2009 year-end reader survey
I will make it simple. The questions below should be self-explanatory:
1) What do you want to see more/less of in terms of content here at Iwa ni Hana?
The reason I ask: I once read somewhere that if a blogger sways too far from a niche topic, then readers would dwindle away. Such is the reality of blogging – readers are more interested in following a niche topic than a personality (unless you are Paris Hilton). In other words, never assume that the force of one’s personality is such that one’s readers would gobble up everything one writes, on-topic or off-topic.
The niche I pitch at is this: a non-academic working adult fan of animation/manga/books/films/East Asian culture writing for a general audience of non-academic working adults who like the same things.
I must stress “non-academic” part because I think it is more interesting to ask “what does this work say to me?” rather than “how would so-and-so’s theory apply to this work?”
2) Do you think the length of the posts are: i) too long, ii) just about right or iii) too short?
The reason I ask: When I blog, I apply the same assumption I have when I send emails at work – that nobody ever reads what someone else wrote carefully word by word. So I aim at brevity, precision and clarity. I assume that people’s eyeballs just glide through the screen. (I do that sometimes when I read other blogs.) That is why I try to break a long post into smaller sections etc.
I am concerned about length in particular because I typically have a stock of at least 50 ideas I want to discuss. The drafts exist on my mobile phone and I tinker with them whenever I have time. I have a choice of i) discussing one idea in one post of around 500 words or, ii) discussing several ideas in one post of around 1500 words. Naturally, this would also make a difference in the frequency I post. It usually doesn’t take me long to write. Usually I have been turning over the ideas in my head while I wait in line-ups or work out at the gym etc. I always know what I want to say and it is just a matter of banging it out with a keyboard. I have never really experienced “writer’s block.” Any temporary drop in posting frequency has only one explanation and it is my work schedule. Personally, I prefer blog posts to be short and focused on one idea, but I wonder if you guys may think otherwise.
Thank you kindly for taking your time to answer this survey. Your comments would be a great help to me.
(Or, even if you don’t feel like answering the survey, please feel free to take this opportunity to say “hi” if you have been a lurker, or have been lurking for a while. December is the festival season after all. And before people start to go away on holidays – let me get it over with the seasonal greetings: Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! Farewell to the old decade! All the best in the 2010s!)
“I must stress “non-academic” part because I think it is more interesting to ask “what does this work say to me?” rather than “how would so-and-so’s theory apply to this work?””
I’ve read most of the academic works available in English (a small bunch indeed) about the phenomena you write about here, and I have to say that your arguments and commentaries are far more interesting than majority of them. For me, at least. About manga specifically, with the exception of Mr. Schodt, Matt Thorn (who has no book on the subject) and a few commentators here and there whose work I follow (Andrew Cunningham from the Eastern Standard, maybe Bill Randall) there is not much to be seen or heard from the academic world on the subject. There is somewhat better situation in France, and infinitely better in Japan, but the theories of Natsume Fusanosuke are not available to the average reader.
So, to answer your questionnaire:
1. More of everything :)
2. I think “just about right” with the secret ingredient of “a little on the long side”. Or I just don’t like to read from the monitor too much. But I prefer the shorter posts more often than the longer ones less frequently.
I’m a lurker, and I decided to say hi.
1. Don’t worry, you’ve shown through your posts that you’ve got a lot of insight (and a lot of knowledge of different cultures and languages!), so I’d be willing to read whatever you think is interesting. Of course, if it’s anime, manga, j-drama, or even books I could find at my university library I’ll probably be able to follow your recommendations or just get my own opinions on stuff.
2. I think that when you introduce a book or writer you like, your posts are a good size. But when you analyze something you saw, I start getting into your discussion and feel like “Oh, I wish he had gone on a little more.”
Your blog is really impressive though – I feel smarter just reading, haha.
Ridiculus:
You know, for someone who lives in your part of the world, you sure have read a lot on these topics. ^-^ I have never even heard of those names you mentioned…
I prefer shorter posts myself too. But people seem to be more drawn to comment on longer posts – perhaps for the simple reason that there is more content to comment on.
snoboat:
It is “she”. ^-^
Anyway, thanks for delurking. I wish more lurkers would come out to say hi. (From what I see on my traffic log, there are those who visit 5 or 6 times a day and never say anything to me.)
The thing with writing about what I saw (movies, anime etc) is that the internet is likely to be not lacking in reviews/plot summaries already. After all, subtitled releases for movies/anime are more readily available than translation of books per se.
So I see not much point in duplicating such effort and just focus on the point I want to make.
