How Would You Monetize a Fiction Site?

14 years ago

Try writing courses/seminars/workshops like those of John Truby, Robert McKee, Syd Field, Chris Vogler etc...

Tom

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Adam Carn

14 years ago

Are these your own short stories? And what do you mean about original fiction and fan fiction?

Adam

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Dan C. Rinnert

14 years ago

Originally Posted by tomw

Try writing courses/seminars/workshops like those of John Truby, Robert McKee, Syd Field, Chris Vogler etc...

Thanks. I'll look into that. I'm not sure how well they'd do though, since the writing-related eBooks and such I've promoted haven't even gotten so much as a nibble.

Originally Posted by Adam Carn

Are these your own short stories? And what do you mean about original fiction and fan fiction?

Some are mine; most are not. For those that are not mine, I have publication rights, but I do not own them.

Original fiction is fiction using your own original characters and such.

Fan fiction would be like writing a story with existing characters belonging to someone else, like Captain Kirk and Spock. I don't publish any fan fiction.

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Adam Carn

14 years ago

Well in that case people interested in original fiction should be interested in fan fiction too.

We know your visitors like to read fiction, maybe you could consider books from Amazon or even an eBay, both have great affiliate programs. Also consider comic books.

Do you have an opt-in box on your site? With that kind of traffic you can get a quite few subscribers a day to which you can then send affiliate offers etc. Also it's probably a good idea to convert your site into a blog so you can get a regular discussion going and build a relationship with your readers, like on your DCRblogs.com blog site.

Thanks,
Adam

Originally Posted by Dan C. Rinnert

Thanks. I'll look into that. I'm not sure how well they'd do though, since the writing-related eBooks and such I've promoted haven't even gotten so much as a nibble.

Some are mine; most are not. For those that are not mine, I have publication rights, but I do not own them.

Original fiction is fiction using your own original characters and such.

Fan fiction would be like writing a story with existing characters belonging to someone else, like Captain Kirk and Spock. I don't publish any fan fiction.

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Dan C. Rinnert

14 years ago

Originally Posted by pheonix44

Offer a short story or poem contest with a first second and third prize. Charge a few bucks per entry and divide the money up in a way that you can give out the prize money. Post the winners on your blog along with their winning entries. You can also take some of this money and run cheap ads in writing publications or fiction writing forums. The only problem with the forums is the people are especially nasty and overly harsh in their judgements of your work. But this is a good way if you have a fiction site. If you did it right you could even have your readers writing all of your content for you without doing a thing.

Thanks, but traffic and content hasn't been too much of a problem. And, sites that charge for contest entries and such are not well-viewed by professional writers, and I get (or got) submissions from plenty of pros, so I don't want to damage that relationship.

Originally Posted by Clearview

How about setting up an Amazon store on the site, where visitors can buy fiction books, or other related items?

I think I've tried Amazon before, as well as Alibris. Not much luck with those. I'd be willing to try Amazon again.

Originally Posted by Nathan Alexander

Are people coming there to write their own stuff? View the works of others?

I suspect it is a mix of both. I did have more readers than writers submitting work. And, according to my stats, the writers (who had their own blogs) did not bring in the majority of the traffic to their own stories.

It would seem that at least potentially, folks would be interested in seeing their own stuff showcased in some fashion. Could you bring in authors, publishers and what not and charge a nominal fee for downloading interviews (maybe even done by others)?

Maybe. I could possibly do something along those lines.

If people continue to read and/or post their work, they're after something. And that something is what you can provide at a very small fee. Bigger lights and attention? It's a tough one but you're a lucky guy with those visitors. You did something right!

When I was active with the site, I paid writers for their stories. So, that attracted more writers than perhaps the sites that have contests charging them entry fees or not paying them anything at all. So, for the writers, they're looking for money, as well as exposure. I know I was the first to publish at least one writer, perhaps more.

Originally Posted by Adam Carn

Do you have an opt-in box on your site? With that kind of traffic you can get a quite few subscribers a day to which you can then send affiliate offers etc.

Sort of. There's a list signup form on there, but it's not too prominent and I never really promoted it at all. I just sort of put it up there. It has 15 subscribers, one of which is probably me and most of which have probably forgotten signing up on it.

But, yeah, if I kick the site into gear again, I can do a better job with promoting the list to get signups.

