Awkward 15 year old Jenn was plopped into an honors English class in April of her sophomore year at a school 2 hours away from the area she grew up in. The class of seemingly overachievers was in the first stage of writing their autobiographies, a semester long project, and I had to catch up. By the end, my book was 10 chapters of about 1500 words each or so, full of artwork, prose, and even poetry. Even though I had lived a whopping 15 years so far, it was surprisingly full, and I believe the title was a poorly written, "A Lot Can Change in the Blink of an Eye." Bad name aside, 15 year old me had this lofty, gigantic dream of one day becoming a writer.
Fast forward (almost, but not quite) 15 years later, not only have I taken journalism classes and had a short stint with a newspaper column, we have seen the evolution of the internet from poorly designed geocities websites, to live journaling, to blogging. We are even currently witnessing the slow downfall of printed books for the ease of ebooks. I myself have not bought an ereader, but I do own an online publishing company, and the day where I purchase one of these contraptions is quickly approaching. Newspaper sales are in steep decline, magazines are switching to iPad only issues, and print as we know it is drastically changing. Is it still a "good" dream to want to become a writer?
The short answer is well, yes. To be a writer with a published book is still an incredible feat - either printed or in ebook format. To become a journalist for example, the NY Times, is still a great dream. However, is this the only way to becoming a famous writer? No. With the progress of the internet, blogging has become something equally as gratifying and just as high in potential of reaching fame for the written word. While it has leveled the playing field, it does not guarantee success for all - the writer in question must still have that "it" factor to be famous for their craft.
All Blogs are Not Created Equal
Recently at work we crafted a tiered categorization of blogs that fit into 5 areas. A top tier are your big time blogs on websites with the biggest reach like the NY Times, Washington Post, etc. A second tier would consist of your TechCrunch, HuffPo, and Mashable online publications. Then the 3 remaining tiers are levels of average people's blogs with their various levels of influence. Everyone basically starts off on that 5th tier of having a new blog, developing content, creating an audience, and then if they stick with it and make it a priority they can move up through the ranks and increase their reach and begin to even monetize and see where it can grow to. Plenty of bloggers have transitioned into newspaper columnists and even authors. The possibility is there if you understand the space, and put hard work into it. A professional blog consists of a steep learning curve, and is not easily done.
To be a blogger, you also do not have to have and maintain a personal blog. It helps, but you could easily write blogs and shop them around to other bloggers. Ask to write pieces on blogs from all tiers and level of influence and build your online credibility. Some you can be paid for, some you won't be. This was done years ago in the writing world when people would write editorials in newspapers, or were freelance writers, but now it's much faster and there is more to choose from.
If you do maintain your own blog, not only do you have to be a skilled writer, but you also must be a visual creature as well. Content may be king, but the look and feel of your site is prince. If you're not a graphic artist, or understand coding - get yourself a web developer because all of it goes hand in hand. A beautifully designed site, plus great content, plus having a site that is easily found by search engines like Google will help you in your path to becoming a successful and famed blogger.
At the end of the day, being a writer is still an incredible goal. I still have the aspirations I did when I was 15 to have a published book under my belt - but for now, I'm quite content with being a blogger, and aspire to be a better one. For me - being a writer and being a blogger are one in the same.
Fast forward (almost, but not quite) 15 years later, not only have I taken journalism classes and had a short stint with a newspaper column, we have seen the evolution of the internet from poorly designed geocities websites, to live journaling, to blogging. We are even currently witnessing the slow downfall of printed books for the ease of ebooks. I myself have not bought an ereader, but I do own an online publishing company, and the day where I purchase one of these contraptions is quickly approaching. Newspaper sales are in steep decline, magazines are switching to iPad only issues, and print as we know it is drastically changing. Is it still a "good" dream to want to become a writer?
The short answer is well, yes. To be a writer with a published book is still an incredible feat - either printed or in ebook format. To become a journalist for example, the NY Times, is still a great dream. However, is this the only way to becoming a famous writer? No. With the progress of the internet, blogging has become something equally as gratifying and just as high in potential of reaching fame for the written word. While it has leveled the playing field, it does not guarantee success for all - the writer in question must still have that "it" factor to be famous for their craft.
All Blogs are Not Created Equal
Recently at work we crafted a tiered categorization of blogs that fit into 5 areas. A top tier are your big time blogs on websites with the biggest reach like the NY Times, Washington Post, etc. A second tier would consist of your TechCrunch, HuffPo, and Mashable online publications. Then the 3 remaining tiers are levels of average people's blogs with their various levels of influence. Everyone basically starts off on that 5th tier of having a new blog, developing content, creating an audience, and then if they stick with it and make it a priority they can move up through the ranks and increase their reach and begin to even monetize and see where it can grow to. Plenty of bloggers have transitioned into newspaper columnists and even authors. The possibility is there if you understand the space, and put hard work into it. A professional blog consists of a steep learning curve, and is not easily done.
To be a blogger, you also do not have to have and maintain a personal blog. It helps, but you could easily write blogs and shop them around to other bloggers. Ask to write pieces on blogs from all tiers and level of influence and build your online credibility. Some you can be paid for, some you won't be. This was done years ago in the writing world when people would write editorials in newspapers, or were freelance writers, but now it's much faster and there is more to choose from.
If you do maintain your own blog, not only do you have to be a skilled writer, but you also must be a visual creature as well. Content may be king, but the look and feel of your site is prince. If you're not a graphic artist, or understand coding - get yourself a web developer because all of it goes hand in hand. A beautifully designed site, plus great content, plus having a site that is easily found by search engines like Google will help you in your path to becoming a successful and famed blogger.
At the end of the day, being a writer is still an incredible goal. I still have the aspirations I did when I was 15 to have a published book under my belt - but for now, I'm quite content with being a blogger, and aspire to be a better one. For me - being a writer and being a blogger are one in the same.