To start, this is how I came to blogging:
In 2006 when writing Colic Solved I read somewhere that every author needed a blog. Blogs, I was told, were particularly important for authors who weren’t famous. I wasn’t famous. So I ran to the bookstore and bought Robert Scoble and Shel Israel’s Naked Conversations, the essential book for understanding blogs. Then I began my first blog, Parenting Solved, with the shallow intent of selling books.
But just a few months after starting Parenting Solved I posted on an infant product company with my take on a merger they were undertaking and what it meant for parents. The post was picked up on a feed for one of the foreign stock exchanges and I enjoyed a nice spike in traffic. The following day a call came from the company’s headquarters in Europe to my chief who happened to be a consultant to the company. They wanted to know my story.
Until then I had no idea that anyone was listening. Until then I didn’t care that anyone was listening. I just wanted to move books. But at that point I realized blogging wasn’t a marketing gimmick but instead a real tool for positioning myself and my ideas.
You could say I started shortsighted and ended up global.
I continued posting to Parenting Solved until early 2009. But burnt out with my ‘reassuring voice of authority’ (which I still dispense liberally in person) I felt it was time to focus on something else.
I started 33 Charts in April 2009 when I saw room for physician commentary at the intersection of social media and health care. I thought it would be a great place to experiment and shape my ideas.
That’s how I started and wound up here. And so far it’s been a blast. Look for me to stop when it isn’t.
{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
I started blogging this past January, but not to sell anything. After 20 years of practice and writing conventional medical commentary, I jumped in. I love the sense of community and intimacy with readers that is not present with standard columns, articles, etc. I'll be following 33 Charts and wish you well.
Interesting timing. I just published a post on why I blog… before yours showed up in my reader. Kinda funny.
Thanks for sharing that story. It's kind of like when people sign up for Twitter for another way to spam about their blog entries, and end up staying for the conversation.
Great post!
Thanks for the tip on Naked Conversations. Sounds like a good read.
Jackie – Check out Shel's book. It may be reaching the point now where its a bit dated but worth a look.