique, never before chance to glimpse into an author’s
life, it has become more an expected commodity. 
“Oh.  You’re an author.  What blog are you on?” is something I heard
more than once at BEA last week. 

Blogging is expected. 
However, knowing that the question has to be asked—because there are so
many blogs out there, has blogging lots its effectiveness?

I admit that I love blogging here at the Stiletto Gang!  The ladies not only allow me (the girl who
never wears stilettos) to play, but are incredibly supportive.  So, I know that my reasons for blogging are
less about promotion and more about community and fun.  But it would be great to know your reasons
for reading and or writing blogs. 

Do you seek out new blogs and actively comment on them?  Do you only comment on blogs that you know
and feel comfortable with?  Are you like
me who lurks a lot and doesn’t comment, but loves reading about what my friends
are up to?  Or do you think that blogs have
gotten lost in the glut of content that is available online?  What new and fresh things should authors be doing
in order to keep their blogs relevant to readers?

We may not solve the problems of world peace
here at the Stiletto Gang, but maybe we’ll come up with a new way to cut
through the noise that is the internet and connect with each other on an even
better level!