Top 10 Blogs for Writers Contest 2011: The Finalists

    Become a Top Blogger
    By Mary Jaksch

    Who are the finalists?

    Three weeks ago we asked you to nominate your favorite blog for writers. We got over 2,100 comments and nominations! Thanks to everyone who put in a nomination.

    Here are the 20 finalists in alphabetical order

    Artist’s Road
    Bookshelf Muse
    Courage2 Create
    Creative Penn
    Ghost Writer Dad
    Jane Friedman
    Jeff Goins Writer
    Men with Pens
    The Other Side
    Pen & Prosper
    Renegade Writer
    Romance University
    Story Fix
    Terrible minds
    Victoria Mixon
    Word Play
    Write Practice
    Writer’s Inner Journey
    Writing Happiness
    YoungPrePro

    How were the finalists selected?

    1. Initial qualification: A site must have been nominated more than once by multiple individuals. If someone nominated more than one blog, only the first nomination was counted. Valid nominations needed to include the URL and give a reason why the nominated blog should be considered.
    2. Contest criteria: In order to be considered, a blog needed to be a writing blog. In order to qualify, at least 5 out of the 10 posts written prior 22 November 2011 (when the call for nominations went out) needed to be about writing and not not about freelancing, business, publishing, etc.
    3. Blog-based analysis: Factors taken into account  included: Frequency of posts: the blogging frequency accounted for 15% of the total score; Reader involvement: comment numbers per posts accounted for 15% of the total score. The number of nominations accounted for 15% of the total score. These three blog-based factors make up 45% of the final score.
    4. Quality of posts: Educational, useful, engaging, and discussion-creating posts were rated higher than self-promotional posts. The quality of posts accounts for 55% of the final score.

    Click here to see the Top 10 winners.


    Chief Editor WTD

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    About the author

      Mary Jaksch

      Mary Jaksch is best known for her exceptional training for writers at WritetoDone.com. Grab a copy of her free report, How to Create an Irresistible Lead Magnet in Less Than 5 Hours. In her “spare” time, Mary’s also the brains behind AlistBlogging.net. and GoodlifeZEN.com, a Zen Master, a mother, and a 5th Degree Black Belt.

    • MA Jan says:
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      I have been a avid follower of writinghappiness since its beginning. I am very pleased for its inclusion in top 20.
      Heartiest congratulations to Marya. You made made me proud.

    • Delias Coupons says:
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      Oh, wow, way too many of these don’t have an RSS feed set up. If you want more traffic and new readers, PLEASE give your potential audience choices to follow you!

    • JLOakley says:
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      A wonderful list. I’ll bookmark them all. So glad to see The Creative Penn there. One of the first I followed on Twitter. Always has excellent advice and things to read.

    • Meredith - The Writer's [Inner] Journey says:
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      I am thrilled and speechless and SO excited to have had the blog made the finalists cut out of and among so many amazing sites. Thank you so much!

      • Casey says:
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        Meredith, it was well deserved!

    • Iain Broome says:
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      Cooeee

      Permission to ask which of the four criteria led to Write for Your Life’s downfall?

      Many thank yous

      Iain

    • Allena says:
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      Oh, wow, way too many of these don’t have an RSS feed set up. If you want more traffic and new readers, PLEASE give your potential audience choices to follow you!

      • Iain Broome says:
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        Agree with this folks. An RSS feed is pretty much what makes a blog a blog. Need to get one on there.

    • Allena says:
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      I love that many of these are new to the list- well, I think I’ve seen the Renegade on before, but a lot of these I’ve never heard of. Yay!

    • Jon M says:
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      Congratulations to all! Great list, and great people! Thank you…

    • Trung Nguyen says:
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      Congrats to winners

    • Oliver Radini says:
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      Thanks for this list, some great blogs!

    • Joanna Penn says:
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      Thanks for all your hard work Mary – it was a huge list this year and it must have taken a lot of work to sift through it all! I really appreciate making the Top 20. Happy Holidays!

      • Mary Jaksch says:
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        Hi Joanna, yes – it was a HUGE task this year …phew! This is why we are a bit later than anticipated. But it was wonderful to get to know many new writing blogs! Be warned, Joanna – I’ll soon be sending out invites to the finalists for a guest post on WTD 😉

    • angela ackerman says:
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      Wow–I am blown away to hit the top 20. What an honor! Congrats to everyone who was nominated–there are so many worthy blogs out there, and I’m looking forward to discovering some new ones. 🙂

      Have a great holiday, all!

      Angela @ The Bookshelf Muse

    • Mark says:
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      congratulations to all the finalists. I wish My favorite Onibalusi will win. all the best for all of them. Yor all are done a great work and thats the reason you guys are on the list.

    • Aipmt 2012 says:
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      Congrats to all finalists. Hello to Marya good work. keep it up.

    • Marya | Writing Happiness says:
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      WOW, I am blown away. And speechless at the same time. And probably a tad overexcited!!! 🙂

      Congrats to all the nominees. I am so happy and honoured to be included in this awesome company.

      This is the best thing that has happened to me in a long, long time. Will 2012 finally be my year?

      Let me get back to my happy dance!!!!

    • Patrick Ross says:
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      Wow, this is fantastic to have The Artist’s Road named above. It’s a very impressive list, good blogs all. As the commenters above said, kudos to every finalist!

    • Karen Lange says:
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      Congrats to all the finalists!

    • Sonia Marsh/Gutsy Living says:
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      Congratulations to all, especially Angela Ackerman and Becca from The Bookshelf Muse. You are amazing and have helped so many writers with your creative thesaur(i). I studied Latin, so I am sure it’s (i).

    • Linda Formichelli says:
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      Thanks so much…I’m excited to be included and thrilled to have gotten so many nominations! Can’t wait to see who makes the list…

    • Eddie Gear says:
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      Hey Marya,

      Good to see that you have made the top 20 list. Love your writing style.

    • Jennifer Brown Banks says:
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      I’m doing the happy dance over here! Such an honor to be included in this awesome contest and amongst such talented Bloggers and writers! Congrats to all.

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