I’d Head to a Book Bath Whenever My Writing Stats Head for the Dumps

It clears my mind (and yours). Here’s why.

Log in.

Check stats.

Surprised, shellshocked, and stabbed.

Refresh page.

No updates.

And then I started digging in. One article at a time. One after the other.

• Views… incredible ocean bed numbers…
• Reads? Wow. Lowest of the lowest I’ve seen.
• Engagement is brilliant. Readers think I’m too busy… so they left me alone.

Such is my life as an online writer. It does not happen all the time. It happens from time to time.

Truth be told, this is not the first time sh!t happened. Every software update comes with consequences.

It is like you figured out how to excel in one version update, and then the latest comes in, pulls the rug from beneath your feet, and you restart from Ground 0, ad infinitum.

Yes, gals and pals.

The classic corporate rinse, wash, repeat does apply to online writing.

And this is what I have done to calm my jittery online-writing nerves…

I Stumbled Upon a Book Bath

Yes, I did not know what to do with my declining stats.

Let me be clear. I do not always know what to do.

But deep down, I know I need a getaway from my desk, laptop, and stats check.

As luck has it, I stumbled onto a potential urban therapy for keyword warriors.

I term it, The Book Bath.

It is like forest bathing.

• You walk into a sea of green.
• You take deep breaths.
• You wonder about.
• You slow down.
• You fall into a mental refresh.
• You engage with the flora and fauna.

And you come out feeling awesome.

The Book Bath produces the same effect. I recommend it to online writers.

Here’s why.

A Sea of Books Opened My Wannabe Writing Mind

Walking into the bookstore leaves me in awe.

There is an incredible amount of material from entrance to exit.

• Millions of books.
• Thousands of magazines.
• Hundreds and hundreds of store picks.

And each of them is hard at work trying their absolute best to…

• Catch my attention,
• Nudge me to pick them up,
• Get me to flip a couple of pages.

It is an uncanny parallel world to blogging.

Don’t believe me? Look at this.

The sea of books (this is just one genre, by the way) reminds me of an ocean of articles swimming online, waiting for a click.

Online articles wait for clicks.

Physical books yearn for flips.

There are similarities within broad brush differences.

And then, there are books with punchy and seemingly irresistible headlines.

Look at the image below. Which one caught your eye?

Is it ‘Instagram Secrets’?

Maybe. Copywriting masters will tell you that ‘secret’ is an emotional, evocative, and psychologically appealing word to use in the headline (or book title).

I started writing online 3 years ago. I studied, I wrote. I copied, I produced.

Headline copywriting is that unspoken Dark Art designed to attract fickle readers’ attention. It says “click me” in disguise.

It gives us the highest chance of readership success. Note. I use the word chance.

Why so? Simple.

Because unless you have millions of fans or thousands of followers, you want probability to be on your side.

There will be the cold-blooded ones. Unmoved ones.

And I’m one today. I was unmoved by secrets.

And Instagram does not excite me.

And that gave me a moment of epiphany.

When our content is presented behind the headline — We do whatever we can to stop a scroller and to convert them to curious readers.

You can see why all top writers work hard on their headlines.

It’s our only shot.

No clicks, no reads.

And this is not about clickbait. No.

Come on, people. A reader can only read after clicking the headline. What is wrong with working our headline?

Give me a break.

And, of course, books have more ways to grab our attention.

• Titles / Headlines,
• Subtitles,
• Book blurb (back cover littered with words),
• Book cover with a beautifully designed visual image,
• And equally important is real estate on paper. It gives flexibility to all the above.

You can have a giant whitepaper surrounding the book title.

You can design a dog holding a graph (you’ll see that in a moment!).

You can read keynotes and recommendations splashed across the book blurb before flipping.

Contrast all that to an online article where the only hope of readership is the headline. We have a tough job.

Yet, ironically, we are not doing too badly.

That 20 article views you received on Day 1?

It’s way better than books sitting on the shelf. Yes, even for books at our eye level, too.

I was at the store for an hour. 95% of the books never got a flip.

Imagine that… pals and gals.

Imagine that!

Of Course, There’s Me.

I am my own problem.

Here’s why I say that.

I am biased toward the genre of my choice. I’m boring AF. I like to read Economics and Business.

It translates into my online writing preferences.

I write about Economics and Business.

So, even remotely boring titles catch my attention, like the one with the dog holding a chart here.

What does that tell me?

3 things.

• Writing punchy and seductive headlines is important to attract general attention.
• Strong headlines will work only for those interested in your genre.
• Uninterested folks remain uninterested. They breeze past.

So, here we are, back to a reckoning and acceptance of reality.

We must understand the game we play, the rules, how we can excel, and how we can get readers of our genres to stop by to flip, stop scrolling to click.

Yes, gals and pals.

I picked the Dog Book to flip.

The same dog in the literature section will not get the chance.

My Thoughts on Algorithmic Changes as a Function of Life Change

I see it as tidal changes.

The tide rises. The tide falls.

And this is not unique to online writers, per se. Book authors suffer from the rise and fall of book tides, too.

Let me explain.

There are multiple human inventions behind the scenes in a bookstore.

• Hot picks
• New arrivals
• Top of the charts
• Books of the month
• Discounts for the month
• In-store exclusive
• Online specials
• Bestsellers

I’m sorry to break your heart. But…

You don’t get to compete with the best cover, best story, top-of-class headlines, and punchy introductions. It does not work online and off.

You and I are in that competition beyond our hard work.

Unbelievably appealing headlines or cover design brings us this far (my hands gesturing from my palms to the index finger).

The online algorithm and bookstores must push our work in front of readers. This is the real deal.

And oh.

Do you know you must pay to display your books at eye level in a bookstore?

I didn’t know that. I learned something.

Then again, it is nothing new.

People pay for SEO services, too.

And that begets the next question.

Can we pay for an article boost on content platforms?

I don’t know. Will it be worth the cost? No idea.

Such is reality.

The Close

A Book Bath does me plenty of good.

It cleanses my impatient mind and desperate soul. Yes, I am desperate for success. I do. Not hiding it at all.

But… as much as I hate to say this…

There is a limit to what I can do as an online writer wannabe.

We are like boats floating on an ocean.

You can do your best to get to the destination, but you have zero control over the weather and the ocean tides.

So, we learn to manage our expectations and emotions better.

That is always easy to say and so bl00dy difficult to do.

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