Let’s Put Ourselves Together

“The future is now.”

~Nam June Paik, mixed media artist

I started this blog four weeks ago.  I didn’t know why I wanted to start, only that I was sure I should.  

I had a good amount of children’s stories completed, a novel in its third draft, and a need for daily practice.  

Why not work on my public voice, I thought.  

So, after a floundering couple of weeks on Blogspot, I decided to take things seriously.  I searched through a mess of domain names, and to my surprise, found Writer Dad dot com wasn’t taken.  

I’m a writer, and a dad.  

So, I bought Darren Rowse’s ProBlogger book, read it, and got to work.  I started reading all the “How to Blog” blogs.  

Everyone said I needed a niche.  Everyone said I needed a niche.  Everyone said I needed a niche.  

The repetition was maddening.  

A niche?  But I just wanted to write.  

I quickly decided that speaking to a niche would dull my voice, and until I discovered my niche, I should just speak as though over a cup of coffee, even if it’s to someone sitting at their own keyboard on the other side of the world.  

This, it turned out, was exactly what I was supposed to do.  

Allow me to share my three biggest surprises since starting the blog:  

• Traffic at Writer Dad has faced a steady climb in both subscriber count and traffic since its first day online.  

• The comment section has been lively, filled with well thought out comments and genuine exchanges.  I’d like to give a special thank you to Vered, who found me on my very first day, commented, and shined light on immediate possibility.  Private emails were surprisingly high, but the day after I put the contact page up, they doubled.  

• Traffic is much higher in the evening, and the stays are longer.  I’ve had days where the average time spent on the site was six and a half minutes.  People are spending time on the site, reading multiple pages.

So, now I know my niche.

The Writer Dad reader likes to take their time and read.  They like to chew, not swallow.  They appreciate the mathematical beauty of the way words can be woven together, even if they didn’t know they felt that way.

People have always loved stories.  That isn’t going to change just because technology is outpacing philosophy.  It doesn’t matter what I say, as long as I say it well.  

Which brings me to my point.  

I’ve already talked about the new Renaissance, and the internet as the great equalizer.  We’re in the first generation of a new breed of writers, and age doesn’t matter.  A sixty year old lifetime graphic designer from New York has the same shot at putting together a unique and touching piece of work as a twelve year old child in India.

Tangible books are going nowhere; I’ll never stop buying them and neither will any of you.  

But they can be complimented.  

An author needs only a small, loyal audience to make a decent living.  If he’s willing to change the model.  The same is true for illustrators.  

The author who illustrates his own book is rare.  In fact, attaching artwork to manuscripts is heavily discouraged.  It lessens the probability of getting published.  You sell your words, and the publisher matches it to an artist.  

Often this works, but isn’t it a bit like an arranged marriage?  

In the new model, we use the communicative power of the internet to bring artists together.  I know I said I would announce my first project tomorrow, but I’m doing it now. 

Tomorrow, I’ll post the full text, and that will be all you’ll hear from me until Monday.  Except, of course, through comments or email.  

I chose this story first because it’s small, and has a great message about money that everyone should hear, especially now.  As a society, we do not do enough to teach our children about money.  Most of us expect that they’ll eventually just pick it up.  

But If it’s not taught in school, and we’re not teaching it at home, where are our children learning it?  They learn from our example.  

Not from what we say, only by what we do.  

Tomorrow’s story is called The Eighth Wonder of the World.  I would give these words to newlyweds, or perhaps a couple expecting a child.  

It’s short and lovely.  

The entire text will be available on tomorrow’s post, and I will never remove it.  However, if you enjoy it, or you think the message is worth the money, you can download a PDF for $3.50.  

That’s the price of a latte; a small one.  

I’m not a graphic designer, and yes, it will look like a brochure.  I’m sorry.  

But I will get an illustrator, and I will make it better.  That’s what this is all about.  My goal is to have most of my writing available as both a download, and old fashioned copy.

I have a fair amount of work in various stages, and I’m just finding my voice.  

From now on, Friday is project announcement day.  If you know of someone who might be a good fit for tomorrow’s words, please forward the link.  If you think I might be on to something here, please forward the link.  If you’re an illustrator, and you’re interested in joining a project, feel free to contact me.  If you’re a writer and you’d like to join this community, I’d love to have you.  

If you like tomorrow’s words, please pass them on; Stumble, Twitter, whatever.  

I have thousands and thousands or words that are waiting, and I can’t wait to release them.

Writer Dad

If you enjoyed my words, please subscribe.  I promise I’ll be back tomorrow.

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