On Newsletters and WIP TKTowerBonus 29.03.19 1082 Words
Even more boom! than the other day. This tale is, as you can see on the photo, now approaching 6k words (this includes TKNOTES, however). I suspect there may be around 2-3k more to craft and that the finished story will be the shortest of the bonuses. Still, it will perhaps be the most important, in terms of where it fits in to the whole, to The Lesser Evil.
Other tasks I have today include some freelance work for a friend, which I should have done an age ago, but time and other work got in the way and, of course, more redrafting. I am also going to start my email newsletter, which will be detailed and linked to here once it is up and running. The ideas behind this are threefold…
Firstly, I do not tweet as much as I used to, for a couple of reasons. I realised I was no longer sharing the things I used to share, no longer participating in the same way and this made me sad. Why I reached this point initially was simple; I was deeply hurt by someone and I no longer wanted my feelings to be public in the same way. As time moved along, I never regained the habit. Also, twitter is not the same place it once was, full of anger and bots and negativity. Even people I admire greatly can get sucked into that mire, I know I’ve done it myself. A newsletter would allow me to share a wealth of thoughts, in a similar way to my tweets — to start a conversation, to make people think, to allow me think and allow my brain to prosper, morph, and grow.
Secondly, I want to share ideas with those who want to listen. By signing up for a newsletter, there is an implicit choice in that action — I’m not simply yelling on twitter, or here, or anywhere else. Those who want to engage can do — whether by simply reading or by responding, or they don’t and hit unsubscribe (or never subscribe in the first place). Simple as that. I like the idea of such a private party,
Thirdly, an email newsletter gives the power back to me (as well as the reader, as mentioned above). It takes the power away from the big social media companies, whose priorities will always be profit. Why should Facebook, for example, make extra money from my words, when they don’t pay me? Instead, I shall have an initially free service and, at some juncture, introduce a paid option. Whether the paid option will be the only one, or a tiered system installed, remains to be seen — at the time of writing, I really don’t know. This fits my business model, which is something I shall discuss in increasing frequency soon. Long-story short — multiple income streams are the way forward for the writer. Make cash from ebooks, on several platforms, in several formats, from translations, from print-on-demand, from traditional publishing deals, from audiobooks, from images and the sale of them — again, on various platforms, from freelance journalism and writing, from an email subscription service… Oh, and there are others too. Watch this space.
For now, this will do (and read this too for a sensible discussion); I need to research and ponder and plan. I am considering Substack, who I hear good things about, but have not made up my mind yet. Now, back to redrafting.