Tuesday, September 1, 2015

Blog Block

It's pretty pathetic that my last blog post is from the middle of the last kickstarter campaign. I'm almost ready to send all the rewards out, that's how long there has been radio silence here on the blog. It's not that there didn't happened anything in the meantime. The kickstarter closed with a whopping $46K of pledges, I attended a comic convention in Paris, which was an awesome experience, and I received the wonderful resin figures that were unlocked on kickstarter, just to point out a few highlights. So, enough material to write several blog posts. The only thing is, that lately I'm just not feeling like writing blog posts.

I've got the feeling that reading blogs generally has become a little bit old-fashioned, or is it just me? I personally stopped using an RSS reader quite a while ago because it just stressed me out to see all the content that I didn't have time to read through. The little time I've got left for reading content from the internet now is occupied with (way too much) Facebook and Twitter. When I'm lying in bed at night I prefer to check my YouTube subscriptions instead of reading blogs.

I  noticed that there has been an ever decreasing amount of comments here on the blog during the last two years so maybe I'm not the only one who has changed his preferences? Or maybe it's just that I'm not particularly asking for reader engagement.

Anyway, I actually don't know how many people are reading the blog nowadays. Different analytics provide me highly divergent figures. I'd just like to pass the information to everyone around that if you're following this blog to receive news about the Wormworld Saga, you might consider to join the Wormworld Saga newsletter to which you can subscribe here and the Wormworld Saga Facebook Page. If you are interested in my digital artwork and like to see some new paintings from time to time you can check out the dedicated Facebook Page that I've started earlier this year. I normally also post Wormworld Saga news and new paintings on Twitter.

Ok, thanks for reading the blog so far. I honestly don't know where I'm going with it. Production of Chapter 8 will start soon and normally I'd have to prepare milestone updates for that but right now I'm really not motivated to do that. If you're willing to give me any feedback on this matter please feel free to do so. I will keep an eye on the comments (that unfortunately had way too much spam lately...).

30 comments:

  1. It's interesting you mention retiring your RSS reader. RSS is still one of the major ways I consume Internet content, including this post. Frankly I'm sick and tired of the noise I get on Facebook, most likely due to who I've "liked" on the platform, which is why I stick to my RSS feeds. All that matters is if you keep up the good work, those who enjoy your work will follow you wherever you go.

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  2. Yeah, I also found this post in my RSS reader. I have at times suffered from the same 'content overload' you describe, but honestly that's my clue that there's a lot of stuff I was reading out of habit, rather than because I really liked it, and my life will improve once I start unsubscribing from a few things.

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  3. I exclusively read webcomics through rss subscriptions, so I'd appreciate a "hey, there's a new comic!" post.

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  4. I exclusively read webcomics through rss subscriptions, so I'd appreciate a "hey, there's a new comic!" post.

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  5. As long as there is an RSS feed that notifies me whenever Wormworld Saga is updated, I'm happy. Whether or not you want to do blog posts alongside that is up to you.

    Frankly speaking, if I can't follow the comic via RSS, then I simply won't. I'm not about to give up my clean, focused RSS feeds for Facebook's noise or Twitter's volume.

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  6. RSS is still the best way to get notifications out. If anything, your blog should have the option to autopost a link to your post to Twitter, Facebook, and other social networks, so that you don't have to choose between your blog and a social network.

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  7. Why can't you just post your Facebook posts also on your blog and push it out via RSS? It's the best way to get notified on updates regarding the Wormworld Saga without the noise of the other services.

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  8. I still love RSS and I manage mostly everthing I consume on the internet, with feedly, even my youtube subscriptions. I'd be happy if could still write blogposts.

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  9. Please continue to post on your blog, i use rss exclusively. I don't like Facebook, and subscribing to newsletters? No...
    It should not be too much work to post things to both facebook and the blog.

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  10. As the rest of the people here I really dislike getting my news from Facebook et al. I am a member of those networks to socially interact with friends or colleagues. The get news and read comics I use RSS

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  11. I agree with the others. I personally know this comic thanks to that app for Android. Since you stopped to release there new chapters, I started following you with RSS feed... And I personally follow around ~85feed more...

