Re: Why do you blog?

**G* R* <g*@tiscali.co.uk>**

Well, this is why I blog.

For ten or twelve years I had a weekly column - first in The Observer 
newspaper over in England and then in London's Evening Standard. 
Budget cuts hit the Standard and that column came to an end but I 
found I missed the weekly discipline of writing a column - so I 
decided to start the Transatlantic Plantsman blog 
(http://TransatlanticPlantsman.com) and impose the discipline on 
myself.

Of course, the advantage is that I can write about anything I like 
without getting it cleared by an editor. The disadvantage is that I 
don't get paid! - except for a few modest referral fees from Amazon 
and Google for book sales and click throughs. I can be a little 
self-indulgent, I admit, and it's not intended as a mass market blog 
in the way that Garden Rant, for example, is and I'm sure I get far 
fewer readers than they do. But I can sound off about issues related 
to plants on which increasingly cautious editors might not want to 
publish. And I can get ideas and issues out into the world. And of 
course there are just so many interesting things to write about. 
People sometimes ask: where do you find stuff to write about? One 
answer: I look out of the office window and out of the car window - 
and pay attentention to what's out there.

One other advantage is that I can blog about something that interests 
me - and that can lead to commissions for magazines or papers. A 
number of editors are regular readers and they sometimes see 
something that catches their attention and I get a commission on the 
subject. Or I email them about a post that I feel is the basis for a 
magazine piece and say " Did you see my post on whatever-it-is? What 
a about a piece on that expanded to cover... (etc)?"

I now have a second blog on New Plants 
(http://mygarden.rhs.org.uk/blogs/graham_rice/), for the Royal 
Horticultural Society website, for which I get paid a modest sum and 
another paid-for blog is on the way.

Another useful aspect of blogging is the stats. I can check how many 
readers have looked at each post and that can give me an idea of the 
popularity of different plants and different issues. The number and 
style of public comments and private emails responding to a post also 
gives me useful information. I can tell you, for example, that hardly 
anyone is interested in petunias! However, if I think there are 
important things still to say about petunias I'll post about them 
again anyway; but I'll be doing so from a position of knowledge and, 
if I choose, can adjust the approach accordingly. On the other 
hand... I was surprised to find how much interest there's been in 
tulbaghias - and it looks as if that might lead to a commission.

My problem with blogs is that there are so many of them that are 
actually worth a look! Often, freed from the dictats of print editors 
worried (perhaps) about keeping their own jobs. good writers burst 
free and produce great reading. And, at the other extreme, home 
gardeners just writing about their own garden can be genuinely 
illuminating. But I just don't have the time to read them all.

Well Donna, there you have it. CL's response was interesting, I'm 
looking forward to hearing from other bloggers.

Graham

Transatlantic Plantsman blog: http://TransatlanticPlantsman.com
New Plants blog: http://mygarden.rhs.org.uk/blogs/graham_rice/

>Graham brings up a good question, at least for me anyway...what is the point
>of blogging, what purpose does it serve?  Are you using it to sell
>something, using it as a personal/public diary...Are you using a blog as
>another avenue of selling your products?  If so, are you? Is it worth the
>effort?  Or are you doing it just to have a blog - then why did you decide
>to have a blog?
>
>I am just curious...
>
>Donna Dawson, Master Gardener
>
>Member Region 7 Garden Writers Association
>Affiliate Member Canadian Institute of Travel Counsellors
>Member North American Travel Journalists Association
>Member Royal Horticultural Society
>http://www.ICanGarden.com
>http://www.gardeningtours.com
>2009 Garden Tours - Ecuador, China Spring and Fall, India, Morocco and
>Chelsea Flower Show London
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: gardenwriters-bounces@lists.ibiblio.org
>[g*@lists.ibiblio.org] On Behalf Of Graham Rice
>Sent: Friday, January 23, 2009 8:32 AM
>To: Garden Writers -- GWL -- The Garden Writers Forum
>Subject: Re: [GWL] garden stock photos
>
>Errr... shifting? Collapsing, more like. Of course, you could say
>that much blogging is "giving our words away"...
>
>
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