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Image by psd, via Flickr
Here we are with Post #3 of this series. And I owe a big debt of thanks to Elizabeth Drouillard for helping me find a coherent way to express all the things I wanted to say. If you’re interested in the rest of the series, here’s Post #1 and Post #2.
As promised, in this post, I’ll talk about the non-monetary benefits of Free.
…But I want to dig a little deeper than merely listing the ways that Free benefits us, because I suspect that we’re all more or less aware of them. Instead, maybe it’s better to look at the non-money side of Free from two different perspectives: that of someone who produces Free, and that of someone who consumes Free.
Image by almccon, via Flickr
So, for producers of Free…
I’ll be the first to say that creating Free stuff and giving it to your community is both lots of fun and extremely rewarding. Free can bring us blog-friends. It can bring us opportunities to contribute to books, magazines and websites – sometimes, even, for pay. Free can bring us lots of readers and blog traffic. It also brings us a joy in sharing things we love making with like-minded souls.
(If you’re interested, I posted a while back about all the joys and opportunities this very blog has brought me.)
I think, too, that when you’re new to blogging or new to running a small crafty business, Free gives you the space and discipline to build your skills. The more Free tutorials you make, the better you’ll get at making tutorials, until eventually you’re good enough to offer this service professionally – or self-publish your work. The more you write for Free, the better you’ll get at writing. Ditto for photography, illustration, and any crafty skill you want to name.
Instead of toiling away in our studios waiting to be discovered, we have the opportunity to share our growth with others, and use their feedback to become better and better. That’s immensely powerful.
Image by richardoyork, via Flickr
…But it’s also very likely that, after you’ve been growing your skills via Free for a while, you’ll reach a point where one of two things happens:
• You simply run out of time or inclination to keep making Free, and move on to other interests.
• You find that you can’t keep putting your time into making Free, because it encroaches too much on the time you also need to make a living.
So, referring back to the first post in this series: early on, the time and effort you put into making Free are well-compensated by the growth you’re experiencing in your skills and community. The equation is balanced at first, and then it begins to unbalance.
Image by Iain Browne, via Flickr
I have tried to give a lot of Free to this community for nearly six years now. And I am here to tell you, there comes a point where you simply have to look at all the hours that are going into Free, and think about how you’re being compensated for all that effort. Sooner or later, no matter how wonderful the projects are, and no matter how fun it is to participate with your fellow crafters, you get worn out.
It’s hard to imagine this happening from such a joyous experience as sharing Free, and it may take years for it to happen to you, but eventually, it happens.
So the question is, what comes next?
Image by World of Oddy, via Flickr
Now, if you’re a consumer of Free…
Let’s face it, we’re ALL consumers of Free. How can we not be? Free is absolutely everywhere online. Are you using a free email service? A free blogging platform? A free email newsletter service? Did you learn to whip stitch or cast on for free from a YouTube video? Yeah, me too.
There’s so much Free, in fact, that it would be extremely hard for most of us to try and pay for all of the stuff we depend on for Free. That doesn’t make you or me or anyone else a bad person. We’re just living, I think, in a bubble of Free right now. The web at large is struggling to find the same balance I’m talking about – how to give something away while still finding enough compensation to keep it up.
Image by Sweet One, via Flickr
The other part of this discussion is that unfortunately, so much of what goes on behind the Free we enjoy is invisible to us. Imagine for a moment the last craft-blog tutorial you scanned through. There’s a lot of human effort there:
- The blogger had to design the project.
- The blogger had to make a prototype.
- Then, he or she had to set up and photograph each step of the process.
- Then came the writing of all the steps.
- And then, the editing – both of the photos and the text.
- And finally, uploading all that material to a blog and arranging it so it’s easy to follow.
Think about your free email service. Or your free blogging platform. Or the video that taught you how to use Twitter. Or Twitter itself. We may take in the content of a web page in a matter of seconds or minutes, but it’s also the product of hours and hours of someone else’s work.
