Week 2 status report
My site’s two weeks old now. I’m drawing monthly contributions of $50 right now spread across nine subscribers. That’s … I mean, it’s fine. I would never dream of calling that disappointing, in itself. Nine people are giving me $55 a month (with $5 of that going to Patreon) just to write my nonsense. And that’s really cool.
At the same time, I’m not going to lie, I was hoping it would be a better start. My original plan for the site was to start it today, coinciding with what I thought was going to be my last day at PFF. But then they ended my job earlier than I thought they were going to (a miscommunication, not with ill intent), and a follower told me that I’d be best-positioned to start the site right away, to capitalize on the mild buzz and sympathy of the job loss. That was a good point, so I fired it out there, hoping I would get a bunch of $3 subscribers right off the bat that would accumulate.
And I got a few. I mean, I wasn’t expecting $10,000 a month immediately. I’m not expecting that ever, really. But I set my threshold for a guaranteed podcast at $100 a month, and I honestly thought that was kind of a modest goal. Right now, it seems out of reach, at least any time soon.
Of course, as I documented in my piece on applying for jobs, I’m a pessimist with a real depressive streak. Maybe this number of subscribers through two weeks is great!
(Want to contribute to me doing this? Join the Patreon!)
Anyway, welcome to the party, Marc Daley and Jason Hunt. I don’t think I know who Marc Daley is. Jason Hunt, if it’s the Jason Hunt I am thinking of, I do know, but haven’t spoken to in years, so that’s cool too. Either way, thanks to them, and thanks to the holdovers.
One of the problems I think the site is having is that I’ve not branched out as much as I had originally planned. Yes, fantasy football is where my reputation mainly lies, and if I abandoned fantasy football writing altogether I’d probably lose at least a few of my current subscribers (not my mom, though; she’s stuck). But part of the reason I wanted to do my own thing was to, you know, do my own thing. I like writing about fantasy. But I also like writing about any number of topics, and for the most part, it’s been fantasy football and the Best Cards Ever, and as fun as those topics are (to me), they don’t have universal appeal. It’s been a misstep so far.
So I’m going to start branching out a little more. At least, I’m going to start trying to. Today, I wrote a piece about Reggie on Kids Baking Championship, the best reality show contestant of all time. I want to offer some other thoughts on other topics as well, and I will. Maybe that means slightly less fantasy content, maybe that means slightly more time between Best Cards Ever entries (those take surprisingly long to write). Neither of those topics will be going anywhere — I promise on that — but I do think I need to diversify. $50 a month is $50 a month, but I want it to grow.