Share Simply and Genuinely
You may or may not be a writer, but I’m guessing that you are a reader. You are also a publisher. If you have a blog or a Twitter or Facebook account, you likely share information. You might publish your own work, or publish other material. Sharing is publishing and it comes with responsibility.
What compels you to share information?
Entertainment
Emotion
Inspiration
Education
If there is an article, or video that really speaks to you in one of the above areas, chances are you will tell your friends. That share means so much more than one you feel obligated to. If you are sharing too much, publishing to get someone’s attention, or sharing because you feel obligated, people will stop listening. Your sharing will become annoying instead of productive. Even if it is good information.
A very wise blogger once told me, “If everyone is shouting, whisper to be heard”
Writers, please…
- Stop begging us to re-tweet your information. Instead, write something so great that we can’t help but share.
- Share something other than your own work.
- Stop tweeting the same information over and over again. I am guilty of this sometimes, because I worry that you won’t hear me. That stops today.
- Don’t make us jump through hoops to enjoy what you have to offer.
Readers, please…
- Stop following thousands. It’s impossible to pay attention to so many.
- List the ones you love. Create Twitter lists by category so you can check in on your favorite writers.
- Share on purpose.
- Consume on purpose. Instead of attempting to keep up with every blog in your reader, subscribe to 3 or 4 via email. Keep others you love in your reader but visit weekly, instead of daily, and focus on the content that matters the most in your life.
Sometime, in the next 2-3 weeks, I’ll be releasing my first e-book. While I’ve read up on the proper way to “launch”, I’m ignoring sage advice. Instead of a perfectly orchestrated delivery, and social media fanfare, I’ll deliver this book softly. The people that will be most interested in this e-book, Simple Ways to Be More with Less, are the people that enjoy a softer message. If you want a kick in the ass that feels like a kiss on the check, you’ll enjoy the book.
I know that you will not respond to a loud sales page, big launch notice tweeted over and over again, or special tactics to get you to buy now. If you are concerned that this book will rehash the same old “how to be a minimalist” information, fear not. If you like this blog, you will love this little book.
I want you to buy this book when you’re ready, not because I’m ready. I hope you will share it with your friends, your tribe, because you love it and because it makes your life better, not because I want you to. You won’t have to pay much, join a special mailing list, enter to win, comment and retweet to be cool, or do anything special.
I hope you will read the book and talk about it, because you think it offers all of the reasons you like to share; entertainment, inspiration, information and education.
Engage and share information to help and connect. Make someone smile, teach an important lesson and inspire change with what you read, what you write and what you share.
Share simply and genuinely, sometimes softly.
Thanks for reading! If you enjoyed this post, please subscribe to Be More with Less & share on twitter, but only if it really matters.
subscribe your way …
What an awesome entry. I find so many blogs I would like to follow by checking those I do but indeed, limit myself. My blog in-box right now has about 15 entries I have yet to read – at least they are there when I can get to them. Being off-line and disconnected is becoming more important to me so I am not reading online as much but reading actual books. I look forward to yours. I just picked up Dave Bruno’s, too. Thanks for affirming the direction I am already taking.
Roberta,
There is a bunch of interesting stuff out there so it’s easy to keep adding blogs to the reader. That’s why I recommending email subscriptions for the 1-5 that you really LOVE. They become high priority.
Thank you for this perfectly-timed post! I am a professional writer who is new to blogging, and I will take your words to heart. Much appreciated. Best of luck with your upcoming e-book. I very much look forward to reading it.
Oh Courtney, can’t wait to see it!
Bernice
Congrats Courtney! Will look forward to the ebook’s release
can’t wait
Your suggestions to readers really struck a chord with me. I just realized how much time I spend sifting through “junk” to read the people I’m most interested in hearing, because I have so many people that I’m following. I think it’s time to purge the lists and focus on those who really speak to me.
Good luck with the ebook. I’ll look forward to reading it and soaking up some of your wisdom.
Jason, it’s really helped me to add Lists to Twitter. Now I can check up on my favorites, and not wonder what I missed because I wasn’t there when they said it.
AMEN. I have been looking for a number of weeks on Someone to share HOW to follow ONLY a few Blogs? I have so many I have kept in google reader, Twitter, and e mails and my Toolbar, I felt like just saying DELETE to all of them. It is very hard to determine who to follow. I find I spend more time on the Blogs instead of spending time on things that will help Simply my life. Thanks
Tammy, It’s a challenge! It might help to delete them all and see which ones you really miss. Then you’ll know they are really important to you.