Thanks to the tireless efforts of an army of people we’ll likely never know, we consumers of Free are absolutely wealthy in access to knowledge and inspiration. Do we want this era to continue?
Image by moriza, via Flickr
Well, then I think we consumers need to find ways to balance more equations. And this doesn’t have to happen with money all the time. You never know when the friendly comment you leave on someone’s blog will make the difference between them quitting blogging or continuing. You never know when your five dollar purchase in someone’s online store will make the difference in them being able to pay the gas bill this month. You never know when the link you share on Twitter or Facebook will set off a chain of events that might really help someone’s career. No matter who you are, you are a crucial part of this community.
In other words, if you’re still lurking on the web, then it’s time to stop. We’re all eagerly waiting for your friendly voice of support. You don’t have to say anything fancy, but if you’re getting something good from all this Free, please – speak up!
(I think it bears repeating here: there’s so much Free out there, none of us can possibly compensate every single bit we’re enjoying – even through non-money means. We all have to make some hard choices as to who we can support, and how.)
Image by El Negro Magnifico, via Flickr
…But with that said, if you’ll forgive me, I want to say something just a little incendiary.
As I mentioned earlier, producers of Free, over time, become worn out. Realistically, if all the producers who are struggling with the sustainability of Free right now simply quit blogging tomorrow, there’d be a whole new crop of producers who are more than happy to crank out Free. When they’re exhausted, there’ll be another crop. And, for better or worse, there will always be healthy numbers of internet consumers who are happy to eat up all this Free and give nothing in return – while being totally unaware that there’s anything wrong with that.
And so I have to ask: do we really want our banquet of Free to come from the backs of whoever hasn’t been worn out yet?
Image by loudestnoise, via Flickr
What about sharing for the sake of sharing, then?
First of all, I believe strongly in sharing for the sake of sharing. The last thing I want is for all the Free to start disappearing behind paywalls.
Ideally, I’d love to see more producers being able to keep up streams of Free alongside streams of Paid – a self-sustaining cycle of sharing and support, if you will.
I’ve heard from a number of consumers of Free in comments and emails as a result of this series. Interestingly, they have very different opinions as to how the Paid might happen:
• Some say the only way to do Paid is to offer products and services to crafters, but keep all blog content Free.
• Others say the best option is to chip in little bits at a time, via blog donation buttons or micropayments.
• Still others say that crafters may not have anything that other crafters want to buy, and so the best option is to find non-crafters who will pay for products and services.
• And still others say that nobody should be trying to get paid for blogging, and sharing for the sake of sharing will eventually lead to paid opportunities from corporations.
Image by freakgirl, via Flickr
So clearly, there won’t be any single solution to the problem of balancing the equation. What might help, though, is for more of us producers to be honest about what we need in order to keep producing – and then speak up about it. Since each of us needs slightly different compensation, I think this would really help more consumers understand how to best support the people who give value for Free.
As usual, I find myself at the end of this post struggling with how much more there is to say. But again, I think we need to keep this discussion chunked down. So here are my questions for you this time:
• If you’re a producer, what, honestly, would you need from your readers in order to keep your stream of Free sustainable?
• And if you’re a consumer, in what ways (non-monetary or otherwise) WOULD you be willing to support the handful of blogs you love most?
When considering non monetary benefits, I’d say inspiration is one of the biggest things I need to keep going. Trying to find a content idea that hasn’t already been covered a hundred times but is still relevant to a large portion of readers is a challenge, and for me that’s where the burnout occurs. When I have ideas that I think are important and worth sharing, then sharing them never gets old.
On the other side of the coin I always try to add something to my comments that I hope will not only be encouraging but also help further the conversation. I figure the more people adding to the conversation and moving it forward the more likely someone will say something that inspires a new conversation.
Agreed – and I appreciate your comments here.
I the world of Free, I’ve always considered comments to be a form of compensation, so I make an attempt to comment whenever I have something to add. As a Free Blogger, I figure that’s all I’m entitled to ask for in return.
