Happy Friday It’s hard to make it as a writer. Less so if you’re a copywriter or content creator. As long as you don’t mind the revolving door of clients dictating what you write. But if you want to write whatever you want? Good luck with that. The pay sucks pretty much everywhere.
You asked, "If you’re not building your own audience, what’s holding you back?."
As a person with ADHD, I get overwhelmed and don't know where to start. What platform, how often, which list, Blog, etc? I know it needs to be done. -- I've set my calendar to remind me to vote for Dawn, the teacher. This is why I adore you.
Hah - that's the tutorial I'm working on right now. I'm going to send you a copy to proofread when it's done. It's not terribly long, but jam packed and step by step. :)
I struggle with that as well. I've tried different methods to keep me on track, but sometimes find those overwhelming too. Recently I've decided to break things down to a weekly basis. One week I work on these two projects, the next a different set, and so on until it comes back around.
That gives me at least one post/podcast/chapter or whatever per week.
I've never had an email list of my readers. That's why I failed on Medium. Why don't I have a list? I'd rather write novels.
Have I made money writing novels? Not really.
Still trying to decide whether I should publish with KDP or submit to a commercial publisher, revise to their vision for MY story, then wait 2 years for the book to be published.
Seems to me if you submit to a publisher, they usually don't have a marketing budget for new writers. Which means the book gets a small advance and doesn't sell enough copies to earn out the advance because of lack of marketing. Having a list would help move books whether you go the self publishing route or the publisher route. You need my building an audience tutorial. lol. I'm working on it, I promise.
This is exactly why I'm planning to write my personal stuff on Substack going forward, and repost on Medium if I feel like it. Sure, Substack is a platform owned by someone else too, but at least it's an email list, and I can download it and keep those email addresses for my own manual list if Substack goes under. (Everyone already agreed to get emails from me, so that seems logical.) I like the easy format and polished look of a Medium post (plus the option to submit to publications), but I'm increasingly convinced that email subscriptions are the only real way to retain readers.
I lost my mojo a while back, so it’s understandable that my income went down to a trickle. Lately, I started writing more. My follower count is still increasing every month, but the money is worse than ever. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that the algorithm is tweaked against me. I’ve been entering some contests and submitting to print publications. I think newsletters are great for building an audience, but I can’t imagine anyone paying to read mine. It’s not that kind of content. I’m not Dave Ramsey, nor do a I want to be. If things don’t improve by the end of this year, I just might check out of this cheap motel.
I hear your frustration Denise. I have felt the same way so often. But I stumbled across an interesting observation. I went to look at the top publications on Substack and seems to me a lot of them made me wonder why the hell people are paying for that. lol. Then it dawned on me they like the writer and want to support their work. So I dunno. Might give it a shot before I throw in the towel. You should go look at them. Maybe you shake your head like I did.
" We’re all making the same mistake." That rings true. The constant need to post, tweet, publish, just to get views that don't pay. That sinking feeling you get when you realize that a viral post on Medium likely doesn't pay because the views aren't paid members.
Sigh. I like what you're doing at the end of your newsletter - the Read More on Medium. Might try it, hope you don't mind.
I'm thinking that if we are going to post/tweet/publish, it should be to build our list, not to send Medium traffic. And I sure don't mind at all if you try the buttons, too. Will be fun to see if they get some clicks. :)
Yes, but my standard "Try our free newsletter, it's a 3-minute read that cultivates calm and creates community" needs changing up. Maybe I'll alternate.
You wanna write? All that great stuff that's swirling in your head and there are SO many markets for writers these days. That's great! Uh, don't quit your day job.
Right? The pay is crap. There were a few writers at Medium earning enough to quit their day job but that was in the past. Not sure anyone does anymore.
Yep. Having a loyal audience is a must for any writer who wants to 'make it.'
It's not just writers, it's also publishers. That's a big part of why Amazon became so dominant and the publishers, even the Big 5, were caught so off-guard. The people who ran the Big 5 publishers considered bookstores their true customers, not their readers, so they didn't make an effort to research what readers wanted, or build a database of readers' emails to send notices of new books, etc. Thus Amazon got to collect all that data and make money off it. Big 5 publishers now understand it (well, some of their employees do) and are doing 'content marketing' projects to build reader databases, but they would've been better off it they'd built that stuff before Amazon.
Source for everything I said in the above paragraph: Book Wars by John B. Thompson (fascinating book about the publishing industry)
I spent a few years in the publishing industry and that's about dead on. Another part of the issue is that it's way easier for an author to connect with their fans than for one publisher to connect with the fans of thousands of writers. I'll look up the book -- thanks!
Back at the turn of the century (pretty weird that I'm referring to the 21st century) I created a newsletter for my own Simplicity/Frugality Website. In those days, I was busy developing my SEO agency, and had little time to devote to a weekly newsletter, so I hired my ex-wife.
The idea was that she would scratch together some articles, which I would then translate into Humaneese. After a few weeks, she found another banana tree, or afternoon TV show and quit doing her part. The Website and newsletter were a passion project for me. It’s difficult to recommend purchasing an affiliate product when you've been counseling your readers to spend no money at all. I let it go in favor of endeavors that would better perpetuate my existence (buy food).
