JH: Can you tell me how and why you came to start your blog?
EW: I began the art blog after a few years spent blogging on politics in hostile territory (I was a liberal blogging on right-wing sites), where I learned quickly that you better do your homework and be willing to be both modest and concilatory if you didn’t want to be mocked and dismissed. In other words, I learned that generosity and honesty were what the blogosphere hungered for. When I later decided to begin my art blog it was primarily as a marketing tool for the gallery. But I already knew that simply posting my press releases wouldn’t attract much of an audience, so I began a series of posts designed to demystify the gallery system. In the beginning other dealers would reproach me: “Why are you giving away all our secrets?” To which I would reply, “Because I don’t understand why they are secrets.” More lately, though, I find other dealers appreciative of the way more artists understand our point of view and how hard we work because of the conversations in the comment threads on the blog.
JH: Based on your success, what advice do you have for someone starting a new blog these days such as moi?
EW: The key currency of the blogosphere is generosity. Linking out to others’ blogs is the best way to get them to link back to yours. Giving something that people are surpised you’re not charging for is the best way to build readership, at least in the beginning (if you can really turn it into a money-making venture, you might want to keep some back for your publisher).
Then, unfortunately (because it requires discipline), the most important part of a successful blog is dedicating time to it. Readers don’t care if you blog every hour, or only once a day, or only once a month, but they do like to know that when they make a note to visit they’re rewarded with something new. If it looks unattended when they return, they’ll stop returning.
JH: For those that don’t know the real you, perhaps you might share with everyone something silly and personal like what you sleep in at night, and/or what you guiltiest food pleasure is?
EW: I sleep in pajama bottoms and a t-shirt, as does Bambino. It’s habit for him, but self-defense for me. We like the room to be on the chilly side for sleeping, and he’s a turmultuous sleeper, meaning I’ll wake up in the middle of the night to find him hoarding the duvet and no coverage for me at all.My guiltiest food pleasure is a martini-soaked olive. I can eat them like salad.
