These past two weeks I’ve spent a lot of time reading up and researching for a major project I’ve been dreaming about for years. None of that is meant for this medium however

But I did read some interesting stuff that I can share…

1. Jan Vermeer – The Man Who Found a Way To Paint Light

The artist who found a way to do what other artists in his time, and up till this day, have not been able to do: He developed a technique called “pointillé”, for painting natural light.

Visit http://www.janvermeer.org/ to learn more about his paintings, life etc.

It was while listening to Burt Dubin in a SpeakerMatch radio show issue I transcribed that I first learnt about Jan Vermeer.

The theme for that SpeakerMatch show’s issue was “What They Don’t Teach You In Speaking Business School”.

To get the full PDF transcript I’ve created, with pictures and time stamps use the contact form or email me via tayo at tksola dot com.

NB: Vermeer’s technique sounds similar in name to (but is different from) pointillism, which is a technique developed by George Surat (if I recall correctly) and which involves using a series of tiny dots to create artworks. It so happens that I once promoted the creations of a Lagos based artist – Eze – who specializes in using Pointillism.

Apart from putting up a mini arts gallery/website (click to view it) on my web hosting space to showcase his pieces, I also built an online store with Cafepress.com (click to view it) offering over 50 different gift items branded with images from one of his works.

2. Sunday Evening With Ghana Association of Writers (GAW) – By Nana

I’m really excited to see the concerted efforts being made by Ghana Association of Writers to promote interest in reading and writing as a vocation among youths and adults alike.

Nana’s report on her “Sunday Evening With Ghana Association of Writers (GAW)” caught my interest when I stumbled on it. Click here to read it.

When I was done with the comments, I Google for more details about GAW and discovered that they have partnered with the nation’s Ministry of Education to re-launch the “GAW School Outreach Programme”(GWASOP) – to promote the twin habits of reading and writing among students nationwide
Click here to learn more about GWASOP.

The GAW impresses me because they are so active, and involved in infuencing positive developments in different. For instance, they also contribute to the Ghana International Book Fair.

It would be great to see more associations across Africa operate the same way.

3. Toyin Aluko’s Lagos State Handball Association distributes handball equipment to 15 schools

I played competitive handball

up to state level from the age of 12 (1982) till I left the university in ’92 (I captained the University’s team to the last NUGA prelims that held before I graduated).

I want my kids to get those benefits too. And that’s why I am so excited by what the Lagos State Handball Association’s Toyin Aluko who runs the association(she’s played the game at international level, and now holds a PhD in Sports Administration).

The association recently donated equipment and kits to 15 schools as part of a big plan to revive the sport in the state.

In my Blog Comments Multi-Post Series (see table of contents at the end of this post) published last year, I basically said “No” to the above question. If you’re in a rush, I’ll save you the hassle of reading this to the end to find out what I now think: I still say “No”: There is no tangible correlation (negative or positive) between a blog’s income earning performance and the volume of comments it receives.

Over 10 months of closely studying successful blogs/bloggers in a wide variety of niches inform my view.  If anybody has verifiable data that proves otherwise, I’d love to see it. As a Performance Enhancement Specialist, I have a Best Practice focus on establishing reproducible success formulas for venturing into various areas of endeavour.

This 1,500 word post offers you the most recent insights I’ve gained – from studying two famous bloggers (Patrick Meninga and Chris Guillebeau) – to reinforce my opinion.

1. Patrick Meninga’s 5 Year $200,000 Blogging Success Story Podcast Interview: Not Once Was Commenting Mentioned!

When I recently spent time studying Patrick Meninga’s amazing story about how he sold his blog for $200,000, I realized I needed to revisit the subject again.

NB: I recently published excerpts from my new e-book which discusses 21 lessons I learned about blogging for passive income (fromYaro Starak’s podcast interview of Patrick Meninga).

But no one seems to have caught on to ONE big MISSING in Patrick’s story it appears. I find it intriguing that Patrick NEVR once mentioned “blog comments” during that entire 60 minute interview! This is quite odd – considering how many bloggers sometimes even insist that if your blog is not getting comments, you’re effectively spinning your wheels.

It Was An Epiphany Of Gigantic Proportions For Me!

Think about it for a moment. If you have not listened to that comprehensive interview, listen to it here. You’ll agree with me that Yaro literally “downloaded” everything (so to speak) from Patrick about his journey to achieving his amazing success story.

All through that entire session, a constantly repeating theme was for Patrick to “tell listeners what he did…how he did it…what worked and so on.

