The Importance of the Reply

This is a post that I have been meaning to write for quite some time now. As a writer, I understand the importance of being out there. A name people will hear, recognize and learn to bow down to… um… ultimately investigate my writing and perhaps purchase my books.

As an Indie Writer this is even more important. I do not have a publishing house behind me, I don't have an agent pushing my name around. In short, I am, much like the rest of you, in this alone. Therefore a relationship with any potential readers is pivotal.

Social media aside, I think one of the most important places that you can build this relationship is through your blog.

I think of my Blog as the Amino Acids of my writing. The building blocks that my whole reputation is based upon. I mean social media is ok, but there you are part of a large community. With a blog, each visit – random search engine finds aside – is a much more personal experience.

My blog is the basis of my platform. Ok, I may reach more people via social media such as Twitter and Facebook, but it is here that I show who I am. It is here through their blog that a writer really communicates. Therefore, whenever anybody takes the time to comment on a piece I write, I reply to them.

I think the reply is a writers / bloggers most important tool. I always – ok, I'm not perfect, but 99% of the time – leave a comment for everybody who comments on my blog. Not just some generic text I can copy and paste, but a personalized comment. I reference what they said and prove that I actually read what they had to say.

Oddly enough, I do not do this for my readers, but rather for myself. I want to do everything I can to show people that I read what they say, and that I truly, and I mean truly, appreciate the fact that they take some time out of their lives to not only read what I have to say, but to comment on it.

Each comment I receive touches me, and to some degree humbles me.

I have seen a great many (both) writers and bloggers promote themselves and write long flowing posts every couple of days, they get fifteen twenty comments per post, but I never see a reply. Or if there is one, it is always to the same person. If you look, it is also the main person they interact with on Twitter, Facebook… social media in general. Now, I am not one to stand and throw out character defamation, and it is not my intention now. I will not name names either, because I see no point in it. But, I do feel it reflects poorly on a blogger if they cannot take the time to thank the people who make their site, their books possible.