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Thanks for your patience…

Kristian

In similar context, what constitutes good writing is often difficult to express in exact words.  Simply put, one knows good writing when they read it.  After all, anyone can put words to a page, and, tragically, they too often do.  Thus, bad writing, which is every bit as impossible to define as the good, is also readily identified when seen.

The challenge for the consumer, in this case the reader, is to separate the good from the bad.  Typically, this has been the function of editors and publishers: of all the manuscripts and articles submitted for publication only a mere 10 percent will see print.  Given this system, consumers may assume that a book from a notable publisher is going to be good, as the goal of the publisher is to make a profit.  Even so, there is no guarantee that one is going to like every book they purchase.  This is perhaps best demonstrated by the fact that 70 percent of published books do not generate a profit.

In regard to blogs, the reader’s quest to find quality authors is made that much more difficult.  This is because the content on the blogsphere has not been filtered for quality.  There are no editors or publishers to sort the good from the bad.  Further compounding the reader’s task is the glut which has resulted from the absence of editors and publishers.  Anyone with a computer can publish a blog, and as evidenced by the sheer number of blogs which populate the Web they have.

When one enters a book store they are (presumably) being presented with the best of the best.  When one enters the blogsphere they are presented with the good, the bad and, at times, the downright ugly.  Certainly, the task facing blog readers is not an enviable one.

This is why, assuming one has managed to locate a quality writer among the teeming masses, it is important to properly care for your blogger when found.  The first thing is to adopt said writer.  Relax; you don’t have to take them home with you.  Adding them to your subscriptions list will suffice (this also let’s the writer know that someone cares about them).

However, many owners neglect their bloggers.  Sadly, the neglected creatures become irritable and anti-social, and it’s not a pretty thing to have to put a rabid writer down.  Like all pets, bloggers need lots of love and attention.

And most importantly, you must feed your blogger.  Writers thrive on comments and kudos, (which is like Kibbles ‘n Bits only without the kibble or the bits).  Generous helpings of both will ensure that your blogger has strong teeth and bones, a shiny coat, and a long, happy life.

When properly cared for, blogging variety writers are extremely loyal and even affectionate, despite an otherwise uneven temperament.

Written by Alex, AKA Publius

Be quick with the comments-  The very, very popular blogs get hundreds and thousands of pages worth of comments.  Most people will only read through the first couple of comments or the first page or two at most.  After that, they tend to either reply to comments or just post their own to the end.

Respond to other comments-  If your comment’s going to be lost in a sea of comments then reply to one of the early comments on the page.  You’ll have a much better chance of being noticed than you will by being comment number 2321 out of 4204.

Share an example, add a point or disagree- In other words, bring something to the table that can get others thinking.  Don’t always do the same thing though, especially if you disagree.  Don’t fight or be argumentative and don’t disagree all the time or else people will just find you annoying and pugilistic.  But mainly…

Write with conviction and personality- You’re not a robot so don’t write like one.  Write just as the words would come from your mouth, use humor and passion in your comments and before you know it people will be flocking to your page to read what it is that the spitfire has to say.

Ask a Question- End your comment with a question?  Do you understand why you would do that?

Don’t blind the readers with a wall of text-  On myspace you need to hit enter twice to start new paragraphs.  I can’t overemphasize how important this is.  If you write more than a few sentences please separate your paragraphs.

I ran accross an experiment that was done by a blogger named Caroline on a completely different service.  It was done over the course of a month and the results were striking.

Over the course of the month Caroline had around 700 new visitors to her blog just from leaving comments on other people’s blogs.

The key is not to run around spamming other blogs like some sort of noob spammer just dying to get kicked off of myspace but to actually contribute to the conversations already happening.  The traffic then comes from other readers wanting to see who this person is leaving the insightful/humorous replies.

Of course some will argue that 700 visitors isn’t a lot of traffic per month from the activity of commenting on blogs - but when you start to think of it in terms of converting views to subscribers then it takes on a whole new meaning.  If you can add 4-5 new loyal readers per day to your blog over the course of a year it adds up to thousands of new readers.

Written by Kristian Lee

Keep your posts entertaining-  Even your mother doesn’t care that you slept in late and then had some kind of breakfasty food for lunch.  Not unless you’re still living in her basement in which case your blog should be about the perils and adventures of job hunting.

Ask Questions in your blog-  This will encourage comments to which you will…

Reply to comments in your blog-  Replying to your readers comments helps keep the conversation going.  It also shows that you care.  Most people will check back later to see if you responded to what they had to say.

Join Blog groups-  There are special blog groups on myspace.  Join as many of them as possible.

Read and comment on other blogs-  One of the biggest tips out there.  There are other articles on this page that deal with this subject.  Read them.

Talk to other bloggers and link each other-  Creating a network with other bloggers can only increase your exposure…for bonus points you can create a nice banner to be used as a link.

Leave a link at the end of each blog that readers can click on to subscribe to it.  They’re more likely to subscribe after they’ve read something they like than they are before reading it and not knowing if you’re worth their time.  Also, people are lazy and probably won’t scroll back to the top. Try MySpace Bloggers Link Exchange.

