This episode is also available as a blog post: http://wallofletters.com/2020/01/09/growth/
We were talking about how to grow a community. My community. Sometimes known as Remnants of Protagonize, or just Protagonize (originally by Nick Bouton) and now rebranded again to Wall of Letters. It did a stint as “More than Writing” but I’m the only one who really liked that.
Let’s talk growth. A community of writers is a shy thing. People are protective of their creative property. In an age of plagiarism and easy pirating, this is of course, completely understandable.
The goal with Wall of Letters is to create a space where copy-pasting is not feasible. Works in Progress are protected in their drafts by google, and then in the publishing… well. Nothing’s been published yet, but I hope to use Wattpad’s forum for that. The trick with that is credit, cuz Wattpad supports one-author stories, not necessarily upwards of 2 that collaboration generally uses.
I guess we’ll come to that bridge eventually. For now, it’s about building teams. I would like people to invite their friends, and try to meet new people in this environment. I want to avoid the “shy people against the walls” mentality. This isn’t a school dance. There’s no way to embarrass yourself.
Why do people join servers and then, not do anything? Particularly when they seem so excited when you do invite them? Maybe they’re expecting a lot more people than there actually are. Right now, there are about 16 of us… total. Five of us–four of us– are active on a regular basis.
I would really like that number to increase. But How do I invite new people? I’ve already asked everybody I know.
It’s time for everyone else to start inviting. Exponential growth only works if everyone participates. Invite just one other person, and you’re already adding to the experience. Invite someone you’re comfortable sharing your work with, add your best friend, or partner. You don’t have to start out writing with strangers. You don’t have to start out writing with anyone at all. Solos are welcome as well. We would love to read them, and encourage you to complete your projects.
So, growing a community? Can we do that here? Is it possible? Maybe.
