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Finalists - 3rd Annual Top 10 Blogs for Writers Contest

By Michael Stelzner

Wow! I called for nominations for the top 10 writers blogs AND nearly 300 came in!

Here are the finalists for the top 10:

How will the winners be selected?

  1. Initial qualification: A site must have been nominated multiple times by multiple individuals (and be a blog). If someone nominated more than one blog, only the first nomination was counted.
  2. Final winner selection:
    • Quality of posts: A qualitative analysis of the content of posts will be examined. Educational and discussion-spurring posts are more valuable than self-promotional posts. (55% of decision)
    • Frequency of posts: Blogs that write multiple posts per week will score higher. This is a sign of the blog’s commitment to blogging. (15%)
    • Reader involvement: Blogs that have regular comments from readers are another sign of a healthy blog. In addition, the numbers of nominations for a specific blog play a part in this. (15%)
    • Technorati.com Ranking: The number of other blogs that link to the blog shows the value of the content. (15%)

Congratulations to the finalists! We will announce the winners here soon.

CLICK HERE FOR THE WINNERS.

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This entry was posted on Saturday, September 13th, 2008 at 4:13 pm and is filed under Freelance Writing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.

  • I like monica's articles. My congratulations to all top writters!!
  • Partial to Writer's Manifesto, myself. Glad to see Monika in the tops spread!

    <abbr>Tumblemoose's last blog post..10 steps to getting published</abbr>
  • Thanks for including the Renegade Writer blog in your list of finalists again this year!

    Linda
  • A third of this list are my online BFFs. Yay for all of us.

    <abbr>Allena's last blog post..Oh, No, Not ANOTHER Magazine I'm Published In!</abbr>
  • Wow. Sorry I'm so late to the party. It's a shock to be a finalist. I'm humbled. Thank you, all.
  • Hey Everyone!

    Wow, there are so many good blogs this year!!

    I have been logging some serious hours analyzing all of the blogs.

    Back to it...

    Mike
  • I hope James Chartrand from Men with Pen will be the winner for this year.
  • Deb Ng
    Congratulations and good luck to all the finalists. Mike, thanks for including me as a finalist again this year.
  • Hey Michael,

    Looks like it gets tougher every year!

    But as many have pointed out, you can't go wrong with any blogs on this list. Congrats to all!

    ~Graham

    <abbr>Graham Strong's last blog post..Here’s to You!</abbr>
  • Thanks Michael for running the contest, and thanks to those of you who nominated me. It was a nice surprise to wake up to this morning!

    By the way there's a typo in the URL for the writer's manifesto blog - it's missing the // after the http.

    <abbr>Joanna Young's last blog post..What I’ve Learned About Writing From My Friends Online</abbr>
  • Thank you to everyone who nominated me - I never expected to be picked as a finalist!

    <abbr>Wordsmith_for_Hire's last blog post..Media Diet Week 37</abbr>
  • I just posted, in the sample content area of www.publishedandprofitable.com, a simple mind map template that can be used to critically evaluate the 37 finalists in Michael's Top 10 Blogs for Writers contest.

    Anyone who wants to see for themselves how mind mapping can simplify research and writing tasks is invited to download a copy of the template at http://www.publishedandprofitable.com/public/405.cfm

    There's also a link for downloading a free 21-day trial of Mindjet's MindManager.

    Roger C. Parker
  • Writers write and reader read, but all writers can benefit from visiting a range of writing blogs.

    Consider me impressed with the range, depth, and quality of the writing blogs. As a university professor who teaches the craft of writing, you have inspired me to create a simple homework assignment.
    Find a blog on writing.
    Summarize and evaluate it in one paragraph.
    Share the link.
    Collect , edit, add recommendations, and distribute the list to students.

    Autotelic students will, like Jack London, find and create a style that works for their own lives and passions. Your list provides, however, a nice starting point.
  • Perhaps the next generation of writers will, like Jack London, be autotelic who teach themselves a sense of style.

    Thank you for those exciting leads!
  • Whew! I made the cut... now for the rest! Would sure like the award, but even if I don't get it Michael, I'm glad you do this every year.

    Thanks

    A

    <abbr>Anne Wayman's last blog post..One Writer’s Self-Publishing Experience - Videos About Writing</abbr>
  • Great list, Michael! Congrats to all of the finalists. :)

    kk

    <abbr>Kristen King's last blog post..Special Giveaway for Inkthinker Readers: Invotrak Invoicing</abbr>
  • Thanks so much for including my blog in the finalists; I've only been at it since January, so it's a thrill just to be nominated. And thanks also to Susan Johnston for being so on the ball - if she hadn't emailed to congratulate me today I wouldn't have known!

    Michelle Rafter
  • I'm having a good time just randomly picking a new blog from that list & checking it out. I have this post bookmarked, great stuff here.

    <abbr>Sonia Simone's last blog post..Objection Blaster Series #2: The Zen of Selling</abbr>
  • Dear Michael:
    For the 3rd year in a row, you're providing a great learning opportunity for bloggers for bloggers of all types.

    By analyzing the characteristics of the finalists, it's possible for bloggers to look for common characteristics which can be incorporated into our own blogs.

    Did you also post a list of all 300 nominated blogs? It would be great to compare the 37 finalists with the 300 nominated, to identify characteristics that set them apart.

    Great job, as always.

    Roger C. Parker
  • Wow. There are some really great blogs on that list. I'm crossing my fingers!

    <abbr>lornadoone's last blog post..Ooh, Win Free Stuff Here!</abbr>
  • What an excellent list, I'm thrilled to be on it!
  • Congratulations to the finalists! I found some great new blogs by reading everyone else's nominations.

    <abbr>Leigh's last blog post..10 Commandments of Working with a Freelance Writer</abbr>
  • I'm thrilled to be among the finalists once again. Thanks for the nominations and congrats to all the other finalists!
  • Great list! Good luck, everybody

    <abbr>Sharon Hurley Hall's last blog post..Personal Productivity: An Interim Report</abbr>
  • Wow, very exciting!

    Michael, just as an FYI, Remarkable Communication made the switch from Typepad to self-hosted WP less than a month ago, so my Technorati ranking is mostly for the Typepad url, which is http://remarcom.typepad.com/remarkable_communication. Make of that what you will . . .
  • Thanks for the nomination! I appreciate your time and efforts.

    Christina Katz
  • Wow, quite the list this year, Michael! Good luck sorting and organizing (I tip my hat to you; no small feat, that.) and good luck to everyone in the running. Cheers!
  • Thanks Michael. It's an honor to be listed as a finalist. I've found quite a few new blogs to read from the nominations post, so I'm very grateful that you've taken the time to do this contest again. :-)

    <abbr>Amy Derby's last blog post..Fiction Friday: Sex with Ghosts, and other stories</abbr>
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