Keep the connection you’re making with readers.
I didn’t use my trip as an excuse to take a break from blogging.
From what’s been posted online, you should have no idea I’ve recently been on the road. Before we left, I wrote and scheduled the posts that would appear while I’d be away.
My motive wasn’t to prevent burglaries — the electronic version of having the Post Office hold our mail, stopping newspaper delivery, and placing our lights on timers. I didn’t want to jeopardize the connection I’ve made with my audience.
When I began posting on my website in November 2014, I accepted an obligation to keep posting — at regular, dependable intervals — as long as I stayed in this business.
It takes time to build an audience, to get a growing share of your target population to see you as one who provides something unique and valuable.
If your communication with your audience goes silent, you jeopardize that connection. You may even torpedo your chances of getting published.
If you go silent, you jeopardize that connection.
Awhile back, an agent said her client had nearly landed a plum deal. The publisher loved everything about it — until they checked her website. Occupied with other tasks, the author had gone many months without a fresh post. The publisher opted not to risk a contract with an author who’d let her audience contact lapse.
If you foresee circumstances that will keep you from posting, search your pantry for pieces with a long shelf life. Schedule them to appear while you’re gone. Not sure how to schedule advance posts on your preferred platform? Ask a friend — or ask Google.
Your platform is too precious to risk.
