Why Internet Writing is Better than Print Writing
We talked some the other day about how there is a perception among some writers and among many non-writing folk about how Internet writing isn’t “real” writing, and how Internet writers are perceived as somehow being second-tier. I told you then that I didn’t agree with the analysis, and that there are specific benefits of Internet writing over print writing. Today, I want to explore some of those benefits in more detail. Why is Internet writing better than print writing?
photo credit: Mr. Wright
Internet writing has better odds.
Everyone who’s ever tried to have something published in print knows that you don’t win them all. In fact, when it comes to print publications, even the best writers don’t win many. There are exceptions. Once you hit a certain level in your niche, you can pretty much get anything published. Take my favorite fantasy author, Ed Greenwood, for example. Ed can write as many novels as he likes, and almost guarantee that someone will pick them up. Same for Stephen King. In the nonfiction world, the same would apply to folks like Seth Godin or Deepak Chopra.
I’m a decent writer; if I weren’t, I couldn’t make a living doing it. But the ratio of what I’ve written to what I’ve published when it comes to print is about 10 to 1. On a good day. And that number doesn’t even take into the account that most of my print writing doesn’t get published on the first submission; its usually the third or fourth. And my numbers are, as near as I can tell, very much in the average category.
Contrast this to my Internet writing. Everything I write for the Internet can be published. It might be for a client, or it might be on my blog, but it can be published. If I have an article topic I want to write that a client isn’t interested in, I can still write the dang thing and find a place to publish it with little effort. As an Internet writer, the odds of rejection are so small as to be insignificant.
photo credit: cassandra michelle
Internet writers make more per word than typical print writers.
I know what you’re thinking. “Bob, you’re full of crap.”
You’d be right. Only, not about this particular statement.
See, I’ve got a good number of steady Internet writing clients. My rate, while not as high as some, is sufficient to make the writing worth my time. And my clients give me specific writing assignments, which I complete, and get paid for. Every damn one of them. And, I’ve done the math: based on my rate of print publication, I make about twice as much per word written (not per word published, of course) on the Internet than I do with print. If you can get all of your print writing published, I’m sure it’s more lucrative. Bravo. Maybe you are a real writer and I’m not. But I can get all, or nearly all, of my Internet writing published, and I’m going to make money on it, even if I have to publish it myself.
See, I can write an article, maybe on a topic like common Internet writing mistakes, for this blog right here. In time, that article makes me money through contextual ads, affiliate sales, direct advertising and, eventually, my mentoring program. I can also spend about an extra 20 minutes rewriting that article or portions of that article three different ways, posting it to an article directory to make some additional pageview revenue and generate traffic back to my blog. The article directory income is relatively insignificant for a given article, but if you can get a thousand or so articles up on four different paying sites, you’ve got a healthy little supplemental income going on. I’m not all the way there, yet, but I’m making progress on that part of my journey, to be sure.
photo credit: Point-Shoot-Edit
Internet writers can have full editorial and marketing control over their writing.
Obviously I’m not talking about pen-for-hire work here. But anything that you self-publish on the Internet can have your own personal editorial stamp, and can be marketed as you see fit.
Does this create more work? of course.
Internet writing can be somewhat challenging because it forces you to learn to edit your own writing, and some folks can never seem to really master this concept. It also means you’ve got to develop an eye for design and know something about markets and marketing. But it also gives you a heck of a lot of latitude. The fact of the matter is that editors, in the print world, have different agendas than writers. I’m not saying they aren’t useful or even necessary; I’m just saying that it is nice to be able to rise or fall on your own merits, rather than on whether an editor makes you change something that really shouldn’t be changed. It also is nice to maintain some integrity when it comes to the marketing process, rather than leaving your integrity to an advertising agency.
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So, what do you all think? Based on the responses last time, many of you believe Internet writing is indeed better than print writing. What other reasons have we missed?
Why Real Writers Don’t Write on the Internet
I’m just going to say it.
Real writers wouldn’t get caught dead blogging or writing web content.
photo credit: doubledareyaa
By real writers, I’m talking about print writers, folks. I call them real because, well, that’s how many of them distinguish themselves from us Internet writers. It’s also how most non-writers I’ve ever talked to distinguish between print and Internet writing. I don’t like it, and don’t think it’s right; but this kind of change takes time. So, for today, let’s just assume I’m writing real with a bit of sarcasm behind the keyboard, shall we? If you feel the need, substitute print for real.
At any rate, if you can get a book, newspaper column, or a regular magazine feature published, you’re ahead of the writing game. You’re a real writer. You’re a professional. And professionals don’t do personal. And Internet writing is all about the personal. Real writers don’t blog or write on the Internet.