Thanks, Liz – I think this is a good illustration of how each of us needs to create his or her own “economy” around what we need and what we give.
I want to really start supporting the hand-made movement. Instead of buying crazy expensive magazines in English, maybe I’ll just start buying people’s Zines. I enjoy them even more than the gossip and garbage published anyway. And on people’s birthdays I’m going to try and remember all my fellow artists with online shops with amazing products for sale instead of rushing to the store last minute….
Sorry the comment box wouldn’t expand so I couldn’t “see” what I was typing. The other thing I wanted to mention was that one of the reasons people don’t comment is because they’re simply insecure or don’t understand the etiquette. It’s taken me years to speak up in the comment boxes and I still worry if I’ve said something stupid or put something “out there” that maybe I shouldn’t have…
I agree, TJ – there’s a lot of timidity around what the “right” way to comment is. But you know, most bloggers hugely appreciate a simple “Nice job!” And frankly, the fact that you took the time from your busy day to add your thoughts here means a lot. When someone never comments, I have no way of knowing they’re paying attention, so there’s no way I can write better content for them, or dream up projects they might like.
I completely understand the hesitation. And at the same time, I wish more people would feel the fear and comment anyway. In the end, it’s very valuable.
I started cruising the internets in the newsgroups days. In that environment, woe unto anyone who replied merely “nice job” or “me too”, maybe that’s part of why I don’t always leave a comment. That and I’m not a chatterbox in general. I’ll need to re-think my lack of commenting, even if only to say “nice!”.
I’ll need to think about why I don’t do much buying of ezines, patterns, kits, etc on-line. I do know that part of it is my need to see/touch what I’m buying, part is fear of an unexpectedly huge credit card bill ($5 here, $5 there, adds up fast!). And yet another part is the recent “discovery”, perhaps resignation is a better word, that my imagined free time and energy to do all the projects I’ve bought things for in no way aligns with my real free time and energy.
I started cruising the internets in the newsgroups days. In that environment, woe unto anyone who replied merely “nice job” or “me too”, maybe that’s part of why I don’t always leave a comment. That and I’m not a chatterbox in general. I’ll need to re-think my lack of commenting, even if only to say “nice!”.
I’ll need to think about why I don’t do much buying of ezines, patterns, kits, etc on-line. I do know that part of it is my need to see/touch what I’m buying, part is fear of an unexpectedly huge credit card bill ($5 here, $5 there, adds up fast!). And yet another part is the recent “discovery”, perhaps resignation is a better word, that my imagined free time and energy to do all the projects I’ve bought things for in no way aligns with my real free time and energy.
Heh! Yup, I’d hazard a guess that this is a nowhere-near-uncommon condition, Gail! :-)
So, since you’re a good candidate for this question, let me ask you – what are your thoughts on donation buttons or micropayment systems, where you kick in a few cents to a dollar here and there, when you find a particularly enjoyable post somewhere?
(Please don’t feel pressured to answer in the affirmative, either. Since you were so nice and clear about your needs, it seemed like you’d have an opinion on this option.
Heh! Yup, I’d hazard a guess that this is a nowhere-near-uncommon condition, Gail! :-)
So, since you’re a good candidate for this question, let me ask you – what are your thoughts on donation buttons or micropayment systems, where you kick in a few cents to a dollar here and there, when you find a particularly enjoyable post somewhere?
(Please don’t feel pressured to answer in the affirmative, either. Since you were so nice and clear about your needs, it seemed like you’d have an opinion on this option.
Thanks so much for sharing your experiences here, Janet! You’ve put a lot of Free into the needlepoint community over the years, so I’d love to see your readers supporting that more if possible.
It’s really interesting to me that you’re making instructions (digital, infinite content) free while selling supplies (finite, tangible content).
Thank you so much for being an active consumer, Keri! I’m sure everyone you’ve supported appreciates it greatly. Like I appreciate you joining our conversation here.
