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Big Pimpin
Fast and furious is how I would describe my life lately. Barely letting my head hit the pillow at night, I’m working working and oh yeah, working. I’m not complaining, because I’m choosing to do all that I am doing. I like it, I’m passionate about it, and I don’t want to be doing anything else.
However, this–all this (picture me waving my hands around gesturing at all the places I write and work, there on your right)–is way more than just a blog. Or just a diary of my thoughts. Yes, it happens to be a blog and yes it does include my thoughts, but it’s also my brand. My product–or, my business. I do this as a career, and like any smart business person–I promote my product. Why wouldn’t I? It would be silly for me to work hard on all these things and then keep them a secret from you all.
Yesterday I received an email saying “all you do anymore is self-promotion, I’m tired of coming to your blog and being told to click somewhere else“. I won’t lie–that sentiment took a little bit of the wind out of my sails. For about 2 seconds I thought, “oh great, tomorrow I’m linking to a post I wrote at BlahBlah’s website, I guess that’s more self-promotion!.”
But then I realized, of COURSE it’s ok to link to my work. Why would I want to keep my writing a secret from all of you? That wouldn’t be fair to you and it would be just plain dumb on my part. I know when I have people whom I enjoy reading, I am GLAD to find more places I can read their writing. I can’t get enough. My secret hope is that you all feel that way about me, too. Or if you don’t, that’s ok (well it’s not ok, tell me how I can win you over), and I will move on. But to tell me that I should not be promoting my product? If an artist completed a collection and was having a showing at a gallery, would he be accused of shameless self-promotion if he told people about it? When bands go on concert tours, is it simply shameless self-promotion, or are they promoting their product and giving their audience what it wants?
I love what I do, and want to be successful, and even though I don’t think I’m “selling out” (another part of that email in question) by working with companies and PR people, I know that there is a fine line. Writers, and any artists for that matter, have a job that is intimately tied to their person. My work is my heart and soul, and I do need to protect it. I only associate myself with companies and brands that I believe in, and whose ethics are in line with me. I would never represent anyone just for exposure or just for a buck. However, dismissing any and all of that less than glamorous part of writing, simply because of a desire for “free and pure” content, is misguided at best.
In the end, I know that part of who I am is a “to each his own” free thinker, so I know that I’m not going to harbor these feelings too long today. There’s mouths to feed, laundry to be folded, writing to be published and sponsors to correspond with. So I leave you with this link, to my new baby that I’m so very proud of, and I hope that you’ll keep coming back for more of this crazy blawg, and ride this wave as long as we can, together.
Add to Kirtsy
Add to StumbleUpon
Pimp away baby!
Uh, isn’t that what a blog IS? Your personal spot on the web to use as a showcase for your life, work, whatever? Sometimes people are SO weird, I tell ya. People have said the same about me on twitter and my response? Stop following me then!
Keep pimpin’ - how else would I find your other excellent work?
Funny you write this because I just wrote a post and scheduled it for tomorrow about branching out. I write about the same thing and why I am writing elsewhere and what it does for my business. Because yes, I blog for a business and dam it I want to be successful!
That one comment is from someone who doesn’t understand what your doing and there are lots of those people out there because they don’t get mommy bloggers. Hence our email discussion. Pimp away!
I don’t think that person understands the point of “connecting” and “writing” and community.
Could just be me, though.
I would think a reader would be hurt if you didn’t tell them where they could read more of you.
We’re all feeling it lately. There are some that won’t ever understand, but they can just move on and go bring someone else down. Sell it, sister.
Steph
Hmm, I really don’t view you as a sell out. I have stumbled across a lot of new and great blogs because of ‘pimpin’. The whole point of sharing where you are writing is to ultimately SHARE your writing - right? Promote away sista and I will follow
you rock. pimp proudly. heart you!
Hey, you always have to look out for yourself, and no one is going to promote you better than YOU. So, pimp away!!!
Holy crap I’m probably next! I’ve been self-promoting my store a lot lately. I’ll probably cry if I get another meanie…just got one the other day on my “whadda you wanna know” post.