I’m a lurker too (but I may have commented before sometimes. I lurk more than I comment in any case. XD)
1. I like that you mention/discuss works that are not mainstream but are gems itself. Urm. Like, IMO, Aoi Bungaku, Mouryou no Hakou and the illustrations by PRC
I’m a lurker too (but I may have commented before sometimes. I lurk more than I comment in any case. XD)
1. I like that you mention/discuss works that are not mainstream but are gems itself. Urm. Like, IMO, Aoi Bungaku, Mouryou no Hakou and the illustrations by PRC artists. So I hope to see more posts about commendable shows, stories or artwork which are overlooked. (Does this make sense lol lurker is uncomfortable with commenting)
2. I think the length you usually blog in is good, because for me, the content of your posts is often new, something I have not known before. So a short and succinct post is better than a long one with all the details.
Sorry for the double post. I accidentally pressed the submit button before finishing ORZ
Thanks for all the work you have put into writing your posts! :)
1) What do you want to see more/less of in terms of content here at Iwa ni Hana?
I like most the posts where you introduce and discuss this and that anime/manga/etc, the type that most anime/manga bloggers would overlook. (I second ForWho on Aoi Bungaku and Mouryou no Hako.) They also can’t discuss concepts in-depth either because their Japanese language skills or knowledge of Japanese culture are insufficient (or they’re just not interested).
I agree that “what does this work say to me?” is more interesting because that’s something we can readily relate to. Discussing theories might alienate those who don’t have background or the time to research those theories. But on the other hand it’s also informative so the hard part must be getting the right balance.
2) Do you think the length of the posts are: i) too long, ii) just about right or iii) too short?
I think the length of your posts are just about right.
>>So I aim at brevity, precision and clarity. I assume that people’s eyeballs just glide through the screen. (I do that sometimes when I read other blogs.) That is why I try to break a long post into smaller sections etc.
At other blogs, when posts are too long sometimes I just give up and move on. Why write three paragraphs when it can be said in just a few sentences? Why describe this and that when it’s not really important? (That’s why I don’t like Atonement and Ian McEwan’s style there.) My brain starts shutting down after 4 pages of text lol
Forwho:
Thank you for delurking. ^-^
I don’t think I have seen you comment before (unless you commented under some other name).
You are very welcome. I do my best to spread the word on things of beauty and wit on this blog. ^-^
hayase:
I have never read Ian McEwan, but I think I see your point. Is “Atonement” a book you recently read?
“I have never even heard of those names you mentioned…”
Well, Frederik Schodt brought the term ‘manga’ to the Western world back in the 80s and wrote the definitive books on the subject. Natsume Fusanosuke (夏目房之介) is the grandson of Natsume Soseki and the most respected manga critic, founder of the mangalogy (マンガ学).
And I am happily informing you that I am on vacation for the rest of the month, so I will read Summer of the Ubume, which arrived to me some time ago.
I only recently started reading your blog but really like it. Sometimes I find the points you’re trying to make obscure, often because you are juggling a lot of ideas in your posts, and some discussions are not as clear as others, even though they are all interesting.
I especially like the posts where you highlight artists from the PRC. I’d love to hear about the Chinese manhua/comics scene, if you have any interest in that area.
Posts where you talk about translations/readings things in different languages/culture, things are that are also very interesting, too.
Have a good rest of your 2009!
>1) What do you want to see more/less of in terms of content here at Iwa ni Hana?
I think, until now I like the posts which dealt with Chinese culture (like the “Honorific speech, nicknames and intimacy in Chinese culture” post) and the Post on Chinese Anime/Illustations or the Chinese-Japanese comparisons most. Especially the vocabulary posts are interesting. (Through they always seem sometimes a bit (too?) complicated, to comment on them in any matter that would make sense…) For them I think it would be really nice if there were more phrases which contain these vocabularies, just to show the context more clearly.
I like the Chinese especially, since for Japanese stuff (especially Animes) there are plenty of other (easily readable) resources, but for Chinese stuff it’s rather complicated, if one’s Chinese is horrible…
What I also like are these other culture posts like that on Satre and Simone de Beauvoir.
2) Do you think the length of the posts are: i) too long, ii) just about right or iii) too short?
Last year, I think I chose “about right”, but this year, as I do see how my time is running away with my university studies, I’d almost say a bit too long. I have many a time caught myself stopping reading an entry when I saw the “Read the rest of this entry »” link. It somehow implied the post would go on much longer and it makes me often to skip it, thinking “will finish reading when I have time”, which case has grown rather seldom, so that I simply forget about things, which is a pity. (But I can’t help my sieve-memory…)
And I think, a bit shorter posts, do leave more points unclear, but then, I think that is a motivation of comment and simply ask.
This post is like a parent asking of his/her children what presents want Santa Claus to bring them, hehe :)
So 1. a bit of everything, since all is beautiful and interesting. Perhaps more PRC illustrators with given internet addresses under them ^^’ because coping-pasting the Chinese characters don’t always has the expected result and I have absolutely no idea of Asian languages. Focusing on the meaning of a word and trying to see it through a multicultural scope, is something I like a lot as well. I wonder, if you could add posts that have to do with other arts in Asia, like ikebana and theaters…
2.somewhere in the middle. Not too short, not too long. I usually have a content feeling after reading a post of yours. Very few times I crave for more comments.
