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A fellow blogger I subscribe to, Soldiering Through the Writing World, posted a very thought-provoking post, as usual. It was about her invisible audience, meaning the ghost-readers of her blog who read and run, never leaving behind a foot or fingerprint of evidence that they were there.

When I first started my blog, I dreamed of instantly getting hundreds (thousands) of hits on my site per day, having fifty or so subscribers to my blog, and comments galore from readers. I joined Twitter, and created a new Facebook page simply for my writing. I thought I’d be plugged-in, automatically at every nail-biting, foot-tapping, drooling reader’s fingertips.

Such is not the case. There are a few loyal readers out there, and to those readers, I say a big “thank you.” Is a writer with no audience still a writer? Yes, yes, of course, but a writer with an audience is a much more driven and accomplished writer.

As I learn WordPress more thoroughly-and read other’s posts with their struggles for readership-I hope to continue to collect more readers and subscribers.

You see, I’m a rather loose subscriber, in that it doesn’t take much for me to subscribe to someone else’s blog. If I like two or three posts, if they make me smile or laugh, I subscribe. I want to receive their posts the instant they are published, via e-mail, (even if it then takes me all day to get to that e-mail on my Blackberry) and I want to scan their new posts the way others scan the newspaper in the morning.

Am I too loose of a subscriber? Do other people feel the need to “know” someone before they subscribe? Am I crossing boundaries I don’t know exist? When it comes to being a reader, I know a good thing when I see it. Therefore, I have a long list of blogs to which I subscribe.

Anyone who has taken a writing class will hear the phrase, “cater to your audience,” which means tailor your piece to precisely the audience you want to attract. It would be important for the audience to first be identified, and then for the piece to be written for them. With blogging, there are two sides of the argument. Gather your readers in your apron like little chicks and hens, and write for them, or blindly write and hope that someone out there in the big bad blogging world likes your junk.

I’d like to find a balance between the two, but it’s really time I find that audience, and write for them.

So as my fellow blogger mentioned this, I, too, ask for feedback, and for those of you who may be a silent or invisible reader, please comment, subscribe, share, and “like” my posts. It wont take you very long, and it will keep me motivated to produce more magnificent posts, for you, my special readers!