Some Friendly Advice to a Steemit Newbie

"There are many reasons to follow someone, and they are very, very individual."
- @creatr

A newly minted Steemian stopped by with a comment today.

Steemit, for me, has thus far been a very friendly culture. At times, I have the feeling we're sitting around a cheery campfire and having an enjoyable conversation.

I had written a story about the frustration of having what I think will be a quickly finished, helpful post, turn into a half-day job.

Chatting around the Steemit campfire...
Photo courtesy of Phil Coffman and http://unsplash.com

My new Steemian friend opened with a very positive response.

"Exactly - every time I write a post, it gets dragged one way or the another. But I like the end results ;)"

Sensing someone who cares about the quality of his work, I responded:

"Ah, yes! A true writer! Results do matter! ;)"

Later on, I was a little put-off when he returned and said:

"So... Do I earn a follow?"

I'll be honest.

At first, I was tempted to ignore him and go about my business. But then I got to thinking about the future of Steemit and about the possibility that I, as an "old-timer," might be able to give him a leg up. So I wrote a rather lengthy reply.

I was tempted to go about my business.
Photo courtesy of Patrick Schneider and http://unsplash.com

Here's what I told him. I hope that, if you happen to be a new writer here, chafing at the bit to succeed, this may help you also.

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My new friend @sharananurag998,

I hope you will do well on Steemit, and I want to welcome you here. But please let me offer you a little bit of kindly intended advice.

Your original comment was interesting and intriguing. It suggested the kind of writer that I can admire, one who will keep wrestling with a piece until it is truly satisfactory.

However, your question is a little bit self-contradictory. It implies that you understand the truth that followers are earned. Yes, as writers, we definitely must earn a following. But, how is that done?

We earn followers by consistently producing quality content. We earn followers by writing things that make people smile. We earn followers by teaching. By encouraging. By raising issues that shake people out of complacency and that make them think.

Sometimes interesting and constructive comments may earn us a follower.

But here's the problem...

Your question implies that you think you deserve to be followed. Do you? Perhaps you do. However, I'd like to share a few observations with you.

Being pushy or obvious about directly seeking followers is off-putting and annoying. Perhaps the worst way to seek a follower would be to blatantly say "I followed you, so I expect you to follow me." While you haven't quite done that, a similar implication is lurking in your words.

Worse yet, if you annoy someone badly enough, they may even mute you. This means that no matter what wonderful article you may write, they will never see it (unless some friend tells them about it).

There are many reasons to follow someone, and they are very, very individual. For example, you may write brilliant horror stories, but horror is a genre that I, personally, do not care for at all, with very few exceptions. My time, as everyone's, is limited. My time for reading Steemit articles is very limited. And so, even if I were to follow you, seeing your short horror fiction pieces scroll through my blog would only be a distraction to me.

On the other hand,

your interest in text adventures is something I find appealing. Being from the "old school" myself, I have in the past immensely enjoyed the original "Adventure" game which was entirely text-based. I once even wrote an adventure interpreter and an adventure for it to interpret.

Right now, your blog is very sparse. Have you earned my follow yet? My answer must be, "I don't as yet have enough information to go on."

From what I've seen so far, you have some great things going for you. You are an excellent writer who obviously cares about style and formatting as well as content. You show great attention to detail. You are not strictly limited to a single very narrow topic (although narrow focus is not bad in itself - but if you were horror only, I would never follow you). Your blog does include at least one topic (so far) that is of some small interest to me. You even have some skills in an area in which we might arrange to do some business transactions (internet marketing).

Have you earned a follow?

You have earned an up-vote or two for the quality of a few of the articles I've looked at. You have earned this serious answer to your question. But no, you have not (yet) earned a follow.

Anura, please come back and visit me again when there is more of your work for me to look at. Please do read and interact with me as I continue to write here. Let me know if you have an interest in any of the many topics I write about.

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How did he respond?

I was very pleased at what I consider a mature and thoughtful response from a young person.

"Thanks a lot for the wonderful criticism, I look forward to being the excellent steemian which you are."
"I will be posting good and varied blog posts everyday and I'm sure that you'll follow me one day :)"

I actually went back and read more of his work. He has posted an excellent series of two articles about classic, text-based adventures. So good, I have Re-Steemed them.

When you have a chance, please have a look at @sharananurag998, welcome him to Steemit, and give him a leg up.

And if you're also a "newbie" here,

work at interacting with grace and class. You'll find Steemit to be a helpful and welcoming community.

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~FIN~

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Thanks for your time and attention.
You are why I'm here on Steemit!
I have very eclectic interests and hope, over time, to write about them all.

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