Getting Busy with the Shaking of the Moneymaker

Welp, I've managed to take a step back from the social networking frenzy and just STOP and think for a moment. It's been a slippery slope the past few weeks, starting with Twitter (that's another story in itself), gobbling up some memes and wasting oodles of time with silly discussions on forum boards. This stuff can be entertaining, but I can easily lose focus on my writing goals with new distractions at every turn. Blinders: On.

In my header you can see talk of online freelancing and experiments with being paid to write. I've yet to try anything of that sort. So, game on. Tonight I've joined Socialspark, a writing marketplace with a social aspect and an interface that seems easily navigated. I'm starting with Socialspark because it appears a lot less flooded with bloggers (it's still in beta) and I've read mostly positive things about its writing opportunities and payment process.

I'm totally green about exactly what advertisers are looking for in a site before they contract with the blogger, but I'm eager to learn. The Fictionarium is currently a modest PR 3, but pretty focused on the writing niche and not too cluttered with ads so I have high hopes for it.

Stay tuned for freelancing updates of what's worked and what hasn't for me. You will see some sponsored posts here mixed with my creative writing projects and beloved lists. I hope to nail an assignment from Socialspark by this weekend. Please share your comments if you're involved with it or another pay per post system that's working for you.

Lab Report: Flirting with Stumbleupon and Puppet Masters

Two weeks into The Fictionarium's birth, I've already learned heaps about the mighty Stumbleupon. It certainly delivers oodles of traffic with thumbs up votes, but it's certainly fickle. Someone stumbled the blog's homepage last Monday and when I casually checked my hits while eating Goldfish crackers, I stopped mid-chew. Line after glorious line of Stumbleupon referrals, nearly 400 in under two hours. Not a landslide in Stumbleupon terms, but decent for my shiny new blog.

I've researched a fair amount since I'm not a member myself (yet) nor experienced a Stumble effect before. It seems Stumblers do make instant decisions on voting sites up or down and hardcore articles without graphics aren't big hooks. What does do well, on average, are interesting photos, jokes and weird lists. So I ambled into The Fictionarium lab and concocted a list, a very weird one, to experiment with traffic. Nearly 60 real phobias of things I simply can't imagine fearing are on my list, with little else but a sexy title. The blog was stumbled again on the post's second day with nearly 200 Stumbles this time. Tasty. Please share you Stumble insight by commenting.

I realize only a fraction of viewers might come back and even fewer will subscribe, but the exposure is great. The average visit length was all over the place, but most did not click away instantly. Many visits were three to five minutes. Considering I only have four hearty posts, I'm happy with that.

Now my favorite experiment, the Puppet Masters project. I'm encouraged by the first post initiating 17 votes for what my character Iris should decide. Researching interactive fiction like this on the Web, I didn't come up with many sites. My goals is to have this go viral, not so much for the traffic (who wouldn't want that?), but for the unpredictable element so many decision makers give my story. It's very challenging to let others take control, challenging and exciting. I'm kind of a cliff dweller anyway.

Each Puppet Master poll is open for one week and I write the next episode shortly after closing. Please spread the word, especially to friends who like to give advice! Subscribe and get your votes in. Iris's fate is in your hands.