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year, Wabisabi! :D And to all of you! I really hope that some global problems will be solved or at least decreased the upcoming decade.
(I also hope for more quality anime productions, hehe ^^’ )
>1) What do you want to see more/less of in terms of content here at Iwa ni Hana?
I don’t know what to say. I think you should continue doing what you do…
2) Do you think the length of the posts are: i) too long, ii) just about right or iii) too short?
When I like something, I want more and more of it. Therefore my answer would be (iii) and it would also be the reason why i look like a cross between pillsbury doughboy and michelin man. That said, it’s probably best if you stick to the length that you’re comfortable with.
Ridiculus:
Now that you mention it, I think I do remember having heard about a grandson of Natsume Soseki being manga critic.
Please be sure to discuss with me what you think about Ubume no Natsu afterwards! I am all ears.
Tan:
If there is anything unclear, then I hope people would use the comment section and ask.
Another thing I noticed about the demographic of people who visit this blog is that they do not all necessarily know English at a native fluency level. I tend not to use difficult words on this blog, but sometimes a gap of understanding seems unavoidable, especially when it comes to discussion of abstract concepts.
Shina Luna:
I think you are probably in the minority with “Read the rest of this entry link”. My traffic log shows that most visitors do click on it…
ayame:
Images are scattered all over the place on the net and I don’t see much point in linking to a dozen of pages with one image each. Using Google Images (*not* Google for websites) is how I myself find images. I think the problem you described in the past tends to happen with Google for *websites*.
animekritik:
Sane advice you have.
>>I have never read Ian McEwan, but I think I see your point. Is “Atonement” a book you recently read?
I think I read it last year. I failed to catch the movie so decided to read the book instead. I was in tears near the end but the unnecessary stuff annoyed me.
>>I remember that you told me you were taking the JLPT Level 2 exam last year too.
I took it again this year because I didn’t pass. Even though it’s take two I’m still not confident but the fee was shouldered by my company anyway so there was no real harm in taking it again. ^_^;
hayase:
Noted with thanks.
I’d say keep posting what you want, long or short, since it is your blog (unless you get paid for that which I doubt), every entry so far have been very interesting.
ado:
Noted with thanks.
(From what I see on my traffic log, there are those who visit 5 or 6 times a day and never say anything to me.)
:P Sorry for being such a lurker. Just because my writing skill in English is not that good so i prefer keeping silent. I’ve been following you through both your two blogs for about one year and a half i think.
I am personally interested in aesthetics/language theme. Your POV and way of approaching and interpreting those concepts are interesting. I am a Vietnamese and my language is kind of complicated as well as having many adaptions from Chinese. So when i combine your ideas with which i’ve already known, i get quite excited of… everything ^ ^. Of course also about East Asian culture/aesthetic view in general. This is my favorite subject after all.
Besides, reading all interpretations of these concepts in English also gives me some ideas of how different it is between Western and East Asian languages. I am really, really concerned of East Asian languages’ insight meanings as well as their beauties.
Therefore, more in terms of this theme if it is possible, please. And the longer each post is, the better it is to me personally.
Anyway, that’s just my very own confession ^ ^. (after a long time of lurking)
Generally I should answer your survey question like this :P :
1) What do you want to see more/less of in terms of content here at Iwa ni Hana?
“The niche I pitch at is this: a non-academic working adult fan of animation/manga/books/films/East Asian culture writing for a general audience of non-academic working adults who like the same things.”
I am exactly this type of audience so everything you wrote so far is good to me. And i’m still expecting for very new ideas/concepts appearing in the future.
2) Do you think the length of the posts are: i) too long, ii) just about right or iii) too short?
I think it depends. When the idea/concept is mentioned for the very first time, keeping the post short and focused is better whilst for the second time and third and so on the concept should be digging in a little bit more each time it appears again (hence, longer posts maybe?). I personally don’t mind reading long posts involved concepts i’ve already known or interested in, but otherwise, yes, i think brevity and clarity is better. We all don’t have that much time after all ^ ^.
Anyway, so far, your posts are just about right to me.
So, that’s all. Sorry for such a long comment :P, and Merry Christmas and Happy New Year~
Wei:
Another delurker! Thanks a lot for your suggestions. ^-^
Saying ‘hi’. I was here for the Yoshiki Tanaka. Then I started keeping tabs on your blog because, frankly, I found your posts fascinating.
There’s not much I can add to the survey that hasn’t already been said.
I.R.:
Thanks a lot for dropping by. Really appreciate it. ^-^