Now when I try to present myself as an expert, after all of 8 months experience, I expect some laughter, but I haven't done so badly, in my short life of being textually active... I've got a fair number of followers and have made a fair few friends.
Learn From An Expert
I could NEVER EVER call Elizabeth a slut. But to be honest, she IS pretty free with her favors...
The smartest thing I ever did was read a couple established blogs and find someone who was doing EVERYTHING right and then follow HER around. Now my content is really different because frankly, she is just better at putting the writing tricks into perspective (and our styles are about as different as night and day), but I did several things she did, and they WORKED.
The first, was to look at her sidebar and see what blogs she was reading. She's a writer. I'm interested in writing... It was a pretty safe bet that I'd be interested in quite a bit of the same content. I don't follow all the mystery blogs she does because I don't write genre mystery, but most of the general writing and a FEW of the mystery ones, I do.
I also read the comments to her posts to get a feel for the OTHER really nice people out there—she has nice friends—and started following some of THEM around, too—pestering THEM.
I followed her advice about the social networking thing. Much of what I have to say, I learned from her (the innuendo of it though, was my own addition-as if you didn't know that).
Most importantly though, I learned it goes a LONG WAY to be really nice. If somebody comments on your blog, RESPOND—they will feel loved. If somebody visits you, visit back... Her old-fashioned southern manners have worked well, even for a naked chick in Michigan.
A Little Mutual Appreciation
Commenting on other people's content WILL earn you a visit from them—maybe not the first time, but the real bloggers that get into form, updating regularly and caring about followers KNOW the gig... you check them out a few times, you WILL be checked out. Their READERS will ALSO check you out if you are clever or interesting.
The very fastest way to earn a following is to get out there and be a good follower. Oh, I know... we all gotta be ourselves, but it's called NETWORKING for a reason.
Find Your Niche
Anybody can master missionary... in fact some people with this approach might be accused of just laying there... You need to figure out what you're good at that other people will find either INFORMATIVE or ENTERTAINING. Some desperate people even just run around naked and hope to get attention *cough *.
Spread the Love
Seek out people who don't already have followings... Try to help them out. They'll appreciate it. Visit a lot of places... Given limited time, maybe strategize to have 30 blogs you really follow and visit 4 a day, commenting each time... that keeps it down to about 15 minutes or so, but makes sure you are in several different places and after a month or so, you will be recognized.
I have a couple blogs I read almost every day (like Elizabeth's, Rayna's or Jan's) because I feel a specific loyalty (read: friendship) to those bloggers. Some days I can read most of the new stuff in my side bar, but MOST days, I only have time for 3-5 blogs, so I browse titles, but also browse who I owe a visit. (who's visited ME; who have I neglected for a while?) A lot depends on timing... who has a recently updated blog when I have time to read, but I DO try to not neglect anyone too long.
A Hard Truth
The agents don't need you. There are some terrific agent blogs out there, full of information. When you are querying, READ THEM. When you are polishing, READ THEM. When you are seeking expert advice READ THEM. But unless you are reading ABOUT social networking from them, they are NOT where to invest your time in social networking.
Leaving a comment for Nathan Bransford is like this... if you slept with Warren Beaty, do you think he'd remember the mole on your inner thigh? Not likely, unless it was so grotesque that it entirely ceased events. The most popular guy around just has too many choices for a single incident (or serial of them) to be noticed. I comment when he polls, and occasionally when I can't help myself, but I am under no illusion that he has noticed me.
Agents have TONS of wannabe followers traipsing around after them, and if you comment OFTEN on their blogs, you might ANNOY them (I suspect I've annoyed Jessica, but I'm sure I'm not the only one), and if you only comment from time to time, you are NOT going to be memorable... Read them for your content--they're helpful, but if you are limited in the amount of time you have, then the agent forums are like trying to sleep with the quarterback... Only the already popular girls get to do that and you are wasting your energies.