Q&A: Readers first, always

Every month, I publish an answer to a reader’s question. Here’s a transcript of my answer to the 31st readers’ question I’ve answered, about my vision for this blog and putting readers first.

Hi Lisanne, in your bio you wrote about your intention to keep this blog advertisement-free. Can you explain your vision for your blog to us a little more?

The bigger vision for this platform and my work as a writer is to provide people food for thought. To give readers something to think about, or laugh about. Publishing book recommendations, insights, observations, or pieces of literature is an attempt to provide readers with something meaningful. Something of value that could spark their curiosity, and passions and help readers better understand themselves and the world around them.

But in order to provide readers meaning, it’s important to put them first, always.

I want your experience as a reader to be the best possible. I like it if you can find everything easily, that my articles are pleasant to read, and that there are no parts of the reading experience that are distracting. For this reason, I have eliminated nearly every annoying part of the reading experience: no advertising, no in-your-face marketing, etc.

Banners, pop-ups, or other advertisements, however, always felt like a sacrifice to the user experience. I’ve never read a piece in which the banner added value to the reading experience. To the reader, it is often a distraction, while for the publisher it is a source of income.

For me, it’s important that both parties equally benefit from the choice to invite a third party into that relationship. I like the relationship to be personal and real, while website ads often, in my opinion, intervene in that dialogue and disturb – as you will, the authenticity that it needs and deserves.

In my opinion, good design is a way to serve the reader. So on this platform, I solely focus on reader support and quality stories. As the world keeps getting faster, there’s actually a shortage of thoughtful, timeless stories and ideas that are worth sharing an hour or even a week later. While the web can be a crowded place of anonymity, clicks, self-exposure, and sometimes bullying, it can also be a destination of unity, real conversations, and bringing people together. I hope this is a useful answer to your question.

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Thank you for reading. This reader’s question is part of the Ask Me Anything series. I´d love to answer more of your interesting questions and get a sense of your interests. If you have questions to extend this Ask Me Anything section, please let me know. I like to hear from you. Send me your question via [email protected]

Here is a list of the last 3 readers’ questions I’ve answered:

• #30 reader question: Traditional and literary nonfiction
  
• #28 reader question: Quit at the right moment
• #27 reader question: Where I get my ideas from