Noob question - I live to write! Can I write to live?

Hello everyone.

I recently followed a friend into SL and it's all a bit overwhelming at the moment. However, there's something I'd really like to explore within it. I'm currently working out how everything works, watching tutorials, etc., and I hope I'll get into the swing of things a bit more soon, but what really attracts me is the opportunity to be creative and share that creativity with other people.

I'm a freelance writer - I write a lot of sci-fi and roleplaying stuff and I've had abunch of books published. I'd like to exploit this skill in SL as a business, so I can do something new with my habit of writing down every idea I think up.

Does anyone have any tips about doing this? Is it as simple as starting a thread in Classefieds saying what I do? Do other people do it, too, and is there a suggested framework of charges? Is nit worth pursuing at all?

Sorry for being so vague and newbish. Hopefully I'll have more of an idea of what I'm doing soon.

Thanks for any advice,

TS

Hey there! Welcome to SL!

So far, the only successful "writing" positions I've come across are either superficial (notecard writing) or author visits to SL.


The latter seems to be especially popular, and tends to generate great press if your writing is even reasonably well known. Cory Doctorow (Someone Comes to Town, Someone Leaves Town), Laurence Lessig (Free Culture), and Charles Stross (HaltinG StatE) have all brought their works into SL to share, and the results for them have been fairly positive.

In this vein, a post to somewhere like BoingBoing for book discussion or "virtual signing" is a good ticket.


Additionally, some residents will occasionally organize NaNoWriMo events in SL (I did one for 2005). If you're interested in organizing something like that, the SLiNoWriMo and SL Wrimos groups are free to join.


Best of luck.

There are a slew of writers' groups in SL - do a search in the Group tab for writers or writing and you're sure to find bunches. I'd recommend joining a few - besides giving you a chance to connect with other writers in SL, some of them also post notices about writing events, positions, and contests in-world. It's not a bad way to earn a few linden dollars. (If you call up my in-world profile, I believe the ones I belong to are publicly visible, but they're not the only ones!) Join a few, and if you're not getting anything out of one after a while, drop it and join another.

I don't read the classifieds in-world, but I do skim the classifieds here and every now and then SL magazines and news organizations post requests for staff writers or articles.

I have long since lost the LMs and they have probably moved on anyway, but I've come across a few places where people had posted their writing in interactive books or were selling notecards with short stories - no idea how successful a business model it was, but it's at least been attempted.

Good luck finding something, and welcome to SL!

That's the rub, really.


The community aspect of writing does pretty well in SL, via signings, discussion, and collaboration, but the reading.... not so much. Reading length tends to cut off at excerpts, periodicals, and promotional "Heralds".

It's a significant task to ask people to read a book entirely in SL. It's just... cumbersome, for a lot of reasons.



This is partially why publishing ebooks free alongside the paperback works so well. Ebook reading still isn't as simple as just picking up the paperback, strains the eyes more, and works better as a promotion for the book than the book itself.


Of course, I read lots of ebooks on my iTouch, but the rest of the world isn't there *just* yet.

i think your writing skill could be well put to use by creating places, things.. maybe even avatars, that would flesh out an area. perhaps based on your works? recreate things here to promote your books, if you like.

It will probably take a long time to build up your presence, but taking the time to piece these things together could have a great payoff in the future. Merchandise based on your books, etc. would not only potentially make you money, but would be fun at the same time.

Sure, it's a far cry from writing.. but imagine getting your own private islands some day.. and turning them into RPG sims.. where you could write storylines into the atmosphere.

I just wanted to echo this idea, because I find it to be a pretty compelling use of a sim.

Gathering a community and "MMO lite" build around works of fiction tends to do fairly well.

I know of a few bloggers that write with a Second Life focus, and accept ads from inworld content creators that parallel loosely the world they are writing about.

Without getting into details there are some Caledon-related writers that literally are able to pay their tier via those efforts - and as they would probably be writing anyway, why not?

Ah, for reference Caledon's a 19th c. Steampunk Victorian micronation, linked to a growing variety of in-world micronations either socially or geographically.

I received this group notice this morning

Have you ever wanted to write Erotic Stories? Have your PHOTO"S published? Would you like to meet the publisher of A TOUCH of Lace erotic magazine so she can tell you how? Well now is your chance. Come meet Lacie Babenco. She is going to be giving an over view of how the magazine works, as its an all amateur writer and photography publication. Who know she may even publish some of your stories or photographs. Don't miss out on this rare opportunity. TONIGHT AT 7;30PM SLT.

It came from the Tastefully Erotic group.

And, going by the publisher's skill level, grammar and punctuation are optional. Should be easy cash, indeed.

While I'd expect that from the group in question, I've had to leave a couple "writing" groups due to the crushing number of notices they were sending while I was online.

In part, because ticking that little box to ignore group notices only works with my offline IM mail.


The rest have been fairly tame in my experiences.

Just think of the poor little addicts. Driven to write. Neeeeding to write. To express the written word...

...and that group notice feature, just sitting there... waiting, inviting, whispering...

