Chrispian H. Burks

Chris Brogan recently wrote Which Crowd on his blog, almost if on queue. Amazing how many good ideas pop into your view when you need them most. I’m working on my plans for my sites and thinking about the audience is on my list, but reading his article it just really clicked with me. While I do have to narrow down a topic, I also have to figure out who I’m writing for on that topic.

So who do it write for then? I could write a blog that would appeal more to colleagues and peers. There’s some appeal in that but I think that space is pretty well covered. I do have some thoughts to contribute and I’ll do those as guest posts where they are better suited. I plan on guest posting quite a bit so some of my interests that I don’t want to write about full time can still find a home somewhere.

I know I love helping people and teaching has always been fun for me. I love giving people the power to do the things they want for themselves. So I know whatever subject(s) I choose will probably have in mind the people out learning things and doing it themselves. For example, if I do decide that web development is one of my sites, I would most likely focus on things to help people learn. I’ve done just about every job there is in making a website work, from servers to design. I’ve been at this since 1995. I may not be the best but I’ve picked up all sorts of good tricks and there aren’t too many errors I haven’t seen or caused myself.

I also run Lit.Org, so I’d like to cover writing. A subject I am not an expert on. I know good advice when I see it, but I’m not that great on the technical side of writing. I use too many commas and that’s not even my worst problem. But I do love writing. I always have. I want to write a book or five one of these days. I may have to spend a fortune to have it edited before I let anyone see it, but I will get it done. But I can write about other aspects of the writing business, like promoting yourself online and using social media. I can talk about publishing, contracts and other issues writers face, because I’m learning them as I try to get published myself. I can also talk about jobs in writing, especially online where I’ve been published. That’s where guest posts will come in. I can cover what I know and what I learn as I go. To fill in the areas where I’m weak I hope I can get some great guest posts and even eventually pay for writers. That’s true of whatever sites I do.

Chris’s article was a great spark to get me thinking about this more. It’s helping me narrow the focus of the sites I’m going and that helps me figure out what content and features the sites will need. Now it’s time to start ironing out a real plan and getting to work.