Is being a good writer enough?

Good writer I first thought about this in relation to blogging thanks to Jen at Alpha Mummy.  She had just been to Blogher and Megan from Velveteen Mind had posed the question. Anyway, it's been bouncing around in my mind for a little while now and has been itching to come out…

Is being a good writer enough anymore?

If you don't care about readers, comments, and community – the kind of stuff that rattles around in my mind– stop reading this post RIGHT NOW. It will just annoy you. Then you will annoy me by writing some sort of "anti post" that is not "meant to be interpreted as an attack" (BTW – if you have to say that it obviously is). Just humour me and go somewhere else. Thanks.

Still here? Good. Back to the original question. Is good writing enough? It should be, right? Taking someone on a ride with words can certainly get you in the door. It can start a conversation. An exchange that can lead to lord knows what. You need to develop a baseline in which you engage your readers. Think of this as your voice. You need to connect with readers and they need to get inside your head. If they like your head, they will stay. If they don't like what's going on up there they will go somewhere else. Simple as that.

Good writing is an essential starting point.  BUT IT IS NOT EVERYTHING. Imagine you get over the first hurdle, and you write your best, most thought-provoking post EVER. This post has the potential of really connecting with readers. I mean this post is so THERE. SPOT ON. AWE-SOME. You know it as soon as it flows off your fingers and you hit the publish button.

The problem is — no one knows you wrote this frigging fabulous post because there were 100,000 other posts published within ten minutes of yours and no one can find your well groomed words. It's like thinking you are going to win the lottery. It's just not going to happen.

If a post falls in a forest of blogs, and no one is there to read it, does it make a noise?

Maybe it does in your head. But don't you want more people to read your post, comment on it, give you feedback. Make you feel like it was worth the hours you spent writing that gorgeous post?

You with me here? Then it should be apparent that no, great writing is not enough anymore. You need to start thinking about marketing, SEO, getting the word out. Pointing people to your blog. There's a science to it. No this should not consume your style. You NEED to be a good writer. But you need to think about the other stuff too.

Want to learn more? Make sure you come to Cybermummy 2010 — and we'll tell you all about it. In fact, if you leave a comment below, I'll send you a link to the web site as soon as we pull a finger out get it live.

Photo credit: Phil H

60 COMMENTS

  1. Organised Chaos | 11th Feb 10

    Absolutely Write has completely got it, for me. It totally depends on your motives for writing the blog in the first place. There’s almost three types of blogger. There’s those who write just for the sake of writing and don’t care if they are read or not, they just want to put stuff ‘out there’. Then there are then those (like me) who the above applies to but who want to use it to connect at a personal level with like minds. Probably neither worry about marketing and certainly those like me who want to connect do so by reading and commenting on other’s blogs. You could call that marketing but that seems a bit crass when it’s actually more about building friendships. Then there’s the third more professional type of blogger who probably has a good niche, may want to or already be a professional writer and so will naturally consider marketing. I returned to blogging after many years out of it and I’m still stunned at the pressure and undercurrent competition there is in places. Perhaps I’m a bit sandals and socks though :o)

  2. Elisa @ Globetrotting in Heels | 7th Feb 10

    It’s true, it’s not enough. But it’s a damn good start. Because even if you have a great PR firm, lots of SEO stuff organized and all, it’ll only last so long unless you can keep people engaged somehow. And giveaways only go so far IMO.
    On a different note, I definitely want to hear about Cybermummy 2010!! Info please?

  3. EmmaK | 4th Feb 10

    You hit the nail on the head.Does it matter if I am a genius if no one can hear me?? lol I have to be honest I do get the greatest satisfaction just from writing a post that I think is great. But obviously it would be great if as many people as possible could read it!
    Please send me a link to the website!

  4. Absolutely Write | 4th Feb 10

    I think asking yourself “why am I blogging in the first place?” is key. For some people, just writing something down is therapy enough and it doesn’t matter whetehr anyone reads them.
    For most others, input from other people is what they crave, and what makes it all worthwhile. Bloggers can provide emotional-support where there is an emotional-support void in real life … if that’s what you need, then you have to make an effort and let people that know you’re there.