Go ahead... do it... send a group notice, give wings to your words, just a tiny phrase... release your soul like a flock of doves on the wind...


I'm sure it drives every single one of those writers quite mad. How do you tell them NOT to send a group notice? It is their very raison d'etre!

What an exquisite torture, a perfectly crafted personal Hades created by each their own spirit. Imagine, being drawn to the group by their fondest dreams, but to be cast out or held in contempt the moment they act upon the desire that drew them... there's some beautiful symmetry there somehow.

Very, very, very few people make a living income in Second Life.

There are a lot of reasons for that. Here are a few off the top of my head: (1) You compete against hobbyists who offer quality content for less than market value, or free; (2) There aren't a lot of big spenders in Second Life; (3) Any transaction in Second Life is high risk due to the anonymity of the residents, and a lack of meaningful dispute resolution between residents; (4) Many skills that may actually be profitable in Second Life can be far more profitable outside of Second Life.

Further, for you in particular, Second Life just isn't very friendly to text. All meaningful forms of text you see are very short. There aren't any good formats to support longer text. (Notecards are not user friendly mechanisms of delivering text, and that's about all you have for long text.)

That's not to say that you shouldn't try to market your skills in Second Life for a Second Life business. Just don't expect to earn a living income doing it. You can probably identify needs in Second Life for technical writing or writing ads. What I don't think you'll identify are people willing to pay professional rates for professional work.

If you do decide to do work in Second Life, you should pay attention to how that work will translate outside of Second Life. The future of the Second Life economy is not that in which most residents participate; the future is in corporate and soft-money use of Second Life. Those are your best targets for something that resembles living income.

I'm very glad I wasn't drinking milk while reading that post.

I thought it was fairly ironic, too.

I know one girl who writes erotic stories and sells them. Not sure how lucrative this is.

One thing that occurs to me is, if you are good at creative writing, good with words, you are a born roleplayer and from your post it seems you have done this before. Good roleplayers are rare. Try getting involved in roleplaying sims.

It wont make you any money, but its fun, if thats your thing.

imogen

That's a good point, Amity. I was looking at the question as how to earn an SL income - enough to cover a little rental and maybe some trinkets every now and then. A RL income is a whole 'nother ball of wax.

Group notices would be fine. It's the constant IMs that will drive me out. :/

Yeah, that's what I was thinking - rather than an actual living, just a way to earn enough Lindens to get myself a place, some bits and pieces, a new damn walk animation so I'm not such an obvious noob,. that sort of thing.

Thanks for the input, chaps, I'll take a look at writers' groups. Also, I bet I could write some erotic stories, easy. I just need to look up a few synonyms for 'breast' and I'll be good to go. Might be an opportunity to create a shadow me, a sort of erotic whirlwind oozing with sexuality, so whenever I wander around in real life doing mundane things I can think 'none of these pople know I am actually Travesty Sorbet, the Master Swordsman of the Virtual Harem'.

I'd second this. I was kind of surprised at the ease of creating something specific here, once I had a handle on the basics - everything stems from the written word for me, even visuals (which might surprise those who know me and my work). I find I use a lot of coloured light because it sort of makes sense as being related to descriptive writing ... maybe a mild form of synaesthesia, but not one I would complain about because it is really really useful!

I also am considering writing and publishing within SL, under a nom de plume of course. Wouldn't want to sully my stainless, virtuous and innocent reputation, would I? *cough*

Before you get started, google the classic works of the famous internet writer "bloodninja."

Few stood out from the crowd so well, or distinguished themselves so handily as that fellow...

Really, we SHOULD hold that erotic writing contest at the Hangout that we talked about a while ago.

I could help judge, since I of course am pure as the driven snow.

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Those are modest goals, and acheivable.

I think that there must be a business in writing ad copy in Second Life. The nature of Second Life is that one must be effective with few, highly searchable words. Not many Second Life residents are skilled at doing it; even the ones who are native English speakers.

One of your target consumer groups for such services might be business owners who are not native English speakers, but need to communicate in English. I often think when reading some ads how much more effective they would be just from simple grammar clean-up.

No one will pay you professional fees to do it. But they might pay modest Second Life fees for it; maybe enough to cover your Second Life expenses.

You might try the Cookie sim. Lots of writing groups have space there and there are events happening often. I don't know about making money at it, but I'm sure people in those groups would have handle on it. You can also contact the people at ANON Literary Magazine. I'm sure they can give you some information. I have names for you, but Im not supposed to print names here. Send me a private message or IM me in world and I'll give you the contacts.

A long time ago I found a much better way to give wings to my words. Rather than expending the effort to write them down, I just drink a lot of Red Bull and talk fast. Presto! Just like in the ads. Winged words everywhere. I found if I use really big words, they are easier to catch if they become annoying later on, flitting about, landing on my glasses, etc. Oh, and the mean words sting. Don't forget that!

Yarrr!

I'm a rhinocerus.

I want to be bloodninja. The man is a genius of the highest caliber.

Yahtzee? Is that you?

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/zero-punctuation