Enter Contests on MySpace-  People will come and read the blogs in the contests and you could be discovered.  BestMySpaceblogs.com has a monthly contest to use as a starting point.

Written by Kristian Lee

We can start by adopting what I call “The 7 Habits of Highly Successful Authors”. Adopt these 7 habits and you just may find that 2008 is the year you break through your own writing barriers!

1. Write about something you care about.

Whether you are writing fiction or non fiction, it is imperative you write about something you care about. The successful authors have some emotional connection to their content or story. If you are writing fiction, then write from a place of emotional familiarity. Your genuine experience will come through in your writing and your readers will connect with that. If you are writing a non fiction piece, choose a topic you are passionate or enthusiastic about. After all, if you are going to invest your precious time in what you are writing, you owe it to yourself to write with passion, feeling and enthusiasm.

2. Take risks

Don’t be afraid to put your head, or your hands, on the chopping block when you write. In the world of fiction, you will have no doubt heard about creating characters that are “larger than life”. That doesn’t mean they are giants, it means they go above and beyond and take risks and make decisions that we would not have the courage to take in our own lives. After all, it’s not about what we would do when we are tethered by the restrictions of polite behavior, it’s what we would do in our wildest imaginations that make our readers sit up and take notice.

For the non fiction writer, it’s time for you to take a stand. Take a view and stick with it, presenting your case with conviction and vigor. No one listens to someone who writes meekly, or with a wishy washy hand. Stick your neck out, and don’t be afraid to get it chopped off. All the greatest journalists are the ones who are not afraid to speak their minds. Get into that habit and you’re well on your way to being that next great journalist.

3. Plan

This is definitely the most ignored but equally the most important phase of the writing process. Planning is essential to the success of any undertaking and writing is no different. J.K. Rowling spent 5 years planning the entire Harry Potter series before she put pen to paper on a single word that appeared in the books. If you are writing a short story, novel or screenplay, planning the story before you begin writing is as essential to your success as ink in your pen or power to your laptop. There are some writers who claim to just start with an image or a sentence and then the whole thing just unfolds before them, but the writers who can do this with any degree of success are few and far between. Take the time to plan out your story, at the very least know where your beginning, middle and end are. The more planning you do, the more enjoyable the writing process and the less rewriting and editing you will have to do. The same goes for non fiction pieces, where it’s always advisable to have an outline in place before you write your article or book.

4. Write every day

Joyce Carol Oates said that she would write, even when her soul felt as thin as a playing card, because somehow the act of writing would set it aright. There are going to be times when you just “don’t feel like it”, but like any other job or activity that is important to you, you must still, somehow, sit down every day and write. It has been said that it is by sitting down every day to write that one becomes a writer. Stephen King writes every day, including Christmas Day. Whether you are working on a book, story, article or nothing, still sit down and write something every single day. Even if you only write one page every day, that’s 365 pages in a year and that’s a whole book, isn’t it? When you are a writer, you cannot not write, and writing is like breathing. You have an urge to put things down in print, so to keep that fresh and alive, you need to turn that tap on every day. It’s more than practice. It’s life.

5. Be prepared to work hard

I read somewhere once that John Grisham worked for 4 hours per day and made $20 million per year. Whether that is true or not (about the hoursworked or the money he makes) doesn’t matter. It is far more common to hear tales today of the world’s most popular commercial authors working their proverbial butts off to keep up with deadlines, promotional commitments and the ins and outs of their everyday lives. Janet Evanovich gets up and writes every morning at 5am so she can get a full day’s writing in before she has to answer mail, emails and deal with her other affairs of business, Jodi Picoult has a wonderful stay-at-home husband who allows her the luxury of writing through school pick ups and travelling for long periods to do research for her novels. J.K. Rowling also said she (misguidedly) thought that life as an author would be a Jane Austen-type of affair, sitting in a room overlooking a field and writing in anonymity. Of course her life is a whirlwind of book launches, movie premieres, media commitments, school commitments, and of course she has a family with three children. And while we all no doubt wish we had her “problems” it is very obvious that in the early part of the 21st century, the life of an author, successful or not, is a hard-working life. We are either working hard to get noticed, working hard to stay noticed, or working hard to avoid being noticed. Any way you look at it, if you have an aversion to hard work, you need to look elsewhere. Successful authors work hard. Period.

6. Persistence

It is said that persistence outstrips all other virtues. I have a card propped up on my desk that says, “Success seems to be largely a matter of hanging on after others have let go”. Almost every successful author I have studied has said that their success is due, at least in some part, to pure persistence and determination. If your manuscript or article is rejected, rewrite it and submit it again. Or submit it to someone else. The first Harry Potter novel was rejected by every major publishing house before Bloomsbury picked it up for a song. Even so called “overnight successes” have a story behind them about how many times they were rejected, or how many novels or articles they’ve written that have no value other than as fire kindling. The authors that succeed are the ones who don’t stop until they do. It’s that simple. Never give up. Winners never quit, and quitters never win.

7. Let it go

Note:  Original Article written by Suzanne Harrison