YouTube, Dailymotion, and Spotify... Challenges and Payoffs

If you're a writer, especially one who stops by this blog with any regularity, then you already know how hard it is to make money in this profession. Especially when it feels like people just don't read books, blogs, and articles anymore, making it feel like you're fighting to keep your head above water with the anchor of the algorithm wrapped around your ankles. But what if you could tell stories in a way that your audience didn't have to pay money out-of-pocket for, but you still got paid at the end of the day? That sounds like something of a miracle, right?

Well, if you've been watching the rise of podcast culture, that's what it seems to be... at a glance, anyway.

So I just read the script, and then money in my pocket?

However, I think there are a lot of folks who try to go the audio route with their tales, and they aren't sure what they're in for. So I wanted to take a moment to talk about my experiences, and to pull back the curtain so folks understand what kind of ridiculous numbers you need to hit in order to pay your bills doing this.

Before we get into the nitty gritty this week, don't forget to sign up for my weekly newsletter to get all my updates right in your inbox. Lastly, to be sure you're following all of my followables, check out my LinkTree!

Let's Start With YouTube

The first place a lot of us turn to when we decide to tell stories rather than just writing them is YouTube. And why not? After all, it's the second-most-visited website in the world, and we've all heard stories of creators who made a particular video, or a series, or just got a shout out from someone famous that made them an Internet sensation overnight. We all know it's possible to make a living (and even to make a good living) on YouTube, especially with that many people tooling through the site all day.

Possible isn't the same as probable, though.

First of all, nobody starts out making money on YouTube. Before you see so much as a single cent, you need to meet the site's standards for monetization. That means you need to have 1,000 subscribers, and you need to have 4,000 hours of watched content on your channel before the site reviews you and decides whether or not to share ad revenue with you. That comes out to something like 11.5 hours of content watched every single day for an entire year, just to put that in perspective. You also have to be a viable candidate for the Google AdSense program, and even once you do all that, your videos need to be within YouTube's accepted parameters in order to keep them monetized. And the Google Adsense platform holds your earnings until you hit the $100 mark before paying out, so it could be a while if you have low traffic, or a lot of your videos get demonetized.

That's tough for folks who create content focused on horror, true crime, and anything with adult themes. So even if you manage the extremely difficult task of getting monetized on YouTube, you might end up with videos that can't make you any money no matter how popular they get.

Again, this is doable. But it's a lot more doable if you already have an audience that will find you on YouTube, subscribe to your channel, and help you get over that hurdle. Speaking of which, I create content for the Azukail Games YouTube channel, so if you'd like more audio dramas like the one above, tabletop gaming videos, and related content, come check it out and help us get monetized... we aren't quite halfway there yet, but we're trying to make that a reality in 2023 if we can.

What About Dailymotion?

I have a Dailymotion channel, and if you aren't subscribed to me there you should check me out at The Literary Mercenary. I'm front-loading this so that folks have context for the rest of this section, and what circumstances drove me to this particular site rather than YouTube. Because while I contribute to channels on YouTube, I do that as an employee, or on commission. I don't make content for my own channel there, and I probably never will.

To help The Literary Mercenary keep making content like this, consider leaving a tip, or becoming a patron:

- Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/theliterarymercenary
- Ko-Fi: https://ko-fi.com/theliterarymercenary

Follow the author's social media for the latest updates:

- Twitter: https://twitter.com/nlitherl
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/NealFLitherland
- Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/neallitherland/

Thanks to Gretchen VanHeeren for providing the voice of the lamia!

Background music from Tabletop Audio:

- The Long Rain
- Dark and Stormy
- Dark Continent

Additional Background Music

- The Introvert by Michael Kobrin (https://pixabay.com/users/21039285-21039285/?utm_source=link-attribution&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=music&utm_content=10959)

- Cold Mind Enigma by Gioele Fazzeri (https://pixabay.com/users/gioelefazzeri-16466931/?utm_source=link-attribution&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=music&utm_content=13553)

- Chasing a Killer by Gioele Fazzeri" />

Why won't I post content on my own YouTube channel, some of you are no doubt wondering? Is it because the monetization requirements are so ridiculous that it's really hard for any independent creator to meet those standards without an absurd stroke of good luck? Is it because YouTube's content moderation tends to demonetize the sort of videos I'd be likely to make on my channel, and the stories I'd want to tell?

Well yes... but it's also that I literally cannot make money there, because I'm not allowed on the Google AdSense platform. I wish that wasn't the case, as it was what I used to have on my blogs for my ad revenue needs. But about 8 years or so ago I was informed that I was being removed from the program without an actual explanation being given. When I appealed I was simply told that my appeal had been noted, but I was still banned.

