As of now, BHM is no longer paying me to write this blog. Just got word on Saturday.
They’re not closing the blog down. I can continue to write it on my own, if I wish. And Dave Duffy has offered me “behind the scenes” types of work and possibly print work to make up for the loss. (BHM is like a good family that way.)
Jackie Clay has also been offered similar terms. Only Mas Ayoob’s blog is unaffected, far as I know.
Of course, because the Duffys have always allowed me those wonderful Amazon links and occasional use of the PayPal donation button, I still have some income from the blog — just considerably reduced and not as predictable or steady. The weekend’s blow is compounded by the fact that my other online work, The Zelman Partisans, is strictly volunteer. Now I have to wonder about the best allocation of my time and effort.
Yet, I love what I do and would do it all for nothing if I could afford to. And you guys are a great, smart “social circle” I don’t want to abandon or do without.
So I’m contemplating what to do from here on and wonder if You the Commentariat have some suggestions.
I’ll be back tomorrow late morning with a regular blog post (and to catch up on overdue emails). Will check in with you then to see what you have to say about this.
Write another book, Claire.
We’ll buy it. At least I will.
That’s truly horrible, Claire. I have to wonder what Ayoob has that you don’t… I sure don’t read his stuff. sigh
With the economy swirling in the drain, a lot of otherwise good ideas probably won’t work… and it’s going to get worse before it gets better.
All I can suggest is to find a product or service you can produce pretty much on your own… something people really do need, and will continue to need. Can you work in a cannabis outfit there somewhere?
As BHM’s sister publication, Self-Reliance (both print and digital), is coming onboard, does that magazine have anything to do with this decision, I wonder. (I’m amazed that Jackie Clay has been singled out also – unless she’s going to Self-Reliance.)
Claire, what kind of “behind the scenes” work would you contribute? (Editing?) That blog is retired, so you wouldn’t be online, only working with and through BHM’s storefront. That would take you out of the digital spotlight! Is that what BHM wants? Or is that what needs to happen, from your POV, to satisfy your desire to leave the internet?
If you had a financially-adequate, and permanent “behind the scenes” job, then go for it.
Otherwise MamaL’s suggestion is good. Or talk to FurryDoc about some writing jobs in the animal world – a newsletter, advertising, educational brochures, online blog & info for specific or general canine rescue groups, etc. Whatever keeps you solvent.
Claire – P.S. While you’re working at one of those jobs, you might start planning what happens to Jeremy as he travels “Into The Light.”
I will donate again if you post the link.
Just a thought to maybe help you short term, you mentioned not too long ago that you had found some old TZP (I think) memorabilia. Maybe you could auction that off to raise some funds.
I wish you the best.
Mike
I don’t know how much this helps, but The Penny Hoarder recently published a list of companies that hire remote workers: http://www.thepennyhoarder.com/125-work-from-home-companies/
I’ve been going through the list (I’m only up to the M’s so far), and most of the jobs are for programmers, but there were a few that were looking for writers.
For that matter, Penny Hoarder itself pays for freelance writing.
I don’t know how much you need to keep body and soul together, but if you’re as frugal as I think you are, then there are many options in the marketplace for an hourly position, as a temporary solution.
You’re handy. There are lots of things you have learned while rescuing and rehabbing homes that people would be willing to learn from you. Self help books online? I’m out of my element here (I’m still a corporate sell-out with aspirations of dropping out) but I imagine there’s a market for your hard-won self- education.
Sometimes I think that for a writer, I’m pretty bad at making myself clear. 🙁 Sorry about that.
I’m not really worried about other ways to earn money. The Duffys are offering behind-the-scenes work that could, over time, pay more than they paid for the blog — and yes it also might be a good idea to diversify.
Specifically, I’m wondering what to do about the blog now that my efforts on it are going to earn so much less (Amazon and donations only; no BHM payment). Thank you, Michael C., for offering to donate! So should I continue the blog, hoping (and nudging) for more donations? Keep it going but cut back on blogging to put my efforts into things that pay more? Move the blog to another site where I have more control over the content and can take ads … or ….?
