It’s a Beginning, Not a Failure
Good morning, Readers! 
Image by Enrique from Pixabay It’s been almost a month post the launch of my subscription thingy and I have some thoughts I’d like to share about my experience so far.
First off, I’d like to thank the two people who did subscribe. That’s two more than I was expecting, and I’m genuinely thrilled to have you on board with this stupid little project of mine. Honestly, your support means the world to me, and I’m very grateful for you.
Now, to the obvious… I have two subscribers. That’s a little less than $1.50 extra a month (after all the fees etc) in my pocket. Obviously, as a means to replace the income I’m getting from working full time for someone else, that looks like an utter failure. And, I suppose, it is on the outside of it. I am hoping that I’ll be able to reduce my hours at the office, but no one can life on $1.50 a month. So, that’s just not in the picture right now.
For all that it looks like a failure at launch, it’s not really feeling like a failure to me. First, is that anyone subscribed at all. It doesn’t matter if they’re my friends, or if these are pity subscriptions (I’ll take it!). People did subscribe, and are getting a few things other folks are not. And to be fair, if I had any more than two subscriptions at launch, I’d be mightily suspicious.
Second, despite an increase in my workload this month (which will hopefully have calmed down a bit now, and I can start devoting more time to other awesome things in my life), I managed to keep up with the work I’d set for myself for the subscription - mostly. There was one week that proved hellish, and I didn’t get anything done for this blog, let alone my other one. But I did make that up, so I didn’t fall terribly behind, and my subscribers still got their exclusives; just a bit late.
Granted, at $1.00 a month for the subscription, there isn’t a lot on offer, but my subscribers are still getting nice little extras where I can provide them. They are getting the extra blog post a week, they are getting news first, and, as a little treat, they’re getting daily writing updates. Unlike my other socials, my subscribers are also getting little snippets of what I’ve written that day. I did that once with Facebook while I was writing The Seraphimè Saga. Now, it’s a perk for my subscribers. It’s a small thing, granted, but with my current workload, it’s something extra I can provide.
As a third point, I’m actually kinda enjoying myself. I have a little secret club that I can offload all of my excitement as the exciting things happen - I don’t have to hold it all in until the appropriate time to make the news public. I like being able to share bits of my writing with people. I like creating things for others to enjoy.
I realize that not an awful lot is expected for $1.00 a month, and since that is the case, I’m okay with what I have going on right now. I have ideas, though, and more stuff coming down the pipeline that will be fun to share with my subscribers. Here is what’s on offer for my subscribers currently:Free yearly calendar with original artwork (three months to a page) for downloadDaily (in as much as I can) updates on writing projects with exclusive looks at the day’s work.First read of Monday blog posts.Exclusive weekly blog posts (usually on Wednesdays)Free, first access to any serials I write There’ s’more I’m planning on creating, but they’re going to require a few more pieces of equipment in order to properly set up. This, of course, requires funds (it’s a vicious circle, friends), but these are tucked away for the future, either in addition to the first tier or for different tiers. These include:A private, subscriber only Discord server.A monthly exclusive livestream where we can all craft together.A monthly movie club where we can all sit and watch a movie together online.ARC club - where folks can get Advanced Reader Copies of any books I publish.A bookclub (if anyone wants that, we’ll see)Exclusive artworkDiscounts for my Ko-Fi shop… when I start adding things properly. I have to set up the shop properly. I’m rather surprised that I don’t feel badly about what outwardly looks like I didn’t succeed. I don’t feel like this is a failure. I think this is a start. And we all must start somewhere. Instead of feeling disheartened, I’m excited about the future. I really cannot wait until I get The New Haven Incident out into the world. I can’t wait to get it to my subscribers first. I’m hopeful that I will eventually be able to replace my income; not necessarily with my subscriptions alone, but in combination with what I earn from my writing, my art, and the leatherwork and bookbinding I’m going to eventually offer (once I’ve practiced some).
So, again, thank you to my subscribers. You’re awesome. Thank you for your support. If you want to support, for only $1.00 a month, you can do so here . Right, I have a bunch of other blog posts to get written for this week. I must go.
