June 10, 2016 at 9:56 am

How comfortable are you reading a blog?

– 300 – 500  words packed with information

or

500 – 1000 words and above that has irrelevant details.

500- 1000 words and above that is packed with good information.

When you read a book do you  skip descriptions of a place for example?

I skip descriptions and hasten to come to the story as quickly as possible while reading a book. And when it comes to reading a blog I choose the 300 – 500 worded blog packed with information and that which has a link that takes you to details. My posts are somewhat based on this principle.

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• This topic was modified 8 years, 6 months ago by  bestwriter.

June 10, 2016 at 10:09 am

A lot depends upon how well  the post is written but nowadays we have a short attention span and too much to do online so I would say 500-800 words are sufficient .

Anything above that and my attention starts wandering.

Ps. I do not skip parts while reading a book from my favorite authors and I guess i wouldn’t skip parts of posts written by authors i know who write well

June 10, 2016 at 10:34 am

@bestwriter in that case if you chance upon reading 100s of my articles having 5000-7000 or more words you will react too harshly 🙁

June 10, 2016 at 10:41 am

@Suny – Reacting harshly and not choosing to read them are two different angles (lol)

June 10, 2016 at 10:46 am

@dawnwriter  – I am always  in a hurry to know about the ‘Butler did it’ story and so tend to skip descriptions.

Picking wheat from chaff is an art.

June 10, 2016 at 11:23 am

@bestwriter  I prefer blog posts between 300-500 words. Long posts are just not for me, no matter how well they are written. However books are a different thing. I never skip a line in a book. I love reading about the descriptions of the various places, people etc. Books are written by professional writers and I enjoy reading what they write.

June 10, 2016 at 11:24 am

@ suny 5000-7000 words??? Don’t tell me!!!

June 10, 2016 at 11:25 am

@shaloo walia – With the Internet at a mouse click away I suppose we get to read better descriptions. Anyway to each their own.

June 10, 2016 at 12:44 pm

I’d have to say that I don’t really look so much at the length of the post. I look at how it is formatted, much more than at word count.

So if the post is 300-500 words but is written as a series of same-size paragraphs with no subheads, lists, embedded visuals, etc., I will probably skip over it completely. I will just plain move on to the next post – unless I have a really specific reason to read this one piece.

On the other hand, I will at the very least skim through a post that is 500-1000+ words if it uses visuals, formatting, varying paragraph length, good amounts of whitespace, etc. I may not read every single word but I will read each subheading – and probably a good bit of the body text under any subheads that are of particular interest.

Besides the quality of the information included in the text and the things I’ve just discussed, there is also the skill with which the writer spins his tale. Some web writers I know have incredible written talent. But most are just mediocre.

June 10, 2016 at 12:55 pm

@bestwriter you reminded me of the usher that whispered in the ear of the movie goer “Watchman is the murderer” when he showed him his seat. Or you read a mystery novel beginning from its last page. Oh poor me 🙂

June 10, 2016 at 12:56 pm

@shaloo walia Do you want to see them? I know you will not read them all 🙂 I will post their link on your FB page (few of them)

• This reply was modified 8 years, 6 months ago by  suny.

June 10, 2016 at 2:22 pm

@I have read too many Agatha Christie novels  (lol)

June 10, 2016 at 9:15 pm

@bestwriter/

honestly, I prefer to read 300-500 words posts, regardless, whether rant posts or informative posts.

However, I also read the title first.

If the title fits my cup of tea, I will read from the tip to the bottom and leave my comments.

For 500-1000 words, I would definitely skip the intro and go for the points that I am searching for.

As I had said in other forums, a lengthy post equals to 2 short posts that I could read.

hence, short posts will definitely get my comments.

June 10, 2016 at 9:27 pm

I would prefer to read 300 to 500 words of a post rather than a lengthy one. You know readers preferred that kind of post. Most of them are in a hurry. They do read but it is a matter of scanning it and that is what I always do. I feel comfortable reading articles with subheadings. But in book reading, I read cover to cover. I go down to the details, to the description of it is the meat of the book writing. Words are talking. Words are moving, Words are having emotion.

June 10, 2016 at 9:28 pm

For me, it depends upon what the article is about and whether it is something that I want to learn about. I do not want to read something that is about nothing and is very lengthy as I will get bored of it. I do sometimes skip descriptions in books if they are too long simply because I am do not visualize in my mind very well. Other than that I will read a long book if it is good and keeps my attention.

I find that a blog will keep my attention if it is broken up a little and not too long. I would think that 500-800 words is enough to get your point across. If it is longer than that it should be broken up into parts.