JANUARY 2009

I wanted to become an internet entrepreneur all right. But what do I do first? How do I begin? I started thinking. My cousin Narayanan and I were talking about the internet industry in general when he asked how I liked the idea of starting a magazine in print. He would help me with the marketing and all that. I thought why not but who had the time? I was a final year engineering student who had no resources nor the experience to start something big. Worse, I didn’t have an exposure to the outside world.  I was just another social media enthusiast who wanted to make it big in the internet world. I wasn’t sure if the idea would out for me. An earlier idea of a group blogging venture had not worked out so I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do. I was confused. I had big connections on the internet world, yes, but that alone wouldn’t suffice.

The day my cousin told me about the idea, I started thinking like crazy. To put it frankly, I was confused. I had to outweigh the positives and negatives. Coming to a conclusion isn’t an easy task when you are super overwhelmed. I knew I had a lot of contacts online, so why not make the most of it? Why not start a digital magazine instead of a magazine in print? After about thinking a LOT, I cut down my options to two. One, start a digital magazine for technology enthusiasts and two, a digital magazine for writers. The very same day, I mailed my social contacts and some of my folks asking them which would be a better idea. Their responses overwhelmed me. I had sent the mail to about 20-25 people and most of them responded. They made me ask a lot of questions and helped me find the inspiration within. Thanks a million, folks, for the support and encouragement you have showering me with! I wouldn’t be where I am if it weren’t for your consistent feedback and wishes.Well, I had finally made a decision. I was going to start a digital magazine for aspiring writers.  Having made the decision, I started approaching bloggers and aspiring writers the same month asking them if they will be interested to write for the magazine. Goes without saying that I got an awesome response.

FEBRUARY AND MARCH 2009

Frankly speaking, I had none to support me. I am talking as regards real work. Soothing words from people did help me, yes, but I did all the work myself that at point I wanted to back away. This was getting too much. I had violent mood swings. Worse, my final year project was going on. I was not going to ignore my academics and start concentrating on this.  But I wouldn’t let the fire die down no matter what. I worked whenever I had the time.  I had to bring the dream to reality no matter what. I was going to win. There was no doubt about it. I wouldn’t let people talk behind my back.

APRIL 2009

By now, I was sure that the magazine would be released in May, after my exams got over. The pdf version of the magazine was also ready. But who would design it? I only knew to write and edit. Not design. That was not my cup of tea. Whom would I approach? Worse, who would do it for free?  I wasn’t sure if this work out at all. I don’t know when or how I approached Cheth but he immediately agreed to help me. I was floating on cloud nine. Why, I would have been the happiest Homo sapien alive if my happiness scale were tested with a meter.

A particular incident that happened the same month perturbed me to an extent but I kept Nietzsche’s saying, “That which does not destroy me makes me stronger“, in mind.

I booked the domain name and hosted it on my dreamhost account, in the third week of April.

MAY 2009

I had my university exams in the second week of May. Thankfully, my university exams got over by 9th! So, I started working from 10th. I had chosen Joomla as the CMS. But when I started working on it, I found it too difficult to customise. I couldn’t install the theme. Simultaneously Chethan was working on the design. I had given him an idea as to how the layout should look. I was not sure when the magazine would be launched. I nearly lost hope. I couldn’t customise the template I had chosen and experienced technical errors to the nth degree. By the third week, I was determined to launch the magazine on 22nd of the same month. I dabbled my time  trying to customise the template, googling the errors and eating and sleeping at odd hours. Things were exacerbated by the fact that my internet connection didn’t work for 2 days. Life was truly hellish. I was desperate.

Cheth attached the magazine in his mail and it was love at first sight.

I reverted to WordPress when Joomla wouldn’t let me experiment with it. My hunt for a theme that could function as a CMS came to an end when I set my eyes on Oulipo. If I were to say that I loved it, it would be an understatement. I customised the theme and decided to give Issuu a try to give my magazine a complete look. It worked perfectly.

I, Writer, India’s first literary digital magazine for aspiring writers was launched on May 22nd, 2009 at 07:30

What more can I ask for? I, for one, don’t value success in terms of materialistic pursuits. Self-satisfaction matters the most to me.I would like to extend my heartfelt gratitude to everyone who’s been with me all along. I would especially like to thank all my Twitter Peeps for their awe-inspiring support. Thanks a million for everything, Tweeps!

JUNE 2009

The next issue of I, the Writer is getting ready and we have had a fantabulous response so far. Check @ithewriter on Twitter for more updates and don’t forget to subscribe to the official blog.

