Matthew Wayne Selznick's Blog, page 5
January 16, 2015
The DIY Endeavors Podcast Number 078 — Not For Everyone
I have pretty strong feelings about the relationship between creator and consumer. Those feelings are almost always positive.
In this episode: a reminder for creators and consumers alike on everyone’s responsibility, and where that responsibility ends. Hint: it has to do with bad behavior.
Links
The idea of a weekly creative focus comes from my creative plan for 2015.
Hazy Days and Cloudy Nights: How It All Got Started is my free new adult serial.
Aeon Timeline.
The Kickstarter campaign for a sequel to Princess of Thorns from young adult author Stacey Jay, her announcement of its cancellation, and her defiant counter-attack on her detractors.
Gamergate.
Someone hearing this episode will want to mention Neil Gaiman’s very correct assertion that “George R. R. Martin Is Not Your Bitch.” So there you go.
Turns out the phrase is “Don’t let the bastards grind you down,” and while I first read it in Margaret Atwood’s masterwork The Handmaid’s Tale, it’s much older.
The creed of John Custer, as told to his son Jesse, (and adopted by yours truly), written by Garth Ennis, and found in the incomparable Preacher , is: “Don’t take no shit off fools. Judge a person by what’s in ‘em, not how they look. An’ you do the right thing. Be one of the good guys. ‘Cause there’s way too many of the bad.”
Click here to support The DIY Endeavors Podcast and become a patron of my creative endeavors for as little as $1.00 per month!
Write a review on iTunes (opens iTunes).
Comment On This Episode!
Tell me your thoughts! Let’s talk!
Leave a comment.
Voicemail Line: +1 757-349-6288 (+1 757-DIY-MATT).
Email.
Technicals
This episode was once again recorded and produced in the lush and lavish studios of MWS Media in Long Beach, California. As is my wont, I used my beloved thirty year old Shure SM58 plugged into a Zoom R16 digital multitrack recorder.
Raw audio was edited in Sony Sound Forge Pro with finished touches applied in Hindenburg Journalist.
This episode took about three and a half hours to record, produce, write the show notes, and distribute for a cost of $262.50, a figure that represents what I would have earned doing freelance work for clients for the same amount of time, and provides an approximate and somewhat arbitrary measure of the value of this show… or, perhaps, its cost to me! If you’d like to offset that cost for as little as one dollar every month (more if you can afford it!) consider becoming a patron of the show, with my grateful thanks!
This post, The DIY Endeavors Podcast Number 078 — Not For Everyone appeared first on the website of author and creator Matthew Wayne Selznick. If you liked it, please click through and comment, and don't forget to join the mailing list community -- I'll send you a 22,000 word sampler of my fiction and non-fiction! Thanks!






January 9, 2015
The DIY Endeavors Podcast Number 077 — A ColdCast… With Listener Voicemails!
I’m sick, so the first episode of 2015 is… a ColdCast! Fortunately, two listener voicemails (both from author and podcaster Scott Roche) served to prevent me from bowing out of producing an episode this week at all and provided me with some good stuff to talk about… until my voice really started giving out, anyway!
This episode took about three hours to record, produce, and distribute for a cost of $225.00.*
Links
My free, ongoing, new adult retro-soap opera Hazy Days and Cloudy Nights: How It All Got Started .
Scott Roche is an author and podcaster. He’s one of the hosts of the long-running writing podcast The Dead Robots’ Society.
Pat Flynn interviews Chris Ducker on the subject of virtual assistants and outsourcing in in this episode of The Smart Passive Income podcast.
I talk about being influenced and being an influence in episode 76 of The DIY Endeavors Podcast.
Scott counts author and experience designer J. C. Hutchins (creator of the popular 7th Son podcast series) as an influence and inspiration.
Paul Story was one of the very first fiction podcasters, and his Tom Corven was the very first work of fiction written for the podcast medium!
A few months before Tom Corven was released, Scott Sigler launched the first-ever novel adapted for podcast, Earthcore .
