The Cool Kids of WordPress

I’ve been collecting a list of WP bloggers with an insane amount of followers who focus primarily on writing. No doubt you’ve come across most, if not all of these writerly scholars who meander about WordPress, affecting us with their Hollywood connections, best seller success, dreamy wordiness or their delicately composed poems that touch on the otherworldly.

The curiosity of cats dictates that we want to know all about them. Who are they? What’s their cat’s name? Do they even have a cat? Why are they being so cryptic in their About page? And how on Earth did they get so many followers? There are a variety of reasons why they got to where they are, reasons which you will no doubt uncover if you visit their blogs. So far my list only includes bloggers I’ve stumbled across since 2015. I’m sure there are plenty more out there… just waiting to be found!

Name Link WP Followers

(if total for website is unknown)

 Website Total 
Cristian Mihai Cristian Mihai 128,165
Opinionated Man HarsH ReaLiTy 56,518
Kristen Lamb Kristen Lamb 50,359
Allison K. Williams Brevity 39,496
Donalyn, Colby, Katherine & Cindy Nerdy Book Club 64,595
John Scalzi Whatever 27,410
Ryan Lanz A Writer’s Path 24,766
Luther M. Stiler Infinite Free Time 20,965
Peter Edwards Sableyes 20,642
Morgan Booknvolume 17,571
Peter Edwards Little Fears 16,944
Kent Wayne Dirty Sci-Fi Buddha 15,434
Sue Vincent Sue Vincent’s Daily Echo 14,528
Sarah Doughty Heartstring Eulogies 14,323
Hugh W. Roberts Hughes Views and News 13,514
Mike Allegra Hey Look A Writer Fellow 11,994
Jenny Jenny in Neverland 10,872
Michelle Terry Lipstick and Laundry 10,799
Austin L. Wiggins Writings By Ender 10,520
Bitter Ben Ben’s Bitter Blog 10,461
Lynette Noni Lynette Noni 10,038
Ryan Lanz All Romance Reads 9,519
Dina Honour Wine and Cheese (Doodles) 8,962
Clare A Little Blog of Books 8,004
Chuck Wendig terribleminds 7,094
Richard M. Ankers Richard Ankers 7,023
Parnassus Books Musing 6,893
J.S. Park J.S. Park Blog 6,094
Lynz Lynz Real Cooking 6,335
C.p. Singleton Madstoffa’s Crunchy House 5,964
Phil Philosopher Mouse of the Hedge 5,945  
sjhigbee Brainfluff 5,855
CN Lester A Gentlemen and a Scholar 5,814
D. Wallace Peach Myths of the Mirror 5,283
Patrick W. Marsh What the Monster Said  4,816
Neha Forgotten Meadows 4,460  
Luanne Castle Writer Site 4,260
Tim Miller Word and Silence 3,920
Jacquelineobyikocha A Cooking Pot and Twisted tales 3,693
Kristen Twardowski A Writer’s Workshop 3,678

 

Honourable Cat Mentions

Nicola L Robinson Katzenworld 48,916
Caroline Beauty is a Sleeping Cat  2,973
Bailey Blue Bailey Boat Cat  2,154

Last Updated August 28th 2017

 

 

 

161 thoughts

  2. Pingback: The Cool Kids of WordPress #2 | Milly Schmidt

  3. Hi,thanks for following my little bloggy blog. I just had to quickly say- I thought your blog byline said, “The Cat’s Wife. ” I just saw what it actually says now!😂😂Oh dear..it’s very early here in London. ..

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  4. Pingback: The Outcast’s Bloghouse Welcomes… Millie Schmidt – Jessica Bakkers
  5. Pingback: The Outcast’s Bloghouse; no cool-kids allowed! – Jessica Bakkers

  6. Fascinating read, thanks! It’s always interesting/helpful to see what people write, how they conduct themselves online and how many followers they manage to attain by doing so! This is a challenge for me. Up until recently, I’ve been using twitter, but I find it can often be like a social cocktail party, i.e lots of noise and not a lot of interaction. It’s good for fast posts regarding new material, or thoughts, but not so much connecting and being a part of a community of link minded people. After reading your post, I want to make a change by being more interactive, and hopefully, I will learn a thing or two along the way!

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    1. Sorry RJ, not sure why I didn’t see this message earlier!! (Like from waaaaay back in good old April ’17. I really want to try and be more interactive as well – focus on liking and commenting on articles that I am genuinely interested in etc… I know what you mean about twitter, it is so hard to engage and make friends over there! I think that’s why I love blogging on WordPress: it’s slower, more genuine, more engaging, more ‘community’ minded 🙂

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  7. Hey Milly, you should think about contacting each of these bloggers and creating a follow-up curated post of their advice on how to build a following for a writerly blog. Just ask for like 2-3 sentences from each blogger. We all would eat that up!

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    1. To get the total numbers I search through their actual website (as opposed to the wordpress platform) until I see a ‘Followed by 10,000 people’ etc… 🙂 If I can’t find that I’ll just use WP followers

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  12. Hey, I made the list. That’s sort of shocking. Ha ha. I’m far from some of the huge blogs you have listed, Milly, and I’ve never actually “tried” to grow my blog. I just have fun, visit, and I always reciprocate. It is a nice community. Happy Blogging!

