Frankly, I don’t understand their reasoning. I look at subscriptions as a way to support content creators. I don’t expect to get something extra. My only beef is that money is so tight these days that I can’t help support all the substacks that I think have important messages to share!
And yes, I agree it's hard nowadays. You have to pay separate subscriptions for everything, not only on Substack, but for any type of media or music. It's getting pretty insane.
Vent away my sister!! People can be schmucks not understanding anything about the creative side of making a living like artists and writers....you are truly water in a desert of bias, lying journalists and hacks!! Maranatha!!
No doubt many people think what you have written. Thanks for this. I wish that they had to prove fraud to get their money back. They should also have anything that they have written to you removed and erased from peoples' memories because they got free press from YOU.
I think Stalin tried this... sometimes (most times) its better to let it just be water under the bridge, and don't worry about it. Creatives especially shouldn't obsess about all the bastards and petty shit that happens or they'll never get 2 words on the paper ( or characters on the computer, though everybody knows real writing only happens on yellow notepads - prefer white lined notebooks)
I manage to put a lot of words on paper--some people say too much LOL. But there is a balance. Artists also can't let people take advantage of them--and they are often expected to. I don't like injustice or people who lie to my face. I can't just let it slide.
They say craftsmen understand how to make something, how to create. Artist understand when to stop creating, That is the difference between art and craft.
Art and Commerce has always been in bed and at war - even DaVinci needed a patron, the Medici's if I recall correctly, a banking family.
It will never be resolved, its a tug of war lasting into infinity. Just keep pulling in your direction....
The world as I've learned is a constant war of grift and graft and coercion and outright blackmail, that some good things manage to arise out of so many base impulses is proof in the divine, and hope that there is a path for each of us, even if we must struggle each day to find our footing upon it.
Something for nothing is some people's middle name I tend to run the other way, I've been ripped off a number of times, usually I let it slide and consider it a learning experience. Don't get me started on how much money Godaddy has taken...
Oh yeah, it's never-ending, the push and pull, the compromises. More than once I have been offered "success" if I would just prove my loyalty to those more powerful than me and I have always said a resounding NO, sometimes even to the point of putting myself in danger. I don't regret it for one second.
It’s sad that people would do that, makes zero sense especially when they can access your content/essays for nothing. As the great Rush Limbaugh would say you “ have talent on loan from God” KHM please keep up the great fight! 🥂🐸
I feel the world fell over into madness sometime in the early 2000's though it had been falling that way since the turn of the 20th century. An entire 100 years spinning into madness, erasing money, thought, education, understanding, social structure, ideas, art, etc.
Maybe you could duct tape a laptop with a screenshot of one of your posts to a canvas and sell it for 6.5 million usd$......
I think hoomans have gotten a lot less civil an' a LOT more ornery--is it the 5G or emfs? IS it somethin' else? I'd hate ta say upbringin'--but I dunno. I'd blame the jabberoos but yer readers are less likely to have been... wull, u know... altered. So, if that's the case then WHAT expectations could these folks possibly have, havin' already seen yer work? (IMHO you eat the meal, ya pay fer it--ya don't have ta return ta the restaurant fer gawdsakes... so they git their year's worth an' don't renew--but fraud? I mean REALLY?!) big ugh.
Even if folks don't understand the fees (heck I didn't myself an' I even write a stack)--it's some kinda entitlement atty-tude I'm seein' that's NEW--expectations like everyone "owes 'em" sumthin'--versus grattytude, kindness, support! What DID they 'xpect? A hand knit toaster cozy an' a signed fan photo? Karen, you write SO much an' offer 'em SO much that I cannt SEE what ticks 'em off unless it's wull--da joos--cuz ye know, unpopular to support the less popular team 2 day (I don't charge myself fer content but I lose subs every time I post 'bout da chews). I do not git folks... we HAVE changed as a species... I think yer just seein' a tip o' dat iceberg.
