Curmudgeon Grumbles; Steemit Needs More READERS!
"The ability to read awoke inside me some long dormant craving to be mentally alive."
- Malcolm X -
I feel a huge disturbance in the force...
In order for good writers to succeed on Steemit, we desperately need more readers.
Steemit: Readers wanted.
Photo courtesy of Lacie Slezak and http://unsplash.com
When I was a boy,
I received Boy's Life Magazine by mail once a month. I remember the excitement when Boy's Life arrived in our mailbox on Route 25A. Open the mailbox, pull out a stack of mail. Boy's Life is here!
I'd rush home, dump the rest of the mail on the table, and sit down to check out the table of contents.
Any issue that had a story by Donald Keith or by Bertrand R. Brinley was a gift from heaven.
Donald Keith wrote a series of stories about Boy Scouts who discovered a real, honest-to-God time machine buried under a pile of rocks in a canyon near home. The stories were later collected into books.
Bertrand R. Brinley wrote stories about the neighborhood boys in a small midwestern town who were interested in science and technology. The first in the series was titled "The Strange Monster of Strawberry Lake." The stories were later gathered into a book called "The Mad Scientists Club."
My point is this:
I love to read. Even as a boy, I knew what I liked to read, who my favorite authors were, and I was loyal to them. I ravenously devoured everything they wrote as soon as I could get my hands on it.
As a Steemit author, I crave readers.
Sure, 'bots are nice, but I really want eyes on my writing, and want to hear from the people attached to them.
I crave readers.
Photo courtesy of Patrik Göthe and http://unsplash.com
I want you to keep coming back to my Steemit Library and find delightful stories and curious writings and musing of every kind. I want my writing to give you that "I can't wait for the next issue" feeling.
At times, I want to cry...
When I spend hours on a piece presenting vital health information, then only about a dozen people actually look at it? It's just plain sad.
Maybe Steemit isn't big enough yet?
Maybe as the membership grows, more people will show up to read what I write?
I console myself with the thought that what I write will be here, preserved on the blockchain, for a long time to come. Maybe I should be grateful for those dozen, and look forward to the future multitude that will ultimately find and read my work.
Please help me out?
I write about a lot of different things.
What do you most like to hear about? What can I do to make you feel that you just can't wait for my next article?
Thanks in advance for any thoughts you may have to share.
~FIN~
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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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Wow, does that ever bring back memories of Hardy Boys books.
I grew up begging my parents for every Hardy Boys book I could find. Like you, each adventure was a chance to indulge my love of reading, and let the imagination ride off into a mysterious land.
Frankly, you and I have a lot of similar interests so I enjoy anything you write, haha.
I was a huge Hardy Boys fan as well. When I started reading them, they still came in printed paper slipcovers rather than the present-day color-printed-on bindings. They were still the "good stuff," however. Now you're priming me for another post about the best and favorite books... :D
Thank you for your great comment, and for enjoying what I write! :) :) :)
Haha, happy to inspire for another great article! :D
Of course! Hope it encouraged you a bit.
I find your writing very interesting, your readers will grow just keep doing what your doing :)
Thank you, Karen dear! :D
I need all the encouragement I can get!
Your great hun and your doing well :)
Hmm, didn't you read Tom Swift?
Ha ha, don't worry, I didn't read the Hardy Boys until 20 yrs. ago, and then I began collecting the original editions, not the sanitized 80's stuff.
Writers covet readers more than rewards, but rewards enable us to continue writing, which is starting to get quite expensive when I add up all my computing costs, site hosting fees and various internet services.
I think so many steemians are trying to generate their own content and curating others' that they just don't have time to read.
Yes, of course I read Tom Swift. Have you read any Rick Brant Science Adventures? ;)
We need a "new breed" of Steemian, those who are here simply to read and enjoy it! ;)
nope, can't say I have :)
If you ever find one, grab it.
Rick Brant Science Adventures are wonderful juveniles. They are sort of like a hybrid of Tom Swift and the Hardy Boys. Rick is a "Tom Swift," only more realistic. He uses electronic and other "real world" technologies.
I feel a post about juvenile fiction coming on.... ;)
ha ha ...Go for it!
Too many posts in the pipe, not enough time!
Like you, the muse must strike and then I'll be all over it! ;)
I grew up in the 90s and Nickelodeon Magazine was what I waited for. My brother was born in the 70s so I remember getting a few hand me down Boys Life's. As someone who writes stories and more I wish steemit had more readers as well. It' such a waste sometimes to work hard on something you feel is wonderful and have it ignored.
Thanks for sharing your experience and reflecting on the problem! :D
I actually love reading your posts @creatr. But posts get lost almost immediately in the feed, and out of sight on steemit can sometimes mean out of mind, especially as we follow more and more people. :/
Thank you, my relatively new friend @tlester! Your encouragement is very much appreciated!
Yes, the very way that the Steemit UI functions is a serious problem! Unless you happen to "grab the brass ring" when your post first appears, it falls to invisibility.
This is why devices like my Topical Table of Contents are important, I think... Why at some point I must "trim" my "Following" list... Why I crave readers who will keep coming back, whether they've noticed a post in their feed or not... and why HF19 had d**m well better have the promised "editability" feature!!! ;)
Preach @creatr! I think you do a marvelous job on here and I always look forward to reading your blog posts. I agree with you completely - while it's nice to get upvotes, I appreciate it even more when people actually read my posts and engage me in the comments section.
I'm sure when Steemit becomes even more popular as the year goes by, we'll get more readers for our posts - keep up the faith!
Thank you, my friend, for your very kind remarks. You encourage me, and I appreciate that a lot! :D
You're very welcome. You never cease to inspire me with your writing and insightful thoughts. It's thanks to hard-working Steemians like yourself that I continue to write every single day on Steemit - thanks @creatr!
I'm upvoting right now! I've upvoted. Nice post from @creatr Thanks for sharing!
The number of views can be disheartening. Worse still can be comments which show that the content has not been read! I think just by carrying on the way you are people will be itching for your very next article!
Hi, @meesterboom!
You are encouraging, Thanks! ;)
I love to read. Glad to have found you. Look forward to reading your work. I am interested in health issues also. Following, upvoted and resteemed.
Thank you for the kind words, and for the Re-Steem! :D
Although it is somewhat out of date, you can find a convenient arrangement of my articles in this Topical Table of Contents.
Let me know if there's anything you particularly like! ;)
On my God, I love it all. I could be forever. So many things I want to read.
I'm brand new to Steemit and am learning a lot. Loved your thoughts. Following and upvoted. Keep on Keepin' on with your dreams.
Thank you, and Welcome! ;)