I’m revamping my strategy for trying to publish both in traditional markets as well as online content websites. I remind myself I started the online stuff just to fill time while I was waiting for responses from traditional print magazines—I just had so much energy, so much to say, and was getting impatient. Well, the circumstances that prompted me to write for the websites have changed.
Three or four months in, I thought I was beginning to see the potential for income that comes from viewers of the online articles clicking on ads (all revenue is solely based on advertising revenue). I saw how one article getting wide circulation really did add up to some cash. But now that I’d got a full six months and fifty articles under my belt, I’ve never seen that replicate itself with any other of my articles. I know it takes two years to really see whether it was worthwhile or not, as it take an average of that long for articles to garner enough views to be worth anything—but the skeptical side of me realizes that if views remain steady on my 49 articles as they have been, I’ll still be making less mere dollars per article! The optimistic side of me could expect other articles to take off, like my disposable diaper ingredients article, and get over 6,700 views (most of them in 2 weeks). But the painful truth is that as a writer, I have little to no power over that. Yes, I can find out in the research to choose the best tags and keywords that advertisers and web searchers are interested in, and I can create quality articles to keep people reading, but aside from that, I can’t duplicate what made one article of mine soar: post it inside private forums and other websites where people interested in that topic GO TO for information. If I do it, it’s called spamming, and highly lacking integrity, turning people off from clicking my link. When others do it, it’s magic. But a magic I have almost no control over manufacturing.
When I started getting somewhere with traditional magazines, and took a break from online writing to focus on other articles, I contemplated needing to divide my time between the two more appropriately. It occurred to me, that if I wanted to really know which was more profitable, I should write an online pay-from-ads article only as often as I write a query letter or article for a paying print magazine, then after two years, evaluate. True, it would be the way to go if my most important need was comparison. But in the end it isn’t. My most important need is to build a publishing resume in national magazines and get paid! My first paycheck for one magazine article paid me nearly four times what I’ve earned through all online ventures in six months. (But again I know it's not really fair--I can only guestimate what my online articles could earn over the next 2 or 4 years.)
A guiding principal I’ve used so far is what I think I’ll be falling back on: Write what you have the energy to write. (I heard that from a financial planner, who spoke of it in terms of doing whichever strategy gives you energy—if paying off student loans fast gives you more energy, then you’ll go further with that in the long run than if you started saving for retirement half-heartedly, unenthusiastically, and not committed enough to stick with it.)
Believe it or not, I’m trying to be “less disciplined.” I’ve realized I will likely do better in the end if I follow my instincts and interests. Yes, money is a motivator if you're trying to generate income, but I can't make it my only guiding principle. That even goes for choosing between writing for magazines that pay small or moderate fees versus ones that pay better. writing for lower paying markets, because if I churn out three articles I enjoyed writing, even though I am paid less on each, the total is better than groaning, plodding, to get through an article on something that pains me to write, but I discipline myself to do it just because it pays more.
So I’m going to apply this to my online content writing: if I really want to write about something, and it’s practically writing itself in my head as I shower, brush kids' teeth and drive to the grocery store, I should just write it and get it out of my system. (This is how a number of my articles came to be--they pestered me: one about new breast cancer research, all my articles related to Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution, a rebuttal of Pampers' grossly misleading Myths and Facts page, and many others.) If I cannot find a print magazine interested in publishing it, then I can publish it online thru a content website. So yes, in some ways, the online content websites are sort of my default publishers (not always, but you can see how it is becoming so).
I’m definitely cutting back on the time I spend in the website content writing, and focus instead on the magazines. This is a change from a few months ago when I was pouring significant energy into the websites. But it’s just not worth it right now, and may never be (though it will truly take time to tell). But I want a portfolio and paychecks. Though it takes months, even years, to get articles through traditional publishers, I think this is the best route for me to focus on. So here I mark my shift of energy away from online to print writing.
PS I may also use website content writing as a way to deal with writer's block on magazine pieces!
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