Blogging Insights — Writing for Electronic VS Print Media

Today on Blogging Insights we address something different : we talk about “print”.

TODAY’S QUESTIONS

Have you written (or do you still write) for print media? How do you find that different from blogging or writing for electronic media? Which do you enjoy more, and why?

MY ANWERS

Twenty five years ago, I used to write light hearted, lifestyle type pieces for the Tuesday magazine of a prestigious daily. When I resumed writing a couple of years back, that daily, the Frontier Post had gone out of print.

I wrote a few articles and submitted them to a print newspaper and a digital one. Both rejected my work.

I had never had time for social media given the constraints of career and family. Even though I had been living under a proverbial stone, I had heard of blogs. I decided to write for myself . I launched my blog on WordPress and never looked back. I love repeating this story so if you have been following my work you might have read it before.

Writing for the newspaper, I had to toe the editorial line. My content was edited and modified arbitrarily. Sometimes they truncated a piece such that the sentence structure and meaning changed beyond recognition.

Editorial Freedom or not

On my blog, since I have no editorial constraints, I am thoroughly enjoying myself. If I was writing for someone else’s electronic/digital platform, I might still feel the same way as I did when writing for the newspaper. Creating content for digital media is therefore different when writing for yourself than creating content for sites hosted by others.

When writing for your own, small blog you can express opinions freely. You usually have your own group of readers who you are constantly interacting with and you can tailor your content accordingly.

Challenges of Electronic Media

If you are competing with the bigger view of social media, it’s a completely different ball game. Here your work is like a drop in the ocean. At any given moment you are competing with a gazillion posts on the same topic. Your content needs to be good as well as attention grabbing. You need to hook the reader with an attractive heading that in addition to being original, manages to convey thoe subject matter to come. If your writing does not deliver in both style and substance, your reader instantly clicks you into oblivion.

My Personal Preference

Personally, after getting used to blogging I vastly prefer electronic media over print anytime. The main reason is the instant feedback. Feedback is not only gratifying but also allows you to modify or tailor your content to your users demand. Funny, but electronic media provide human connection.

I am afraid I am rambling a little. One needs to be more precise and concise on the internet than in print. The reason is again too much content available too easily .

What do you think? What is your experience? I would love to know.

Please let me know by leaving a reply in my comments section or writing a post of your own.Just remember to tag it

#blogginginsights