Click here to support The DIY Endeavors Podcast and become a patron of my creative endeavors for as little as $1.00 per month!
Write a review on iTunes (opens iTunes).
Comment On This Episode!
Your comments are always welcome!
Leave a comment.
Voicemail Line: +1 757-349-6288 (+1 757-DIY-MATT).
Email.
Technicals
This episode was once again recorded in the lush and lavish studios of MWS Media in Long Beach, California. I used my beloved thirty year old Shure SM58 plugged into a Zoom R16 digital multitrack recorder.
Raw audio was edited in Sony Sound Forge Pro and mixed in Hindenburg Journalist.
*The dollar amount represents what I would have made doing freelance work for clients for the same amount of time, and provides an approximate and somewhat arbitrary measure of the value of this show… or, perhaps, its cost to me!
This post, The DIY Endeavors Podcast Number 077 — A ColdCast… With Listener Voicemails! appeared first on the website of author and creator Matthew Wayne Selznick. If you liked it, please click through and comment, and don't forget to join the mailing list community -- I'll send you a 22,000 word sampler of my fiction and non-fiction! Thanks!






January 4, 2015
Pay What You Want: Month Three Report
December, 2014 marked the third month I’ve offered my books, short stories, non-fiction, and music—really, everything I make and sell on my site except my freelance services—on a pay what you want basis. I know there are lots of folks using pay what you want pricing, but since I may be the only indie fiction author doing so at this time, I’ve been sharing the results each month. Here’s how December went!
Overview
I released just one new product in December: the audiobook edition of my short story, “The World Revolves Around You,” on December 4th.
Irritatingly, a covert wrench was thrown into my operation at some point during December: the caching program I use (it helps the site run faster and more effectively, especially when there’s substantial traffic) broke my shopping cart in a way that gave no hint that it was actually not working (unless you tried to buy something).
I have no idea if people tried to purchase something from the site and found they couldn’t, and so gave up, resulting in lost opportunities. If you tried to buy something from me in December, but site errors prevented you, please let me know in the comments!
Whether as a result of the secretly broken shopping cart, only releasing one product, or the general rush of the holiday season, December sales on this site were down. Only 29% of my income from creative endeavors came from direct sales on the site, down 26% compared to November.
Sales
I sold eight copies of the audiobook edition of my short story, “The World Revolves Around You,” to eight people for a total of $25.95 in direct sales. That’s just 37% of November sales.
Of those eight products, four were sold at the suggested price of $1.49, and four were sold for more than the suggested price. A fifty / fifty split… and one customer paid an astonishing 670% more than the suggested price!
All told, I earned 2.18 times more through direct sales in December than if the same number of products had been purchased through a third party retailer (or at the suggested price). That’s another month of positive news for the pay what you want pricing model!
Donation to 826 National
In December, the total amount paid above the suggested price was $14.03. I’ve pledged to donate 10% of that to 826 National: $1.40. That brings the total amount to $5.66. In the interest of maximum impact and keeping processing costs down, I’m waiting until there’s at least $10.00 in the pot before I send the donation. Still a ways to go!
Conversions
In December, the percentage of site visits that converted to sales was .14%, which is, frankly, pretty terrible. I’d love to blame the broken shopping cart, but there’s truly no way knowing exactly why December sales were so poopy.
Looking Ahead
Between a pretty heavy client workload (which continues in January) and holiday-related social obligations, I didn’t accomplish all the things I’d planned in December. However, I did do two things that will have a positive impact on January and the months ahead:
Developed and launched a patron program through Patreon.com to accommodate those generous friends and fans who wish to provide ongoing financial support for my creative endeavors. As I write this, seven patrons have pledged a total of $38.00 per month.
Laid out my creativity plan for 2015. You can read all the details here or listen here. For January, it means recording and releasing the audiobook version of my short story “Cloak” late in the month, writing more installments of my serial fiction, and beginning a new short story.
I’ll continue to release weekly episodes of The DIY Endeavors Podcast, which blasted past 1,000 downloads in December. You should subscribe to the show in iTunes, Stitcher, TuneIn, PlayerFM, or via RSS (copy-paste into the player of your choice). If you’re a DIY, independent creator or creative entrepreneur and you’d like to be on the show, reach out to me!
