starting a business + writing

I have two questions.

1) How strong is literary culture in Second Life? Could a novelist find a good niche there?

2) Does anyone know of any good classes or articles about startinga SL Business?

Thanks in advance!

Aetucre

re 1) I perceive SL mainly as a visual culture. In-world you just have notecards (basically plain text files with links in it) and pictures representing text. If you are OK with publishing plain text files which aren't protected against copying or modifying they it's doable.

re 2) Do we really need a class there? I think it's pretty straightforward: (i) Create some objects you want to sell, (ii) get registered on SLExchange and/or SLBoutique, (iii) find a place for the SLX/SLB server boxes, (iv) update the web info on the sites ... and you're in business.

ricky, slx/slb are not obvious resources to somebody brand-new to sl. nor is sl marketing as cut and dry as you imply.

aetucre, i suggest finding a mentor in-game. not necessarily a fellow writer, but somebody that is obviously successful at marketing their product.
and i have seen books (readable books that you turn the pages of) in game as well, its not merely notecards out there. there are also periodicals in-game, maybe you should check them out and see what they are all about.

Aetucre,

I operate a small bookstore and publish my own work in SL. If you'd like to chat about this and will be in-world around 3-4 pm SL time - send me an IM. I'd be happy to drag you to my shop

Nina, where can I find these readable books with the pages and all?

There are a couple on display in my bookstore - follow the link in my signature line and go to the first shop on the left...

If it were that simple, we wouldn't be seeing more than half of all RL small businesses failing within five years.

There's some basic SL stuff missing from your list, like advertising in either Places and/or Classified, choosing between multi-product vending machines or multiple display items, setting prices, understanding the permission system and tradeoffs (such as choosing whether to allow copy or transfer), implementing upgrades if selling scripted items, producing demo items, getting your money out of SL, record keeping, keeping your store secure against poachers and griefers, and probably many more.

And that's before getting into issues common with all businesses, but with SL-specific answers: where to advertise and how to measure its effectiveness, how much to charge, how to produce advertising images, choosing where to locate the store(s), designing the store so that customers stick around and come back, figuring out which products will sell, understanding the competition.

By the way, I've only ever found one item of interest on SLExchange or SLBoutique. They're both a pain to use, with a poor organizational model and inadequate search engines. Search in SL is also inadequate, but usually faster. I suspect the most of the stuff I buy isn't listed on either of these two.

I am about to release the first issue of a new literature zine named 'infiction' to be published both in world and online. A second issue is in the works as I'm hammering out some features for a dynamic blog-like content management system that the zine runs on. The content is delivered from a wordpress blog to a public internet site as well as inworld to a custom browser HUD.

I am actively seeking submissions for the upcoming issue. In payment for your accepted work I'm offering free copies of the zine inworld, as well as free group membership for all accepted authors.

Group benefits include:
Later in the year, I am planning hold a creative writing workshops hosted by an established writer friend, A big part of my business plan here is to do some hand holding to get other writers into SL.

Some nice land w access to prims / docks / roadside / mentoring

Free entry into group contests and themed events.


IM me (whyroc Slade) if you want to see a demo version of the HUD zine 'infiction'. I'm around as much as I can be. Anyone who comes across this post is welcome to stop by.


http://slurl.com/secondlife/Sabulella/238/186/22
and
http://slurl.com/secondlife/Buckler/121/112/57


No ban lines here, don't be shy.

Yes, of course it's not altogether that simple (as also Kidd implies).

But in that SL is not that different from RL ... in both environments you need to care about pricing, studying the competition, selecting sales channels, etc. ... There are reams of generic literature on that.

The reason why I made my somewhat whimsical suggestion: It seems that both revenue and profit margins are exceedingly small for (estimated) 90% of SL businesses. So it's just not worth investing so much time in that. If you spend 30 minutes stuffing the objects into SLX instead of 40 hours figuring out a much more effective sales strategy, this may bring you a couple of 1000 L$ more, but at the same time costs 39.5 hours you could spend roaming SL. Time you could enjoy yourself instead of, well, work.

It's a matter of how you value the way you spend your time in SL, I guess.

90% of business may be pretty much worthless, but the other 10% make a shed load of money and that is generally only accomplished by hard work over a period of time. If you see running a business as 'work' then you really shouldn't bother with it. Allot of business owners get great pleasure out of creating their products, marketing them, building a business but it's not for everyone. I personally have spent thousands of hours building in SL with the goal of making money and its an enjoyable hobby, certainly not work. If the OP has a passion for their product then you should be encouraging them rather than pissing on their parade before they have even got started.

I think that buying books in world and reading them in world might not be for everyone, but having a 'discussion' event once a week or maybe more to give your readers a chance to talk to the write about about the work might be popular.

I love going to the 'story telling' events where one person starts a story and everyone takes turns adding a few lines to the story, and poetry reading / discussion events are also very fun