I have become a Founding member/supporter because I love your writing and feel that you probably will need to continue to eat to do it. I really like the short stories. Quick reads, very entertaining. Plus…. When you get enough, you can gather them together in a book and sell it as a collection, thereby making extra profit and I may not be paying enough attention and buy it, getting double-dipped.
(Remember what those things were, the process where only three parties were involved, and the amount on the check was what the person being paid actually received, to the penny? How quaint!)
P.S. This way I don't have to carry on my personal war against venal publishers who print books with weak ink density, microscopic type sizes, shit-quality paper and non-existent indexes. An example, from my book notes:
[Start]
Balzac led me to Thirty Years of Matt (Pritchett, Telegraph UK editorial cartoonist clip book 2018).
More specifically, Matt's grandfather Vincent Sawdust's Balzac biography (1963).
Balzac has a table of contents, an index, page numbers, and historical dates.
Thirty Years has no table of contents, no index, no page numbers, and the cartoons are undated.
Frank, We steal all your ideas here at The Discount Think Tank and Bait Camp on Galveston Island. Keep 'em coming! Here's how the Brittney piece turned out after she was released back into the wild. Enjoy this guilt-free 90-SEC vacation. THE OTIS ADVISORY: https://vimeo.com/649169102
I would be in, been reading for quite the long time...if I think about it I feel old. The original site was a must read, as was each book that came along. I say if we get the free writing/thinking Frank covering all things on your mind then well worth it. To me politics and culture are where you really shine, wit wise. Best part is the books hit all that too (unless I'm imagining that...).
If the system (substack) allows, perhaps keep a free level or access for spreading more "Frank"...in case it works like a paywall. Could always design "perks" for subscribers if you wish, early releases, pre-release chapters, etc. Lots of ways to build that world.
I'm also not saying this because we share a first name,
Yes, I will definitely keep a lot of posts free. But the perks idea is good. I could share pre-release chapters (I want to with the Hellbender I’m working on as it will be so long before anyone sees it and I find it really funny).
No, I’m still a part time writer. But I write a few hour every day and it’s just a question of how I spend it. One fear of a paid Substack is I’ll feel more obligation to write for it which will take away from other things… thought that’s not the biggest problem if it’s writing I enjoy.
I'm guessing your latest Babylon Bee byline is "CNN Reports On 'Deadly Boat Accident' At Pearl Harbor"
If your substack works like "locals.com" and engenders a paid community of like-minded members with no censors, it could work
I've estimated Greg Gutfeld's "The Gutter with Gutfeld", hosted on "gg.locals.com", makes $30,000 a month before expenses based on a $7/month subscription. Note Greg Gutfeld leads the 11-12 pm late night slot
I'd recommend employing a paid substack only if you were contemplating using it to transition from software engineering to full-time writing...if this doesn't apply then why fix a process that isn't broken?
I sure hope Gutfeld's Gutter is better edited than his "books," to which E.B. White would have applied his term, "non-books." His publisher apparently considers their books "edited" if there's a subway line close to their office and a few editors each day pass by that address on their way to wherever (definitely not on their way to Gutfeld's manuscripts). And nothing personal; he is no worse-edited than 95% of the remainder of his ilk.
....wait a minute. Was your prior post, "The Merchant", a prelude to this whole conversation about a paid substack? "If you want more stories in stock, paying me would make that happen". Well, it must have worked, cause I'm strangely sympathetic to the idea. Your short stories are always fun, and I'd love more of those. Your political humor: a must. I don't particularly like subscriptions though, which might be a problem with this whole plan. Subscription paywalls also make it hard to share and spread your content to our friends, which would suck 'cause your content is worthy of sharing. You should also look at enabling Brave Rewards tips on whatever platforms you write on that are supported, like twitter(https://creators.brave.com/). That's a payment model I wish would catch on.
Yeah, I'm kind of ambivalent about going paid for the reasons you mention. But at the same time, I'd like to write more short stories and would like if it didn't feel like a break from my paid writing.
So, substance content: love your stream of consciousness riffs; and of course short stories ... not sure about politics but go for it. The Fupdate is a great idea... Superego is terrific! 🤠Hellbinder a little too silly maybe 😜 but I will eventually give it a try. Thanks for communicating so well with your friends!
Thanks for the feedback! Yeah, I'm not sure I really want to do any straight politics; I'd rather keep it fun. The last thing I want is to get all serious and overinflated in my own importance.
And I was surprised as many people liked Hellbender as they did. I thought it was going to be more niche. But I definitely recommend giving it a try; I'm really excited about the sequel.
I have become a Founding member/supporter because I love your writing and feel that you probably will need to continue to eat to do it. I really like the short stories. Quick reads, very entertaining. Plus…. When you get enough, you can gather them together in a book and sell it as a collection, thereby making extra profit and I may not be paying enough attention and buy it, getting double-dipped.
Seems like a winner for you all the way around 😉
How about an address where a check can be sent?
