How to Launch Your Writing Career and Find a Massive Audience Online

posted by John on October 28th, 2008

On the surface it appears that the present is a terrible time to launch a writing career. People are reading less, print publications are dying out, and people are diverting more and more attention to digital media.

While this is a disaster for the literary establishment, it’s a fantastic opportunity for writers agile and talented enough to capitalize. While the Web makes it difficult for old publishing models to survive, it enables individual writers to publish at virtually no cost and distribute their work to anyone with an internet connection.

The Web is a powerful medium, but online success isn’t as simple as starting a blog, throwing up a few posts, and waiting for the book deals to come in. This article provides advice on writing content that readers will love, building a passionate audience, and using that audience to make a living from your work.

Online Writing Style

A popular saying on the Web is “content is king.” In order to build an audience for your writing, you’ll need to write about subjects that people are passionate about with a style that differentiates you from the crowd and motivates people to share your writing.

There is no surefire formula for great content, but here a few general rules:

1. Never be boring - Boring content is the kiss of death on the Internet. Users are always one click away from leaving your Website and never coming back. Don’t lose them by being tedious. Write with passion and focus on the interests on the reader. Edit yourself ruthlessly to avoid unnecessary words.
2. Be controversial - One of the major advantages small Internet publishers have over mainstream media is that they have complete freedom in what they write about. Readers are sick of the bland corporate speak that embodies mass media. Be a refreshing change of perspective by telling the truth that big publishers are too conservative to tell.
3. Be personal - Another advantage small publishers have is the ability to relate to readers on an individual basis. Readers feel connected to writers that share personal details and past experiences, so don’t be afraid to expose yourself — people will relate to you.
4. Be useful - Focus on helping readers. Attention is precious, so don’t waste your readers’ time by straying off topic or rambling. Always keep in mind how the content can best help readers to achieve their goals.
5. Be bold - In a world crowded by millions of voices fighting for attention, it’s essential write with conviction. No one ever stood out by writing like they sort of know what they’re talking about. Blow your readers away by writing with authority. If you’re proven wrong, you can always correct yourself. You’ll never gain a following if you don’t appear supremely confident.
6. Use Web-friendly formatting - Studies have shown that people read much differently on the web than in print. People are more likely to scan an article before they dive in. Make sure to format the content for easy scanning by breaking blocks of text into short paragraphs and using of subheadings, lists, and bold text to highlight important concepts.

Getting the Word Out

Once you’ve established a Website with a decent body of work, you’re ready to start attracting your first readers. Recent Internet trends like social networking, bookmarking, and news have made it much easier for great content to spread. If you’ve created something people are passionate about it can become viral and take on a life of its own.

Of course, nothing will happen if you just let it sit there. You need to get the ball rolling with some guerrilla marketing. The most important ingredients for success are genuine enthusiasm for your work and the willingness to hustle.

Here are some basic strategies for attracting the first few thousand readers:

• Become active in relevant communities - To get people to pay attention to you, it’s important to establish yourself as a contributing (or better yet, leading) member of a community. You can do this by finding the active conversations relevant to your writing and joining the discussion. Good ways to do this are commenting on blogs, posting in forums, and using social tools like Twitter and Facebook.

• Utilize social news and bookmarking sites - One of the best ways to get large amounts of traffic is through social sites like StumbleUpon, Digg, and Reddit. These sites have the potential to send thousands of visitors so taking the time to learn how they work and become an active user is well worth the investment.
• Network with similar writers - It’s also important to form personal connections with other writers and site owners that can help you get more exposure. People with popular Websites get hundreds of emails a day, so don’t waste their time and don’t ask for help without offering something in return. When you’re just getting started it makes sense to approach small bloggers first and work your way up as you gain credibility.

Getting Readers to Stick Around

Attracting readers to your site for the first time is only half the battle. It’s all for nothing if they leave quickly and never come back. To retain as many readers as possible, you need to show them your very best content and encourage them to subscribe to updates from an RSS feed or email newsletter.

We recommend displaying your best content prominently in the sidebar where it’s easy for readers to find. Another good idea is placing links to related articles at the end of each post so readers have something new to read when they finish an article. You can also encourage more readers to subscribe my putting links to your RSS feed and a sign up form for your email list at prominent location on the page. The closer to the top the better.

Making a Living

Once you’ve found an audience online, the next step is figuring out how to use it to make a living. This can be a challenge because readers often complain and revolt when websites become more commercial. The truth is you deserve to be compensated for your work and need to find a balance between selling out and going broke.

The topic of making money from a Website has been covered many other place I won’t try to cover it here, but there main alternatives are:

• Using your audience to get a book deal from a traditional publisher
• Advertising, with the Google AdSense program or direct ad sales
• Affiliate marketing

We’ll elaborate on these topics in future articles.

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, October 28th, 2008 at 11:53 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.