The Blogger’s Problem
Posted by Adam Graham in : GeneralReading Alan Keyes’ book, “Our Character, Our Future” last night, I realized the problem with the Internet as well as the reason I haven’t been able to find someone to pay me for syndication of my columns.
The book contained around 30 newspaper columns Keyes wrote back in the early ’90s, each lasting only 2 or 3 small pages, perhaps 500-600 words each. This seemed odd that Keyes could be so brief, because I remembered when he was a Worldnetdaily columnist that his columns were a bit longer.
His last column was nearly 4,000 words long, and another one responding to Pat Robertson was nearly 1,800 words long.
Why did Keyes increase the length of his articles? Well, because he could. His newspaper columns were limited by the physical needs of newspapers. Newspaper editors can’t give writers infinite space. They have to make it all fit around advertising. Letting writers go over means additional printing costs and doesn’t make financial sense.
Since the Internet revolution, the idea of word limits has seemed arbitrary. A newspaper has a reason for word limits as I stated and a website seemingly does not. Ah, but maybe it does.
When you think about it word limits have a reason for the reader. Most of us don’t have thirteen minutes to read a column unless we’re very interested in the topic. Thus by limiting the number of words, there’s more time for people to read it and it forces the writer to get to the point.
Take Robert Novak. He’s a very well-read writer, still a powerful force in Washington after decades and his columns informative and packed with information, yet his last 3 columns averaged 700 words.
I have fallen into the trap that multiple internet authors have in saying the sky is the limit for my columns because no one is making me limit them. Generally, these bloggers try to answer every question on the particular issues they’re writing about. In the process, the writing often becomes stilted.
I’m making a change in the way I write. With the exception of the Screwtape Reports, no article will be much over 800 words. Bloggers who want to be well-read would do well to follow suit.
Comment by Kevin Baker [Visitor]
Not me. I will use as many words (or as few) as I deem necessary to say that which I wish to say.
I’ve got a couple of posts that have run in excess of 5,000 words – because they needed to. I write for an audience, but I also write for ME, and I’m the one I have to please.
But, as always, to each his own!
Comment by Adam Graham [Member]
Well, I wouldn’t say every piece has to be that short, but if you want it to be read, it does. You can take enough words to say what you want to say but at the end of the day if no one reads it, what does it matter?
Comment by ChristineMM [Visitor]
I think the word limit really depends on what the writer/blogger has to say. I find so many newspaper columns so very shallow or else they can make only one point.
I tend to write longer word counts when a topic has multiple points and issues to address. I tend to write on a topic quite thoroughly. Then again if I was fixated on word count limitation I could chop it up into separate blog entries saying “see part 2″.
Last week I wrote a very long personal story and it exceeded 10K words which is very, very long for me.
I was looking at a blog site which paid bloggers to write by the article. I saw the bloggers there were chopping their writing into a couple of paragraphs and then saying “continued in part 2″ and on and on. There was no reason to end the blog entry that way other than to increase the number of articles to higher numbers so they’d earn more.
In closing I’ll say that there is also a difference with a person taking too long to get to a point vs. writing more content to take up that longer word count. Adding examples or personal stories to demonstrate a point being made adds to the word count but it sometimes makes the reader realize the issue is real not just some theoretical imagined theory thing.
Comment by Adam Graham [Member]
I also welcoming differing opinions (though you are wrong. j/k.
In all seriousness, how many times have you read the entirety of a 10,000 word blog post? I know I haven’t. The reader’s time is valuable. If it’s interesting to read, why post it in one chunk, break it up.
A lot of people (and I’m one of them) have their eyes start to glaze over after too many words. Don’t let that happen to your readers.