Blog Changes--Threaded Comments!--and a PSA

 

Confession: I've been a naughty blogger.

Yep, that's right. Because lately, I've become a slacker when it comes to replying to all of your comments. I know, I know. I can come up with all the excuses--I'm writing a book against a deadline, my kidlet has been sick a lot this winter, my time seems to be an endangered species, Twitter has sucked me into the vortex.

But really, they're not the true reasons. It's definitely not because I'm not interested in doing it. You guys always have great things to say and I love reading and responding to them. However, the real reason is that the commenting system on blogger makes the process so tedious, that sometimes by the end of the day, I just am not very motivated to put forth the effort. Shame on me.

I've waited for a year and a half, hoping Blogger could figure out a way to get threaded comments a la Wordpress. I don't want to leave the Blogger platform because I love all the other features and the ease of use. But alas, there is still no indication that Blogger is going to be implementing this change anytime soon. Therefore, I have decided to go for the best of both worlds and to try a new outside commenting system so that I can have threaded comments--yay!--but can still stay on Blogger.

Hopefully this new IntenseDebate system will help me be a better bloggy friend.

Here's what I think about it so far...

Benefits:

• I can reply directly under each comment to that specific person instead of having to do the long list of @ in one big comment.
• You guys can now reply to each other if you're so inclined. 
• Makes discussion easier.
• Anyone can leave a comment easily--as a guest, an OpenID, or a Twitter ID.
• Installing it does not effect any of my old posts or the previous comments made, only future posts.
• It was super easy to install.
• UPDATE: New benefit discovered--when I receive the comment notification in my inbox, I can just hit reply to the email and it will post my reply to the comment on the blog. Awesome.

Drawbacks:

• We shall see. Hopefully it doesn't discourage people from making comments because you have to type in your name and email the first time you comment.
• My blogger dashboard won't show how many comments each post has when I view the screen that lists all my posts.
• UPDATE: New drawback--if someone just clicks onto the main blog and not the title of the post, no comment form shows up. :(  I am adding a line at the bottom of the post to click through. This seems to be the biggest drawback so far. (Thanks to Terry Odell for bringing it to my attention.) Yay! Problem fixed itself. Woot.
• UPDATE: When someone clicks to follow comments, they get an email to confirm the subscription by clicking, so one extra step.

Thanks to Sierra for trying it first, which made it less scary for me to make the switch (I fear change) because I was able to get her feedback on how she liked it. :)

SO here's the deal: You will have to enter your name, email, and (optional) website to make a comment the first time or sign in with your twitter or openID to make a comment. However, once you do that the first time, when you come back to the site again, all your information will already be filled in. So hopefully it will be pretty painless for everyone. It also will also allow non-Blogger people greater ease in commenting.

I'm looking for your feedback, however, so leave a comment and let me know what you think of the new system.

And now a PSA...

My rockstar of an agent, Sara Megibow, is giving a really cool workshop (January 13) via webinar on opening pages and with your registration, you'll get a critique of your first three pages! How awesome is that? You know those first few pages are vital in hooking an agent or publisher and sometimes they feel impossible to get right. So this is a way to a) learn more about openings and b) get actual professional feedback on your opening. If you're interested, all the registration info is on the Writer's Digest site HERE.

Alright, so I hope you all have a great weekend!. But don't forget to tell me what you think. I'd love to hear back from all of you. :)

What do you think of the new commenting system? Are you as desperate for threaded comments as I am? Have you found a good system or method to replying to comments on your own site? And when you make a comment on a blog and don't get a response, does it make you less likely to visit again?

Commenting on Comments - What's Your Opinion?

Hope everyone had a good weekend.  Today I have a quick question:  What do you expect from your blog friends with regards to commenting?

Sierra posted today about the Canon of a Good Blog Host today (apparently she's my new blogging muse because I keep getting ideas from her).  She purported that a good blog host responds to comments in the comments section (not via email).   And I hear where she's coming from--I even have my own canon on How to be a Good Blogger that I did last year.

Last week, after reading Simon's post about switching his tactics, I tried the suggested method of responding via email because I was finding it difficult to respond to each and every comment in the comments section.  Scrolling back and forth and listing everyone's name, etc. was taking forever.  (Here is where I send out my general plea to Blogger to implement threaded comments like Wordpress has.)  I'm not sure if I love the email method or not, especially since some people don't have their email address linked to their blogger and therefore, I can't reply, so they get left out.

So I'm putting out the question to you guys.  What do you prefer/expect a blogger to do?

1.  The blogger responds to every comment in the comments section.  (This means you come back or subscribe to comments so that you can see if someone replied to you.)

2.  The blogger responds to an occasional comment within the comments section so that you know he/she is part of the conversation but not each and every one.

