If you were sampling food at your local grocery store, and only 3.4% of those tasting the product liked it, your grocer wouldn’t keep it on the shelf.
On Gather, that’s about the percentage of people who discovered my work and enjoyed it. (I’m being modest here, I should have said ‘loved it.’)
Even though this isn’t really a good example, because everyone on Gather is very busy, and it takes longer to sample my wears, compared to grabbing a bite while you continue to shop, I was looking for help.
Don’t get me wrong, I am very pleased with this percentage. (Every written work carries its own percentage of readership.)
My question: How does one go about getting thousands and thousands of people to sample? I don’t want to wait to be discovered, I am willing to actively discover them.
This is the internet. As such, why would it be so difficult?
Anyone been down this road?
What worked?
Are there other social networking sites with more capability at exposure than Gather?
If there is, anyone available to put me on the fast track at those sites? Teach me the ropes…. Supply the connects….
What about free advertising sites I could link back to my Gather article? (Ones people actually visit)
Last, but not least: Anyone wishing to sample, or, (Because Gather can be strange this way sometimes,) who have lost touch:
One: The Dupe
Two: What have we here?
Three: Conspicuous Consumption
Four: The Apprenticeship
Five: The Discovery
Six: The Plane
Seven: A Predator
Eight: Non-Citizen
Nine: Brian's Secret
Ten: Sand and Water
Eleven: Fish and Fire
Twelve: Henry
Thirteen: An unexpected Promotion
Fourteen: Digitalized
Fifteen: The Test
Sixteen: Training an Apprentice
Thanks for the help, God Bless
And, as always…someone on Gather always knows.
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Comments: 94
I've been reading your stuff and I think you have potential, but I also think that you need to keep working on it (I assume you are). The "voice" in your story is a bit "young adult" in my opinion. Was that what you were trying for, or is that your natural voice? There's nothing wrong with it ... I tend to write close to that voice, too. I think it comes from a natural "childlike" (and that's not an insult) way of looking at the world.
Just keep at it. You're not going to be successful overnight. A lot of people are going the self-publishing route. I don't know if that's a good thing or not. I do think that self-publishing doesn't get you the experience that submitting to one of the established publishing houses will get you.
I belong to a writer's group. I'm one of the poorest performers :) But the others in the group who continue to write, continue to have their work critiqued and critique other people's work, continue to improve and have all eventually been published in one way or another.
I don't know what you do with your time, so perhaps you're already doing all this stuff...
I've had stuff mostly ignored.
Gather is a fickle crowd.
If I have something I want read - here or elsewhere - I spend time at my writer's groups asking for critiques. I also spend time entering the URL at free search engines. It works!
The first time I did that was back when I first logged onto the interenet. I discovered a writer's site where one could get 2 cents per page view. So, of course I wanted page views. The site had hundreds of people competing for those page views amongst each other, so one of my new friends suggested that I try promoting through free search engines.
I found a site where you could enter your URL and info about an article/story and they would send it to 30 search engines. Cool.
I selected one article - called Southern Snowmen - and went to that site and entered the info, then went to bed. In the morning, my article had been read by over 500 people while I slept. I liked that!
I'm a 7 year member of a writing site (free for a small portfolio, paid membership for a larger one), and a moderator there as well. At the site, one can collect gift points, which you can trade for purchasing your membership. Or you can use them for promotion. There, when I want to know something will be read, I use my gift points to advertise or sponsor my item, and it will show up periodically on the "sponsored items" list which changes every time someone refreshes a page.
-barbara. i love robert heinlein's stranger in a strange land, it is one of my favorite books ever!
My free time is so rare that I don't have time for long things. HOWEVER (and I know you are not supposed to start a sentence that way), I think it is about connecting with people who want to read and have the time. Maybe start a group on Gather for serious writers, readers and editors.
On the rest of the Net, blogging and Twittering and all that stuff doesn't seem to work so well...you could always start an online book exchange.
Patience and persistence are the only words of advice I can give you. :-(
i think i am in that 3.4% because i do love your work
I bet if you do a google search you'll find many many places to share your work. I may go take a look around & see what I can find for you. Don't sit back & wait. You've got to get out there & promote yourself. Submit manuscripts to publishers. Start locally. Try to get on your local PB tv station to promote your book. Call radio talk shows. They're always looking for material.
I've go to go read 19 & 20...I'm falling behind! Don't give up! Keep writing & looking for ways to promote yourself!
But that 3.4% -- what's that based on? Gather members, or active Gather members? Some say the half-million members Gather claims to have is comprised of 495,000 never-signed-on-after-signing-up people and 5,000 "active" members, with "active" defined as "in the past two years". Which, if I were that "active", I'd have been buried about 23 months ago. ;-)
If you're looking for another good site, you might consider making a lens on Squidoo.com. I find it a great site for promoting your writing.
I shy away from poetry and fiction because I seldom know how to respond or feel able to comment intelligently.
The thing is, it IS the internet. There are millions of things to read on it. Your job as a writer is to grab the reader immediately and not let go. If it takes you too long to get to the point, you lose the reader's attention and they move on.
“…feverishly,” the professor said, with a dramatic change in his voice inflection, “on a scale that was never before achieved.” No longer was he lecturing. “Today, it stands as a tribute to man’s undying commitment to survive. I never said it didn’t help."
Brian caught the strong emphasis of every word. It brought him out of his reverie.
