Searchwarp’s Readers’ Club – Quality Connection with Real People, & Fantastic Exposure for Articles
Posted: Friday, August 27, 2010
by Jennifer Stewart
Stepping out of History
I'll confess, I'm thick as a brick when it comes to new things. Somebody can explain to me how they work and I still don't get it, not really. Way down the line that old aha moment thing happens. This routine naturally played out when I came to SearchWarp. For quite a while I didn't realize what a powerhouse I'd become a part of. I looked at all the buttons in my control panel and actually they kind of scared me. Confessions of a technophobe.
But in the last couple of months I've really begun to understand a whole lot more about what's on offer here, and how unique it is in comparison to other writers' communities, which aren't really communities, they're just directories - you bung your article in, and you never receive any kind of feedback from humans. Or from anybody on Mars or Venus either.
I've decided to share my realizations, belated as they are. First I want to say, I found out yesterday that 35,000 people view the Home Page EVERY DAY and yes, that merits shouting, wouldn't you say? It completely blew my mind when I thought about how getting your article onto the home pages puts you in right front of those people. And the Readers Club is the tool that gets you there.
I thought the club was just about being nice to people within the SearchWarp community making friends, supporting other writers, meeting people you might not otherwise meet. I wasn't wrong, it is about that, but it's also about getting the chance to be read by 35,000 new people every day that's the part that escaped me until now.
Readers' Club is quite interesting, dynamically. If you're willing to give to read other people's articles then you can receive. The first thing you get is points. A writer gives you a point for reading and rating, and another one for commenting with 10 words or more. So, nothing for nothing! But that's what life is about, isn't it? Giving and receiving.
The thing is, what you have to give isn't that much in comparison to what you can receive. For that bit of time you put into bothering to read other people's articles, you don't just get points. You get points to give away - to people reading and rating your articles. If enough people like and rate your article well when it comes up in the club, it gets onto the home pages. And then you get the 35,000 possible readers a day.
Articles that make it there are only chosen from Readers' Club ratings. I didn't realize that at first, or that an article will only come up in the club for people to read if the writer has accumulated points to give away. When you first join SearchWarp, you're given some points to get you going, and sometimes Bruce gives them away as he did when he asked everyone to fill out the questionnaire not long ago.
The club is a teeny bit like Survivor in one way! In that show if somebody is horribly dishonest and back-biting, they might beat a few people at first, but those people get to be on the panel of judges! Survivor comes to SearchWarp! If you give generously the same comes back to you. If someone is mean and nasty, and gives mediocre ratings for well-written articles in the hopes of beating them in the ratings and getting onto the home pages instead of them they can forget it, it doesn't work!
People notice that kind of stuff. SearchWarp is place of generous spirits, mostly. It's pretty direct here as ye sow, so shall ye reap! Which is another great principle of healthy community interaction.
And just as in life you don't get to choose everything that comes at you, nor can you choose which articles to read in the club. They're chosen randomly. In one session you can skip 5 before the club shuts down. It's not all bad, though; it forces you to read people you might not have otherwise chosen, and that's often a good thing. Or else it gives you the chance to work on all those buttons that get pressed by authors you don't really want to read!
So, SearchWarp's Readers' Club is a pretty powerful tool. It does require a small measure of sacrifice, but the returns are huge. It's a way of meeting people, of giving and receiving; you get the emotional, quality benefit of real connection from the comments, which is very direct and meaningful and makes you feel great about yourself and your writing. And it's a way of getting fantastic exposure for your writing, so you also get the materialistic benefit.
Now I call that a healthy balance.
p.s. Something else I didn't immediately notice: access to the Readers' Club is from your control panel once you've logged in. There's a button that says "Readers' Club"! Oh, and the articles have to be less than 7 days old.
I've decided to share my realizations, belated as they are. First I want to say, I found out yesterday that 35,000 people view the Home Page EVERY DAY and yes, that merits shouting, wouldn't you say? It completely blew my mind when I thought about how getting your article onto the home pages puts you in right front of those people. And the Readers Club is the tool that gets you there.
I thought the club was just about being nice to people within the SearchWarp community making friends, supporting other writers, meeting people you might not otherwise meet. I wasn't wrong, it is about that, but it's also about getting the chance to be read by 35,000 new people every day that's the part that escaped me until now.
Readers' Club is quite interesting, dynamically. If you're willing to give to read other people's articles then you can receive. The first thing you get is points. A writer gives you a point for reading and rating, and another one for commenting with 10 words or more. So, nothing for nothing! But that's what life is about, isn't it? Giving and receiving.
The thing is, what you have to give isn't that much in comparison to what you can receive. For that bit of time you put into bothering to read other people's articles, you don't just get points. You get points to give away - to people reading and rating your articles. If enough people like and rate your article well when it comes up in the club, it gets onto the home pages. And then you get the 35,000 possible readers a day.
Articles that make it there are only chosen from Readers' Club ratings. I didn't realize that at first, or that an article will only come up in the club for people to read if the writer has accumulated points to give away. When you first join SearchWarp, you're given some points to get you going, and sometimes Bruce gives them away as he did when he asked everyone to fill out the questionnaire not long ago.
The club is a teeny bit like Survivor in one way! In that show if somebody is horribly dishonest and back-biting, they might beat a few people at first, but those people get to be on the panel of judges! Survivor comes to SearchWarp! If you give generously the same comes back to you. If someone is mean and nasty, and gives mediocre ratings for well-written articles in the hopes of beating them in the ratings and getting onto the home pages instead of them they can forget it, it doesn't work!