Fer example, since we mooooved ta the boonies from the city I've been teachin' in our homeschool community here'bouts. It's all done fer free. Lottve us are strapped $-wise. But here's the thing... I also have organized events (a big dance, field trips) an' I'm shocked at these otherwise pleasant folks that DO NOT SAY THANKS... that's all I'd "like"--never forced, just genuine. That's how I taught my kiddos--made me cringe when I'd see parents "force" a thanks but if ya teach yer kids to APPRECIATE then it's like drinkin' water--comes 2nd nature. Even animals say thanks! (at least our doggies always did!) But with 18 months of doin' stuff fer these homeschoolers ONLY the head of one'a the co-ops has thanked me (she's actually a real peach!) but the others? Zilch! I've had only TWO kids say thanks in 18 months (my young daughter who's in the classes not withstandin' but it makes me scritch my head when the class hears a "thanks mama" from my own kid an' the others just WALK OUT at the end...'cept one boy--most gracious kid. ONE.). Even fer the field trips--no "thanks fer organizin'".... Is it cuz many of these mamas are (cough cough) younger n' me? Up here'bouts they do marry up an' have kiddos barely outta highskool if that. Da "peach" an' me are a mite longer in the tooth (lol).
Sigh. The one bright lite here is 100K subscribers! THAT is mahvelous! An' may more come set down ta listen, read, an' ...APPRECIATE. I do! so I'll end with just a big ol' THANKS!
(ps wish I under stood WHY folks have changed tho'--don't take it personally Karen...I think there IS a social phenomenon here..)
I wish 100K subscribers! 100K views every month LOL. If I had that many subscribers, I would have a team of editors and lawyers and researchers ha-ha! But perhaps you're right in some cases, it's when they find out that I support Israel and "da chews" as you say that they withdraw their support. It's just it happened twice in the past couple of months and that's a lot for me. It's not a common occurrence thankfully.
I am shocked at your homeschooling community. You'd think they would at least be raising their kids better. My daughter is one of those doers, and very responsible. I remember when she was in school and she had to do projects on a team, she would get so mad because she would end up doing all the work because nobody else followed through, and like you say, they never even thanked her. I told her that she had better get used to it because that's how life would be for her. LOL. I said, would you rather be a doer or be like everyone else? And she realized she didn't want to be like those people. But it's hard. It's continued to be a challenge for her. Of course, I'm proud of her that she has so much integrity and is so responsible.
ha ha okay, wull 100K views is SUMTHIN' fer ya ta be proud of an' 2 dunderheaded fools that cause ya trouble are just a thorn on the rose (still, they SHOULD know better!). Yup... I have two idears re my experience.
1. 'fore we left NYC the homeschool community there TRIPLED in size once ALL jab exemptions got pulled--so all these "schooly" famblies kinda made a mess of us old hats... they brought with 'em some rudeness, irresponsibility, an' less grattytude--so it may've been their own "schooly" influences from this avalanche of famlies that descended upon us longtime homeschoolers...I do wonder... THEN
2. when we moved out inta da boonies here we larned that AFTER the plandemic (which most of these folks believe to have been just a "pandemic")--homeschoolin' in the area DOUBLED... the one group I mention organizin' a bunch for went from about 65 famblies to 150! So they too received a LOT of schooly famblies. That "might" be it???? but yup, I too was kinda shocked--kids just sayin' THANKS is all I'd want ta hear... or parents who come up after a trip ta say simply, "thanks fer organizin'"--
Yup, an' gettin' help is like pullin' teeth! (....'er favors as it were ha ha) Ya did right by yer daughter an' it sounds like she's taken yer lessons ta heart--ta keep on bein' a "doer" -- to maintain that integ-gritty! ("grit" bein' a noble feature here s'long as it don't git stuck in yer teeth) But yes, it's a challenge ta do so much yerself what would make "light work" (via many hands) of doin' together-- She likely knows not ta expect thanks but to be overjoyed when ya git it! That's a life lesson and a good one! So I guess that applies ta how ya look at yer readers--an' the "challenges" they may indeed pose!
Karen, I'm so sorry people are being ungrateful and dishonorable, and doing so in a way that is damaging to you.
You do a valuable service to the world. Your insights add much needed coherence in a chaotic landscape, and your work to normalize strength in women (and all, really) is a breath of fresh air -- so desperately needed!
