You NEED to STOP What You're Doing and READ This Right Now. I'm Going to Make You Famous on Steemit. Yes You!

I'm in the process of reinventing myself, again, some more. From the time I was 14, until I was 39, I spent my entire life devoted to sharing stories I felt were worth telling through theater.

I performed for over 1500 live audiences, toured the country, taught more than a 1000 young people how to act, and directed, produced and designed over 75 full length stage productions. I loved every minute of it. But ultimately, it made me a poor man, so, something had to change.

When I came out of that world, I was broke, heartbroken and completely lost. If you've ever run after your dreams until you felt your lungs would burst, you know what I mean. I don't regret a second of it, but, I had no idea what to do next.

I'd done a ton of writing throughout my theater days, so, I started there.

I got a gig creating internet content for Demand Media. I helped build a site called Ehow, which was the dominant portal for how to information for about four years running. But, I wasn't truly passionate about it.

From there, I started a social media firm.

Facebook was just taking off and it was easy to get results. Not only could I put 10k fans on a page in a few days, I could turn those fans into customers. We made a lot of money. But, ultimately, the more we earned, the more work we had, and the platforms started changing so fast, you didn't know what would work from one week to the next.

For the last ten years, I've been ghost writing.

Ghost writing, is creating written material that will have another author's name attached. You write it, they get the credit. They pay you well for it, but anything that comes of it, goes back to them. I enjoyed, it but ultimately, wanted to do my own thing.

That's Where Steemit came in

I've told this story before, you can find it if you scan back through my blog, leave me some upvotes on the new stuff as you go, please and thank you! LOL Steemit allowed me to do something I'd wanted to do for ten years, return to fiction.

The early audience on Steemit rewarded me well, and I've had quite a bit of success since the price came back as well. So, that led me to my latest quest.

I want to be the world's next James Patterson.

Here you have an author who came into his success quietly, then, decided to change all of the rules.

• He decided, after winning a prestigious award from the Mystery Writer's guild, that he wouldn't be confined to a single genre
• As a successful add exec, he became the first author to use major television ads to promote a book!
• A few years back, he set another record, he passed a billion copies of his books in print! A 1000x1000 people have bought a book from him!
• Now, he's partnering with other authors to continue his climb to legendary status as he becomes a household name.

And, he's not a literary genius

He's a marketing genius, and a good storyteller, but he admits himself he is not the world's greatest writer, just well on his way to becoming the world's most read. And, I want to be like James when I grow up.

When I first saw ads for his writing course, I laughed.

"What's he going to do, teach people how to hire writers like me to make them famous?"

But, then, I read a few interviews and realized I was wrong.

The man is a machine. Not only does he write the initial fifty to sixty page outline for each and every story that bears his name, he also writes the final draft. In some cases, that's twelve to fifteen novels in ONE year!

Here's how it works

1. Authors pitch James story ideas, or sometimes he has one and works with an existing partner.
2. He selects the one he wants to do next, and makes a contract with that author, to share credit and split royalties. (I'm sure the cover reflects the split, with Patterson's name on the spine and much larger on the front)
3. They work together to work out the premise, characters and plot.
4. Patterson writes the outline
5. The partner writes the initial draft
6. Patterson does rewrites and back and forth, until he writes the final edit.

So, what I saw as a megalomaniac trying to make himself even more famous, turns out to be an already wealthy man, pursuing a passion and looking to raise other authors to his level! Wow. He didn't need the money when he started. He was the exec of a major ad agency.

So, that led me to just say it. I want to be the next James Patterson.

If you're going to aspire to something, aspire to be the best at it. He's arguably, by some standards, the greatest story teller ever, both for the size of his readership and his prolific catalog. I admire that. Plus, he's helping other authors that will continue on long after he's gone.

Don't think my motives are one hundred percent charitable in this!

“You will get all you want in life, if you help enough other people get what they want.” -Zig Ziglar

*After all, as this platform grows and the price of steem skyrockets, the reward pool is going to explode as well, enough to go around. Plus, aren't you tired of all the crap taking home the big giraffe? I am. *

Here is what appeals to me from James Patterson's story.

• First, a billion books! Wow, that's a lot of fans and a lot of money.
• Not that interested in being rich, but the freedom it brings is very appealing.
• The ability to call my own shots and think outside the box is huge in my life
• It provides an awesome opportunity to help others get started.

I didn't think that much about it after I said it, until I found an article.

I read it and it still didn't click with me. You can read it here. A big shout out to @Vaansteem for sharing this really cool tool!

Among the features I liked, was one in particular. It allows for the rewards from each and every post to be shared automatically. The app is called Steemplus from @adsactly, a group I'm hearing more and more about. It has some cool features.

But, the best, is the ability to share part of your earnings with one or more other accounts. But, even after seeing this, I didn't really get it. But,as often happens with me, more than one idea happened and I had an epiphany.

I came to a major realization about my life on steemit

I was being a greedy profit monger.

This idea kind of shocked me, because I spend a lot of time helping others. I always have. But, in fact, everything I was doing was costing me 0. Not in $SBD, or SP, but honestly, there was no cost in it at all. It was all paying me back handsomely and there was 0 sacrifice on my part.

When I came back, I had forgotten some things from my early days. Steemit is about community and I was not engaging. I was working hard, producing great content, even writing really helpful tutorials and answering questions, etc. But, my heart wasn't in it.

I'd come to see steemit as primarily a means to an end.

My fiction does well here. That means I get to keep the lights on, while I write stories. That's a pretty enviable position in this world. I love it. But, I was missing the bigger picture.

Since leaving the theater,I've been looking for a new grand passion. Telling stories is only half of who I am. I am also a believer in human potential and power of people to change life for the better. But, what was I doing about it? Not much. That's when I finally saw steemit for the first time!

