It is six years since I developed Simply Shanah. In a generation and
era where everything is about commercialization and making a profit, the reasons
as to why I created this space continue to hold water and are unlikely to change.
When I started Simply Shanah; I had no illusions of grandeur whatsoever of
ever making a living off of it.If anything, I was after the space - somewhere
I can write and let go of the myriad of thoughts that bog me down,
not because writing is my passion but more of therapy to me. And as such,
never was perturbed over it’s dismal performance. The knowledge that readers
find it relatable now, and think me good enough to turn it into a money-making
entity are all unexpected feathers in my cap.
People write for all sorts of reasons most of which is passion for the
majority. All of them will say it is hard, more so for those seeking to earn a
living from it. Blogging is just as hard if not harder. Setting up a blog with the intent to earn off of
it soon as it is up and running is an endeavor doomed to fail. It’s success
relies solely on nurturing and time which are infinite factors.
What our generation has failed to understand is; success takes time and
nurturing. In the blogsphere: you need to have good content, time to build up a
readership or following and also social media reach. All of which do not happen
in a day let alone months. And for those seeking to earn from it; they need to
put something down twice or thrice a week to maintain their reach which makes
the output of good content and spread extra hard because tastes and opinions
differ when it comes to topical issues.
I always encourage friends of mine who are better writers than I, to go into
blogging just to nurture and grow their writing skills while at the same time
build an audience because they go hand-in-hand. You need to have a solid
audience before you can seek to earn from blogging for it is this audience that
will pay to read your material and recommend to friends thus spreading your
readership. When that happens; your writing skills would have vastly improved. It is
the same piece of advice I am extending to all budding bloggers and
writers along with;
write because you need to and not have to.
