Building an audience

Why blog? What is it writers want? Well, one thing writers want is to be read...to have an audience. To get an audience, of course, we need to recognize what readers want. In Literature as Exploration, Louise Rosenblatt reminds us of Guy de Maupassant’s advice in this regard:

The public as a whole is composed of various groups, whose cry to us writers is:
“Comfort me.”
“Amuse me.”
“Touch me.”
“Make me dream.”
“Make me laugh.”
“Make me shudder.”
“Make me weep.”
“Make me think.”
And only a few chosen spirits say to the artist:
“Give me something fine in any form which may suit you best, according to your own temperament.” (p. 36).