  5. babieswhobrunch | 4th Feb 10

    I hate that good writing isn’t enough. I wish it was. These days you don’t even need to be able to write to be a journalist…..

  6. Lisa | 3rd Feb 10

    Right! I hear this complaint all the time. Why so-so made the hot blogging list, while someone else did not. It looks like it’s the same with authors promoting their books. I keep reading you need an online presence for that as well (not that I would know of course lol).
    Cybermummy. What a cool name!

  7. Slummy Single Mummy | 3rd Feb 10

    Ooooh! I want to be a Cybermummy! I spend more time with my laptop than with my children – do I qualify?
    Good writing so isn’t enough. Maybe it was once, when there weren’t millions of words spewing out from computers everywhere, every second, but the fact is there are plenty of writers who are as good as me, better than me, it just comes down to making yourself stand out from the crowd.
    A bit depressing at times maybe, but it’s an interesting challenge – how to keep the attention of the generation that can’t focus on anything bigger than a Blackberry screen…

  8. MummyTips | 3rd Feb 10

    Clearly good writing is not enough…. speed of getting the website live is top of my list! xx

  9. MumVersusKids | 2nd Feb 10

    I absolutely positively need some tips!! Please keep me posted on Cybermummy 2010.

  10. notSupermum | 2nd Feb 10

    Oooh, this is a bit worrying because I don’t consider myself to be a writer as such. I started blogging because I thought it was a fun way of putting thoughts down on paper and making contact with other bloggers. I feel a bit nervous when people start talking about the quality of writing because it doesn’t come easily to me. There are several blogs that are so beautifully written, so acute in their observations that I feel like deleting everything I’ve ever posted and crawling under the bed to hide. But then, I think that some people seem to enjoy reading my dribble so I’ll just plod on.
    Sorry for waffling!

  11. Mrs B | 2nd Feb 10

    Spooky,just thinking the same thing about the loneliness of writing generally. As a newbie to blogging,it can be a bit dispiriting and the writing has to sustain you to begin with. Although, I think that the writing has to come out anyway in my case or I get sulky and eat french fancies. At least if it is on your blog, out scooting around cyberspace, someone might read it. They wont if it stays in your note book. But I’m beginning to feel something rather exciting while sitting here, something of a frontier spirit – like a land grab. There’s no publisher to negotiate or slush pile to avoid, it’s completely up to you and I think that’s really rather thrilling and I don’t get many of those in my day! Thanks for the post and being at the Vanguard.

  12. A Modern Mother | 2nd Feb 10

    Stig — glad to be of service!

  13. Stigmum | 2nd Feb 10

    I agree with much of what you’re saying. Being a good writer, I think, is enough but as you say, it all depends on your baseline. The more boring your baseline (and I think of my blog here), the better your writing has to be to even so much as hope to have people following you.
    I lost a follower today. She never commented so you know, I can’t be too upset. This morning though, a mum, a follower, has commented and that was really nice!
    I mean crikey, I was terrified of anyone reading me and your British Mummy Bloggers creation, has, well, helped me a great deal. More maybe that you can imagine. Slowly, slowly I navigate these waters. I don’t know if my writing is good or even good enough, but I do know I’d like to improve it and blogland is the best platform for that!
    So, from my unique position of not many followers and not many commenters I would say, that yes, one should market their blog, adding pictures is good! A light background helps! And well, I actually don’t know really but do link me the cybermummy2010!
    Thanks!
    (if you don’t mind, I’ll copy this comment of mine onto my own blog. It fits in with what I’ve been writing this morning! It’s also quicker than thinking up something fresh and original!)

  14. Rachel Nixon | 2nd Feb 10

    Cybermummy sounds interesting- I’d like the link too 🙂

  15. Potty Mummy | 2nd Feb 10

    Does the fact that I made sure we booked our flights back to the UK for July 2nd tell you that I don’t think good writing is enough on it’s own? So please, put me on the list! (But you knew that anyway, right?)