Also it's probably a good idea to convert your site into a blog so you can get a regular discussion going and build a relationship with your readers, like on your DCRblogs.com blog site.

Actually, my first blog (or at least one of my earliest ones) was on this site.

I haven't posted anything on there in 2-1/2 years though.

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tomw

14 years ago

Originally Posted by Dan C. Rinnert

Thanks. I'll look into that. I'm not sure how well they'd do though, since the writing-related eBooks and such I've promoted haven't even gotten so much as a nibble.

The guys I listed are really top end, world renowned story structure and screenwriting gods to many writers and there are many more, too.

Also, this is probably dependent on your capability, budget or the availability of an appropriate script on many of the script sites for example, but have you considered creating a marketplace. Where writers can actually sell their work, coaching services even books and courses they no longer need and everything else writing (or related) related...

You could levy a fee as a one off to users to be a part of the marketplace, listing as many items as desired.

You could levy a fee on a per listing basis.

You could chuck in some additional "premium" content, some discount codes for writing related stuff negotiated from almost any affiliate network or merchant (consequently paying you commissions on every sale), even a few guest posters/mentors from amongst our fellow Warriors and you got yourself a membership-like section of the site.

I know you said you want to keep the content accessible...that doesn't mean you can't have a "premium section,' for example.

Chuck in all of the other great ideas listed in this thread and you're all set.

You could even (re)launch and test it as a WSO...

Tom

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pheonix44

14 years ago

Offer a short story or poem contest with a first second and third prize. Charge a few bucks per entry and divide the money up in a way that you can give out the prize money. Post the winners on your blog along with their winning entries. You can also take some of this money and run cheap ads in writing publications or fiction writing forums. The only problem with the forums is the people are especially nasty and overly harsh in their judgements of your work. But this is a good way if you have a fiction site. If you did it right you could even have your readers writing all of your content for you without doing a thing.

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Nathan Alexander

14 years ago

Are people coming there to write their own stuff? View the works of others?

It would seem that at least potentially, folks would be interested in seeing their own stuff showcased in some fashion. Could you bring in authors, publishers and what not and charge a nominal fee for downloading interviews (maybe even done by others)?

I like pheonix44's idea of a contest. But you're right, there has to be some kind of way to make money with that traffic.

If people continue to read and/or post their work, they're after something. And that something is what you can provide at a very small fee. Bigger lights and attention? It's a tough one but you're a lucky guy with those visitors. You did something right!

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Kevin AKA Hubcap 14 years ago

I agree with tomw. Writing related courses and guides should do well. I also think you could look at other related areas such as "how to" products targeted at literary agents, publishers etc.

Kevin
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Colin Palfrey

14 years ago

I'd go with adding an Amazon widget to your page, as they are easy to set up and can be set to sell physical books. Set it to show 5 random fiction books and watch the money roll in.

Forget eBooks though, as most fiction readers want to sit on the plane/bus and read etc

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Anita Ashland

14 years ago

This Seth Godin video, 10 Bestsellers: Using New Media, New Marketing, and New Thinking to Create 10 Bestselling Books, has helpful advice about this. It's applicable to fiction as well and might spark some ideas even though you don't have a book.

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Dan C. Rinnert

14 years ago

Originally Posted by Anita Ashland

This Seth Godin video, 10 Bestsellers: Using New Media, New Marketing, and New Thinking to Create 10 Bestselling Books, has helpful advice about this. It's applicable to fiction as well and might spark some ideas even though you don't have a book.

Thanks! I've already gotten some ideas from a video he did.

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Jill Carpenter

14 years ago

Try the other ad networks - they aren't as bad.

Put up an amazon widget or store on a page

Add an AR to get something - like Halloween is coming so like a special ghost story that is not on the blog

Promote a clickbank widget or products that revolve around writing your own books

Consider adding you blog to the kindle collection - you'll have to check about having works on there that were created by others as I'm not sure if that is allowed

Use some stock photos, or video - and make video of the snippet stories and submit them to youtube and use them to drive the traffic back in.

Take the audio you record and get an itunes channel of your own going so people can listen to the stories.

Promote some audio ebooks/cds - and you can send these stories promotions to your list.

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Jill Carpenter 14 years ago

Sell some banner ad space as well.

I really like the contest idea.