• If you’re a producer, what, honestly, would you need from your readers in order to keep your stream of Free sustainable?
I was trying to think about what I’ve put out for free on my blog and I can only think of one knitting pattern. That made me think about how much work that was, just one pattern! Perhaps if we all tried to share something for free somewhere, we would realize how much work it is. That being said…
• And if you’re a consumer, in what ways (non-monetary or otherwise) WOULD you be willing to support the handful of blogs you love most?
I will try to “thank” those who offer free content with a comment at the very least. I like the idea of checking out their “etsy” stores if they have them or making a small donation (like a tip) if they have a “donation” button.
I appreciate this “frank” discussion. It has made me take a moment to think about what I get from the internet for free and all the time and effort put into that.
Thank you Diane for your blog and for your contributions of free stuff and for this discussion.
Thank YOU for making time to contribute your thoughts here, Libby. Very well-said – once we start producing anything, I think we grow to appreciate producers a whole lot more!
Thanks again for another great post on the topic of Free.
What do I need: I need feedback from the readers, do they like what they see, do they need more. I get likes on facebook and thumbs up on youtube, but for some reason I get very few legitimate comments on my website. I know I’m getting views, I know that people are searching for the content that I have posted on my website, but they are not leaving a comment. Maybe I’m not asking in a clear way, “Please leave a comment, ask questions, it’s okay I don’t bite, lol.”
What will I do: I am willing to support others and I’m doing that more now. I wasn’t being as supportive as I could have been, I just didn’t realize how important it was to leave a comment, I did on those sites that really did give me an idea or inspire me to create, but now I will do this more often…
So after reading your entry today I need to: Ask my readers to give me what I need – feedback and I need to give others what they need feedback in return. Otherwise what is the point of living in this world if we can’t share a little?
Amen, Linda! :-)
I sometimes wonder about the whole universe of “Likes” and “Retweets.” Sure, they give us a very simple, shorthand way of expressing appreciation, but ultimately, I think they start taking the place of much-more-meaningful comments and interaction.
I really appreciate your honesty and willingness to look at both your producer and consumer sides. And definitely – ask your readers for the feedback! I’d love to hear what the result of that is!
Diane, this is a great article. I think the “free” should almost be a try before you buy. Blogs should always be a place where anyone can publish their own online journal and give that content for free. But, when we start putting out free pattern, free tutorial, free giveaways…yes, I can see the burnout happening real fast! But what if we used a few freebies to entice people to become members of our content? Would that go? You’d have to have really excellent cotent! I toy with the idea of advertisements and sposorships, that help pay for the free content…but do people click on those? I would write more but I can’t see, and I fear looking foolish with a misspelling! Love, Erin
You know, Erin, I do hear more people talking about paid “premium content” subscriptions and paid user communities these days. I don’t know anything about how well this model is succeeding.
And I agree with Free being a “try before you buy” option. That model works as long as sales happen! :-)
You know, Erin, I do hear more people talking about paid “premium content” subscriptions and paid user communities these days. I don’t know anything about how well this model is succeeding.
And I agree with Free being a “try before you buy” option. That model works as long as sales happen! :-)
Diane, this is a great article. I think the “free” should almost be a try before you buy. Blogs should always be a place where anyone can publish their own online journal and give that content for free. But, when we start putting out free pattern, free tutorial, free giveaways…yes, I can see the burnout happening real fast! But what if we used a few freebies to entice people to become members of our content? Would that go? You’d have to have really excellent cotent! I toy with the idea of advertisements and sposorships, that help pay for the free content…but do people click on those? I would write more but I can’t see, and I fear looking foolish with a misspelling! Love, Erin
• If you’re a producer, what, honestly, would you need from your readers in order to keep your stream of Free sustainable?
I enjoy comments from my readers, but really all I need to sustain my stream of free content is inspiration. As another commentor pointed out already, it can be hard to come up with ideas that haven’t already been done a million times over. I long ago abandoned any ideas of monetizing my blog in any meaningful way and decided to just embrace the medium for what it is. I hope that what I do inspires others to share what they know so the cycle of sharing continues long after I move on to other projects.
