April 3, 2016

Chasing Temporary Trends

Daily Writing Blog, General Thoughts

0  comments

Chasing Temporary Trends

A lot of would-be business people fall into a trap: They chase the temporary trend.

This is true of writers right now more than any time in history. In fact, there are thousands of writers that are working right now that simply wouldn’t be writers at any other time in history.

The reason is that it’s all too easy to chase temporary trends, and even be profitable in doing so.

For instance, there are thousands upon thousands of people chasing Kindle Unlimited profits by knocking out ninety-nine cent novels. A lot of them are making some money. Some are making huge money.

But that’s not all: There are huge “news” networks and viral websites that have staff writers that get their tiny wages or they get to put that they’ve done a free internship for Fluffington Post on their CV.

Even more, there are people who are in the money making niche who essentially package simple how-to’s on these temporary trends, and then rinse and repeat when the next fad comes along.

I’m not against chasing temporary trends in writing or anything else. In fact, I’d be a hypocrite if I said I was: I’ve written 99 cent books for Kindle, I’ve written how-to guides and I’ve written for viral/news sites.

But the fact is that I wouldn’t necessarily recommend doing those things if you don’t have to. Sure, do them to get a paycheck, but you need to think about long term income if you’re a writer.

I’ve written about this twice before.

Once, I wrote about the importance of mixing long term writing projects with short term writing projects.

Another time, I wrote about the long term value of words that you write.

 

 

How To Recognise A Temporary Trend

How can you know whether something is a fad?

How can you be sure about something when it could become the new status-quo, or it could be over in six months?

The answer is “It’s tricky to know.” Generally, you need to spend time in writer’s (or business niche) circles. If suddenly (in relative terms) everyone is talking about a new thing, or there seems to be a new influx of people (the biggest hint that something is going on) chances are you’re in a bubble.

Progress tends to be incremental. If you’re working in tech startups, this might not apply. I don’t know. Everything else though… it’s incremental. Medical fields, legal fields, business fields, academic fields… all of them work incrementally.

If someone is talking about a “game changer” then chances are you’re looking at a money making fad… and everyone is about to jump in.

The Real Problem With Temporary Trends

In writing and business, there are a couple of problems with chasing temporary trends. They relate to the two-fold fact: Your words don’t earn money in perpetuity and your skills won’t grow in perpetuity.

For instance, if you write a sales letter for an awesome product with a long shelf-life (say, for instance, you write a sales letter for a timeless classic watch,) you’ll make money for years. If you write about things that stay relevant, you’ll get traffic for as long as the internet lasts in its current form. If you write a book about a timeless subject or your build a side-business which isn’t trend based, then you’ll get a return on the time and money investment on that project for a long time.

On the other hand, if you chase trends, then the time you’ll have to recoup on investment is very small; maybe a few months. Imagine a book that makes £10 a month for fifty years, then a book that makes £1000 for six months. They’ll both earn the same, but one is a “safer” investment with a better return over the long term.

Now as far as skills go – if you learn on the job and you learn a skill like copywriting, you’ll have a timeless skill that you can adapt throughout the years.

If, instead, you chase a trend – say, writing ninety-nine cent e-books – you’ll spend hours and hours learning a skill that won’t be relevant whenever Amazon changes the rules. The skill you’ve acquired and the knowledge you’ve acquired is worth nothing.

That’s something to think about.

If You’re Chasing A Temporary Trend

The good news with people jumping into temporary trends is that they don’t stay long.

I’m half-writing this article because I’ve noticed in the past few weeks the hysteria and buzzing activity on writer’s forums is dying down: the Kindle Unlimited gold rush has been over for a while (at least, Kindle Unlimited 1.0) but finally the hordes are dropping out.

Again, I’ve got no particular moral problem with trend chasers. Sometimes you might want to be a trend chaser. For instance, if I were writing fiction at a time when you could make five-figures a month writing nine-page stories, you can bet I would have jumped in as quickly as possible.

Here are three tips for trend chasing:

  • Be there before it happens.

 

If you were writing for Kindle in the first few months, then you will have made huge money. Now, not so much. If you were there for the start of Kindle Unlimited, then you’ll have made loads of money. By the time I entered the gold rush, the easy gold had been picked up. It’s sad, but it’s true. You have to be waiting for a trend to get the most out of it.

 

  • Jump in with two feet and both hands.

 

When you see the hysteria building, you should already be in. The money will not be around forever, so you need to jump right in. Don’t question it. Don’t worry about the long term. Dedicate a few hours of your week (this might be a high figure) to just creating burn projects that you’re not going to think about in six months’ time.

 

If you’re building a niche site, this is also a good idea. Write a hundred articles, then worry about the rest. Ride the trend like a wave. Then don’t worry about the future.

 

  • Learn the permanent lessons, then stick around.

 

I missed the Kindle rush, but I learned important lessons from it. Like I said, people are leaving the short story market because the Kindle unlimited rules have changed. There are as many opportunities that they’ll miss for dropping out as there were to start with.

 

The easy money is gone, but there are permanent principles: The importance of covers in book design, the ability to be a self-published author, the role of marketing in indie book sales. Those things will now develop incrementally. They’re all permanent skills you can learn, and once the masses leave for greener trends, there’ll be a lot less competition.

 

For instance, there were millions of short stories sold in the past couple of years. That means there’s a market. Whereas a lot of short story writers have chased the trend away from short stories, there’s still a market that still wants short stories.

 

As long as you’re not solely chasing trends, there’s no issue with spending time chasing trends, finding permanent niches within those trends and then mostly moving on but leaving a few hooks in for small money making schemes.

Other Posts You Might Like...

Don’t Think Like A Robot

Don’t Think Like A Robot

On WWII Escapees

On WWII Escapees
{"email":"Email address invalid","url":"Website address invalid","required":"Required field missing"}

Shameless Plug Time

Join The Private Member Vault... Become a Gentleman Of Fortune

The Vault is my private membership website. Inside, you get access to book chapters, course lessons, e-guides to various online business shenanigans as I write them. You'll also get a bunch more private stuff, a monthly Q and A, discounts on future completed products and there's much, much more on the roadmap.

>