Why, hello there.
I’ve been compiling some feedback from readers and subscribers and I’ve decided to announce a few changes, based on these factors which have been communicated to me:
Fewer blog posts that are more in depth are preferred to more frequent, but shorter, posts.
Most subscribers read only the email version, and therefore do not share, comment, or otherwise “interact” with the blog posts.
Only about half of the subscribers actually open and read the emails.
The podcast isn’t easy to listen to, at the computer, and the podcast player imbedded in the website doesn’t come through in the email, anyway.
So, as we turn the page on 2014, I will be making some changes.
First, fewer posts. Those of you who are members of the “blog post by email” list will receive fewer emails. I have been researching a way to exclude the podcast blog post each week from the feed that automatically sends out the blog post emails. I believe I have figured out how to do that. So, starting this week, you should NOT receive an email that a new podcast is posted. This was described as an annoyance, and I don’t intend to make my content annoying.
I will also be posting “regular” blog posts less frequently. The average will be one each week. Some weeks, if I have two closely-connected posts (like the two posts about the poetic mindset, last week) I may post two. Some weeks, I may post none. The blog posts that follow this announcement will likely be a bit longer, and a little deeper, but less frequent. I will still hope to see comments or social media shares, but I will stop asking for them, and I will stop including a question at the end of the post that is meant to start conversation. It doesn’t work. So I am phasing it out. I may, also, disable comments at some point, as well, but for now, I will continue to keep them available. I was hopeful that the new comment rules and tweaks would help spur new comments, but that doesn’t seem to be the case. If most readers only look at the email, then they aren’t interested in leaving a comment on the blog post. I get it.
(The other option is to make every email just a preview of the blog post, with a “click here” link to the website and force people to read posts that way, but I have decided against that strategy.)
If you want to be notified of new podcast episodes, I strongly recommend you install a podcast app on your smart phone or tablet device if you haven’t already, then subscribe to the More Stories podcast. You WILL be able to see the podcast posts on the website and blog, still, but there should no longer be a separate email announcement that hits your inbox, if you are subscribed to the email list. Show details, links to resources, and other podcast info will remain available at www.MoreStoriesPodcast.com.
I will likely be producing more short videos in the coming year, and those videos will probably be posted on Friday, if I have a new one. That event WILL trigger an email to the subscribers because the videos will be 3 to 5 minutes in length, usually, and I believe the video player works in most of the email programs out there, so you can play the video (if you like) right from your email. I will try to keep the maximum emails to two each week.
There are a number of other new ideas I have percolating at this point, for next year. But these are the ones that will directly effect how you interact with my blog, podcast, website…with me.
Thanks for reading.
Happy writing.