If Patrick received any blog comments that made him realize he was doing well or succeeding, he would have mentioned it. I’m sure you agree with me. If the site’s commenting community (assuming he had one) had grown as he added more articles, and so inspiring him to continue, I think Patrick would have mentioned that too.

Instead this guy told us he focused on working hard, publishing new content regularly to a daily quota, monitoring search engine results/rankings, and building keywords lists with which to author new content.

Not once did he mention asking people to post comments on the WordPress site all through that interview. Not even once! Yet, the website visits grew…and grew…and grew until he was earning enough to quit his job (over $1,000 per month!).

But that was just the beginning. Eventually, he had the owner of a real world treatment center offer to BUY the website off him for over ten times the normal price that most website owners would ever hope to get theirs sold for ($200,000!).

It doesn’t end there. Since that sale over 2 years ago, the new owner of that website has continued to pay Patrick to write new articles for the website. Wow – talk about getting to eat your cake and having it at the same time!

Again, think about it: that implies the guy has had no regrets about buying the site. Otherwise Patrick would be on the run right now…if you know what I mean

All this came from a website that got more or less no comments worth mentioning.

Patrick achieved success with his website by loading content at a phenomenal rate (25 articles per day – and up to 400 articles per month!) into a website that was getting few or no comments from visitors.

Why Patrick’s Addiction Treatment Website Got Few Comments (My Take)

By way of interest, I spent some time thinking about it, and I came up with one likely reason why that website did not – and probably may never – receive any significant number of comments.

People interested in drug addiction rehabilitation or treatment are most likely to be those struggling with drug addition – or persons involved in caring for and helping such addicts recover.

Both groups are unlikely to be willing to broadcast their interest in such a website in publicly in a comments section

Update (25th March 2013):

This infographic published recently by Patrick (I got it via his e-mail broadcast 2 days ago) puts a dent in the theory I proposed above. It would appear the site did get many comments.

Whether contributors adopted aliases to feel “safe” in commenting is something that comes to my mind.

So does whether they were so worth mentioning to NOT be missed out in the interview…

In other words, I still find it quite striking (especially considering the impressive commenting activity the infographic reports he had), that not once did he mention comments in the extensive 60 minute analysis of his blog’s success. Not one time.

The way I see it, such a level commenting activity could also have pointed him in the direction of new topics to write on (or not) for instance. And that would have made an impression worthy of mention in the interview.

But then I guess sometimes things can skip a person’s mind…

Click here to take a look at the infographic, and draw your own conclusions to guide your blogging efforts

2. Chris Guillebeau Says “Don’t Let Comments Kill You!”

Chris achieved Internet fame by building a large following rapidly in a short period of time using blogging and social media. He’s the kind of person who should know.

I discovered Chris through his (Art of Non-Conformity) world domination mission’s first manifesto. It was emailed to me by Burt Dubin – creator of the Speaking Success System and mentor of some of the world’s highest paid speakers (whose products and services I promote to experts across Africa).

I remain forever grateful to Burt for that thoughtful gesture.

If you have not read Chris Guillebeau’s website and many useful manifestos you’re missing an opportunity to change the way you look at life and achieve true fulfillment! Click here to visit his website – there’s a lot to read and learn.

If you end up with a site that attracts lots of comments, it may go from giving you pleasure into a nightmare of sorts. That’s probably what comments management became for some famous people who chose to close comments on their blogs.

One example I mentioned in my series on my comments is Steve Pavlina. I wasn’t surprised to find him mentioned by Chris in his second PDF manifesto as well. Seth Godin is another famous person he mentioned.

When Steve did what he did, it caused a major uproar. Some predicted the demise of his site. Long after that we all know nothing of the sort has happened. Steve had carefully done a cost benefit analysis before pulling the plug on commenting.

At the end of the day, as a productivity expert, he was able to define what really mattered most for him to succeed. And comments management simply did not fit in.

Chris Guillebeau rightly points out that you don’t have to be famous to be able to “safely” dispense with comments on your blog if you feel so inclined. He offers the example of his friend, Naomi – who did just that and lived to tell the tale

So, it’s really up to you to decide.

This Is Not An Anti-Comments Post…Only a “Health Warning”

Keep in mind here that I’m not against allowing comments on your blog. What I’m saying is that in your writing and blogging efforts, avoid falling into the trap of drawing validation for continuing your work from the number – and type (read: positive or negative) – of comments you get from your blog.

If you do, you set yourself up for a potential “crisis”.