  16. A Modern Mother | 2nd Feb 10

    But are they badly written? Isn’t that relative? Maybe it’s just style, a different strokes for different folks kinds of thing?

  17. Jennifer Howze | 2nd Feb 10

    I think the marketing bit is the hardest – and even with the most well-written post, marketing it seems to take 3 times as long because there are so many facets.

  18. Antonella | 2nd Feb 10

    Hi S. I think the content of a book/blog etc. is very important but if it’s written badly it gets spoiled. Though if it is beautifully written but doesn’t mean anything and it’s just a style exercise, it will be put aside quickly and never read again. This is clearly not your case. You’ve got both! Ciao. A.

  19. Vegemitevix | 2nd Feb 10

    I am so absolutely with you! 100% Of course there is the small point of how many blogs are popular and yet appallingly written. Go figure. All good writing takes sharing yourself and the logical conclusion of this approach is of course to get read. Simples. As the meerkats would say.

  20. BETTY G | 2nd Feb 10

    Cybermummy link please! I love your blog BTW.

  21. Michelloui | 2nd Feb 10

    I read a post on an agent’s site about publishers who expect authors to do a hell of a lot of self-promotion and marketing of their books. This post sparked an intense debate in the comments:
    ‘Why should a publisher and an agent take all that money if it isn’t for marketing and publicity?’
    ‘If authors wanted to go into marketing they wouldn’t be sitting on their backsides writing novels!’
    or
    ‘I only take authors’ pitches seriously if I know they will be willing to market their book effectively.’
    ‘Why shouldn’t an author be willing to talk about their book on radio, go to book signings, be a friendly face in their local bookshops, and travel on a whistlestop tour of another country doing the same thing?’
    Interesting points on both sides, but I think the author who doesn’t want to market their writing is being naive.
    Firstly, wouldn’t you do everything you can to increase your readership and success? Increased readership means more money, more attention and more popularity with your publisher. All this means you get to keep doing what you love: writing.
    Secondly, if that’s the culture, if marketing your book is what other successful author’s do and if that’s what the publisher expects, then you don’t really have much choice unless you want to be left out in the cold with an un-renewed contract.
    Therefore, surely blog authors who put effort into writing excellent content (and who have no publisher to get the publicity ball rolling) will want to find out more about increasing their readership! Like you I am not talking about the bloggers who ‘just write for fun’.
    I’d like to know more about Cybermummy 2010!
    xM

  22. Emily | 2nd Feb 10

    I’ve been pondering this for a few weeks. Especially because it seems the number of readers (as well as my reach) are becoming more and more important as I wade deeper and deeper into this blog world. I have a tight knit community on my blog but I don’t really know how to extend it further.
    Let me know about cybermummy – hope I’m around when it happens!

  23. Claire | 1st Feb 10

    Quite right! See you at Cybermummy!

  24. Knackered Mother | 1st Feb 10

    Cybermummy sounds like a great idea. Tell me more, tell me more la la la la la la…..

  25. Natalie | 1st Feb 10

    This post was hilarious – love it and can’t wait to hear more about Cybermummy. Ps, I read this post with the sound of your voice in my head which made it funnier.

  26. Iota | 1st Feb 10

    Wonder why you’ve dropped your word/number verification?

  27. Iota | 1st Feb 10

    Add me to the list. Planning to be in the UK in the summer.

  28. TheMadHouse | 1st Feb 10

    I struggle with this sometimes, as a dsyslexic. I hated english, I didnt like writing, I loved to read, I love the written word, but avoided it for a long, long time. I didnt write my blog for promotion and often i just type up the words in my head, they kind of spew on to the page!!

  29. Erin | 1st Feb 10

    Love to hear about Cybermummy site when it’s up & running.

  30. michelle | 1st Feb 10

    Another interested to know more. Cheers Mich x

  31. Hannah | 1st Feb 10

    Intruigued to know what Cybermummy2010 is!