This is wordy. It uses redundant words (voice inflection could just be inflection, for example.) Opening with the last word of a sentence doesn't entice the reader, it confuses. There is no context in which to process it.
If I was your editor, this is what I would suggest:
====================
The professor's abrupt change in inflection snapped Brian out of his daze.
"Feverishly," he said. "On a scale that was never before achieved. Today, it stands as a tribute to man’s undying commitment to survive. I never said it didn’t help."
=====================
Same words. Slightly rearranged to provide a stronger sense of urgency to the story.
The trick is presenting that sense of urgency that gets the reader invested in what you are writing. You have to get them pass those first few paragraphs. Once they have done that, they have committed to the story. THEN you can meander a bit. But you can't afford to meander with the beginning.
What you need is a close circle of fellow writers to work with, not a huge audience of a thousand different voices. If you have that 3% that have expressed interest in your stuff, reach out to a few of them and pick their brains while honing your craft. But trying to get too many opinions may just muddy your writing.
I wish you well, and hope you can find some help through people here on Gather. Even if they don't read your work, they are a helpful group and provide many answers that we can't always find, perhaps because we get too focused on one aspect of things.
Good Luck
You and Julie Ann were the first two people I followed about when I arrived at Gather several months ago. I've trickled off into other streams and haven't seen you since. Your letter in my mailbox Carl, caught my eye though. There's something.
If my writing ever gets to a point where I'm ready for critique, and I intend to stay with it long enough that it may, I would love to have a cluster of clear eyed editors like Julie, to go to. What she offered in that little exchange was like magic.
Perhaps a group of editors, interested in furthering new efforts, with a keen yet nurturing approach could work together. Carl, perhaps as an individual, you already lend such an effort yourself. I don't know. It's always appreciated by those who ask. I'm finding that by thinking out my comments to others, why I like something, is furthering my understanding of the writing process.
Though I am enjoying learning how to communicate and love playing with words, I am most interested in other's work for how people think and express those thoughts. I have the large text issue as well, and though I live with Sci-fi readers and writers, I'm not as appreciative of the genre as I'd like to be. I know good Sci-fi is badly needed today. I hope you keep it up.
As for the thousands and thousands, make sure your ready, and watch what you wish for.
Glad you put this out here, I learned a lot today. Thanks
On the other hand, I write non-fiction and I doubt I have 3.4% readership or anywhere close to it. How did you find out the statistic?
I can't get many of my friends to comment on my posts anymore. It's almost not worth the effort to be on here anymore.
OMG! Carl, we have a stalker! lol
Adrian, you are very kind. :-)
Carl, what you really need to do is get your butt over to duotrope.com, scroll through the publishers that offer personal rejections, and start submitting work for publication. Focus on the publishers that are willing to tell you WHY a work is rejected, and that will help you tighten your writing. Honestly, that's how I learned. Not by spamming the internet and trying to get everyone and anyone to read my stuff (because even if they do, few are going to read it with a truely critical eye), but by focusing on those people who actually make it their business to read this stuff.
About 10% of the stories that I eventually accept for publication for our journal I rejected the first time around. But since I always send a personal rejection, not a form letter, it helps the writer get a hande on what the reader is seeing. This gives him or her the chance to go back and rework the story with fresh eyes. Often, with excellent results. You'll find more and more editors are willing to do the same.
10 for you!
Never give up
Have a Great & powerful day W/J!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
<< Most are here for the points and won't take the time to read serious writings which is sad>>>
I found my political posts get about 80 to 90 comments whereas my articles, essay, short stories, and Quick Tips 4 U, get way less and many of the comments are "pay it forward' or 'thanks for sharing".
Maybe those of us who write should start a social group for writers only.
There is a fiction writer's group you can find at
Fiction Writers Group
I don't know anything about it but I'm going to check it out and hope you will too.
Good luck
You might get a few hits, by submitting your more popular posts to dig, stumble upon, etc. It is very easy to do so.
http://www.writerface.com/group/fictionwritersgroup
I went back to check out the writers group I mentioned above
They have groups for all genres, comedy, poetry, children's writers, people looking for an agent. As far as I can tell, it's a free to join site.
If your book is selling on Amazon, members get a free listing in the WriterFace Bookshop
After you join, email your book's title and ISBN to: writerface@schieldenver.com, and we'll give you some free publicity.
Welcome to Writerface.com - the online social network for writers, Mary McCauley!Here are a few things you can do right now…
Invite friends
Add photos
Add a video
Add Applications
I do not have any advise for you, but I am glad that you posted this article. I have learned a lot from the discussion above. Keep writing, and never ever, ever stop the fingers from pressing upon the keyboard.
However, receiving constructive criticism is no where near as valuable as giving it. The best critiquers are usually the best writers. The people who have a hard time taking or giving it usually don't progress in their work. Gordon Ramsey works in another creative discipline, but he's an example of someone who is excellent at what he does.
I've had stuff mostly ignored.
Gather is a fickle crowd.
Peter Joseph Swanson, Feb 4, 2009, 2:34pm EST ''
I especially agree with the point about 'fickle crowd' . My experience with Gather is that there has been high praise but few hits on my articles. By contrast, on another forum, I created a thread that generated over 4000 replies. Just one thread created more discussion than all of my posts here!
That's Gather for ya ...
So it goes.
The other thing I can tell you, there is just so much content, it's hard to sort through it all and find things of real interest.
Wish I had something of value for you!