What happens for instance, if people suddenly stop commenting – for whatever reason? Or what if the number of people who comment starts dwindling? Even worse, what if more people start posting negative comments? All of these are real possibilities.

Think about it. If you started your blog with the right mindset, you would know that YOU should be in the driving seat of your blog’s evolution.

YOU should be working to a plan you prepared by yourself – or in collaboration with trusted others. It goes without saying that you may have to modify it based on input from others where necessary.

But for the most part this would be YOUR vision in motion, so to say. And that’s why focusing too greatly on whether or not you get comments, or whether the comments are in line with your expectations can be emotionally stressful.

Here’s my suggestion: Save your physical, emotional and intellectual energy for the most important tasks. The main one being keeping up your content creation and marketing. That’s the key to your ultimate success.

Final Words: Don’t Kill Your Enjoyment of Blogging By Fretting Over Comments

Commenting is an activity that many bloggers – some are top rated experts – readily brandish as a powerful indication of the success of their blogs. And  many of their followers use this as a measure of the value they should place on any blog they visit. And for their niches, they are probably right.

The web is literally packed with thousands of how-to articles explaining what you need to do to succeed in this highly visible blogging activity. And yet I have not found one post or article offering reliable data showing a tangible correlation between nurturing an active commenting community on a blog, and the success – I mean financial –  it achieves.

And that’s not surprising – at least to me. The insights I have shared in this article indicate it’s not a one size fits all thing. You cannot make a blanket statement about the importance of comments in measuring the progress or success of a blog or website.

Quite often it will depend on the topic/theme of the site, the nature of activity it discusses, and the preference of those who frequent the site, among other factors.

It therefore follows that a comment-less blog can become financially successful. Examples abound on the web – for anyone willing to look objectively.

One such website (with blog) is this one, from which Burt Dubin earns thousands of dollars in passive income year-in, year-out by selling speaker mentoring products and services to buyers all over the world.

So, don’t kill your enjoyment of blogging, with an unhealthy obsession with getting and managing comments.

Remember: you can still succeed even if you do NOT get any!

================

Blog Comments Multi-Post Series – Table of Contents

Post 1: Should You Worry About Getting Blog Comments?
Post 2: Deciding If Your Blog Needs Comments To Succeed (5 Questions To Ask Yourself)
Post 3: Six Potentially Useful Measures of Your Blog’s Performance (Hint: Comments Vs. Five Others)
Post 4(Final): Using Your Blog To Make Money – Little Used Strategies You Can Exploit

================

GET A FREE COPY OF MY NEW FREE EBOOK!

To get your FREE copy of the FULL ebook  titled “21 Valuable Lessons I Learnt About Blogging for Passive Income, from  Yaro Starak’s 60 Minute Podcast Interview with Patrick Meninga”, (Includes my 20 page VERBATIM text transcript of Yaro Starak’s 29MB podcast – with time stamps.) – send email to me via tayo at cbstudio.biz with “FREE Transcipt PDF EBook” in the subject line.

Writing can be hard. I know this from over a decade of doing it as an entrepreneur. But I’ve learnt how to do it easily, almost effortlessly. I do it faster and better with each passing day. This article exposes the real reason why writing gets too hard for some people to continue. Read it to discover how to make your writing happen with less effort.

Writing Is Hard
Only When You Have No Reason For Doing It

I’ve sometimes worked with individuals of different ages and backgrounds, to help them develop a regular writing habit like mine in their areas of interest. Nine out of ten never made it.

They said it was hard. And they were right. But the funny thing was, that was not why they could not do it!

I think deeply about things a lot. And it’s helped me gain insights that have resulted in my ability to literally achieve any goal I set my mind upon in any area of endeavour – including writing.

Here’s what I learnt.

Writing, like any other challenging task or activity, will get too hard for you to continue doing only if you have no reason to keep at it.

Think back to your days in school. With few exceptions, most people endured the rigours of reading and writing endlessly, only because they wanted to earn their certificates and degrees. And not because they liked studying hard and taking exams!

You probably had moments in school when you felt you could not keep up. But the thought of disappointing your family may have kept you going. Or maybe you wanted to get qualified so you could get a good job and live in a big house, drive a fancy car…you get my drift I’m sure

And that’s how most of us human beings are really wired. We need to have a reason to keep doing anything that requires us to exert ourselves on a regular basis.

Can You Find A Good Reason To Write?

If you’ve ever contemplated giving up writing, search yourself.

Do you have a good reason for wanting to write?

Are you considering the right topic or theme? One that you have a compelling reason to write on?

