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  Noticing Newbies  1. About this Newsletter 2. A Word from our Sponsor 3. Letter from the Editor 4. Editor's Picks 5. A Word from Writing.Com 6. Ask & Answer 7. Removal instructions  Welcome to the Noticing Newbies Newsletter! Our goal is to showcase some of our newest Writing.Com Authors and their items. From poetry and stories to creative polls and interactives, we'll bring you a wide variety of items to enjoy. We will also feature "how to" advice and items that will help to jump start the creation process on Writing.com. We hope all members of the site take the time to read, rate, review and welcome our new authors. By introducing ourselves, reviewing items and reaching out, we will not only make them feel at home within our community, we just might make new friends! This week's editor is Beyond the Cloud9   .~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~  Passionate about writing? Take your passion to new heights - with an online Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing, available only from top ranked National University. Choose workshops based on your interests. Work with experienced and published faculty. Prepare for a variety of career opportunities. Use a state-of-the art online system: Study where and when you want. Click here to get more information!  Did your mom ever yell at you as a child because you were in and out of the house so much? I heard those words often…”Stay in or stay out! You are letting all the cold air out!” In the Texas summers, cold air is precious and you want it in the house as long as possible without an electric bill over $200.00. Here on Writing.Com you can come and go as you please without being yelled at. In fact, it’s encouraged! Have you tried out the In & Outs? There are all kinds of them. Think of a subject and there’s probably and In & Out for it. Are you a Lord of the Rings fan? Do a search for it with In & Out as the type. You’ll find some related! Do you love the psychic eight ball? There’s an In & Out for that too! Poetry? Reviews? Anagrams? Movies? Music? It’s all there in the In & Outs! But what makes a successful In & Out? Many In & Outs are created, but not all are chosen. I’ve asked some successful In & Out creators what they think about it. archgargoyle has these suggestions for a successful I&O: Presentation is a major key to anything we write or organize. If you don't have a good description, an organized body, a subject that people can relate to, then people won't look. Description = Give your audience something to chew on, make them curious. Organization = Create some kind of format that is easiest for you to work with. If you look at my forums you'll probably notice an ongoing kind of format. Make sure spelling is correct, and you explain things to avoid confusion. Subject = Gotta have something that you know that will get looked at, and know what kind of crowd you hope to look at it.
With this In & Out I went for simple, but at the same time, I made it desirable for people to think about something so strange, and hilarious. For some strange reason people like sarcasm, and humor... I type out all of the body first. Being precise as to what you're looking for makes thing so less confusing to understand. Then I start playing with colors, bold text, emoticons, etc. Once I get the look I'm going for, then I start plugging my shiny new item in scroll, and try to plug in several forums that I know people would most likely be interested. You don't go into a horror forum and post a humor item. Just doesn't work... I've mostly been posting this into Scroll because the majority of the people I talk to are there, or lurking somewhere. So yes, advertising is important. Knowing where and what kind of crowd you’re seeking helps when making, and linking your item where it fits in the best. That is great advice! Authors of other successful I & O’s agreed with archgargoyle, and also had other points to add… waterbaby  comments when asked about the success of her I & O,
I think one of the things that makes that particular in and out successful is that it is constantly changing; meaning, the topic of the I&O is always different even though the format always remains the same. Although the topic is constantly changing, it's also an In and Out that everyone can take part in and just be silly. We have a wonderful group of people here on the site who take part in that In and Out, and I believe it's the members here who have made that In and Out so much fun. As far as advertisement goes, I really didn't advertise that particular I&O too much. I think I promoted it by sponsoring it in the first few days after it was created. In addition, I sent it to a few of my closest (maybe four) friends here on the site, but other than that, I really didn't do too much more with it. As time went on, however, it was featured in a couple of the Newsletters, so that may have helped too. I think advertising an item whether it's and I&O or a static is beneficial in getting a newly created item noticed. There are so many different ways to advertise here on the site that it just makes sense to advertise. Author can do this by sponsoring an item or by posting/plugging in one of the many forums here on Writing.com. In terms of keeping interest up, again, I credit that to the people who use that particular In and Out. I noticed that a lot of the people who frequent the In and Out started out here (as we all did) as gray cases. These members eventually turned black then yellow and some blue. My point being that many of the same users continue to come back time and again to post in that I&O. Another very successful I & O that has been around seemingly forever is
