# Online Publishing



## The Backward OX (May 20, 2010)

Recently, someone - I think it may have been moderan - said a few words about possible future online publishing of stuff written by WFers. I’ve looked for the post again and can’t find it.

So, what I want to know is this: 

1. Does online publishing offer any real hope that a writer’s name will become widely known?
2. What specific things does a writer need to do, in order to gain this fame?
3. How can anyone tell who reads online stuff?
4. Can there be any material rewards in online publishing, and if so how?

Etcetera, etcetera.

I’d prefer answers based on experience.


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## Sam (May 20, 2010)

This most important thing to do with _any _facet of publishing is marketing, OX. You may never achieve the level of fame that traditional authors have, but with proper marketing you can get a satisfactory return. 

You can charge for e-books. The advantage is that they cost zero to produce, so you make 100% profit. Whereas, if you self-publish with a POD company you only receive royalties.


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## Non Serviam (May 20, 2010)

1. People like Lore Sjoberg are moderately widely-known.  (Sjoberg's published a book as well, but he made his name online.)  I can't show you an example of an online publisher who's achieved Terry Pratchett-like levels of fame.
2. Write content that a lot of people read and a lot of people link to.
3. Nobody can tell for certain.  But you'd be surprised how sophisticated online traffic-measuring tools can be.
4. Yes, and, lots of ways.  You can make a bit of money just by running a moderately popular blog with google ads on it.  (You get a few cents every time someone clicks a link.)

Oh--you said experience.  Yes, I've earned some money online.  If you're as talented as me, you too can earn literally dozens of dollars in the fast-moving world of online publishing.


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## moderan (May 20, 2010)

whatever
craphound
This question crosses between Publishing and New Media-Ox, there are your best examples of online writers who gained at least their initial fame with web work.

People rarely seem to click adsense links any more. I've gotten rid of mine. I pay my hosting fees annually with the proceeds from my Amazon affiliate. My friends and relatives are shanghaied into buying through that portal.
I can track individual click-throughs, which tell me who (or what IP address) has been to my page(s), what they read, and how long they stayed. That allows me to configure my offerings.


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## Linton Robinson (May 20, 2010)

1.  Yes, there is a chance of acheiving wide readership and fame online and even supporting yourself of it ("Tales of Mu")  and of having online novels picked up by mainstream publishers and even Hollywood (David Woo's "John Dies In The End")  I list a dozen "crossovers" in my manual on this stuff.  
Online novels have their own community, directories, reviews, and hot sites.   

2.  Write something really cool that people will get a kick out of, hook up to the community, outreach to readers on your own,  pimp yo skanky ass all over town.

3.  Actually, there are a lot of ways to tell who's reading you online.   In addition to the usual hit-counters and analytics,  the blog-based publication technology has a lot of other ways of  seeing who's out there, including membership and comments.  The hot setup for delivering to readers is an RSS feed, and you can get stats on subscribers from that.

4.  There are several ways of monetizing a successful online writing project.  A popular one is the Project Wonderful hookup you see at the top of this page.   You can also create your own banner program.   WordPress offers all sorts of pay-per-click and affiliate crap.  You can sell t-shirts and cups and shit of your project.    You can bring out an ebook for fans.

This is exacctly the sort of thing I lay out in a lot of detail in my ebook manual on Online Routes To Publication.  Click the ADORO WORKS link in my signature below to get a little better idea.


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## The Backward OX (May 20, 2010)

Maybe the replies will help others.

But this little black duck, I’m prolly too old to take it all onboard. Merely reading about the technology involved makes my head hurt. I think I may just retire, muttering, to my little disconnected corner of the world.


_On the other hand, if I had a one-on-one personal tutor - cute, freckles, tight sweater, y’know - who could guide me through it all . . ._

Thinks….
Nah. The only women I know who might possess that type of knowledge are all obese and have hairy legs. Back to my corner.


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## The Backward OX (May 20, 2010)

Non Serviam said:


> Write content that a lot of people read and a lot of people link to.


 
Deceptively attractive comment. How does one know what a lot of people will read and that a lot of people will link to?


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## Linton Robinson (May 20, 2010)

Ox, the technology involved is starting a blog and activating the built-in RSS feed.   Every total moron on the planet has a blog.

You can do this.


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## Non Serviam (May 21, 2010)

The Backward OX said:


> Deceptively attractive comment. How does one know what a lot of people will read and that a lot of people will link to?



Will they read it?  People use google to search for a subject they're interested in.  Then they follow the links nearest the top of the page to something that seems relevant to their search, and scan it quickly to see if it's interesting.  If it isn't they hit the "back" button.