If no, then that’s why writing can be too hard for you.

I have many reasons for writing as if I’m possessed, or as if my life depends on it.

Those who live with me will tell you I sometimes keep reading and writing for 18 to 20 hours non-stop – without pausing to eat – if I have a deadline to meet.

The very thought of not finishing ahead of my target date or time drives me to work in that manner.

But actually, my underlying motive is not an obsession with deadlines. Instead it’s my desire to deliver results I promise my clients that motivates me.

Then again, that’s not my most important reason for writing with passion like I do.

I do so because I have an irresistable urge to share what I know with others who may find it useful.

I’ve learnt so much from reading what others who knew chose to share by writing. Over the years I’ve learnt that it’s important to do the same thing.

And since I began doing so over a decade ago, I’ve enjoyed the satisfaction of seeing my writing interest and help others. That’s in addition to having it repeatedly earn me substantial income.

All of the above serves to inspire me to do even more writing, and to improve my ability to do it.

Final Words: Find Your Reason & Start Writing With Ease!

When you find a compelling reason to do something, a magical thing happens.

You stop thinking about how hard it is – and you just start doing it. And you’ll keep doing it until you get the result you want. No matter how long it takes or how hard it gets.

So if you want to make writing easy for yourself, think deep and hard, to find a good reason to do it.

If you succeed you’ll never find writing too hard to do again.

Writing is the hardest work in the world. I have been a bricklayer and a truck driver, and I tell you – as if you haven’t been told a million times already – that writing is harder.  Lonelier. And nobler and more enriching.
Harlan Ellison

With the global jobs market shrinking, many people across the world are turning to writing as a part-time or full-time source of income. And why not? Writing is something virtually anyone with interest and motivation can do successfully. Especially with access to proper guidance. Prospects however vary from one location to another. This article discusses 3 realities aspiring writers in different socioeconomic environments may have to contend with in their pursuit of paid writing success.

1. Reading and Writing Go Together

You cannot have one without the other. Many writers draw inspiration from reading the writing of contemporaries, and sometimes from studying the works of writers from earlier times e.g Shakespeare etc. The latter were mostly thought leaders in their time, and communicated their ideas and philosophies mainly through writing and public speaking debates.

“Reading usually precedes writing and the impulse to write is almost always fired by reading. Reading, the love of reading, is what makes you dream of becoming a writer.” – Susan Sontag

I got a good laugh few years ago when I read a newspaper interview in which Chimamanda Adichie, award winning author of Purple Hibiscus highlighted the faulty reasoning holding some aspiring authors back.

She gave the example of a young man who requested for her help to improve his writing. When she asked him what books he had read, he replied that he did not have time to read!

She promptly told him a writer who cannot make out time to read, cannot reasonably expect to achieve any worthwhile progress in writing.
Very true.

2. Thinking Is Essential To Ensuring Quality Reading & Writing

In between the reading and writing, a lot of thinking often has to happen. And it is that thinking process, when diligently done by the writer that enables her turn out what will be considered a new or unique body of writing to complement what already exists.

It does not matter what your field of writing interest is. These principles are universally relevant. And anyone who wishes to make headway in writing will have to apply them diligently.

To appreciate good writing, readers will often need to be comfortable with doing a reasonable amount of thinking. An aversion for reflective thinking generally makes reading a burdensome task for most people. One reason for that is the poor introduction many get to reading in the formal schooling system.

3. Reading Cultures Determine Viability of Writing As a Profession

Not surprisingly, some of the best writing (and writers) in the world come(s) from parts of the world where a healthy reading and thinking culture exists.

Generally, writing for a living in such climes confers an amount of prestige, and depending on a number of other factors, the financial rewards can be substantial.

On the other hand, societies with poor reading and thinking cultures tend to have writing as a profession looked down upon by the larger majority. This is understandable, and to be expected, since writers out there are unlikely to command enough readership to earn enough income for their efforts.

However, some writers who originate from such societies, if driven enough by desire, can (and have) successfully exported their writing abroad, where they consequently earn(ed) great recognition and reward for their works at an international level.

Ironically, back home their people will readily celebrate such writers’ successes, but it rarely influences them to improve their poor reading habits.

A striking example is the internationally accomplished dramatist and playwright whose books, 2 decades after he won the Nobel prize for literature, have still not been read by an overwhelming majority of adults in his native country!

Final Words: Your Success Is Up To You

Having said the above, it ultimately boils down to the individual, and how far she’s willing to go to succeed.