So even if I made the most amazing audio drama anyone had heard in years, and it drew a massive audience, getting millions of views, all that would do is put money in YouTube's pockets. I would earn nothing from that. And since the whole point of getting onto a platform, and making content like this is to pay our bills so we can keep writing for a living, that seems like a pretty pointless endeavor to me as a creator.

When I started looking for alternatives, Dailymotion was one of the only ones that seemed functional. It has a much smaller user base, and the site doesn't have as many features as YouTube does, but I can tell you that what it does have is a significantly lower bar for entry. In order to become a Dailymotion partner you need to get 1k hits on your videos. That's it. My first video, the weird Western tale Dead Man's Bluff almost managed that all on its own in the first few weeks it was up. Just to be safe, though, I followed it up with a reading of my popular 50 Two-Sentence Horror Stories, which put me over the finish line.

None of my content has blown up big over on Dailymotion, which is frustrating since it also holds your earnings till you hit $100. If you want to help me keep my numbers up, and brighten my day a bit, check out the above story about an Old Testament angel tracking down a modern-day cult of Moloch, and if you like it subscribe to my channel, and help spread the word!

As a final note, you're not allowed to share your content between YouTube and DM, if you were thinking about trying to double your money. You might get a warning from whichever platform catches you first, but it's likely that if you try to double-host your videos you'll simply end up being able to use neither platform.

But What About Spotify?

I have not tried Spotify myself, though I have been looking into podcast platforms for putting together longer-form audio dramas that can be told in seasons. However, I do have some friends who run the Homebrew Shomebrew podcast, which is all about tabletop gaming, and they were good enough to answer a lot of my questions, and give me some insight into what they've had to deal with.

Also, listen to them if you haven't yet!

What sort of challenges are we looking at?

Now, Spotify is not the only podcast/audio drama platform out there. It is, however, the biggest one overall. But you could use websites like Anchor to help distribute and figure out your show so that it's as easy to find as possible. Of the three platforms mentioned here, Spotify has the lowest barriers to entry, especially for folks who want to make audio dramas instead of videos (though you can also upload videos to many platforms covered by Anchor as a feature, in case you had video content made and wanted to keep that as an option). Best of all, though, Spotify doesn't have the monetization requirement the previous two platforms have. So as soon as your episodes go up, bam, it's counting your views and calculating what you'll be paid.

How much you'll be paid might vary, but you don't need an audience of a specific size, or a certain number of streams, before Spotify starts calculating your earnings.

All Right, So How Much Traffic Does It Take?

And now we get to the depressing part. Because being an artist under late-stage capitalism basically means you need rock star numbers just to make poverty wages. This is true for all three of these platforms.

All right... what numbers do we need to get this injection?

I covered this back in Direct Donations Really Are The Best Way To Help Creators You Love, but since a lot of folks haven't read that blog entry, here's the numbers (on average) you're earning when you're on these platforms:

- YouTube pays (roughly) $3-$5 per 1,000 views (when ads get seen, that is)

- Dailymotion varies wildly, my experience is something like .05-.10 per 1k views

- Spotify pays about .04 per 10 streams, or about $1 per 200 streams

Now, of the options presented here, Spotify is definitely coming out the winner in terms of user friendliness, platform size, and actually paying you what you're owed. While the exact rate will fluctuate (this is an average, after all), it's important to take a moment to consider what you're actually making at this rate.

Let's say that you get on Spotify, and you start cranking out material. Maybe you're writing a podcast to tell a longer, inter-connected story, or maybe you're just doing stand-alone audio dramas for people to listen to. Whatever your format of preference is, you're recruiting listeners, trying to get as many folks onboard as you can, and to keep your numbers up. Now we'll take it a step further, and say you have a relatively modest rent. $1,000 a month is not out of the question, especially if you're the breadwinner of your household. How many streams would you need to get just to pay your rent with your art?

250,000. Every month. You would get paid $1,000 for that.

Now, $1,000 a month sounds awesome... but could you pay all your bills for that? Buy food once bills were paid? Could you buy the equipment upgrades you'd need to keep the show going, or pay other voice actors to ensure your content was up-to-snuff going forward? Probably not.

The irony, of course, is that if you draw a quarter-million streams a month, you aren't depending on the payout from your traffic for your bills. If you have that kind of profile, your show will have sponsors. You'll have members of your audience donating to a Patreon, or buying you a Ko-Fi so you can keep the wheels turning. You'll have offers to open a merch store where folks can buy things to ensure your profits stay up, and you can cover your bills, and keep producing the content people like.

