Fickle readers

'…writing should be a pleasurable exercise for everyone, and not limited to sectional elites. It should not been seen for intellects, intellectuals and pseudo-intellects but for everyone.'

I should have written this hub when I reached the magical figure of 100 and not 1006. It has been a great experience to write stories that I've wanted to put down on paper as the kind of material I've always wanted to explore.

It would not be true to say it was easy, just sitting and writing. This isn't the case at all. You needed to sit, yes, but you needed to think as well, and scratch your head very hard, mull over ideas, and see the type of stories people would want to read.

What I find interesting, people many not. The idea "oh I know what people want" is not true at all. I always think people will read an article if it's interesting and easily written, cogent and grabs the reader's heart and mind.

But that's not the whole story. Readers are fickle, they may not read what you expect them to. There is always an element of surprise: The least expected article is frequently the more read.

Could it be then it is basically the luck of the draw? Maybe, unless, an article is overtly fantastic or bombastic, and dare I say newsworthy, a current event or a basic issue.

On the day former Libyan leader was captured and killed, I posted a story of the event. Within two days, it was read by over 100 Hubbers, and then as you expect it tailored off because its news worthiness perished. Maybe 100 is not a high enough number, and may be some of the hubs written by the others have struck that high and more so in as many days, but it was exciting to watch the count go up.

No doubt, I think over the coming weeks, months and years, the number of readers will increase gradually as I survey my hub account because people will come back and want to see what happened to Gaddafi on that fateful day of his bloody and humiliating capture.

This is what's exciting about Hubpages—readership increases over time. There is gradual upward trends, you need to sit tight, wait and frequently share your stories.

But you can do your bit as well by boosting the number of hubbers that follow you as they are a good stable diet of bulk readers that are likely to read your hubs every time you share.

In addition, social networking sites are important, including facebook, twitter, digg, stumbleupon and so forth. Traffic readership is bound to increase that way.

Hubbing has been an exhilarating experience because it has helped me to aggregate my thought processes and come up with stories, features, thoughts and ideas that stretched from tourism, politics, features on the Middle East to layback views on different things in society.

This included writing travel features from Jordan to different glorious places I visited including Sri Lanka (magic), Dubai, Saudi Arabia, and London.

Hubpages has enabled me to let off steam that has long been put at the back of my mind because it seemed unworthy. But I believe now no story, feature, views and ideas are unworthy. They all merit attention, and all likely to be read.

One included where in the world I've cut my hair, another talked about how people in a certain area of the globe leave the pavements and walk on roads.

Still another was about red-tape and screaming honkers. But I tried to be cultural as well, writing about books, and the issue of reading, or not for the fact, a problem that exists in Jordan and the Arab world. On another note, I wrote a light-hearted piece on reading more than one book at the same time.

And as well, I dabbled, or touched upon American politics through writing an obituary on former Secretary of State Warren Christopher and comparing him with Henry Kissinger.

This has been in between mesmerizing about Alaska, which hopefully I will go there one day for a visit, (if you keep hoping you'll get there), and I took to cooking when I tackled southern dishes in one novel by John Grisham.

In these hubs my aim wasn't to provide an expert view, but to show writing indeed should be a pleasurable exercise for everyone, and not limited to sectional elites. It should not been seen for intellects and intellectuals but everyone.

In that respect as well, I wrote a number of pieces on technology and computers, again not from a technical, dry point of view, but from a human-interest perspective. When you write a lot, you find you develop a knack for jotting down things which you didn't think you could do in a 100 years.

So the next 100 could be a heart-drenching struggle. I hope I will not bore readers, but increase my followers and provide more hubs that continue to be a worthwhile read.