Writing To Be Read

As the number of people writing online steadily approaches the number of human beings on Planet Earth, the question of "why write?" is coming up more and more often in various circles of web scribblers.

I think it's a really good question.

Two years ago, a lot of people writing for the web might have answered, "For the community," or "For the money," but with social media sites hatching faster than tadpoles in the spring and per word rates for online freelancers plummeting down a virtual ski slope, I've noticed the answer to that simple question is getting more abstract and complex.

Writers have always been wont to blather on about their 'process' and so forth, and I can blather with the best of them, trust me, but it seems to me that sensible answers to that question fall into three basic categories, and for any given piece you have to choose one and only one:

1. Writing for yourself.  Plenty of studies show that journaling leads to better emotional health, so if you are writing for yourself, you want to write whatever comes into your head and not worry about sentence structure or anything else for that matter. The point is just to get your thoughts and feelings out of your head and onto the page and move on. Dump that emotion. Introspect your ass off. Who cares what other people think of your writing? It isn't about them, it's about you. So write what comes out and let it go.
2. Writing for other writers. This is dangerous territory, but plenty of writers go there, thinking that this is the path to becoming a true writer. It isn't. I personally find that other writers make notoriously bad critics. Their egos get in the way as does their enormous desire to be liked or to be authoritative, often at the same time, which is scarcely even possible. In short, writers tend to get all wrapped up in themselves. Your writing? Oh, that. Um...it's good, it's bad, I don't know, let me take my emotional temperature this hour and I'll get back to you in a day or two. Another problem is that groups of writers tend to fall into an annoying holding pattern of showing off for each other if allowed to do so. Soon they are all penning prose so terminally artistic that it  becomes indecipherable to human beings of any stripe. However, if this is why you write, for the regard and company of other writers, there are plenty of MFA programs out there that will happily take your money and subject you to all the cloistered torture you can stand, and more. 
3. Writing to be read. If you are writing to be read, a very different, very specific set of rules (rules which are optional under reason 1 or reason 2) instantly applies. You have to say what you mean. You have to say what you mean in language ordinary people can understand, and you have to say it in a compelling manner so readers will keep reading until they get to the end of your writing. You also have to have something to say. All the delicate poetic metaphor in the universe won't make a reader keep going if you're basically just masturbating with words. A lifetime supply of adjectives and adverbs does not a writer make. 

Elmore Leonard once spoke of his own editorial technique this way:

"I look at it, and if it looks like writing, I rewrite it."

Put yourself in your reader's place. When you look at your stuff, does it look like writing? (Look ma! I'm writing!) Or are you sucked into the story too fast to notice the writing, enticed into the substance that the words are used to convey?

Think about it. Go have a sandwich then come back and read it again.

Then, if it looks like writing, you know what to do.

Writing for Love, Writing for Money

When asked if a certain industrial robber baron's money was 'tainted', Mark Twain once famously quipped:

"Yes it is. T'ain't yours, t'ain't mine."

The idea that writing for love is noble and writing for money is whorish and cheap is a popular one, especially among novice writers, but is it really fair?

No one expects the plumber to fix toilets for the sheer love of porcelain, or the grocer to fork over canned goods because canned goods are who he is, yet writers are fond of reminding other each other that we must not expect fair payment for our labor, because writing is, after all, a higher calling, an art, a vocation separated from the tawdry day-in and day-out affairs of this dirty work-a-day world by means of its innate inspirational virtue.

Seriously?

Look, writers are thieves and miscreants by nature, not angels. Most of us get our material by observing others and regurgitating their antics (or our own) as if we just invented them. Many major novelists are woefully familiar with lost friend syndrome; that unpleasant blow up that happens after you steal a friend's life, paste it onto a character in your latest book, and later, when your friend recognizes himself in your book and confronts you about it, you protest, "Why that isn't you at all! Why would you ever say such a thing?"

I'm also reminded of a friend of my ex's who was always going on about things Picasso had to suffer during his life, different degradations, real or imagined, that Picasso underwent in order to finally paint his master works. Often these Picasso stories would be offered up right after Stephen (I'll just call him Stephen because that was his name) had just done something particularly selfish or annoying and was seeking to wriggle out of the consequences by underscoring his sensitive artistic nature.

His wife at that time--the third in a ongoing string of temporarily impressed wives--finally stopped him mid-anecdote one day and screamed, "Yes, and YOU ARE NOT PICASSO!"

Right. On to #4 then.