And while you have occasionally rubbed me the wrong way, I thank you for doing so. We should all examine our opinions and attitudes more than we tend to. Humility breeds honesty and growth.
Thanks for persevering, and for giving so generously of your talents in a world too full of takers.
Thank you. Yes, indeed, we should be able to occasionally rub each other the wrong way. People are way too sensitive these days and so easily offended. We've been pushed so far into our little boxes of like-minded people, it's really dangerous. It's getting worse, too. Democrats/Leftists, whatever you want to call them, that were on X are now migrating over to Blue Sky. So we are alienating ourselves further and further from each other. People say, good riddance, but they don't realize the long-term consequences of these algorithmic prisons we are being put into.
It's as if there's a war against civility. I dread the logical progression of this trend, and am grateful to all who work against it!
In the US, I largely blame the majority of universities, as well as the echo-chamber mainstream media. Worldwide, I must rely on folks like you who have experienced life outside the borders, for my information. Thank you for being a clear channel.
Definitely our educational system has failed us. The entertainment industry, the marketing industry, they all seem to cater to the lowest common denominator not to mention actively seeking to indoctrinate the public.
I enjoy your writing and your forum for discussion. Writing for a living is very difficult.Its worse than only fans, you have to bare your soul to the world, and the world mostly doesn't care or is only too quick to misinterpet or attack your thoughts, reasoning, and conclusions.
We all need an income, consider (as busy as you must be) perhaps, splitting your writing or otherwise harvesting your thoughts into other income streams. Perhaps an online book, a collection of your best columns and some of the best discussions. a digest of your column (or blogpost or whatever ism you want to split the printed word into) - long form literary is difficult in modern times when peoples attention spans are split into 140 word tweets, etc.. a Digest of short topics and succint interesting responses, would draw more attention and could also draw more subs and income.
Offer a chapter online, and a link to buy the book in pdf,epub, aws, etc.
Also if you have a friend with a pleasant voice, offer an audio book of your collected topics or other writings. Consider a collective with other like minded writers, or even unlike minded writers, always good to hear different view points.
You have chosen to try to make a living in the attention economy, a human only has so many hours in a day, and only so much attention to give to anything. figure out how to make your offering, compelling enough to compete with a virtual flood of free content constantly eroding the attention of the world.
It is difficult, but there are outliers who have done it, observer from them and learn. Good luck and consider at least you are not a musician....
Thanks for the suggestions. My intention was never to make a living at this, it has always been to write what I am called to write. Break Free has already grown beyond what I ever thought it would be, and I'm thankful it's working out so well. For that reason I had to start offering paid subscriptions because of the time involved--time I enjoy!
I'm not complaining about the amount of time I spend or anything--I do it because it's extremely fulfilling. My beef is with people who are not honest. There aren't many of them but perhaps if they know what goes on behind the scenes it might give them pause.
I started writing Break Free because I felt called to write these long form essays. Other people are called to do other things. I m well aware my audience could be bigger if I conformed more to what is the norm. I choose not to.
That said, most of my readers aren't aware because I don't publicize it much here, but I have published (with real publishers, not self-published) 19 children's books that I wrote and/or illustrated, a YA fantasy series called Night Angels Chronicles and most recently, a sci-fi novel, LUMINARIA: Tales of Earth & Oran, Love & Revenge. I am putting together my adventures living in Luxor, Egypt into a book as well. So, it all keeps me pretty busy.
1st I've heard of your other writings. You have a 100,000 (actually more likely 200,000) eyeballs here. I'd consider adding links to your books or using some cover art from some of them for different posts to let the readers know where to go to get some of what you've done. As a former girl friend who ejnoyed wearing revealing clothes once told me, "when Macy's wants to sell a sweater, they put it in the front window, not in the basement."
I have a page at the top of Break Free Media that lists all my books. Occasionally, highlight some of my books. Tomorrow for my Reflections for a Sunday, for example, I will be sharing some artwork. My children's books are out of print now, but I am hoping to bring them back.
