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I Want to Read Your Hub

Updated on July 26, 2013
PDXKaraokeGuy profile image

Justin W. Price is a freelance writer, blogger, and award-nominated author based out of Juneau, Alaska.

Let me let you in on a little secret:

I want to read your hub. I follow over 1,000 hubbers and never have fewer than 1500 e mails from Hubpages informing me of comments I need to respond to, or new articles I need to read. Additionally, as a student, freelance writer and editor, my time is limited. On Hubpages, I'm going to read things that interest me. That's it. I need to be selective.

As of this writing, I’m a Level 8 commentator. I love to share good hubs with my followers (and with over 500 followers, this means more reads for you). I follow anyone who leaves a good, thoughtful comment on my hubs. So, let me let you in on another little secret: You want me to read your hub.

So, how can you ensure I do? Well, keep reading.

Source

Technology, health, fitness and science Hubs bore me

Unless your hub is about how I can increase hub views or income, I likely won’t read your hub if it’s on these topics. Of course, google adsense and search engines love these topics so you’ll have plenty of readers on these subjects… you just won’t have me. They're not bad topics for hubs, they just don't interest me. I prefer to learn about science from television or by application.

Use words properly

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve stopped reading a hub because of the misuse of words. The ones I see most often are these: Breath for breathe, your for you’re, bath for bathe, looser for loser, etc. If you don’t have enough pride in your work to use words properly, I don’t have any interest in reading your work. I’ll forgive these once or twice, but, more than that, it’s a trend and you'll need to consult a dictionary before you publish another hub, and I likely won’t be interested in reading it.

For instance, "I was out of breathe" is incorrect. "I was out of breath" is correct.

"Your a dork" is not correct. "You're a dork is."

Use proper grammar

I’m more lenient with this on poems and stories, as long as it’s evident to me that you are conscious of breaking the rules. I’m not referring to obvious typos. These things happen and I trust that you will catch and fix these after a few edits. Mistakes happen, but mistakes and habits are two different things. I’m talking about those who say “who” instead of “whom”, “is” instead of “are”, use commas instead of periods, etc. Do a little research or consult the Little Brown Book for grammar tips. I keep a spiral Little Brown Book on my desk at all times and I consult it often.

Please note, I’m not talking about style, I’m talking about butchering basic grammar. I know I'm guilty of this at times, so I'm speaking to the choir!


here's a great hub on Grammar... with a quiz!

Use white space

There is nothing worse than a big, blocky hub with long, forbidding paragraphs. I don't like how it looks and may decide to skip reading your hub without reading one word. I don’t mind reading long hubs, but if you’re going to write long paragraphs, you’re going to lose my interest. Odds are, you could cut your paragraph into two paragraphs, create shorter sentences and utilize more white space. This is especially important on long hubs. I. Like. Short. Con.Cise. Sen.Ten.Ces.

White space can also make longer hubs not seem as long. It's a perception thing. I don't want to drown in an ocean of words.

For a great example of how to use white space effectively, check out this hub by Martie Coester

Not returning comments makes me very angry.
Not returning comments makes me very angry. | Source

Not returning comments

Hub Pages is a community and it's as much about relationships as it is about writing and earning a paycheck. If I take the time to leave a thoughtful comment on your hub, you should return it. If you don’t, I’m going to be annoyed and, more than that, I likely won’t go back to your page or reading any more of your hubs. Responding to a comment sends me a notification and reminds me that you have a Hubpage and maybe I should check it out. Responding to those who leave comments on your pages is not only polite, it's also a way to increase readership. Plus, it’s rude as hell not to respond.

I try to always respond to every comment on my hubs within 24 hours.

Really long poems or stories

Poems longer than 250 words are too wordy for my taste, and likely won’t be read unless you’re the world’s best poet. Less is more. Stories longer than 750 words should be broken up into several hubs. if you are serializing a hub, please let your readers’ know up front how many sections there are. It’s easier for me to remain interested in your story and retain info if each edition of your story is short, and if I know how much further I have to read. I never start a book without checking the number of pages. Ditto your hubs. Plus, if you spread it out over several days, you will have people anticipating the release and will gain reads and more views.

That being said, sometimes a story or essay won't be served well by being short or cut up. That's where the use of white space, multimedia (such as videos, photographs and maps) can come in handy. Also, dividing a long story into sections with easily identifiable headings will help. This article I wrote about Kurt Cobain, for example, is rather long, but, it has been divided into several short sections using videos and section headings. It's much less scary to look at then an unbroken wall of solid text.

My poetry collection

Write poems and stories

These are my favorite thing to read on Hubpages and the first thing I look for when perusing your profile. Again, this is just a personal preference.


Thanks for reading. Happy Hubbing!


Odds are there is a typo or poor use of grammar in this hub. These are bad habits for me. No need to point it out in the comment section. I will catch it on my tenth proofread.


Thanks for Reading.

A FREELANCE WRITER, HONORS STUDENT AND GOVER PRIZE FINALIST, JUSTIN W. PRICE (AKA, PDXKARAOKEGUY)IS A POET, SHORT STORY, BIOGRAPHY AND HUMOR WRITER. HIS POETRY COLLECTION, DIGGING TO CHINA, WAS RELEASED FEBRUARY 2ND, 2013 BY SWEATSHOPPE PUBLICATIONS AND IS AVAILABLE ON AMAZON.COM, BARNES AND NOBLE AND THROUGH YOUR LOCAL BOOKSELLER.

HIS WORK WILL ALSO BE FEATURED IN BEST NEW Writing (2014 EDITION), AND HAS APPEARED PREVIOUSLY IN THE RUSTY NAIL, EFICTION, THE CRISIS CHRONICLES, THE HELLROARING REVIEW, BURNINGWORD, THE WHISTLING FIRE, SEE SPOT RUN ANDTHE BELLWETHER REVIEW.

HE WORKS AS A FREELANCE WRITER, EDITOR, AND GHOST WRITER, AND IS WORKING TOWARDS HIS PH.D. HE LIVES IN A SUBURB OF PORTLAND, OREGON WITH HIS WIFE, ANDREA, THEIR LABRADOODLE, BELLA, SCHNOODLE, SAUVEE AND BLACK MOOR GOLDFISH, HOWARD WOLOWITZ.

What is your biggest pet peeve with hubs?

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