Waving hi to South Korea

Looking over my stats for this blog tonight, I discovered something interesting.

The biggest section of my audience for the month has been mostly from South Korea, a little over double the next biggest share of pageviews from the United States.

For the week, the traffic from South Korea has been almost double the traffic from the United States.

So far today, it has been neck and neck for the United States and South Korea.

For all time page views, the United States wins; but South Korea still is the second biggest share of my audience, representing a third as many views as from the United States.

And all this makes me wonder---What do the South Koreans find so interesting about my blog? Is it actual South Koreans, or just people living in South Korea?

Nevertheless, I would like to say a big hi to everyone in South Korea. Thanks for finding my blog.

Spent the night reading, err, I mean researching

So after only getting one article done today (it is still today until I go to bed), a mere 707 words done, how did I spend my evening? Yep, that is right---reading an internet comic strip.

Originally, I started to browse the internet, looking at writers' blogs and tweets. Then I ended up following the links to Alone in a Crowd. So I ended up reading all the strips to present. Warning: there is some adult content (mainly talking about sex and the adult movie industry).

Was it all goofing off? Well, maybe not. I am still kicking around doing the occasional strip of my own (Loki's Wisdom). If I decide to do that, then tonight was getting to know something about the online comic world...something that I have not seriously looked at before. So I am going to call tonight's reading research, much like I called tweeting during the commerical breaks of Hell's Kitchen practice (hey, I could have to tweet a news event someday---hey it could happen).

Badly researched mailing lists

The other day, I recieved a piece of junk mail from Sports Illustrated. I am not sure how much it costs them to send me an advertisement in the mail, but they are definitely wasting their money. This particular piece was good because it was based on market research that just doesn't apply to me.

First off, the special offer was a "Game Day Jacket of your Favorite Team!" And on the envelope they have a picture of a Denver Broncos jacket. Ok, this is based on faulty logic and research...I live in Denver, therefore I must be a Broncos fan.

I am not a Broncos fan. I might even be a Broncos hater. I had the honor of helping clean up after one of their Super Bowl win parades. I am not sure exactly where it says that if your team wins the Super Bowl, you are allowed to break the windows of businesses as you celebrate; but it must be written someplace because I ended up cleaning up a lot of broken glass that day. Because of that, I decided to cheer for whatever team that they are playing against...it is nothing personal; I just do not want to ever have to put up with that damage to one of my businesses ever again (either as an owner or manager---come to think of it, I do not want to deal with it as an employee either).

Second off, my tastes in clothes do not lean towards wearing team jackets. Don't get me wrong; I do have some sport themed items of clothing. Outside of the stuff from the University of Colorado, most of it has either been gifted to me or brought from the bargain bin. Some of it is second hand. I am a writer, as long as it is comfortable I do not care what it looks like. (Ok, not completely true, I will not wear any Raiders gear: that stuff is simply ugly.) My wife cares what I wear...I suspect that she would consider this jacket unacceptable.

Third and most important, I am NOT a sports fan. Outside of the nightly news, I watch about ten minutes of football a year. I average about twenty minutes of hockey. I will willingly watch an entire baseball game (Go Rockies!), but only if I am there in person (games on the TV just are not the same).

So why I am getting this advertisment in the mail? Well, I think that Sports Illustrated's logic is that I am a man living in Denver, therefore I must be a sports fan. Gee, that is some really good market research, Sports Illustrated. Now, we must admit that on some level it is all they need for the most part. I am not saying that men are herd animals...oh wait, maybe I am...but Sports Illustrated has been using this same system for years, and they have yet to go bankrupt.

(Before getting married, I used to buy a single issue of Sports Illustrated every year: the swimsuit issue. Hardly worth getting an entire subscription.)

It is not just Sports Illustrated that does not know the real me. For instance, I keep getting flyers about refinancing my mortage (that would require some more income and a better credit rating) and switching auto insurance companies (I don't drive).

Of course, the prize for badly researched mailing lists actually goes to the companies that keep sending my wife clothing catalogs and book club offers. My wife does not dress up (provided that what they are offering is dressing up); the clothes are the wrong style, and the models are the wrong ethnic background (just because we live in this neighborhood does not mean that we fit in...though I am not sure how anyone thinks this neighborhood is anything other than mixed, but I digress). As for the books, my wife does not read romances and she sure is not a Republican.

So here is to the badly research mailing lists...and the fact that you must mail a million of them out in a shotgun effect to make them worthwhile.

Who reads astrology columns? I still don't know.

Today, I spent some time trying to find out information about who your typical astrology column reader is. A couple of hours worth. And I still don't know.

While I have found some information, it is all third party information.

Interestingly enourgh, the articles and sites that do cite demographic information are all anti-astrology: astronomy, Christian (anti-magic and anti-divination), and fraud awareness sites. The professional astrologers seem to have made their own typical customer a trade secret.

