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Darren Rowse at ProBlogger has a great series of posts on running a competition on your blog (see here and here for the first two articles), and it prompted me to ponder a bit (that grinding noise you hear) about our monthly group writing projects – which are quite different from competitions – we have here at the Zone.

Interested in running a group writing project of your own? Great! When done right, it can be lots of fun, introduce you to many new folks, and help increase your visibility in the Blogosphere.

Having successfully completed 8 group writing projects (one per month since May ‘07 – except we skipped October), I think I can claim some measure of expertise on the subject. So before you make the big announcement, here’s a few questions you should ask yourself before you start.

• Is it Worthwhile? – By worthwhile, I mean will it create value for both the participants and the readers? (And lest you think this one is obvious, I assure you it is not!) One thing that keeps people coming back is when they feel like they’ve gained something from their participation. Back during my very first project, I talked about how much we as bloggers like to share what we know, how often we’re asked for help, and how freely help is available from our fellow bloggers. It was a great proof-of-concept, and has proven itself to be true over time. I’m convinced it’s what keeps folks coming back for more.
• One-time, or Recurring? – When I proposed that first project, I had no idea what would happen (sortof like giving a party, but not knowing if anybody will come.) But after that first time, it was obviously worth repeating. I was a little worried, though, about “participation fatigue” setting in, and in fact, it sorta did. But ironically enough, it wasn’t my readers; it was me (it’s one reason I skipped October). If you don’t know which way to go, well, try it once and then decide.
• How Often? – Having made the decision to repeat, I had to decide what the best interval was; once a month seemed a bit much at first. After all, since each project takes up an entire week, it leaves only about three weeks to get ready for the next one. Would that be too soon? Will my readers get tired of it? And what about Mary Lou? But making the interval too long meant people might forget. So far, I’d have to say that once a month has worked just fine. Plus, readers now know to expect a new one every first Monday of the month.
• What’s the Topic? – For my particular projects, I needed to identify topics that were broad enough such that as many people as possible could participate. It’s not as easy as it sounds! Give careful thought how you word your project definition. On the other hand, your project(s) might be much more specific than mine are. The key idea is to make sure you don’t inadvertently exclude potential participants. For instance, when the topic was The World of Sports, I did my best to make sure even “non-sports folks” could be included. I think it worked, too.
• Does it Fit Your “Brand”? – You should ask yourself, does this project fit my brand? And yes, you have a brand, whether you acknowledge it or not – especially if you’ve been blogging a while. Make sure your projects build on it; otherwise you’ll lose your already faithful readers. Alternatively, you can use writing project to help establish your brand. It’s essentially what I did here at the Middle Zone, where the MZM brand reflects the concept lessons learned from life. Thus, our writing projects not only established that brand, but continue to support it perfectly.
• Where are Entries Posted? – This can be a biggie, and should be considered carefully. From the beginning I asked people to post their entries on their own blogs, reasoning that if nothing else, I was giving folks an idea for a post. Most people, in spite of good planning (or at least good intentions) probably welcome a good post idea, so who would complain? All I did was ask them to link to the project kick-off post (so I would know). I then posted a wrap-up of all the links when it was over. (At first I asked participants to repeat the list of links on their own blogs, but I soon dropped that requirement because I no longer, well, beg for links.)

Oh, sure; there are plenty of other considerations when running a group writing project, and in fact yours may be nothing like mine. But at least these questions should get you thinking in the right direction.

So What About You?

OK, up to now I’ve done all the talking; now it’s your turn. What writing projects have you been thinking about lately? Do they fit the model I’ve outlined above, or are they a different animal altogether? (Although I’m getting pretty good at doing it my way – there are most definitely plenty of other ways to do it.)

Share your ideas here and maybe we can all learn a thing or two!

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By the way, for those of you who missed it, our most recent and just-completed group writing project, BLOGAPALOOZA! What I Learned From 2007, was conducted a bit differently. In addition to the usual way of doing things, this time I gave folks the option to guest post their entries right here at the Zone. The idea was to reward participants with external links to all the posts at their own blogs. (I’m afraid you’ll have to read the above link to see how it was structured.)

As it turned out, it was a great success. There were quite a few guest posts (28), and I handed out 327 links (if I counted right). Plus we hit a new record for project entries (30)! But (as expected), it was a lot of extra work cutting, pasting, checking links, etc.!

Here’s the wrap-up post if you’d like to see who participated, with links to their posts and their blogs.

And while you’re at it, entries from all previous What I Learned From… projects have their own permanent “Hall of Fame”, the WILF archive page.

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