Thread: The Niche-Writer's Guide to Despondency

When I introduced myself to these forums I was invited to post my thoughts on blogging and podcasting. I've been podcasting for a grand total of three weeks now. We recorded the first episode of Writer's Room on 1st May and both the free and paid versions of it were only released yesterday (and only because I couldn't get my arse in gear to edit it). I've only been blogging for a few months as well.


I actually went down these roots because I wanted to help people. I don't expect I would have started writing a blog or creating podcasts before because that isn't what I enjoy about writing. That said, the podcast was a wonderful experience. I suppose because I wasn't doing it alone and there is something about having a group of friends and writers around you, to talk to. I think it's actually the first time we've done anything like that.


But my real motivation for doing all this work that I really don't want to do is actually quite simple. I want to be able to give up my job and focus on writing and helping others to write. To do this, you need money.


I was very lucky as a teenager to have a great group of writers around me from whom I learned about the business. This has meant that I had enough contacts to be able to rely on traditional publishing. I also have a job that allowed me to write as well and I was able to augment my income with a few well placed articles, short stories, sketches and jokes.


Bringing everything online might appear to be a strange outlet for me but I do work in web design and I understand the internet on several levels, which can only help. Of course I have ambitions for my online projects. I would love them to make money so I can give up my day job and spend my time helping writers and writing myself. It's a long, hard slog though and it appears that I will be some years off making this a reality.


And that's the problem with being online. It all takes time that we can't afford or skills that we don't have. A modern writer must be aware of the way the internet is moving because it is the new social aspects of the web that are driving the discovery of bands, films and even writers. The maths is very simple. Get a thousand people to pay you £24 a year and you have an income that will allow you to work full time on your dreams. It sounds great in principal but it is much harder to achieve than it may seem.


On the internet, if you build it... they won't come. If you spend a shed load of time promoting yourself and your work then they may come. If you pay for people to visit you then they will come... but they might not actually buy anything.


That's a major failing of the system. I want to be able to sit and shout at my computer screen “I want my money back!” That rather flippant display would probably make me feel better about my predicament but is less likely to get me any more traffic.


So, here I am. A few months down the line and with no income from exploits that have already taken up days of my life that I shall never get back. I could have spent the time meeting pretty women...


...all right, I could have spent the time meeting women...


… Okay. I could have bought a copy of playboy instead.


The real worry about where I am at the moment lies in my current employment situation. I am currently paid to create and promote websites online. I do SEO for a living. I get other sites boosts in traffic or good SERPS. I can't seam to do it on my own site. It's not surprising that most websites fail within the first few months. And I've got a lot of knowledge about gaining traffic. I have done it consistently for a few years now.


The above outpouring about my current situation actually makes it seam worse than it is. I am enjoying blogging and I do enjoy working on the internet. I don't enjoy having to do it in my free time however. What it brings me to is this:


If a professional can't do it, what chance have novice writers got?


It sounds pretty dismal doesn't it? Actually, I don't think that's the case. I wouldn't be pursuing the podcast if I didn't think that it would make me some money and help some people along the way. I have my own plans for some other products to help writers and I will be working on them over the coming months. The interactions I have had on this forum, and others, will suggest to me areas where people might find they need help writing or getting published. I already have an idea for a product teaching young writers how to promote themselves online. It is actually easier than you think it is.


I actually believe that I can get a thousand fans paying me but I am realistic enough to understand the probability that I will need to target many thousands of people to make that a reality.


I'm sure that, in the future, I shall have a lot to say about topics that appear in this particular section of writingforums.com but I shall close this post with a few things that you might consider to help promote yourself online. These things actually work but you must find out about the audience (and traffic) that you are likely to get from each one.


Research Keywords
So few businesses do this. It's actually quite surprising. You need to know what your target audience is searching for so you can promote yourself as that and have them find you. It's no good being on page one of Google for your name if no one knows who you are.


Social Bookmarking
This is a great way.. actually this is THE way of getting in to Google quickly. It will help your position in little bursts but that is fleeting. Used when you first create content for your site it will help google to see that content in a very short period of time.


Video
Bet you never thought you would make a video did you? Well it might be the best way to create content that people will find. Youtube is one of the most searched websites in the world. What have you got to loose?


Article Writing
Write your own articles and submit them to the online article databases. It will give your site backlinks and help people find you through connected subjects. The bulk of the traffic on my blog is through article writing.


Twitter / Facebook
Fans like to connect with the subject of there fanaticism. Make it easy for them without getting yourself in to some kind of trouble. These sites are great for that!

Wow, what a great post, Steve. (Great title, too.)

Let me add that it's also a really good idea to promote "niche writing" like this in the appropriate niche. There are forums for podcasting (vimeo, for example), and web novels and blog lit and all that. Often the people doing it are most likely to take notice. Or course this is like selling to salesmen, but traffic helps and the more eyeballs, the better.

Thanks for posting, Steve. Excellent article with some very good points brought up.

I look forward for your updates. I'm really excited about the future of online fiction writing and how we could use this to our advantage. Thanks

Thanks everyone, I thought the subject matter might be interesting to some people.

The rule of thumb is that you can convert on the internet at about 1%. Now that's not good, but it does seem to be accurate. So, if you want the 'one thousand fans' concept to work you have to have one hundred thousand people find our work.

Ouch!

Anyway, I'm glad I could create a little interest from my post

SPAM EVERYONE! Oh wait, that doesn't really work *muffles laughter* yes, the 100,000 rule does seem to work. On the average. That doesn't mean that you expose the work to 100k and all of a sudden things start happening. Just thought I'd clarify that for the sake of the readers.
I had an experience some years ago that I should relate, as it bears on this subject. During 1999-2002, I had on my website an interactive novel, where "readers" could email several of the characters, interact with them via scheduled chats, visit their websites, and influence their storylines. That site came to the attention of someone who reviewed it via the since-departed website briefme, which was kind of a Stumbleupon progenitor...anyway, to make a long story short, my readership increased to the point that I could no longer afford to have the interactive novel up, as it took all of my time. Could not manage much in the way of cash conversion. They just wanted to play with their friends.
The point is that the law of averages works...eight years later, I'm just getting to the point of having a similarly-sized audience, without using any of the methods described above. There are alternative methods...for instance I attribute a recent jump to advertising my blognovel on a usenet forum. But usenet is no longer as populated as Facebook or MySpace.
Thanks again for posting, Steve, and for the food for thought. Especially the appeal to niche-writers. I'm certainly one of those.