Read the subject that you write in

Yesterday during a break, I started to talk to someone that is working on a science fiction story. Listening to them, I realized that they had not considered the implications of their idea. Nor were they familiar with the science fiction field, especially in print.

My dilemna of whether or not to tell them so was mercifully cut short by the fact that I had to get to my philosophy class.

Honestly, one can not judge the print market (whether science fiction, romance, or adventure) by what is filmed in Hollywood. Do not judge your field by what movies have came out in that field.

It is like comparing apples and oranges. Books and stories take a certain amount of time and mental effort to finish reading while movies and TV are might to be short and effortless. They are two different approaches.

And if you submit something without being familiar with what has been done in the past in your field, you stand a very good chance that you will recieve a rejection slip.

Basing your view of a field by what has made it to film (and you really should compare the film to the original printed work) is only acceptable if you are pitching a film.

The reason I know he was not familiar with the field--I read stories from the fifties on the exact same idea. And no editor is accepting stories based on the concept anymore. Onward and upward--for heavens sake, be familiar with the works in your field.

Market Research and Self-Promotion

One of the things I have been doing this summer (something that has spilled over into this month) is market research and setting up a web presence for self-promotion. This blog in part could be viewed as part of the self-promotion.

So some of my falling behind towards writing 50,000 words in the space of a month, Friday for instance, actually moved me closer to my goal of making a comfortable living as a freelance writer. It wasn't a big step, but it was a step.

And quite honestly, I have no choice in the matter.

As some of my readers know, a few years ago (three years ago come October) I got laid off. At the time, I was the manager of a restaurant. I didn't think that I would have a hard time finding a new job. I was wrong. I failed to notice that the whole realm of food service had changed. Quite frankly, I was too experienced (twenty years worth) to be hired by anyone.

One of my friends likes to blame this on the immigration problem. But it is actually just a simple fact of business, cheap labor is good labor. If it wasn't the immigrants, it would be someone else. And if they run out of cheap humans, machines will end up replacing us. Bottom line, if they can do it cheaper without you than with you, too bad for you. But I digress.

So almost a year later, I was still unemployed. I had two options. Go back to my old employers (I turned down a transfer when they closed the location that I was working at) or go to college. After seeing my GED scores, I chose the college route.

Now, I am going to college in Colorado. That is the good news. The bad news is that Colorado (as of two years ago) was forty-eight in terms of financial aid. So outside of getting student loans and Pell Grants, I get nothing. So I am living off of my student loans. Fortunately, I am married, otherwise I would be in even bigger trouble. The wife has brought me time to get my feet back under me.

But it is my lack of financial aid that drove me back into writing. The lack of money makes you do strange things. Now, some will ask why I don't work a part time or even a full time job while I go to college. My father-in-law does all the time (he says that I am merely a freeloader). Well, it is not for the lack of willingness.

One of the unfortunate realities in my universe is that I am unqualified for anything other than food service and entry level positions in retail and telemarketing. The other unfortuante reality is that unless you are available 24/7, they don't want to hire you.

The only boss that is willing to put up with my college and lodge schedule is myself.

So why freelance writing? Simple, it is not the first time that I have tried my hand at it. A few years ago, before making assistant management, I attempted to write for pay. I wasn't good at it. Or rather good enough. The few sales I made were high and labor and low on profit. I was also younger then.

I also lacked an area of expertise. Or rather was blissfully unaware of what I was an expert on. A few years ago, I did learn what subjects I could potboil. I much rather do it as a labor of love, so I generally just ignored that possibility.

But being unemployed and in college refocused my vision. Being a writer generated more money than I was making not being a writer. So that is how I find myself being a writer again (or is it still).

One thing I learned last semester was that I wasn't as knowledgeable about the internet market as I should be. This came to my attention on February 23rd. Yes, it was that big of a red letter day. So last month, in June, I didn't do much writing as I spent a lot of my time looking around the internet researching this new market that had arose over the last couple of years(there was also a small amount of writer's block in play).

Besides needing to do market research, I needed to sent up my basic homepage. Self-promotion is a big key that I ignored up to this point. It is not so much laziness, as it conflicts with my ethics. I was taught to be humble, therefore quiet. It doesn't work as a writer. People have to know that you and your work is out there.

So last month, I did my base research and marketing setups. Why not while college was going on. Quite honestly, because I wanted to give this aspect of my new profession (ok, this is the third year in a row that I have to report writing income to the IRS, so maybe it is not new) my full attention. Come fall, when college resumes I want to be able to focus on writing and my schoolwork without having to do a major amount of setup and research. It is easier to maintain a presence than to create one.

Or maybe my father-in-law is right, maybe I am just lazy.

Oh and for those of you who are curious, at this point I am 20,902 words behind where I should be at this point for my writing goal for the month; weekends, especially lodge weekends are not good for my writing.