(Remember what those things were, the process where only three parties were involved, and the amount on the check was what the person being paid actually received, to the penny? How quaint!)
I only like checks when it’s for a service delivered.
P.S. This way I don't have to carry on my personal war against venal publishers who print books with weak ink density, microscopic type sizes, shit-quality paper and non-existent indexes. An example, from my book notes:
[Start]
Balzac led me to Thirty Years of Matt (Pritchett, Telegraph UK editorial cartoonist clip book 2018).
More specifically, Matt's grandfather Vincent Sawdust's Balzac biography (1963).
Balzac has a table of contents, an index, page numbers, and historical dates.
Thirty Years has no table of contents, no index, no page numbers, and the cartoons are undated.
[End]
Frank, We steal all your ideas here at The Discount Think Tank and Bait Camp on Galveston Island. Keep 'em coming! Here's how the Brittney piece turned out after she was released back into the wild. Enjoy this guilt-free 90-SEC vacation. THE OTIS ADVISORY: https://vimeo.com/649169102
I would be in, been reading for quite the long time...if I think about it I feel old. The original site was a must read, as was each book that came along. I say if we get the free writing/thinking Frank covering all things on your mind then well worth it. To me politics and culture are where you really shine, wit wise. Best part is the books hit all that too (unless I'm imagining that...).
If the system (substack) allows, perhaps keep a free level or access for spreading more "Frank"...in case it works like a paywall. Could always design "perks" for subscribers if you wish, early releases, pre-release chapters, etc. Lots of ways to build that world.
I'm also not saying this because we share a first name,
Yes, I will definitely keep a lot of posts free. But the perks idea is good. I could share pre-release chapters (I want to with the Hellbender I’m working on as it will be so long before anyone sees it and I find it really funny).
So you're now writing full-time and software engineering part-time? Good
I've actually been worrying about the lengthy time-between-novels, so I'm OK with a paid substack, at least covering TBN periods*
Your Babylon Bee articles are the best. I think you made the right choice writing full-time
*Note: Tell your substack that if they want to read a Superego 4, they're going to have to support you with a substack subscription to carry you TBN
Or if we ever want to see a Hellbender 3, it's going to take a substack subscription from July 2022 to July 2023
Just trying to help
No, I’m still a part time writer. But I write a few hour every day and it’s just a question of how I spend it. One fear of a paid Substack is I’ll feel more obligation to write for it which will take away from other things… thought that’s not the biggest problem if it’s writing I enjoy.
I'm guessing your latest Babylon Bee byline is "CNN Reports On 'Deadly Boat Accident' At Pearl Harbor"
If your substack works like "locals.com" and engenders a paid community of like-minded members with no censors, it could work
I've estimated Greg Gutfeld's "The Gutter with Gutfeld", hosted on "gg.locals.com", makes $30,000 a month before expenses based on a $7/month subscription. Note Greg Gutfeld leads the 11-12 pm late night slot
I'd recommend employing a paid substack only if you were contemplating using it to transition from software engineering to full-time writing...if this doesn't apply then why fix a process that isn't broken?
I sure hope Gutfeld's Gutter is better edited than his "books," to which E.B. White would have applied his term, "non-books." His publisher apparently considers their books "edited" if there's a subway line close to their office and a few editors each day pass by that address on their way to wherever (definitely not on their way to Gutfeld's manuscripts). And nothing personal; he is no worse-edited than 95% of the remainder of his ilk.
....wait a minute. Was your prior post, "The Merchant", a prelude to this whole conversation about a paid substack? "If you want more stories in stock, paying me would make that happen". Well, it must have worked, cause I'm strangely sympathetic to the idea. Your short stories are always fun, and I'd love more of those. Your political humor: a must. I don't particularly like subscriptions though, which might be a problem with this whole plan. Subscription paywalls also make it hard to share and spread your content to our friends, which would suck 'cause your content is worthy of sharing. You should also look at enabling Brave Rewards tips on whatever platforms you write on that are supported, like twitter(https://creators.brave.com/). That's a payment model I wish would catch on.
Yeah, I'm kind of ambivalent about going paid for the reasons you mention. But at the same time, I'd like to write more short stories and would like if it didn't feel like a break from my paid writing.
I'll check out Brave Rewards. Thanks!
So, substance content: love your stream of consciousness riffs; and of course short stories ... not sure about politics but go for it. The Fupdate is a great idea... Superego is terrific! 🤠Hellbinder a little too silly maybe 😜 but I will eventually give it a try. Thanks for communicating so well with your friends!
Thanks for the feedback! Yeah, I'm not sure I really want to do any straight politics; I'd rather keep it fun. The last thing I want is to get all serious and overinflated in my own importance.
And I was surprised as many people liked Hellbender as they did. I thought it was going to be more niche. But I definitely recommend giving it a try; I'm really excited about the sequel.
"... get all serious and overinflated in my own importance." Yeah, leave that to me. I ace the course each time.