Maintaining a list and consistently putting out a newsletter is an enormous commitment and a lot of work. Now that I’m finally putting my agency to bed permanently, I’m considering investing my effort into Substack. While my needs are few, I do still require sustenance. Is there a way to earn a few pennies here without requiring readers to shell out for a paid subscription? Do you own your subscriber list here?
You're right that maintaining a list and writing consistently is a huge commitment. The nice part is that it becomes habit after a while and just fits into its slot. Yes, there is a way to earn a bit without running both paid and free versions -- you can add sponsorships and keep the content open to everyone. That's what I plan to do with History of Women. And yes, you do own your list here. :)
Yup, true. Of course it could be fun when you import them somewhere else. Because they opted in to receive your posts on Medium so you could get a whack of spam complaints if you send them email from Convert Kit or somewhere else. Medium could resolve that by changing the sign up text, but that would be like asking for the moon. lol
For me, Medium was/is a perfect match for my writing at the moment. I write to entertain and to give a little expression to all those voices clamoring in my head. I work on my novel as I can, trying to develop a habit to contribute to it regularly, but still struggle. I never really thought of making money from writing. Then life happened and I needed to consider the possibilities of earning more from writing just about the time most writers were noticing their incomes tanking on-line (particularly Medium), so it has been harder to shift gears into something consistent and aimed at the readers rather than my expression.
Not to mention how medium has decided they're going to change their distribution system. The talk of "Expert Only" articles being seen leaves all other articles seen only by your current followers. Even that is only 1% from what I understand.
First sentence is dead on. Yet there are people on Medium who keep telling newbies they just need to do their time, keep getting better, etc and they'll make it. But it never worked that way. With the writer vs. content creator distinction, I suspect it's an eye of the beholder thing. You or me can call what we do "writing" all we want. To Medium it's content.
Interesting note. I watched a demo of an AI program. You can now tell it the tone to write in. Bold, funny, etc. I have a lot of opinions on AI but they're too long for here because lordy it would be an article unto itself. I should write about it.
You should turn that into a post on Medium. If you did, sorry I didn't see it. The stupid feed is drunk all the time again. And if you haven't but do, please tag me so I don't miss it. : )
Hi Linda,
You asked, "If you’re not building your own audience, what’s holding you back?."
As a person with ADHD, I get overwhelmed and don't know where to start. What platform, how often, which list, Blog, etc? I know it needs to be done. -- I've set my calendar to remind me to vote for Dawn, the teacher. This is why I adore you.
Hah - that's the tutorial I'm working on right now. I'm going to send you a copy to proofread when it's done. It's not terribly long, but jam packed and step by step. :)
I struggle with that as well. I've tried different methods to keep me on track, but sometimes find those overwhelming too. Recently I've decided to break things down to a weekly basis. One week I work on these two projects, the next a different set, and so on until it comes back around.
That gives me at least one post/podcast/chapter or whatever per week.
I've never had an email list of my readers. That's why I failed on Medium. Why don't I have a list? I'd rather write novels.
Have I made money writing novels? Not really.
Still trying to decide whether I should publish with KDP or submit to a commercial publisher, revise to their vision for MY story, then wait 2 years for the book to be published.
Yet, here I sit, plotting another novel.
Seems to me if you submit to a publisher, they usually don't have a marketing budget for new writers. Which means the book gets a small advance and doesn't sell enough copies to earn out the advance because of lack of marketing. Having a list would help move books whether you go the self publishing route or the publisher route. You need my building an audience tutorial. lol. I'm working on it, I promise.
This is exactly why I'm planning to write my personal stuff on Substack going forward, and repost on Medium if I feel like it. Sure, Substack is a platform owned by someone else too, but at least it's an email list, and I can download it and keep those email addresses for my own manual list if Substack goes under. (Everyone already agreed to get emails from me, so that seems logical.) I like the easy format and polished look of a Medium post (plus the option to submit to publications), but I'm increasingly convinced that email subscriptions are the only real way to retain readers.
Yup, totally with you on the logic, Amy. Last sentence I definitely agree with!!
I lost my mojo a while back, so it’s understandable that my income went down to a trickle. Lately, I started writing more. My follower count is still increasing every month, but the money is worse than ever. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that the algorithm is tweaked against me. I’ve been entering some contests and submitting to print publications. I think newsletters are great for building an audience, but I can’t imagine anyone paying to read mine. It’s not that kind of content. I’m not Dave Ramsey, nor do a I want to be. If things don’t improve by the end of this year, I just might check out of this cheap motel.
I hear your frustration Denise. I have felt the same way so often. But I stumbled across an interesting observation. I went to look at the top publications on Substack and seems to me a lot of them made me wonder why the hell people are paying for that. lol. Then it dawned on me they like the writer and want to support their work. So I dunno. Might give it a shot before I throw in the towel. You should go look at them. Maybe you shake your head like I did.