    So, by no way I will able to follow you on Facebook or Twitter as for sure, as I recently disinstalled the Facebook app on my tablet, I'll miss some of your post in the stream of that ~feed (supposing all of them will migrate to Facebook)

    I'm following there a couple of web comics, but they're kind of strip with daily update and I think with your kind of comic, that's not suitable as you'll have to publish a link.to a full resolution chapter, otherwise I'll be impossible to read. BTW, updates there will be possible but please, don't stop with RSS feed or I realisticly won't be able to follow you anymore...

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  12. Hey, thanks for all your feedback! So you ARE there after all. :) That's good to know and encourages me to keep posting relevant updates also here on the blog. Indead it's not a huge effort. Maybe the main problem is that with blog posts I always feel like I have to write something that qualifies as an "article" and that might just put too much stress on me. So, let's see how I get along with posting shorter news for a while so that everyone at least keeps up to date with my production.

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  13. Yes we are here! I am also a RSS user in addition to being a FB user, but it's two different things. I don't necessarily read ALL posts from my RSS, but I scan the summary of the post on my computer preview. I must admit that I being quite busy with two kids and trying to make my DaWanda shop work, in addition to household and permanent handicraft, I have had little times for proper commenting and emailing. But I still read you and I am always looking forward to the next post!
    Shorter news would be perfectly fine by me :)

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  14. ich les per RSS mit und verfolge auch immer deine Milestone-Grafik (die ist super). Es stimmt, blogs sind etwas outdated... aber für längere posts eignen sie sich immer noch am besten... ich fürchte nur, die Aufmerksamkeitsspanne reicht heute bei vielen nur für Zweizeiler...
    schön, dass du auch hier mal wieder was schreibst, auf fb ist es furchtbar schwierig, Sachen zu folgen, weil sie einfach untergehen...

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  15. Hallo Daniel. Ich schließ mich meinen Vorschreibern an. Auch ich les eigentlich nur die Posts aus meinem RSS Reader. Facebook wird einfach mit zuviel Müll geflutet. Mit Twitter hab ich mich nie anfreunden können.

    Bitte behalt den RSS feed. Und wenns nur Links zu den Posts auf fb sind :)

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  16. I find that RSS is indispensable for making it possible to consume the amount of Internet content that I do. Like other commenters here, it's the only way I subscribe to webcomics. I'm a little more persistent than some, though: if a comic's feed is under construction, I'll save it and come back later, and if it looks like a comic might not ever have an official feed but does have an FB page, I'll use the feed that FB automatically generates (shh! it's a secret), and if all else fails, I turn to page2rss.

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  17. I agree with Schnuddel - just putting the exact same content on the blog as in Facebook posts is fine. No need to write a long article (unless you want to).

    I'm unlikely to check up on your Facebook page as I don't like Facebook, but all the content that is there looks good.

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  18. Hey Daniel!!! OF COURSE we're here!!! :D
    I'll just keep it in english, ok? I can understand that the feedback is not that immedient here like on fb or twitter... people have accounts there anyways (no twitter here tho) and here they'd need anotherone to comment. But honestly I LOVE reading blogs like yours!! And my RSS feeds are also the main source for all things gfx and comics!
    Also if you post on your blog it's most likely YOUR content (ok you are on blogspot..) but who knows what might happen to your accounts on wtitter and fb.. Anyway: if you don't like this separation thing I strongly suggest to crosspost from your blog. Then forward to fb and twitter. There are quite some tools for this stuff :]
    cheers! And thanks a lot for the update!

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  19. So long as I never miss a chapter do what you will. I too use rss to stay up to speed.

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  20. I agree with most of the commenters: without rss I'll never know when a chapter is out. Please keep the Rss going :-) and keep up with the wonderful work!

