Something has occurred to me over the past few months. Does anyone in your personal life (friends, family) know that you have a book blog? I come across a lot of blogs and I see thousands of followers. Do you personally know anyone who is in your followers list? I'll answer for myself. TWO. Out of my 570 followers I personally know two of them lol. Now I come to another question, are you embarrassed to show your friends and family that you have one? My boyfriend knows I have one and he teases me all the time but I don't care. Could that be the reason we don't shout it to the world that we have one? Afraid to be called a nerd?
Ironically, most YA book blogs are written by those over 18 so aren't we a little old to still be bothered by that? Or is it that we don't tell everyone because our blogs are our babies and we're very sensitive about them? An intern at my office last summer (teenager) somehow found my blog and showed the other interns. I felt...exposed I guess lol. It's silly but my blog is my private thoughts on books. People come to my blog to read about it, not to make fun of me. I suppose it's easier to "be a nerd" online than it is in person. What do you guys think?
Recently after making this discovery, I've begun telling people I personally know about my baby. I've handed them my business cards to show them that it's not a joke.Sometimes I've gotten laughed at and other times I've gotten great feedback. Sometimes even a look of shock. I suppose when people think of blogger or bookie they think of glasses, and a real homebody with no life (so I've been told). Yes I used to wear glasses but I LOVE to party also and then there are times when I'm content with just being home with a good book. I've tried explaining that all book bloggers are DIFFERENT.
I have a few friends that know. The ones that I think it will interest is who I tell. I have 4 or 5 followers that are IRL friends. And my husband knows and thinks its dorky but cute. *shrug*
ReplyDelete+JMJ+
ReplyDeleteOut of my 106 followers, I personally know one! LOL! That's because he has a blog, too.
But all my friends know I have a blog, even if they never read it. =) Its existence is not something I tend to hide. I think I even put it on my resume once. LOL!
The only ones I've ever hidden it from are my students. =P Which is typical. A teacher's classroom persona is exhausting to carry around all day; I'd rather not "wear" it in the blogosphere. But of course, some students found out about my blog, anyway, and read it in "secret." I did feel a bit exposed then--as if they had seen me with my hair down. But I didn't let that stop me. And soon, because they didn't talk to me about it and I never brought it up myself, it became easier to shrug off.
out of my blog followers i personally know 1. at first i was embaressed to tell people about my blog because..yes i was afraid to be called a nerd and my boyfriend teases me about it all the time too! its nice to find out others feel the same way
ReplyDeleteHmm out of the 300 followers I have I'm related to two of them and I know five of them offline (now--we met at BEA). Everyone else is a mystery to me or I only know by their handle.
ReplyDeleteI don't actively hide my blogging life from my friends/family, but aside from my sister they don't really care. Well its more like its not as interesting to them (they aren't big on books? at least not to the point where they understand having a book blog).
I'm not shy about telling people either. "So what do you do?" well outside of my schoolwork I run a book review blog to feed my reading obsession. "You have a blog?" Why yes! Here take a card! XD
Some of my followers I personally know. I've never kept my blog a secret, everyone I know knows about. I'm lucky, everyone thinks it's cool!
ReplyDeleteI know three of my followers personally because they just so happen to be my best friends offline too.
ReplyDeleteI'm not embarrassed in the least about telling people that I run a book blog, and my mom and dad, sisters, and friends all know about it. ^_^
Other than the fellow bloggers I know that my sister and her best friend read my blog. I thought they would think I was dumb even though they both love reading too, but they both think it's cool. Some of my co-workers know but they've never asked me what my website was (I have a feeling they think it's more "official" than it is). And yes, I am embarassed to bring it up. Sometimes I feel like saying something on facebook but I never do because I'm pretty sure people would judge. I hate being like that though! Because I think it's pretty cool, LOL!!
ReplyDeleteI know...2 or 3 of my Google followers and 6 of my Facebook followers. I have every entry automatically post on my Facebook profile, so it's definitely not a secret for me. However, I do keep my personal identity (at least the last name) a secret from my blog followers. Then again, it probably wouldn't take much for them to figure it out if they visited my blog's facebook page ;D
ReplyDeleteI know a few of mine IRL, and have gotten to know more virtually
ReplyDeleteBrandi from Blkosiner’s Book Blog
All my friends know I do this, but most of them aren't into the blogosphere as a whole. They're more into the whole Facebook thing.
ReplyDeleteA few of my friends know I do this. I mostly received good feedback. But, I had one or two that questioned why I even bothered. Of course, most of them don't read, so obviously they can't relate.
ReplyDeleteBut, I must say that I made soo many friends through blogging which turned out to be my best friends. I cut the negative haters out of my life and filled them with bookworms like me! So much easier. ;P
My family and a few of my closest friends know about my blogging, mainly because they suggested I do it since I talk nonstop about books to them. None of them are readers like me, so it was a winwin situation. They also think it's pretty cool that we get books for review and that people actually comment on our posts.. silly them huh. Haha :)
ReplyDelete