You might have heard many people mention the term and there are chances you might have experienced it many of the times.Now, to put it simply, writer’s block is that which occurs when you type half the post or say, two or three paragraphs and delete the post just like that when you know you are getting nowhere or when you do not simply know what to write  or when your mind goes totally blank. Personally that has occurred to me a lot of times and i used to get frustrated.But not now. Well, These may occur due to stress or the need to come up with best posts. We all are aware of the fact that blogs are springing up all of a sudden and the market is increasingly becoming over-populated. So, what do you do to save yourself from the frustration and stress levels?One can’t refuse the fact that only the fittest shall survive in the world and that’s applicable to even the blogging world. If you want to be a success in every way, follow the steps.

Read A Lot:

The first and the foremost way to succeed in conquering writer’s block is to read a lot. Read as many blogs as you can and comment on them. When you read, you generally have the tendency to exhibit things better.

The important thing is when you leave comments on other blogs, don’t say things like “Great post” or leave spam comments. Make genuine comments that exhibit your interest. That might drive more traffic to your blog. Make long, interesting comments. Go controversial at times, but don’t overdo it.

How can you expect other bloggers to leave comments on your blog when you do nothing but always expect other people to be good to you? One significant thing most people fail to understand is that. Actively participate in commenting. Your blog might become a social blog network too!:)

Save posts for later:

The title says it all. When you are in a drive and feel all exuberant or happy , go ahead write. Now, you may also type your thoughts in notepad or wordpad and then copy-publish them to your blog. Or you may save the posts in your drafts section.

Make sure the topic you keep in queue is not out of date. You of course can’t post things that happened many months ago especially if it’s a news item.

You may also use the technique of keeping the readers in anticipation over what you’ll post next. You may do this if you have a strong fan base. Give them hints and make them listen to you. You might get weird ideas from that as well.

One mistake many people do is stuffing all the posts and publishing them on the same day. Save them in your drafts and publish them later. After all, there’s no need to be pessimistic. You’ll be alive tomorrow;)

Stumble, Stumble and Stumble:

Stumble upon is a blessing in disguise for bloggers. Make the most of it. I personally am a prolific user of Stumble Upon and would strongly suggest bloggers use them. It’s a knowledge tank and frankly speaking, if i am asked about the one site i can’t live without, it would be SU.

Well, what makes Stumble Upon that resourceful?First of all, it’s user-generated and when people like what they see, they stumble stuff. So, all websites there provide useful information. There’s not a day that goes without my stumbling news items. I have bookmarked many such news items i intend to write about , in the near future. And yes, they are general. Not time-prone. I would strongly suggest writers and other bloggers to join SU and overcome writer’s block.

Conduct Polls

You read it right. Conduct polls and ask for user opinion. Interact with them and make them understand that their opinions matter. Who knows, you might even get new, innovative ideas while you do this. If you want this to be effective, do it on microblogging sites and you’ll know the difference it makes. Brainstorming is the best way to produce ideas and surprisingly, you tend to do the best when you share your ideas with others and finally, a new idea booms. To make people actively participate you must learn the art of networking. Believe me, it isn’t very difficult.Join Microblogging sites like Twitter, Kwippy and Plurk. (There are a lot out there.I am just mentioning a few).Plurk is the best out there when it comes to asking opinions. Read one of my previous posts 5 reasons why you should plurk, to know what it’s all about.

While you are at it, link to the person’s blog that gave you ideas or if it’s a team involved, link to everyone of their blogs. It helps. Many pro bloggers ask people to suggest what to write about. Actually, Skribit helps bloggers in this aspect.

Write ‘lists’:

Lists usually come as blessings when you are out of ideas. Write how-to posts and make them sound interesting. I got a lot of traffic and acclaim for my post ” How to lose a guy in 5 days“. This is just an example. Use humour and satire: bring out the best in you.People love humour!Well, if you still don’t get the idea, I am giving you some examples:

7 reasons why you should rob a bank,

10 reasons why you should not blog,

How not to become popular in 3 easy steps

How to lose confidence without losing hope

Oh yeah, something stupid and innovatory like this, without hurting anyone. Make the post more interesting by adding pictures and anecdotes.

Use your Blog as a Photoblog:

Use your blog as a photoblog and ask people to tell you what they think about a particular picture. You can have a weekly column asking people to create taglines or by asking them to comment about what the person in the picture is thinking about and hey, get creative. I can just give you the central idea. Go wild. Have fun!

You may also use Videos on your blog and do the same. In the case of videos, try being original. Catch yourself in action: do crazy stuff and upload them. People love crazy, weird stuff.

Now, If you have any ideas, please feel free to let me know by commenting so that i will include your ideas here ! Voice out your opinions now!

Image Credits: Flickr