  32. Emily O | 1st Feb 10

    This is where I’m going wrong – every post I write is mind-blowing, awe-inspiring, unmissable stuff. But it gets lost in everyone’s readers – pah ; ) Looking forward to Cybermummy! (making me think of the cybermen from Dr Who though).

  33. Lisa Barnhouse | 1st Feb 10

    I want to go to Cybermummy!
    xo
    Lisa

  34. Brit In Bosnia | 1st Feb 10

    I wrote my blog for nearly a year before I found a community to engage with. I like the community side of it, but you do need to put yourself out there. If you build it, they don’t always come….
    Put me on the list for cyber mummy, I’m back in the country and am ready to show my face.

  35. Muddling Along Mummy | 1st Feb 10

    I’m battling with this – whether just putting stuff out there is enough or I want to do more … I guess how much time I have once I’m back at work may determine it one way or the other but pls put me on the list !

  36. Working Mama | 1st Feb 10

    Agree completely – It’s 50% writing and 50% sticking your neck out there, even if it totally makes you cringe you have got to self-promote.
    Would love to learn more about cybermummy 2010.
    http://lastofthemojitos.blogspot.com

  37. A Modern Mother | 1st Feb 10

    Tasha — I’m going with you on that break.

  38. Tasha (Coding Mamma) | 1st Feb 10

    It’s not enough, no. And sometimes you can even make do without it, if you happen to jump on the right issue. Good writing will probably bring people back, though.
    Interesting question, anyway.
    I’m currently taking a step back and not worrying about any of this stuff. It will be interesting to see, when I’m ready to ‘go for it’ again, whether it made any difference.

  39. A Modern Mother | 1st Feb 10

    Catherine — thanks!
    Mummy Life — looking foward to seeing you there!

  40. Carly | 1st Feb 10

    So so true, love Josie’s ‘write a book and hide it under your bed’…sums it up nicely.
    A few years ago it was possible to not do a lot in terms of marketing your blog because there were not that many trees in the forest then (in the UK anyway). But times have changed and there are thousands upon thousands of them now and so people must use given channels to promote and market if they want the readership.
    Great post and look forward to Cybermummy 2010!

  41. Sally, Who's the Mummy | 1st Feb 10

    My flip answer is, “Of course it’s not enough”.
    Catcher in the Rye was great writing the moment JD Salinger took the paper out of the typewriter. But it didn’t become a soul stirring anthem for millions of teens without a book deal, a cover design, a marketing and distribution deal… so promoting a blog, getting links, making it easy for people to subscribe – I don’t see it as any different, and certainly not “corrupt” as some people have suggested.
    But, but… there is a flip side. If you’re writing just for you, just as a relase, just to get the words out of your head, then you don’t need to worry about pleasing anyone other than yourself, or promoting anything. and that’s fine, too. It’s just about making the right choice for you.

  42. Its a Mummys Life | 1st Feb 10

    Well this is not attack but…
    Joke. I totally agree. It would be wonderful if the writing just spoke for itself, but if you start a blog and you invite comments and you have your subscriptions clearly marked in a ‘read me’ sort of way, I’m guessing you want to be read. That’s certainly true of me anyway. It’s like any brand that is actually worth buying though. If it’s good or interesting and you do something to get it ‘out’then word of mouth tends to take care of it. But because there’s so damn much noise on t’internet it’s just not that simple these days.
    Will look forward to Cybermummy with anticipation!

  43. Catherine Goddard | 1st Feb 10

    Keep me posted on Cybermummy. I agree with nappyvalleygirl that you need to be able to market your blog as well as being an engaging writer — I don’t think you can survive with one of these skills and not the other. Great post — thanks!

