More popular
If you look alllll the way back to the second or maybe third post in this blog, you will see that I was hoping to get "hired" by Blogitive, to mention companies in the blog for $5 a pop. The first time I applied, I had only made a few posts, and you couldn't find me on Google even if you entered the URL of the blog itself. Blogitive, needless to say, didn't find me very appealing.
I've been findable on Google for some time now, and I determined a week or two ago to write "at least three times a week" as mentioned on the Blogitive site. I also have accumulated a decent number of postings now. So I figured I'd give it another go. Again, no luck: the emailed reply stated that I need to increase my blog's "popularity". Go get yourself on FeedBurner, etc. etc., that should get you started.
So, with a sigh I accepted that in order to get paid (even relatively paltry sums like $5) for advertising, you have to give the paying person some confidence that someone, anyone, will actually see your ad. I'm pretty sure at least one person is subscribed to my RSS feed, but his viewing of an ad probably isn't worth $5 all by itself (sorry Josh).
So I found myself asking (a little stupidly, I guess) if I really wanted my blog to be all that "popular". I don't really know what that is like. I lead a relatively sedate life at the moment (as far as my own personal activities are concerned, that is-- there is rarely a dull week at my house); would I get too sucked in if things got lively in blog-land? In my fantasy world, I am able to provide comfortably for my family just by writing stuff. But the only way (correct me if I'm wrong here, someone) you make six figures writing stuff is to have quite a large number of people read what you write, all the time, and like it a lot.
It's an interesting question, now that I think about it: in the world of writing, is it a few millionaire columnists (Tom Friedman? Maureen Dowd? I wonder how much they make) and superstar novelists (Stephen King, Michael Crichton, Dean Koontz etc.) amid a sea of struggling scrabbling playwrights, journalists and would-be novelists? No one in between making a comfortable living of, say, $150,000 a year? (If that sounds high to you, remember that a free-lancer needs to buy his own health insurance and whatnot.)
I have to brag here a little bit, although under the circumstances perhaps it's a little foolish to brag about it. Back in mid-2004 when I was a new Presbyterian elder I was tilting at windmills trying to save this lump of a guy at church from ending up on the street (again). At the height of my crusade against the system I wrote one or two letters to the social work office where the person's case was being managed. I made enough of a pain of myself that I eventually found myself on the phone with the director of the department, two levels up from the caseworker I believe, begging me to back off and just let them do their job. But early on in that conversation, presumably to serve as a velvet covering on her impending blow, she told me that I write "beautifully".
When I do actually begin writing, I can write quite a lot of reasonably good quality material in a relatively short time. (75 page senior thesis in... what was it? 38 hours? Never mind that I got a C+ on it; I don't think it was because of the quality of the writing so much as because it was not very good historical scholarship. Dang that head of the Presbyterian denomination in Mexico who never sent me that perfect packet of revolutionary era periodicals that I believed he would send to a total gringo stranger, after one phone call, and with no referral of any kind. I wasn't even a Presbyterian at the time.)
What do you think? Josh? Want to collaborate on a novel? We'll be rich. You provide the idea, and I'll help you write it.
Racquetball, after a bit of a hiatus: today I won 2 games, Bob won 1. Cumulative record: Joel - 5, Bob - 6.
I've been findable on Google for some time now, and I determined a week or two ago to write "at least three times a week" as mentioned on the Blogitive site. I also have accumulated a decent number of postings now. So I figured I'd give it another go. Again, no luck: the emailed reply stated that I need to increase my blog's "popularity". Go get yourself on FeedBurner, etc. etc., that should get you started.
So, with a sigh I accepted that in order to get paid (even relatively paltry sums like $5) for advertising, you have to give the paying person some confidence that someone, anyone, will actually see your ad. I'm pretty sure at least one person is subscribed to my RSS feed, but his viewing of an ad probably isn't worth $5 all by itself (sorry Josh).
