Mastodawn

Neil Brown 2d ago

@Em0nM4stodon

I could be wrong, but my gut feeling is that you would spend more time faffing with a payment system, and dealing with support queries, than you would make from it :( (And dealing with "but there's a paywall" snark.)

But otherwise, I suspect that, of those willing to pay) people here would prefer direct monetisation - paying for subscriptions - than indirect monetisation (ads), although perhaps sponsorship might suit.

I'll happily subscribe, assuming that there is still (even if authenticated, or unique URL) full text RSS!

Neil Brown 2d ago

@Em0nM4stodon

I suspect that there is a way to deal with this, but I wonder if implementing a paywall would inhibit sharing so much that it works less well for you?

@neil I would not want to use a paywall, not a conventional one anyhow. I have a few ideas of perks I could share with recurring subscribers. Of course tracking advertising is out of question.

Neil Brown 2d ago

@Em0nM4stodon Ah, if it is "anyone can read it, but a few perks for those who support me", then I suspect that that would fare better (but I am sceptical how much money it would generate, if I am honest).

@neil Same. Otherwise I would have already started honestly.

funnymonkey 2d ago

@Em0nM4stodon
Might be worth starting with a simple tip jar (although/and I think Ghost has some options in place that would be worth a look)
@neil

@funnymonkey @neil The part that's not simple with this is setting up a Stripe account. I wish there was a way around this.

funnymonkey 2d ago

@Em0nM4stodon
Yeah. That's a hard blocker. And I have no idea how to work around that.

Yuck.

Complex topic, which I have a lot of opinions regarding. But focusing on this:

Transparency is huge. How much $$ and time is spent on fundraising - as a percentage of the available budget - is important to know. Many projects exist which are, in practice, fundraising industries.

At least the majority of effort and funds need to be on the purpose of the project. Else, the project is a lower priority than getting funds.

@neil 💚

Steve Bannister 2d ago

@Em0nM4stodon @neil I'm quite wary of yet another subscription but I do quite often give money to different creators/writers/opensource folk through Kofi/buymeacoffee etc

Steve Bannister 2d ago

@Em0nM4stodon @neil I realise though that's not great for dependable income

furicle 2d ago

@Em0nM4stodon donation, subscription or advertising I guess are the choices? And if the newspaper industry couldn't figure it out, I didn't think you'll find a perfect solution either.

Pick one and go for it ( said the bystander with no skin in the game... free advice... )

Julien 2d ago

@Em0nM4stodon Not sure it is "the best" way but having a means to get donations, either one-time or monthly, from people who appreciate your writing could get you some income (e.g. Ko-fi or other service). I for one would be a monthly supporter.

@julien

@Em0nM4stodon I'll add my vote for a full-text RSS feed for subscribers. Liberapay seems to be a FOSS Patron alternative, but I've never used it

@twoprops Sadly Liberapay still requires to plug into a Stripe or PayPal account to process payments, but I am considering it. I wish they had other options for payment processors though.

Michael Potter 2d ago

@Em0nM4stodon I'd be interested in this, since you have great takes on important topics. Monetization... dealer's choice.

@mpotter 💚💚💚

@Em0nM4stodon
Go back to X it Blue sky where that kind of enshitification is appreciated!

@lemonlolita You think asking for donations to try to make a living is enshitification?

the last time I asked about it, @jerry said the annual plan from ko-fi funneled the largest portion of funds to where it was supposed to go

Jerry 🦙💝🦙2d ago

@joriki @Em0nM4stodon kofi has a deal where you pay 5% fee on donations or you can pay a one time $75 feel and get 0% fee, so there is a payback. It makes sense in my case but might not for others.

It’s still developing, but Patreon is in the middle of reworking themselves to be something of a substack like ecosystem. I know it’s fun to hate on substack, but it’s the place where most people seem to find success in monetizing their blog - Patreon may become a good alternative. I think ghost has a similar setup to substack. I don’t know the mechanism for monetizing either ghost or substack.

