Maybe An Editorial Calendar Would Help
A thousand years ago when I started blogging people used to complain that I updated my blog too frequently. They said my pace made it impossible to keep up with and I said there was never an obligation to read everything I write.
They said my pace made it impossible to keep up.
I always appreciated the sentiment but found it funny that they felt obligated to read it all.
Today I rarely update two or three times a day, every day the way I used to and it is no longer unusual for me to take the weekend off.
Reader Expectations
Some of you might wonder how much weight I give to meeting my reader’s expectations, especially after I mentioned some people complained about how frequently I update.
The answer is I don’t let my readers guide all I do nor do I disregard their wishes entirely.
I do my best to produce and publish content that interests me based upon a schedule that fits my day.
The idea is that if I am bored by what I am writing I can’t expect you to be interested either. And I figure that if you like my writing you’ll figure out what my publishing schedule is and respond accordingly.
All that being said I realized that since I’ll be gone for a few days the content I post before I leave will go stale and that is not good for retaining readers.
Had I thought about this in advance I could have planned for it and written a couple of posts to fill the gaps.
Maybe An Editorial Calendar Would Help
In concept it could keep me more organized and help prevent minor problems like the one I just described.
However I prefer to let the content here generate on a more organic basis so I have avoided using the calendar. Thus far that has worked pretty well for me but there may come a time where I am too busy to write without mapping it all out in advance.
Since I haven’t done it yet what you are reading now is a five-minute post I wrote Monday morning. It is scheduled to go live on Wednesday and to potentially serve as a placeholder until Friday night…maybe.
I might find time to blog and decide that I am willing to do so with my phone in which case this post won’t hold the same weight as it would if I didn’t update.
But in case I don’t you have this and the links below to keep you company until I return.
- How To Become A Better Writer- Build Your Vocabulary
- If You Write It They Will Come
- The Best Cover Letter….Ever
- Some Things I’ll Teach My Children (Updated)
- One Slightly Used Pump For Sale
- 1 Foolproof Way To Become a Better Writer
- A Father Describes Parenting
- The GermoPhobe
- Donuts
- An Uncertain Certainty
- Four Generations & A Wedding
- The Best Thing My Father Ever Said To Me
- Twenty-Five Links That Will Make You A Better Writer/Blogger
See you soon.
Tim Bonner April 30, 2015 at 9:31 am
Interesting that you mention how much weight you give to meeting a reader’s expectation. That’s a post I have in draft to write about. The subject comes up from time to time on my blog so I thought I’d talk about it at some point!
I don’t write on my blog as often as I used to. I still publish once a week or as much as I can. I use CoSchedule as my editorial calendar but in all honesty I could get away without using it. I like the fact that it publishes posts to social media too though so for now I’ll keep it.
Jack April 30, 2015 at 10:19 am
I try to balance reader interest against my interest and availability.
I have to look at CoSchedule, Sounds like might be useful.
Jens-Petter Berget April 30, 2015 at 11:53 am
I’m sure you’ll like it. It’s very helpful.
Birdman April 29, 2015 at 4:34 pm
I tried scheduling posts before when I knew I would be driving for a few days. I didn’t like it that much, so I quit doing it. I guess I didn’t know you when you were posting several times a day, but like you said, we don’t have to read all of them.
Jack April 29, 2015 at 6:02 pm
I don’t update with the same frequency and haven’t in a long while. But for a while I had one reader in particular who would complain and I would always ask them why they felt obligated to read everything.
Jens-Petter Berget April 29, 2015 at 12:10 pm
I was about to ask you if you schedule your post, but I discovered the answer close to the end of the article.
I use a editorial calendar (CoSchedule). I use it to schedule posts, and to have an overview of my posts. This helps me stay productive, and it helps me write a variations of posts.
I don’t think you need to be publishing at specific times and at specific days of the week. It’s very easy to keep up with everything now that you’re using Postmatic.
Jack April 29, 2015 at 6:03 pm
I suppose if I get busier I might choose to look at a calendar as a tool to help me stay organized, but up to now I have managed without it. Might check out CoSchedule just to see what it looks like,