Please welcome Gene’O, the man behind the “Sourcererblog” one of the first and very original multi-contributor blog I came across. Gene’O has kindly accepted to be my “Featured blogger” this week as well as submitting to the usual Chouett interrogation and you can read it below:
LaChouett: How did you come up with the “Sourcererblog” concept and was “Just Gene’O” blog created before or after?
The Sourcerer: The two blogs went live on the same day.
During the summer of 2013, some friends and I discussed a blog that could eventually grow into a site with a dozen or more people posting. I decided a blog of that sort needed to post every day during the first year to attract a stable following, to build enough credibility to recruit contributors, and to generate a deep archive. We settled on pop culture from a geeky angle for content because that’s what we like to talk about when we get together. When we looked at all the things we read and share on the Internet, the pop culture geekery was the thing we all had in common.
So it started out as a way of crowdsourcing content so we could publish often enough to get noticed and establish a reputation. My sister, Diana, also wanted a personal blog and she wanted to build a real audience for it. She and I set up three: Sourcerer, Part Time Monster, and Just Gene’O at the same time, and hers went live the week before mine.
The name itself is a bit of a joke, because I’m the planner and I developed the original social media plan for the three blogs. I’m the evil genius, as it were, and I wanted the branding to have a fantasy feel. During the first few months, whenever we had some small success, one of us would say “It’s called Sourcerer for a reason” and we’d have a laugh.
LaChouett: Pop Culture, Photos, Playlist. Which is your favourite and why?
The Sourcerer: Pop Culture (click here for more). That’s where all our contributors intersect. It’s the heart of the site. It’s what brings us consistent visitors and drives the growth. I’m proud of the diversity and the quality of the Pop Culture collection. The photos and the playlist are important to the overall feel of the blog, though. They have regular followers and I enjoy putting them together as much as I do the written posts.
LaChouett: What would you like for the Sourcererblog to achieve a year from now?
The Sourcerer: A year from now I want to have a well-developed editorial process and enough contributors loading and scheduling their own posts that it can publish every day whether I am online or not. I’d like everything except tv reviews and posts about current topics to be scheduled a couple of weeks in advance. Waking up in the morning with no post scheduled is the worst. I’m always thinking weeks ahead. This is why we publish so many series and photo features — it’s easy to load and schedule several weeks’ worth at a time. Eventually, I’d like to be able to take a two-week vacation from the Internet and have everything scheduled before I go, so all I have to do is check in once a day and make sure the posts publish.
LaChouett: One word to sum you up?
The Sourcerer: Strategic.
LaChouett: With so many contributors present, are we likely to see a “Sourcererblog collection” in booksellers anytime soon?
The Sourcerer: I’d say not anytime soon. I haven’t considered it and we’ve not discussed it. But a few of our contributors are e-publishers. A group of friends and I recently released a collection of feminist posts as an e-text, and some of the early pieces in that collection were published at Sourcerer before I decided to make that blog a political no-go zone. So you just never know what we might come up with.
Gene’O, thank you so much for giving us a little insight in the world of The Sourcerer.
“The Sourcererblog” will feature on Chouett to the end of the week, feel free to visit!!”
I would like to add a special mention for Gene’O’s personal blog “Just Gene’O” as well as his favourite sidekick Diana who runs “Part Time Monster” blog and is also a major contributor on The Sourcerer Blog.
Enjoy!
LaChouett
Cool interview indeed! I’d definitely say that ‘strategic’ is a great word for Gene’o 🙂
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Haha. It sounds a little pretentious, but it’s the first (and best) think that popped into my head.
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wellllll why NOT, eh?
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Awesomeness! I really like Just Gene’o blog, aka I only really started reading Sourcerer after having discovered Just Gene’o.
And the photographs he puts up on Sourcererblog are just awesome! 🙂 I’m really happy I made the discovery.
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They are both amazing blogs!
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Reblogged this on Epiphanies & Peas and commented:
First interview about Sourcerer and how it, along with Part Time Monster began. I have no doubts, it won’t be the last one he does. 🙂 Also, a blog to check out that hasn’t come up on my radar yet. Double Bonus.
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Thanks very much for the interview! I tend to publish early and comment late. I shared this around a bit today. I’ll work it in on the blogs soon and tweet it around, of course.
I really appreciate you featuring me. It’s the first interview anyone has asked me for yet, and I love, love, love both being interviewed and the idea of bloggers interviewing one another. My friend David of Comparative Geeks and I have discussed blogger interviews as a regular feature more than once in the last six months.
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Hello Gene’O, It is a pleasure to have you feature. I think you have an amazing blog and felt it would be nice to know a little more about that man behind the site and tell others. By the way, David and Holly will be my next feature and then Diana will be on too :). I think you are all doing a fantastic job and furthermore, I am happy I can learn from you all and share it.
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Cool! I’d heard those might be coming, but haven’t mentioned because I wasn’t sure how closely you hold your schedule and interviewees. Those are good choices. David and Holly are the first bloggers Diana and I made friends with when we started on WordPress. I linked to CompGeeks in my kickoff post. And I’ve given them more guest posts than anyone else other than Diana.
Another early friend of mine — Luther of Infinite Free Time, who writes the Walking Dead posts for me and also writes sci-fi. I’ve been talking to him almost as long. He and I both post stats periodically and discuss them. I do mine quarterly, he doesn’t really keep to a schedule. I’ve learned a lot about blogging from paying attention and chatting with him.
Almost everything I know about social media, I learned through trial and error and from other bloggers. So I’m happy to share what I know (and be honest about what I don’t know).
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Ooh! I might have to say hi! to Luther as well then.
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Yes! Strategic is an understatement! 🙂 Awesome is another word that comes to mind. Gene’O is always thinking three steps ahead. Great interview!
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Thank you, glad you liked it 😀
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Trying to make me blush with the awesome, aren’t you?
I thought you would enjoy that answer.
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Yes, awesome. 🙂
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Gene’O is great! He has written many helpful posts for bloggers as well as the cool Pop stuff on The Sourcerer. Great interview! I’m pretty sure that strategic just barely scratches the surface in describing Gene’O 🙂
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I agree. I am still surprised he’s only just been interviewed. I guess it was well overdue
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Well done and very good questions 🙂
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Thank you 😊
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So, not gonna answer everyone I know on this thread. Just gonna say thanks to y’all for leaving the comments after you read the interview, glad you enjoyed it as much as I did, and liking all your comments.
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