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  21. I must admit that I've never really used RSS - I never saw any real use in it. I simply just check back on things and rely on blog posts, such as this one, to know when an author is experiencing difficulties in making timely updates or is going on a hiatus or some such. I even have my webcomic bookmarks divided up into categories such as 'Weekdays', '3-Weekly', '2-Weekly', 'Weekly', 'Slow Mover', and even 'Long Sleep' for the ones on an indefinite hiatus.

    Obviously, I got Wormworld Saga under 'Slow Mover'. Don't feel bad about that! I got plenty of others in there, such as Frederin's Megatokyo, Arron Diaz's Dresden Codak, and Phillip M. Jackson's Sequential Art. All of these are wonderful webcomics, and I'm more than willing to have them be a pleasant surprise when I look in on them from time to time and see that one or two have updated.

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  22. I do occasionally check your blog posts, I just typically do not comment. I am afraid I have not yet managed to use the RSS feed feature.

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  23. I hope u start soon with Chapter 8. i'm here since Chapter 1. i spend money and i bought stuff. so, don't let me wait so long for the continue.

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  24. Ich oute mich jetzt auch mal als ein stiller Leser deiner Blogeinträge. RSS benutze ich ebenfalls wie einige meiner Vorredner nicht. Weil du gerade selber am überlegen bist, ob eine Weiterführung dieses Blogs noch sinnvoll ist, möchte ich gerne ein paar meiner eigenen Gedanken dazu teilen:
    persönliche Gründe, warum ich (d)einen Blog bevorzuge:
    1. Ich finde es sehr schön, dass du einen Newsletter für Wormworld Saga hast, aber leider besteht dann immer Gefahr, dass einige News unter den Tisch fallen, weil man die Mail zwar öffnet, aber gerade keine Zeit zum lesen hat. Wenn ich auf die Blogseite gehe, nehme ich mir beswusst die Zeit, die einzelnen Beträge zu lesen.
    2. Facebook & Twitter mag ich persönlich nicht. Ich persönlich finde die Seite zu überladen und zu unübersichtlich. Dein Blog hingegen ist sehr strukturiert und man findet sich schnell zurecht.
    3. Man kann leicht die Entwicklung über längere Zeit von Wormworld Saga nachvollziehen und hat quasi alles "an einem Stück".

    Aber ich habe auch schon bei vielen anderen Blogschreibern gemerkt, dass leider dieses schöne, strukturierte Schreiben sich langsam auflöst und kurze Facebook & Twitter Nachrichten die Überhand nehmen. Ich kann nachvollziehen, dass Du eine Tradition nicht der Tradition wegen weiterführen möchtest und immer bestmöglich (d)ein Publikum erreichen möchtest. Aber die Frage stellt sicht, ob das in Zukunft in fraktalen Post & Tweets geschehen soll oder Facebook und Twitter nur als Weiterleitung auf die Hauptseite, deinen Blog geschehen könnte?
    Ich hoffe diese persönlichen Gedanken können Dir bei Deiner Entscheidung über die Zukunft deines Blogs ein wenig weiterhelfen. Ich möchte auch klarstellen, dass ich weiterhin ein eifriger Fan deiner Comics bin, auch wenn ich nur selten etwas kommentiere.

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    Replies
    1. Mir geht es ganz genau so! Schöne Grüße :)

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    2. Mir geht es ganz genau so! Schöne Grüße :)

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  25. Hey Daniel, I've honestly never read your blog before, and I will probably forget to again, but I'm sure there are many others like myself who lurk on wormwoodsaga, checking once in awhile for the next chapter to be out. It looks like an incredible amount of work. Kudos to you. I love the story. Please keep creating, even if you don't share it with all of us.

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  26. The only thing I miss here, is a like-function. Could be a way to check the reading activity here. The thing I miss on facebook, is anything else. I don't like (and therefore don't follow) Twitter, and facebook is too crowded and overloaded with lots of irrelevant stuff. And last but not least, I really love and enjoy reading artist's blogs. It's like reading a book (with short stories ;) in opposite to Twitter and facebook, which occures more like TV and BILD in one, like just zapping through the headlines. You come here and take the time to withdraw from the world for a few moments.

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