Sep 16 2009
It Is Not Just About Money
Hello. I guess I haven’t written anything for this site in awhile. I have been busily pumping out articles. Between the writing and the research required, I haven’t even had a moment to breathe. I believe I mentioned in my post, Building A Portfolio, that other reasons to write, besides the minimal amount of money that I make, building readership and references, as well as web exposure. Well since then I have discovered some other perks in writing for Examiner.com.
My position as Southern Colorado Literature Examiner can also be used as a form of networking. Now I am not talking about the kind of networking that is aimed at building readership, (although it does). I am talking about making connections with my fellow writers, authors and other professionals in the writing and publishing fields. Since I do author profiles, I usually contact the authors and ask them to answer a few questions, so my profiles will be accurate and also so that I can include some direct quotes and information that you won’t find anywhere else on the web in my articles. At first, I looked at this as just a necessary step in getting the story, but to my surprise and delight, many of these authors have joined my Windows Live Network and/or correspond with me regularly via e-mail or Facebook. Believe it or not, friendships with other authors and writers are blossoming from my article seeds!
These friendships are the kind that both parties can benefit from, too. For instance, authors that correspond regularly keep me updated as to their activities, and I write about anything they are doing that is newsworthy. As a result, they get their name out there and several authors have asked to link to my profiles and/or reviews on their websites, which in turn brings traffic my way. One author even shared information about the Southern Colorado Literature Examiner with her writing group, which brought me several new readers, as did contacts with members of The 5th Monday Writers in Chaffee County. Both the authors and I benefit from these connections and I become more and more of a professional in my field every single day. Let me tell you, it feels great!
In order to do reviews, you have to read the books that you are reviewing. Since most (not all) of the books I review are either getting ready to come out or have been just recently published, I foresaw difficulties in getting my hands on these books. Another pleasant surprise was that most of the time, if I just contact the authors and request a review copy (or ARC), they are delighted to send me one. Again, this is an opportunity for them to get some press, so they have no problem in sending out the materials to be reviewed. So reading the works has turned out to be much easier than I had anticipated, and has in fact, turned out to be another fringe benefit of the job.
While it is true that these benefits are probably niche specific and if I had opted for another area to write in, I would be looking at different advantages, I would bet that every topic area has a few. Entertainment or celebrity examiners probably make connections with celebrities, rather than authors, and relationship or domestic examiners may make contact with counselors or social workers, but I would bet that the connections are being made, no matter what the area of expertise. The point is that there is more to this writing business than just making money. While I would love to make enough to write full time, I see this to be a slow uphill climb, and these little perks just make it easier along the way.
(If you would be interested in writing for Examiner.com, please leave a comment here or contact me at angelslight34@hotmail.com, and I’ll show you how to apply.)
To Be A Cat
To be a cat wouldn’t be so bad
Lazing around all day in the sun
Sharpening my nails on the scratching post
Maybe teasing the dog just for fun
Of course, there’s all that fur to clean
The hairballs must be horrendous
And eating mice doesn’t sound so good
Trying to catch them would be stupendous
Then there’s always the possibility
Of being chased by a dog
And you wouldn’t be very fast, you see
Because you’ve lain around all day like a log
On second thought, I really don’t think
That I would want the life of a cat
There has got to better things to do
Than to lay around and get fat
Copyright ©2009 Kaye Lynne Booth
