In honor of the national holiday and my lack of a writer to interview this week, I've been reprinting my Best Writing Advice posts, so here's another greatest hit pulled from my Five Easy Questions series. Feel free to chip in with your tips below, I'll print the best ones in a future Greatest Hits Post...
Earlier this year, I interviewed crime blogger Steve Huff about how he built his popular Huff's Crime Blog. He showed me the enormous amount of work involved in web writing:
"A pet peeve I have about blogging is the regurgitating of mainstream media reports -- what's the point? Don't be a news digest, if you really want an involved readership -- bring the reader more. I broke enough stories about various crimes in the news that some people come to me first, or when they are frustrated by how little coverage they are seeing in the papers and on TV. Find where the gaps in the mainstream media's coverage of a crime are, and see if you can fill those gaps.
"To build a dedicated audience, respect the audience. Do not let your first day of 3,000 visitors go to your head. Remember, it is the fact that they will come read what you wrote that keeps you doing it. Almost no one just starts a blog one day and suddenly has 200 readers an hour."
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