I can’t afford to subscribe to everything I like. I’d like to have confidence enough in what I think and write about occasionally myself, to ask for money, but the other side of that coin is then that I have to devote a LOT more time to research and learning how to write creatively than I’m prepared to put in. Being retired doesn’t mean suddenly having lots more time. It means that you can give more time to things previously neglected, and to family. Being externally employed plus having an apiary on a hobby farm, I used to wake up with a list of activities to prioritize within limited slots of time every day, around spending 9-13 hours away at essentially full-time employment (officially, ‘casual retiree’; I worked 4 more years past turning 65). Sometimes that all went south when they’d call me back: being an experienced ER nurse is to be spread very thin in understaffed departments. I welcome the release from that, but where it used to be ‘have money but no time’ now it’s the reverse. Good luck with your endeavours, and a pox on those cheese-paring cheats and chintzers!
Thanks! You really hit the nail on the head, once you start accepting money from people the danger is you lose a bit of your freedom because they expect certain things for their money, and you have to deliver. My writing has been up here consistently, and long enough, with a huge body of work, so that people should know exactly what to expect and I certainly won't be changing it for anyone. I don't mind if people unsubscribe, that happens and it's perfectly understandable. That's very different from demanding money back.
I always wanted to have an apiary, but couldn't afford the bananas, plus it takes a lot of time to comb an ape and then they are always copying whatever you do and they always want to borrow money, so I decided to try bee keeping..
That too succumbed to difficulties, I've always felt animals are our friends (though they won't lend us money) - but beekeeping is harder than it looks, after awhile i ran out of names for all the bees and just decided become a breeder.
I'm currently attempting to cross a Llama with an Octopus, if succesful I'll get 8 times the fiber crop for my yarn empire and wholesale outlet and I can raise them in tanks in the basement..
Grateful that you still offer it all for free. As much as I want to support other writers, there is just no way to support 10 writers a month even with just a few bucks (7? 8?) a month as it becomes unsustainable in between subscriptions for everything else. So I rotate to keep it fair. Sorry you had to endure what I call “angry word porn” these days.
Since May 6, 2022, everything has been free on my site, which includes commenting, but since last summer, the contributions have leveled out even after subscription rates doubled (they keep growing). I am much more disturbed by this new distinction between "subscribers" and "followers"; still haven't found any halfway-decent explanation for its introduction. For tax purposes, Substack and Stripe are an embarrassment.
What I've found was that many subscribers are unaware of auto-renewal and a few others click on payments, but buyer's remorse is always an option. I usually don't care and just refund their money. Never encountered a single request for a refund that claimed fraud.
I have no problem with people canceling or requesting cancelation, I totally understand that. It is so hard to make ends meet these days, and I doubt it will get any easier, I'm amazed people subscribe as much as they do. Everything is a separate subscription now, from movies to music to podcasts to writing, it's ridiculous.
And I agree about the "subscribers" vs "followers". It's as if Substack is trying to become more like X and I sure don't like that. I can't stand the term "followers" anyway. And I didn't like it when they introduced the various levels of "best-selling" authors, putting us into categories like that.
But I do like how we can recommend other authors and help them gain readers. That seems to work really well.
" I do this because the algorithms already put us into prisons of likeminded people,"
If Elon really was helping us to be free, if social media didn't put us into categories, errr, I mean hashtag, keyword, "interest groups", and the algorithm didn't declare us to be someting they could continually feed,
well, maybe we could really look at the many different sides of an issue.
God forbid!
Anyway, raise your prices for founding members. We'll gladly pay, or at least I will.Thank you for breath of fresh air, no matter what is happening in the world.
Good to know I'm not the only one, although I'm sorry it's happened to you. It doesn't happen often, but it did twice within the last couple of months, so it got on my nerves!
Frankly, I don’t understand their reasoning. I look at subscriptions as a way to support content creators. I don’t expect to get something extra. My only beef is that money is so tight these days that I can’t help support all the substacks that I think have important messages to share!
Agree! I just don't get it.
And yes, I agree it's hard nowadays. You have to pay separate subscriptions for everything, not only on Substack, but for any type of media or music. It's getting pretty insane.
Same. May we all be blessed with a windfall. it's made round to go round.
Same
Vent away my sister!! People can be schmucks not understanding anything about the creative side of making a living like artists and writers....you are truly water in a desert of bias, lying journalists and hacks!! Maranatha!!
