How many writers on wizzley?

Yes, my heart is here. :)    I know that Wizzley is a young site, with a long way to go.  In a year or two, everyone will want to be here, yet our articles will have matured nicely.

I did a search for Wizzley once. I can't remember what I was actually looking for, but I stumbled across a forum. There were a lot of veteran writers on there discussing us.  They'd all got a dozen or so articles here, but were concentrating elsewhere.

One of them commented that the only way Wizzley will grow is with quality articles coming through. She realised that she should be helping to do that, but it was just easier to leave it to other people to write.  She'd come back when we're bigger.  She admitted that was selfish of her, but she didn't feel guilty enough to actually do anything about it.

Those in the thread sheepishly agreed with her.

So que sera sera.  We're the ones who are making Wizzley great and I, for one, don't begrudge a moment of nicking all the best topics, while the likes of those ladies are waiting for an optimum time to jump in.

Well, I'm all for that. Here's to making Wizzley the best writing site on the web.

*raises my glass to toast that one*

And twelve.  I just posted another article here. *grin*

Count me in as well. Cheers.

JoHarrington: 10/28/2013 - 02:28 PM

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One of them commented that the only way Wizzley will grow is with quality articles coming through. She realised that she should be helping to do that, but it was just easier to leave it to other people to write.  She'd come back when we're bigger.  She admitted that was selfish of her, but she didn't feel guilty enough to actually do anything about it.

What a twisted attitude, and what a terrible strategy!

Here's how it works:

By giving generously of our creative talents, we simultaneously build up our own portfolio and Wizzley's authority. The latter, in turn, strengthens our authority. Give and take. Rinse and repeat.

Hopping into a made bed later on still leaves them with having to build up their own portfolio.

And Google pays so much attention to author rank - you can't simply syphon off success of a strong platform without doing your part.

Very amateurish thinking. And very telling. 

I haven't made a penny yet but I hope things will change for better. I am on and off due to some things that take my time like illness, family emergencies etc. I hope to write more and regularly on Wizzley.

One thing that I've loved about writing here is that I can branch out into niches that I couldn't on other sites. I love history and I've really been able to create deep and meaningful pieces here--compared to the sites that was short, spammy pieces. There are only a handful of places like this that I write.

I'm also enjoying building the Tudor category from the ground up. Maybe that's selfish of me...but I know the more I get up on topics that I find aren't covered as much elsewhere, the more it helps Wizzley.

I was browsing to see what people say about Wizzley last night but found that most forums threads on other sites were a year old or more with people complaining about the strict guidelines and the fact that they couldn't get published. I found it hard at first until I learnt the way that Wizzley worked and what the site was after--instead of complaining, I simply took the time to learn and work hard. But so many people refuse to do that. They want the easy way, which isn't necessarily the best!

I hear that attitude, Alex. I'm having a good go at building the retro technology niche I always wanted to elsewhere (you know, the ex-site) and was never able to because 'no one will read articles about old computers'. Oh yes? My articles on Bletchley Park have new comments and readers all the time, despite being three years old now, and my piece on the startings of the Centre for Computing History won an Editor's Choice award.

With that background I'm not fussed about whether I make money or not, because it'll happen when I have enough articles to allow people to read one niche then decide to start in on another stream of thought.

I haven't discovered my niche yet. I have noticed that a lot of  what I do write ends up in catagories that have only one or two articles in them. I guess that's a good thing.

I find this thread to be very encouraging.  I have not been writing as much since there have been so many changes to deal with at Zazzle.  Also Nightowl has been helping me with a website so we've been working on getting that going.  I don't currently spend all that much time writing here, but I sure do read the excellent articles I find.  I've learned so much about history and other subjects here, that I don't find any place else- it's just amazing.

I also use the articles here (mine and of others) to link to on my blogs.  This is the first place I look when I need a good article to point to.

I look at Wizzley as an excellent place to contribute to as I know it won't vanish because of the overload of cookie cutter, spammy pages, that cause sites to re-vamp suddenly.  I trust the good people who run this place, and that means a lot.

WordChazer: 10/29/2013 - 06:17 AM

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I hear that attitude, Alex. I'm having a good go at building the retro technology niche I always wanted to elsewhere (you know, the ex-site) and was never able to because 'no one will read articles about old computers'. Oh yes? My articles on Bletchley Park have new comments and readers all the time, despite being three years old now, and my piece on the startings of the Centre for Computing History won an Editor's Choice award.

With that background I'm not fussed about whether I make money or not, because it'll happen when I have enough articles to allow people to read one niche then decide to start in on another stream of thought.