All that self-promotion I meant to do in December fell by the wayside. I’ll work on that in January!
Tell Everyone You Know
If you know anyone who would dig my stories, music, non-fiction, podcast—heck, if we just seem like “a good fit”—please, send them here! Remind them they can get a free 22,000+ word sampler of my works when they join the mailing list community. And of course, don’t forget to mention that they can pay what they want for anything I sell!
If you’re reading this on the website, it’s super-easy to share the good news. Simply go to the home page (or any page!) and use the share buttons on the left-hand side of the screen!
Thanks! Yay, January!
This post, Pay What You Want: Month Three Report appeared first on the website of author and creator Matthew Wayne Selznick. If you liked it, please click through and comment, and don't forget to join the mailing list community -- I'll send you a 22,000 word sampler of my fiction and non-fiction! Thanks!






December 30, 2014
The DIY Endeavors Podcast Number 076 — Having Been Influenced… Influence!
In this brief episode, I talk to you about the value influence and inspiration can have on our creative path, and how we should look for opportunities to provide inspiration and positive influence to DIY, independent creators who might not be as far along.
It’s the last episode of 2014! Happy New Year!
This episode took about two hours to record, produce, and distribute for a cost of $150.00.*
Links
James Gunn talks about being a boy and meeting Joe Strummer in an interview in Comic Book Resources
Manchester, Missouri
Joe Strummer of The Clash
Jonathan Richman
Charles Bukowski
Click here to support The DIY Endeavors Podcast and become a patron of my creative endeavors for as little as $1.00 per month!
Write a review on iTunes (opens iTunes)
Comment On This Episode!
Share a moment another creator influenced and inspired you, or a time you were privileged to do the same… or both!
Leave a comment
Voicemail Line: +1 757-349-6288 (+1 757-DIY-MATT)
Technicals
This episode was once again recorded in the lush and lavish studios of MWS Media in Long Beach, California. I used my beloved thirty year old Shure SM58 plugged into a Zoom R16 digital multitrack recorder.
Raw audio was edited in Sony Sound Forge Pro and mixed in Hindenburg Journalist.
*The dollar amount represents what I would have made doing freelance work for clients for the same amount of time, and provides an approximate and somewhat arbitrary measure of the value of this show… or, perhaps, its cost to me!
This post, The DIY Endeavors Podcast Number 076 — Having Been Influenced… Influence! appeared first on the website of author and creator Matthew Wayne Selznick. If you liked it, please click through and comment, and don't forget to join the mailing list community -- I'll send you a 22,000 word sampler of my fiction and non-fiction! Thanks!






December 23, 2014
The DIY Endeavors Podcast Number 075 — A Creative Plan For 2015
This episode is a companion to my blog post in which I reveal all the details behind my creative plan for 2015, including the what, the why, and the how!
Naturally, I want every DIY, independent creator listening to share their own creative plan, too!
This episode took three hours to record, produce, and distribute for a cost of $225.00.*
Links
For a written rundown of my creative plan for 2015, read this blog post!
Let’s hear it for patrons Rachel Steel, Beth Case, and Jim Waters!
Click here to support The DIY Endeavors Podcast and become a patron of my creative endeavors for as little as $1.00 per month!
Voicemail Line: +1 757-349-6288 (+1 757-DIY-MATT)
Technicals
This episode was once again recorded in the lush and lavish studios of MWS Media in Long Beach, California. I used my beloved thirty year old Shure SM58 plugged into a Zoom R16 digital multitrack recorder.
Raw audio was edited in Sony Sound Forge Pro and mixed in Hindenburg Journalist.
*The dollar amount represents what I would have made doing freelance work for clients for the same amount of time, and provides an approximate and somewhat arbitrary measure of the value of this show… or, perhaps, its cost to me!
