The Marketing Monster Won't Let Me Write

I love to write. Ideas for stories and articles are swimming in my head like guppies in a fish tank — always multiplying. I can’t get them onto paper fast enough. I love the process of writing down the ideas, organizing them, and turning them into eclectic pieces of reading material that are varied in their appeal — entertainingly amusing, heartfelt, thought-provoking, informational, or instructive.

Since retiring 16 years ago, I have developed and written for two of my own websites, one of which was award-winning. Recently, I found myself disabled and in need of extra income. I thought I could make some cash doing what I do best — writing. I thought I could expand my exposure by writing on platforms with built-in audiences, so I signed up for Vocal, then Medium.

At first, I naively wrote my little heart out. The pent-up stories crowding my head found an outlet and an audience on Vocal. Some people were reading and responding positively. “Some” meant, in Internet vernacular, that nothing was “Going Viral” i.e., being read extensively. My most read story was a Vocal Top Story pick — that received 146 views. Where were the 1000’s of views that I kept reading other Vocal writers were getting?

There I was, sitting at my computer, bemoaning the fact that my work was getting very little traction when the terrifying MARKETING MONSTER appeared over my shoulder, attaching its talons to my typing fingers and wouldn’t let go. It opened its wide mouth, baring its pointed, ugly, rotting teeth and spewed its venomous warning — “NO AUDIENCE. NO READERS. NO ONE WILL FIND YOU UNLESS YOU MARKET YOURSELF!!!!”

I had dabbled in learning about self-promotion when I launched my talktimewithjoan website, but with the Marketing Monster persistently pointing out how dismal my reading statistics were, I delved into serious marketing research.

Days that turned into weeks of research on self-promotion and 3 “How to Get Noticed” courses later, I learned that I had to advertise myself and my writing on every Facebook Vocal writing group and every social media platform that existed on the Internet. That included Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest, YouTube, TikTok, and any other Internet Platform every Lettered Generation ( X, Y, Z, and Millennial) seem to know except Baby Boomer me.

I was then instructed that I had to read other writers’ stories, engage with the authors, give them hearts, comment on their stories, and subscribe to their content. The most ambitious of these course instructors recommended aiming to interact with 50 new writers each day.

And if I really wanted to write a story that garnered enough interest to “go viral”, I had to research the daily “trends”. If I could write a story related to what was “trending” for the day, I was told that I was assured of those thousands of readers. Since I usually knew nothing about most of the daily “trends”, more time-consuming research was required.

Do you have any idea how many hours a day all of this took? Don’t guess. I will tell you. 8–10. I spent 8–10 hours a day marketing myself and my stories on every Internet Platform I could find (which took more research time). This left little time, well, no time to actually write.

That was for Vocal. When I joined Medium, I had to beg for 100 followers before I could join their payment program. Then the entire “engagement with readers” process had to be repeated. Read their stories, clap for them, comment on them, follow them, and subscribe to their content.

I haven’t yet mentioned writing for Medium Publications, which is highly recommended for exposure. Exposure = more people reading the stuff you don’t have time to write. More people reading = more fraction of pennies earned.

So I got up every morning, got in my treadmilling as early as possible because sitting 8–10 hours a day is rather unhealthy. I then settled down to write. No, excuse me. I settled down to market myself.

Those referenced 8–10 hours later, so burned out and wired up that I couldn’t even relax enough to watch TV, I would grab a salad for supper, and try to wind down enough to fall asleep. One or two Xanax later, I would fall into a fitful sleep, only to be awakened by a blaring alarm clock at 7 AM, so I could do it all over again. This is the joy of writing?

The marketing monster has taken over my life. If I don’t market myself by posting every one of my stories (that I barely have time to write), all over the Internet, then read other writers’ work, comment, clap, heart, subscribe, and engage with them, no one will know about me and my stories. If no one knows about me, I don’t make any pennies. It is the proverbial “vicious cycle”.

This is the truth of writing on Internet Platforms. None of the “I made $5000 a month writing for Vocal, Medium, and a Zillion Other Sites” mention the massive amount of time it takes to accomplish this elusive feat.

Since I spent all this time learning the art of self-promotion, I will proudly inform you of my first 4 months of achievements in the world of Internet writing.

Vocal — Within 3 months — 2 Top Stories; 2 Creators We Love Honors; reached 1000 reads milestone; reached 50 stories published milestone; Finalist in Vocal+ Fiction Challenge.

Medium — I have been writing on Medium for 3 ½ weeks. In less than 2 weeks, I obtained the 100 followers required to be part of their payment program. Although I have “met” many nice fellow writers on this platform, my traffic is dismal. The most reads any of my articles have received is 70 for Senior Online Dating Saga. I received emails from Medium informing me that two of my stories had obtained “10 Fans” status. Other than that, I have gone completely unnoticed by Medium. I do suppose 3 ½ weeks isn’t enough time to build up an audience, but I would be lying if I said I wasn’t disappointed in the lack of readership. No, patience isn’t my strong suit.

There is some good news. After 4 months of burnout that has turned me into a pile of cinders, I have figured out a plan to get a handle on this marketing stuff and give myself more time to do what I love — write a wide variety of entertaining and informative content for you. Stay tuned for the next installment — My Organized Plan To Get You Writing More and Marketing Less — without losing followers.

***Note**** First published on Medium.com