There are exceptions. Orangette can get a column in Bon Appetit and Darren Rowse can get a book deal. Fantasy writers like my good friend Kameron Franklin (if you like Forgotten Realms novels, go buy his book right now!) and game designers like Monte Cook all blog regularly. You might find a Dave Barry, occasionally, who blogs. These are the exceptions, though.
Here’s another thing. Everybody knows that real writing pays a hell of a lot more than Internet writing. Certainly, if you’re Men with Pens, you can charge a premium rate of $.20 a word to write content. For the most part, though, great pay for Internet writing comes in at right around a nickel a word; average pay for Internet writing comes in at right around $.02 a word. Don’t believe me? Check out eLance, ScriptLance, Guru, or even the CopyBlogger Jobs board.
Print writing varies greatly in pay, but it starts out at around $.25 a word for most publications, and $1 a word isn’t unheard of, even for unknown writers.
James at Men With Pens calls this the Great Divide. Today, Freelance Writing Jobs is exploring the nature of that divide, spurred by James’ comments. In some ways, this discussion mirrors the WebComics vs. Print Comics debate that’s been raging for quite some time (Check here and here for a taste of that one.) I’ve a feeling that this discussion is going to be ongoing, and it should. This is an important discussion. The divide not only exists, it is rampant.
But, why is this? Why don’t real writers write on the Internet? I think part of it has to do with the fact that real writers get paid for every word they write that is published. Real writers write a heck of a lot more material than what is ever published. For each magazine article submission I’ve ever made that was accepted, I’ve written at least 4 different articles that weren’t. At $.50 a word that works out to about… well, a decent Internet writing rate of $.12 per word - at the high end of the midrange for Internet writing.
And that’s the biggest, or at least the most significant, difference: Internet writers get paid for every word they write. Internet writers are about volume. Real writers are about volume, too; but only a small portion of what they write ever makes it into print.
The market for Internet writing is very different, too. There is a solid market for, maybe, 3 to 6 Civil War-themed magazines. There is a market for thousands of Civil War-themed web sites. What does that mean for writers? Well, there are many implications, of course. Pay is just one. Beginning on Monday, I’m going to explore some of those implications including:
- Why Internet Writing is Better than Print Writing
- Why the Internet is the Perfect Market for Writers
- Writing Roles: Print vs. Internet Writers
- Toward Reformation: Bridging the Great Divide Between Print and Internet Writing
Stay tuned, true believers!
photo credit: demetri..thinking out loud
Banging My Gong - The End: Why I Blog
So, in response to Darren Rowse’s Group Video Project, I’ve decided to try something new.
To finish off my Banging My Gong series, I offer you a short (4:13) video about why it is that I blog:
This was my first video podcast, so forgive the quality; I’ll get better as time goes on (and I get some software other than Windows Movie Maker!)
Banging My Gong - The Brand, Part 4
If you haven’t yet read the earlier posts in the Bang The Gong series, I’d encourage you to start here and work your way back up to this post.
So, I told you yesterday that my Internet writing career began while I was in grad school. I didn’t really go looking for a writing gig; in fact, I was bound and determined to teach history. I was back in grad school for the express purpose of becoming qualified to teach college history courses.
As I mentioned, though, student loans weren’t quite enough to cut it. After all, we’re a family of 5, and we have a mortgage and two cars. So, when Angie became ill, went in for surgery and lost her job, it was time for me to find a new way to make a living.
Instead, it found me.
One of Angie’s good friends ran (and still runs) a pregnancy web site. A huge pregnancy web site. Three of them, actually. She needed to have some articles written, and was frustrated with the poor quality of work she received from the low bidders at places like Scriptlance. So, knowing that we needed the income, she asked if I’d like to write some articles for her. I agreed, and chose a female pseudonym with which to write the articles. The rest is, as they say, history.
Over the next two years, I was able to finish my Master’s degree and provide for my family with student loans and the income I was making writing pregnancy articles. By the time I finished my degree, I realized that it would be at least another decade before the history field would be open enough for me to be able to get a good tenure-track position. Rather than flounder around from one adjunct position to the next, I kept writing. After all, I was really enjoying it. And, for once, I felt like my work really benefited people. I could see how women (and men) were directly benefiting from the research I’d done and the articles I’d written. That, my friends, was cool. Very cool.
As time went on, I managed to find more pen-for-hire work. I wrote web content for a number of different sites, and did article work for several clients. There is a chance you’ve read my work somewhere other than here, especially if you’ve read anything at the major article directories on parenting, pregnancy, conception, writing, or, believe it or not, satellite TV. I wrote articles for traditional web sites, blogs and newsletters. The vast majority of this work I did in anonymity, of course; because that’s how most Internet writing works. Unless you’re writing for your own blog or web site, your work is never your own.