I think you’re doing awesome. One day when you’re big time, I’ll be so proud to say you’re my friend:)
As long as you’re happy with the writing that you’re putting out there / staying true to yourself, that’s all that matters (in my opinion). Every blog is not for everybody. (I know…easier said, than felt.) Keep up the great work!
You should be proud of the work you’re doing and not afraid to tell everyone what it is! Link away!
any time i read that you have picked something else up, i just applaud you every single time. you are amazing and keep on telling the world, you won’t hear any different from me!
Congrats on all your success lately, you totally deserve it!
Jen
I have clicked along happily to each place you’ve been asked to share your thoughts, I’ve found amazing new sites that touched my heart and are going to be definite keepers, and I’m ALWAYS glad to see someone excel at something that they’re good at and that they find joy in.
Although I used the phrase “self-promotion” jokingly/facetiously and you made sure to let me know that this post wasn’t about me, I just want to make sure you know that you have SOOO much to take pride in and you WOULD be shorting the rest of us if you didn’t let us know.
Thanks!
I’ll always click for you, honey. Keep on’ writing.
Thanks for writing at all — and for cluing me in to your various interests. Like you, I write for multiple sites, and compartmentalize my topics accordingly. How else would someone know you wrote on a particular topic? Thanks for all the creativity and hard work you pour into your many passions. I appreciate knowing what else you’re up to.
I love knowing about what you write and wearing your writing it.
If someone truly loves your work, or anyone person’s work, they want to know where all of it is! They want to read it, absorb it, think on it. That’s how I feel about what you write.
Don’t let any one say you are selling out, poo hoo to them!
*high five* to you for all your hard work. I’ll give you a hug and congrats at BlogHer.
Love you and your work!
I think some people are just “jealous”, I do a lot of promotion of other sites, I love spreading the word about sites that particulary interest me and sooo what if I spread the love ALOT! Its my Blog and I’ll Blog if I want to..
You keep on bloggin’ girl, don’t let anyone stop you!
I love the new site (5MinutesforGoingGreen) Girl! I added you to my blog and also I’m having my #1st giveaway and its a “Green” one, ends July 18th !
Smiles!
I thought I just added a comment.. it didn’t show up.. anyhow.. LOL
I love what your doing , some people just tend to get jealous I suppose.
I do ALOT of promotion of other sites, cause they are sites that I have personally shown interest in and why wouldn’t I want to share them with my readers, its my bloggy and I’ll blog if I want to kind of thing!
I’m having my #1st giveaway which happens to be a Green one! So please check it out and I’ve also added 5MinutesforGoingGreen to my bloggy!
Smiles!
Be proud!!! Scream it from the top of the mountains.
You have a God given talent to write.
You should share!
I believe there is always a few out there who are ready to pounce and bring ya down. Just don’t listen to em’
18.
Be proud!!! Scream it from the top of the mountains.
I had the wrong website link above…sorry
You have a God given talent to write.
You should share!
I believe there is always a few out there who are ready to pounce and bring ya down. Just don’t listen to em’
One of the purposes of Blog Nosh Magazine (ALERT: self promotion) is to “reward” bloggers for writing solid content on their personal blogs. To encourage bloggers to not make their personal blogs just one big redirect to their writing being showcased on bigger (and better?) sites.
Write something outstanding? Publish it on your own blog, don’t save it for someplace else that has greater traffic.
That being said, I farm out my writing to a handful of different sites for a handful of different reasons. The primary reason? My personal blog’s audience has encouraged me to spread my wings and fly from the platform that is blogging.
My readers have told me that they would like to see my writing elsewhere and have given me the confidence to send it out. Then I go back to them and say, “Hey, I did it. Come see!”
People that jump into the fray in the middle may not understand, but I can’t please everyone and I can not write for the lowest common denominator. So there you go.
I agree. Write where you want. I think it offers an opportunity for a different core of readers to hear your message. Keep it up.
I would keep coming to your blog for the banner alone!
I think the self-promotion is great, as well as promoting other bloggers. I love links in posts and click them about 99% of the time - it’s a way to get to know the people you read just a little bit more.
(btw, first time reader, first time commenter - got some catchin up to do!)