That's the Catch-22 of all of this. Because if you're a newer creator, you need that kind of time to build up your catalog, expand your audience, and so on. But you aren't earning any money while you do that. Whereas if you have the kind of traffic that's paying your bills, now you've got people lining up to pour icing on your already iced cake.

So if you have a creator you love, take a moment today to help them out. Trust me, they need all the help they can get.

If You'd Like To Start With Me...

For folks who've stumbled across this post, and would like to help me haul myself up a rung or two, here's a handy list of the places you can go where your efforts would be much appreciated!

- My Facebook

- My LinkTree

- My Weekly Newsletter

- The Azukail Games YouTube Channel (where I contribute video content)

- My Daily Motion Channel (longer videos that won't show up on YouTube)

And if you happen to have some spare dosh lying around, consider become a Patreon patron, or leaving a tip by Buying Me a Ko-Fi!

Like, Follow, and Stay Tuned!

That's all for this week's Business of Writing!

If you'd like to see more of my work, take a look at my Vocal archive, or at My Amazon Author Page where you can find books like my sword and sorcery novel Crier's Knife as well as my recent collection The Rejects!

If you'd like to help support my work, then consider Buying Me A Ko-Fi, or heading over to The Literary Mercenary's Patreon page! Lastly, to keep up with my latest, follow me on Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter, and now on Pinterest as well!

Direct Donations Really Are The Best Way to Help Creators You Love

 I talk a lot about how to best support creators on here, mostly because a lot of the content consuming public doesn't actually know the ins and outs of how their activity translates into funding for those artists they like. And this week I wanted to remind everyone that if you want to keep the creators you like in business, the best thing you can do is give money to them directly. It doesn't have to be a lot, but services like Patreon, Ko-Fi, etc. are your best bet when it comes to making sure your favorites can keep food in the cupboard and rent covered from month-to-month.

Incidentally, folks who get to the end of this and decide they want to help fund my efforts are encouraged to check out The Literary Mercenary's Patreon page in addition to my Ko-Fi!

Seriously, every little bit helps!

Before we get into the nitty gritty this week, don't forget to sign up for my weekly newsletter to get all my updates right in your inbox. Lastly, to be sure you're following all of my followables, check out my LinkTree!

Eyeballs Versus Donations

When most of us think of supporting the creators we love, we think about following them on social media, sharing their posts, buying their books, reading their blogs/articles, or watching their YouTube videos. And all of that is helpful, don't get me wrong... but it's not always as helpful as just handing the artist you love a tip and saying, "You do good work, champ, keep it up!"

And to illustrate this point, I'd like to throw some numbers at folks.

- YouTube pays roughly $3-$5 per 1,000 video views.

- Spotify pays roughly $0.04 per every 10 streams (meaning you need more than 200 streams just to earn $1)

- Vocal (where I put articles like 5 Tips For Playing Better Evil Characters) pays $6 per 1k reads if you're a Vocal+ member. Half that if you use the free version.

- Sales for an RPG product like 100 Cults to Encounter can range from $0.15 to $0.40 each.

- Sales for a novel like my sword and sorcery tale Crier's Knife range from $2-$4 each.

Now ask how popular something would need to be to pay your rent.

Looking at this, there's no denying that your eyeballs and activity have value as a member of an audience. However, even if you leave a video, stream, or channel on all day, you probably didn't earn that creator more than a handful of nickels. Even if you spent hours every day digging through a blog or article archive reading everything you found, it would be worth maybe a couple of dimes. Even buying a copy of three dozen RPG supplements, or an arm load of novels, would only earn that creator a couple bucks.

Incidentally, this is the reason so many individuals have sponsors for their work. Even I was lucky enough to get a sponsor for my article How To Build The Catachan Jungle Fighters in The Pathfinder RPG, and that sponsorship was really the only meaningful payment I received for putting that guide together.

Now, does that mean you shouldn't listen to music by bands you like, watch YouTube videos of creators you enjoy, or read blogs? Absolutely not! We all create this content for it to be enjoyed by people like you. However, in order for traffic alone to pay our bills we would need a truly massive audience who were all tuning in and reading/listening/watching every single day, sharing the links on their socials and making sure our signal got boosted to hell and back.

Most of us don't have that. We probably never will, no matter how hard we work.

Direct Support is What's Most Effective

Do you have $1 you could spare to help keep a creator whose work you enjoy flowing? For most of us out there (even those of us with very limited budgets) the answer is probably yes. We could scrounge 4 quarters from the couch, and pass that along to an artist we love.

We could. But most of us don't.

So come on... help a fellow out here?