Make the blog a pay- for- use site where an individual would contribute a certain amount each year to access the blog?
Also, I should say that the decision to stop paying Jackie and me for blogging was purely economic. Nothing personal at all. I don’t know about Jackie, but the Duffys were very fair and considerate in offering me other work (yes, editing, among other things).
And yes, Self-Reliance growing probably has something to do with this (not sure). I think S-R is a cool new venture designed to bring more young, urban or suburban, people into DIY, prepping, and related activities. They may even find a place for me there!
I’m in no way unhappy or upset, nor do I feel singled out in any bad way. I just have a practical dilemma concerning all the time and thought that goes into the blog now that I’ll be receiving less money on it.
I would sign up for Member Only Blog access. You might consider non-member access but with a delay of two or three weeks, i.e. Non-members only see “archived” posts that are a couple of weeks old.
Thank you, Linda. That’s the kind of suggestion I’m looking for. I’m not sure how or if the pay-for-access model would work. But it’s a good start on the brainstorming. Bottom line: How can this blog continue to work for everybody? Readers and me alike?
Claire I’m sorry to hear about BMH. As for making a bit of cash on the side…
You could check around to see if there are any area schools that offer on line training. Talk to them and see if you could teach an on line course in creative writing or writing short stories. You do the course from home.
You could also train people in setting up and running a blog.
You could put yourself out there as a ghost writer service.
You could write and format peoples resumes for them.
You could do dictation for small companies from home. They email you a voice recording and you type it up as a word doc and send it back. charge per word or per page.
If there are any seniors homes around you could do a course on basic internet skills.
As far as cash goes I don’t know the pay structure down there for on line instructors is but up here it’s around $10 to $15 per student hour what that translates to is $10 – $ per hour times the number of students times the course length. So with 10 students in a 40 hour course times $10 is $4,000 or at $15 it’s $6,000. Note some of that goes to the college/school but you make money.
Remember all is not lost.
Move the blog. Take your content with you (I assume you own the words you wrote on BHM). Pay through ads or use one of the free sites. How much is a domain web page all in? It might be worth the one time investment then ongoing domain fees. Offer to edit peoples writing through the new page.
Depends on how much work you want to put into another blog, and how much time you have with paying work taking precedence.
If you keep this blog, maybe a think piece once a week – something that will keep readers coming back to BHM, as if reading an editorial – and with limited commentary (i.e. “letters”) in response.
If you set up another blog, put active commentary there, take ads, and pay-for-use; treat it like a paying job, which it will be. Again – it depends on how much time you have for the blog, and how much interaction you want.
I think you should shop the blog elsewhere. I have nothing against BHM, but your blog is the only reason I come here, so I’d go to where ever you showed up next. Your product is totally portable. Maybe a different environment would give you more visibility, too.
I fully agree with Ron Johnson. Living Freedom is the only reason I visit BHM, and I will go with you anywhere else to continue reading your stuff, and participating in the discussion.
Not sure how successful the paid “subscription” thing might be… I just know I don’t subscribe to any of them myself, at least not so far. But, as we said about Vanderboegh, if we’re getting value from your blog – no different than buying your books – we should be willing to pay a reasonable amount to continue that benefit. I’m in… 🙂
You could go the route of standing up your blog. You have the content, and you are a rock star. You would always have your Amazon link up and ready to go. You could collect from advertisers directly on your blog. Publishing a $1 – $5 ebook on your blog about how you have sustained yourself over the years writting etc…
I, too, come to this site only for your blog, Claire.
My own suggestion would be the same one I counsel as a pilot, or scuba diver: don’t panic. The best way to get in real trouble in many situations is to fail to do what you know best. There’s no hurry to shut the blog down, so keep it up at least for the time being, see how things pan out, and explore other options in the meanwhile as they appear.