@jerry @joriki For Ko-fi, the %5 fee is on top of the payment processor fee too though, right?

Jerry 🦙💝🦙2d ago

@Em0nM4stodon @joriki correct. Any of the providers that manage recurring payments have fees like that stacked of the Stripe fee.

https://www.wearetipjar.com/personal/

kaosk 2d ago

@Em0nM4stodon on the topic of Stripe, I'm guessing that authorize dot net didn't workout? I'm still looking for myself and found this tipjar option.

TiPJAR Personal – Tips & Support Tool - TiPJAR

TiPJAR is the UK's number 1 cashless tipping solution designed to help hospitality, beauty and performer individuals earn more cashless tips.

TiPJAR

@kaosk Still looking into Authorize, just didn't have enough time yet.

@kaosk Seems like TipJar uses Stripe too

kaosk 2d ago

@Em0nM4stodon ahhh! I tried to read more but had to go out. Thank you for letting me know.

Gareth Kitchen 2d ago

@Em0nM4stodon
Maybe this would work esp. for you. It seem much more honest than surveillance ads and less friction that subs.

https://proton.me/partners

Join our Partners Program | Proton

Earn rewards for helping build an internet where privacy is the default and promoting Proton Mail, Proton VPN, Proton Drive, and Proton Calendar.

Proton

@gruff It depends, I might want to retain my neutrality with Proton.

Elena Rossini 🌈1d ago

@Em0nM4stodon Ghost has a feature with a tip jar and a built-in system for paid content. I’d go with Magic Pages because it’s cheaper than running it self-hosted on a server + paying Mailgun for the newsletter part

Chris 🦑1d ago

@Em0nM4stodon

+1 for @hey I'm a happy customer!

Jannis Fedoruk-Betschki 1d ago

Happy to answer any questions about Ghost (independent of Magic Pages) and what it can/cannot do :)

Ewen Bell 📸1d ago

@sturmsucht @Em0nM4stodon @hey

+1 also :)

@sturmsucht @Em0nM4stodon @hey

Sar 1d ago

Seconding that! Another very happy Ghost & Magic Pages customer here 😄

@_elena Thank you Elena! Looking into it!

Elena Rossini 🌈1d ago

@Em0nM4stodon I’ve been a happy Ghost customer for 2 years and I absolutely love it. Feel free to reach out if you have any questions

Gin Kangaroo 1d ago

@Em0nM4stodon I am trolling my husband by threatening to sell feet pictures on the internet. (On "feetfinder", the OnlyFans for feet, apparently!).

Seriously though, you could sell short courses in privacy online - resources etc. I think producing a series of short courses that can then be resold without further work is a good model for monetization.

Or just sell pics of your feet and write whatever the hell you want!

@Em0nM4stodon My tip as a blogger: don't be perfectionist, just start. The most important: to have a good topic and passion for it. People will feel that. Make a list of ideas/themes for having material if you feel lazy. It helps not to get empty.
Monetizing only works if a reader community is big enough. You'll easier get one-time donations via ko-fi than booked memberships.
To make a living, you must be on influencer level. It's hard work.
Shortly: just start writing.

@Em0nM4stodon If you have to make a living, a blog is a bad job. (I say this as a professional writer). The concurrence is immense and growing, AI slop makes blogs nearly invisible in search machines. And people have less money.
If you do *love* blogging, do it. People will come and read. If they love what they read, they will donate you a coffee.

@NatureMC Oh yes, I am well aware. My question is about the coffee part.

@Em0nM4stodon Problem: people don't talk about their income from blogging/newsletters. If you have platforms where you can see the number of paying members, you can count and compare with how well they are known/how long they already blog.

@NatureMC I'm not expecting much revenue from this. I'm merely looking if there's even a slight interest to make it worth the effort, and in which ways the people who are already interested in my writing would prefer to contribute.

@NatureMC I already wrote a lot ;) that is not a problem.

@Em0nM4stodon Yes, I saw it after answering. So, just do it!

David B.

@Em0nM4stodon Ghost is probably the best way nowadays.