As you can see from the title, I think it’s time to discuss why I haven’t been releasing anything in the past month, and what this means for the blog moving forwards.
When I originally joined Steemit, I had big plans. Gradual ones, reasonable ones, yes, but big plans all the same. I wanted to be the one that proved everyone wrong, that showed that it is possible to write short stories and release them online and be successful through pure talent alone. I wanted to build up an audience and a reputation, to do something that would make me and those who know me, proud.
To some extent, I’ve seen success- a few of my posts were curie’d randomly, and received a good chunk of the magic Internet money known as “steem dollars”.
But things change, and unfortunately, due to both the results I’ve witnessed on this site and due to the change in where I will be releasing my content, I cannot move forwards in the same way I’d planned to in regards to this blog.
For the past few months I’ve experimented with releasing various kinds of content on the site, gauging the results to see what did well and what didn’t. I know this might sound rather corporate and scummy for me to do this instead of just blindly trust the system, but I did this for a different reason than you might assume.
I didn’t do it for money, I did it to see where my audience was, so I could move forwards with this in mind and create a source of content people would enjoy.
Every single ounce of the steem dollars I’ve earned so far have gone into steem power, both because I really wanted steemit to succeed where other platforms had failed, and because I wanted enough influence and visibility to allow as many people to read my stories and essays as possible. I don’t plan to withdraw this anytime soon, and I don’t care about earning anything off of it, anyway.
For me, writing is a challenge. I want to test myself, to push the boundaries of my creativity and one-up myself with each story, essay, or editorial. It’s an outlet for me to express my innermost fears and anxieties, to pour my soul out so that someone, anyone, can hear what I have to say and, maybe, reciprocate.
I make enough money narrating currently to cover my most basic of needs, and my success in that region grows by the month.
Writing will never be about the money for me.
And besides, writing is a terrible way to make money. It takes a long time, taxes you mentally and emotionally, and may end up paying jack diddly shit for all you know. Many writers much better than I have never made a single cent off their work.
So what do I expect in return for writing, and why would my output to this site change, then?
I expect a genuine reaction, and comments containing genuine feedback.
I can count on two hands the amount of times I have received any genuine feedback on my work, not counting personal friends or family. All other comments have been posted out of ulterior motives, either trying to get me to upvote their or their friends’ works because they left 2 lines of generic praise/critique, or get me involved in one of the trillions of writer’s groups on this site.
Of course, this isn’t meant to bash them or writer’s groups- humans are selfish, nosy creatures, after all. They want free money or more talent added to their trophy belt, I want genuine feedback Well, at least something more meaningful than the third-grade analysis: “I like your story because X, and I interpreted it as Y, now please give me an A.”
In addition to this, I found that the non-fiction articles, reviews, and random blog posts/essays did much more consistently better when it comes to comments and garnered more audience growth than any of my stories. Yes, the articles and blog posts where I spent about 10 percent of my effort and time for the better part of an hour did better than the stories I wrote, which took 100 percent of my effort/time for upwards of two weeks at the very least. The Candyman had original art done by me for the thumbnail, and took me more than two months to write and another month to edit.
Now, on average, I earned more money on my stories than my essays and blog posts, but like I said before...money doesn’t mean much to me. Through all of this, I learned a very valuable lesson, one that I have taken to heart and plan to work around in the coming month.
Steemit is not a good place to post fiction.
It just isn’t.
The audience here on Steemit is not one that enjoys dark fiction. The numbers don’t lie. Even if I somehow miraculously triggered curie-bot to upvote my posts multiple times (which I hear is very rare), it doesn’t take the place of genuine criticism.
I don’t like working in a near-vacuum. I also don’t like working in a circle-jerk. But I do like working, and I do like creating. I haven’t stopped...I have simply moved shop somewhere else.
A while back, I partnered with a friend of mine and helped finance/create a small publishing/production company, DimensionBucket Media. You probably haven’t heard of it. I don’t blame you- we’re a very small group, mostly composed of friends and close acquaintances, who have banded together to create a unique blend of ideas and stories.
One of the things we’ve resumed work on is our podcast, the DimensionBucket Magazine Podcast; a collection of dark speculative fiction narrated by some of our best talent, backed by music both original and classic, and mastered beautifully by our own professional audio wizard.
I contribute much of my written work (and voice) to the podcast and other related endeavors, and this is going to be taking up most of my time from here on out (in addition to my audiobook career, of course).
But I haven’t abandoned this blog.
I still make time in my schedule to consume various bits of media for both inspiration and leisure, and I have very strong opinions about what I watch. As per the results found when experimenting on this site, I will be shifting focus to something I’ve wanted to try for quite a while now.
Full-blown reviews.
Right now I already have three things I want to review- The Stand, Ready Player One (the book, but maybe eventually the movie, as well), and Frights- an anthology my friend said wasn’t very good.
I know I have been very flaky with what I’ve come out with on this blog, and I totally understand if you don’t believe me when I say this, but all of these things will be coming out periodically within the next several weeks. When, exactly? No idea- probably as soon as I get some free time to finish The Stand (I have the unabridged version...ugh) and Frights, as well as write the reviews, but they will be out relatively soon, I promise.
The Candyman, for those that gave half a shit about the project I worked really hard on, will take a much longer time to come out. I have put it on the back burner for well over a year now, and will need to revisit my old notes and try and restructure the story so my shift in writing style won’t be too shocking.
Anyways, that’s all I have to talk about for now. Sorry if this post is a bit more raw and cynical, but honestly the way things have been going have been rather disappointing. If you took offense to anything I typed, you’re probably one of the reasons I’m this bitter, so I won’t apologize for what I said. Unfollow me and report if you wish, I honestly could care less.
For the rest of you, thanks for putting up with me. I’m in a funk right now, but things are looking up. Hang in there- I promise the next post won’t be such a drag.
http://www.dimensionbucket.com/
The site I contribute stories and voicework to.
Steemit success is highly dependent on who you know and who you impress. If you don't suck up to a whale, you're counting on sheer blind luck. But whales don't usually care about fiction, and successful fiction stories on Steemit are the exception to the rule.
Hope your new approach takes off.