Some Changes

When I started this blog, I looked for regular things to post on a set day each week. It got me into a routine and it worked well.

MP3 of the Week on Monday
VC Cliche of the Week on Wednesday
Nuggets on Friday

That's been the drill for the past couple years.

But it's not working for me anymore. I feel compelled to post those thoughts at a set time and its turned into a chore. So I'll still post mp3s to my blog, but not just on Monday mornings. I'll do it whenever I am hit with the urge to do it. And I'll blog cliches with the heading VC Cliche of the Week but they are going to come whenever I have the urge to post one. And I'll do my Nuggets posts the same way - when I feel it.

It's going to work a lot better and you aren't going to have to read crappy forced posts like the one I put out on Wednesday morning.

I'd like to thank everyone who left a comment on the Jumping The Shark post. They were helpful in getting me to do this.

Comments

[howard lindzon]

Way to shake it up Mr. Robotto

fastavc now wildandcrazyavc

[Vincent van Wylick]

This is going to sound like a "As your attorney, I would suggest.." post. But it's just an opinion.

I also went through periods like this, and am still doing so regularly. I think, when undertaking something like a weblog, it's good to keep some kind of structure or discipline, at least to yourself, or else it can become over-or underwhelming. Over- in the sense that you can feel like you post too little and try to overcompensate and burn out; under- in the sense of you don't put as much effort into the postings anymore after a while and your readers feel that. In other words, if you're feeling bored with your routine, perhaps begin a new one but don't abandon structure in it's entirety?

Sorry for this dogmatic-sounding comment. I haven't read your blog long enough to make a judgement. But I am quite impressed with the mon-tue-fri structure you have kept so far and hope you find a(nother) way to make it work.

[Josh]

Fred,

This is supposed to be fun. Less structure and more impulse is the way to go. This isn't a newspaper or TV - your schedule isn't dictated by the calendar.

Way to give yourself more freedom. I like the site more already.

[Pete]

Hi Fred, thanks for being considerate of your readers as you evolve your blog.

I'd like to provide some feedback as well:

I highly value the posts you make about venture capital and your observations about the internet and tech in general, which is why I subscribe to your blog.

But your posts about music, baseball, family, etc., are starting to overwhelm. I don't read "A VC" for those topics. While I don't mind an occasional off-topic post from bloggers that I subscribe to, I feel like I'm more often than not erasing your posts without reading them.

I hate to put it this way, because it sounds mean (and I'm not intending to be mean, I'm just a customer that wants to help you make your product better) but it's starting to feel like spam. If everyone of the bloggers on my blogroll posted off-topic posts at a high frequency, I would probably stop subscribing to blogs.

Just food for thought. Maybe consider branching off with a music blog or a personal blog, and then your readers can choose which content they are interested in.

Pete

[fred]

Hi Pete,

I have a feed for just my vc/tech posts.

http://feeds.feedburner.com/AVcVentureCapitalAndTechnology

I think you might want to switch to that feed.

Thanks for the comment.

Fred

[Fraser]

Keep on keepin' on. Thoroughly Enjoy the mix of posts.

Is there a way to keep that Howard guy (with the stunner shades) away from the comments?

[Pete]

Thanks for the reply Fred, I will switch the feed. Perfect!

Pete

[jackson]

Hi Fred, first time commenter, long time reader (LOL), uh, your VC posts just seem to get in the way, all the gadgets and tech stuff, puts me to sleep! Can you just blog about one thing, say, American Idol?

Thanx

[Fraser]

Actually, yeah, what jackson said.

But!

Maybe even more niche though - I'm hearing a great deal about this thing called the long tale. People tell really long stories about something that they're interested in and then other people with similar interests read it.

American Idol is good, but the really interesting long tale would be if you wrote, at great lenght, on what Simon wore on the show.

[Robert J. Ed]

My flavor is of Baskin Robbins scope, others may enjoy a monotone style akin to MF Doom. You started blogging because you enjoy it, sure other people do too and get a lot out of it; but in the end it's because it makes you feel good. When that stops the blog stops. Do whatever is necessary to maintain, or as the Dylan quote up there says, keep on.

[Vijay]

Excellent decision.

I cant wait more VC cliches from you. It will be nice when it comes natural. Amazing and more welcoming decision.

Vijay

[Toby]

Fred, it's interesting to see you hitting some sort of wall. You're extremely prolific so it's not surprising that you're venturing into territory as a blogger that others may not have reached yet (although I do see topics like this coming up more and more).

Personally, I think the current blogging structure is doomed to be replaced with Suprglu like DLAs. I've never had a blog because I felt intimidated by the openness. I don't have the time or dedication to continuously come up with new topics or reliably deliver "series" such as Cliches.

I have however been doing more blogging type activities on vertical sites such as Yelp (dining reviews), Musicmobs (playlists and music conversation), Twitter (personal junk)... I find that the structure and topic specific infrastructure of each of these sites (and many others) helps keep the writing and fresh ideas coming.

For you, you could probably use Last.fm journals (or maybe WebJay playlists?), Myspace (or some other personal forum) and some yet to be created business/vc specific vertical. Then you could aggregate all of the feeds on your "blog" and essentially have the same content you have today with the added bonus of vertical specific benefits from each of the "input" sites.

Of course there's the question of where do the comments go? That alone is an interesting thought to contemplate, but I imagine there will be a solution soon enough.