Here's the thing: Most of us are not Picasso, nor Mark Twain, and I doubt we'll see Shakespeare's ilk ever again this century or next. Some paid writing is truly amazing, a rare gift. Some writing for love is sappy, useless drek. Money and writing have no rational connection to one another whatsoever save the fact that it's damned hard to GET any money for writing even if you are a passing genius.

Part of the reason for this, I think, is that writers are in the business of defining what is simply by being able to write it down in readable form, and there's a fierce lot of competition in this world around who gets to say what is and what isn't. You can't just be saying stuff. Somebody has to decide if you are allowed to do that. This is where the money comes in, and it comes in about as rationally and fairly as it comes into anything else decided politically, which is to say, not very rationally or fairly.

So let's seek to be gentle with one another, dear writers, however much or little we make. The money in this corporate, crooked world today is definitely still tainted, just like it was in Twain's time.

T'ain't yours. T'ain't mine.

Can You Still Make Money Writing Online?

The shortest possible answer to that question is "no" or "not much," but a better, more accurate answers is, "Yes, but it's a lot of work and you have to constantly change your game, and even then you aren't likely to get rich fast."

I'm going into my third year now of writing online for pay, and for what it's worth, I do have some observations and thoughts about how things are evolving (or devolving). Take them or leave them as you will. They're just my personal opinions, not facts carved in stone:

1) In 2007 when I got my first five bucks from Helium, the prospect of writing for websites and getting paid too was heady stuff and fairly new. That first five bucks beat anything I'd ever made from my publications in literary journals (usually you get paid with copies and bragging rights for that), and I remembered, briefly, how nice it is to get money for doing something you love. Money is not everything, but it isn't nothing, either. Money can be nice. Enough money is very nice. Too much money is lovely. Most of us are happy if we can just scrabble together enough.

2) Since that first five bucks, the net has gotten a lot more crowded with people of all stripes who are trying to wring five bucks out of it, or fifty. I used to get great clients at the job boards (especially at Elance) and for over a year I made money there that was comparable to the salary I'd earn at almost any job I've ever had or am likely to get in the midwest--about $25 per hour if I kept my head down and didn't screw around too much. I made that money by constantly trolling for work, learning the 'red flags' that said 'this client is trouble', exceeding expectations, and handing the work in early so I could get my money and move on to the next thing. I worked fast, with focus.

I also rarely accepted work for which the money wasn't placed in escrow up front (with escrow, the client pays in advance, the payment is held by the job board, and the client releases the payment to you when the work is turned in). But over the past six months or so, as more and more out-of-work people crowd these boards hoping to pick up some much needed cash, the situation has reversed itself.

At this point, I'm finding that the writers at these job boards are often way more professional and respectable than the clients they have to court. You've got people who used to make real money in publishing and journalism trolling for penny-per-word work from people who can barely spell k-a-t and are basically, well, thieves.

These people often screw with you, even when the money is escrowed. They'll post ten articles needed and ask you to rewrite them so they get 30. They'll post per-job work and let you know afterward they want you to write 'x' number of words per five minutes. They'll ask you to write one thing and come back with, "I changed my mind, now do this and this and this." It's not the same as it was when I first started drumming up work there and people were still mostly decent, if you were careful about who you chose.

Many people like to blame India for driving down rates at the job boards. (India gets blamed for everything these days it seems.) But I think the bulk of the blame goes to a new model in which advertising dollars are no longer dependent in any way on quality content--a corporate model in which there is little protection for anyone trying to work, period, let alone work by freelancing, alone. It's kind of like the Wild West out there right now. When I left my day job, everyone was shifting from an hourly wage model to a sort of low-rent 'draw against commission' model, and the bennies were tanking too. I hope this trend won't last, but for now, it's kind of ugly all over.

3) So if you mean to wring money out of these barracudas, you have to always be changing your game. It's good to have half a dozen different venues and work a bit at all of them if you can. Yes, that's exhausting. No it won't make you rich. But I'm not addressing the question, "Can you get rich doing anything online?" I'm addressing the question, "Can you still make money writing online?" You can still make a little money writing online. Not much. You'll have to do lots and lots of work for it. You'll have to put up with lots and lots of abuse sometimes. You will for sure get stiffed more than once.

4) BUT...this too shall pass. Historically speaking, writers as a lot have not been notorious for being consistently overpaid. For every Stephen King raking in millions, there are always 5,000 or more  writers who are just as good but can't get a damned thing in print, never mind make any money off of it.

It has always been thus, and may always be so, but good venues come and go. You can ride this or that wave if you pay attention and are talented and lucky. In Dickens time, good writers could earn a meager living selling serial novels that were printed in tabloids a chapter at a time. In Vonnegut's time, good writers could sell short stories and even sort of pay the bills with what they made selling them. In Normal Mailer's time, writers with agents could write pieces for what was known in the trade as 'the slicks'---magazines that were printed on shiny paper, like Playboy--and they could make a decent living doing so. I personally know a writer who did that. It's much harder to do that now.

