Poetry and fiction writing on Hub Pages

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   Seeker7posted 11 years ago

   Firstly, I only write non-fiction so this is a querie if you like on behalf of the poets and fiction writers on the site. I have looked around but I don't see any challenges or competitions particularly for this group of writers? If there are I apologise for obviously looking in the wrong place. If not, would Hub Pages consider having a competition or a challenge for poetry and stories? Perhaps some competitions could also be geared towards people who are not yet members and so would attract more to the site?
   
   The main reason I'm suggesting this is that I have a number of friends on the site who are poets and fiction writers and the quality of their work is astounding! One of my greatest pleasures on Hub Pages, apart from writing hubs, is being able to read their beautiful work. I feel that maybe there are some ways that their work could be specifically appreciated but in a way that would also benefit Hub Pages overall?
   
   Just to finish off, I'd like to say a huge thank you to all our poets and fiction writers for helping to make Hub Pages such a wonderful site to visit!!

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   1. 85

      Marisa Wrightposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      As Relache says, poetry and fiction are generally poor earners on HubPages.  Since running a competition consumes staff time, HubPages would not want to run a competition unless it can see a return on that investment.  Non--fiction contests encourage Hubbers to write more quality Hubs on popular topics, which will earn income for HubPages - so they are worth the effort.   Poetry or fiction contests, by contrast, would encourage readrs to write more quality Hubs which are unlikely to earn much if anything - so they can't be justified.  HubPages is a business, after all.

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2. 81

   AlexK2009posted 11 years ago

   I have had poetry published in the past but have not written any for a long time, the same goes for short stories. 
   
   I  tend not to read fiction or poetry these days because I have a definite shortage of free time these days. 
   
   I do not know how well Poetry and non fiction fares hare and then there is the fact that the people who decide on which hubs should be idled probably  cant tell good from bad: mind you I suspect they cannot tell their anus from their ulna either.

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   1. 78

      Seeker7posted 11 years agoin reply to this

      LOL! Hi AlexK2009, I agree about some not being able to tell their 'anus form their ulna'!!
      
      I know from the folks that write poetry and fiction that they tend not to make that much money but I think they write for the love of it, if nothing else. The thing is, they still help to make this site a very good one and so it would be nice if this could be recognised.

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3. 86

   quotationsposted 11 years ago

   The only piece of fiction/poetry I wrote on Hubpages has been idled. This is in contrast to all other hubs which are mostly featured. I suspect that this would be a common occurrence. Fiction does not attract search engine traffic so unless you can drive traffic to your fiction, they will be deemed unworthy of being featured and so will be idled.

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   1. 78

      Seeker7posted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Hi quotations, I understand where you're coming from and yes search engines don't tend to find fiction/poetry.  But if Hub Pages only wants to attract attention from search engines then why do they allow people to write poetry and fiction? I know some of them do mix their hubs between poetry, fiction and non-fiction, but it seems a bit dumb to allow people to write about what they love but then ignore them.

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         quotationsposted 11 years agoin reply to this

         You're right. The current policy on idling hubs will likely mean that all of the creative writing, especially poetry will get idled - which begs the question why allow this type of writing in the first place. It is unfortunate because it deprives poets and creative writers of a way to make their writing known. If the hubs were featured they would at least show up as recommendations when people read other hubs and thus create some internal traffic and readership is nothing else. I am not a fan of the idling feature. I had one hub with 90 comments get idled for no apparent reason.

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4. 67

   relacheposted 11 years ago

   Poetry and fiction online tend to draw very few eyeballs, unless you are a famous fiction writer with a pre-established print audience.  It also doesn't earn squat from advertisers.
   
   It's my estimation that a combination of those factors make the reality of a prose or poetry contest unviable.

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5. 85

   rebekahELLEposted 11 years ago

     HP did have a contest (HP Patron of the Arts Contest) which included photographers, poets and fiction writers.  There were many, many submissions and hubs published during that time period.  While some of those hubs are still featured, I've read in the forums that many poetry hubs have been idled.  Poetry does not generate enough views to attract advertisers, unless you're on a huge site for that specific genre of writing.

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