Five Reason I Follow a Writer

So, you think you can write. You start your HubPages account or blog and you find that you are a pretty good writer.

After a few Hubs or blogs, you notice that a string of people have started to follow you and give you some decent advice, so you follow them back.

Before long you have a list of about 50 people tagging along when you write, but you notice that you don't have 50 reads on your new articles each.

You start to think, "Hmm, where did I go wrong?"

A few more months go by and you notice that you have three fewer followers today. "Oh no," you scream to yourself. "Who stopped following me and why?"

Friends, I am here to be of service. We all go through the growing pains of writing and the politics of blogging. We learn what to say and how to correspond.

We learn to be effective communicators and even greater writers. What we must learn before we can become the greatest is the lesson of the cult.

No, I am not talking about religious cultism, but it is similar.

The lesson of the cult centers around knowing that your first followers are excited to see someone new with talent and are like seeds scattered on stony ground.

When the sun comes out, many will be scorched by the heat and die off. You lose a few--or a lot in my case.

It takes time for people to know your style. Your style or brand is what constitutes the sun in this-here article of mine.

Later in your writing career, you will have a core group of people who follow you. You will notice that you are all quite similar and you build on each other's work while still having a unique brand. You have won yourself a cult of followers!

These people follow your writings, not necessarily because they believe in them or agree with them even--'cause heaven knows I don't agree with some of the writers I follow!

You entertain these people and give them something to laugh about and ideas to write about. It's a mutually beneficial relationship if you do it right; and it can grow your follower-ship, your fan(atics) to unbelievable numbers!

For the remainder of this article, I will provide Five reasons I follow a Writer! Do not judge me too harshly. If you see what I write about and the number of followers I have compared to some others here, you will take what I provide with salt, a roll, and a side salad--with lime juice!

Now, before I marry that statement, I want to file for a prenuptial!

Sometimes the first article is a fluke, so you want to read a few.

What I have gleaned from other experienced writers is to read three articles before you give them the FAN(atic) thumbs-up! You may change your mind about them later.

I seriously suggest following a writer after reading quite a few of their works. You want to make sure that the person is a quality writer and that the points they make look good and the articles look professionally put together.

I know, I know that is not the only reason to follow someone, which is why I have five! I can already hear the rattling brains from the shaking heads of the land of No!

Nothing can pull you into a Fan(atics)-ship than a good title.

Of course, it has the opposite effect too. I went to one article that screamed happiness and joy to me as I read it's title only for me to find it to be a lump of fused shavings of dry wood, rotted and reconstituted again!

I, of course, could not read anymore for a while after being deflated and wadded up emotionally like that.

I found a writer who I could not reconcile his abrasive approach with my leanings, but I fell in love with that approach after a while and took him on as my example and mentor for a time.

He shocked me into following him and becoming a fan(atic) of his. I may not agree with all of his political leanings, but I read when he posted because of his titles first.

Look, we like to read about what we like to read about.

If you like to read about sports, you don't find a writer who writes about knitting and follow!

I mean, yeah, you can, but really?

I am guilty of following people that I have no intention of reading ever again.

It is a rookie move and perfectly fine for a rookie to do. It is how you get noticed in the beginning. I read one or two articles and then I am in the wind for eternity.

Once you realize that you will not follow a person, cut them free. Also, do not worry if someone cuts you free.

If you do not like their subject-matter and you will not comment on their writings you are not helping them improve. We don't have to follow everyone.

I know that I have some followers who only comment when I write about political things or religious things. Some do not comment at all but read what I have written. It is fine to do. I am confident it is better to follow someone you would read for fun. I follow many people that I only read for fun.

I have followed and look for people who ruffle my feathers.

Why? because they keep me on my toes and keep my writing fresh. It is all about the give and take when writing.

You gain skill by commenting on things that bring out your passion so that you can learn how to debate rather than argue and name-call.

You do not have to be ugly about disagreeing, just passionate. I know one passionate person that I follow, and she is a humdinger when you get her going, passingtheword.

She does not agree with me religiously and is not afraid to say it. I read her words and her blog so that I can know where she comes from and find a common bond, which I have found. We both passionately write about our beliefs.

I do not troll her works to comment on them negatively, but I do read from time to time and will comment when I cannot stand to do otherwise.

That sounds sort of sinister I suppose. I do have an agenda. I want to inform people about my faith from my perspective. My agenda is simply to write introductions to people of my faith. All the other writings I do are fringe benefits--good fun.

I would love all people to know the truth about my faith and consider adopting it. I am a Christian.

I follow and support other Christians who promote my faith, whether they attend my church or not. I am more likely to read something about religion regardless of its brand, but I have a brand that I support.

I follow people of all faiths, even those of the dark arts. I think it is important to support a group or several. I love literature and psychology, so I follow and support people who write about it. I follow race and society, so I follow people who tend to write about it.

Have an agenda to support.

I follow the people I like. And it might be that I like to hate what they write!

Take these suggestions and see if they will not be of help to you. As I mentioned before, you might have to season it with salt--change it up for your own style that is.

You might have to choke it down with a bun or even skip it and just munch on the side salad.

The fact that you are reading means you hate what I do and will point out the reasons, or you like it!

It could mean you were bored too. It could also mean you felt sorry for me when you saw the number of articles I wrote and the lack of followers to match it!

Someone could be forcing you to read it--holding your eyes open! Or still, someone could be reading it to you!