Thanks, Tommy. It's just baffling to me!
No doubt many people think what you have written. Thanks for this. I wish that they had to prove fraud to get their money back. They should also have anything that they have written to you removed and erased from peoples' memories because they got free press from YOU.
So true.
I think Stalin tried this... sometimes (most times) its better to let it just be water under the bridge, and don't worry about it. Creatives especially shouldn't obsess about all the bastards and petty shit that happens or they'll never get 2 words on the paper ( or characters on the computer, though everybody knows real writing only happens on yellow notepads - prefer white lined notebooks)
I manage to put a lot of words on paper--some people say too much LOL. But there is a balance. Artists also can't let people take advantage of them--and they are often expected to. I don't like injustice or people who lie to my face. I can't just let it slide.
They say craftsmen understand how to make something, how to create. Artist understand when to stop creating, That is the difference between art and craft.
Art and Commerce has always been in bed and at war - even DaVinci needed a patron, the Medici's if I recall correctly, a banking family.
It will never be resolved, its a tug of war lasting into infinity. Just keep pulling in your direction....
The world as I've learned is a constant war of grift and graft and coercion and outright blackmail, that some good things manage to arise out of so many base impulses is proof in the divine, and hope that there is a path for each of us, even if we must struggle each day to find our footing upon it.
Something for nothing is some people's middle name I tend to run the other way, I've been ripped off a number of times, usually I let it slide and consider it a learning experience. Don't get me started on how much money Godaddy has taken...
Oh yeah, it's never-ending, the push and pull, the compromises. More than once I have been offered "success" if I would just prove my loyalty to those more powerful than me and I have always said a resounding NO, sometimes even to the point of putting myself in danger. I don't regret it for one second.
...but but ...what about graph paper? It is so versatile!
its a slippery slope...
It’s sad that people would do that, makes zero sense especially when they can access your content/essays for nothing. As the great Rush Limbaugh would say you “ have talent on loan from God” KHM please keep up the great fight! 🥂🐸
Thank you. It really makes no sense. But then so much doesn't make sense these days!
I feel the world fell over into madness sometime in the early 2000's though it had been falling that way since the turn of the 20th century. An entire 100 years spinning into madness, erasing money, thought, education, understanding, social structure, ideas, art, etc.
Maybe you could duct tape a laptop with a screenshot of one of your posts to a canvas and sell it for 6.5 million usd$......
Ha-ha, now that's brilliant!
Thanks for explaining how Substack works for creators. I certainly didn’t know that!😊👍🏼
You're welcome. I'm grateful for Substack. It's pretty much the last uncensored space for writers. But is sure as its challenges--like anything.
The world is now full of people with no vision of right and wrong but for sure we are getting exactly what we asked for. Sorry that happened to you.
Thanks. It really baffles me.
I think hoomans have gotten a lot less civil an' a LOT more ornery--is it the 5G or emfs? IS it somethin' else? I'd hate ta say upbringin'--but I dunno. I'd blame the jabberoos but yer readers are less likely to have been... wull, u know... altered. So, if that's the case then WHAT expectations could these folks possibly have, havin' already seen yer work? (IMHO you eat the meal, ya pay fer it--ya don't have ta return ta the restaurant fer gawdsakes... so they git their year's worth an' don't renew--but fraud? I mean REALLY?!) big ugh.
Even if folks don't understand the fees (heck I didn't myself an' I even write a stack)--it's some kinda entitlement atty-tude I'm seein' that's NEW--expectations like everyone "owes 'em" sumthin'--versus grattytude, kindness, support! What DID they 'xpect? A hand knit toaster cozy an' a signed fan photo? Karen, you write SO much an' offer 'em SO much that I cannt SEE what ticks 'em off unless it's wull--da joos--cuz ye know, unpopular to support the less popular team 2 day (I don't charge myself fer content but I lose subs every time I post 'bout da chews). I do not git folks... we HAVE changed as a species... I think yer just seein' a tip o' dat iceberg.