" We’re all making the same mistake." That rings true. The constant need to post, tweet, publish, just to get views that don't pay. That sinking feeling you get when you realize that a viral post on Medium likely doesn't pay because the views aren't paid members.
Sigh. I like what you're doing at the end of your newsletter - the Read More on Medium. Might try it, hope you don't mind.
I'm thinking that if we are going to post/tweet/publish, it should be to build our list, not to send Medium traffic. And I sure don't mind at all if you try the buttons, too. Will be fun to see if they get some clicks. :)
Yes, but my standard "Try our free newsletter, it's a 3-minute read that cultivates calm and creates community" needs changing up. Maybe I'll alternate.
You wanna write? All that great stuff that's swirling in your head and there are SO many markets for writers these days. That's great! Uh, don't quit your day job.
Right? The pay is crap. There were a few writers at Medium earning enough to quit their day job but that was in the past. Not sure anyone does anymore.
Great feedback and makes sense. Thanks!
Thanks, Michael. :)
Yep. Having a loyal audience is a must for any writer who wants to 'make it.'
It's not just writers, it's also publishers. That's a big part of why Amazon became so dominant and the publishers, even the Big 5, were caught so off-guard. The people who ran the Big 5 publishers considered bookstores their true customers, not their readers, so they didn't make an effort to research what readers wanted, or build a database of readers' emails to send notices of new books, etc. Thus Amazon got to collect all that data and make money off it. Big 5 publishers now understand it (well, some of their employees do) and are doing 'content marketing' projects to build reader databases, but they would've been better off it they'd built that stuff before Amazon.
Source for everything I said in the above paragraph: Book Wars by John B. Thompson (fascinating book about the publishing industry)
I spent a few years in the publishing industry and that's about dead on. Another part of the issue is that it's way easier for an author to connect with their fans than for one publisher to connect with the fans of thousands of writers. I'll look up the book -- thanks!
Back at the turn of the century (pretty weird that I'm referring to the 21st century) I created a newsletter for my own Simplicity/Frugality Website. In those days, I was busy developing my SEO agency, and had little time to devote to a weekly newsletter, so I hired my ex-wife.
The idea was that she would scratch together some articles, which I would then translate into Humaneese. After a few weeks, she found another banana tree, or afternoon TV show and quit doing her part. The Website and newsletter were a passion project for me. It’s difficult to recommend purchasing an affiliate product when you've been counseling your readers to spend no money at all. I let it go in favor of endeavors that would better perpetuate my existence (buy food).
Maintaining a list and consistently putting out a newsletter is an enormous commitment and a lot of work. Now that I’m finally putting my agency to bed permanently, I’m considering investing my effort into Substack. While my needs are few, I do still require sustenance. Is there a way to earn a few pennies here without requiring readers to shell out for a paid subscription? Do you own your subscriber list here?
You're right that maintaining a list and writing consistently is a huge commitment. The nice part is that it becomes habit after a while and just fits into its slot. Yes, there is a way to earn a bit without running both paid and free versions -- you can add sponsorships and keep the content open to everyone. That's what I plan to do with History of Women. And yes, you do own your list here. :)
Hi Linda - another thought-provoking article. Thank you. I agree with almost everything you say.
I would however point out that Medium does give you the addresses of readers who have opted in to receive your posts via email.
In my case, that's 73 readers out of a total following of 832 - so just under 9%.
So, if I want to take them with me when I leave, I can. Just as long as I download the list before I close my account, of course.
Yup, true. Of course it could be fun when you import them somewhere else. Because they opted in to receive your posts on Medium so you could get a whack of spam complaints if you send them email from Convert Kit or somewhere else. Medium could resolve that by changing the sign up text, but that would be like asking for the moon. lol
For me, Medium was/is a perfect match for my writing at the moment. I write to entertain and to give a little expression to all those voices clamoring in my head. I work on my novel as I can, trying to develop a habit to contribute to it regularly, but still struggle. I never really thought of making money from writing. Then life happened and I needed to consider the possibilities of earning more from writing just about the time most writers were noticing their incomes tanking on-line (particularly Medium), so it has been harder to shift gears into something consistent and aimed at the readers rather than my expression.
Not to mention how medium has decided they're going to change their distribution system. The talk of "Expert Only" articles being seen leaves all other articles seen only by your current followers. Even that is only 1% from what I understand.
Looking forward to it, and most importantly, putting it into place. :)
First sentence is dead on. Yet there are people on Medium who keep telling newbies they just need to do their time, keep getting better, etc and they'll make it. But it never worked that way. With the writer vs. content creator distinction, I suspect it's an eye of the beholder thing. You or me can call what we do "writing" all we want. To Medium it's content.
Interesting note. I watched a demo of an AI program. You can now tell it the tone to write in. Bold, funny, etc. I have a lot of opinions on AI but they're too long for here because lordy it would be an article unto itself. I should write about it.
Maybe try getting the AI to write about itself? How meta can you get?
That would be interesting. lol
Wow, that's a little creepy, hey?
You should turn that into a post on Medium. If you did, sorry I didn't see it. The stupid feed is drunk all the time again. And if you haven't but do, please tag me so I don't miss it. : )