It’s usually easier to correct course than recover from a wrong turn.
And may you be blessed in the process…
Mark
Just wondering Claire,
Do you get a commission on the advertising (even from BHM) that shows on your blog page? Per click or per sales? Of course you have to determine if the rewards are worthy of your time, effort and hassle.
It goes without saying that I and many others would miss your presence here and I have used your blog (and books and BHM) to help many a new person towards freedom but we all, I’m sure would want you to put your self first.
Any possibility of continuing your blog on the new TMM site, although I doubt it is a profitable venture yet. Probably more income and client base here.
Don’t know any real answers but I will support (with money when possible) any decision you make of course.
I have personally gotten more than a few people to subscribe to BHM because of YOU!
Tahn
I would like to add that I sure miss your regular articles in both BHM and SWAT. Even though you sometimes covered the same subjects you always seem to update them and put a different perspective on them, which I enjoy and learn from. Perhaps if you published a regular feature here it might change the status of your blog and your income. Don’t know of course but I sure would love it!
I would also like to add that I greatly respect and appreciate the Duffy’s and their contributions both to backwoods home living (which I now enjoy) and to freedom. Thank you one and all!
Tahn
“If you keep this blog, maybe a think piece once a week – something that will keep readers coming back to BHM, as if reading an editorial – and with limited commentary (i.e. “letters”) in response.”
First, thank you all for your ideas and good wishes.
While moving the blog to a site where I control advertising is a possibility, I really like BHM and am grateful they’ve given me this forum and have treated me like family all these years. I like the possibility Pat suggests, of perhaps blogging less but also blogging less casually. One really useful piece a week and maybe a bit of frippery in between (which is pretty much what I’ve been trying, if not always successfully, to do during my hiatus from home Internet, anyhow).
In any case, you’ve given me a lot to chew on. And now I’ll go gnaw on some ideas.
Claire,
I feel your pain and do like and respect the Duffys and BHM but like many others only come here to THIS Blog.
Let me know IF I can be of help.
Stay safe,
capn
I’m very glad you are taking a practical approach. I’m confident with that mindset – and the wonderful luxury of not having to make a quick decision – you’ll come up with something very workable. If you go to a different site, I’ll certainly follow it. I don’t look at anything else on BHM anyway, even though perhaps I should.
I’m reminded of a quote from the gambler in The Oxbow Incident, where he said the only thing you can be sure about your luck is it’s going to change.
Don’t know where I read you first, but your blog is the reason I ended up at BHM, after searching the digital wastes for post-TMM stuff and the things that had been archived for you by someone I forget.
I’ll continue to use the Amazon links where I can, and I’d certainly contribute.
Don’t discount the value in both time and money to the content management, commenting, etc. stuff that already exists in one place.
I’m a long time BHM subscriber, starting at issue 7. When I read the pap about “”Self Reliance Magazine”” in the last issue I had an unsettling gut feeling. I sure hope BHM hasn’t been compromised. We certainly don’t need another MEN.
… what to do about the blog
So, that depends. Presumably, with no remuneration, the priviso that you post at least once a week (or whatever it was) has been lifted, and you’re now free to post as much or little as you like. And you don’t have to do any administrative work on the hosting stuff, or the layout, settings, etc.
I’m not really worried about other ways to earn money …
So then, your consideration is whether to blog somewhere else where you can better monetize? Are the Duffys willing to let you do just a bit more monetizing here?
Blogging can be very cheap these days. I run a little ham radio club blog at wordpress.com. Yeah, the cheap option is kind of limiting, but there are options for more freedom with layout, etc., and ad programs. There’s no administrative burden – they do all the hosting stuff. I haven’t dug into whether there are any restrictions on your own ads for the free or extra-cheap hosting, but at the lowest levels, they do run their own ads. I will say that the control panel for WordPress can be a bit daunting, but it gives you a lot of flexibility for things such as sidebar content. And there’s a whole community forum help thing and sometimes live help via a chat pop-up. I haven’t used that enough to know whether it’s an always-on thing.