There are some creative writing magazines which I'm sure you can get to advertise on the site.
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- Dan C. Rinnert 14 years ago
  
  Originally Posted by avenuegirl
  
  Sell some banner ad space as well.
  
  Direct, I presume?
  
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Dan C. Rinnert

14 years ago

Originally Posted by avenuegirl

Add an AR to get something - like Halloween is coming so like a special ghost story that is not on the blog

I was thinking an eBook novella.

Promote a clickbank widget or products that revolve around writing your own books

I should have thought of that. I do have writing-related ClickBank products up there, but hard-coded and not on a rotation.

Consider adding you blog to the kindle collection - you'll have to check about having works on there that were created by others as I'm not sure if that is allowed

Don't know about Kindle's rules, but I don't have the rights from the writers to do that, so that's out.

Use some stock photos, or video - and make video of the snippet stories and submit them to youtube and use them to drive the traffic back in.

I should do that. I have done some mini-videos in the form of animated GIFs, but I've done nothing about promoting the site on YouTube.

Take the audio you record and get an itunes channel of your own going so people can listen to the stories.

Could only do that on my own stories. Though I know some writers were open to having their works made into video or audio, so I can check with them too.

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Jill Carpenter

14 years ago

Dan, you can also set up a Cafe Press type store attached. You're able to brand things how ever you want. So you can consider stuff like tshirts and mugs that say, "I need my daily dose of fiction because life is just too bizarre for me" or whatever.

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Dan C. Rinnert

14 years ago

Originally Posted by avenuegirl

Dan, you can also set up a Cafe Press type store attached. You're able to brand things how ever you want. So you can consider stuff like tshirts and mugs that say, "I need my daily dose of fiction because life is just too bizarre for me" or whatever.

Been there, done that. Made $3.98. Lost it due to their "delinquency" clause.

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thescribe 14 years ago

Originally Posted by avenuegirl

Take the audio you record and get an itunes channel of your own going so people can listen to the stories.

I really love this idea. I love listening to audio books and I know others do as well.

I have a fiction blog with original fiction that gets pretty good traffic, so I have been wondering how to best monetize it. Thanks for all the great ideas here so far...
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CDarklock

14 years ago

Get your authors to tell you their influences and favourite authors. Put them in a little bio box at the end of the story. Hook it into an Amazon store...

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Dan C. Rinnert 14 years ago

Originally Posted by CDarklock

Get your authors to tell you their influences and favourite authors. Put them in a little bio box at the end of the story. Hook it into an Amazon store...

I like that. I already give them a bio box, so I can just add that in.
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UBotBuddy

14 years ago

I don't think I saw this yet but here goes.

Start a few parallel story ideas with different plot ideas and directions. Then make those membership accessible so they can write their own part of the story. Or another variation is to build up to a certain climatic ending and then let them write their version into it for a price.

Good luck!

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KristieDean

14 years ago

Dan,
Have you tried an Amazon.com or Alibris link? Also, it sounds like you have a tremendous list potential. Is there any way you could get traffic to opt-in to a newsletter? Then you could promote products that way.
Also, I had a friend go the contest route and it worked well for her. Just a thought. Good luck!

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Dan C. Rinnert

14 years ago

Originally Posted by KristieDean

Have you tried an Amazon.com or Alibris link?

Following up on an old thread, but this is what I'm dealing with...

Alibris link
Impressions: 34,435
Clicks: 60
Sales: 0

That's about a 0.17% CTR. By comparison, I put up an ad for a dating site, and I'm getting a CTR of .36% on that.

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MikeCollins

14 years ago

Hi Dan,

Have you considered setting up a members-only area and charging a small monthly fee? You could include a forum where members can mingle and ask their favorite author questions, and get feedback on their own writing.

I'm guessing a good portion of your audience are either writers or aspire to be so you could also include a section of writing tips, tips for getting published, etc.

I have seen book club offers on some CPA networks before, which might be something to try.

This may work too, have you given it a try?

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Hesaidblissfully 14 years ago

If they're writers, then one thing they want is lots of people reading their stories. So aside from products on getting published, you could put together a report that focuses on getting publicity for their stories (ie: blogging and how to promote their blog, maybe getting interviews in writers' publications), and sell that. You could even offer a service where you'll promote their writing FOR them (using the internet marketing knowledge you already have - i'd tie it into offering a specific bundle of services, like building links to their blog, submitting press releases, etc. rather than promising a specific result, as results will vary). I'd survey them about it first and find out how many people would be interested in something like that.