Fer example, since we mooooved ta the boonies from the city I've been teachin' in our homeschool community here'bouts. It's all done fer free. Lottve us are strapped $-wise. But here's the thing... I also have organized events (a big dance, field trips) an' I'm shocked at these otherwise pleasant folks that DO NOT SAY THANKS... that's all I'd "like"--never forced, just genuine. That's how I taught my kiddos--made me cringe when I'd see parents "force" a thanks but if ya teach yer kids to APPRECIATE then it's like drinkin' water--comes 2nd nature. Even animals say thanks! (at least our doggies always did!) But with 18 months of doin' stuff fer these homeschoolers ONLY the head of one'a the co-ops has thanked me (she's actually a real peach!) but the others? Zilch! I've had only TWO kids say thanks in 18 months (my young daughter who's in the classes not withstandin' but it makes me scritch my head when the class hears a "thanks mama" from my own kid an' the others just WALK OUT at the end...'cept one boy--most gracious kid. ONE.). Even fer the field trips--no "thanks fer organizin'".... Is it cuz many of these mamas are (cough cough) younger n' me? Up here'bouts they do marry up an' have kiddos barely outta highskool if that. Da "peach" an' me are a mite longer in the tooth (lol).
Sigh. The one bright lite here is 100K subscribers! THAT is mahvelous! An' may more come set down ta listen, read, an' ...APPRECIATE. I do! so I'll end with just a big ol' THANKS!
(ps wish I under stood WHY folks have changed tho'--don't take it personally Karen...I think there IS a social phenomenon here..)
I wish 100K subscribers! 100K views every month LOL. If I had that many subscribers, I would have a team of editors and lawyers and researchers ha-ha! But perhaps you're right in some cases, it's when they find out that I support Israel and "da chews" as you say that they withdraw their support. It's just it happened twice in the past couple of months and that's a lot for me. It's not a common occurrence thankfully.
I am shocked at your homeschooling community. You'd think they would at least be raising their kids better. My daughter is one of those doers, and very responsible. I remember when she was in school and she had to do projects on a team, she would get so mad because she would end up doing all the work because nobody else followed through, and like you say, they never even thanked her. I told her that she had better get used to it because that's how life would be for her. LOL. I said, would you rather be a doer or be like everyone else? And she realized she didn't want to be like those people. But it's hard. It's continued to be a challenge for her. Of course, I'm proud of her that she has so much integrity and is so responsible.
ha ha okay, wull 100K views is SUMTHIN' fer ya ta be proud of an' 2 dunderheaded fools that cause ya trouble are just a thorn on the rose (still, they SHOULD know better!). Yup... I have two idears re my experience.
1. 'fore we left NYC the homeschool community there TRIPLED in size once ALL jab exemptions got pulled--so all these "schooly" famblies kinda made a mess of us old hats... they brought with 'em some rudeness, irresponsibility, an' less grattytude--so it may've been their own "schooly" influences from this avalanche of famlies that descended upon us longtime homeschoolers...I do wonder... THEN
2. when we moved out inta da boonies here we larned that AFTER the plandemic (which most of these folks believe to have been just a "pandemic")--homeschoolin' in the area DOUBLED... the one group I mention organizin' a bunch for went from about 65 famblies to 150! So they too received a LOT of schooly famblies. That "might" be it???? but yup, I too was kinda shocked--kids just sayin' THANKS is all I'd want ta hear... or parents who come up after a trip ta say simply, "thanks fer organizin'"--
Yup, an' gettin' help is like pullin' teeth! (....'er favors as it were ha ha) Ya did right by yer daughter an' it sounds like she's taken yer lessons ta heart--ta keep on bein' a "doer" -- to maintain that integ-gritty! ("grit" bein' a noble feature here s'long as it don't git stuck in yer teeth) But yes, it's a challenge ta do so much yerself what would make "light work" (via many hands) of doin' together-- She likely knows not ta expect thanks but to be overjoyed when ya git it! That's a life lesson and a good one! So I guess that applies ta how ya look at yer readers--an' the "challenges" they may indeed pose!
Karen, I'm so sorry people are being ungrateful and dishonorable, and doing so in a way that is damaging to you.
You do a valuable service to the world. Your insights add much needed coherence in a chaotic landscape, and your work to normalize strength in women (and all, really) is a breath of fresh air -- so desperately needed!
