Welcome Newcomers - So, You've Published an Article - or, How the West Is Won

..it's been 10 minutes, and no one has commented, yet.

You've heard the stories: Gather produces an intoxicating high unlike any other. This is all too true. And you don't get a hangover, unless you count lack-of-sleep fogginess.

With 20,000 members, there's more than enough joy to go around. So, you joined in the last hour. There are tons of people even NEWER than you are.

How do you get the good stuff - This highly addictive substance called Gather. Do you Email your article to somebody, hoping they will comment?

NOT recommended.

The 60 seconds it takes to email your article to somebody is MUCH better spent clicking your way to a new connection.

When you are new and have published an article, there is ONE notice sent to Gather. Many people are swarmed with notices in their email, so your masterpiece may slip under the radar.

When I joined three months ago, there were 10,000 members. I published three articles within 24 hours. Nary a comment.

A wonderful person, Sadi Ranson-Polzotti, invited me to join her network. Somehow, I thought you had to know somebody in the physical world to be connected. I was overjoyed. I clicked yes, and invited somebody else.

Well, I got comments. And realized, that the way to get read is to increase your network. This holds true whether you have 5 readers or 100 readers.

Everybody wants to get Gather high, and everybody wants to read other people's work, too. There is more than enough joy to go around, just invite people to your network. When someone invites you, accept. You will be added to their network and notices of your publications or comments will be in the inboxes of that person's connections.

Soon, you will be as overwhelmes and sleep-deprived as everybody else. You may call in sick. You may go without meals.

You may write titles suggesting you are naked. This has been done. It works !! People click to see if you are.

When you do write articles, make your paragraphs short, your titles catchy and realize that your first two sentences are the key to someone wanting to read your story.

Photos or drawings improve a lot of stories, immeasurably. If you include a link to your own website, don't expect much traffic.

Gather is about Gather: we love each other, we love ourselves and we want to keep the love in the family.

Gather is about connecting, and connecting is about getting to know people. When you connect to someone, look up their profile to find out who they are. Maybe send them an email, if you've got something in common. That way, you two now have an established bond.

And you can bet that you two will WANT to read and comment on each other's stories.

And that is how the West is won.