A New Option To Support My Site, Get Updated, and To Expand the Community
Expanding the community with some appropriate phase delay
Of course, everyone must fend for themselves, but people sharing is often invaluable.
You know that I never use polls, but this is the time, when I must.
Unsubscribers have been notifying me that my subscription prices are too high. I understand their concern, although my prices were only meant to reflect the unique value, and there have not been any restrictions on comments and I have never used a paywall, either.
I’ve been contemplating over the possibility of allowing for lower prices for people who appreciate my work, but cannot afford my published rates (actually, I’m not sure how far it’s been clear for them that it was possible to contribute less, and the “Buy me a coffee” option was always in my notification e-mails). It must have also been a burdensome possibility to keep subscribing and unsubscribing as well, if someone thought my prices were too high, so I finally devised a path that would
not betray those supporters, who have been able to subscribe;
allow for a rate that more people can afford;
CREATE A COMMUNITY THAT IS A LOT LARGER THAN THE CURRENT ONE.
Republish oldies, but goodies, because it’s most unlikely that anyone has read all my nearly 900 articles.
The idea caught up with me after I re-considered the fact that many authors publish the same things as I did well before them, and they actually receive the support I never did. While I don’t beg, I would like to give a chance to readers who would actually consider contributing besides invaluable comments and well wishes. (For my mother-in-law’s death, I have received numerous supportive comments and even ONE “coffee” applied towards the funeral expenses!)
It looks like the majority out there is a little slow to catch up (I’m not blaming anyone after all the gaslighting they had to cut through), and besides authors who belong to the controlled opposition receiving substantial amount of support from more than just the black budget, I managed to develop the following plan.
I cannot do anything about my reader treating my articles as if they were newspaper entries that turn obsolete the next day, so I might as well take it into consideration.
Many of my articles are unlikely to become obsolete anytime soon, but that doesn’t make any difference for most, and this time “most” includes me, because I can count it on two hands how many times I have gone back to previous articles by the same author, so it would be unrealistic of me to imagine too many people would search in my “Archive” section (they do not). Even when they do, IT IS IMPOSSIBLE TO INITIATE A LIVE CONVERSATION AT AN OLD PIECE, so I have to offer an alternative that might actually also reward my work a bit closer to what it would have deserved, if I had used paywalls. For the hiatus caused by the death of my wife’s mother, I started up the same re-publishing operation that I did a year ago, when I nearly died, but I didn’t want to leave my readers out in the cold.
For a good while after I started, there were only a few readers and even fewer commenters who would be able to make friends in the comment sections. After I published a few articles that touched some nerves, bots (some of them seem to exist even now as “authors”) and trolls attacked the comment section in various ways, and it took me some time to clean up, and I’ll stick to my guns and make sure that my comment sections are for civilized people who manage to respect each other, don’t “psychoanalyze” me, and don’t flood the comment sections with nonsense.
This time, I am going to start up a new site that will allow NEW DISCUSSIONS on significant entries in my book, while using only articles that are still relevant and worth discussing. You have just received a few appetizers from the menu as a result of my attempt to make up for my lack of new posts.
I would like to take a poll regarding the number of people interested (don’t worry, you are tracked, no matter what):
I am intentionally hiding the votes, because I don’t feel it would be fair to “go with the flock.” However, I’ll publish the results, and my final decision. I’m not holding my breath, but this might lead to something of value for everyone involved.
I am not going to use the “Like” button in order to avoid influencing comments, but I’ll still do my housekeeping to keep bots and trolls away.
To do the math for real, it’s also important that the monthly subscriptions match the most desired frequencies, so after this three-day poll, I’ll combine the two, and put up the final poll.
JUST TO MAKE SURE IT’S CLEAR: I WILL NOT INCLUDE RECENT ARTICLES. WITH THOSE, I’LL KEEP MY ORIGINAL PROMISE THAT EVERYTHING IS FREE ON MY SITE.
So, the objective is twofold:
provide an option to support my wife and me at a lot lower rate than my current subscriptions
create a new forum for discussion in which I do not intervene.
While I’m at it, I would also collect votes for a potential live “college-class” for those who are interested and feel young enough to pay for it. These are one-week polls and the results are not hidden:
Al these would incur assignments, presentations for all participants, and an interactive environment for discussions. The size of the classes would be no more than 30 and no less than 10 participants. It would take place in a video conference on Zoom or something like that. Not sure about the site and the payment options, so all ideas are more than welcome.
My wife used to volunteer for hands-on experiments in chemistry for children from ages 5 to 14. She usually used experiments that were spectacular, unusual, and highly entertaining. Especially young children used to scream with joy. This time, the same scenario would be harder to set up, but there are options. I am also collecting votes for those who would be interested:
It’s too early to discuss class sizes, the preference between hands-on or demo versions, and potential payments, but if there are enough people interested, I’ll get back to all that.
Where can I get a copy of your book?
I like your ideas for discussion sessions and classes. I'm likely to upgrade my subscription to you soon, and probably sign up for your new features.
All of your proposed study topics are interesting to me. I can't choose only one.
As for payment for these features- Is it possible to have draw-down accounts with you? If I paid, say, $100, could I then sign up for various things that catch my interest, with the fee deducted from my advance payment? That would save me from making multiple small hits on my card.
What you, and the others begging for more subscriptions have not understood, is that the business model here is utterly utterly wrong. You will NEVER make an income here writing niche materials. No-one in the history of the world has made a living writing niche materials, particularly when that writing depends on intellect not emotion.
There are two conventional ways for individuals to get information published. First, through newspapers and magazines, where readers pay for a whole swathe of different articles from different writers serving different purposes. Second through publishing houses that publish books and pay authors a pittance in royalties for years of work.
Then there is internet publishing. The only authors that do get high levels of subscriptions on Substack are those whose writings' primary purpose is to manipulate the emotions of the readers and secondary purpose is to inform. There are drama queens on substack that add virtually no value but bombard fear and anger at their readers, and they seem to get subscriptions. There are privileged authority figures that promote themselves massively way beyond Substack and feed the human need to be told what to do and what to think. Beyond that, no-one is making a buck on Substack.
Whenever I see one of these posts begging for money, I am astonished that you cannot work out for yourself that this particular business model cannot work as a sole source of income for most writers.
So if you want to make a living from JUST Substack, you had better get into discussions with Substack about their business model that favours trash over substance - and come up with something better.