And while you have occasionally rubbed me the wrong way, I thank you for doing so. We should all examine our opinions and attitudes more than we tend to. Humility breeds honesty and growth.
Thanks for persevering, and for giving so generously of your talents in a world too full of takers.
Thank you. Yes, indeed, we should be able to occasionally rub each other the wrong way. People are way too sensitive these days and so easily offended. We've been pushed so far into our little boxes of like-minded people, it's really dangerous. It's getting worse, too. Democrats/Leftists, whatever you want to call them, that were on X are now migrating over to Blue Sky. So we are alienating ourselves further and further from each other. People say, good riddance, but they don't realize the long-term consequences of these algorithmic prisons we are being put into.
It's as if there's a war against civility. I dread the logical progression of this trend, and am grateful to all who work against it!
In the US, I largely blame the majority of universities, as well as the echo-chamber mainstream media. Worldwide, I must rely on folks like you who have experienced life outside the borders, for my information. Thank you for being a clear channel.
Definitely our educational system has failed us. The entertainment industry, the marketing industry, they all seem to cater to the lowest common denominator not to mention actively seeking to indoctrinate the public.
Karen,
I enjoy your writing and your forum for discussion. Writing for a living is very difficult.Its worse than only fans, you have to bare your soul to the world, and the world mostly doesn't care or is only too quick to misinterpet or attack your thoughts, reasoning, and conclusions.
We all need an income, consider (as busy as you must be) perhaps, splitting your writing or otherwise harvesting your thoughts into other income streams. Perhaps an online book, a collection of your best columns and some of the best discussions. a digest of your column (or blogpost or whatever ism you want to split the printed word into) - long form literary is difficult in modern times when peoples attention spans are split into 140 word tweets, etc.. a Digest of short topics and succint interesting responses, would draw more attention and could also draw more subs and income.
Offer a chapter online, and a link to buy the book in pdf,epub, aws, etc.
Also if you have a friend with a pleasant voice, offer an audio book of your collected topics or other writings. Consider a collective with other like minded writers, or even unlike minded writers, always good to hear different view points.
You have chosen to try to make a living in the attention economy, a human only has so many hours in a day, and only so much attention to give to anything. figure out how to make your offering, compelling enough to compete with a virtual flood of free content constantly eroding the attention of the world.
It is difficult, but there are outliers who have done it, observer from them and learn. Good luck and consider at least you are not a musician....
Thanks for the suggestions. My intention was never to make a living at this, it has always been to write what I am called to write. Break Free has already grown beyond what I ever thought it would be, and I'm thankful it's working out so well. For that reason I had to start offering paid subscriptions because of the time involved--time I enjoy!
I'm not complaining about the amount of time I spend or anything--I do it because it's extremely fulfilling. My beef is with people who are not honest. There aren't many of them but perhaps if they know what goes on behind the scenes it might give them pause.
I started writing Break Free because I felt called to write these long form essays. Other people are called to do other things. I m well aware my audience could be bigger if I conformed more to what is the norm. I choose not to.
That said, most of my readers aren't aware because I don't publicize it much here, but I have published (with real publishers, not self-published) 19 children's books that I wrote and/or illustrated, a YA fantasy series called Night Angels Chronicles and most recently, a sci-fi novel, LUMINARIA: Tales of Earth & Oran, Love & Revenge. I am putting together my adventures living in Luxor, Egypt into a book as well. So, it all keeps me pretty busy.
1st I've heard of your other writings. You have a 100,000 (actually more likely 200,000) eyeballs here. I'd consider adding links to your books or using some cover art from some of them for different posts to let the readers know where to go to get some of what you've done. As a former girl friend who ejnoyed wearing revealing clothes once told me, "when Macy's wants to sell a sweater, they put it in the front window, not in the basement."
I have a page at the top of Break Free Media that lists all my books. Occasionally, highlight some of my books. Tomorrow for my Reflections for a Sunday, for example, I will be sharing some artwork. My children's books are out of print now, but I am hoping to bring them back.
