Friday, January 29, 2010

What's in a word

I was thinking about money yesterday. We all need it in this economy, but specifically I was thinking about the magazine I was reading (Success) and how every one of those articles was paid for. With new eyes, I reread some of the articles for structure and actual knowledgeable input instead of seeing them as printed words of the wise. Do you know what I found? An astonishing amount of opinion.

Now, Success Magazine is a great resource but I did find things like advice from Doctors on how to stay healthy (shocker: exercise and lose weight), as well as closing the sale (three things I found I do naturally anyway). There was another by an entrepreneur, and another by a woman whose main topic dealt with her child's soccer game and jumper cables. The articles were approximately 400 words in length.

I know articles don't pay a lot of money. If they are accepted, most magazines send about 200-300 for your great insights, but if a soccer mom can get paid for saying shit like jump-starting a career is like jump-starting a car, or you need another car to jump-start your car just like you need help from another person when jump-starting your career, then fuck... I'm a wizard.

What bothered me is that SM (soccer mom) put all her career troubles at the feet of another person. I stand here (right. I'm sitting) and say, you also must HAVE a car in order to jump-start it. You must also do the work by turning the key in the ignition. Sometimes there's a lag, or a grinding as the motor tries to kick.

I could have written that article. Hell, any blogger writes that kind of article on a daily basis. Do you know what you make in a single day on your job? I do. If I were paid 200 for every blog I wrote, that would be a tidy part time gig, no?

So now I'm thinking, how can I get someone to buy my blogs every day for 200. I'll go on sale, even. Let's say 150. I can quit my dayjob, write a blog every day and spend the rest of my time doing full-time writing. It's a cinch.

You'd think...

4 comments:

Chris said...

And then you can write a book about the experience and everyone will buy it. :)

Heh, the veri word is "godscan".

Unknown said...

Wouldn't that be nice! :)

Julia Rachel Barrett said...

Been there. I've had articles bought and published by medical and nursing journals. They pay anywhere from $200-$400, however, they will barely look at unsolicited articles any longer - no money. Bad economy. They rely upon people on their staff or writers in their stable. And...OMG...no...sometimes they even make up articles - pull them out of thin air and print them - no real life experience required.

J said...

I suppose if you can an article a week, and get an average of $250 per article, that's a pretty good supplemental income without any real overhead. I've thought about the same thing for sports journalists. A lot of the guys writing online articles are guys like me who started blogging, and the next thing you know they're featured columnists on various sports sites. I have a passion for football and enough knowledge to talk with authority like the majority of these clowns.

What stops the majority of us from pursuing these ideas and making them reality?

I suspect it's a lack of knowledge on how to get a foot in the door. I think with any business venture, the first step is the hardest.
Finding the path that gets you into the forest. Maybe it's as simple as wedging yourself between the trees and being confident enough to brave the shadows and uncertainty within.

mwv: ressly
wrestly
rusty
wrassle