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    1. I think the biggest key to being on my list is being really friendly and super involved in the WordPress community (or blog a lot), which you are! And that’s crazy that you’ve never tried to grow your blog, you must just be a natural blogger! ☺ half the time I don’t have time to respond to people on here, though it’s my absolute favourite thing to do in the world. I love so many people on here ❤️ if I didn’t have a full time job and part time study I’d be on here all day ☺☺

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  13. My point is that being premium doesn’t build an audience. An active blogger does. I’ve built blogs with thousands of subscribers just by going out and meeting people. Conversing like you and I. 🙂

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  15. I really enjoyed this post. Thanks for doing all the hard word and curating those blog sites!
    BTW, I have 1&1/4 cats. The 1/4 is for our cat who decided to leave his brother and move in next door. We only see him occasionally 😹

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  26. Pingback: The Social Outcasts of WordPress – The Written Word

  27. I follow more than a few of these! 🙂 Great blogs all! I’m always humbled when they stop by to like one of my blogs. (How DO they do it?) Awesome post!

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  28. Pingback: Notes from a small dog – The gloating mole | Sue Vincent's Daily Echo

      1. Well, Sunny (ginger cat) strolled into our house and refuse to leave after that so we sort of adopted him. Then he was bored and lonely so we adopted Matcha (another ginger) from the SPCA. Minka (tabby) was rescued by us when she was stuck in a drainpipe.

        They love us as much as we love them (and maybe more)! We have an automated feeder and poop machine so the work is easier.

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  30. LOL, I’m cool–yay!!!! And most of these blogs are new to me, so thanks! BTW, I have FIVE cats: Pear Blossom, Felix ScoobyDooby Man, Tiger Queenie, Kana Bear, and Sloopy Anne. No better combo than writing and cats. I’m so sorry about your cat Moet (I saw the pic on your bio). My oldest cat died two years ago this coming summer, and I still miss him.

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    1. You have FIVE cats? I just asked Kally from MiddleMe how on Earth she manages with three… hahaha I absolutely LOVE the name Pear Blossom. I hope you don’t mind if I steal that name one day! And I’m sorry about your cat too, it is so tough losing a pet, I didn’t realise how much I loved Moet until he vanished!

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      1. I didn’t intend to have 5, but the 5th one had been at the shelter for two solid years, and I couldn’t stand that idea. She’s an adorable little calico with a tortie back. You can have Pear Blossom haha. It comes from the children’s book The Korean Cinderella.

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        1. Oh she sounds so pretty! That’s a really long time for a cat to be at a shelter. My kitten was six months old when I finally adopted him, he’d been advertised since he was a kitten by the RSPCA. He is the most beautiful cat !! I’ll have to look up Korean Cinderella ☺ I’d love to rename Sven to pear blossom but I’m not sure he’d agree hahah (I just kept his name from the shelter, but I wish I’d thought of something cool!)

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  31. Their writing is pretty good and the other advantage is that their blogs are premium unlike free. free blogs have limited features compared to premium.

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        1. My point is that being premium doesn’t build an audience. An active blogger does. I’ve built blogs with thousands of subscribers just by going out and meeting people. Conversing like you and I.

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    1. You have a wonderful blog!! You will not believe how many bloggers I’ve found over the years with 1k-2k followers who have AMAZING blogs. No doubt in a few months to a few years they’ll have tens of thousands of followers too – as it’s the content of the blog that really matters the most 🙂

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      1. Thank you. I think content is most important. That’s why I don’t post everyday. I’m very happy with my progress though. Thank you. 🙂

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  35. “I wish I could be like the cool kids/Cause all the cool kids, they seem to fit in.” That lyric describes how I feel reading those numbers. WOW! I love how you have an honourable cat mention list. That’s so you!

    Liked by 4 people

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    1. Omg you are so spot on with about the Cool Kid’s song! Hahaha I’m imagining the lyrics right now! And yes, couldn’t do a post without throwing in a few cats for good measure! I’m well on my way to being a crazy cat lady 🙂

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    1. I’m thinking they find a great little niche, fill our feeds with awesome content, and voila! They suddenly have 50k followers!! Ok, it may be a little more complicated than that, but that’s my theory 🙂

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    1. Anything for a cat friend! Seriously though, I absolutely love your blog – a go to spot for anything and everything cat related! I could spend hours trawling through your website and the posts your wonderful group of bloggers present – and on such a regular basis too 🙂

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  41. I don’t think I’ve been called a cool kid for the last few decades… if ever 🙂 Thanks for including me in your list, Milly. Sad to say, I have a dog and a load of fish, but my cat is only a part-timer… I get to look after my son’s cat, Boots, every day.

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        1. she might like a kitten. My ancient cat is in her 19th year, and she loves dogs. I do not, so I have cats. Mrs. Tinky does not like kittens, but bring a puppy around and she adores it immediately.

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          1. My dog does not like cats…but any baby creaturs she is immediately taken with… if I didn;t travel so much with the School, I would get a kitten for her. Or another dog… 😉

            Liked by 1 person

          6. we live in a wooded area, and have all sorts of critters. I do not feed them, but they help themselves to the cat food and the cats don’t mind. Young kittens will even eat from the same dish.

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          10. sounds lovely. I walk in the back in my tree garden which I have developed over the past decade. Peggy the black and white cat will accompany me usually. She loves the camera…thinks she’s a model.

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        1. Thank you for posting a linky. I recognize quite a few in that list. We grow mostly on WordPress by talking, not just about ourselves, but going out and talking on other peoples blogs. Just saying ‘Great Post’ and liking alone will get you nowhere, but reading what others say and leaving genuine comments accounts for 90% of my subscribers and regular commenters .Most of the people i recognize are prolific commenters, as am I. 🙂

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      1. Thank you so much for the wonderful suggestion! I’ve just spent the last hour making my way through Kristen’s blog! She has so many amazing and instructive blog posts on writing that I’m surprised I haven’t found her yet! Thank you! I love the last one she just posted: http://authorkristenlamb.com/2017/03/do-some-people-lack-the-talent-to-be-authors/ – this one has definitely inspired me to try harder. I’ve just added her to the list and I’m personally really happy to have a girl in the top 5 🙂

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