People notice that kind of stuff. SearchWarp is place of generous spirits, mostly. It's pretty direct here as ye sow, so shall ye reap! Which is another great principle of healthy community interaction.
And just as in life you don't get to choose everything that comes at you, nor can you choose which articles to read in the club. They're chosen randomly. In one session you can skip 5 before the club shuts down. It's not all bad, though; it forces you to read people you might not have otherwise chosen, and that's often a good thing. Or else it gives you the chance to work on all those buttons that get pressed by authors you don't really want to read!
So, SearchWarp's Readers' Club is a pretty powerful tool. It does require a small measure of sacrifice, but the returns are huge. It's a way of meeting people, of giving and receiving; you get the emotional, quality benefit of real connection from the comments, which is very direct and meaningful and makes you feel great about yourself and your writing. And it's a way of getting fantastic exposure for your writing, so you also get the materialistic benefit.
Now I call that a healthy balance.
p.s. Something else I didn't immediately notice: access to the Readers' Club is from your control panel once you've logged in. There's a button that says "Readers' Club"! Oh, and the articles have to be less than 7 days old.
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Top-level comments on this article: (10 total)SearchWarp is like no other place that's for sure. Getting feedback is always nice and here we can get it. I only wish I had known it existed earlier. I'm a convert!GraceMe, too, Grace! We should have a virtual conversion party!Sounds good to me!
Excellent observations my dear lady! You are certainly one that I hope to see pop up in my readers club travels, and hope I continue to see for a long time to come. Thanks for sharing your experiences with us.You say such nice things, David, and you are one of the people who make writing here such a great experience. Thanks.
Another good one Jenn- You gave a lot of info to people who may not understand how Reader's Club works- but were afraid to ask- LOL- Thanks- Always- EllaI wasn't at all sure whether I'd written anything of value, Ella, and worried it was just pedantically boring; so, thanks...
You think you're a technophobe? I use Reader's Club but am never sure I'm doing it right although I've made front page so I guess it's going through properly. You know when it says, You're now using your credits to read and submit your articles but then there's a word 'stop' I never know if I'm supposed to click that for it to say 'start' which makes more sense to me. But if you do that it says you're no longer , blah, blah, blah. So I leave the word stop and hope it gets to Reader's Club. Also, it says view reports, I don't see any reports. Also if you view your article and realize you have to change a word or whatever, do you have to resubmit it somehow through Reader's Club or will the new one go to Reader's Club automatically? I guess I'm asking the wrong person, but maybe Bruce or Jean will read this and fill in any blanks for me. (That could take some work) :) Great article Jennifer, I was stunned to see there are 35,000 new viewers at SearchWarp each day.You make me laugh! I'm always terrified I'll blow the computer up if I click on the wrong thing. I think I figured the stop start thing in principle, though, because it happens all the time with the internet. If the word "stop" is showing, it means you're in "start" mode, and if you want it to change you click stop. And vice versa. God these things are hard to describe, I trip all over myself trying to make sense :) Have no idea about the reports, or re-edited articles.
Beautiful article Jennifer, thank you!I really like this paragraph :)"But in the last couple of months I've really begun to understand a whole lot more about what's on offer here, and how unique it is in comparison to other writers' communities, which aren't really communities, they're just directories - you bung your article in, and you never receive any kind of feedback from humans. Or from anybody on Mars or Venus either."35,000 new people every day?!?!? i didn't know that, wow!Pleasure, Hyun Soung, I'm glad you enjoyed it, and thanks. 35,000 - amazing, isn't it? I can really get my head around it.
Thanks Bruce....er, ah, Jen. This is very helpful for many folks. I still have a difficult time visualizing the entire universe of SW. I know there are many nooks and crannies of material but not quite sure where they reside or how to access. There is an approach to SW Global Orientation that I have a difficult time getting my head around.Is there a section that explains the SW dynamic as you just did in this article? How to find it?Bingps- of course writer ratings don't mean a dad-gum thing if you forget the stars!?!Ha ha ha, for your beginning and your ending, Bing! Re the latter I gave you 5 stars, but because I didn't comment, you didn't see it. But I have my tail righteously between my legs :) I'm just grateful that I wasn't virtually murdered in my sleep somehow by Ms Fragmented Consider Revising. Although, come to think of it, my computer had a bug this morning. Dang!!Re SW global orientation, I like the way you put it. I guess that's exactly what I'm trying to get my head around, too. I don't think there is a section that explains the dynamic.
I've been a member of search warp for 5 years now. They have improved tremendously through the years.I'm sure they have, David. Bruce and Jean seem to work very hard at it.
Thanks a bunch for this nice explanation, Jennifer. I've pretty much been in the dark about it, and so, haven't really used it. That will change now. :)It's a pleasure, Joyce. Look forward to seeing more of you :)
Thank you for illuminating the benefits of the Reader's Club for me. I can see clearly now!I'm glad it helped, Sherri!
I am learning this as I am new to the community and I think it is pretty neat too. Thanks Jennifer for being one of those "active" writers who do a lot in the give and take process... it is great that people such as yourself put a lot of positive energy into this site... it is fantastic incentive not only to produce quality writing but to read others' quality writings as well. Thanks againThanks for this great comment, Mike, and it's a pleasure :) I'm glad you decided to join.
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