In your case, I do think that your blog and memoir have enough in common to work in your favor. They’re both human interest topics and probably will appeal equally to your audience. In fact, once the memoir is published, its readers will probably be happy to find your blog about “kidisms.”

I don’t know how old you are and whether you remember Art Linkletter’s books called “Kids Say the Darndest Things.” They were very popular in, I’m guessing, the late 50s and early 60s. According to Wikipedia, Linkletter interviewed more than 23,000 children on his House Party TV show and a lot of what these kids said became content for the books.

My point in bringing this up is that House Party was a sort-of daytime variety/interview show for housewives. I don’t remember it very well. I was young, and my mother wasn’t a regular viewer. But the show appealed to a wide range of women and carried a little bit of everything. I think you’re working in much the same area.

Read my blog on the Levy Flight effect. You might get an idea for a second blog on the subject of the homeless…some aspect that doesn’t take directly from your memoir content. You might get a great reciprocal effect where people who visit one site find their way over to the other and vice versa.

As for size, there is no rule of thumb. I do know that the more the better. Also, word of mouth is critical. You’d be better with a smaller following of people who are so crazy in love with what you are blogging that they talk you up to their friends, fans and followers. I think my best advice to you is not to think numbers in the early stages. Focus on quality content and getting a core of rabidly supportive friends to follow and talk you up. Let it become a viral thing.

If you do this, and start the process early enough, because it does take time, then you should have a platform that will make a publisher salivate.

Hope this helps, Brian.

“In the race between ‘who’ and ‘how many’, who usually wins–if action is your goal. Find the right people, those that are willing to listen to what you have to say, and ignore the masses that are just going to race on, unchanged.”

http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2010/03/driveby-culture-and-the-endless-search-for-wow.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+typepad%2Fsethsmainblog+%28Seth%27s+Blog%29

The gist of Seth’s post is that as writers, bloggers, content developers, and publishers, we face the challenge of going for the ever-increasing audience of scanners, clickers and surfers versus the engaged reader who is genuinely interested in what you have to say and will stick around and read/listen to your ideas.

It’s not a particularly new problem; people have been talking about changing reading habits ever since I can remember. When my sister was little, the “I Can Read Books” came out, created as a new way to get youngsters to love to read…that’s how worried parents and educators were that people were not reading enough. They certainly worked for her; she’s an omnivorous reader today.

But in a world of Google Analytics and declining newsstand sales, many writers and publishers are obsessed with getting and keeping “eyes” on their page or appealing to the lowest common denominator of reader with eye candy, short blasts and lots of wow.

Seth maintains that in the long run catering to the “how many” is destructive because they are not really connecting with us. They’re merely looking for their next fix, the next thrill. They’re like casual daters; they’re not marriage material. We are better off knowing our “who” and giving them our all.

Identify your “who,” learn everything you can about these people and deliver the goods. These are the ones who will be our loyal followers. These are the ones who will actually spend money with you–buy your books, subscribe to your newsletters, and visit your site regularly. They may not represent as large a set as all the lookie-lous, but in the vast realm that is the Internet, you’ll find enough true followers to build a business, a following and sell your books and/or products.