Ciao!
Image by Enrique from Pixabay It’s been almost a month post the launch of my subscription thingy and I have some thoughts I’d like to share about my experience so far.First off, I’d like to thank the two people who did subscribe. That’s two more than I was expecting, and I’m genuinely thrilled to have you on board with this stupid little project of mine. Honestly, your support means the world to me, and I’m very grateful for you.
Now, to the obvious… I have two subscribers. That’s a little less than $1.50 extra a month (after all the fees etc) in my pocket. Obviously, as a means to replace the income I’m getting from working full time for someone else, that looks like an utter failure. And, I suppose, it is on the outside of it. I am hoping that I’ll be able to reduce my hours at the office, but no one can life on $1.50 a month. So, that’s just not in the picture right now.
For all that it looks like a failure at launch, it’s not really feeling like a failure to me. First, is that anyone subscribed at all. It doesn’t matter if they’re my friends, or if these are pity subscriptions (I’ll take it!). People did subscribe, and are getting a few things other folks are not. And to be fair, if I had any more than two subscriptions at launch, I’d be mightily suspicious.
Second, despite an increase in my workload this month (which will hopefully have calmed down a bit now, and I can start devoting more time to other awesome things in my life), I managed to keep up with the work I’d set for myself for the subscription - mostly. There was one week that proved hellish, and I didn’t get anything done for this blog, let alone my other one. But I did make that up, so I didn’t fall terribly behind, and my subscribers still got their exclusives; just a bit late.
Granted, at $1.00 a month for the subscription, there isn’t a lot on offer, but my subscribers are still getting nice little extras where I can provide them. They are getting the extra blog post a week, they are getting news first, and, as a little treat, they’re getting daily writing updates. Unlike my other socials, my subscribers are also getting little snippets of what I’ve written that day. I did that once with Facebook while I was writing The Seraphimè Saga. Now, it’s a perk for my subscribers. It’s a small thing, granted, but with my current workload, it’s something extra I can provide.
As a third point, I’m actually kinda enjoying myself. I have a little secret club that I can offload all of my excitement as the exciting things happen - I don’t have to hold it all in until the appropriate time to make the news public. I like being able to share bits of my writing with people. I like creating things for others to enjoy.
I realize that not an awful lot is expected for $1.00 a month, and since that is the case, I’m okay with what I have going on right now. I have ideas, though, and more stuff coming down the pipeline that will be fun to share with my subscribers. Here is what’s on offer for my subscribers currently:Free yearly calendar with original artwork (three months to a page) for downloadDaily (in as much as I can) updates on writing projects with exclusive looks at the day’s work.First read of Monday blog posts.Exclusive weekly blog posts (usually on Wednesdays)Free, first access to any serials I write There’ s’more I’m planning on creating, but they’re going to require a few more pieces of equipment in order to properly set up. This, of course, requires funds (it’s a vicious circle, friends), but these are tucked away for the future, either in addition to the first tier or for different tiers. These include:A private, subscriber only Discord server.A monthly exclusive livestream where we can all craft together.A monthly movie club where we can all sit and watch a movie together online.ARC club - where folks can get Advanced Reader Copies of any books I publish.A bookclub (if anyone wants that, we’ll see)Exclusive artworkDiscounts for my Ko-Fi shop… when I start adding things properly. I have to set up the shop properly. I’m rather surprised that I don’t feel badly about what outwardly looks like I didn’t succeed. I don’t feel like this is a failure. I think this is a start. And we all must start somewhere. Instead of feeling disheartened, I’m excited about the future. I really cannot wait until I get The New Haven Incident out into the world. I can’t wait to get it to my subscribers first. I’m hopeful that I will eventually be able to replace my income; not necessarily with my subscriptions alone, but in combination with what I earn from my writing, my art, and the leatherwork and bookbinding I’m going to eventually offer (once I’ve practiced some).
So, again, thank you to my subscribers. You’re awesome. Thank you for your support. If you want to support, for only $1.00 a month, you can do so here . Right, I have a bunch of other blog posts to get written for this week. I must go.
Ciao!
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