I know which site you mean and yes, it did seem to have a very narrow view of what would make money and be read. I've been amazed on here when I find the articles that do the best: those that get the most comments, reads and have a higher percentage. They're topics I wouldn't have dared write for the ex-site because of that attitude you've mentioned.

Well done on your Editor's Choice award. Three of mine have won one so far and I love getting that email. It keeps me wanting to work hard, knowing that my hard work is worthwhile.

While I love my history niche, I have branched out into other areas with ideas that come to me. I've got a new one on the list to write today that has nothing to do with history--I just hope I have enough time in the day to actually create it!

Wizzley is an important part of my writing portfolio. I'm one of the older 'vintage' members and though I don't create as many new pages these days, I still spend a good chunk of time updating what I do have.

I love the fact that Wizzley has a lovely and friendly community and that you can publish here knowing that your articles are on a high quality site.

For anyone concerned with traffic, I would recommend trying pinterest if you haven't already. A short while back, I pinned all my articles here and that helped to increase my traffic considerably as well as my sales.

Ultimately, we are all responsible for promoting our own work. It's not Wizzley's job to promote it for us. Search engines cannot always be relied on to send traffic our way so that is where social media can play a big part. Writing the article is really just the first step - at least that's how I now see it :)

As Jo pointed out, the bonus of writing on a newer site is having your pick of topics that haven't been covered yet. As Wizzley matures, I believe that writers like Jo are really going to benefit. 

I've just signed up for pinterest. Now I have to figure out how to use it lol

kinworm: 10/29/2013 - 09:00 AM

Ultimately, we are all responsible for promoting our own work. It's not Wizzley's job to promote it for us. Search engines cannot always be relied on to send traffic our way so that is where social media can play a big part. Writing the article is really just the first step - at least that's how I now see it :)

As Jo pointed out, the bonus of writing on a newer site is having your pick of topics that haven't been covered yet. As Wizzley matures, I believe that writers like Jo are really going to benefit.

 

 

Sooo true! 

With their Panda, Penguin, and Hummingbird updates, Google had made it very clear what they want:

Original, informative, in-depth articles by real people for real people. (NOT "SEO-articles" by obscure authors, for the sole purpose of getting backlinks!)

Google recognizes "real authors" through names and profile pictures that correspond to those authors' Google+, Facebook, and Twitter accounts. And through other people's sharing of those authors' content.

Furthermore, authors should be aware of (and then completely satisfy) the targeted search queries for their content.

An article about "Pink Suspenders for Biker Dudes" should provide ALL (or most) of the available info on that subject. NOT a few teaser-paragraphs, and then a link to their website, pinksuspendersforbikerdudes(dot)com. That's so 2005!  

I've always worked on the assumption that if something interests me it will interest others, so my niche is whatever intrigues me. It's a strategy that's put food on the table for nigh on half a century; not champagne and caviar, more like beer and cheese, which I actually prefer. Making a virtue out of a necessity is the key to a contented life.

This is my only on-line writing gig because it's the only one I've found that places a premium on quality. After all the years I've spent story-telling I'm not the slightest bit interested in churning out pap for a few dollars and degrading my perception of my own self worth.

So Achim, thank you for resisting the pressure to produce quantity; there's more than enough of that around to satisfy the most undiscriminating tastes.

For the record (and I've just checked) there's currently not a single, solitary article on Wizzley entitled 'Pink Suspenders for Biker Dudes'.  First one to grab it, gets it! :D

(And good luck.)

I try to get a good mixture going on.  I'll write about things which interest me, which seem to do quite well in the long term.  Then I'll sprinkle in a few patently sales articles, which ice the cake nicely.  From what I've gathered so far, you can never predict what is going to do well and what will flop.  I've sold things which make my jaw drop, then leave me feeling very, very smug.  Simply because it was added to a 'passion' article rather than a 'sales' article.

It all goes back to 'write often, write well' to me, however it's dressed up.  And yes, I self-promote on my social networking like a spamming geek.

2 articles, Jo: 'Pink Suspenders for Men' and 'Outrageous Suspenders for Biker Dudes'. 

Tons of products out there.

Bikers won't wear 'pink'. Unless you find items that support breast cancer research.

As usual, Rupert has put it in a nutshell.

Especially the bit about quality rather than quantity.

And with that I'm off to upload an article.

(Hears shocked gasps from the gallery)

*shocked gasp*

(I know a cue when I hear one.)

I agree with kinworm. Pinterest seems to work so well here, as it's a very visual site and so is Wizzley. Threathyl (cmoneyspinner) has been extremely generous in pinning the work of others onto her Pinterest board.