The Internet has removed the barrier of distance from the equation for most people, making it easy for them to showcase their written works, and skills, to a potentially unlimited audience, regardless of where the writer is based.

Therefore, if you are a writer, or one aspiring, the sky is literally speaking truly your limit. Just do plenty of good reading and thinking, and turn out your written works of art for paying clients and customers to enjoy!

When people say social media do not really work, I often tell them it’s up to every individual to make it work for his/her purposes. Technology was made for man. Not the other way round.

Nigeria’s former Federal Capital Territory minister, Nasir El Rufai’s smart use of popular social media to cost-effectively boost marketing and sales of his new book (“Accidental Public Servant”) is something many appear to have missed.

This article highlights useful lessons even the most accomplished social media practitioners can learn, from what El Rufai has done…and continues to do.

NB: I do not do flattery. Neither do I seek cheap publicity. When you’re done reading this piece, I’m certain you’ll see that the points I’ve made are valid.

Celebrities Can Make Financially Rewarding Use of Social Media – Without Looking Bad

I’ve often wondered about our celebrities and public figures, regarding their use of popular social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter especially. I mean musicians, actors, serving public officers, TV/radio personalities, and so on.

Many of the above mentioned have a large number of followers. But few can claim to have achieved the kinds of results El Rufai is currently getting via his Facebook posts and Twitter status updates .

I know they are not into business directly. But I argue that making the most of such followership can be quite worthwhile. You need not make it your life focus, but if/when the need arises, you should be able to use it to achieve your goal(s) faster.

Ironically, if you were to do this, your followers, rather than be offended, are most likely to welcome such efforts.

Nasir El-Rufai’s Ingenious Social Media Based Book Selling Campaign Strategy

El Rufai apparently understands all of the above quite clearly.

I elaborate…

1. Subtly Creating Anticipation Amongst Buyers

Recently, his long awaited book “Accidental Public Servant”, finally got launched.

Unlike what happens with others who’ve been in government, I did not hear that any big politician or public office holder bought copies of the book at the launching, for millions of naira.

Instead, leading up to that date, El Rufai who had spent months periodically talking up the book and its planned launching, actively announced the firmed up dates and outlets.

It is difficult to say whether the previous launch date postponements were inadvertent, or deliberately designed to raise anticipation and curiousity in the minds of the public.

Either way, the delayed release of the book served a powerful pre-marketing purpose. People were huingry to read the book before it arrived.

And when eventuially it hit the stands, El Rufai once again leveraged his social media clout. He actively shared comments, opinions and reviews done by others about the book.

Considering the dignified status of some of those who gave mostly positive reviews of the book, it goes without saying that more people would have been enticed to get copies for themselves.

2. Using Personal Branding To Inspire Purchases

El Rufai showed savvy when he announced via Twitter and Facebook that he would autograph purchased copies of his book for any interested buyers.

That drew the interest of many followers and others. “Imagine having a copy of the book personally signed by mallam himself, to show people?” they must have told themselves!

3. Courting Controversy In/With Style

Then there was the use of controversy to great effect. Each time he said something that could ruffle the feathers of those he criticized, they almost never let it pass without a sensational rejoinder of some sort.

Again, El Rufai simply retweeted and shared same to his followers, who did the same within their networks.

The multiplier effect was far reaching. Considering also that his book contained all sorts of unprecedented insider revelations, the attraction it holds for average Nigerians living at home and abroad can be appreciated.

So much buzz has been generated. And the word of mouth accounts have only served to feed the frenzy.

Virtually everyone who read or heard about the book’s excerpts suddenly wanted to own a copy.

Few spoke about borrowing or photocopying it. Even fewer asked to get it free. And these were the same people – Nigerians I mean – with a reputation for being averse to reading!

What’s more, El Rufai’s book is far from being a short read – and at approximately N5,000 to N9,000 (depending on physical print format) it cannot be said to be cheap, by Nigerian standards.

Yet Nigerians ask him daily on Twitter and Facebook:

“Mallam, I must read your book. Where can I buy it…?”.

And those who’ve read (or are still reading) it return to post or tweet:

“You did a good job in the book” etc.

Of course there have been those with negative feedback to give him. What is however surprising and certainly noteworthy is that he did so well in his social media marketing that even those who dislike him bought the book, then sent him their (expectedly) negative feedback after reading it!

One of them even wrote to say:

“I don’t like you, but I wish you quick recovery”.

This was after apparently reading that the mallam had undergone an operation and was recuperating!

A Marketing Model Worth Studying & Adopting

Isn’t it just amazing how this man has used social media to capture the attention and interest of such a naturally distracted group of people like Nigerians?