Consider this. I have just over 800 people following my Neal F. Litherland Facebook page at time of writing. That's really not a lot of followers for a professional creator. However, if every person who has elected to follow me all went to my Patreon page and pledged $1 a month, my monthly bills would go from, "Making me sweat bullets as I struggle to make ends meet," to, "Everything's paid for, I can actually save a little bit, and maybe splurge on a pizza on game night."

Hell, if even half of the people on that page all became $1 patrons, my bills would be covered. Things would still be close, but I would worry far less than I do now. I might even be able to take my foot off the gas a little bit to work on larger projects that don't have a 1-month turnaround because I could financially survive long enough to get new novels, RPG campaign paths, or equally big projects finished and ready for my readers to check out.

Again, the lesson here is not that we should all stop streaming music, watching videos, or reading blogs. Rather that we need to all acknowledge that if we really want to help the creators we love actually cover their bills that it's better to just give them a little tip, in addition to watching, listening, sharing their content on social media, buying merch when you can, etc.

Because it just makes the bigger impact... even if all you're giving is pocket change.

Also, before I forget, if you haven't subscribed to the Azukail Games YouTube channel yet, please do so! Audio dramas, world building, game discussions, and more are going on over there, and we're trying to get the thing monetized by the end of the year. We need 1k people and 4k hours of watched time in the past year, and we're nowhere near that level.

Like, Follow, and Stay Tuned!

That's all for this week's Business of Writing!

If you'd like to see more of my work, take a look at my Vocal archive, or at My Amazon Author Page where you can find books like my noir thriller Marked Territory, its sequel Painted Cats, my sword and sorcery novel Crier's Knife as well as my recent collection The Rejects!

If you'd like to help support my work, then consider Buying Me A Ko-Fi, or heading over to The Literary Mercenary's Patreon page! Lastly, to keep up with my latest, follow me on Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter, and now on Pinterest as well!

If You Need Support as a Creator, Ask For It (You Might Be Surprised)

When you're an author you basically live or die on the support of your audience. It doesn't matter how much you write, what platform you use, or who publishes you... if you don't have an audience reading your work, at the end of the day you don't get paid. That's just the way it is.

Audience support goes beyond just sales, though. The algorithms on social media sites like Facebook and Twitter give preference to accounts that have the most subscribers. Books that have the most reviews, or videos that have the most upvotes, are the ones that get recommended to other shoppers and viewers, thus making it more likely for them to check out your work. So while buying books puts money directly into creator's pockets, reviewing books, following pages, commenting on and sharing posts, these things are all extremely important.

So how do you get people to help you out when you're a creator? Well... the easiest way is to just ask.

We've got to pump those numbers up! These are rookie numbers!

Before we get into the nitty gritty this week, don't forget to sign up for my weekly newsletter to get all my updates right in your inbox. Also, if you've got a bit of spare cash that you'd like to use to help keep the wheels turning, consider becoming a Patreon patron!

Lastly, to be sure you're following all of my followables, check out my LinkTree!

It Really Is That Simple

There's are two, major schools of thought I've seen regarding building a following which I think are extremely silly, but a lot of people seem to buy into. First is the idea that people who see your work will be so struck by it that they will spontaneously follow all the things you release, give you good ratings, and binge all of your content. Don't get me wrong, those fans are great when you find them, but they are few and far between, so you shouldn't depend on them to do the work for you. Second is this idea that you have to be some kind of puppet master, using the proper keywords and oblique suggestions to plant the idea in your audience's mind that they should follow your channels, share your posts, etc. This school says that just coming out and telling them what to do is crass, and it's more likely to result in them not doing it because you weren't subtle enough.

Your audience is skittish, and you need to come at them sideways.

The idea that you need to be quiet about how your audience can help you reminds me of an example I was given in a textbook for a marketing class back when I was in college. You're at the mall looking for a new pair of shoes. There are two stores that both have the same model you want. The price is exactly the same, but you know if you buy from one store then a salesperson you like will get the commission. That knowledge that your actions are directly helping someone out can be the tipping point that sends you to their store, rather than somewhere else.

It's the same when you make content online. Because most people who consume our content don't think of things in terms of audience size, review numbers, traffic, and algorithm inertia. Generally it just comes down to, "Did I like that thing I just saw?" and occasionally the yes is strong enough for them to click the like button, or to subscribe to us all on their own. But if you don't want to leave it up to chance, take your audience's hand and tell them explicitly how they can help you keep producing content by liking, subscribing, sharing, buying copies, etc.

A personal example of this that I had recently was reaching out to the various communities familiar with my work to try to build the following on the Azukail Games YouTube channel. While grabbing around 40 fresh subscribers in a day is child's play for a lot of folks, it's probably the largest 1-day jump the channel has experienced in some time. While that only put it up to 195 subscribers (and it needs 1,000+ before it can get monetized) that's not a bad start. And all I did was tell people the channel existed, tell them how far we were from our goals, and asked for a bit of help boosting the signal and subscriber base.

