good writing surfeit

A few years back, simply setting up a blog and writing regularly got you some kudos. It helped if you had something to say and could say it well.

Here's the bad news: A blog is no longer a shortcut to prominence (if it ever was). That's not enough anymore. It has come to my attention that there are simply masses of blogs out there. Heaps. With good writing on them. Lots of it. In fact too much for me to usefully absorb.

Here's the good news: There's plenty of good stuff to read. An observation every day to tickle your brain buds. And you can join in and comment. And not feel worried about starting your own blog because everyone else is doing*. And you can train your writing muscles every day, so they grow big and strong.

And there'll be a whole mess of great writing going on before you know it.

*Statistically this is not true but that'll be our little secret for now, k?

analyse that

The responsible and hardworking type. They are especially attuned to the details of life and are careful about getting the facts right. Conservative by nature they are often reluctant to take any risks whatsoever. The Duty Fulfillers are happy to be let alone and to be able to work in their own pace. They know what they have to do and how to do it.

Typealyzer said both this blog and the other are ISTJs. GenderAnalyzer said here there is an 87% chance that we are male but over there, there is a 56% chance that we are female!

Make of that what you will.

captain coincidence strikes again (2)

So I liked Fake Steve Job. Then I forgot him. Sorry Steve, the illness showed that you were weak and mortal. I had to dismantle my shrine. Then a couple of days ago, I found Real Dan Lyons. He is a blisteringly funny writer about the tech world. And then mere hours later, he stopped.

Coincidence?

Well, yes, absolutely. What else could it be?

blogging is boring - excellent!!!

James D highlights the the death of the blogosphere. In this Wired article, Paul Boutin says that writing a blog will no longer guarantee you attention and Bloggers today are expected to write clever, insightful, witty prose to compete with Huffington and The New York Times. Paul is of course a journalist and also a former blogger.

Paul is of course right - starting a blog now will not get you the attention it would have got you 4 years ago. But as a journalist he assumes that all bloggers want to be journalists. However lots of us don't. The more I blog, the less of a **** I give whether I have readers or not (which explains my 49-part history of custard - to be launched next week).

Twitter and Facebook/LinkedIn status updates just don't give me the space I need. I need more than 140 characters - cuz, like, ohmigod, I'm a 35 year old man with a receding hairline who needs to vent a lot - that's a lot. And I ain't pretty enough for YouTube.

Now some middle-aged Californian has said this isn't cool, can the rest of us just get on with it please*?

*This is the definition of "plateau of productivity" in Gartner's hype cycle that they toyed with but never had the balls to publish.

the sorting out

I have been pondering the purpose of this blog. And I'm still pondering. But here are some preliminary conclusions:

• I'm kinda over republishing links to content without adding anything to them. You can see what's floating my boat on del.icio.us.
  
• There is the other blog - which will be the home of all things to do with the business. In the end, I may merge the two (which means bad news for half of the extensive ghost writing teams I use - come on guys, polish those insights or it's back to road sweeping for you). At the moment, I want Engineers without Fears to be more playful & collaborative. The podcasts will still be coming via this channel.
• If it's short, it'll be on Twitter - unless it's really, really good. I mean Oscar Wilde good.
• There may be some more media experimentation. The podcasts are fun but I think this can all be taken further...
  

dear reader

Eric Baumer has done some pretty neat research on blog readers. The latest swag of papers are based a small survey sample (15 people) but here are some edited highlights:

• Most blog readers do not suffer from information overload - like the rest of us, they just ignore stuff when it gets too much.
• Readers as well as writers have expectations of appropriate disclosure.
• Readers feel an expectation to participate through regular reading & comments.
  

Looking forward to more research in this area...

Thanks: Stephanie Allen & Science Daily*

N.B. Science Daily & UCI - it's really helpful when you provide links to the research papers you reference.

should ewf sell out to the man?

So I get this email from polimedia.us (despite their domain name being registered in Miami, their website seems oddly, er, Romanian). And it says:

We have reviewed your blog on behalf of one of our clients that would be interested in placing advertising with you.

Oooohhhhh, noice. Apparently they are acting on behalf of doingfine.org (tagline: "We're Doing Just Fine").

We'd like either a 150x150 button, 160x600 skyscraper or 468x60 full banner (or footer). Alternatively, we may be interested in text-only advertising.

Uh huh, uh huh. SHOW ME THE MONEY!!!

This would be a weekly, monthly or yearly arrangement. In either case we will require a one time, one day (24 hours) free placement in order to test the quality and quantity of traffic your website can actually provide.

So no money straight away? And I have to give you free advertising?

We prefer using PayPal but may be able to accommodate alternative payment methods.

We have a deal breaker! I send this response:

I would like the money in a brown paper envelope* rather than paypal.

They counter-offer:

That'd be a little hard to do.

Sorry guys, no free advertising for you. Oh, hang on...

*It's a tax thing.

the seven habits of highly effective blackmailers

I like articles / posts that have "5 key things to remember when drafting emails" or "10 tips of improving meetings". They are often short, pithy and can impart useful knowledge. I just find myself less and less able to write them.

I have a confession to make.

I don't really want to make your life easier.

I want you to think. Hard.

I want you to wonder why the hell you are subjecting yourself to this and yet continue to do so anyway.

Is that so unreasonable?