I actually find it to be quite a fascinating phenomenon!

It’s a model worthy of further study and possible emulation by other public officers currently in office, and even those no longer in service.

I further suggest public figures and celebrities interested in monetizing their social media presence, take pains to study El Rufai’s model (and possibly contact him for tips): seriously!

Final Words: Selling Smarter By Creating “Top of Mind Awareness”

I know some Nigerian celebrities already sell on social media. But the way El Rufai is doing it really stands out.

Most others are doing direct selling. They announce sales or events while simultaneously sharing fun stuff. For instance, some comedians have a tested and proven Facebook marketing model that apparently seems to have worked well for them.

El Rufai’s approach however is more subtle, and packs greater marketing punch, with longer lasting effects.

And it tends to be driven not by him, but by his target audience. They end up being the ones asking for it. He does very little telling, selling or showing. Quite often, he’s only responding to the enquiries.

And that’s because he’s successfully used his pre-marketing to create “Top of Mind Awareness” about the product he wants them to buy.

Everything about him draws their thoughts to his product, because he’s so closely connected to the topical socio-political issues on people’s minds.

El Rufai has played his cards just right, and now, his carefully orchestrated social media book marketing system continues to sell him and his book, even while he sleeps.

He’s certainly not like many past public office holders who keep thinking of ways to work themselves back into office to get more money.

This man seems headed for a life of quiet comfort based (at least in part) on passive income streams from sales of his book to enthusiastic (possibly frantic) buyers in Nigeria and the diaspora!

On a final note, El Rufai could not have done all this by himself.

He must have reliable access to some smart minds who helped put up – and possibly maintain – what we all see everyday. The books – print and electronic. The status updates etc.

To those silent contributors who helped create this impressive success story, one must say “Great Job – and more grease to your elbows!”

Should you specialize on a particular theme or category to attract more writing clients, or boost sales of your written articles? Or is it okay to pursue opportunities to earn income by using intelligent research on different topics to produce writing content that sells? This article offers answers for you to consider towards possibly making up your mind.

Some writing experts in the blogging industry have expressed what I consider one-sided views on this subject, that in reality do not apply to all possible scenarios.

But the fact that you’re an expert does not mean you’ll always be right. There were experts before you. And there’ll definitely be many after you.

And sometimes your experiences, perspectives and insights will not be enough to give you a full appreciation of what can or cannot be done.

It however appears that some experts forget the above mentioned truths. Or why else would they make statements that betray the fact that they subscribe to such faulty notions?

Here’s one example of a situation in which the above occurs:

I’ve read some writing experts arguing in their articles that writing success depends mainly on a writer’s ability to specialize in the right niche.

So, for example, a writer could choose to major in writing on Self-Development. Another could focus on being a Technology writer, and so on.

According to these experts, specializing in this manner will inspire trust in the minds of potential clients that you, the writer, can deliver the right content to meet their needs. As a result you’d get hired more often and/or your articles and other written works would sell more.

However, what I’ve found out from careful observation of trends online, is that many successful writers, especially freelancers, do not limit themselves to any particular subject, theme, topic range or niche.

Instead they actively take on and successfully complete paid writing projects by using intelligent writing research techniques to generate good quality content for clients in different fields or markets as the need arises.

If you really think about it, this makes more sense than insisting on writing only on specific subjects.

At the end of the day however, it’s up to each writer to decide what approach to adopt. And if she’s able to attract enough patronage from buyers, then it’ll be worth her while.

In other words, I argue that there is no one way to do this. Every writer should be free to choose what works for her.

One place where I’ve found that writers are actively encouraged and supported to explore available opportunities to earn income by writing on different subjects/categories, is www.constant-content.com.

Ever so often they send out email updates featuring top 10 selling categories. They also include feature articles from leading writers in the community sharing ideas about how to write as many articles as possible in all of the featured categories.

The objective is ultimately to turn out more articles in the popular categories, thereby increasing writers’ chances of making article sales.

It’s the above kind of real life situation that proves nothing is cast in stone as far as writing specialisation is concerned.

The truth is that different kinds of clients will seek different kinds of writers.

What cannot be denied is that many successful writers – especially freelancers – become so by developing their abilities to research and write competently on a wide range of topics.

To summarize therefore, a writer’s ultimate ability to succeed is likely to be enhanced by her willingness to research and write on as many categories as she feels competent to handle.

As long as she has the interest to pursue it, that strategy can only boost her chances of success!