• And if you’re a consumer, in what ways (non-monetary or otherwise) WOULD you be willing to support the handful of blogs you love most?
I need to get better about taking the time to comment and thank those who provide content I enjoy.
Just a technical note: The comment box wouldn’t expand so I couldn’t see my comment while I was typing it. I tried reloading the page, but that didn’t help. I ended up typing this in Word and cutting and pasting it into the box.
• If you’re a producer, what, honestly, would you need from your readers in order to keep your stream of Free sustainable?
I enjoy comments from my readers, but really all I need to sustain my stream of free content is inspiration. As another commentor pointed out already, it can be hard to come up with ideas that haven’t already been done a million times over. I long ago abandoned any ideas of monetizing my blog in any meaningful way and decided to just embrace the medium for what it is. I hope that what I do inspires others to share what they know so the cycle of sharing continues long after I move on to other projects.
• And if you’re a consumer, in what ways (non-monetary or otherwise) WOULD you be willing to support the handful of blogs you love most?
I need to get better about taking the time to comment and thank those who provide content I enjoy.
Just a technical note: The comment box wouldn’t expand so I couldn’t see my comment while I was typing it. I tried reloading the page, but that didn’t help. I ended up typing this in Word and cutting and pasting it into the box.
For now I blog for comments. I like to share what I enjoy and its just nice to know that somebody else out there enjoys it too. =) I hope that it will help drive traffic to my shop. Somedays it does and others…=)
I try to share interesting blogs to increase traffic to lesser known sites (or even the popular ones). In hopes that creating buzz about a blogger may open up opportunities for them from paying gigs. If its a designer – I try to grab up patterns as I can. I love to work with upcoming designers by sponsoring designs.
I guess right now my focus is on creating relationships and not money as much. I figure the money will come along later – and if not, look at all these marvelous people I get to call friends. =)
That’s definitely a possibility for some crafters, Stephanie. I know a few people who’ve done kit sales. The labor in stocking and assembling them is, I understand, a bit high, but that wouldn’t be an issue for everyone.
I’ve just started being a giver of free stuff. And it’s hard to sustain that with a busy life. I’m not sure what I can add to that part of the discussion yet. As a consumer of free, I’m happy to give to a donation type jar every so often. I gave $5 to the wikipedia guy recently when he asks for donations every year. I think it wouldn’t be such a bad thing for bloggers to have a tip jar where you could donate if you want when you use a tutorial. I’d donate a few bucks.
Thank you for joining this discussion, Cathy. I’m sure any blogger you chose to support with a small donation would be absolutely thrilled. And seriously, I need to donate something to Wikipedia, as often as I use it.
Producer – Comments. Especially ones that give feedback. Are my readers and I on the same page? Do they get what I’m getting at or think I’m out in left field? Do they like what I make? The basics, really. Google Analytics is a good friend to a new blogger – you know people are reading you even if they’re not commenting yet. On a similar note, it regularly amazes me how many people tell me they read my blog/FB and I had no idea because they never comment or post.
(Disqus box not expanding?)
Consumer – I’d join the Flattr bandwagon and put my magazine money there. I don’t buy many any more anyway because blogs have replaced them for me. I’ve commented, linked to, and bought stuff from my favorites. I need to do what some one else said on here and donate to Wiki.
• If you’re a producer, what, honestly, would you need from your readers in order to keep your stream of Free sustainable?
Right now my blogs are web logs – places for me to publish bits of the diary I keep mostly in my head. At this season in my life, that is enough. I have very few readers and get even fewer comments, so if I relied on feedback I’d quit altogether. As it is, it’s a hobby, like scrapbooking or playing golf. Comments are the ric-rac on the skirt – if it was cute before, they can make it better. I don’t expect much right now because I don’t offer much right now.
• And if you’re a consumer, in what ways (non-monetary or otherwise) WOULD you be willing to support the handful of blogs you love most?