3.  The blogger emails a response to your comment.

4.  The blogger doesn't need to respond because once you comment, you don't check back.

I'm really curious because I love comments and hearing what everyone has to say, and I definitely don't want anyone to feel ignored.  However, I also have to find some way to balance the time I spend on blog stuff with the time I spend on actual writing and on general life stuff.

So what's your opinion?  And what do you try to do on your own blog?

**Today's Theme Song**

"Whataya Want From Me" - Adam Lambert

(player in sidebar, take a listen)

An Apology

In the words of Fiona Apple--I've been a bad, bad girl.  And it's about time I start apologizing.  Blogging is important to me.  Every day I try to come up with a post that I think you guys will get something out of.  Sometimes I accomplish that, sometimes not.  But despite what's going on in my life, I usually try to make sure I post five days a week.  So that, I've stuck to.

However, what I have slacked off on is what I like about blogging the most--interacting with all my bloggy friends.  You guys are brilliant and insightful and supportive.  You write blog posts that make me think or laugh or teach me something.  And I used to dedicate a big part of my morning to reading and commenting on all these posts--not out of some reciprocation obligation, but because I enjoyed it.

But over the last few months, I can say, I've gotten to the point where I barely read more than five or so blogs most days.  And usually it's because someone tweeted the post and I can easily click over to it when the title catches my attention.  Even my industry standbys--Nathan Bransford, Janet Reid, Pub Rants--have gone from daily reads to occasional ones.

I also used to respond to every comment left on one of my posts because, seriously, I LOVE getting comments and am so thankful to those of you who take the time to say something.  I still read each and every comment, but there are days I don't get around to responding back in the comments (and yes, I'm still bitter that Blogger doesn't have threaded comments to make this more efficient).

And I wish I had some respectable excuse as to why, but really it's just a combination of things.  One is that the more followers I get (thanks to all of you, btw), the harder it is to make sure I get out to everybody's blogs.  It also means I don't auto-follow back anymore because I don't want to make a promise to someone by following and then never make it back over to their blog.  The other thing is that when I'm in rough drafting mode, I'm consumed with the need to write and between doing the normal life things we all have (being a mom, wife, housekeeper, cook, friend, critique partner, etc.), I only have so much time to dedicate to other things--so doing blog stuff falls to the wayside if I have decide between it and writing.

Now, I know that's not a unique story--each one of you balances similar things each day--but I'm just letting you know why I've become a less active blog buddy.  It is not because I don't heart you.

Crap, did I just say it's not you, it's me?  Well, it's the truth.  :)  I'm going to try to do better, but I doubt I will ever be able to maintain the level of commenting and blog reading I used to until I'm in editing mode again.  So, I hope that you will continue to stop by and comment even though I'm not always the best reciprocator.  And if you have any tips to share on how you balance your blog stuff with your writing, let me know!

So am I only the one feeling this guilt?  How do you balance your blogging/internet stuff with your writing and every day life stuff?  Do you expect blog reciprocation--here's a great article on that btw)?

**Today's Theme Song**

"Criminal" - Fiona Apple

(player in sidebar, take a listen)

How to Win Followers and Influence People

Photo via Ben Stanfield

I love blogging. I love my followers. And I'm a total comment whore. Therefore, I feel very fortunate that I have you guys as part of my day. I never expected when I started this that I would discover so many great people and have such a great experience. I honestly was surprised when I hit my first ten followers. Like, really? Ten people want to read what I have to say? I would have never guessed that a few months later I would have eclipsed the 150 mark. So thanks!

I used to look at people who had over a hundred followers with amazement--like wow, how'd they do that? Well, now I realize it's no big mystery. So today I figured I would list some of the things you can do if you want to gain readership and comments. Some of these are obvious, but I wanted to cover all the bases:

1. If you want to be followed, follow.

--If you're just starting blogging, this is the best way to gain followers. Go find blogs you like and follow them. Many will return the favor.

--Once you start gaining momentum and those follower numbers increase, then the scale starts to tip and people begin following you first. So don't be a diva, go check their blog out and if you like it, follow them back.

2. Comment!

--I ♥ comments. The fact that someone took those few seconds to tell me what they thought makes me happy. So I try to provide the same for others. If all you do is lurk on blogs, you probably won't get many comments of your own (unless you're famous, already published, have already developed a base, or have some established platform.)

3. When people comment on your blog, try to respond to the comments.

--I try to do this most days--sometimes I run out of time. But in the comments section, I try to respond to each comment. That way it feels more like a conversation. And many people subscribe to comments via email or check back on blogs later--make sure you let them know you heard them.

--Some people also respond to comments individually via email instead of in the comments section. That is also effective, especially if you start getting loads of comments.

--Of course, we wouldn't have to do it in these tedious ways if BLOGGER WOULD GET FREAKING THREADED COMMENTS! Okay, I feel better. Maybe I'll start a petition.

