By DEAR PATIENT and loyal readers,
I know there aren’t a lot of you out there just yet, but I rejoice in every one of you who is there and for your attention to this humble blog.
Although I’m a veteran editor, writer, and media executive who knows how to meet a deadline, my efforts to get The Skeptical Guy blog off the ground have been, well, a little hit-or-miss.
The important thing for ANY blogger, columnist, or writer is this — make sure you fulfill the expectations you have set for your readers. In other words, you gotta set a schedule and then make sure you keep it.
Full disclosure: I have been terrible at this since launching The Skeptical Guy this past summer.
Yes, I KNOW I need a consistent publishing schedule
My biggest problem is the one thing I really counsel writers about — setting a publishing schedule they can meet, and then making sure they meet it.
Years of media experience have taught me that readers will come back and read you when you write as long as you telegraph how often you plan to do so. If you write only once a week, well, they’ll probably come back once a week. If you write every day, readers will figure that out and come back every day — IF they like what you write, of course.
So, I plan to write on a regular schedule in the New Year.
But … I don’t exactly know what that schedule will be just yet. I will figure that out over the next week during that wonderful post-Christmas period where there are no pre-Christmas responsibilities to worry about.
My guess is that I’ll write two or three times per week, with an extra post here and there on occasion, but whatever I settle on, I promise I’ll make it as interesting and entertaining as I can.
This blog is a labor of love, but it’s just one of the many thing I do. Besides my part-time gig as Editor of RecruitingDaily (where I also write frequently), I serve on the Kronos Workforce Institute Advisory Board (where I blog occasionally), write a couple of times month for the Fistful of Talent blog, and teach part-time as an adjunct professor of communications at Cal State Fullerton.
Plus, I’ve been looking for a full-time job (and please, let me know if you have any recommendations or leads) because I really need more than just a part-time gig, although there is some chance that my part-time gig might become full-time, too.
Thanks for your loyalty through my shaky launch
I want to thank those of you who have been reading this blog; you have been incredibly patient to stick with me through the shaky launch and inconsistent schedule. I promise to reward your loyalty in the New Year.
My sincere hope is that I can build this to the point where there will be a lot more of you, and at the end of 2018 I find myself thanking a much larger group of readers for their loyalty and support.
Don’t hesitate to drop me a note if you have a comment, a suggestion, a gripe, an informed observation, or anything else you think might be good for me to know. I want to hear all of it and you can each me directly at johnhollon@yahoo.com.
Merry Christmas, Mele Kalikimaka, Happy New Year and best wishes for a wonderful 2018. I’ll see you again when we get there.
