I've got AdSense ads on here. See them on the right side of the screen when you scroll down? Aren't they pretty? Well, so far, that's all they've been good for - decoration. I know it's hard to believe, but I do not get paid to blog. The posts you find on here are things that have occupied the space between my ears at some point during the day. Sometimes, those things stay in there and rattle around for a while before they come out in the form of written words, and other times, the words just come out without so much as a pitstop between the keyboard and my logical processors (which I'm sure explains a whole lot!).
In the world of baseball card blogging, there is a huge controversy over whether card bloggers should accept items from card companies in exchange for the writer reviewing the 'free' products. I'm not going into all the details. Feel free to poke around some of the baseball card blogs for yourself if you'd like to see the chasm being formed and the people who are building the bridges that hold things together.
Why do some people get paid to blog their thoughts and other people don't? Sometimes, it's a work-related thing. For example, some companies expect their employees to blog about what's happening. Some CEOs blog about their company, and in a way, they get paid for it (vladville.com). I suppose in a way, I get paid to blog on the site we set up at work (techblog.k12.ar.us). But, really, I don't get paid specifically to write out my thoughts. I get paid to do my job, part of which may or may not include jotting down my thoughts on that blog.
I think some people are starting to get their panties in a wad about the whole money-making thing. I guess my question is this: WHY did you start blogging in the first place? Did you start doing it for fun? To inform? To make money? If you started writing with the intention of pulling in some greenbacks and you aren't pulling any in, then you may want to re-evaluate your posts.
Of course, I am one of those people that believe services like AdSense are actually a waste of time anyway. To me, it's like pop-up ads - no one really clicks those things and if we had a choice, we'd much rather all those pop-up, pop-under, fly-in ads would just go away.
Am I jaded because I am not making any money from my ramblings? Not at all. When I started jotting down my thoughts, my only intention was to spew out the thoughts I had, sharing them with the world at large - or at least anyone who cared to read them.
The only thing I have not done yet is to post my actual pieces of short fiction. Why not? Am I afraid people will tell me what a hack writer I am? Nope. I write short stories for myself, or because I was assigned the task for some college class way back when. Rather, I do not post those because I don't trust intellectual property rights. If someone takes many of the ideas I kick out here and runs with them, I'm not really worried about getting credit or not. I mean, don't get me wrong, if it came down to it, I'd fight any jerk that flat out stole my ideas and did not give me the credit I deserve. But, with my works of fiction, I see things a little differently. I just have this mental image of someone taking what I wrote, making just the right changes, and then cashing in on my blood, sweat, and tears.
Could I sell my short stories? Maybe. Have I tried? No. Why not? Do I fear rejection? Not really. I mean, if I send out the stories and everyone turns them down, I could easily live with that. But, if they DON'T reject them? What if they're received well and then the publishers want me to write MORE stories? And, then what if I don't have any more in me? Or if the ones I do have in me flat out suck?
Oh, I know, many people may say, "Dude, if you can cash in on some, then do it! Be a one-hit wonder! Who cares!?" To that I say, "You're right." And, every six months or so, I look into submission addresses for my stories, and I even think about submitting them. But, I never do. Will I? Maybe.
And, yes, I know there are authors, writers, etc that write online and feel perfectly fine doing it. I'm just not there yet... :-)
And, somewhere I had a point... But I'm afraid I lost it a turn or two back... LOL!
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