4. Make sure that when people click on your name from a comment you leave that it leads to either your blogger profile or directly to your blog.

--I try to comment on every blog that left me a comment each day, so if I don't have that link in the comment email, I'm probably not going to hunt it down.

5. Ensure your google friend/follower button also links to your profile or website.

--Lately, I have been getting new followers, who, when I click on their little picture it just shows me who they follow, but doesn't list their website. So for those of you out there, if I'm not following you back, that may be why--I don't know how to find your website.

--To check this, go click on your follower picture on someone else's site. If it's not showing, change your settings.

6. Having multiple blogs can make it confusing.

--When I click on someone's profile and they have four blogs, I'm not sure which one is most related to writing or whatever our common ground is. I'm probably not going to check each one. And this will divide up your followers.

--So, if you have multiple blogs, I would suggest making the title clear enough that people can figure out the subject of the blog.

--Also, you can hide certain blogs from your profile if you want to funnel people to one instead of the other. For instance, I have a blog for my son, but it's for my family, so I don't list it in my profile.

7. Keep a regular blogging schedule.

--If you only post once a month, people will probably not remember to come back.

--It's okay not to post every day, just make sure you follow some pattern that people can expect. For instance, I blog M-F, occasionally I'll throw something in on the weekends, but that's rare. So you guys know that every day of the workweek, I'll have something new on here. (If not, someone send out a search party, I've been kidnapped.)

8. Write blogs that people care about.

--Remember, this is only if you want to gain followers/comments/etc. If the blog is just your outlet and you don't care if people are reading or not, then it's fine to do whatever you want.

--However, if you do want people reading, don't just have nonsense posts all the time. Figure out what commodity you are offering the reader--why would they want to come back?

--I've chosen a teaching/information sharing model. So if you come here (most days) I hope you are able to take away a little nugget of helpful information. For other blogs the takeaway may be humor or shared experiences or an ongoing story or book recommendations or contests.

9. Beware big blocks of text and posting large writing samples.

--I have to watch for this because my posts are long. So I try to break things into bullet points or lists or isolate different sections in a different color.

--Also, this is just my opinion, but huge passages of your fiction writing can also scare people away. Not because of the writing, but when someone follows 100 blogs and they hit a big story excerpt that

a)they have to read without knowing context and

b) have to comment on--which is precarious because it's like critting someone's work, they may just click by.

(However, if this is the purpose of your blog and what people expect, like public query slushpile, than that's okay. Your followers have signed up for that.)

10. Ask a question at the end of each post.

Involve your readers, make it easy for them to comment. A question gives them something to ponder and share.

11. Practice good karma

Link to other bloggers when you find something helpful on their blog. Honor others with those pat on the back awards.

12. Be sincere.

If you're only mission is to get as many comments as you can, so you go and comment "great post" on everyone's blog without reading them, people will realize what you're doing.

13. Technical stuff

Get rid of that little word verification box that people have to fill out to make a comment.

--Man I hate those. I can't tell you how many times I type of my comment, hit publish, then close the window, only to realize that a verification box had popped up and I just lost my comment.

--This is the standard setting on blogger, so if you want to change it, you need to do it in your settings under "comments", choose no for word verification.

I changed mine ages ago and have had no problems with spam.

Remove the comment approval/moderation feature unless you have a specific issue with ugly commenters.

--This makes it confusing sometimes because it looks like your commetn didn't post. Plus it often prevents commenters from seeing the previous comments so they can't respond to those.

Embed your comment form instead of having it have a pop up window, this makes commenting quicker.

--Go to Settings-->comments-->select the embed comment form feature

Alright, those are my tips. What are yours? Or what are your pet peeves that turn you away from a blog or commenting? What makes you return to a blog time and time again?

 

 

**Today's Theme Song**

"I Will Follow Him"-- Sister Act Soundtrack

(player in sidebar, take a listen)

Super Comments Award

Rachel over at Book Wars (a great book review site--go check her out!) was kind enough to nominate me for the Super Comments Award. I haven't heard of this one before, but it's pretty cool. So thanks!

There doesn't seem to be any rules except to nominate 5 others (I have 6). Since it is a comment award, I went through my last few posts and selected the people who can always be counted on to leave me a comment. These ladies are very busy with their own blogs, so I appreciate the fact that they take time out to comment on mine.

So without further ado, I nominate...

1. Stephanie Faris at Steph in the City

2. Susan at Lazy Writer

3. Tess at Tess Hilmo

4. Strange Fiction at Ranch Girl Ramblings

5. Anna at Anna C. Morrison

6. Jody Hellund at On the Path

Ladies, do not feel obligated to repost this, but do so if you like. :) This is more a thank you than anything else.

Hope everyone has a great weekend! I will be beating my head against my laptop, cursing the creator of the synopsis trying to whittle down an eight page synopsis to 2-3 pages.