How refreshing… I’m guilty of the many blogs reading/following, but I find them inspiring. ;o)
As a writer, I only blog when I have something to say, and frankly it’s more like journal entries. I have no advice to give, only sharing my stumblings towards a simpler life.
Thank you for this great entry.
Amen. I tried the forced thing and even I didn’t like my writing.
Best wishes with your book. I love the idea of the soft sell.
ooh I can’t wait to get your ebook. I’m so glad you have decided against an aggressive launch. I have been put off reading some blogs in the past because of the relentless plugging of a product. I understand these people what/need to sell their product but sometimes it’s just too much. As an avid reader of your blog I definitely appreciate the softer approach.
Your advice about limiting how many blogs to follow is great- I hope I can take head, I’ve just down a cull of my list as it was bursting at the seems hopefully I’ll be able to keep it at the new manageable level from now on.
Thanks for the gentle reminders! I, too, am a writer, and I struggle with trying to keep up quantity, when I need to be focusing more on quality. Likewise with my mile-long reading list everyday — I get so overwhelmed with how many new posts there are that I often miss the really good ones. I’ll be setting up twitter lists today!
Courtney…very nice breakdown in the readers / writers section. In particular purpose and crowd sourcing. Engagement is difficult with all the noise, isn’t it?
Jumping through hoops to learn…is a little pet project I am looking to improve on the web. I would love to see a process that involves blogger and audience member in a mutually satisfying arrangement that isn’t about a list, but rather a process of support.
Thoughts are welcome.
Stephen, I’d love to hear more about your project!
I look forward to your book. I pared down my blog list recently and had to delete several that I enjoyed, but that just took too much of my time with no substantial gain. Your blog always inspires and I believe leaves me ‘better.’ I am also impressed because you are one of the few bloggers who actually responds to comments. Much success to you!
Thank you so much. I’m glad to hear that responding to comments makes a difference. I’ve always thought blogging needs to be a conversation.
Well said, sorry, it will fall on deaf ears. All those multiplicities are part of the social networking syndrome. Talk at people never to them. Sad.
I write my Quirkeries blog for me.
I’m thinking about closing my KalamaQuilts blog because that kind of blogging is just no fun anymore. It’s all about contests and following and sorry, I don’t give a fat rats arse…
Sharyn
Sharyn,
Perhaps some will listen and engage in some of these suggestions. Sorry to hear about the blog you are closing down. You could always run it your way and see what happens! Let me know if you want to chat about it.
Courtney, what an excellent post, and so very you.
We must be on a simialr wavelength (again!) – a few weeks back I reduced the people I follow on Twitter from 850+ to around 100. Every avatar and face in my stream is now familiar and I feel are producing work I find inspiring. This shift makes a huge difference to the quality of interactions on Twitter, and how effectively we can support other people’s work in a deeper way, rather than retweeting everything we see.
I also completely wiped all my RSS feeds on Reader, about 170 odd I believe. I’ve re-added those I remembered instantly as being the essential ones I don’t want to miss a post from. I think there are 7 or 8. Again, makes a big difference to the quality of information I absorb, and reduces the “mindless surfing” time spent online.
I love your line about kisses, brilliant!
I too launched my book fairly softly, and have been getting steady sales since, rather than a big in your face launch, selling loads in the first week then no-one ever mentioning it again.
I beleive we’re creating important, lasting work, that people will read and be affected by for years to come. As such it’s important to present it and make it available in a way that’s fitting, and long term too.
Looking forward to hearing more on the book’s release. : )
Dear Courtney, I am following only six blogs (though I don’t “subscribe,” I just check in every couple of days), and yours is at the top of the list! Thank you for all you do — you continually inspire me.
I especially like your list of reasons to write: Entertainment, Emotion, Inspiration, Education. It’s not something I ever explicitly thought of, but now that you mention it, everything seems to fall into one or more of these categories.
Great points! I agree too much of social media, much like other aspects of life, is overwhelming and makes it impossible to truly experience others and learn from the sharing of great information. When we take in too much there is no way we can implement that learning effectively. As above I only have 5 feeds I subscribe to but read them and take action accordingly, diligently. I just wrote about Sharing Is Caring via Social Media and I think this is important and a good thing to do, but again if you are sharing 100′s of posts and/or businesses it is very overwhelming to your own followers!