It's been over a week since I have written here since I am on Holiday in the Dom. Rep. I have be able to do some writing, but not a ton to be honest. I had hoped to be able to put up a few posts here but the internet connection has been spotty at best. Even today's post, is more about keeping up with my routine then it is, having something insightful to say. So I will say goodbye for now, and I will be back here on Sunday when I am back in Toronto and it a better position to contribute something other than an inspiring weather forecast, or the list of fruity drinks I have consumed today.
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Most of us - yes myself included - who are on Twitter probably follow 10x, or even 100x as many people who follow us. In the past two weeks however, since I have started writing my fantasy sports columns, I have been averaging 3-5 new twitter followers per article. I know that doesn't sound like a lot, but considering I only had about 30 followers before I started this journey, that is an increase of more than 50%.
I must admit, it is very humbling having someone who is not a friend, or relative add you to Twitter and then even reach out and ask you a question. I can imagine it is the same feeling a new teacher must have, in their first few weeks of teaching. They remember back to when they were in school and were asking their teachers their own questions. Only a few weeks ago, I was that student asking other people I followed on Twitter questions about all sorts of topics. Anyway, as I have continued to stress in this blog, my Fantasy Sports writing side project was not meant to highjack the content of this space. But what it does keeps showing me, is that with hard work and a little discipline, that social media can be a great way of getting yourself out there. To promote whatever it is you want to do. Myself, I want to be a writer. One day I want to see Cloud 10 in print on the shelves in bookstores and available everywhere books are sold online. And while I am still miles away from becoming a novelist, I can take pride in the satisfaction that there are people out there, who are enjoying reading my work. And you know what? That is pretty satisfying. I look forward to the time when I start finding an audience on this platform and I have the same interaction as I do with my new band of Twitter followers. My second article focuses on why fantasy sports players should consider taking their own fan opinions, out of their fantasy decision making.
I promise that is as much as I will discuss about my article in this Blog, as I realize that Fantasy Sports has nothing to do with Cloud 10. Instead I want to talk about the process I used to get my words in front of the world. A few weeks I hadn't even considered I would be doing anything like this at all. Even this website and blog was only a thought buried in the back of my mind even a month ago. Now let's fast forward to two weeks ago. At the time I was work, listening to an interview on satellite radio when I heard a guest talk about ways to break into the business of Fantasy Sports which is exploding in North America right now. (There was a 6 page story about the industry in Sports Illustrated last week). The easiest way, the guest and host discussed, was to contact websites and ask to volunteer your time writing articles. If you are any good, there are lots of opportunities for new writers, they discussed. So that's what I did. I literally send the guest who hadn't recently launched his own new site, an email and asked to write an article. A day later I sent him my first submission, and he liked it. Then within 48 hrs I was part of his daily writer's distro email list. Unlike back in the day, when you used to have go head to head with a newspaper editor in order to get your start in writing, nowadays, new websites are are popping up daily, on every conceivable subject. In the weeks to come, I expect to make my book available on Amazon or maybe even through this website somehow. If I have manage to build up a small, but loyal following of readers who enjoy my work, I think that can only improve my chances of eventually selling copies of my novel. And who knows, one of my readers might even have a publishing connection. Cheers, J In my continuing effort to build an audience for Cloud 10, I have started writing for a new Fantasy Sports website to try and get my name out there as a writer - of any kind. Today my first article was published.
If you have ever watched the television series The League or have any interest in fantasy sports take a peak. Don't worry I don't have any intention of trying to convert someone who might be interested in Cloud 10 into a fantasy sports diehard, but hoping that someone interested in fantasy sports might just enjoy Cloud 10. 5 Tips to get your 'Taco' out of your Fantasy keeper league Thanks to the team at Firefly Creative Writing for posting a link on their facebook fan page! My unique visitors chart actually had it's first spike!  So readcloud10.com has been live for about 2 weeks now and Weebly (who I use to host and support my website) is telling me I have some real life visitors from a few different sources. One being Facebook. Not sure how that is possible since I have decided to wait to post a link to this site on my news feed until a bit more content. Who knows...
I do have an update this week. Not on Cloud 10 specifically. (I will wait until I actually have readers before I start doing that.) Last week I reached out to the owner of www.socalledfantasyexpert.com to apply to be a writer for their website, which launched around the same time as Cloud 10. Other than writing, my other love is sports. Playing sports, watching sports, reading about sports...and now hopefully writing about sports. Unlike the other stat heavy articles that are abundant across the web, I am hoping to provide a more lifestyle or human opinion to SCFE.com. My articles won't just be about "who to select in your next fantasy baseball draft." Instead I plan to have them focused around the lighter side of fantasy sports. One article I am thinking of writing - just in time for Valentine's Day - is "How to convince your wife that Fantasy sports will improve your marriage." Or something to that effect. Anyway, supposedly my first article about why fantasy players should keep their inner "fan" out of fantasy baseball should be live tomorrow. Once it is, I will post a link and hopefully traffic will start flowing between sites. No, I don't have any illusions that people who arrive at my site via other methods, will all be Fantasy Baseball players, but my hope is that Fantasy Players who read my articles, might also enjoy Cloud 10. We'll see... Thanks again for stopping by. Cheers, J |
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