Mr. Grumpy Goes Blogging
Forgive me for being Mr. Grumpy today.
Here’s a short — okay, it’s longish — list of things that make me grumpy when I read blogs of others and I realize 99% of what I say will insult 95% of the blogs I’ve read so far:
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Blogging as a Moral Rasp
The tagline for this blog used to be just Rendering Meaning in the City Core and this week I changed it to read… Where Blood & Bone Render Meaning in the City Core …and some have asked why I made that change. I came to realize this week that a successful blog, if it is to have meaning beyond the self, must in some way speak personally to you, the reader, in a genuine manner.
How to NOT to Write a Blog
Here are some tips on how NOT to write a blog:
1. Don’t Post for Days in a Row: No one is interested in what you have to say so why say it as often as every day? People don’t like an ongoing relationship so be sure to keep them at a distance with unpredictable posts. There is no better feeling than to read the same thing over and over. Leave it up to whimsy, instead of reliability, to find you.
2. Pick a Boring Blog Name: There’s nothing better for a blog than choosing a name that no one gets or understands. Be obtuse. Make no sense. Don’t use your actual name in any way because that would be too egotistical even though there is no better way to feed an ego and build self-importance than by blogging. Your name is not your brand you have not been building over a lifetime so why use that self-created goodwill in your blog?
On An Urban Semiotic
The Peter Brooks ideal of an “Urban Semiotic” can be found in his fine essay The Text of the City (from Oppositions, 1977) where he defines “urban semiotic” as:
…a way of discovering, elaborating, the codes which would allow the indifferentiated surfaces of modern urban existence to reveal their systematic meaning….
This site was named Urban Semiotic over the more familiar “Urban Semiotics” plural because the singular “Semiotic” — unlike its plural cousin — is an adjective first and a noun second and I’m never bringing any of this up again!
David W. Boles’ Urban Semiotic is where Blood and Bone Render Meaning in the City Core.
SuperAgent Matt Wagner
There are few people in the world who have the ability to be successful while also being kind and friendly.
SuperAgent to the Stars Matt Wagner is one of those special people who manages to find common ground between the needs of business and aesthetic and then strikes a fair balance between writing and commerce.
Matt and I have known each other for over a decade and each year brings a new fondness and appreciation for the hard work he does for every author and publisher in the business.
Formerly a lead agent at Waterside, Matt Wagner just started the Fresh Books Literary Agency so if you are looking for a good man and a fair spot to lay down your weary pen after finishing your monograph, touch in with Matt first to see if he can help you and tell him David W. Boles sent you.
Writing Advice for Authors
If you are an aspiring book author I want to give you some blunt author-to-author advice you will not likely get from your publisher or your agent. Agents and publishers generally do not want this sort of discussion to take place between authors because they don’t want us sharing this information.
30 Percent of Americans Read Blogs
Here’s an interesting survey from Ipsos:
Washington, DC – Debate continues about the effect that blogs are having on politics, media and public opinion in the United States. A recent survey conducted by Ipsos reveals one in three of Online Americans had read a blog at least once. More than half of blog readers say blogs influence public opinion (68%), mainstream media (56%) and public policy (54%). Updated periodically throughout the day, they provide online commentary on anything from politics to religion to celebrity gossip.
Three In Ten Online Americans Claim That They Have Read A Blog Thirty percent of the online population said they had read a blog at least once. Among those who read blogs, 38% do so at least once per week. More than two in five of those aged 18 to 34 (41%) and those with a college-education (41%) have visited blogs at least once. Geographically speaking, blogs are most popular in the western United States where 37% of residents reported visiting a blog.
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