Incidentally, if you're reading this and you enjoy world building, audio dramas, and listening to creators talk about their work, consider subscribing yourself to help boost the signal!

So if you want to get people to support your work, tell them how. Tell them often. Because it might feel repetitive, but a lot of people don't actually know how to support you, or even think about it at all while they're enjoying it. Be direct, be clear, and give people actionable instructions. Don't drop hints and hope for the best, because then you have no one to blame but yourself for your audience moving on without hitting any of the buttons you want them to.

Like, Follow, and Stay Tuned!

That's all for this week's Business of Writing!

If you'd like to see more of my work, take a look at my Vocal archive, or at My Amazon Author Page where you can find books like my noir thriller Marked Territory, its sequel Painted Cats, my sword and sorcery novel Crier's Knife as well as my recent collection The Rejects!

If you'd like to help support my work, then consider Buying Me A Ko-Fi, or heading over to The Literary Mercenary's Patreon page! Lastly, to keep up with my latest, follow me on Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter, and now on Pinterest as well!

Nobody Gets Audience Attention Like a Heel!

A lot of writers out there focus on being liked. Often this leads to them trying to keep their actual thoughts and opinions behind the curtain, always presenting a pleasant, positive face to the audience. Other times it means writers just ignore negative elements that come their way, hoping that the trolls will stay silent if they don't feed them, and just keep on walking.

This led to an interesting comparison from a friend with a good sense of marketing. Writers who focus on being the good guy, taking the high road, etc., are a lot like the Faces in professional wrestling. Short for "Babyface," the term refers to the obvious heroes that the audience is supposed to root for.

Then there's the heels... which are basically the opposite of that.

Oh shit... who just dropped the bass?

It's a rough gig being a heel. Your persona is often abrasive, or at the very least doesn't give much of a damn whether the audience likes them or not. A lot of hate gets thrown your way, because after all, you're a contrast to the good guys. But there's a weird phenomenon there, too. Because a lot of people actively support heels. And even the people who absolutely hate them often end up boosting their earnings and signal in unintended ways.

 

Also, before we go any further, remember to sign up for my weekly newsletter!

Rage Shares Still Put Money in Your Pocket

I had a recent incident involving this, so I thought I'd share it as an example.

About a month ago I wrote an article titled Captain America is Chaotic Good. It received the editor's pick when it first went up on Vocal, and as soon as I got some space in my promotions calendar I shared it around in all my usual groups for tabletop gaming and assorted geekery. I knew two things going in. First, that Cap is a very popular character thanks to the wide spread of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Second, I knew that discussions on pop culture characters through the lens of the alignment system used in tabletop games like Dungeons and Dragons often leads to pretty divisive conversations... which makes them fertile ground for an article that pays me based on how many people read it.

Brace yourself... the flame wars are coming!

It definitely got noticed. It didn't go viral by any stretch of the imagination, but there were quite a lot of reactions and comments, and more than a handful of shares to help drive up engagement. While I generally try to avoid stirring the pot personally as long as other people are taking care of the interacting, there was one person in particular whose behavior basically sums up exactly the sort of energy you can capture as a heel.

To paraphrase his opinion, he felt that opinion articles from random nobodies on the Internet discussing pop culture characters through the lens of gaming are a huge waste of time. However, stating this opinion in the comments section just meant there was more attention on the post. And then, just to prove how much he didn't care, he shared the link to his own Facebook wall to rant about it to his friends list about how useless he felt this sort of content was.

 

This is sort of like when conservatives, so outraged that Nike had partnered with an outspoken critic of police violence, bought new shoes for the express purpose of burning them in protest. It sends the opposite message you're intending if your protest actually increases the company's bottom line... but they didn't seem to realize that.

And if you find yourself in a situation like this, where someone absolutely rages against a thing you've written? Perhaps the best thing you can do is to simply tell them that if they don't like this kind of content, then maybe they should just scroll on by so that someone who is actually interested in it can take a look. Or, if you really want to shine them on, drop them a heart react and tell them thanks for the comment/share, because every little bit of attention really helps!

There Are Risks, Of Course

Before you go out there and start strutting around, loudly telling people booing you that you can't hear them so they increase their negative reactions to boost your signal, I'd like to add some caveats to this marketing strategy.

Firstly, unlike an actual wrestling heel, you're probably going to do more damage to yourself if you're legitimately rude and confrontational. Group mods don't care for it, and you can find yourself losing favor relatively quickly. Hence my suggestion of thanking folks slinging hate your way, because that will only increase the amount of attention they're giving you while you haven't said anything rude or insulting to them in the process. Sort of lets you have your dessert, and eat it too.

