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A Favor to Ask

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I have been writing this blog since 2007. There are about 570 posts with 430,000 word which is equivalent to about five books.

I have never worked very hard at getting anyone to read it. Which is a strange thing to admit, because I clearly want people to read it. Otherwise, I would have just kept a diary.

This week I finally sat down and looked at the numbers properly.

What I found

For years I believed I had around fifteen hundred subscribers. I did not. 640 of you receive these posts by email. Another 500 or so follow the blog in a WordPress app and never see an email at all. And 700 more signed up, were sent a confirmation link they never clicked, and have been sitting in limbo ever since, some for years, probably wondering why I stopped writing.

Several of you have told me exactly this. You subscribed and never heard from me. I am sorry. I did not know, and the dashboard kept telling me everything was fine.

Then there was this. The email you receive has been arriving from “Two Thirds Done,” sent from an address belonging to WordPress. Not from me. To an email system, that looks less like a note from someone you know and more like a mailing which means a fair number of you have probably been finding me in the Promotions tab, or in Junk, or not at all.

Also, if you commented on a post, it was public.   I am sure that reduced the number of comments I got.  I was not posting to start a dialog I was wanting to hear from you and to be able to communicate back.  Nobody asked you if that was alright. I certainly didn’t. I suspect it has cost me a great deal, because I know from experience that people will say something in private, they would never say in front of an audience. Some of the most moving responses I have ever received came by private email — from people who, I now realize, would never have posted the same words publicly.

What I have changed

The email now comes from Avram Miller, not from “Two Thirds Done.” I would rather arrive as a person than as a publication.

Your replies now come straight to my inbox, privately. They are not published anywhere. If you want to tell me I am wrong about Israel, or that the post about dying moved you, or that my writing has slipped and someone ought to say so you can now do that without an audience. I would like that very much.

The favor

At this point in my life,  I am not going to build a growth strategy, and I have no intention of learning what a “content funnel” is. But there are three small things you could do that would make a real difference, and together they would take you less than a minute.

1) Look at where this email landed. If it is in Promotions, or Junk, or anywhere other than your main inbox, please drag it over. Add me to your contacts. Email systems take that seriously — far more seriously than anything I can do from my end.

2) Reply even one word. Tell me you got this. A reply is the strongest possible signal that I am someone you actually correspond with, and it teaches the machines to stop treating me as bulk mail. It also means I hear from you, which is the entire reason I do this.

3) Forward it If something here has ever stayed with you, send it to one person. Not a share. Not a repost. One person, who you think would like it. That is how everything I have ever written has found anyone.

Thank you for reading this post and for every other post you have read. 

— Avram

21 thoughts on “A Favor to Ask”

  2. Hi Avram

    I’m happy to receive your mails. I suspect that I originally contacted you awhile back, when I was exploring my roots. Does that feature at all on your blog?

    Kind Regards

    Harvey

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  3. I enjoy reading it, greatly, mainly because it is thoughtful, but also because it makes me feel like we’re in touch. As for how it arrives, it’s now coming from you. ‘Avram Miller,’ where for the longest time it came from ‘Two Thirds Done.’ And before that I can’t recall receiving it very often.

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  6. I started reading your blog around 2010 via an rss aggregator (currently feedly.com). Not sure how that shows up in your metrics. I’ve always appreciated your insights into the IT industry.

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  9. Avram,

    I’ve enjoyed your insights, adventures, history of your life both personal and professional, and your desire to learn new things for the betterment of people. Thank you for continuing to love life and push the boundaries.

    I receive your writings via email.

    Dave Sparkman

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  10. Dear Avram,

    Your email arrived in my primary mailbox whereas all the previous ones arrived in the “Social” file. I’ve enjoyed reading your blogs and have recomended it to at least a dozen people besides forwarding some of them. I have also tried to comment in the past but was unable to do so as the time to comment had apparently expired. This is one of the first times I’ve been able to read you message on the same day I received it. Please keep writing!

    Best regards,

    Ed Connors

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  11. Avram,

    This came from Avram Miller.

    I always look forward to all of your writings, comments….

    They are heartfelt and always thought provoking.

    Thanks!

    M

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  13. I am so impressed by your book! you called yourself a wild duck. I forward the whole chapter 16 to my sister in law, he told me that he cried when he read that chapter you cried when the PSA # drops. We all are moved.

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  14. Hmmm … I have had your blog feed in my RSS reader forever. I think I may have received your emails for a while but then they stopped. Maybe something I messed up on my end.

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  15. I don’t think any sane filter would ever categorized WordPress emails as spam. At any rate that never happened to me.

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