Overnight Success
April 18th 2009 07:10
“Mon cher ami, I travel all over the world; I see statues and monuments erected to poets, virtuosi, and composers; I have yet to come across a monument erected to a critic.” This quote is attributed to Fritz Kreisler, though I suspect it probably turns up under the names of a variety of different performers who've been victims of bad press.
I was reminded of it again yesterday while reading (or skimming might have been the truer word) an ebook called, 279 Days to Overnight Success, by Chris Guillebeau, who runs the site, The Art of Nonconformity. Chris paraphrased the quote at one point while talking about people who slag him off and send him angry emails - often when he's done nothing at all to offend him.
Guillebeau's e-book (which is available as a free download) is an interesting take on how to make money by being a writer on the Internet. He's been almost exceptionally purposeful about the way he's gone about it, and has obviously proved that his perseverance has paid off. (I'm not sure that he's the sort of person who's into European cruises, but he's certainly travelled one heck of a lot.)
Unlike many other bloggers (I'll call him that, although I don't think that's how he views himself), he didn't just drift into making money on the Net. He planned, and waited, and prepared, and finally launched himself/his site, and even then knew that it would take time to build up to the level he's achieved. But he's made it, and made it via that awful thing called 'sheer hard work.' Oh dear, that's not something we bloggers like to hear!
He has some pretty adverse things to say about Adsense - which I can only agree with. Apart from the fact that he points out that very few people seem to make any real money out of Adsense, he's right to note that often what's being advertised is inappropriate to the customer/reader base you have. The section on this topic is entitled, Fire Google and Hire Yourself, and he makes a very good case for doing exactly what he says.
But apart from writing for his site, Guillebeau's other major point is marketing. And again that's not something most bloggers are either good at, or inclined towards. They hope marketing will handle itself. (Or Google will handle it.)
The ebook is a great read. I recommend it thoroughly - even if you're not going to do the hard yards required.
I was reminded of it again yesterday while reading (or skimming might have been the truer word) an ebook called, 279 Days to Overnight Success, by Chris Guillebeau, who runs the site, The Art of Nonconformity. Chris paraphrased the quote at one point while talking about people who slag him off and send him angry emails - often when he's done nothing at all to offend him.
Unlike many other bloggers (I'll call him that, although I don't think that's how he views himself), he didn't just drift into making money on the Net. He planned, and waited, and prepared, and finally launched himself/his site, and even then knew that it would take time to build up to the level he's achieved. But he's made it, and made it via that awful thing called 'sheer hard work.' Oh dear, that's not something we bloggers like to hear!
He has some pretty adverse things to say about Adsense - which I can only agree with. Apart from the fact that he points out that very few people seem to make any real money out of Adsense, he's right to note that often what's being advertised is inappropriate to the customer/reader base you have. The section on this topic is entitled, Fire Google and Hire Yourself, and he makes a very good case for doing exactly what he says.
But apart from writing for his site, Guillebeau's other major point is marketing. And again that's not something most bloggers are either good at, or inclined towards. They hope marketing will handle itself. (Or Google will handle it.)
The ebook is a great read. I recommend it thoroughly - even if you're not going to do the hard yards required.
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