Writer of the Winds has this to say about it:When this thing began, I never dreamed it would last as long as it has. On the top of the original, there was the following statement: This thing may die faster than a mosquito at a Bug Zapper's show or a termite at an aardvark reunion, however, we shall give it a run. That was my honest feeling, but it is now going toward its third anniversary with over 20,000 views and I have to admit, I still don't know why it has been successful. Actually when it first started, a few folks posted, but it was very slow. I finally stop checking it and one day, probably two or three months later, I went over and checked it and was amazed at the number of views and posts. Here are some possibilities that I have thought of and others have suggested: The only hard rule is that you can't post twice in succession. You don't have to be logical, actually illogical is better. Writing a story, poem, etc. requires lots of concentration and work, in Poetic Insanity you can put your brain in neutral and it's OK. It's fun! How do I advertise or promote it? I have had contests of sorts occasionally. Once I had a contest that the person with the most posts in a month won 10,000 GP. During that contest, I posted a daily post in "Gailey's Place!!!" like someone calling a horse race. Recently I had a contest in which I chose a weekly winner of the best post. Those winners got 1,000 GP and I posted their name. That went on for 3 months. As you can see, having an I&O takes a little bit of maintenance, a little bit of advertising, and a whole lot of patience! Let’s get one more authors opinion. This author has a large collection of I&O’s! Here is what deemac  has to say about them:Of the many different types of I&O, ranging from Item Reviews to Guest Books, my own preference is for the word-game category. These are great fun, but your readers should beware, they can be really addictive! As far as my own In&Outs are concerned, I have a dedicated folder "The Word Gamers Nook", containing 8 different items, all word-games of one kind or another, mainly involving puns. For some, you need to follow on from the previous contributor, but mostly you just turn up and post whatever! (Btw, I have to confess that I've tried out 3 or 4 others too which just didn't catch on and had to be consigned to that great In&Out in the sky!) On your specific questions, I would think that the success of an In&Out would depend very much on its type. Some of the more interactive ones would probably go stale very quickly if they didn’t attract posts pretty well every day; while others seem to thrive okay on just the occasional top-up! My advice to anyone thinking of starting up a new I&O is first to check out the existing I&O list, to make sure that their idea (or a very similar one) a) isn’t already running successfully, and b) hasn’t been consigned to the I&O “graveyard” some time ago through lack of interest! Second, especially if it’s a game type, take time to think up a snappy title, the shorter the better in my view! Third, advertise through the usual channels; but also, if possible, have a small target group of people in mind who might enjoy your In&Out and E-Mail them individually to invite them to check it out. Fourth, in my experience, some In&Outs start slowly, but can still “grow” on people; so have patience and give things a little time to settle. Fifth, do try to avoid the temptation to overload it with your own posts, especially in the early days if you think your In&Out looks too “empty”; in fact, this only tends to make things look worse. If you do find over time that you are virtually the only poster, that may be a good indicator that it’s time to reconsider.
If you’d like to know where The StoryMaster  got the original idea for these In & Outs you love so well, check out this interview!
I hope this newsletter has been helpful for you in your endeavor to create or participate in your ideal I & O! In & Outs are quick and a lot of fun! Some are easy, some are challenging, and it all depends upon your personal preference. There is an In & Out here on Writing.Com for everyone! Here are some I & O’s I’ve found by Newbies! I didn’t find very many, so I was very excited to see these! Go support a Newbie by participating in their I & O! And if you are a Newbie and have an I&O you’d like to plug, send it in to the Newsletter and I’ll feature it! Beyond the Cloud9
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*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~ Submit an item for consideration in this newsletter! http://www.Writing.Com/main/newsletters.php?action=nli_form  Have an opinion on what you've read here today? Then send the Editor feedback! Find an item that you think would be perfect for showcasing here? Submit it for consideration in the newsletter! http://www.Writing.Com/main/newsletters.php?action=nli_form Don't forget to support our sponsor! %%NL_AD_BOT%%  Now for the comment section! Thank you for your feedback! We love to hear your comments, questions and suggestions! Keep them coming! The Milkman writes:Bovine Bessie and I would like to thank you for taking the writing endeavors of a ruminant seriously. We now know that even a cow can be accepted as much more than a milk provider.Pretty in Black writes:What a great interview this week! Some of Bessie's answers nearly made me "mol"  Keep up the nice work, Sherri Q.Thanks for your comments and encouragement! Do you have a question or comment for the editor? You may fill out the feedback link below or email me or any of my fellow newsletter editors. We'd love to hear from you! esprit bianca_b Cubby  Thanks for reading the Writing.com Noticing Newbies Newsletter. See ya next time! ~Beyond the Cloud9 Have a question or comment for the Editor? http://www.Writing.Com/main/newsletters.php?action=nli_form  To stop receiving this newsletter, go into your account and remove the check from the box beside the specific topic. Be sure to click "Complete Edit" or it will not save your changes. |
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