Sure, blogs are self-promotion. But that’s saying something different from “It’s okay to turn a formerly content-full blog into a link-blog to other sites.”
I don’t know what your blog is like apart from this post, so I don’t know if you’ve changed radically and that’s what annoyed this reader. But I have read other blogs that turned into forwarding jobs. I’m not unappreciative of the coolness of being asked to write for other sites (I do it myself) but if I build a relationship with a blogger, even in my own head, that’s going to be tied up with a specific URL first and foremost. I know that sounds ridiculous, because the writing shouldn’t be different on other sites, but that’s just the way I feel about it. Blogs are so short-attention-span forms of reading that I don’t have time to consider the big picture: “Is it better for me to support this person in her writing by clicking through to another site, or do I save my time and move further down the Reader?”
I suppose that what I’m saying here is that your reader’s sentiment seems intelligible to me, even if it wasn’t stated very diplomatically. And maybe it’s just incorrect. Maybe the majority of the time there is still new content being posted here, and it’s just that the link posts stick out in his/her mind, completely unfairly. But you need to be the one who determines that you are happy with the balance of content and promotion. Just do it in a way that doesn’t make the fallacious leap from “blogs are self-promotion” to “it’s okay to do nothing but promote other sites”.
Can I have some of your energy? I can feel your passion for what you do when I read your blog. Go ahead and promote…if others are not interested, they can move on. You Go Girl….work it…own it. (I know it’s not my line, I’ve watched Pretty Women too often)….See you tonight! Can’t wait to party….
I think with comments like that there is probably a wee bit of jealousy involved. You should be proud of all the work and writing you’ve been doing, and of course you should share with your readers the other places they can find your writing - if we want to see you here, of course we want to see you there.
Bah. That was written by a person who doesn’t know how to self-promote and always wonders why they’re underpaid and someone else gets the promotion at work. You have to toot your own horn in life, because no one else is going to do it for you.
Work it I say. Do what makes you happy.
What happened to blog and let blog?
Hi there, I just clicked over from Megan’s link on Twitter. I find this discussion very interesting and I must say that I’m inclined to agree with Backpacking Dad’s sentiments on this one.
Like him, this is the first time that I’ve visited you, so I can’t say whether there is any validity to your reader’s claim, but I think that if I were accustomed to a certain type of voice or writing on a blog (which is the reason why I return to the blogs that I read), and the author started linking out more and more to other sites where the “product” is different from what his or her readers have grown to love, I would feel disappointed. I have actually stopped reading blogs where the ratio of content rich posts to linked out posts became very imbalanced.
This is not to say that you shouldn’t promote your writing - it’s what you need to do to succeed as a writer - but it does help to think about the “brand” your blog readers have come to love and expect and make sure that they are still getting a healthy dose of it when they come to visit.
I think that we can all agree that if my product or brand truly changed, then we’d have an entirely different thing going on here.
Below is what I emailed to Backpacking Dad in response to his comment, and yours, too, rimarama:
Hey BD, thanks for visiting and leaving this thoughtful comment.
And you’re right, that reader would have a great point if I had actually turned into a link-blog. However, I’ve always been content-full, and even when I link to my other work I try to turn it into an interesting post otherwise. My blog is ME, and so that means I will be writing about all the things that are coming out of my heart and soul, and sometimes that’s a reflection on the struggle my kids have with autism, and other days it’s telling you I’m writing about some other topic somewhere else.
I remembered an Erma Bombeck quote today, and sometime when she was being interviewed she was asked about how long she is going to keep writing about her family and her life, and she responded with something along the lines of (I can’t find the exact quote, sorry) “The readers and the 700 newspapers that carry my work seem to think I’m doing something right, I’ll let them decide”.
I’m realizing now that the negativity may be jealousy, which sucks and I wish that was not behind it, because I do value true constructive criticism. It just feels like this person couldn’t handle me posting about one more success, and that’s sad. I don’t post about them to be bragging or rub it in, but if I don’t promote myself, who will?
And btw, I don’t typically write about every little negative email I receive, it’s just that this mentality (bloggers are just pimping themselves out non-stop) has been popping up way too much lately.