That brings me to today. Today, I’m making the transition from writing for others to writing for myself. This blog is, in many ways, the ultimate expression of that transition. For the first time in five years of making a living writing on the Internet, I’m making it as me.
Why is that important? Why do I want to make a living writing on the Internet as me?
Well, I answered that, indirectly, in the second post of this series. There, I said:
I want to provoke conversation. I want to participate in conversation. I want to interact with my readers and with the whole blogosphere. Like I said yesterday, I want to share my failures as well as my triumphs. I want you to know me.
Why?
That’s a silly question, isn’t it? Who doesn’t want to know and be known? Who doesn’t, deep down, want to learn from other human beings, to help them when they need it, to share their experiences, to help shape their lives and be shaped by them. That’s what being human is all about. Apart from how we relate one to another, there isn’t much separating us from the rest of existence.
It really is no more complex than that. I love my job, writing for the Internet. I love that people benefit. It gives me meaning, when I crawl into bed at night, knowing that my writing touched lives that day.
But I want more; I want to see my readers benefit up close. I want to dialogue with them, not just have them learn from my writing from a distance. I want to answer questions, and ask some of my own. Most of all, I want to help other Internet writers to achieve their dreams.
So, there you have it. That’s my brand: Helping Internet Writers to Achieve Their Dreams. It’s on my new header up at the top of this blog, it’s on my business cards, and its in my email signature. Most of all, though, it is in my heart. It is what I am passionate about, and what I most want to spend my time doing. And, as time goes on and this blog actually generates revenue, I’ll be able to do that more and more. At some point, I’ll be able to refuse pen-for-hire work, knowing that my life’s calling - to teach other writers and help them on their writing journey - is enough to support me.
Tomorrow, Lord willing and the creeks don’t rise, I’ll have a surprise for you. Make sure to come back then!
Banging My Gong - The Brand, Part 3
If you haven’t yet read the earlier posts in the Bang The Gong series, I’d encourage you to start here and work your way back up to this post.
After yesterday’s shameless self-promotion, it’s time I took it down a notch.
I’d love to tell you all about how I spent nearly a decade in the computer industry and how great it was to me. Technically, those things are true. For a time, the industry was amazing. I started out working a help desk job for Concentric Network for $7 an hour. Eight years later I was making four times that as a slightly-underpaid network engineer. The computer industry put food on my family’s table for a long time, and it provided me with all sorts of opportunities for career advancement.
Unfortunately, that was only a small part of the equation. You see, by the time I was fired from my last IT job, I was clinically depressed. I was so constantly anxious that my eldest daughter didn’t even like to talk to me. She was afraid I’d start yelling at any moment. My wife was thoroughly disgusted, and nearly left me. She’s told me since then that there were several days that she started packing things for her and the children with the intention of moving out. The combination of long hours, the pressure of keeping on top of new technology and a jackass of a boss had driven me to the brink of my own sanity. There were times when I even thought about driving my truck into a telephone pole so that I wouldn’t have to go in to work.
I had hit rock bottom. When they fired me, it was almost a relief.
I say “almost,” because being jobless and looking at three months of unemployment checks before my family could no longer eat didn’t exactly bring a hell of a lot of comfort.
I shut down, almost completely. I spent many days in bed that summer, at the end of my rope. I shut out all of my friends and family. I even stopped playing D&D.
My amazing wife, who had been a stay-at-home mom since we were first married, went out, got a job and kept our family afloat. She figured out how to get the kids to school, managed all of the doctor appointments, and made dinner most nights. She did all of that while endometriosis was rotting out her insides, too. (That was a problem that would take several years and 4 surgeries to correct). I can’t tell you all how much she still impresses me, every day, with how strong a woman she really is.
I realized one cold February morning that one of the reasons I had been so unhappy was because my work was not fulfilling. With the exception of the six months or so when I’d run my own computer business in 2001, the computer industry had never provided me with any self-satisfaction. I loved the pay and liked my co-workers, but there was no feeling of accomplishment when I would fix a router in the dormitory at 3 AM so that some freshman could get to his Internet porn.
When I was a child, someone told me that I should “do what you love, no matter how much it pays.” The fact that I’d not followed that advice had finally caught up with me, and was about to destroy me.
At any rate, I figured that I needed to do something fulfilling: I decided that I needed to go back to school. I wanted to help people, to teach them. Hadn’t that been my dream so many years ago at IWU? To do that, I would need a Master’s degree. I enrolled in the Humanities program at Central Michigan University and took out as much as I could in student loans. Still, when Angie got very sick with endometriosis and couldn’t work, we needed some more income.
That’s when my Internet writing career began, and that’s where I’ll pick up next time.
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