This post, The DIY Endeavors Podcast Number 075 — A Creative Plan For 2015 appeared first on the website of author and creator Matthew Wayne Selznick. If you liked it, please click through and comment, and don't forget to join the mailing list community -- I'll send you a 22,000 word sampler of my fiction and non-fiction! Thanks!






My Creativity Plan For 2015
In a recent episode of The DIY Endeavors Podcast, I asked listeners to share their plan for 2015 in terms of creative success. I promised I would do the same before the year was out.
The time has come! In the interest of maximum distribution and transparency, I’m sharing that plan for 2015 both in episode 75 of the podcast and right here.
If you’re a DIY, independent creator of any kind, I hope you’ll be inspired to share your own plan for 2015 in the comments after you’ve read what follows!
Goals for 2015
Before I get into the specific plan, let’s lay out my goals.
My primary goal is one I’m sure I share with many, if not all, DIY independent creative professionals: be 100% directly or indirectly financially supported by my creative endeavors.
In practical terms, that means grossing $5,000.00 per month, month in and month out.
If that sounds like a lot of money, remember, self-employed folks like myself have to pay for their own health insurance and assorted taxes. Plus, I have all the bills and financial responsibilities of a guy in his late forties who’s carrying more than a little debt.
Anyway, it’s a shit-ton of money… but that’s what it’s going to take.
Let’s break down that primary goal into some smaller ones that, in aggregate, will help me hit the big number.
2015 Is A Production Year
I’ll save the detailed look-back for the obligatory year-in-review post in early January (why do people do those before the year’s up..?), but I will mention that 2014 involved laying a lot of groundwork for the future.
In 2015, I’ll put a lot more energy in production. Specifically:
Audiobook versions of “Cloak,” Four Stories, Brave Men Run, and Pilgrimage, plus any new fiction I produce.
Short stories: “Reggie vs. Kaiju Storm Dragon Squidbat;” at least one more.
Serials: wrapping Walk Like A Stranger: Passing Through Home and doing (at a minimum) bi-weekly installments of Hazy Days and Cloudy Nights: How It All Got Started.
Novels: packaging Walk Like A Stranger: Passing Through Home for ebook and audiobook and, if the community wants it, print. Also, writing and releasing Daikaiju Planet.
Non-Fiction: my second Worldbuilding book.
Music: make my “back catalog” of lo-fi and live recordings available for sale on my site and on third party marketplaces and streaming media; perhaps release new music if the community is interested.
There are things I deliberately didn’t put on that list, despite hoping to get to them in 2015. Let’s see how far I get with the seven audiobook productions, two novels, a short story, a non-fiction book, assorted music projects, twenty six to fifty two serial installments, and fifty two podcast episodes!
2015 Is For Building Community
The last year repeatedly revealed the same pattern:
User discovers me or my works through a social network, my blog, or some other persistent source.
User joins the community by subscribing to the mailing list.
User (now Community Member) learns of a new product or other offering through my mailing list newsletter.
Community Member buys the product, becomes a patron, or otherwise provides compensation for my endeavors.
Clearly, one part of my plan for 2015 must be to grow my community of friends and fans.
If I’m going to reach the Big Goal of surviving entirely on income obtained directly or indirectly from my creative endeavors, I’m going to need a lot more people to either buy the stuff I make, become ongoing patrons, or both.
Specific goals:
Podcast: weekly episodes of The DIY Endeavors Podcast.
Double the size of my mailing list by April, and double it again by August.
Double the number of patrons by April, and double it again by August.
Sustaining Revenue
As a freelance creative services provider, I trade my time and expertise for a client’s money.
Especially time. Every hour spent on a client’s project brings me (about) $75.00… but that doesn’t count the unpaid time spent finding those clients, doing discovery, writing proposals, invoices, and so on.
It sure doesn’t count toward completing any of my own creative endeavors.
In fact, it’s accurate to say that my freelance creative services work is an impediment to reaching my own creative goals.
At the same time, my freelance creative services work is, at least for now, utterly necessary.
Without it? I’m on the street.
So, until I hit the $5K mark through some combination of sales and ongoing patronage, I need to not just continue freelancing… I need to find more freelance work.