Not sure what else you do with a dessert, but whatever.

The other concern is that this strategy works better in some circumstances than in others. With the article I used as an example, it's perfect because the site only cares how many reads/views it gets when calculating my pay. There's no down vote on it, no place to leave angry comments or a 1-star review. If this same reaction was being had to my novel Marked Territory, then it's entirely possible that a lot of people would just leave it poor reviews to try to tank my score. Ideally they'd at least have to buy a copy to do that, but there's plenty of ways around that requirement as well.

Put simply, the more options the angry readers have to retaliate, the bigger the chance there is this could blow up in your face.

Additionally, I feel I should mention the simple caveat that I am not in the categories of folks who are most at risk from online harassment. I'm a big, white dude, so I don't present the same target as female-identifying individuals, creators of color, etc., etc. This is the sort of risk-reward proposal that I stand pretty good odds of coming out ahead on. So, before following in my footsteps on this one, make sure you're not putting yourself at serious risk in the hopes of earning a few extra bucks.

Like, Follow, and Stay Tuned!

That's all for this week's Business of Writing! If you'd like to see more of my work, take a look at my Vocal archive, or at My Amazon Author Page where you can find books like my noir thriller Marked Territory, my sword and sorcery novel Crier's Knife as well as my recent collection The Rejects!

If you'd like to help support my work, then consider Buying Me A Ko-Fi, or heading over to The Literary Mercenary's Patreon page! Lastly, to keep up with my latest, follow me on Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter, and now on Pinterest as well!

Looking To Make Some Money Writing? Check Out Vocal+!

I like to keep you guys up-to-date on writing opportunities that I find, so I figured I'd let you know about one that I've recently decided to participate in. It's a site called Vocal+, and if you'd like the potential to earn some real cash then I would take a few moments to actually check it out!

How many reads was that? Of course, I'll get your deposit sent right out.

What's The Difference Between Vocal and Vocal+?

For those regular readers who've been here for a while, you might remember that a little over a year ago I wrote a post titled Want To Make Money Writing? Check Out Vocal! Vocal is a website that allows you to create content for any of the dozens of websites it runs, and it pays you based on the number of reads your traffic generates. Readers can tip you, and you earn roughly $3.80 for every 1k reads your work generates.

That's total, not per every individual article.

Not a bad start... what else ya got?

Vocal+ is the same site, but with a bit of a twist. While you can still join Vocal for free and create content that you get paid for, there's a new membership program you can opt into now. Vocal+ is fairly cheap at the moment ($50 for the first year of membership for founders at time of writing), and that membership gets you several perks that can really pay off if you're a serious contributor.

First is that it nearly doubles the rate of pay you receive on your views. For my two cents, that can pay for itself in the first month if you write as little as one article per week (and if something gets popular, it can let you capitalize on the explosion). In addition to that handy perk, though, Vocal+ members receive a bigger amount of their tips, and they have a lower payout threshold than traditional, free members do ($20 versus the site's standard $35).

Not a bad start, and there are several more features in the pipeline that members will get access to before everyone else does.

A Sign of Growth

While the membership package is being used as a way to bring new features online, boost visibility, and increase the amount of regularly contributing writers, it's also a positive sign of growth from Vocal. This kind of plan (which is going to increase to roughly $10 per month for membership after that initial introductory period) shows that Vocal is making a push to recruit more (and more serious) creators, and to grow its profile even larger than it's been already.

Which is why I'd recommend the folks out there looking to make some money give it a try.

It's working out okay for me so far!

I've been on the site for a year or so now (you can check out my Vocal archive if you're curious), and I noticed the change immediately when I signed up. I wasn't exactly paying rent with my Vocal traffic, but in the first few weeks I more than made up for my investment in my membership. I'm looking forward to seeing where it goes over the next year or so, and I thought I'd boost the signal for any other writers out there looking to start making a little bank.

That's all for this week's Business of Writing! If you'd like to see more of my work, take a look at my Vocal archive, or at My Amazon Author Page where you can find books like my sword and sorcery novel Crier's Knife!

If you'd like to help support my work, then consider Buying Me A Ko-Fi, or heading over to The Literary Mercenary's Patreon page! Lastly, to keep up with my latest, follow me on Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter, and now on Pinterest as well!