I will leave a comment if I feel inspired by something they’ve shared. Sometimes, if there are already 50 comments that say the same thing I was going to say, I don’t bother. I don’t comment if I feel it is just going to be the blogger’s equivalent of lip flap.
I very seldom give just pure monetary donations. When I give that way it goes in the poor box at church or the Salvation Army kettle. Online there has to be something more tangible to supply that extra nudge. If I rely on a blog for ideas, I do things like purchase an ebook from them, or I’ll donate to get an incentive – like a pin for my knitting bag. But it has to be easy to do. Also, I’ll be moved by “If you give me money , it goes specifically toward X.” Contributing toward someone’s distinct goal has more appeal to me than “If you like me, give me money because I need money so I can keep doing things you like.”
(ps I too had to copy/paste this because the comment box wouldn’t expand for me.)
You comment about donating for a specific goal caught my eye. I’m trying to think of ways to give my readers to support me if they want to. I’ve definitely thought of creating content for them to buy, but I hadn’t thought if there were any specific goals I could ask for donations for (like a piece of equipment, my host costs, or the cost of participating in a crafty event).
I try to make the rounds and comment every couple of weeks on the blogs I follow regularly (in spite of being self conscious about my lack of “cool”), and do purchase the occasional pattern from a fellow crafter. There is just so much content and so many terrific blogs I don’t always make it around as often as I would like. I do agree that the facebook “like” and equivalent “retweet” while somewhat gratifying do not take the place of a more carefully thought out and/or personal contact. I’ve recently started posting a few family recipes as a way to share a little with the community that has shared so much with me.
Really interesting post, on a subject I’d never really thought about before… so thanks for that! Well written too, kept my interest throughout. :)
I’m sorry to hear that, Wende. I had a similar experience with Church of Craft here. Because it was a monthly event, people started putting off attending, and then attendance got too low to continue. And then when I shut it down, I had a flood of people saying how sad they were to see it go.
I love your analogy to tipping!
I do love getting comments but honestly I’d keep blogging anyway because I do it to build my base of fans, increase awareness of my work and build my reputation as an expert. Besides I really enjoy writing and blogging makes me better at it.
This is such an interesting question, Diane. Now I come to think about it, I find people ‘spreading the word’ more personally useful for my aims. So while I enjoy and value comments, Twitter and Facebook links are more valuable to me. Because they spread my influence.
Frankly, I also want people to buy my stuff. I don’t mind if they aren’t ready yet or I have nothing they need but yes, I do want people to pay for my expert advice or buy my art.
As a consumer. Well, I try to pay my way whether that’s in money, comments or recommending people’s stuff. I agree that it’s impossible to pay for everything. My god, with the amount of internet I consume, I’d be bankrupt in a week!
But we can be mindful of the time it takes to put out free. For example, one of my core advice articles takes a minimum of 2 hours for me to write and it’s usually a hell of a lot longer. How long does a podcast take you, Diane? Maybe that’s the sort of thing we need to start being more transparent about, although obviously not in a ‘guilting people’ sort of way.
Indeed, Kirsty, every podcast takes between 8 and 10 hours to produce, and this is far from sustainable.
I do like the idea of making it more public, the amount of time we’re spending on the things people get for Free. A blog tutorial takes me an average of five hours. A Mt. Everest blog post, like the ones in this series, 3-4 hours each.
I always appreciate anyone telling their readers about my content, and I dearly love comments. But I do still see a disconnect between that spread of love and the actual dollars and cents it will require to keep this blog operating into the future. You and I both sell services for artists and crafters. I can’t help wondering, how much reknown does it take before we can find enough customers to make an actual living at this?
I am increasingly questioning whether I will be selling services to other artists in the long term. I strongly suspect not. I think it might not the very best use of my time, skill and wonderfulness. Longer term, I think I’ll be transitioning to ‘being paid for being Kirsty and inspiring the hell out of people’ but I have no clue what that looks like yet.