The goal in 2015 will be to find more opportunities that provide more value to more clients… while taking less of my time. That means more consulting and more coaching; more upkeep, backup, and maintenance contracts. Fewer website development and “piecework” jobs.
Rest
One thing at which I’m really terrible? Allowing myself to rest, reset, and recharge. If you’re a DIY, independent creator who isn’t exactly making ends meet, you might have the same problem: the constant drive to find the next opportunity; the urge to milk every waking moment for potential.
Thing is, it’s awfully counterproductive.
Our brains and bodies need downtime. Stillness. Silence. Solitude. Play.
One of my goals in 2015 is to allow myself at least one day off each week. By the end of 2015, I want to have two regular, consistent days off; probably Sunday and Monday.
Right now, at the tail end of 2014?
I gotta tell you, that sounds like a pipe dream.
Still, it’s really important. I’ll be a better creator and a better freelancer if I just chill the hell out once a week.
The Plan For 2015
Everything in this post to this point has defined what I want to achieve.
Now it’s time to look at the actions I’ll take to accomplish those goals.
A Minimum of Five Hours Per Week Dedicated To My Own Creative Endeavors
Remember: 2015 will be a production year. That’s the most important thing. Making and shipping things is my top priority. Emphasis, emphasis, emphasis!
So, regardless of freelance workload or other responsibilities, the plan for 2015 is to dedicate no less than one hour each weekday and five hours per week to my creative endeavors.
To be perfectly clear: that doesn’t mean I can do, y’know, three hours on a Monday, two on a Tuesday, and call it done for the week.
I’ve got to do one hour per day no matter what… and when I wake up Saturday morning, I had better have at least five hours of creative time behind me!
This might not seem like much, but the value is in the establishment of a habit and in the incremental, cumulative practice of my craft(s).
An Important Definition
Creative time must be spent on stuff I’m eventually going to ship! Marketing (including the podcast and blog posts), website tinkering, and other supplemental stuff does not count!
A Multi-Pronged Approach
It’s not enough for me to just set aside an hour (or more) five days a week and know I’ll be doing something creative in that time.
Without some specific direction, I risk squandering the time—or, at the very least, being terribly inefficient—by actually fretting over how to best spend it. Maybe you’ve got the same problem?
To combat indecision, misdirection, and lost time, I’ll dedicate each week in the month to a certain creative endeavor:
Week One: Hazy Days and Cloudy Nights: How It All Got Started, including writing new installments.
Week Two: Walk Like a Stranger: Passing Through Home, including writing new installments. When the Passing Through Home arc is complete, I’ll dedicate the week to producing the arc for release as a novel in various formats. When that novel has shipped, the focus will move to the second arc or, if demand is low, I’ll add week two to week three’s fiction project.
Week Three: A fiction project! 2015’s first will be the short story “Reggie vs. Kaiju Storm Dragon Squidbat.”
Week Four: Initially, this week will be for supplemental creative projects like recording audiobooks for existing works. Once that’s caught up, the focus will shift to my first non-fiction product of 2015, the next Worldbuilding booklet.
Week Five (if applicable): Spotlight on back-burner creative projects and music; brainstorming and planning on long-term creative stuff. Alternately, if I have a large fiction project running (like a novel), this will be a bonus week.
For my purposes, a week begins on Monday and ends on Friday.
Community Building
The plan is to massively increase the size of, and my engagement with, my community of friends and fans.
To do that, I’ll be much more deliberate and thoughtful about how I reach out to new folks and, ultimately, inspire them to join my mailing list and / or become an ongoing patron:
Repetition on social networks. Here’s a palm-to-forehead moment I had recently: so few people see each of your tweets and status updates, it’s perfectly fine to maximize exposure to your message by sending similar (not identical!) messages repeatedly over a particular span of time. You might already see some folks doing this with “in case you missed it” tweets. You’ll be seeing it from me much more in 2015… except, of course, the beauty of it is, for nearly everyone, it won’t seem redundant!