Also, how are you driving traffic to these offers? Are they just banners placed on the site, or are you actually reviewing some of these products or services? It could partly be that they just need to see a demonstration or example of what the product offers. I agree that you should build a bigger subscriber list so that you can see how they respond to email marketing.
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- ozduc 14 years ago
  
  I would try making a special "elite members" area and charging a small monthly fee of say $5 or a discount for a yearly subscription of $50.
  It is a small price to pay and you could only allow people that subscribe to post their stories and also give them more content than the free members. Just think if you got 1000 out of the 7-30k visitors a month to sign up that's an extra $5k a month. You could explain to your readers that to maintain the site and keep it running (blah blah blah) that you have to start charging a small fee to access certain parts of the site. Give it a try for a few months and if it doesn't work try something else.
  
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Dan C. Rinnert

14 years ago

Originally Posted by MikeCollins

Have you considered setting up a members-only area and charging a small monthly fee? You could include a forum where members can mingle and ask their favorite author questions, and get feedback on their own writing.

I am working on a members area. I was just going to make it free, though, and use it to help build my list.

This may work too, have you given it a try?

I've applied to some, and been rejected. I was rejected by one network because my content wasn't updated frequently enough. On the one hand, I can understand; on the other hand, there is traffic.

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Lloyd Buchinski

14 years ago

I have a site that is mostly just my writing, and it was a similar problem with 'adcents.' I just swapped out most of the adsense for market health ads.

It is a CPA that I've seen recommended highly a couple of times here and it is unusual in that you don't need a full formal application, telephone interview. etc. You just apply, click on the confirm email and you are an affiliate.

The straight link is Health and Beauty Affiliate Programs by MarketHealth.com and the affiliate link is markethealth.com.

The ads are good to extremely good visually and are served from the advertiser's servers. Suddenly having a lot of text was an advantage and on one page in particular I just picked out a couple of ads mostly for the way their looks related to the topic. Visual appeal of the site went way up.

I just finished this Sunday night and traffic is a lot lower than yours, but the click through rate so far has been more than 10 times the adsense ctr.

They only have maybe 60 offers but with a pretty good range of general appeal. Health, stress relief, weight loss etc, and a couple of business opportunities. It is too early to tell but it looks really good so far, and I'm finally hopeful about the site.

best wishes, lloyd
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kf 14 years ago

Writers are readers, and your visitors are definately readers ...

Sell 'em Kindles.

Also, writers are hungry for info on how to get published, how to get an editor, how to make money writing. Along w tomw's suggestions, look at Robert Bly's titles.

Can you partner with someone and put together a seminar? Or, find an existing conference and send them ticket buyers.

Since you have the traffic, the marketplace idea offered above is a great one.

Finally, why not offer a gift in return for completing a survey ... and ASK them what they want more of or what would help them.
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csc4u

14 years ago

Not to insult you or anything but what stats are you using to see 7k to 30k unique visitors per month? I've found the logs found in cPanel to be very unreliable. I thought I had a lot more traffic than I was really getting when I was going by those stats.

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Dan C. Rinnert

14 years ago

Originally Posted by csc4u

Not to insult you or anything but what stats are you using to see 7k to 30k unique visitors per month? I've found the logs found in cPanel to be very unreliable. I thought I had a lot more traffic than I was really getting when I was going by those stats.

Not cPanel. It's a stats package provided by my host. I also have some built-in stats of my own, and I can tell that the stats are about right.

I think I could definitely pull in more traffic if I actively updated and promoted the site. Right now, the only traffic it gets are probably from backlinks and search engines. And, it doesn't rank high in the search engines. It is a PR3.

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BradCarroll

14 years ago

I have seen book club offers on some CPA networks before, which might be something to try.

For that matter, you could probably try various CPA offers for general readership. I don't know what demographic your average reader comes from (or if you have an average reader), but there are probably a few offers worth trying out?

I don't know if your fiction site is in a specific genre or is multi-genre etc. Any magazine that publishes fiction of the type you publish, may offer clues via what kinds of ads appear on its pages. Espcially if it has a web version with ads.

