I haven’t found an anime to review on Sundays for this season so I’m going to take advantage of this little respite and thank my readers just for being here. It means so much, now more than ever.
I’m writing this on Thursday. I hit 2k overnight on Wednesday. Hopefully by the time this post goes public I won’t have lost enough followers to go back under. If I do, then please be nice to me, I’ll be mildly depressed.
I get asked a lot about how to gain followers or how to built a “successful” blog. A lot being a relative term, maybe once a week. But the truth is, I don’t know. I have no clue how I got here. When I started I figured I would be lucky to get even 10 people to read my stuff let alone anyone to follow this blog. It’s all rather surreal and I am awed and humbled and grateful.
I know it sounds cliché. Everyone says that. I never would have imagined… But it’s the truth. And I think it might be the truth for everyone. One thing I have come to realize is that although it is possible to have some type of spectacular overnight success in the blogging community, it’s extremely rare. Possibly even more uncommon than in other online mediums because let’s face it, the audience for non sexy written word is limited when compared to video or even audio. For the large majority of us, the only real way to amass an audience is with consistency and patience. It just takes a long time.
I figure that people that start out a blog thinking they’ll soon turn into an online celebrity and anime authority will probably get impatient and figure out quickly that it’s not the best means to their ends. As for those that are hoping to turn a profit, oh boy is that a rough road to to go down. At the end of the day, those that have stuck around for years are usually people who can find satisfaction in just writing the blog itself and never really thought about anything beyond that.
At least that’s the impression that I get. Maybe I’m completely wrong though. Feel free to let me know!
It is the reality for me. The popularity of this blog goes up and down and if that was my only reason for writing it, I would have given up. Luckily I still needed a depository for my screen caps and anime gif collection so it gave me a reason to keep going. I figured I would throw a few words in there just to break up the pictures… You know, it’s easier on the eyes.
I feel bad for the people that ask me for advice in this particular category. I’m really dreadfully unhelpful. I guess the only real thing I have noticed is that consistency works. The more you post the more your blog will tend to grow and the more frequently you post the faster it will grow. Mind you, it can also make you loose some followers. Some people don’t like to have their feeds flooded by any one specific blog so there are some serious diminishing returns on the frequency part.
As you might know, I post every day. I have posted every day since I started this blog and I find that it works for me. I know blogs that post multiple times a day but there’s no point in taking up a schedule that can’t be sustained. Readers are much more likely to return to a blog that posts less frequently but more consistently than one that goes MIA. At least from what I could observe.
Two thousand people is both not much and almost inconceivably huge. I’m not sure I’ve spoken one on one to two thousand people in my life. I know that there are tons of online celebrities with 100x that and more. In the grand scheme of things it may not be that much at all. But it seems enormous to me. And for reasons I can’t completely explain, it makes me really happy.
With people stuck at home and probably really bored, I’ve seen a good uptick in visitors and views as well. I understand that it’s not a momentum I’ll be able to keep up with in the long run but it’s still nice. I’ve been isolating for almost a month now. And it feels just a little bit less lonely to be able to communicate with people all over the world through this little blog.
And actually that’s it, that’s the only thing I really wanted to say. You guys are making me a little less lonely right now and for that, I really want to thank you. I sincerely hope that you all also have a safe outlet to socialize a little and aren’t feeling to secluded or trapped. We’re going through a very difficult time right now and we’re still in it for a while. But as hard as it may be to remember, since we have to stay away from each other, we are going through it together. And when we get through it, it will be together as well.
This is a comforting thought for me. And it’s something that I was vividly reminded of when I saw my little counter tick to a round number. Silly, I know. But I’ll take all the silly optimism I can get.
So once again, for anyone that has passed through this blog, whether you decided to follow or not, thank you for sharing a little moment with me. These little moments are precious. I hope we can continue to share them.
Stay safe out there,
Irina
