Writing business-related question

[Xeon]

Hi all,

I need some feedback and suggestions from you experienced writers out there.

I've this business plan that will be centered around a website featuring fascinating short sagas/fantasy-based tales, written by me and all original work. My intention is to create an alternate world online, where people can escape from harsh reality once in a while. It's like a light-entertainment medium for them.

I'll be spending several thousands at least, on web site hosting, marketing and hiring graphics artists to produce artworks for my sagas.

The problem is : despite days of thinking of ways to generate a steady source of income from this website, I still cannot come up with a solid revenue model which will generate profits(I'm not looking at higher-end thousands per month, but like US$1000 or so).

A solid revenue model is crucial, so that I can re-coup my investments(web hosting, artists, marketing) and make this my day job.

I've thought of selling advertising space on my site but the problem is : 99.9% of users will come to my site for the sagas, not to click ads. Also, once they're engrossed in the sagas, the chances of them clicking or even looking at the ads is lesser than 0.01%. This will put advertisers off, sooner or later. Besides, it dilutes my branding efforts and makes the site look "commercial" instead of "cut off from the outside world" kind of thing.

The other method is to sell merchandise(mugs, stamps, stickers, shirts and pillows) with my sagas' characters printed on them. This would mean that I would need to invest further dollars into getting the artists to draw larger and more expensive graphics to put on the merchandise.

In such a case, the total costs with marketing and other expenses included would run up to around US$16000 at least, and if my readers just love to read my stories but don't see much benefits in purchasing the merchandise, I would lose this US$16000++ for good. If I can earn US$1500++ per month, at least I can still break even sooner or later.

Another revenue model is the subscription model, where customers pay for each saga they like to read, but using common sense, this will be a flop totally(in this whole world, the only website that uses the online subscription model and can still survive on it is Wall Street Journal, but even they're operating on a thin margin)

I've also thought of combining these 3, but it's still way off.

Does anyone have any ideas?

Thanks!
Xeon.

 

[the_faery_queen]

no ideas, but it is a simple fact that most businesses don't turn a profit in the first three years of trading. you don't need larger imagers, i would have thought. if you set up a cafepress shop type thing, you just resize the images you have already to be what you want. it could do as a starting point?
i also think perhaps start small.
and, to be honest, no offense, i cant imagine people being that engrossed in anything that a banner they see and fancy won't distract them. if you make sure that clicking on the banner opens in a new window, they won't loose where they are with your work, can still check out these other places. but it may make it look slightly commerical. you could have a section though, perhaps a place for writers to advertise their novels or something, and charge them for it? that way it would be a seperate page, not the main one, and as long as you dont' ask too much, i am sure there will be writers willing to do that

but ultimately, most business don't make a profit in the first 3 yars. mines been going 2 and a half and i still don't make enough to pay my wages

 

[violetann]

may be the whole: ”I'll be spending several thousands at least, on web site hosting, marketing and hiring graphics artists to produce artworks for my sagas.” Is your problem your looking too big at first you need to start small and work up.

First of all several thousands sounds a hell of a lot for web site hosting… shop around for hosting… start small but not too small, work out the minimum web space you’ll need at first and for a host which offers that at well priced and reliable. Second don’t bother making an uber huge web host at first like with everything start small, but make sure upgrading won’t cost the earth. Most hosting give a price per certain amount of extra storage and price per certain amount per extra bandwidth, which will be some of the most things you’ll use up on a site.


As for advertising NEVER underestimate the power of word of mouth. People talk to others, heck even blog or link to your site… so play on this have somewhere people can send e-cards to there friends and may be even banners they can stick on there site.. though remember to tell them to save the image to there web space because direct linking is just not cool. Also always check out sites which attract similar audiences, some have lists you can add your site to, some if you ask the web mistresses or web master if they will put a link to your site up if you add a link to there’s on a links page can help, but the street can go both ways there. But remember to start small and get VERY good meta tags, page names and always put good and appropriate name and alt tags on your images. The alt tags and image names not only help the visually impaired to use your site easily, but also help those friendly search engine bots to find useful things on your page which boosts your rank in the engine.