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Dan C. Rinnert

14 years ago

Originally Posted by BradCarroll

II don't know if your fiction site is in a specific genre or is multi-genre etc. Any magazine that publishes fiction of the type you publish, may offer clues via what kinds of ads appear on its pages. Espcially if it has a web version with ads.

It's a specific multi-genre.

Actually, it's about five closely related genres that often overlap.

I've been looking at some of the older sites (those that are still around) to see what kinds of ads they have. Most have minimal ads; on one, I didn't see any at all. They had reviews too, and didn't even have links to buy the books they reviewed.

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Terry Hatfield

14 years ago

I was recently browsing through a writer's magazine and noticed that had a lot of advertisements for vanity publishers. These are companies set up to help people who don't have a publisher and would like to self publish.

They basically take the writer's book and print copies for them for a fee. I have a friend who went to one and had like 7,000 copies of a poetry book printed. It cost here a pretty penny.

So if you can find a vanity publisher with an affiliate program might work for you.

Terry

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Dan C. Rinnert 14 years ago

Originally Posted by Terry Hatfield

So if you can find a vanity publisher with an affiliate program might work for you.

Haven't found one yet, but haven't done a lot of looking.

I do have to be careful with that though, as I don't want to become associated with vanity presses when I have a lot of pro writers submitting work. I would need to find one that has a brand that is more associated with "self-publishing" or "independent publishing" and not one that is associated with "vanity publishing."

I have found some affiliate programs for related services that may work too.
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travlinguy

14 years ago

Why not put up a forum with a couple of strong categories relating to the writing on the site. You can encourage you visitors to post. You might even want to somehow bribe them with a digital gift of some sort. You might have a 'Story of the Day' section where visitors could write.

If you begin to develop some sort of community maybe you can monitize it by promoting little writing contests with a small fee to enter. You could give a small cash prize to the winner and allow visitors to vote. You could also have people recommend various books related to the genre you promote. You can post those books through Amazon.

If your forum got really popular you might look at the good ole WF for ideas on monitizing yours. I know it's not a perfect crossover but a small membership fee might work. Maybe a classified section, who knows. Remember Field Of Dreams? If you build it they will come... Good luck.

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MisterMunch

14 years ago

A "how to get published on amazon" ebook would be something to test. There is a WSO about it. I would work with her to make it more related to fiction writers and not so much make money oriented.

I bet these writers are more interrested in getting attention than to get rich.

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Michael Stuart Kelly

14 years ago

Dan,

You're asking Warrior members--and that's a good thing. But have you thought of asking your visitors?

I'm just using logic here. I haven't done this yet (but now that I am writing it, I think I might start thinking about it). As I understand it, one of the best sales practices is to find out what people are buying, then sell it to them.

Why not ask your visitors what they normally buy?

Maybe why they buy what they buy.

With a little creativity, you can do this in a manner that is not cheesy. Offer a reward for telling you. (Maybe a free report on how to get rich and famous without doing jack and still hook up with industry heavies?

)

Ask them if you could get a good deal on something (whatever it is they want/need), would they be interested if you could set up a special just for your site readers.

Also, there's normal demographics. Who are they? At least do Quantcast. Not perfect, but it's something. And hope against hope that your audience is not solely a school of hungry writers, because they tend to be broke.

But even they have to buy something sometime.

I'm glad you started this because I am very interested in doing something with a fiction site myself. It's something I love and you got my juices flowing.

Good luck to you.

(EDIT: Here's another thought. How about seeing if you can get them to sell something for you in exchange for something they really want? And even give them a commission for doing it. Once again, ask them what they really want, without the cheesiness, of course. See what their demographics say they won't mind fiddling with. Sites they go to, etc. Look at products, offers, etc. Then see how you can tie it all together.)

(EDIT 2: Also, what's their pain? Surely frustrated writers have some pain you can abate that will make them part with their bucks. Well... dang it... there I go... I gotta get back to my work and off I go in this direction...

)

Michael

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Dan C. Rinnert

14 years ago

Here's a question, and I'm appending it to this thread because I like having things in one place, which makes things easier to find, especially if you refer people to specific threads but I digress...

Anyway, the question is how would you (or would you) market a fiction site with articles?

I haven't really seen a fiction category on the article directories I've looked at so far.