I mean it, I saw it clearly.

Here I was, in my head, and in private conversation, giving lip service to the idea that people could lift themselves up, if they just learned to see the opportunity around them, but I felt helpless to change that on any larger scale at all.

The universe had to humble me first.

I was cruising, both of the novels I'd been sharing, The Wishmonger and 9 Seconds of Freedom, were killing it! thanks to some very generous whales that supported me. I was catching up a back log of bills and getting ahead. I had my head down, just trucking along.

Most days I'd spend editing my two chapters for the day, and checking my balance to see where I was. But, I was kind of bored with it all. My pocket was full of cash, the bills were paid, but something inside me wanted more.

Then it all just stopped!

As sometimes happens, my supporters dropped off about two weeks ago. That's fine, this isn't about that. It's happened before, but I'm a big boy. They are free to support or not support whoever they see fit. They owe me nothing. I have nothing but gratitude for the people who've helped me achieve.

For the first couple of days, I didn't think much about it. I'd committed to myself to keep posting through January, no matter what happened. I figured I'd come back one morning and find the upvotes had returned. But it stayed like that for four days, then five.

While I was posting my fiction, I hadn't completely neglected the rest of steemit.

I had noticed that things had changed, and was taking time to do some research, with an eye toward building a bigger following for my fiction. So now, with my payouts slowing to a trickle and my votes topping out on most posts around a dozen, I was in a position to rethink my strategy.

That's when a few things all came together at once.

I knew I'd be okay if I earned nothing for a week or two. I knew I needed more followers to balance this out and create more sustainable income. I also knew that I wanted more, so I started working on it.

That's when I came to the realization that steemit was the perfect platform!

The half baked recipe for a vision ( I couldn't really call it a vision, because I had no idea what it looked like) began to bubble. Here was a vast sea of people in need of inspiration and help to better themselves. (50k new users in a single day!) They were here for a myriad of reasons. Some to learn English, others to share their art, others to build social initiatives, and yes, underlying all of that was the motivating potential of profit!

It's like the universe knew what I needed!

Imagine that, right? LOL While I was busy, behind the scenes, the universe was plotting to put me where I needed to be.

• I've been publishing online since 1996, so I know how it works.
• I'd had over five million readers before I ever darkened the door of Steemit.
• I love to teach and did it for 20 years.
• I wanted an audience that wanted and needed a message that I think is one of the most vital ever!

Now, before you think I'm giving myself too much credit...

I have a lot to learn. I learn new stuff from users here all the time. Even beginners. And it's safe to say there are hundreds of users more qualified on this platform than me. I'm not special. But, here was an opportunity. So, I started exploring some new strategies to give radically into this community.

If you want to see what I've been up to, go to my blog @markrmorrisjr and scan a few days of posts.

And, as I knew it would, it started working!

1. I gained 1500 new followers almost over night through a couple of strategies I'll be sharing in the next couple of days
2. Comments exploded! I've got conversations as long as any I've had on this platform ever!
3. People were offering to partner in some of my ideas.
4. The votes and rewards are slowly creeping up. So, next time my whales come around, it will be bonus money. (don't abandon me whales, I still LOVE you)
5. I'm excited about steem in a way I haven't been. I'm beginning to see the potential of the whole platform, not just for me, but globally.

So, to make a long story short, I'm looking for partners!

My initiative will be about talent development. I'm not a dev. I won't be building any programs, although a couple of my ideas will require devs, if I can get sweat equity partners, or the funding to hire it done, I want to build some things on the steem block chain.

I'm looking to help three sets of people.

1. Newbies. This is where my heart is. There are people on here who amaze me that they are even able to find access to the network where they come from.
2. Minnows. Those who've stuck it out, but are just being content with small potatoes, but have a LOT more potential.
3. Whales with a conscience. I'm not asking for donations, or delegations. Nope, I'm more selfish than that. I want you to engage. I don't care if you ever give me a cent, but I'm hoping you'll choose to be benefactors for some of the talent we're going to uncover.

So, here's where I'm at so far.

1. I started an open questions post. I'll be trying to do one once a week. I'll try to answer them all.
2. There is a giveaway that I ran on the spur of the moment. Open for a few more days,you can find it here, for minnows and under who need free promotion. I could use some dolphin or whale support on this one, it's getting great votes and comments, but I want to give a decent prize and it's earnings are very low
3. I want to partner with some of you to produce new content. In the Steemplus app, we'd agree to a revenue split, create the content before hand, possibly on Google docs in partnership, then I'd publish it and you'd get credit as a co-author, plus an automatic percentage of any rewards from the post, or posts, if we serialize a story, or set of articles.
4. I'm launching a ten part boot camp for minnows, with some tips. Each will have assignments, and potential for free promotion for those involved.
5. On a recent thread with @steemgoblin, a discussion came up about starting an unofficial greeting team to welcome new members. I'll have more on that later.

So, if any of this interests you, let me know! Whatever you can do, or whatever you need, upvote this post, resteem it and leave your offer of support, or if you'd like to be considered as a co-author, whatever, in the comments. Also, tag one friend you think could use this or would be willing to help, in your comment. I'm not greedy. It doesn't all have to happen on my posts.

So, here's one thing I'd like to do right now. We need a hashtag for this initiative. So, I'd like to offer a $2SBD bounty for suggestions on a hashtag. I'll set up a future post to get votes on the best suggestions and the winner will take the prize! So, if you'd like to be in for the $2SBD for a hashtag name for this project, upvote the post, resteem it and leave your hashtag idea in the comments.

That way, in future, we can set up contests, etc, where you can publish on your own blogs too, and get credit, by using that tag! I'm so excited about all of this, I can hardly stand it!

Thanks!