The thing to remember here is, all of those venues came and went.

When I was in college, writers paid the rent by writing for "True Confessions" and "True Story" for two cents per word. Now, writers attempt to pay the electric bill, or part of it, by writing for revenue sharing sites and selling their work outright to net-preneurs and PR folks who subcontract some of their work online to freelancers...for about (again) two cents a word. Sometimes "True Confessions" checks came late or not at all. Same with writing online. This will also change, and I think it will change fairly soon, too, because the net is getting pretty saturated at this point with both writers and net entrepreneurs. Every dog has his day. But he's still a dog.

So what can you do to if you are a writer?

Write. Writers write, it's what they do. A dog is a dog and a writer is a writer. It is what it is and what it always has been. Writers write the way walkers walk, plumbers plumb, dancers dance, and so forth. Write about what you care about and write well regardless of what you get. Do the best you can. Never, never take the changing monetary mess out there personally, because it will grind you up and spit you out and then step on you and laugh. Make what you money can, sure, but keep it separate from who you are.

When it comes right down to it, that's all any of us can do, whether we write or don't.

Writing sites I have known and loved (and sometimes hated)

I think I have tried every writing site on the Internet at one time or another. Some have come and gone; some have gotten larger and stronger. Here are a few that I have sampled. I am still writing at most of them.

Triond
 

I have published articles and photographs here. The photographs are published on the site Picable.com and the articles are posted to variety of sites which are chosen by Triond. They also accept audio and video. You are paid by how many views your content receives. I haven't figured out yet how many views you need to earn one cent. You get paid through PayPal once the total earned adds up to 50 cents or more. I have gotten paid in the past so it is a legitimate site. Triond now allows you to earn extra money with Adsense and referrals.

Helium

 

I have posted several articles at Helium. One of my articles was sold to a publisher through their Marketplace. You can basically write about whatever you wish at Helium, they also accept fiction. They have a peer review system that helps quality articles to rise to the top. Articles are rated numerically. Helium occasionally has contests in which you can win money. You get paid through PayPal when you earn at least $25. One thing you should know is that your articles will be there forever. You can't delete them yourself.

Orble

 

I had a couple of blogs here. Anyone can set up a blog. Earniings are through AdSense. I didn't earn any money there.  Some of the blogs here are better than others. If the editors think you have some talent, they will ask if you want to take over any of their blogs with their own domain. There is a supportive community of bloggers here.

Gather

 

I occasionally post articles here. You earn points for articles, photographs, videos, commenting on content and rating content. Since I am in Canada, while I earn points, I can't cash those points in for rewards. The rewards consist of gift cards or charitable donations. I have met some very friendly people here and it is a great site discussions of all kind.

Suite101

 

I used to write here in the early 00s. I was the writer for Shakespeare on Film. I never did earn anything there then. However, I am writing there as a contributing writer now. You are paid through PayPal and get a cut of the site’s income. They have a stringent application process; you have to submit two quality articles you have written and give them a list of sites you have written for. It is a very supportive community and there is help and training for writers. You are expected to post 10 articles in 3 months. After 3 months you can apply to be a featured writer in your chosen topic. According to Suite101, they receive over 7 million visitors a month to the site.

HubPages

 

I've been writing at HubPages now for 2 years and have written over 100 hubs. I have managed to reach Adsense payout three times.  I have also earned a few dollars from Amazon or Ebay. I love playing around with the hub capsules.

Digital Journal

You post news stories to this site and get paid through paypal once you reach $10. They prefer well-researched news stories; the more local the better.

Each of these sites has their pros and cons but they do all pay. Good luck if you want to try any of them.

How I deleted Farmville and took back my life

My latest article at HubPages is How I deleted Farmville and took back my life

The danger of writing online is that sometimes it's very easy to get distracted by many things. Farmville was a big one for me for a couple of months. I wasted far to much time on that site for basically no return. Yes, my farm was very cool and I had reached level 34. I had a pretty farm house and hundreds of trees. My livestock was at tolerable levels; I had 3 cow sheds and a chicken coop. My crops were not overwhelming and I even had the vehicles to harvest them, and plow, and seed.

But, I had a few too many friends for me and I seemed to spend hours just helping them out, posting bonuses or collecting bonuses. It became a chore. And I knew when I got upset that I kept missing golden chicken's eggs that it was time fo rme to move on.

Anyway, the title of the article says it all.