I’m not a fan of the “member only” plan. You’d be restricting your potential audience, and if monetizing the blog is goal, I think that’ll be counterproductive.
One possibility would be to get funding using Patreon. I know nothing about it, except that Erin Palette uses it, as do those crazy guys at Forgotten Weapons. Seems to be working for them. Would the Duffys allow you to do that?
I’ll assume (yeah yeah) that since the copyright notice is BHM, you’d need to get permission to copy your material from here to new digs, if you do move on, and I suspect they want to keep the archives here, as it should continue to attract page views. But, if they will allow it, extracts from WordPress are easy, and you do know someone who knows how to deal with blog content migration.
One thing I will say about using WordPress.com is that it’s heavily into social blogging. Lots of by-default “on” things for “share on Facebook” and such, and as they roll out updates, the location of the buttons in the site admin area seem to change, and that can get a bit annoying. You do have to do your own site administration, as in choosing and customizing your template and various settings. That could be something of a time sink, especially at first. But I suspect other blogging platforms are similar. I think Joel is at WordPress.com.
Although I hardly ever comment, I check your Living Freedom pretty much every day, even while you’ve been on the Tuesday & Thursday schedule. With a lower income, I don’t subscribe anywhere else, but if you chose that route I’d definitely have to consider it. I met the BWH people a few years ago at their booth at a fair and was much impressed; I can see why you would wish to stay here if that can be made worth your time. Would the Duffy’s let you parallel post, maybe, with your substantive pieces going up both here and on WordPress, say, with your WordPress link left here for new readers to follow, while discussion and all the rest moved there? Would hate to loose you but everyone needs to see a return for their time.
Look at your blog like a business. I love BWH but mainly read your blog. Think of it this way. BWH must be covering the expense of you blog and make a profit on it. If you take your blog independent then that net profit could be yours. Again, your blog would not have lasted this long if it was not making a profit for the BWH company.
The best paths to monetizing seem to be either to run ads, which costs everyone a little bit of attention more or less equally, or to offer a lot of free content, with advanced content available for a price to those who are interested. Personally, I prefer the latter, although I know it can be harder on the author who needs to make a living. Mike Cernovich had a post on this recently on Danger and Play: he’s using his social media posts to draw people into his blog, to build up a large base of readers for his book and film projects, and he fully expects to take months or years to convert a casual reader into a paying customer/fan.
Jed, I use wordpress for “The Price of Liberty” and have for several years now. There are NO “facebook” or other social media links, buttons or content on my blog, and never will be. It may be an option in newer versions, and it may be a “default” in some, but I can’t imagine they couldn’t be turned off if Claire didn’t want them. But, since they probably do attract some readers, she may well want them. Needs to be her choice, obviously.
@ML, in my case it seems like the locations of the settings changes around a lot. I assume that happens when updates are rolled out. It might not be WordPress itself, but the theme I’m running. In practice, it’s a low-volume “house organ” site, so I’m not posting often enough to get used to things either. But I do know the site admin pages aren’t the same now as they used to be. I’d prefer something simpler. And maybe some of the other hosting plans offer a different interface too. I haven’t dug into it deeply, as it’s good enough as is for me, and the club doesn’t have a lot of money to spend on hosting upgrades.
But, I do see the advantages to the social networking pieces, and have considered turning them on.
At any rate, there are many of us here who can give Claire a hand with stuff, if needed.
They did take the blog down. What’s up with that? I haven’t been on there in a long time and just found out today! Tried a few doggy links from this site and you’re gone. Not a happy future subscriber! Love you Claire.
Thank you, johnj258. I don’t know what’s up with BHM, but my impression is that, whatever’s going on, it’s not good. But I’m glad to be here at the new site and glad to have the love.