Re: Future ways to make a living

**l*@juno.com**

Some great points, Susan.

I think Marianne Newcomer was trying to talk about something similar two
years ago at the Philadelphia conference. (Where are you Marianne? Quit
lurking and start typing.) Something about trying to work together as a
group for our own outlet.

The pirating issue is a straight technology matter. But a persistant
pirate would be willing to print your article on paper and retype it into
his own site. Preventing theft is not where our focus needs to be.

If you have a dedicated audience, like BH&G monthly has, it doesn't
matter who else is publishing a similar story because your audience is
going to read YOUR magazine (or radio show, blog, whatever). I see this
as a marketing issue. How do you build a loyal following when no one
knows who you are or where to find your stuff?

Right now I am participating in what I hope will become a viral marketing
process with an unrelated (to gardening) web site (not a social site). If
it works well, I'll keep you all informed.

Fragments of what we are looking for are happening, for example, through
GardeningGoneWild's Design Workshops, which have referred readers to my
blog. I also get regular traffic from an Alabama artist's website. And a
few others.

I think we also need to know why other, excellent quality,
professionally-written, garden-related websites have failed as commercial
ventures.

Susan and Doreen, you are the ones who have the answer to the question
"Why would anyone compensate another person for sharing ideas or
technical information?" How do you choose one writer over another; one
article over another? Why do you pay anyone? If you could get every
writer you wanted, who would they be and why?

I sure would like to see a brainstorming group on this topic at one of
the GWA conferences. Might turn into a free-for-all, but we'd have a lot
of fun.

Regards,
Lois
Visit http://loisdevries.blogspot.com

On Fri, 15 Aug 2008 14:56:07 -0500 Susan Appleget Hurst
<Susan.Appleget-Hurst@meredith.com> writes:
Shouldn¹t we also look ahead and figure 
> out other
> ways to connect with an audience that will compensate us? A new 
> paradigm?if
> that¹s what we need to talk about?requires us to take a huge step 
> back and
> look at the big picture.
> 
> So, as Doreen asks?what are other ways we can make a living? 
> Certainly we¹re
> not the only professional communicators wondering about that.
> 
> I¹d also like to ask - from a few steps back - Why would anyone 
> compensate
> another person for sharing ideas or technical information, and how 
> might
> that exchange look in the future? OK, maybe that¹s too big a 
> question for
> the listserve, but I think it¹s worth rolling around in our heads 
> for a bit.
> 
> Susan Appleget Hurst
> 
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