Targeted incentives to join my mailing list community. As I write this, folks receive a 22,000-word ebook sampler of my written work (and a secret bonus) when they sign up. However, not everyone comes to my site because they’re interested in my fiction and non-fiction. I’ll create incentives specific to the most common reasons people arrive at mattselznick.com.
Authority content on third party sites and other media: The plan for 2015 is that you’ll read / see / hear me in lots of places other than my own networks and outlets. I’ll be writing guest posts, commenting on high-profile sites, and appearing as a guest on as many podcasts and online video shows as will have me.
Strategic outreach on Twitter to grow and improve my network: I firmly believe it’s the quality of engagement with your social network that matters, not the size of the network. It’s also true that only a small percentage of any network is ever actively engaged, so part of establishing high-quality relationships is having a larger pool to choose from.
I’ll launch new ways to connect and engage with my existing community so that I don’t just provide value, I provide value they want! To that end, somewhere around the first two weeks of January, 2015, I’ll survey my mailing list community to take their temperature in that regard.
Transparency As A Value-Add
One thing I know for sure: As I get into production mode in January, I’ll begin sharing in-progress drafts, background information, notes, and other stuff with my Patreon patrons. It’s important to me that my patrons—whether they pledge a dollar each month, or two hundred—get a unique, exclusive experience.
Sustaining Revenue
The life of a freelancer, it is said, is one of feast or famine. For me, truthfully, it’s one of barely-filling snacks or famine. That’s why the day when I’m completely supported by my creative endeavors and my patrons can’t come soon enough.
Until that day does come, I’ll continue to pursue freelance creative service opportunities, especially those that provide recurring revenue.
In January, I’ll add a Services section to my website featuring a number of a la carte and subscription-based items. Most will deal with helping other indie creators with their creative endeavors, especially in the area of WordPress-based website development and maintenance, which is a vertical that provides high value both for certain clients and for me.
I’ll also have offerings for DIY, independent writers, too, like coaching and mentoring.
A Plan To Rest
Yes, I have to plan my down time. I’ve discovered it’s necessary. If I don’t, I’ll work and tinker and chip away at stuff from nine or ten in the morning until eleven or twelve at night, seven days a week. That’s not good for me.
Beginning Sunday, January 4, I’m taking Sundays off. I’m going to do my best to not feel guilty about it!
Additionally, as I schedule projects both freelance and personal through the year, I’m adding margin: days before, after, and during when I’m allowing myself to rest. These times will be inviolable. I’ll make the dates public here on the site.
Accountability and Transparency
Speaking of making things public, I’m sharing this plan for 2015 with you for a number of reasons.
Accountability
Everything I mean to do in 2015, and, more or less, how I mean to do it, is right here in this post (and in the accompanying podcast). It’s going to be a fixture in the Scribtotum archive sidebar all year long, too.
Considering that this plan (and all the related tasks) will also be in my daily planner, it’s in my face all the time. Hopefully, that will help me stick with it.
And if I don’t stick with the plan for 2015 for no good reason, there’ll be no hiding that fact.
Making this public is my way of keeping myself honest, and of bringing you, dear reader, into the circle of accountability. You’ve read this; you now have expectations.
I don’t want to let you down! Don’t let me.
Transparency
Sharing this plan with you is also in line with my policy of transparency.
I’m asking my community of friends and fans to bring me $5,000 per month through purchases and patronage. In return, I will make things you will like.
Asking what I’m asking, how could I not be open and honest about the process?
And in the course of that process, I hope my experience helps other DIY, independent creators with their own.
What Do You Think Of My Plan For 2015?
Does this stuff have you excited?
Are you willing to help keep me on the path?
Will you be ready to purchase the things I make in 2015, or even become an ongoing patron?
If you’re a DIY, independent creator of any kind, has this inspired you to craft and reveal your own plan? Will you share it here?
Let’s talk about it in the comments!
Thank you!
This post, My Creativity Plan For 2015 appeared first on the website of author and creator Matthew Wayne Selznick. If you liked it, please click through and comment, and don't forget to join the mailing list community -- I'll send you a 22,000 word sampler of my fiction and non-fiction! Thanks!






