Post History

Assertions about quality from the creator of a work, whether it's a blog, a novel, a video, a podcast, or anything else, are not convincing because of the conflict of interest.  Even if your work *is* the greatest thing since sliced bread, *you* saying it undermines the claim, because lots of people who instead have moldy crusts would say the exact same thing.  To prove the exceptional quality of your work, therefore, you need one or both of:

- influential readers saying so
- influential or numerous readers being actively engaged, for example through substantial comments

Many people (myself included) write blogs, and most of us will only ever reach our friends and a few others.  The ones who've gotten more attention have inspired people to comment, tweet, promote on their own blogs, and otherwise draw attention to your work.  And the whims of the Twitterverse (or other equivalents) can be hard to predict; sometimes there's just no visible explanation for one person having 50,000 followers while another with similar output has 5.

One thing is under your control: engage with the people who respond to you.  If someone asks a question, answer it -- and maybe expand on the theme in a later blog post, if there's enough substance there, linking back to the question.  If someone raises an argument against what you write, take it seriously and respond constructively and respectfully.  *Have a conversation* with readers who've signalled that they might participate, in other words.