I can see why you want to hire graphic designers, yet high end ones will cost a bomb so may be looking into finding a friend who is very good at graphics and is willing to become a partner on it. Though this can cause more problems then hiring out.
Also remember the things have gone slower on the web since the dot.com boom went bust… god if it wasn’t so young when it happened I would have so loved to have cashed in myself in those times... Anyway you need a top end site, top end product and top end graphics to keep the clickers happy. Oh also remember the 3 click rule... if people can get to something in 3 or 4 clicks they normally can’t be bothered and shut it down.

 

[Xeon]

Thanks a lot, Faery and Violet! I think I'll start small indeed and then work my way up. Say, have you guys ever thought about how, one day, after you've written what you want to write, you're gonna run out of ideas?

Like, for example, I've a whole sea of ideas which I'm gonna put down in my book, but it seems that after this sea of ideas is used up in the first book, I've problems writing a sequel or other books.

Thanks,
Xeon.

 

[BookStop]

I agree 100% with Faery and Violet. Definitely shop around for web hosting, marketing, and artists. Thousand of dollars sounds like way too much money for what you want.

For artists, have you thought about pre-done artwork? Lots of artists are willing to cut you great deals on art they've already finished, as opposed to commision work, which will take valuable time for them.(check out the art forum here - there are links to some awesome artists)

I can see how you could easily spend a thousand dollars on marketing, but don't forget link sharing is free. Once your site is up, check with other sites that appeal to your target audience and offer to add a link on your site (seperate page so only folks interested can check it out) if they'll do the same for you.

And finally, it is true. No matter how brilliant your idea may be, it will probably take 1-3 years to see a profit, so be prepared with funding for those 3 years, just in case.

 

[violetann]

I've never realy thought i'd run out of ideas, i spose it can happen, may be thinkin about a submision side if your afraid of it.. then the writer gets a percentage if it gets read.

 

[the_faery_queen]

um yeh. well sort of. i get writers block a lot and can't fully shape an idea, so i do fear running out. thankfully i have three series in mind to do after this one, and i am hoping that i will get some ideas by then. but what goes into the series, other than the main plot, that's a worry. im already struggling with plot ideas for book 4, other than the main one.

 

[Xeon]

From BookStop:

I agree 100% with Faery and Violet. Definitely shop around for web hosting, marketing, and artists. Thousand of dollars sounds like way too much money for what you want.

LOL nah....I think I re-phrased wrongly. Actually, I'll be spending 70% on the art and 20% for marketing; the rest will be miscellaneous fees like web hosting etc(by the way, I've never thought of spending thousands on web hosting, that's crazy! ).

For artists, have you thought about pre-done artwork? Lots of artists are willing to cut you great deals on art they've already finished, as opposed to commision work, which will take valuable time for them.(check out the art forum here - there are links to some awesome artists)

Yeah, but unique/commission artwork is still the best. Using stock art/pre-done art is the equivalent of using ready-made story templates to write your book. It's an insult.

I can see how you could easily spend a thousand dollars on marketing, but don't forget link sharing is free. Once your site is up, check with other sites that appeal to your target audience and offer to add a link on your site (seperate page so only folks interested can check it out) if they'll do the same for you.

Thanks Book!

From Violet:

I've never realy thought i'd run out of ideas, i spose it can happen, may be thinkin about a submision side if your afraid of it.. then the writer gets a percentage if it gets read.

WOW.....what's that? Submit a short story and if people read it, I get paid? Where's that?

From Faery:

um yeh. well sort of. i get writers block a lot and can't fully shape an idea, so i do fear running out. thankfully i have three series in mind to do after this one, and i am hoping that i will get some ideas by then. but what goes into the series, other than the main plot, that's a worry. im already struggling with plot ideas for book 4, other than the main one.

That's the danger of being a full-time writer. If you write until you're in your late 40s and at this stage, all your ideas dry up, then it's doomsday for you, because then, you need to go find a job and that's hard, at such an age.

Anyway, I'm thinking of publishing my book via LuLu.com(a print-on-demand) service.
Have you guys used such POD, self-publishing services before?
If I go this route, I'll mainly market my book via word-of-mouth and some light advertising.
It seems that no matter how good your stories are, if the editors/agents don't like it, they won't publish it(even though the customers may like them).

Thanks all!
Xeon.