  44. A Modern Mother | 1st Feb 10

    Expat — guilty
    Heather — it’s a delicate balance
    Nappy — of course!
    Mommy time — so many blogs so little time…

  45. MommyTime | 1st Feb 10

    You’re right that it isn’t enough if one wants to be part of a community. I would love to see Cybermummy when it’s live — and I would be really interested in your take on community building without burnout. I find that when I spend hours commenting on others’ blogs, that comes back to me in a community of commenters, but it also means NO free time to do anything else. This is not to say that I don’t enjoy reading and commenting on lots of different blogs, only that I can’t read 80 of them every day. I think that perhaps one simply has to be content with a small(er) group of readers if one does not have hours every day to devote to the kinds of goodwill required in community building.
    Is it a little like the Keepers Score of Playdates? where people only visit if you visit them? And then, how many people can one working mother reasonably visit in a day? It’s a conundrum for me.

  46. nappyvalleygirl | 1st Feb 10

    It certainly isn’t enough.
    Conversely, you could market your blog absolutely brilliantly but if the writing isn’t engaging, people won’t come back. You have to do both.

  47. Heather | 1st Feb 10

    This was wonderfully relevant to where my head was today and what i was blathering on about in my blog. Thank you, you’re right, it’s not enough, if you want to get read you need to promote. My worry is letting that over shadow the point (to me) of blogging.
    I doubt I’ll be available for cybermummy unless it is somehow accessible on the net would be interested to read about it anyway.

  48. Expat Mum | 1st Feb 10

    Gawd – if you read my current post you’ll see I don’t really have time for learning new stuff, but you’ll also see that there is a desperate need anyway. Point me in the direction O Learned One.
    PS. I can tell you’re still American as you say “could care less” instead of what you probably mean – “couldn’t care less”. 😉

  49. 21st Century Mummy | 1st Feb 10

    Please send me a link to Cybermummy too!

  50. A Modern Mother | 1st Feb 10

    Surprise — oh yes you are
    Amy — true as well

  51. amy | 1st Feb 10

    I’d like to think that good writing should be enough but you also have to get yourself out there. I have enjoyed starting from nothing and getting an average amount of followers and i’ve enjoyed getting to know all the other bloggers out there too. I think it works both ways, you can’t expect people to read your blog if you don’t read other peoples. I’d love the link when you post it xxxxx

  52. Surprise mum | 1st Feb 10

    Love it!
    I’m not good at writing or the ther stuff!
    But, want to come to the thingy!

  53. A Modern Mother | 1st Feb 10

    Gappy — I’ll send you the link as soon as it is up, hopefully next week.

  54. A Modern Mother | 1st Feb 10

    New mummy – yes, but a spring board

  55. Gappy | 1st Feb 10

    Hi. I would really appreciate a link to Cybermummy, as I have no idea how to get my blog ‘out there’.
    Am trying to wade my way through Technorati and such like, but I find it all really dense and complicated.

  56. A Modern Mother | 1st Feb 10

    Josie — I like that imaging, sleeping with a manuscript under your bed!
    Linda — I knew you knew the answer.
    Liz — you could never annoy me and yes we need your help!

  57. New Mummy | 1st Feb 10

    I agree its not enough

  58. Liz (LivingwithKids) | 1st Feb 10

    Like everything, you need to market yourself/your blog. It’s the same with trying to sell a pitch for a magazine, newspaper or even a book – you have to entice commissioning eds to want to buy, or agents to want to take you on. And with blogs you have to entice readers to your site. Sometimes my tweetdeck is lit up with people shouting ‘look at me! look at me!’ and I want to say to them there is a different way to sell that post… Cybermummy 2010 will be very useful and I look forward to participating in any way I can.
    PS I hope I never write a post that annoys you! lol x

  59. Linda | 1st Feb 10

    No it’s not enough.
    Next question? 🙂
    x

  60. Josie @Sleep is for the Weak | 1st Feb 10

    Ha this made me smile 🙂
    You are so right. It ISN’T enough. You might as well write the most amazing, ground breaking, inspirational book ever written and then go hide it under your bed and expect to win a Nobel Prize for Literature by some kind of weird trans-dimensional osmosis.
    And (for me) that’s where it gets interesting! Writing on its own can be a bit bleugh and stale unless it’s set free in the big wide world somewhere. That’s the challenge, to find the best way to do that, and the exciting part as you see what will happen if you do.
    I’m looking forward to the conference very much 🙂

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