I was at a local business get-together recently and someone asked me who my audience was, expecting me to say, “Women, 30-55, 2.1 children, works full time, etc.” You know the drill with the 30-second elevator speech.
At this point the group scene was like a cartoon with about 8 people who’d been in other conversations whipping their heads around to hear what the old broad had to say. Business people love to hear what someone else is doing just to make sure they’re doing it too, or to laugh with disdain so I wasn’t surprised at their looks — but they were surprised when I answered:
“My audience is the person who’s reading my blog right this minute. One person at a time. Sure, you can put demographics on it and most of my readers will be women but I don’t write FOR a demographic. My audience IS my audience because of our relationship. They know what to expect from me. Sometimes I’m a little off center, most of the time I have fantastic recipes, sometimes I’m a little irreverent and sometimes I know what I’m talking about. It’s the relationship vibe we have. We understand one another.”
At this, a man about 40 feet tall with the biggest feet I’ve ever seen (I’m built very close to the sidewalk so I get a good view of feet) began to talk down to me about why I didn’t know what I was talking about and that I should know all my metrics and write to that one universal woman who fit the metrics. Then that one magical woman would come to my blog and buy lots of “things.” Well look around, there ain’t nothin’ for sale. That might change but for right now, it’s all about the stories.
I will admit that when I told the tall bloke that I didn’t make much money off my blog he rolled his eyes and mumbled something under his breath about “why? she’s got a better site than mine and she doesn’t take advantage of it,” and he wandered off saying he needed another drink.
Food bloggers / food writers like telling stories almost as much as we like buying food, prepping and cooking it, stepping back and oohing and ahhing before we start clicking the shutter. There’s no vaseline to make the tomatoes glisten and no glue or cardboard on anything to make the food look more appetizing. What you see on my plates is what goes down the gullet.
In the blog world we have to be quick because I’ve only got your attention for a few seconds. If I’m not interesting or at the very least, provocative, you’ll take off to someone who is.
Unless you’re reading on a phone or tablet, reading a blog isn’t the same as curling up in a comfy chair with a book and a glass of wine. We’re not cozy in the same way but importantly, in some ways a blog can be better than a book because a blog has two way communication. I can expound at leisure and you can tell me I’m full of crap or give advice to me or other readers. Fairsies. I’ve learned an immense amount from my readers in the comments section.
So my audience of one – that would be you who’s reading this right this minute — it’s nearly the weekend and it’s still warm enough to walk on the beach barefoot but it won’t last much longer so that’s where I can be found. I value your friendship more than I can tell you. Enjoy your weekend and if you get bored, try making these little mock pecan pies. If you like pecan pie but can’t be bothered with making crust or want something in a hurry, these are PERFECT.
Don’t think that I made a mistake and left out self-rising flour or baking powder — the recipe I was given called them muffins but there’s NO rising agent and they DO taste just like a pecan pie. Life’s good like that.
- 1 cup packed light brown sugar
- ½ cup all-purpose flour
- 2 cups chopped pecans
- ⅔ cup butter, softened
- 2 eggs, beaten
- Preheat oven to 180C /350 F
- Grease mini or regular muffin cups generously. Grease them well or they will stick.
- In a medium sized bowl, stir together brown sugar, flour and pecans and set aside.
- In a mixing bowl, beat the butter and eggs together until well combined.
- Stir in dry ingredients just until combined.
- Divide batter into 12 standard size muffin cups about ⅔ full.
- Bake for 12-13 minutes for mini muffins or 15-17 minutes for regular size muffins.
- Run a knife around the edge of each muffin and pop it out.