How to Win Writers and Influence People
kosmo - See all 468 of my articles
Leave the First Comment
Something that longtime readers of The Soap Boxers have noticed is the gradual morphing of the writing staff from one lonely writer to a merry band of writers who are actively pushing the magazine forward. A blogger friend of mine was intrigued at the fact that I was able to get some many quality writers to join. How did I do it? Contrary to what you might hear, I am not the Pied Piper.
Honesty and Fairness
The Soap Boxers has no funds to pay staff writers, in large part because we have no funds, period. This is something that I have always been very up front about, to avoid any possibility of someone jumping to the wrong conclusion. Giving someone unreasonable expectations makes for a very shake foundation.
Since I had no ability to pay my writers, I did the next best thing – I proposed a profit sharing agreement. The gist is this – once general overhead (i.e. items that I pay for out of my pocket) have been paid for, advertising revenue will be split proportionally. At this point, the site isn’t actually turning a profit, but if it suddenly becomes the hottest thing on the web, the writers share in the upside.
[Wondering why you aren’t seeing any of these ads that have the potential to shower the staff with revenue? Well, if you’re a regular visitor, you don’t see the ads. This is a courtesy to reward you for your support.]
Look for Untapped Potential
Do you have intelligent friends who often share insightful ideas with you? These people could be writers who are simply waiting for a platform. They might not have the interest in going through the steps necessary to set up a blog and build a readership. They might be interested in jumping up onto your platform and writing a weekly or monthly article, though.
Several of the staff writers are friends whose writing I have enjoyed over the years. These writers now have the ability to see what other people think of their writing.
Chase Some Stars
I reached out to a few people who were already established bloggers. The likelihood of getting them to write for my blog was relatively low. However, I pitched some ideas and one of the bloggers (Jonna) was interested enough to give it a shot. The others declined the opportunities. Nothing ventured, nothing gained.
A couple of things to keep in mind here. First, there is a fine line between asking someone if they want to write for you and becoming a freaky stalker type person. Avoid being the freaky stalker type person. Give the person room to breathe. If they decline the offer, thank them for their time and move along. Don’t try to badger them. Second, try not to ask for too much. If the person already has a full time blog, it may be difficult for them to contribute more than once a month, simply due to time constraints. Third, try to approach them with an angle that is different than what they write for their existing blog. Finally, be somewhat reasonable in your expectations. For example, I’m not going to try to get Peter Gammons (of ESPN) to write baseball articles for my blog. (Although that would be pretty sweet.)
Be Flexible
Although I try to have a set schedule for articles, I am pretty flexible within that structure, and am even willing to push articles to other days, if necessarily. After all, I’m working with what is essentially a voluntary workforce. Making demands on them would really not be a smart choice.
On the technical side, I’m also very flexible. I have given my writers two basic options for submitting stories. They can either log into WordPress and write the story there, or simply email me the story. Everyone so far has chosen to simply email me the story.
Show That You Care
If your writers have blogs of their own, link to them in your blog roll. This is a common courtesy.
Leave comments on your writers’ articles. At this point, you are acting in the role of a typical reader of your blog. Read what your writers write, and share your own opinions on the subject.
Finally, make the phrase “Thank You” a normal part of the vocabulary.
What did you miss over the weekend?
- We announced the launching of TheFictionWriters.com on Friday.
- Jonna Wibelius made her debut on Friday, giving an international perspective to the US health care debate.
- Saturday featured Cheri’s Nobel’s review of the Jimmy Buffett novel A Salty Piece of Land.
- Kosmo did the math on ethanol fuel mileage on Sunday.
http://www.thesoapboxers.com/how-to-win-writers-and-influence-people/
What Mileage Will I Get With Ethanol?
kosmo - See all 468 of my articles
1 Comment
In the midwest, ethanol is often a key discussion point regarding alternative energy. I am not going to try to touch on the many political, environmental, and social issues regarding ethanol. Instead, I will touch base on a rather simply mathematical point. It is often said that ethanol provides 70% of the energy of gasoline. [...]
→ Read the full article
A Salty Piece of Land
Cheri Nobel - See all 4 of my articles
Leave the First Comment
I bought this book off a discount table for $4. I had my doubts that Jimmy Buffett could write a decent novel, so I pushed it to the side. Months later, I stumbled across the abridged audio book for $1 and took the plunge. Now that I owned the work in two different formats and [...]
→ Read the full article
Obama Gets Help From Europe
Jonna Wibelius - See all 1 of my articles
2 Comments
Today marks the debut of Jonna Wibelius as our international voice. Jonna is a native of Sweden and currently lives in China (you can read all about it in her blog, SHEinChina). Jonna’s monthly column will address a current issue from the point of view of a European. “Help Obama!” says a red banner on [...]
→ Read the full article
Are You Serial?
kosmo - See all 468 of my articles
Leave the First Comment
Yes, yes I am. I am announcing the launching of a new blog, The Fiction Writers. What will this blog feature? A large chunk of the articles on the site will actually be serialization of short stories I have written. There are already 4 posts containing portions of the short story Key Relationships. I post [...]
→ Read the full article
Twelve and a Half
kosmo - See all 468 of my articles
1 Comment
We present a special Wednesday edition of Fiction Friday. “Remember – twelve and half.” Buck Schroeder nodded his head and left the diner. He slipped the envelope into the pocket of his jeans as he walked to the parking lot. Half now, half after the game – the same as last year. The money was [...]
→ Read the full article
Felony Murder Statute
kosmo - See all 468 of my articles
Leave the First Comment
The felony murder statute (or felony murder rule) seems to pop up in the news every now and then, but the general public does not seem to have a great deal of awareness of it. Some people think that the term simply refers to “normal” murder. In fact, it is a special type of murder. [...]
→ Read the full article
Sports Medley
Johnny Goodman - See all 52 of my articles
2 Comments
An exciting week in sports this week. I am still resting up from my trip to the Solheim Cup, and I am sure you are all ready to read something other than another golf article, so I will just touch on some golf briefly and move on. Golf A real win for the LPGA this [...]
→ Read the full article
Life, The Googleverse, and Everything
kosmo - See all 468 of my articles
6 Comments
I’ve noticed a slight increase in Google traffic this week as we made a push toward 250 articles. I suspect that 250 files (article + pages) may trigger Google to give you a bit more love. At this rate, we’ll have at least 3 unique visitors every day by the end of the year While [...]
→ Read the full article
Dinosaur Contest Winners
kosmo - See all 468 of my articles
2 Comments
On July 23, I launched a dinosaur book giveaway as part of a multi-part dinosaur extravaganza. I am happy to announce the following winners: The winner for “best comment” goes to Evan from 40tech.com. I’m not going to point out a specific comment, but I’ll just award it as a “monthtime achievement award”. Evan has [...]
→ Read the full article
Writers for The Soap Boxers are freelance writers who work as independent contractors. Opinions expressed by the writers may not necessarily reflect the opinion of management.
Copyright for all content belongs to the writer identified in the byline. Copyright for any content not associated with a particular writer belongs to Kosmo. Copyright for comments belongs to the writer of the comment.
Content from The Soap Boxers cannot be reused in any manner other than what is allowed under the fair use doctrine of US copyright law or the applicable copyright laws of your country.
© 2008-2010. All rights reserved.
Please email Kosmo at Kosmo@ObservingCasually.com with any questions you may have.
The Soap Boxers is a division of Hyrax Publications
Soap Boxer Search
Just For Laughs
Category
Recent Posts
Search by Writer
Lazy Man and Money
Blogs Written By Us
Financial Blogs
Fun Blogs
