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alexandraerinSo, my last laptop (may it rest in peace) was a big sucker that only had about an hour and a half of battery life under optimal conditions... more like 45-50 minutes with wireless surfing and music going and stuff. It's got a mostly white case.
My very awesome new one can be used pretty much for a whole work day if it's got a good charge, and it keeps its charge pretty well on standby. It's also small and a sleek and glossy black.
So, I've already found one way in which the old one was a better "fit" for me... it was impossible to lose. It's bad enough that I tend to lose my phone two or three times a week (incidentally, now that I'm not writing on it anymore, I'm not sure where it's gone to... maybe I should be looking into Skype instead?), now I have to worry about losing my computer. Fortunately my apartment is not that large, but unfortunately a lot of the furnishings are dark colored and I tend to run the place in "low light mode" most of the time.
I'm finding the trick is not to shut the lid when I go to set the lappy down somewhere or walk away from it... it's a lot more colorful and visible and bright that way. I always had to shut the other one so it would go straight to standby and save its battery, but that's far less important with this one. I'll adjust. It's such a minor thing, compared to how handy the thing is. I am seriously indebted to![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
tzadkiel for providing it... I hope you don't mind, but I plan on paying off my debt in stories. ;)
And of course, by that measurement... the fact that I was able to mention a need and have someone step up and take care of it... well, I can count that as a victory. I don't want to diminish that. But other than that, I've had a very lukewarm response to my attempts to boost my sponsorship lately. I'm an analytical sort, so naturally I've got some thoughts about why this would be. Obviously the fact that I've been directing my own readership to other creative causes lately might be coming into play, but the fact is things have been at a plateau ever since my first huge sponsorship push peaked. My readership has remained steady since then.
So I think what this tells me is that I'm at or near the capacity of my current readership. Feel free to prove me wrong by having a bunch of people rush to sign up, but really, of the people reading my work on a regular basis, nearly 1% have chosen to sponsor my writing.
It might not sound like it, but that's actually a fairly impressive benchmark, especially as it's not including irregular and one time contributors and people who send money every month by hand. There may be a few more people who'll be willing to contribute if they can send a check instead of using PayPal, and I've actually got a PO Box set up for that now, which I'll have listed for those who want it under a cut at the end of this post. Tomorrow I'll be adding that to my payment page, along with a sponsorship option for people who want their contribution marked down as supporting my work in general instead of a specific story. That's something I overlooked but I've had a couple of people ask for it.
So, those few things... along with my continued productivity, timeliness of updates, and engagement with the readership... might boost things a little, but as I've said before to survive the long term, I need to raise my income, and to do that, I need to raise my audience, as well. Any support that people can give me in raising my profile, in publicizing my stories... if you feel self-conscious about promoting Tales of MU, remember that I do write other stuff and that 3 Seas and Tribe are entirely non-sexual and suitable for younger audiences... anything helps.
My laptop's taken care of, but I've got a tiny chip in my glasses... it's practically invisible to me when I'm wearing them but when I take them off and look at it it's a pretty vivid reminder of the sorts of unexpected expenses that can sneak up on you. Again, the point is not to go "oh poor me, I need the internet to buy me new glasses". Actually, after the last time I replaced my glasses... shortly after I left my day job... I've got some really great resources on getting them cheap. But the point is that unexpected expenses can be expected to continue, and the answer to that is me writing, people enjoying it, people sharing their enjoyment, and a few of those people... under one percent of them's just fine, if there are enough people in total... deciding to give some value back for the value they've received.
So, you know, spread the word on your own journal. Tell your friends. Start conversations. Blog your reactions to the stories, if you feel the urge. Tweet and ReTweet links to your favored stories. If you've got a friend who blogs or writes or podcasts about internet culture or writing or fantasy or spanking or carnivorous mermaids or superheroes or whatever, drop them a link.
I need more exposure to grow. I need to grow to survive. I need help.
(Also, if you emailed me with promotion ideas or business prospects like back in April or so and I never responded or else dropped out mid-conversation... I've got some big gaps in my memory right around the time I started to notice my email acting up. Feel free to email me another poke.)
Send checks to
If you wish to do it as a sponsorship, you can use the prices listed here, just make sure to include the name and story you want to be listed under. Feel free to send one check to pay for however many months you want in advance. Make sure the check is made out to Alex Leibman, as that's the name my bank will recognize.
My very awesome new one can be used pretty much for a whole work day if it's got a good charge, and it keeps its charge pretty well on standby. It's also small and a sleek and glossy black.
So, I've already found one way in which the old one was a better "fit" for me... it was impossible to lose. It's bad enough that I tend to lose my phone two or three times a week (incidentally, now that I'm not writing on it anymore, I'm not sure where it's gone to... maybe I should be looking into Skype instead?), now I have to worry about losing my computer. Fortunately my apartment is not that large, but unfortunately a lot of the furnishings are dark colored and I tend to run the place in "low light mode" most of the time.
