Greetings!
Today’s post is about the future of the blog. I know, I have had a few of these if you have been reading for the last few years, but some things just need to be put in writing. Anyway, I have been thinking about blogging and what I would like to do for this particular project and what could be done with it as I move forward with writing as frequently as possible.
What follows are the two main subjects I have set down to try to breath some life into the blog; that is to say, I need to give the blog an ultimate purpose. But, I will explain.
Rebranding
I started this blog as a means to pass a state certification test to become a teacher. As such, early posts are rudimentary as they examine a simple subject and briefly define the topic. However, since I continued writing blog posts, I found a great deal of enjoyment in researching and writing about literature, short stories, and the like. I also found that a lot of people could benefit from a blog that examines the often stated and the understated.
For instance, I feel as though the internet has many places for author biographies, but not many that are short and concise and to the point. Additionally, I feel as though literary historical movements are lost in the shuffle, as are discussions about folklore, literature in film, and famous quotes.
With all of that in mind, my ultimate answerable question was: how can I relate all of these topics to somebody who is thinking about writing, just started writing, or has been writing for a while.
So much of the lore of literature (authors, movements, and writing in general) I have heard over the years have been from other writers, my graduate program, independent research, and teachers. All of which have been beneficial to me and yet I have had little luck finding concentrated sources for all of this information, even though I feel as if it is interconnected (after all, understanding author Washington Irving is a lot easier if you understand folklore; or understanding Ernest Hemingway is a lot easier if you understand The Lost Generation).
With that being said, I am trying to retool and rethink the blog as it stands (not majorly), but some changes that might help with ease of use and branding (oh how I hate that word). As an example, I have changed the tagline to “Your First Stop to Writing Excellence” to speak to the audience I am hoping to reach (budding authors and writers); additionally, I rewrote the “About” section to craft the language closer to a call to action for first-year writers.
It is my hope that I can offer some assistance to authors who just want to learn a little bit more about writing or who might actually benefit from short lessons.
Monetization
I will try to make this section short because I am unsure of it as a whole. But here’s the basic premise:
To make money as a writer, you need somebody to pay you. Currently, I am employed as a teacher of secondary English Language Arts and writing. I love my job and it pays okay for what I do each day. However, I also love blogging and writing. I was a journalist for nigh a decade and enjoyed being able to write and make a living (the kind of living where you don’t really live) by dreaming up topics and putting them down; and I was good at that job.
Currently, that is what I do with this job each week (most weeks), but I do it for free and on my own time, which saps a relationship with my wife and children (I mean, they’re not stopping me, but I could be spending more time with them or at least affording them a comfortable life). As such, money is money and I have a family to take care of and a house to afford. If I don’t have those, I am not really a writer at all, but a guy in a cardboard box on the side of the road who is trying to convince you that he once wrote for a living.
My initial intention was to turn this into a nonprofit and offer research and empowerment as a free resource for readers and writers; but, the thought of operating a nonprofit while I teach is exhausting, and, frankly, I don’t think I have it in me.
My alternative is to monetize the blog by allowing advertisements. Even as I write this, I am disappointed in myself and my stated goal. I don’t believe advertisements are helpful or useful in any way. Really, as a means of propaganda and annoyance, advertisements are the Mt. Everest of insufferable dreck. Nevertheless, advertisements can also be incentive for a writer to get his/her work done.
If I decide to monetize in the near future, I hope to be able to somehow find advertisements that are related to writers and what you all do each day; yet, I think there is a low chance that advertisements and relatability will ever effectively work together.
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With that, I leave you! Thank you for taking the time to listen to me recount my stated goals (and complaints), and I hope you enjoy the future posts on this blog!
