Mike Sterling's Progressive RuinAlone, unmourned, and unloved since 1969

That clinking clanking sound / Can make the world go ’round.

§ July 1st, 2016 § Filed under self-promotion § 2 Comments

So yes, I started a Patreon account for myself, to fund this website. It’s something I’d been thinking about doing for a few months now, and actually had it ready to go for the last few weeks, but held off because 1) there was a thing going ’round a while back about comic sites opening up Patreons and I didn’t want to look like I was jumping on the bandwagon, and 2) there’s been a whole lot of awful stuff happening in The Real World over the last few weeks and it never seemed like an appropriate time.

But first, let me get a couple of things about of the way. I don’t plan on having any contributor-exclusive content…I don’t want anyone to feel as if they’re missing out on anything. Not that anything I write is so important and life-changing that people will start harming themselves if they aren’t part of the Progressive Ruin Elite and don’t have access to the Secret Good Stuff. But, basically, I don’t want to leave anyone out. This doesn’t preclude some eventual perk, though I don’t know what that will be. Buy you a cup of coffee, maybe? I don’t know.

Also, my production of Progressive Ruin isn’t dependent on financial support. Even if I wasn’t paid to do it, I’d still do it. I mean, I’d like to have a little scratch in exchange for the hours, days, years I’ve worked on this site. I have the big ol’ sidebar ad which helps with paying for hosting, but the Amazon referrals have declined of late and I’ve been looking for a way to replace that minimal income without putting up more ads.

I think Patreon is the way to go. It’s completely voluntary, and it’s just a small thingie in the sidebar to this site (and, um, there’s this meandering post, too). If you can pledge, like, a buck a month, every little bit will help. And of course you don’t have to…I’ll still be providing new content on this site every couple of days or so for everyone who wants it. Some of it might even be good, but no promises.

“But Mike! You own a comic book store! Surely you must be independently wealthy by now!” Well, sure, you’d think, but it turns out that comics retail isn’t necessarily a direct path to fortune. And starting up and running a small business is expensive. Everything’s going fine, it’s all paying for itself, I’m getting paid, but I’m working long hours and my free time is just that much more precious. Getting a wee bit of coin of the realm in exchange for using up some of said free time on this site would be welcome.

As I say in the introduction to my Patreon, one of my plans is to go back and clean up old Progressive Ruin posts, fix broken links and formatting, etc. I’ve been sort of doing that anyway, like when I occasionally link to an old post and decide to refurbish it a little so I don’t send you to old Haloscan comments or Journalista entries. What I want to do is start at the beginning and work my way forward, knocking everything back into shape. As this is nearly thirteen years of nearly-daily posts, clearly this will take some more of my free time, and subsidizing the project via Patreon pledges wouldn’t hurt.

Whether you contribute or not is fine. If you can spare a bit every month, that’s great…if you can’t, that’s okay, too. I appreciate all of my readers, even Ian, and the fact that my comment sections are regularly filled with funny and informative commentary from readers who aren’t insane hasn’t gone unnoticed by me. You folks out there are a big part of what makes my site what it is, and you all support me just by regularly reading what I write. Thank all of you for that.

Anyway, here’s one more link to my Patreon. I promise to try not to overdue plugging the thing here and elsewhere…and if I do, just give me a little tap on the shoulder and let me know.