Game 18: #3 Seed The Copywriting Maven #7 Seed Words on the Water

The Matchup

Third-seeded The Copywriting Maven easily won its first round match, but its own score could have been stronger. Based on an attractive design and a solid focus, Words on the Water narrowly upset a second-seeded blog to make it into round two. Now WOTW is facing another tough competitor in a different set of categories.

Community

The Copywriting Maven

Maven’s community is a little on the small side, although they tend to give quality responses. For the past 10 posts, the site averaged about three comments per post. Many of the comments add value to the posts by deepening the conversation, but it would be nice to see more conversation.

Result: Maven scores one from the free-throw line.

Words on the Water

If Maven’s community is small, WOTW is microscopic. Only about half of the posts have comments at all, and the high number of comments is two. That just isn’t enough comments to consider it a community.

Result: WOTW fails to score

Maven takes the lead 1-0.

Value

The Copywriting Maven

The last ten posts discuss poorly worded email descriptors, clarity vs. style, cheap clients, business debt and landing pages. Some of the posts are more off topic or social, but all in all the focus is on the writing industry and business in general. It isn’t tightly focused on writing, but there are writing-related posts.

Result: The Maven sinks a mid-range jumper for two.

Words on the Water

WOTW focuses both writing and the writing business. Of the two, Monica Valentinelli has the most original things to say as a fiction writer. She is a writer of gaming fiction, which is a unique niche that you can’t find authoritative articles about in many places. When Valentinelli focuses on fiction, I get more interested. Valentinelli articles about the writing business are also good, but much of it is material I can find on a dozen different blogs every day. For a beginning writer, though, they would offer value.

Result: WOTW hits a jumper from just outside the paint for two.

The Maven maintains its lead, 3-2

Top Commented Article #1

The Copywriting Maven

Holding Firm: Thinking Thoughts on the Copywriting Value Proposition

I never get tired of reading articles about bad clients, but that may just be me. I get a certain kick out of the horror stories. I have plenty of them myself. The central topic is clients (or potential clients) who expect that you will write for them for next to nothing and are shocked when you quote them a professional fee. Cheap clients are one of the big reasons I stopped freelancing. The community response to her article stays surprisingly on the topic of money rather than horror stories. The community response resulted in six good comments that discussed the issue of reducing fees, and supported the idea that you don’t reduce fees without reducing services.

Result: The audience gives an assist for the three-pointer.

Words on the Water

Here’s What I’m Writing and Working On, How About You?

Valentinelli gets her best audience response by asking what other writers are working on. Unfortunately her best audience response is two comments. That has to be frustrating for her, and underlines the problems associated with getting a community up and running on a blog without strong traffic. It is interesting to hear what she is working on, but I wouldn’t call it a strong article about writing.

Result: WOTW gets a point from the free throw line.

Maven extends its lead to 6-3.

Top Commented Article #2

The Copywriting Maven

No Tears for Fears! Tips to Manage Your Business Debt Better

Blogger Roberta Rosenberg discusses the difference between considering yourself a copywriter or an entrepreneur. Rosenberg considers it important to think about your writing as a business. I agree, but I wish there was more meat to the article. Her post is mainly there to link to someone else’s post on business debt. Three of the five commenters discuss their own ideas on debt and entrepreneurship, which adds some value.

Result: Maven’s community gets the assist, allowing her to score a layup for two.

Words on the Water

JK Rowling Copyright Case: Why Writers Need to Pay Attention

Valentinelli discusses Rowling’s lawsuit against a book publisher that is publishing a “lexicon” based on the language used in Rowling’s work. One of the central points is the perceived difference between work published on the Internet without charge and books published for a fee. It’s a good article, although the key concepts could have been discussed in more depth. The one comment on the story is good but there is only one comment.

Result: WOTW scores a solid two but fails to get the community support to go for three.

Maven maintains its lead, 8-5

Top Commented Article #3

The Copywriting Maven

I Hate Logos - The Downside to Being a Value-Added Marketing Copywriter

Rosenberg goes on a rant (her word) about clients that want to work on the design before she finishes the copy for their advertisements. Rosenberg prefers to get the concepts and the text shored up before working on the design. This makes sense because she is a writer. I have a feeling that fighting against design in the desktop publishing age is a losing battle, but I understand her complaint. Her audience also contributes four substantial comments, giving their own thoughts on the matter.

Result: Maven hits a three-pointer for a good article with added value.

Words on the Water

Is there such a thing as “method writing”?

This is a great article. Once again, Valentinelli is covering territory none of the other blogs are covering. She discusses the concept of using your own fears and memories to bring about emotions in the characters of your stories. It is 750 words, long by blog standards, and chock-full of interesting insights. Unfortunately, it elicited only a single comment, and the comment doesn’t particularly enhance the article.

Result: Without an assist from the community, WOTW is limited to two points for a shot that should have been a three.

Maven closes out the game 11-7.

Post Game Analysis

This is one of the situations that we will run into more than once in this round. Larger blogs tend to have larger communities, and that helps them considerably. Words on the Water is a wonderful blog, but it remains an undiscovered gem.  The Copywriting Maven has a small community, but one that contributes in meaningful ways. That was the key difference in this contest. I hate to see Words on the Water go and I hope that some of the other blogs will give it some link love.