5 Reasons Donald Trump is Literally The Devil! (An Introduction to Clickbait)

No one likes clickbait. Yet, despite how much we profess to hate it, it is everywhere. Clickbait jams our social media feeds, blows up our phones, and in the case of posts like this one, decorates our favorite blogs. Why? Why can't blogs, websites, Youtube channels, and the rest of the media just give us the information we need instead of trying to fish hook us with garbage? Why is clickbait so endemic to our modern, technological news stream?

You're really not going to like the answer.

Well, firstly, you should know that clickbait is not new by any stretch of the imagination. According to Cracked, newspapers in the U.S. have been using clickbait style headlines and listicles since at least the year 1908. None of those articles won awards, though, which is why we tend to forget they existed. The same way there was a ton of crappy music released over the past several decades, but we forget about it because the classic hits are the only ones that get played on the radio.

Why do we, as authors, use clickbait? The answer is pretty simple; because readers keep clicking it.

Yeah, I didn't want to believe that either. It's why for the first several years I operated as a blogger I didn't advertise in the title that I had numbered lists in some of my posts. Nor did I use titles that were specifically meant to act as a hook. I stated what the post was about in a clear, concise manner, and I trusted readers to click-through if that was what they were looking for.

Then, in the interest of experimenting with style, I wrote a post titled The 5 RPG Characters We Should Stop Playing. I'm used to my posts getting a few hundred hits on average, and maybe 3k-5k for really popular posts. That post got over 30k hits in a weekend. Upon further investigation, I realized it was because the title hit just the right degree of outrage, and it promised a comprehensive list, which are the two things you need for people to blow up the comments section, and share it with all their friends (either because they love it, or hate it).

I kept experimenting, and the results kept coming in. Articles that I wrote with titles like 5 Tips For Playing Better Paladins, and the follow-up 5 Tips For Playing Better Barbarians, consistently get more traffic than articles that don't use the standard "clickbait" format. And when you find a tool that gets results, you use it. Even if you don't particularly care for it, and you wish you had a different way to keep your numbers climbing. Because otherwise, your bills don't get paid.

What Makes "Good" Clickbait?

While the idea of "good" clickbait might be an oxymoron to a lot of readers, there are dos and don'ts when it comes to using this particular format to get more readers to see what it is you're talking about. Amanda Mannen and T.L. Bodine lay out the basics in My Job Churning Out The Garbage Behind Clickbait Titles, but a lot of the high points could stand to be reiterated.

If you're going to polish a turd, make it shine.

The first ingredient of functional clickbait is some kind of strong, visceral target. Take the title of this piece. Trump is a polarizing figure. People who hate him would click that title just to see what sorts of terrible things he's done, and people who support him would click it to see what new incidents they'll need to defend him against. In both circumstances, you have a topic that's likely to draw a lot of eyes, and which bypasses intellectual curiosity entirely to get at something deeper, and more primal.

The next thing you need is a title that implies something. It's why so many pieces of clickbait have titles like "5 Things That Could Kill You Before You Drink Your Coffee," typically with an addition in parentheses like (Number Three Will Shock You!). You're making your reader a promise that if they click your link, you are going to shock and amaze them. Or outrage them, as the case might be. You don't tell them how, in the same way old-style magic posters didn't tell the audience the full run-down of the act. They simply promised to amaze, and that was enough to get people to walk into the theater.

Lastly, you should have a number. It sounds like such a little thing, but people love lists. If you tell someone you've uncovered a celebrity scandal, that may or may not get them to click your link. But if you tell them you've put together a list of the top ten celebrity scandals, well, that is something quantifiable. That intrigues the brain, and even if you're an expert on the subject being discussed, you still want to know which incidents made the list. And if you're making a list, then you should really shoot for a top five, if not a top ten. Sometimes you can get away with three, but readers like divisions of five, for some reason.

If You Deliver, They'll Keep Coming Back

One of the biggest compliments I've received on one of my pieces was, "Clickbait title, but the article delivers." Which is another way of saying, "This sounded like bullshit, but I read it, and everything seemed pretty legit to me."

That is a difficult reaction to get, but if you can manage it you will find your readership growing in fairly short order. Because even if your titles are sometimes a little heavy on the vitriol, or you have to stretch your numbers to make the list, people still value quality. Even if your quality is pressed into a clickbait format, readers are going to pay attention to the things you do. If you don't believe it, just look at the following Matthew Santoro has over on YouTube. Seriously, if clickbait didn't work, none of us would dedicate this amount of time and effort to it.

That's all for this week's Business of Writing post. Hopefully you enjoyed it, and you now have a little more insight regarding why there's so much clickbait online. If you'd like to help support me in all my endeavors, why not stop by The Literary Mercenary's Patreon page? All I ask is $1 a month, and there's some sweet swag in it for you! Lastly, if you haven't followed me on Facebook, Tumblr, or Twitter yet, well, why not start today?