 

[the_faery_queen]

i dont like print on demand for me, personally. i kinda always wanted acceptance from a publisher to say im an ok writer. that and i can't afford to self publish! i went with a small print publisher who did accept me

lulu seem to be fairly reputable tho. and you can talk to mark robinson about self publishing, because i think that's what he did first, then he marketted it well and got accepted by an agent/mainstream publisher. i think agents will accept you if they think you're commerical. that's what you have to remember. talent/story is only part of it, i think the commerical side is a far bigger thing. that's why small print and self publishing are growing, i guess, they offer mediums for less commerical stuff.

and its hard to find a job at my age! im 29 and still can't get one

 

[Xeon]

From Faery:

lulu seem to be fairly reputable tho. and you can talk to mark robinson about self publishing, because i think that's what he did first, then he marketted it well and got accepted by an agent/mainstream publisher. i think agents will accept you if they think you're commerical. that's what you have to remember. talent/story is only part of it, i think the commerical side is a far bigger thing. that's why small print and self publishing are growing, i guess, they offer mediums for less commerical stuff.

Yeah, I guess. I could print via LuLu and after I've made some achievement, I could contact those big publishers and throw my achievements into their face.

its hard to find a job at my age! im 29 and still can't get one

How can it be? Unless you're some international terrorist, it's really easy to find a job, although it's very hard to find a job you love.
I'm a vocational school drop-out(22 yrs old) and I can get a job as a lowly office clerk, so that's not too bad.
You should be able too, and even do it better than me, because your writing/English standards seem rather good, considering that you can write so many books.

Good day!
Xeon.

 

[the_faery_queen]

im over qualified. i've got a masters degree which makes me too qualified for main stream shop type jobs, and i have no experience, which rules out pretty much everything else (its in ancient history as well, which limits it) part of the rpoblem is also not knowing what i want to do. i've tried library work (hate it) can't get admin jobs without experience, tried for shop jobs but never get past interview phase. i am going for volanteer stuff at the moment, just to get the experience

if you do still go ahead with the website melarky, as well, bare in mind that anything you put up there will be considered published. so if you do put up completely novels/stories, it may be harder to sell them. if you put it up there and do a self printed book as well, you will probably sell fewer copies, as some people won't buy it if they can read it for free. so you need to consider that too

 

[Xeon]

From Faery:

im over qualified. i've got a masters degree which makes me too qualified for main stream shop type jobs, and i have no experience, which rules out pretty much everything else (its in ancient history as well, which limits it)

How about a museum curator? A Masters' degree in ancient history is just about the coolest thing I've ever heard. You could be a teacher(start with small private schools) and write articles for history-related magazines etc.
I mean, with a MASTERS, there's so many things you can do in life!
Also, I wonder why you didn't start writing books about ancient history - you could write mythological children books, chick-lit to satisfy kids' deep curiousity, like those ancient empires etc!
Wow.....I wish I were you.

part of the rpoblem is also not knowing what i want to do.

Same as me. Exactly. I'm having an admin-job now but really hate it. I mean, I sit at the desk, filing stuff, entering data, get the papers signed by managers and other clerical work.
It's an empty life, I tell you. I'm still trying to find what I want to do ---- either writing fantasy(steam punk!) stories or selling stuff online(these 2 areas have always been my interest).
But for writing, I doubt this thing can take me very far in future......I mean, how much books can I sell before I run out of ideas? Unless I make a quick-hit of US$3 - 10++ million in book sales, I'm going to have a hard time making book-writing a career and still survive.

As for selling stuff online, I'm not sure what to sell either. What I wanna sell is always too over-crowded in the market(over-saturated competition). Sigh.

i've tried library work (hate it) can't get admin jobs without experience, tried for shop jobs but never get past interview phase.

Same as me in the past, but the best way is to get a temp admin job(2 - 3 months etc). then, after you've 3 - 4 temp admin experience under your belt, you can go on to land a perm admin clerk kind of job.
But that's what happened to me : it wasn't easy. For you, though.....it should be a piece of cake. In fact, the interviewers would serve you tea and suck up to you as well. A Masters holder applying for a entry-level job!
It's like getting a T-Rex to kill a baby lamp : you'll win 101%.

See you,
Xeon.

 

[the_faery_queen]

museum jobs are very rare, and im only specialised in ancient history, of which there aren't that many museum jobs going. i have tried tho,c os that would be cool! indiana jones type stuff!

 

[violetann]

"WOW.....what's that? Submit a short story and if people read it, I get paid? Where's that?"
I meant if you start drying up from ideas may be having s submission page on your site so others can submit stories and they get a percentage if a paying person reads it.