Saturday Savvy Sensation: Misha Gericke

Today's Savvy Sensation comes from South Africa. Misha Gericke is very entertaining, very friendly, and an ambitious writer. Take it away Misha...

LB: Who are you (what do you write, what are your personal stats)?

Hi all! I'm Misha. It's been about four hours since I've last revised. Yep, I'm currently revising my main Work in Progress, a YA Fantasy epic called Doorways. I'm finally past 300/500 pages on the first round.

LB: Where can we find you online (blog, twitter, facebook, etc.)?

You can find me at My First Book or follow my tweets @MishaMFB. In fact, I'd love you to. 

LB: When did you begin your online platform building?

I started on 2 August, 2010 after many months of contemplating the move. I put it off for months until one day I impulsively decided to start. After that, though, I always tried to blog as smart as possible. 

LB: What is your message, if any (is your blog about anything specific, for example)?

My First Book is about my experiences with writing Doorways. Because of that it's a combination between a writing blog and my diary. As such, most of what I think or feel go into what I post, because if I'm not honest about who I am, what would be the point of "inviting" people into that part in my life? 

LB: How have you built your followers -

What have you done that has been the most successful?

Well, I can safely say that my ticket to success was putting myself out there. I have 616 followers right now, but I personally follow almost 1400 blogs. Most of the people who followed me were follow-backs, but others came from me making a point of reading their posts and making meaningful comments. Everyone (me included) loves feeling as if what they wrote is actually being read. 

LB: What have you done that has failed?

I was advised to share my blogs on all the social networks I had and at that time it was just Facebook. But I thought that heck, I have about 300 friends. Surely some of them would check out my blog if I posted the link. Uh... no. Unfortunately, Blogger had just released Blogger stats so I could see how few hits I was getting from South Africa (which is where I'm from). So after about two weeks I decided that I'd just have to do it without "friendly" support. One exception is my best friend Theresa, who was also my first follower. 

LB: What else should we know about you?

Ooh lots, but I think that I'll leave you in suspense. Anything you'll ever need to know about me goes up on my blog eventually. One thing I might mention is that I have another blog that isn't strictly about platform building, but rather a diary about me going after my other two big dreams. It's called Taking Charge of My Life.

LB: Any additional advice for our readers?

When it comes to blogging: 1) When people say that blogging is about platform building, they either don't have a clue or they're lying. Blogging is about building relationships with people. 2) Think about your reader. Make your lay-out flow naturally. Remove things like captcha codes that just annoy everyone and serve almost no other valid purpose. 3) Comment a lot, but meaningfully.  

LB: What makes you unique?

The fact that I'm me, of course. ;-) Thanks so much for this fun interview, Laura!

Misha, I truly admire your blog and your philosophies on building an online presence. You are sensationally savvy.  Enjoy your award and feel free to pass it on to others!