Post by karlsie on Feb 26, 2012 18:43:19 GMT -5
I know, another groan fest on a subject i've already hammered about numerous times, but i would like to bring up some fine points. There are very few writers who made their way to the top as recognized literary artists, who did so by simply writing works of fiction. Historically, the majority of literary artists also wrote scholarly works that were published first at newspapers and magazines. Most fiction writers either worked for tabloids and were forgotten over time; much like the dime store novels and best selling fiction of today; or were so well crafted in their genre to become considered classical, like Poe's horror stories or Jules Vernes' science fiction. Most early writers, just like the writers of today, became famous because they either owned a press or were well connected to someone that owned one. Not that many became famous simply on their own merits. Even Steinbeck made his way to the top because he had a friend working for the Post who told him to submit stories for it and he would make sure they were published.
This means we are in a not so unique position. We have created our own press, which means we can sponsor our writers according to their preferences, but we still have to consider the preferences of our sponsors. We have only one major sponsor at this time; Google News. They will sponsor news items that fit their criteria, which is based on documentary/ scholarly styled coverage of current news and issues. They do not cover commentaries.
What's so hot about being covered by Google News? Let's look at some facts. The largest number of articles that come up in the search engines were initially sponsored by Google News. The largest number of reader views have been for full length, documentary styled articles. The number of views themselves are deceptive. Scroll any of our lead articles that repetitively appear in the search engines, and you will find a minimum of four hundred shares. This means that our leading nonfiction articles are receiving an enormous amount of circulation, along with the authors' names.
The receptiveness of the readers is no different than it was one hundred years ago. Most experienced writers will tell you the best way to circulate your name as a literary artist is to submit scholarly nonfiction. This identifies you as a knowledgeable writer, making the reader more compliant and receptive of your fiction work. Journalism is also a good discipline. It helps you, as a writer, to identify the elements of form, style and delivery. It teaches you objectivity because good journalism requires examining all the facts before presenting a conclusion.
We have a lot of ambition for the direction of our e-zine, which includes e-books and radio shows, but the truth is, what has been driving in the largest percentage of viewer hits has been our documentary style, Google news sponsored articles. Although i realize that some of our writers have no interest in writing anything except fiction or nonfiction stories, we do have a substantial number of those who write about current affairs. We have a number who are concerned with becoming established as scholarly writers of fiction and nonfiction. It's to these that i urge writing an article length format. This format doesn't have to be for current news, but it is the best treatment for any informative article. Bill the Butcher's proposal that Hitler intentionally lost WWII is a good example. It couldn't be called current news, but it was a formal, well researched article that created enough controversy to generate a great many viewer hits. He has acquired a high reader base because of both the consistency and variety of his writing.
This is the type of quality that will establish us as a leading, counter-cultural magazine and establish our authors as knowledgeable writers. The staff at Subversify has been putting out a lot of time and effort to find advertising sponsors for our magazine so we can begin paying our writers, but i've noticed over and over again that our strongest viewer hits have not been in blog styled commentaries and personal opinions, but in full length, formal articles. Our "sleeper" hits have been for memoirs, unique travel stories, nonfiction social articles, fiction and satire. They begin with very little notice at first, but remain in the search engines, resurfacing time after time, until they receive a rather solid following. The one thing the "sleeper" stories have in common is that they are lively, interesting and are of a healthy size; sixteen hundred words or more. I view the "sleepers" as good marketing pieces as they remain active and are growing, so if your particular fondness veers away from current news, don't feel discouraged or excluded. We need all types.
The message of the publishing industry today is, "promote yourselves". Subversify is a tool for doing just that. Your choice of subject is really your own. As long as we like it, we'll publish it. Our links are strong enough that a well written piece receives a lot of extra publicity beyond the confines of the mag. However, it doesn't matter how much we promote a particular creative artist. If the readers are not particularly interested, the work will fall flat. Blog like commentaries and opinion pieces forever based around first person perception simply do not generate much viewer interest and do not enter the search engines. If you wish to write on current news or affairs, please write full length, documentary style articles. This is what viewers want, what sponsors want and what will establish you as knowledgeable writers.
This means we are in a not so unique position. We have created our own press, which means we can sponsor our writers according to their preferences, but we still have to consider the preferences of our sponsors. We have only one major sponsor at this time; Google News. They will sponsor news items that fit their criteria, which is based on documentary/ scholarly styled coverage of current news and issues. They do not cover commentaries.
What's so hot about being covered by Google News? Let's look at some facts. The largest number of articles that come up in the search engines were initially sponsored by Google News. The largest number of reader views have been for full length, documentary styled articles. The number of views themselves are deceptive. Scroll any of our lead articles that repetitively appear in the search engines, and you will find a minimum of four hundred shares. This means that our leading nonfiction articles are receiving an enormous amount of circulation, along with the authors' names.
The receptiveness of the readers is no different than it was one hundred years ago. Most experienced writers will tell you the best way to circulate your name as a literary artist is to submit scholarly nonfiction. This identifies you as a knowledgeable writer, making the reader more compliant and receptive of your fiction work. Journalism is also a good discipline. It helps you, as a writer, to identify the elements of form, style and delivery. It teaches you objectivity because good journalism requires examining all the facts before presenting a conclusion.
We have a lot of ambition for the direction of our e-zine, which includes e-books and radio shows, but the truth is, what has been driving in the largest percentage of viewer hits has been our documentary style, Google news sponsored articles. Although i realize that some of our writers have no interest in writing anything except fiction or nonfiction stories, we do have a substantial number of those who write about current affairs. We have a number who are concerned with becoming established as scholarly writers of fiction and nonfiction. It's to these that i urge writing an article length format. This format doesn't have to be for current news, but it is the best treatment for any informative article. Bill the Butcher's proposal that Hitler intentionally lost WWII is a good example. It couldn't be called current news, but it was a formal, well researched article that created enough controversy to generate a great many viewer hits. He has acquired a high reader base because of both the consistency and variety of his writing.
This is the type of quality that will establish us as a leading, counter-cultural magazine and establish our authors as knowledgeable writers. The staff at Subversify has been putting out a lot of time and effort to find advertising sponsors for our magazine so we can begin paying our writers, but i've noticed over and over again that our strongest viewer hits have not been in blog styled commentaries and personal opinions, but in full length, formal articles. Our "sleeper" hits have been for memoirs, unique travel stories, nonfiction social articles, fiction and satire. They begin with very little notice at first, but remain in the search engines, resurfacing time after time, until they receive a rather solid following. The one thing the "sleeper" stories have in common is that they are lively, interesting and are of a healthy size; sixteen hundred words or more. I view the "sleepers" as good marketing pieces as they remain active and are growing, so if your particular fondness veers away from current news, don't feel discouraged or excluded. We need all types.
The message of the publishing industry today is, "promote yourselves". Subversify is a tool for doing just that. Your choice of subject is really your own. As long as we like it, we'll publish it. Our links are strong enough that a well written piece receives a lot of extra publicity beyond the confines of the mag. However, it doesn't matter how much we promote a particular creative artist. If the readers are not particularly interested, the work will fall flat. Blog like commentaries and opinion pieces forever based around first person perception simply do not generate much viewer interest and do not enter the search engines. If you wish to write on current news or affairs, please write full length, documentary style articles. This is what viewers want, what sponsors want and what will establish you as knowledgeable writers.
