Talk about an embarrassment of riches!
Ezines are racking up millions of articles.
These are ?free donations? from aspiring and even established authors.
Officially, these pieces are attracting clicks, which Google and others are paying for, and being paid for, by purchasers and advertisers. Clicks translate into profits for Ezine publishers, so they get money, and writers get, I'm sorry, what do they get?
Ah, yes, ego gratification.
But if you're a writer you have to wonder, what will Ezines do, in the long run, with the millions of articles that they're gathering and storing?
Do they believe that there's a future Hemingway or Stephen King dwelling in dormancy in these electronic pages, and when these authors gain ultimate esteem and recognition, their caches of articles will turn into instant treasures?
I suppose it's possible, and statistically, it may even be probable.
If an Ezine has 30,000 writers, and a million articles, there have to be at least one or two diamonds in the rough, needles in the proverbial haystacks, wouldn't you say?
But there are some problems with this calculus.
First, Ezines are not set up to detect quality, at all. Indeed, they notice and even create incentives for producing in large quantities, through recognition programs, statistical spreadsheets and the like.
But there is no distinction for ?Best Authors,? but only for ?Expert Authors? and they're determined and ranked by output, alone.
Second, there are no more readers in America today than there were ten, twenty, or possibly thirty years ago, despite the proliferation of people, publications, books, and freebie Internet articles.
Reading is in decline. (Ask the circulation people at newspapers.)
Most people don't have time or the interest. They're watching satellite, cable, and videos.
Still, about 39% of Americans are NOT connected to the Internet, so how can they be expected to read Ezine articles?
Yet you have to believe there is a life for these articles beyond today's clicks.
Just as distant, extraterrestrial civilizations might be receiving ?I Love Lucy? and ?Twilight Zone? video streams, there may be intelligent life that will discover our writings.
Maybe.
Dr. Gary S. Goodman is the best-selling author of 12 books, over 700 articles, and the creator of numerous audio and video training programs, including "The Law of Large Numbers: How To Make Success Inevitable," published by Nightingale-Conant-a favorite among salespeople and entrepreneurs. For information about booking Gary to speak at your next sales, customer service or management meeting, conference or convention, please address your inquiry to: [email protected]
