APOLOGIES to those users - many of us, in fact - who have found it slow going at times on the Write Out Loud website this month. We are working on the problem, which has coincided with an unexpected high number of hits on the website in December. We are sorry for any delays. 

CALLING all Write Out Loud Gig Guide users! One of the very useful features of our Gig Guide is the way it automatically updates regular events each month. BUT ... this useful feature does have a slight disadvantage during the Christmas and New Year holiday season!  

If Gig Guide users aren't vigilant, their regular event might be listed as taking place on Christmas Day or Boxing Day - or indeed, on New Year's Eve, or New Year's Day. As this is unlikely to be the case in reality, we're asking all regular Gig Guide users to check whether their event falls under this category. If so, please update it as CANCELLED on the online form, and update.

Sadly, we at Write Out Loud lack the staff to make these checks ourselves (see below). We're relying on organisers of the events to make sure our Gig Guide is as accurate as it can be - to spare anyone a fruitless journey at this time of year.  

DID YOU KNOW that the Write Out Loud website started out as just a gig guide, emailed to poets in Bolton and the surrounding area back in 2004? In the following year it turned into a website, and developed all the features you see today – poetry blogs, news, reviews, photos, opinions, and all the rest.  

But hold on … did we say, “just a gig guide”? The Write Out Loud website recorded over 42,000 unique visitors last month, and 120,000 visits. So that makes it a great place for poetry event organisers to list their gigs, and know that they’ll be seen all over the country, if not all over the world.  

And did you know that Write Out Loud’s Gig Guide has a global reach? As well as all the UK gigs listed, users in other countries can post their gigs on the guide. Just click on your country to start. Our ratings reveal the potential for gig promotion growth. We’re currently seeing double the number of US hits on this site, compared to UK ones. This month we’re big in Romania, too, as well as always being popular in India. Australia, France, Hong Kong, Belgium and the Netherlands also feature well on our ratings, too.

All listings are free, and if they are regular events, can update automatically. We only ask that gig organisers keep monitoring your own listing, and make adjustments if the venue or date changes, or if the event ends completely. We want the Gig Guide to be as accurate as possible!

To that end, we’re looking for someone to help us run the Gig Guide. Someone who is committed to live spoken word events, as we all are at Write Out Loud. Someone who might persuade new gig organisers of the benefits of listing with us, check on the accuracy of any events that haven’t been updated for a while, and approve events submitted for inclusion in the Gig Guide. It’s a voluntary role – they all are at Write Out Loud – but a crucial one.

If you’re interested in helping to keep Write Out Loud’s Gig Guide – our website’s beating heart - as fresh and as far-reaching as possible, email Julia Clark julia.clark@gmx.com to find out more details.