I'm finding the trick is not to shut the lid when I go to set the lappy down somewhere or walk away from it... it's a lot more colorful and visible and bright that way. I always had to shut the other one so it would go straight to standby and save its battery, but that's far less important with this one. I'll adjust. It's such a minor thing, compared to how handy the thing is. I am seriously indebted to
tzadkiel for providing it... I hope you don't mind, but I plan on paying off my debt in stories. ;)And of course, by that measurement... the fact that I was able to mention a need and have someone step up and take care of it... well, I can count that as a victory. I don't want to diminish that. But other than that, I've had a very lukewarm response to my attempts to boost my sponsorship lately. I'm an analytical sort, so naturally I've got some thoughts about why this would be. Obviously the fact that I've been directing my own readership to other creative causes lately might be coming into play, but the fact is things have been at a plateau ever since my first huge sponsorship push peaked. My readership has remained steady since then.
So I think what this tells me is that I'm at or near the capacity of my current readership. Feel free to prove me wrong by having a bunch of people rush to sign up, but really, of the people reading my work on a regular basis, nearly 1% have chosen to sponsor my writing.
It might not sound like it, but that's actually a fairly impressive benchmark, especially as it's not including irregular and one time contributors and people who send money every month by hand. There may be a few more people who'll be willing to contribute if they can send a check instead of using PayPal, and I've actually got a PO Box set up for that now, which I'll have listed for those who want it under a cut at the end of this post. Tomorrow I'll be adding that to my payment page, along with a sponsorship option for people who want their contribution marked down as supporting my work in general instead of a specific story. That's something I overlooked but I've had a couple of people ask for it.
So, those few things... along with my continued productivity, timeliness of updates, and engagement with the readership... might boost things a little, but as I've said before to survive the long term, I need to raise my income, and to do that, I need to raise my audience, as well. Any support that people can give me in raising my profile, in publicizing my stories... if you feel self-conscious about promoting Tales of MU, remember that I do write other stuff and that 3 Seas and Tribe are entirely non-sexual and suitable for younger audiences... anything helps.
My laptop's taken care of, but I've got a tiny chip in my glasses... it's practically invisible to me when I'm wearing them but when I take them off and look at it it's a pretty vivid reminder of the sorts of unexpected expenses that can sneak up on you. Again, the point is not to go "oh poor me, I need the internet to buy me new glasses". Actually, after the last time I replaced my glasses... shortly after I left my day job... I've got some really great resources on getting them cheap. But the point is that unexpected expenses can be expected to continue, and the answer to that is me writing, people enjoying it, people sharing their enjoyment, and a few of those people... under one percent of them's just fine, if there are enough people in total... deciding to give some value back for the value they've received.
So, you know, spread the word on your own journal. Tell your friends. Start conversations. Blog your reactions to the stories, if you feel the urge. Tweet and ReTweet links to your favored stories. If you've got a friend who blogs or writes or podcasts about internet culture or writing or fantasy or spanking or carnivorous mermaids or superheroes or whatever, drop them a link.
I need more exposure to grow. I need to grow to survive. I need help.
(Also, if you emailed me with promotion ideas or business prospects like back in April or so and I never responded or else dropped out mid-conversation... I've got some big gaps in my memory right around the time I started to notice my email acting up. Feel free to email me another poke.)
Send checks to
Alex Leibman
P.O. Box 27031
Ralston, NE 68127-0031
If you wish to do it as a sponsorship, you can use the prices listed here, just make sure to include the name and story you want to be listed under. Feel free to send one check to pay for however many months you want in advance. Make sure the check is made out to Alex Leibman, as that's the name my bank will recognize.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
on 2009-06-24 05:14 am (UTC)no subject
on 2009-06-24 05:24 am (UTC)no subject
on 2009-06-24 06:26 am (UTC)(See, this is why artists being on blogs is awesome. Reminders!)
no subject
on 2009-06-24 06:12 pm (UTC)no subject
on 2009-06-24 10:23 pm (UTC)no subject
on 2009-06-24 11:44 pm (UTC)no subject
on 2009-06-25 02:49 pm (UTC)So, for me at least, readership would grow if you'd enable them again. I do however link to SHN-stories I enjoy every now and then from my Twitter.
no subject
on 2009-06-25 03:48 pm (UTC)"Traversing to the Livejournal is not really an option." is an odd statement to make. You've obviously got a Livejournal. For quite a while before I ditched the comments entirely, you had to click to load them. Why exactly is clicking the link to read the Livejournal comments not an option?
no subject
on 2009-06-25 05:07 pm (UTC)I don't check the comments on the stories by looking them up though, mostly because the two or three times I did, there were like five comments at most instead of the 50+ you had on the site.
And fair enough, it's always a trade - I am just stating that for me, the comments were something that drew me - this is certainly not meant to bash your writing skills, or saying that your writing shouldn't be the main draw, but I really enjoyed people's reactions to your stories. They also helped to point out things I haven't noticed, such as connections to other characters.
I will continue to link to you though and mention you on the forums I'm active on when appropriate. I just really wish there'd be comments again.
no subject
on 2009-06-25 06:09 pm (UTC)han has comments...
on 2009-06-26 05:43 pm (UTC)Re: han has comments...
on 2009-06-26 05:48 pm (UTC)no subject
on 2009-06-25 02:51 pm (UTC)with any luck, someday soon I will be.