How Many Book Reviews Do You Need Before Amazon Promotes You?

So, you have a book available for sale on Amazon. Congratulations! However, you soon begin to realize that you threw a small rock into a big pond. It might be a great rock. It might even, in fact, be a diamond the size of your fist. The problem is that only a select few people, those already in your audience and whom you have promoted your book to, have seen it. Your ripples, in other words, didn't get you noticed.

Goddammit! My sales rank slipped again.

If you're wondering why your Amazon sales are low, chances are good it's because you aren't pushing the site's red buttons. Or, in technical terms, the activity on your sale page isn't satisfying Amazon's algorithm.

Please The Algorithm, And Sell More Books

For those of you whose eyes glazed over in math class, an algorithm in this sense is a formula used by a search engine to determine how good or bad a given page is. It's like that extremely shallow roommate you used to have who ranked people's value based on an arbitrary measurement of how much they made, how tall they were, and how many Monty Python references they could catch in a single evening. The only difference is the criteria used by an algorithm to determine how good, or how bad, a given page is.

That's why, when you do a Google search, some pages end up at the front of the line, and other pages end up 10,000 pages further along. The algorithm has decided that the pages with the right keywords, a lot of traffic, and regular updates, among other things, are the ones that are the best match for what you're searching for. And when we're talking about Amazon, the algorithm decides what order books show up on in searches, as well as which books appear on the front page, and in the, "customers who bought this also bought X," bar that makes recommendations along the bottom of the screen.

If the Amazon algorithm likes you, it promotes you, and promotion like that translates into more sales. If it makes it easier, think of the Amazon algorithm as the bouncer at the bestseller club. If you make it your friend, and it decides it likes you, not only will it let you in, but it will call you out of line, and tell you to go straight to the VIP lounge for being such a great author.

So, how much will it cost me?

Sadly, the loyalty of the Amazon algorithm cannot be bought. Nor can it be manipulated, since Amazon keeps the details of what the algorithm looks for a closely-guarded company secret. However, if you want to get the algorithm on your side, there are some things you can do.

#1: Sell Books

In some ways the algorithm is a self-perpetuating cycle. If you sell books, then the algorithm notes that you're a high-selling product, and it promotes you. While this might not help you much right now, it will be an aid if you start picking up consistent sales with the other tips.

#2: Keywords and Ranking

What's true at Google is true on Amazon; sometimes it's all about your tags. If you write in a niche genre, and you climb to the top of that genre's charts, then you're more likely to get extra attention. For example, you might be in the top 50,000 in sci-fi, but you're top 10 in steampunk. So that gives you an advantage. And, of course, if you have a title, a genre, or something else (like your name) that's getting searched a lot, that's going to increase your ranking as well. Because...

#3: Activity

This is where we get down to the bone and marrow. If your page gets a lot of traffic, even if you're making few sales, Amazon is going to notice that. If you change your price (especially if you make your book cheaper for a time), that could gain you some traction. That strategy should only be used every 6 weeks or so, though, according to The Book Designer. But one of the biggest, most important things you can do when it comes to activity on your book, is getting it reviewed.

Every time someone reviews your book, that's like refreshing your standing with the algorithm. It's significant activity that shows people are paying attention, and if people are looking at something, Amazon wants to sell it to them. And if enough of that activity builds up, Amazon is going to start letting your book cut to the front of the line, and featuring it near other titles, since it's clear people are reading it, and that it's popular.

How Many Book Reviews Do You Need?

The magic number, according to a lot of authors is around 50. According to R. R. Virdi (whose Amazon author page you should really check out), there is a definite difference in how Amazon treats you when you have 50 reviews, as opposed to only 10 or 20. That includes showing up higher in search results, as well as finally appearing alongside some of your competition when it comes to their pages.

Which is why I'd be much obliged, if I could persuade you to stop on by?

So, with that in mind, I'd like to remind my readers that if you love noir, steampunk, and stories that will gently wrap their fingers around your heart before squeezing till it pops, check out my book New Avalon: Love and Loss in The City of Steam. The first two stories are free, and it's part of Kindle Unlimited. If you do get your hands on it, please leave a review. Good, bad, ugly, or otherwise, I'd be pleased to hear your thoughts.

As always, thanks for stopping in to check out this week's Business of Writing post. Also, if you'd like to help keep this blog going strong, why not head over to The Literary Mercenary's Patreon page to toss a little bread in the jar? As little as $1 a month will have a big impact, and it will get you a free book to boot! Lastly, if you haven't done so yet, please follow me on Facebook, Tumblr, and Twitter to stay up-to-the-minute on all my latest.