The Writer’s Technology Companion at 60 (Days)
Today marks 60 days since the official launch of The Writer’s Technology Companion. In a lot of ways, the site has exceeded my goals. I had hoped to have 100 subscribers by the 90-day mark; I have at least 250, on some days creeping closer to 300! I had expected more visitors than subscribers, but the subscribers count is actually the bigger figure — I’m averaging about 150 daily visitors.
One thing I hadn’t counted on was the degree of personal contact with readers and support from other sites that I’ve received. Many of you have emailed me with questions, comments, and just to say “hi”, and many of you with sites for writers have linked to individual posts or the site as a whole. I love that! It puts me in the middle of a community of sites I’ve read and admired for a long time.
Another thing that was unexpected is the number of people who have visited from StumbleUpon. MY post 22 Sites Every Writer Should Read was visited by well over 3,000 people over a 3-day period, and as of today has been read by well over 4,000 people. Other posts have gotten a few hundred visits each from StumbleUpon users. I’d never been all that taken with StumbleUpon before. I am now!
Writing and Productivity
Even though I write for the personal productivity site Lifehack, I hadn’t thought of this site as a “productivity” site until Tom Colvin of Becoming a Writer Seriously (who has turned out to be a good friend) referred to sites like his and mine as “writing productivity” sites. To be honest, I thought I was writing more of a gadget site — cool tools, neat software, and so on — but I like both the idea and the label of “writing productivity”. It’s something I’m going to focus on more consciously in months and years to come, even as I continue to focus on the reviews, tips, and tutorials I’ve been posting the last two months.
Before I go, I’d like to ask for your input. I’ve got months of posts planned (and many written) already, but I’d like to know what would be most interesting and most useful for you, the readers of The Writer’s Technology Companion. Leave a note in the comments, or email me, and let me know what you’d like to see me cover.
Thank you for helping to make The Writer’s Technology Companion a success in its first 60 days!
My goodness, Dustinoal — your site is getting old already! 60 days.
I’ve been quite amazed at how “productive” you are as a writer. Thanks for sharing so much.
Months back I ran into a blog series about building audience. It concluded that StumbleUpon is the best aid of all. I’ve found the same thing.
I’m setting a goal for you: 1000 subscribers by this time next year. If you can attract 3000 people within 3 days from StumbleUpon, then that goal is achievable. Good luck.