Transparency with Readers

Hello, readers and writers!

This week’s blog post will be a little short considering I’m taking this opportunity to talk about some ways I might be attempting to keep myself consistent with posting and writing. I absolutely love blogging and sharing my love of romance novels with all of you, but finding the time to create engaging content can become difficult if I’m hung up worrying about my monthly expenses. Pursuing this dream can sometimes be terrifying, and here are some ways I will try to rectify that.

Other writers, give me your opinion! Other suggestions would be greatly appreciated, but please come at me with constructive criticism. I would not want to be dogged down by other authors for simply wanting to make my dream come true and asking for the help to make it happen.

Starting a Patreon

One of the big things I would like to announce is my decision to finally start a Patreon page. For months, probably even a year or two, I’ve been debating creating a page or not. I was bogged down by questions where I didn’t have the answers.

• What kind of content can I provide regularly, and how would it benefit patrons enough to subscribe?
• What is physically possible for me to promise as someone who suffers from multiple chronic illnesses?

Usually, I don’t mention my health on public forums because I believe people should mind their own business, but I do feel it’s important with all you readers that I will be transparent about what I can do and promise. I would hate to be seen as flaky or unreliable for content, so I want to be honest about physical illnesses being part of my ability to provide.

My first post will be published January 15th, 2019!

So what did I decide I could provide?

I knew I wanted to start a newsletter. My immediate goal was to dedicate to a weekly newsletter, but I think, for now, I can handle twice a month. One newsletter to post in the middle of the month, and another to post at the end of the month. This could give me a few weeks to create newsletters that will be beneficial for both romance readers and writers that want to know more about the genre.

I mean, I’m learning too. So I would love to continue providing tips, reading suggestions, and more to those who end up becoming patrons! I’ve also thought about giving a free newsletter or leaving my posts public for all to see, but I haven’t made any final decisions yet. I want to make sure patrons who are donating money to my cause and career feel entirely comfortable and know that they are in my thoughts when I make decisions about the page and my writing.

Gaining more daily viewers

One of my big goals this year is to increase the traffic traveling to my blog. Of course, I know about affiliate links, but it’s been hard to make it organic, so I’m not sure if that’s the way I want to go. I’d rather have readers returning to my blog often without fear that I’m selling them something or only suggesting something because I might get paid in return.

That’s not the relationship I want to have with you all. I just want to provide content that’s helpful in either finding new romance reads or learning more about the indie romance industry and writing. My entire life is consumed by those activities, and I like to think I’m not alone in that. The goal is to merely get people clicking and wanting to read the content I provide, and hopefully, I can gain more organically over the next few months. I just want to be myself.

New possible project idea

Just as an add-on to this post, I’ve deciding to run an idea by any men or women who might be reading who have suffered with the ability to have self-love. If that fits with your identity, I would like to unofficially announce that I will be providing posts on Medium about discovering self-worth and feminine power.

Yes, I think most of the posts will be about daily struggles for women who are trying to find their voice in a world where we are often ignored or silenced. But I would not mind getting the male perspective either on discovering what it meant to value yourself as a person and stop allowing others to choose how you live your life.

Right now, my plan is to post once a month, eventually moving to two where I will do research and ask people for their opinions and experiences to add to these articles. I think it could be an interesting way to write about another subject that means a lot to me, and it could be a space for people to express themselves anonymously as well.

Thank you so much for reading! 

Please leave a comment telling me what you think if you have any opinions on my attempts to monetize my writing. I want to be as transparent as possible with my fears of financial stability while chasing my dreams.