Over at Pat’s Fantasy Hotlist, a blog I’m sure every single one of my readers is well aware of, Pat started an interesting discussion about current things in the blogosphere and the comments section of the post has turned into a nice, revealing debate about the way blogs work.
Many influential and well known SFF bloggers have dropped by to add their thoughts (Neth from Neth Space, Larry from OF Blog of the Fallen, Wert from The Wertzone, John from Grasping for the Wind, and a whole lot more) and you’ll even see me get a good talking to near the bottom of the page. It’s definitely worth checking out and, no matter where you stand, I encourage you to leave your own thoughts (either here or on Pat’s blog) about the situation. I’m always curious to see what readers think about these issues.
You can check out the whole conversation HERE.
Hey Aidan,
Thanks for thinking my blog is worthwhile reading! I certainly enjoy yours.
I made a new comment over at Pat’s, its a little rambling, but I think it gets my point across.
I finally had to throw my hat into the conversation there, too. :)
I think the whole thing is overstated. Folks generally just write about SFF because they like to. I don’t think there are copycats, just people who are finding what they want to write about…and maybe some of it is just like what somebody else does. Maybe someone wants to post the Bestsellers list just like Pat…not to be Pat, but because that’s what they like. Doesn’t matter if Pat does it first. This isn’t a Zero Sum Game…it’s free, public, blog.
Wow! That really turned into a discussion huh :) Interesing stuff…
For what it’s worth, I threw my hat into the ring as well with my own comment.
While we’re on topic, I ought to say Aidan that a Dribble of Ink is one my favourite blogs and has been a constant source of enjoyment for me over the last few months, so please do keep up the good work!
Cheers!
All I can say is that I write about books because I read books and have opinions. I’m not really sure if a substantial amount of people out there are interested in my reviews, though some seem to be. I don’t really want attention per se, but the occassional complimentary book (to ease my own budget) and the occassional discussion-provoking comment (to encourage me that someone is out there reading) is enough to keep me going so far.
To be honest–I can’t be anyone other than myself. I wish I was more witty, and I wish I had the popularity and clout to be able to give things out to people, but I don’t. I wish I had time to give in depth somewhat more academic reviews of things (because that’s actually my personal leaning) but I don’t.
I figure so far I’m probably best known for having a “cool name” for my blog rather than my reviews, which amuses me somewhat given my husband actually came up with it ;)
John,
We may not always see eye to eye, but I certainly count Grasping for the Wind as one of the most reliable and interesting blogs I visit daily. All I can say is keep up the good work!
Joe,
I think you hit the nail on the head pretty squarely. It bothers me that as soon as two people do two similar things it is automatically assumed that one is trying to emulate the other. I, for instance, love when new covers are released and like to share the cool/interesting ones with my readers, sometimes they overlap with other bloggers, a lot of the time I pick them up from other blogs, but I post them because that’s what I want A Dribble of Ink to cover, not because I’m trying to copy anyone’s work. Hell, most of the time I’ll direct my readers to wherever I picked up the cover art in the first place!
Robert,
Yeah, it got pretty heated. It turned into one of Remy’s brushfires.
J.G.,
I’ll try my best to live up to those strong words!
Sara J.,
A “cool name” will go a long way in bringing success for a blog, so don’t sell yourself short. A catchy name is much more likely to be remembered by a reader than a boring one.
As I mentioned in the email I sent you, Jumpdrives and Cantrips seems to be doing more than enough to set itself apart from other blogs in its content. I know it’s easily earned a spot among the blogs I check everyday. So keep it up, lady!