I grew up in the swinging eighties.

It was a time of fun and laughter, of Will Smith and the Fresh Prince of Bel Air, of hot summertime Miami beaches, skimpy, sometimes naked lasses blowing hot kisses.

We were a carefree generation, Osama and terror were unknown. Obama wouldn’t be President for another twenty years.

The land of the free, warmed in peaceful bliss, Bush politics, Trump rhetoric, and school shootings were unimagined.

And the economy, the economy was on an upward spiral, Russia had ceded the cold war, and America’s claim to superpower status was uncontested.

The internet was in its infancy, Bill Gates, Paul Allen, and a few privileged Kids were coding, in the dark of the night when IBM’s engineers were at home sleeping. Because they could access the only computers in the world.

The rest of us partied, hard, — blissfully unaware of the coming technological storm.

Microsoft was born, on a PC, or what Bill called the Desktop, and everything changed. Then there was the internet, and everybody was browsing, nibbling at first, then ravenously gulping content.

And it wasn’t enough, because Steve Jobs was working in a garage, then at Apple. While there he created a revolutionary gadget that would change the world.

The Smartphone, or the swiping minicomputer as he called it.

 

Captives to  Toys

It was an addictive toy, but it wasn’t just a toy, it had a life of its own, and it was on a mission — to rule the world.

At first, it was just Apple, a status symbol, then Android came along, strutting from the woods, and everybody was swiping, gleeful, through mountains of data.

All that swiping, and typing needed a search engine, old Mozilla Firefox, burning perhaps too brightly was at hand, Netscape wasn’t left out either.

But then Google happened and quickly became Chrome, but he wasn’t alone. Along came YouTube Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, and WhatsApp.

Elon’s Twitter and China’s Tik Tok were late for the party but they still hooked us, because we were stoned — junkies, high on Social Media gossip, drooling over incredulous dancing clips.

A new word was born, Social Media and the Digital age, and with it came a new Generation, Generation Z, then Generation Alpha, kids who could swipe before they could walk.

An insatiable hunger, not for bread, or burgers, as much as we consume more burgers than any other generation before us, was suddenly upon us, we couldn’t have enough content.

The Content Frenzy

Writing, not just of books or of novels or short stories was suddenly glamorous.

Copywriters, then content writers flooded online content mills churning out content sometimes regurgitating the same content, to claim a place on the first page.

But Google’s Algorithms were getting smarter, and they weren’t interested in old ideas.

More creative writers were needed, and real writers were making real money, writing SEO, Keyword focused, in-depth detailed content as the rest of the world, 9 to 5 workers, none the wiser trudged along.

And then everybody was at home, the pandemic had done a number, roiling — graves were filling up faster than we could dig them.

Everybody was scared, shitless, we were all locked down, in our homes.

With nothing to do, Netflix wasn’t as famous- many people got into the Zen zone, then discovered their ‘true calling.’

‘Eureka!’ they could write, online. Perhaps become famous and probably make some money.

The Glamorous Writer

Content mills were happy and the statistics could prove it because in 2011 we had 40, 930 writers and authors in the US, a number that steadily blossomed to 49,410 in 2021.

These were just freelancers, because the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, statistically knowledgeable in numbers put the number of people employed as writers and authors, at 142, 800 in 2021.

That’s a whole lot of people writing, most of them online.

But the world hadn’t had enough. It was actually getting steadily hungrier, for more content.

Where We Are Right Now

Websites, content platforms, blogs, and content mills, jostling for writers, (exceptional writers) are driving up demand.

But there is no shortage of writers. And still, more writers join the online craze, every day, without a clue about how to write.

And that’s where we are right now. A floodgate of mostly clueless writers, trying to nibble at a niche, make a name for themselves, and earn, mostly peanuts.

If you are unpretentious, knowing you need knowledge, as I was when I jumped on the bandwagon, back before the pandemic, you will constantly seek information, tricks, and shortcuts of how to succeed as an online writer.

Sadly, there are no shortcuts.

And that’s just the truth.

You might have heard, these five gospel truths, preached by hard-selling, oblivious regurgitating writers;

1. Start your own blog, build a niche.
2. Write for content-hungry websites.
3. Publish your own book or e-book.
4. Ghostwrite for people of authority.
5. Become a conversion-focused copywriter.

They are true, but they won’t work unless you work them, and that’s just the bare-knuckled truth.

The Myths About Writing Online

Writing, online, isn’t some form of get-rich-quick magic, it requires tons of persistent hard work, yet it won’t make you wealthy.

It will throw morsels at you, when you do the right things, daily, faithfully.

To quote a fairly successful writer, Neal Gabler writing in the Atlantic, bemoaning the writer’s life, his own life;

“I know what it is like to have to juggle creditors to make it through a week. I know what it is like to have to swallow my pride and constantly dun people to pay me so that I can pay others.

I know what it is like to have liens slapped on me and to have my bank account levied by creditors.

I know what it is like to be down to my last $5 — literally — while I wait for a paycheck to arrive, and I know what it is like to subsist for days on a diet of eggs.

I know what it is like to dread going to the mailbox, because there will always be new bills to pay but seldom a check with which to pay them.