`Arianne (To Think Is To Create)
Well, I thought i’d posted something yesterday, but apparently it didn’t go through and now everyone has really posted all the same sentiments I would have. Be proud of your work. Stay true to your craft. Be fearless in your creativity.
–Anissa @Hope4Peyton
I think there is a fine line between writing and self-promotion. Definitely, let others know where you are writing…those who want to follow, will. I wonder if the problem comes (and I am not saying you do this at all!) when it is all about the other sites, and not about the blog that started it all. I have seen this, and honestly, if there is no original content on a blog, just links to click? I click outta there.
Keep thinking, and keep creating. You have enough people reading you, they speak volumes.
Now I’m starting to feel nervous because I have to finish wrapping up details for a party Thursday night and need to post the next few days about the sponsors that are making that party happen.
What can you do?
I am ALL ABOUT the pimping. Bring it, sister.
I haven’t been a reader for long, so perhaps I’m off-base here, but it seems quite obvious that you have a LOT of projects going on in your life right now. So if you are to accurately portray what’s going on for you, of course you’re going to link to those projects! Personally, I love the “pimping,” as it gives me new sites to enjoy and explore.
Keep doing what you’re doing–I think you’re doing a great job.
As a fellow mom-prenuer, I can’t believe you let this issue take up so much of your time. Clearly the person having the issue with self-promotion does not understand that blogging has taken on a whole new dimension in the last few years. It’s more common now to find a blog that plugs a product, site or idea. There are only a few blogs that are actually online diaries anymore.
The fact is, companies realize how hot blogging is and they want to capitalize on that to bring attention to their product and traffic to their web site. And if you like their stuff, agree with their line of thinking, then link away……
My final thought: the really nice thing about owning your own business is that you can allow for as much creativity as you want. So keep being creative, it’s what you do best!
Lisa
“If everyone’s thinking alike, then no one’s thinking” - forgot who said that
Wow! HOT topic! I’m shocked that someone has enough time in there life to go out of their way to send such an e-mail. The point is, you have A LOT going on right now, and since blogging and writing is your business, that is what you will be talking about. As women, and mothers I believe we should be doing ALL we can to support each other, and our individual passions and ambitions. I am so proud of you, and all of your hard work and success. You are finally being noticed for the awesome writer you are, and its so great to watch! Keep on pimpin’ girl, as well as all you other writers! Love you.
Oh and you ALWAYS add content to your linkage posts- you and Steph do this better than anyone, so they can all just suck it! Just kidding, did I actually say that? You inspired me from breakfast!
Thats so mean… I saw preach it! We all do it in a way and keep it up! They must have been jealous!
Ahhh the green eye of envy…it hits hard. As a business owner I’ve felt this a lot in my circle also. Don’t worry about those few people…the ones that really care about you will be HAPPY for you and be happy to click thru to your links!
You have a great blog and this post just makes me want to see what you sell/do/write…from one business women to another. Keep it up! E-mails like the one you received, well confuse me. Why don’t they just move on and read one of the other million blogs out there.
Peace and blessings-
Donna
If you can’t pimp yourself, what’s the point? Blogging is all about making connections, isn’t it? Tell these folks to get a life, or a blog, or something!
What a thought-provoking post! I have to say that I agree that speaking about your projects and what you’re up to is absolutely relevant to your blog, and that every reader has the freedom to look elsewhere. And certainly you shouldn’t let someone’s individual opinion or disappointment get you down!
I had the thought though, without having seen their comment, that your fan have been acting *not* out of jealously but actually out of a hope that you would bring more of a balance toward content on your blog, because they actually enjoy those posts and want more of them.
Although it sounds like they could have been a lot more considerate in the way they phrased their response, I am really into the idea these days (inspired by a fellow twitter friend) that even “bad things” can actually play themselves out as positive influences in the long run. Not to say that they’re “right”, but just that they may have a little “hint” of something that you can hold on to for just when you need it.
If that were the case, then in a strange way you could almost thank this person for having the audacity to be honest, while also cherishing your own value.
Just a thought…
I just clicked over from NewBaby.com so i have no idea what kind of posts you typically write. But this one was interesting enough that I’ll be adding your feed to my reader!
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