Unfashionably Late, an ebook by Max Christian Hansen, describes the challenges a new blogger faces now that the blogosphere has become so crowded. The 'economy' of the blogosphere is based on links, because in order to build readership one must get linked to from other blogs. Getting links from prominent bloggers has become very difficult because there is so much noise and competition. The investment required to build a readership, in terms of skills, time, and knowledge have also increased dramatically. The author describes a way forward based on the things that made blogging in the early days rewarding: start with a small, predefined group and a few outside mentors, and focus on the 3 "r's" or blogging: wRiting, Reading, and Respect. The idea is to focus on quality and to build a small network of bloggers first, before diving into the big bad blogosphere by yourself. He also describes a tool, a blogging behavior search engine, of sorts, that would help identify bloggers who are worth the energy to network with:  bloggers who reciprocate a significant number of incoming links, who link to new bloggers often, and who post and comment respectfully.