I'm guess most people don't go to article directories to read fiction so they're just as likely to find it on your site as they are in an article directory anyway.

I've integrated fictional stories into "regular" marketing articles to promote a product, but I've not yet used articles to promote a fiction site.

Naturally, if your site has reviews and such, you could use write reviews as articles for marketing purposes. But, how would you promote straight fiction?

Or would you?

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Hesaidblissfully

14 years ago

Originally Posted by Dan C. Rinnert

Here's a question, and I'm appending it to this thread because I like having things in one place, which makes things easier to find, especially if you refer people to specific threads but I digress...

Anyway, the question is how would you (or would you) market a fiction site with articles?

I haven't really seen a fiction category on the article directories I've looked at so far.

I'm guess most people don't go to article directories to read fiction so they're just as likely to find it on your site as they are in an article directory anyway.

I've integrated fictional stories into "regular" marketing articles to promote a product, but I've not yet used articles to promote a fiction site.

Naturally, if your site has reviews and such, you could use write reviews as articles for marketing purposes. But, how would you promote straight fiction?

Or would you?

If you're marketing a fiction site, you could write articles on topics that relate to creating a good story. For example, tips on coming up with a memorable lead character, establishing a plot, incorporating themes into the story, etc.

You could check out Absolute Write Water Cooler - Powered by vBulletin and look through some of the threads to get an idea of issues that writer's deal with when they're writing a story and you'll probably get some ideas.

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Fun to Write

14 years ago

I am working on this same issue.

Fiction = Entertainment

These types of sites are a lot harder to monetize than "how to" sites or regular product sites.

Dan, in your case, I think you need some type of branded product.
Something that is unique to your site.

Here's a suggestion:

Create a separate section on your site asking for short story submissions from authors. You can ask that the stories center around a certain theme. Halloween/Horror, Lighthearted/Comedy, Relationships/Romance, Who Done It/Mystery, etc.

Announce that 10 stories (from one genre) will be selected to appear in the first edition of "Your Site Name Anthology" series. This will be a real paperback book that can be purchased on Amazon. Upon submission, they give you rights to publish their stories in this anthology. You won't charge them a thing to participate.

Select the stories. Use a POD publisher to create the book and sell it on your site. You can create a press release to promote the book. The authors who appear will naturally want to also promote the book and your site.

You can create more of these books whenever you want. Also, these are stories that "do not" appear on your fiction site (or anywhere else) for free.

Articles

You can write articles about writing and self publishing, or, choose popular subjects from the world of entertainment. You could also do product review articles, movie review articles, etc.

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Dave777

14 years ago

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digigo

14 years ago

you are not alone.. popular site .. but no revenue.. youtube is one of them.. cost more to run than what brings in..

Have you tried donation?? if your readers like what they read.. they sure do not mind making a little donation...

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Lance K 14 years ago

How Would You Monetize a Fiction Site?

I dunno...with Monopoly money?
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- vicone 14 years ago
  
  Although EzineArticles doesn't have a fiction category they do have a writing category which includes a lot of articles on various forms of creative writing.
  
  Also, it would be possible to build a number of "interest groups" that visitors could sign up to - and be encouraged to do so - and these groups would receive a recommended story by email each week. These stories would be selected from the submissions that you receive from various authors.
  
  To do this, you would need to encourage authors to submit material but in turn they would gain guaranteed exposure to interested readers.
  
  You could even develop this further and devise a voting system which awards the authors more recognition and promotion.
  
  This would build up a mailing list and help you bond with them. If you know the demographics of those who join the lists you will be able to offer them products of interest. You at least know one area of interest and may be able to develop a mail order business offering remaindered books, which can be obtained cheaply.
  
  Ivan
  
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  Dan C. Rinnert 14 years ago
  
  Originally Posted by vicone
  
  Although EzineArticles doesn't have a fiction category they do have a writing category which includes a lot of articles on various forms of creative writing.
  
  Thanks! Don't remember if I saw that category before or not, but I'll have to take advantage of it...
  
  Thanks
  
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  Dan's content is irregularly read by handfuls of people. Join the elite few by reading his blog: dcrBlogs.com, following him on Twitter: dcrTweets.com or reading his fiction: dcrWrites.com but NOT by Clicking Here!
  
  Dan also writes content for hire, but you can't afford him anyway.
  
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