December 15, 2014
The DIY Endeavors Podcast Number 074 — Interview of Jonathan Schiefer
December 14, 2014
An Invitation To Patronage, or, Stage-Diving Into The Community
I’ve just made it possible for you to be a patron of my creative endeavors on a monthly basis in any amount you’d like.
I hope you’ll take some time to check out the details of how to be a patron, including all the rewards available at the different pledge levels.
And naturally, I’d love it if you went ahead and pledged your ongoing support for my creative endeavors! Everything’s explained at that link, or on my page at Patreon.com, which handles all the heavy lifting for the patron program.
The rest of this post, though, I’d like to explain why I’ve decided to create a patronage program for my community in the first place… and reveal a little of what I went through during the process.
Neopatronage and the DIY Ethic
Warning! Exposition coming up! Skip ahead if you know this stuff…
Under the patronage system of medieval and Renaissance Europe (and elsewhere / elsewhen), a wealthy individual—perhaps a king or queen, or bishop, or merchant prince—would pay the expenses of an artist, sculptor, playwright, and so on: one rich dude (or dudette) supporting one or more artists who probably would have been otherwise relegated to picking turnips their whole lives.
We have the patronage system to thank for many of the works of Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, and William Shakespeare, to name a few. So that worked out pretty well, all in all.
Today, as then, there aren’t that many people who can actually afford to pay for a creative person’s day-to-day expenses, plus the expenses associated with whatever art they make. Worse, the percentage actually willing to do so is, undeniably, a tiny minority.
Fortunately, we now have tools—largely the result of the Conversation Age networked society in which so many of us live—that make it possible to flip the patronage model on its head.
Thence, neopatronage, in which, rather than one wealthy person spending tens of thousands of dollars to subsidize a few creative people, many people with a small discretionary budget each pledge a few dollars to support a few, or many(!) creative people.
For the creator, the financial result is the same: freedom to make more things their patrons like.
(End of exposition!)
One of the central tenets of my interpretation of the DIY ethic is that doing it yourself should never mean going it alone. Put another way: “DIY” is, at its best and most effective, actually a community effort.
This fits neatly with another of my core beliefs: a creative endeavor isn’t art until it’s experienced by people other than its creator.
And another, this one said by Mike Watt in an interview found in the film DIY or DIE:
“Y’know, you get a kink in your neck looking up at people or looking down at people, but if you look right across your shoulder, you know, right at your peers… there’re no kinks.”
Or, in shorthand: we are all peers. If DIY creative endeavors depend on the community… if art is defined only when experienced by others… then, to me, it’s no leap to understand that the creator-consumer relationship is exactly that: a relationship between peers. A community.
Everything Stems From Community
My commitment to building a community around my work led to my decision to report my monthly income from my creative endeavors (and challenge other DIY, independent creators to do the same), because a healthy relationship requires transparency, openness, and trust.
I further placed my trust in my community by adopting a pay-what-you-want pricing model for everything I sell on my site, and the community responded generously.
The community has demonstrated a willingness to buy what I make when I make it, and, often, to pay more than I ask.
But my ultimate goal is to be a full-time creator of my own works, no longer required to seek out freelance / contract work from others. When I achieve that goal, my community will have the opportunity to get more creative works from me, more quickly.
Why not ask the community to help me reach that goal in a way that only requires an incremental commitment from the ones willing to make it?
That’s when I realized I should offer an opportunity for my community—for you—to be patrons.
The Part About Stage-Diving
As a musician, I’ve spent a lot of time on stage. Probably more than I’ve spent in the audience, come to think of it. But because I’ve always had an instrument in my hand during a gig, I’ve never actual dived off of any stage.
Still… y’know. I’ve seen it done. I’ve been in the crowd, helping catch people who’ve done it.
I can tell you: it’s one of the most physical manifestations of community trust you’ll find. One person falling backwards… with only the community between them and a very hard floor.
At four PM on Saturday, December 13, I announced my patron program in a newsletter to my mailing list community.