I can’t afford to subscribe to everything I like. I’d like to have confidence enough in what I think and write about occasionally myself, to ask for money, but the other side of that coin is then that I have to devote a LOT more time to research and learning how to write creatively than I’m prepared to put in. Being retired doesn’t mean suddenly having lots more time. It means that you can give more time to things previously neglected, and to family. Being externally employed plus having an apiary on a hobby farm, I used to wake up with a list of activities to prioritize within limited slots of time every day, around spending 9-13 hours away at essentially full-time employment (officially, ‘casual retiree’; I worked 4 more years past turning 65). Sometimes that all went south when they’d call me back: being an experienced ER nurse is to be spread very thin in understaffed departments. I welcome the release from that, but where it used to be ‘have money but no time’ now it’s the reverse. Good luck with your endeavours, and a pox on those cheese-paring cheats and chintzers!
Thanks! You really hit the nail on the head, once you start accepting money from people the danger is you lose a bit of your freedom because they expect certain things for their money, and you have to deliver. My writing has been up here consistently, and long enough, with a huge body of work, so that people should know exactly what to expect and I certainly won't be changing it for anyone. I don't mind if people unsubscribe, that happens and it's perfectly understandable. That's very different from demanding money back.
I always wanted to have an apiary, but couldn't afford the bananas, plus it takes a lot of time to comb an ape and then they are always copying whatever you do and they always want to borrow money, so I decided to try bee keeping..
That too succumbed to difficulties, I've always felt animals are our friends (though they won't lend us money) - but beekeeping is harder than it looks, after awhile i ran out of names for all the bees and just decided become a breeder.
I'm currently attempting to cross a Llama with an Octopus, if succesful I'll get 8 times the fiber crop for my yarn empire and wholesale outlet and I can raise them in tanks in the basement..
Ha-ha, you might want to reevaluate your use of time and the results you can expect. Hilarious!
Grateful that you still offer it all for free. As much as I want to support other writers, there is just no way to support 10 writers a month even with just a few bucks (7? 8?) a month as it becomes unsustainable in between subscriptions for everything else. So I rotate to keep it fair. Sorry you had to endure what I call “angry word porn” these days.
I will ALWAYS offer it for free. I know people are really struggling and it isn't going to get any easier. "Angry word porn" is a perfect description!
Since May 6, 2022, everything has been free on my site, which includes commenting, but since last summer, the contributions have leveled out even after subscription rates doubled (they keep growing). I am much more disturbed by this new distinction between "subscribers" and "followers"; still haven't found any halfway-decent explanation for its introduction. For tax purposes, Substack and Stripe are an embarrassment.
What I've found was that many subscribers are unaware of auto-renewal and a few others click on payments, but buyer's remorse is always an option. I usually don't care and just refund their money. Never encountered a single request for a refund that claimed fraud.
I have no problem with people canceling or requesting cancelation, I totally understand that. It is so hard to make ends meet these days, and I doubt it will get any easier, I'm amazed people subscribe as much as they do. Everything is a separate subscription now, from movies to music to podcasts to writing, it's ridiculous.
And I agree about the "subscribers" vs "followers". It's as if Substack is trying to become more like X and I sure don't like that. I can't stand the term "followers" anyway. And I didn't like it when they introduced the various levels of "best-selling" authors, putting us into categories like that.
But I do like how we can recommend other authors and help them gain readers. That seems to work really well.
I'm a freebie. Can I get a refund, too?..........JK. JK. JK. :)
Ha-ha. Love the sense of humor!
That must be exhausting. How can a reasonable person do that?
Good question!
" I do this because the algorithms already put us into prisons of likeminded people,"
If Elon really was helping us to be free, if social media didn't put us into categories, errr, I mean hashtag, keyword, "interest groups", and the algorithm didn't declare us to be someting they could continually feed,
well, maybe we could really look at the many different sides of an issue.
God forbid!
Anyway, raise your prices for founding members. We'll gladly pay, or at least I will.Thank you for breath of fresh air, no matter what is happening in the world.
Thank you! I will take you up on that suggestion first thing tomorrow! ❤️
Happened to me once or twice...super lame!
Good to know I'm not the only one, although I'm sorry it's happened to you. It doesn't happen often, but it did twice within the last couple of months, so it got on my nerves!