Will they link to it?  If they read it, agree with it and think it's pithy or well-put they will.  If they read it and disagree with it then they also will.

Therefore your blog must appear reasonably high in the google search rankings for your chosen subject.  This is achieved by getting inbound links from other relevant sites (ideally without a reciprocal link back out to their site), and by making regular content updates.

You'll see people promoting their blogs on this site.  They'll read an interesting question on this forum, write a deliberately controversial answer on their blog, and then post here to say, "I wrote a post about this exact question on my blog here", where "here" is a proper link instead of just an underline.

The site staff won't appreciate that, by the way.  They don't want you diverting traffic from this site (where Baron earns advertising revenue) onto your site.


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## Linton Robinson (May 21, 2010)

There's no way ANY publisher knows for sure what people will read, Ox.   Except what they learn from experience (and even that doesn't help all that much).

BTW, people clicking to a link from a forum doesn't "divert" from the forum site.  They have to be here to see the link.   Most forums open links in another window so they don't lose the viewer.  
This is basically a community site, not some run and gun click-cruncher  groveling for stickiness.   I seriously doubt it's a problem.  And it's what half the signatures are all about.


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## Non Serviam (May 21, 2010)

I think your signature ought to use a bigger font for the links, Lin.  Congenitally blind people viewing the screen from more than twenty feet away might miss them.


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## Linton Robinson (May 21, 2010)

If they'd just allow banner images, that wouldn't be a problem.  I've got a beauty


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## LastChanceWeightLoss (May 22, 2010)

The Backward OX said:


> Maybe the replies will help others.
> 
> But this little black duck, I’m prolly too old to take it all onboard. Merely reading about the technology involved makes my head hurt. I think I may just retire, muttering, to my little disconnected corner of the world.
> 
> ...



Join the club along with this analog guy in a digital world.


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## Linton Robinson (May 23, 2010)




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## TWErvin2 (May 25, 2010)

*Ox,*

It all depends on where a work is published, and if the strikes the readers' fancy whether any notice will be gained. Not all markets are equal, and while in general, the better paying markets are better respected and also attract more eyes, it's not a solid, unbreakable rule.

It's been indicated earlier in this thread that creating a blog isn't difficult, and as a result there are zillions out there. Like anything else, the quality (and quality is subjective--but readers/visitors decide that I guess) and consistent activity are important.  But just like a website, _If you build it_ (a blog) doesn't translate to _they will come_.

How can one know someone reads the works? Many ezines keep track of visits to a page, so if you had a work published, you could request that information from the publisher. I can tell that folks read my published short stories and articles because I sometimes get emails with questions and comments--mainly with the articles. Most ezines offer links back to a writer's website or blog, and this can drive traffic back to a writer who can redirect them to other examples of their published works through links on their blog/website.

In any case, the odds are quite long to earn big bucks and fame/recognition, simply because the competition is pretty stiff. Consider that pro rates start at 5 cents (U.S.) a word, which means a 5000 word story (which is long for many online markets) would earn $250.00. That's nothing to sneeze at, but not something to retire on either. Most online markets pay far less, if anything.

Even so, the best route is to write and submit and get published, and keep doing it to the best of your ability. Again the odds are long, but if you don't write and publish, they're pretty much zero.

That's my two cents, for what they're worth.

Terry


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## Daniel Pagan (Aug 15, 2010)

A lot of the press about marketing self-published works encourages authors to give away Ebooks to gain a following.  It is an interesting idea.  If you only write one novel, this may not work.  However, if you build a fan base, your next book should do well.  One question to ask:  Do you want wealth or readers.  I think most writers prefer the latter.  If wealth comes, that's great.  Write something great, gain some readers and bask in the quality of your work and the ideas your book has stimulated.


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## garza (Aug 16, 2010)

When one reaches a certain age in life such trivial matters as wealth and fame cease to be of much importance. So long as I can have my digestive biscuits soaked in warm milk, with a little honey on the side, I'm happy.

Of course I have to be sure my little honey is over 16 and that her father is not Sicilian.


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## TWErvin2 (Aug 16, 2010)

Daniel Pagan said:


> ...One question to ask: Do you want wealth or readers. I think most writers prefer the latter. If wealth comes, that's great. Write something great, gain some readers and bask in the quality of your work and the ideas your book has stimulated.


 
If one gains a large and loyal readership and sells his works to the readership (be it self-published or through a more 'traditional' route) then earnings will follow. The more readers = the more wealth.

Basking in the quality of one's work  and the ideas stimulated does not put food on the table. But if you have another avenue for that, then it makes more sense.

There is no reason one cannot earn money while writing on subjects or themes the author desires to express for artistic, political, religious or other reasons.


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