Game 26: #1 Seed Daily Writing Tips Versus #6 Seed Crime Fiction Dossier
April 30, 2008 by John Hewitt
The Matchup
Top-seeded Daily Writing Tips has survived two close matches to move forward in the competition. They have thousands of subscribers and a pool of five regular writers that keep the content flowing. Crime Fiction Dossier is a little blog with a loyal following and a unique niche. They have done well so far as a tournament Cinderella, but they haven’t been tested by a blog this size before.
Best Headlines
Judging by the ten most recent articles, DWT has both straightforward headlines and the occasional humorous headline such as Andro- The Prefix That’s All Man and Reduplicatives - Double Delight. The best headlines at CFD tend to ask a question, such as, Are you sure you want to be a writer? and Are writers conferences worth the money? CFD isn’t as funny, but those are headlines that make me want to read more.
I’m going to have to call a jump ball on this one. Both have their strengths and neither is clearly superior. We begin our contest at 0-0.
Best User Experience
DWT has a nice, professional looking blog design. I’m not positive if they have made any changes, but it looks a little cleaner than it did in the first round. DWT is great at providing users with the features they want and keeps the features well organized. I don’t remember CFD having a fat banner ad in the first round, but it is certainly distracting me now. Otherwise, the design is clean and the user features seem to all be accounted for.
DWT gets the ball and works it inside, scoring two from the paint. It is now 2-0 in favor of DWT.
Best Community Experience
The size of the DWT comment community is a bit small for a blog as large as theirs. They have, however, just opened up a community forum, and it does seem to be drawing a solid amount of postings. CFD has an excellent community, especially for such a small blog. The community is filled with published fiction writers who know the subject (crime fiction) as well as the blog author does.
CFD slips by DWT and drives to the basket, putting in a two of its own. The score is now tied at 2-2.
Best Branding
CFD sticks to its topic and attracts an intelligent crowd. If you are looking for a place to read about crime fiction, CFD is one of the few places you can go. The site is great in its niche, and that gives it a solid brand. Unfortunately, it isn’t attracting a large audience, so you do have to wonder when CFD is going to find a way to get discovered. DWT is both popular and respected. They have accomplished this in a single year, which is blazingly fast for a blog. Clearly they know how to position themselves and drive traffic to their blog.
DWT gets the ball back and throws up an alley oop, putting the ball in for two. The score is now 4-2 in favor of DWT.
Best Archives
I give DWT credit for putting all of their posts on a single archive page. They are in chronological order, which isn’t exactly the best way to organize articles that aren’t time-sensitive, but at least you can view everything they have. Additionally, DWT keeps a list of popular posts on all of its pages, so that you can see what others have liked in the past. CFD doesn’t have an archives page. You can click on the categories to get full articles by subject, but that’s about it for navigation.
CFD turns the ball over and DWT takes advantage, pulling up and shooting a three-pointer. The score is now 7-2 in DWT’s favor.
Best Post
CFD’s article, Are writers conferences worth the money?, Struck a cord with me because I have been to a few writers’ conferences, but have never really felt that they got me any closer to getting published. David J. Montgomery reviews this from the perspective of a published author, and shows that it still makes little sense financially but can be worthwhile for the chance to get involved in the writing community. The posting generated 50 comments, with people both praising and criticizing writer’s conferences.
Sharon Hurley Hall’s article, Reduplicatives - Double Delight, is a classic DWT article, explaining an English writing term and giving examples. The style is light but the information is accurate and valuable.
CFD gets the ball back and heads down the court one last time, driving to the basked and sinking a two. The final score is 7-4 in favor of DWT.
Post Game Analysis
Crime Fiction Dossier is an excellent blog with a lot to offer. Its community is small but vocal and its information is interesting for that community. The lack of an archive page and the big ad under the banner cost CFD some valuable points though. Daily Writing Tips has a professional looking, user-friendly design and has established itself very quickly as an overall writing resource. That’s what put it over the top.
The Articles
So people can compare for themselves, here are the past 10 articles from each site:
Daily Writing Tips
50 Open Source Resources for Writers
Setting Your Freelance Writing Fees
Andro- The Prefix That’s All Man
Reduplicatives - Double Delight
The Daily Writing Tips Forum is Live
Crime Fiction Dossier
Are you sure you want to be a writer?
Are writers conferences worth the money?
Book of the Week: “The Blue Religion” (ed. Michael Connelly)
Ask the Critic: Can you identify this book?
Book of the Week: Richard Price’s “Lush Life”
Latest Chicago Sun-Times roundup column
Flattered by the result.
The competition is also giving me (and probably others) the opportunity to discover excellent new blogs, so keep it up!
Thank you Daniel. The opportunity to showcase new blogs is one of the best parts of running this tournament.
Kudos on managing this tournament, John. Your wonderfully detailed posts will likely drive more traffic to any of these blogs, no matter whether they win or lose. Just one question: Do you sleep? Your posts are like mini-White Papers. How do you find the time?
Hi Marie,
Thank you for the nice words. I try to get a solid three hours of sleep every night — whether I need it or not.