So I found myself asking (a little stupidly, I guess) if I really wanted my blog to be all that "popular". I don't really know what that is like. I lead a relatively sedate life at the moment (as far as my own personal activities are concerned, that is-- there is rarely a dull week at my house); would I get too sucked in if things got lively in blog-land? In my fantasy world, I am able to provide comfortably for my family just by writing stuff. But the only way (correct me if I'm wrong here, someone) you make six figures writing stuff is to have quite a large number of people read what you write, all the time, and like it a lot.
It's an interesting question, now that I think about it: in the world of writing, is it a few millionaire columnists (Tom Friedman? Maureen Dowd? I wonder how much they make) and superstar novelists (Stephen King, Michael Crichton, Dean Koontz etc.) amid a sea of struggling scrabbling playwrights, journalists and would-be novelists? No one in between making a comfortable living of, say, $150,000 a year? (If that sounds high to you, remember that a free-lancer needs to buy his own health insurance and whatnot.)
I have to brag here a little bit, although under the circumstances perhaps it's a little foolish to brag about it. Back in mid-2004 when I was a new Presbyterian elder I was tilting at windmills trying to save this lump of a guy at church from ending up on the street (again). At the height of my crusade against the system I wrote one or two letters to the social work office where the person's case was being managed. I made enough of a pain of myself that I eventually found myself on the phone with the director of the department, two levels up from the caseworker I believe, begging me to back off and just let them do their job. But early on in that conversation, presumably to serve as a velvet covering on her impending blow, she told me that I write "beautifully".
When I do actually begin writing, I can write quite a lot of reasonably good quality material in a relatively short time. (75 page senior thesis in... what was it? 38 hours? Never mind that I got a C+ on it; I don't think it was because of the quality of the writing so much as because it was not very good historical scholarship. Dang that head of the Presbyterian denomination in Mexico who never sent me that perfect packet of revolutionary era periodicals that I believed he would send to a total gringo stranger, after one phone call, and with no referral of any kind. I wasn't even a Presbyterian at the time.)
What do you think? Josh? Want to collaborate on a novel? We'll be rich. You provide the idea, and I'll help you write it.
Racquetball, after a bit of a hiatus: today I won 2 games, Bob won 1. Cumulative record: Joel - 5, Bob - 6.
posted by Joel GL at 9:54 AM
2 Comments:
Ok, a few thoughts. First, my general impression is that most writers don't make a living at writing. And I'm defining writer here as anyone who has ever gotten paid to write.
There are people who make a workman's living at writing (i.e. not $150,000.) They write constantly but don't necessarily write very interesting things. A lot of text gets produced in our culture and someone has to produce it. People in this category, I think, are journalists, grant writers, technical writers. They make a living writing, but they do the grunt work writing.
When it comes to writing books, my understanding is that most mid-list authors struggle. If the books you write become automatic best sellers, you're golden. Otherwise, you're getting advances that are maybe 5 figures.
Blogging is another beast entirely. Successful blogging is more about relationships than writing. The key is to drive people to your site and you do this by commenting on their blogs, linking to them, emailing them directly. You're main goal is to be the friend of everyone in your audience. There are, of course, a lot of technical issues that you need to know when it comes to blogging. The best source I've seen for this is problogger.net. As the story goes, this guy makes over 300k a year blogging.
For me, there's a part of me that likes to write, but I'm content to be a writer who works another day job. At least for now.
My general feeling is that I wouldn't want my blog to be more popular, but that's mostly because I write about religion. The nasty fights that go on in the comments of most blogs about Christianity that are widely read are tiring to me. I'm really not sure it's worth it most of the time. And these are probably not even blogs for which the writer is paid at all.
The question really is why you write what you write. And I'd like there to be a more positive product of what I do that to provoke the same rehashed tired arguments that everyone is making all the time.
And just so you know, I subscribe to RSS feed too, :).
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