I know what it is like to have to tell my daughter that I didn’t know if I would be able to pay for her wedding; it all depended on whether something good happened.

And I know what it is like to have to borrow money from my adult daughters because my wife and I ran out of heating oil.

You wouldn’t know any of that to look at me. I like to think I appear reasonably prosperous.

Nor would you know it to look at my résumé. I have had a passably good career as a writer — five books, hundreds of articles published, a number of awards and fellowships, and a small (very small) but respectable reputation.

You wouldn’t even know it to look at my tax return. I am nowhere near rich, but I have typically made a solid middle- or even, at times, upper-middle-class income, which is about all a writer can expect, even a writer who also teaches and lectures and writes television scripts, as I do.

And you certainly wouldn’t know it to talk to me, because the last thing I would ever do — until now — is admit to financial insecurity or, as I think of it, “financial impotence,”

 

Busting Myth #1 — Start Your Own Blog

For starters building a popular blog, is tough, painstakingly slow, and will chip away your patience faster than you can ever build it.

But it’s incomparably rewarding if you can build traction and get constant readership

Promoting affiliate products and earning commission may sound like a breeze, but it takes sticking out your neck.

You must first build a brand, and become an influencer, then you have to find products you can stake your reputation on.

That’s not all, you must use your writing skills and topic knowledge to deliver — write articles that will turn readers into buyers.

It still works, if you have the patience of a Komodo Dragon, stalking your prey.

Busting Myth #2 — Write for content-hungry websites

Writing articles for content-hungry websites isn’t for the faint-hearted either.

Owning a laptop, and being a passionate writer won’t make you successful.

Success requires that you develop portfolio niched skills, understand your target audience, and exude marketing fundamentals to write SEO content.

You will have to build an online presence, differentiate yourself as an authority, and that takes time and tons of guest posts, published on industry-leading blogs.

Then you will have to build your own platform to protect your audience from cannibalistic third-party platforms.

And of course, you will have to interact with other writers and readers.

Medium is a great place to do that. To learn and to cut your teeth.

Busting Myth #3 — Publish your own book or e-book

Publishing a book or an eBook is just the beginning if you want your name out there as a writer.

As a new writer, no one knows you, and no publishing house is going to sign you up for a book writing deal.

Thanks to Kindle and Amazon, you have an option, to self-publish. Sounds cool, sounds easy, sounds like anyone can do it — but that’s just the problem. The easy part.

Any wannabe writer can publish a book, and they are.

Kindle and other indie self-publishing authors are filling the internet with voluminous, meaningless titles that will never see the light of day.

Your book will be buried in a mountain of 1.7 million other books published every year according to estimates.

Unless you are Colleen Hoover who dominated the 2022 best-selling books list with 6 of her books being in the top 10 and has sold 8.6 million books.

Your book stands no chance of selling more than 200 copies in one year, and may never sell 1000 copies in its lifetime.

With such dismal performance, you need a strategy. Probably borrow an idea or two from Colleen Hoover.

Over the years, she has built a rabid fan base called the “CoHort” on BookTok, her CoHorts call “the queen of BookTok” — work on building that kind of fanatical following.

 

Busting Myth #4 — Ghostwrite for people of authority

Ghostwriting will pay you pennies if you don’t know how to sell your services to top buyers.

You will sweat, and grovel to beat deadlines and bills and go to bed with a growling stomach because you ate one miserable sandwich.

Your name as a writer will be buried in a rubble of forgetfulness, yet you will write more words than Stephen King, beat his 2000 words daily record even.

And that’s not all, if you are a really good ghostwriter you will be hired to write tantalizing articles for top personalities published in leading publications, like the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Guardian, and others.

Your article may trend, start a revolution, become a political tool, or change the climate, but it will never have your name on it. And an NDA will constrain you from ever claiming you wrote it.

But it’s not all bad. If you are a successful ghostwriter, you will earn enough money to survive and pay your bills for a couple of months, anyway, grovel for more clients, and start the circle all over again.

I know all this because I have been a ghostwriter for a couple of years now, and a fairly successful one I would say.

But now that I’m writing on this platform, under my own name, nobody knows who I am or cares about my writing, and that’s okay with me.

Busting Myth #5 — Become a conversion-focused copywriter

Copywriting, the ability to write sales letters, video scripts, and product descriptions, was always highly rewarding in the days of David Ogilvy, the father of Advertising.

Anyone willing to invest a lot of time and money, learning the fundamentals of copywriting and practicing their craft, could make a reasonably good living.

That’s until the online gravy train got crowded, with self-declared copywriters. Who have no wherewithal of how to sell products, hook visitors, or write captivating landing pages.

And as if that wasn’t enough, copywriting, and most writing is coming under threat lately.

ChatGPT and other LLM (Large Language Model) AIs are on a mission to knock Copywriters and writers like you and me, off our high-paying pedestals.

But it’s not time to panic, it hasn’t happened yet. Not until we have taught the bots enough empathy to write like humans.

Remain human, write like a human, conversationally, empathetically, and empathically and you will still earn your bacon.

People still want to read people.

…And… I think that should be my final word. You are human, and you are a writer. Write! that’s what writers do.

 

This article was first published Here: Creative Writing and The Need to Make Money, a Walk Down Memory Lane