And while I’m usually pretty fearless when it comes to asking my community to help me in some way, or to buy something I’ve made… I tell ya: at 4:00:01 PM I was feeling darn nervous.
It’s one thing to ask 564 people to visit a website, or buy a new short story.
It’s another thing entirely to ask 564 people to essentially invest in future short stories, novels, music, podcasts, audiobooks, and so on.
Would it irritate some folks?
Would people unsubscribe from the mailing list and leave the community?
What if no one became a patron?
What if no one did anything at all???
Distill it all down, and my insecurities can be described succinctly:
What if they don’t feel the same way about me as I feel about them?
It’s the existential, electronic-mail equivalent of a moment (and all you get is a moment!) of doubt after you’ve dived off the stage and before you’re caught and held aloft by the crowd.
My first patron pledged their commitment exactly four hours later.
Jim Waters held up his arms and caught me with a pledge level of $10.00 every month.
I’m not nervous anymore. I’m excited. Jim’s generous gesture of trust in me reminded me why I did this in the first place.
I know others will follow.
Maybe even you.
And if folks unsubscribe from the mailing list and / or leave the community just because I’ve asked them to become patrons?
Maybe what we’re building here isn’t a good fit for them.
I’m not saying that if you don’t become a patron you should leave the community.
I’m saying if you leave the community because I simply asked… this probably isn’t the place for you anyway.
By the way: As I write this, it’s seven hours in, 25% of the mailing list community’s responded, and no one’s left yet.
Be A Patron
What, you think I’d close out this blog post without pitching you one more time? Are you new here?
Maybe you are new here! In that case:
Hi. My name’s Matthew Wayne Selznick. I’ve been making things—music, novels, short stories, non-fiction, podcasts, audiobooks, and so on—for the better part of thirty years. A lot of the time, people like what I make. I’ll send you a free 22,000-word sampler of my fiction and non-fiction if you’ll take your own leap and join the email newsletter community. You’ll like it there; they’re good people.
Most folks think I’m good people, too. Let’s hang out.
Whether you’ve just arrived, or you’ve been part of the community for a decade or more, I’d like you to help me make the transition to full-time creator so I can spend five days a week making new cool stuff for you to enjoy. Be a patron for as little as $1.00 per month… and if you can afford more than that, I’ve got lots of ways to reward your extreme generosity. You’ll find out all about it on the Patrons page.
Thanks in advance!
I’m excited. We’re going to do really cool things together!
This post, An Invitation To Patronage, or, Stage-Diving Into The Community appeared first on the website of author and creator Matthew Wayne Selznick. If you liked it, please click through and comment, and don't forget to join the mailing list community -- I'll send you a 22,000 word sampler of my fiction and non-fiction! Thanks!






December 9, 2014
The DIY Endeavors Podcast Number 073 — It’s Your Job
Last episode, I asked DIY, independent creative entrepreneurs to call in with their plan for greater success in 2015. One person—a gent named Peter O’Malley—had the gumption to actually respond, so I went ahead and made his plan the topic of this whole episode: some of my best practices and advice to treat your creative career like a second job.
Cheers, Peter! I’d love some feedback on this episode from you (and everyone else within the time-shifted sound of my voice) in the comments of this post!
Links
Be a patron of the show! Click to visit my Patreon page to learn more.
Peter O’Malley
NaNoWriMo
ToDoist
My short story audiobooks
Voicemail Line: +1 757-349-6288 (+1 757-DIY-MATT)
Technicals
This episode was once again recorded in the lush and lavish studios of MWS Media in Long Beach, California. I used my beloved thirty year old Shure SM58 plugged into a Zoom R16 digital multitrack recorder. Audio editing and processing was done in an older version of Adobe Audition.
This post, The DIY Endeavors Podcast Number 073 — It’s Your Job appeared first on the website of author and creator Matthew Wayne Selznick. If you liked it, please click through and comment, and don't forget to join the mailing list community -- I'll send you a 22,000 word sampler of my fiction and non-fiction! Thanks!





