The way the publishing industry stands today, we’re on the cusp of a new era.  I believe there will always be books and magazines, but they’re competing with the Internet now instead of just each other, and so many of them will wither and die.  This will leave fewer markets for print, and less money to be made for the publishers.  Publishing on paper is evolving into something completely different.

If you want to support yourself by writing (other than writing for hire, which is basically what I do right now … and it’s more editing than writing, by the way) you have to look to see where the publishing money is.  And here’s what I’ve seen:  Google AdSense ads.

To me, Google AdSense has become my path toward world domination. Or at the very least, a nice second income.

My first big experiment with AdSense was GroovyMojo.com.  I made several mistakes when setting it up but it has been a learning experience, and so it served its purpose.  The problem with GroovyMojo is that I tried to incorporate several different interests in one place, which made it a kind of grab-bag website … and had no clear direction.  People look at it and say, “Cool, but … what’s it about?”

That being said, I’ve made more money on that website over the last year than I have in traditional publishing.  Not a lot, mind you, but more. 

Here’s the thing:  writing takes a lot of time and effort.  In traditional publishing, and here I’m speaking of fiction writing, the things you write have only about a 1 in 30 chance of being published, and even then, you only have a 1 in 8 chance of being paid for it (my odds, your results may vary).  I’ve given that up, at least for the time being.  I’ll still work on the occasional story if I feel a passion for it, which includes my current novel, but it’s not going to be my main focus.

What I’ve discovered is that all a writer needs to do is find something (or things) for which you have a passion, set up a web site for that one thing, and concentrate your writing efforts there.  Fill that website full of good, fun, and hopefully timeless content (something that will still be relevant 5 years from now).  Make it so people will come there and read over and over.  Then put contextual Google AdSense ads on the site, unobtrusive and on the side lines, so that after they read something, hopefully an ad will be sitting right beside it for a product or service that they’re truly interested in … especially just having read your article.

They click the ad, and you make money.  The more people who read, the more will end up clicking.  The more clicking, the more money you make.

Set up several websites like this, each one corresponding to one of your passions, and you’ll spend all your time researching and writing about things you are truly interested in, and be paid for it at the same time.  When this happens, it will suddenly feel like you no longer work for a living … you’re just following your passions!

Steve Pavlina over at his website makes five figures A MONTH doing this.  I figure if I could only make 1/10 of what he does, it would be worth it.

So anyway, that’s my next big experiment, the Phase II in my quest for world domination.  I’ve set up five new websites under the umbrella of “GroovyMojo Media” and one of them, MojoLizard.com, went live today.

Yes, it’s about lizards.  I love lizards.  I think they’re some of the coolest little creatures.  And oddly enough there is a huge marketing potential surrounding them because of the multi-million dollar reptile pet industry.

The other websites that will be coming online over the next few months will be about beer, coffee, gizmos and gadgets, and happiness.  Yes, happiness, a website devoted to the study and promotion of being happy.

So, that’s what’s up with me.  What’s new with you?