OK. I’m going to get this off my chest … I’m not sold on Flattr yet. I *love* the idea of micropayments, but I think it needs to be an established flexible system, like a credit card or something all-pervasive that we all already have, before I would be on board. I’m usually a late adopter (I *just* got a phone with a keyboard and it’s not a smart phone … and my computer is 7 years old running windows XP for crying out loud). But my initial instinct is that no one wants yet another account to keep track of just to give bloggers some change here and there. What a pain in the butt. I understand why many bloggers are on board, but I think it’s a HUGE uphill battle to get non-bloggers on board. And, if I’m right, then we are just shuffling money around to each other. Nothing wrong with that (I mean it), but Flattr is not a sustainable solution.
If I was able to put in my phone number or something and give someone a quarter or $1 whenever I wanted and just have it added to my phone bill, I would totally do it (espeically if fees didn’t eat it all up on either end).
Sounds like you’re more into an iTunes model than the Flattr model, then. I definitely admit that Flattr isn’t perfect. It’s just the first micropayment system to see ANY momentum in recent years, and I feel like it’s certainly better than nothing.
Here’s something we can all put our heads to – the way the iTunes model works is smart. When you make your 99-cent purchase, they wait several days to process it, in hopes that you might make a few more. Then, they batch them and process them as one. This saves a bundle in credit card processing fees.
So… how could we translate this to existing online tools?
Or something like the Ebay system where you can opt in to add a charitable donation. It’s not the same thing of course, but if there was a way of working it. I tend to agree with futuregirl – I’m not completely convinced by Flattr either because I forget to do it.
I’m not familiar with iTunes (I’m a windows media player girl … ha! and the mr. buys all our music), but saving up the transactions is brilliant. Even once a month would be often enough for me. Your question is awesome … what tools could do this? I don’t know the answer to that question, but the company that does answer it and makes it easy to use could change the way we use the internet … and possibly the non-internet world, too.
I’m so glad you rang in here, Rachel – you guys provide so much value with Swap-bot.
It really is interesting how quickly we forget that we’re getting free services for free. I was tweeting something derogatory about this very comment system I use recently, because something or other was broken and I was annoyed. And then I suddenly thought, “Wait a minute – am I paying for this? No! So I should shut up!”
I’ve even had readers email me to complain about the content of the blog or podcast – and in all cases, these have been folks who’ve never ordered an ebook or tutorial, never taken a class, never clicked the donation button. There seems to be a really important connection missing between supporting a service and having a say.
I’m curious, do you respond to those people, Diane?
Depending on the tone of their email/comment. People who are trying to have respectful dialog, absolutely. And I let snark pass.
:-( That makes me sad, Mercedes. Katin has a great saying: “Spend money on the things you want to see more of in the world.”
It looks, at least from the outside, like you’ve been able to cultivate something sustainable through online means, though. Right?
Absolutely, Emily – I’m open to the idea of barter as one tool in an arsenal of tools for keeping our favorite blogs sustainable.
Barter is one option certainly and I generally support the idea and use it when appropriate.
However, it’s inherently limited. Can you do everything? Because I can’t. My time, energy and skills are limited. I keep chickens. I grow vegetables. But I have a chronic illness and I’m making my art and trying to run a business and a family. I just don’t have time to make everything that I use in my life, I honestly don’t. I barely get time to knit these days. And if I made my own chairs, I can safely say that none of you would dare sit on them! I’ve also noticed that sadly the government doesn’t accept nice fresh eggs instead of income tax.
That’s not to denigrate barter, it is useful, especially locally. I’m also interested in communal ownership of resources – does everyone need their own lawnmover or car? I belong to a car club, so I only book out a car when I need one and when I’m not using it, other people are. I also use my local library a lot. But honestly, I just don’t believe that money is the root of all evil. In fact, I believe the original quote is ‘the love of money is the root of all evil’.
Barter is one option certainly and I generally support the idea and use it when appropriate.
However, it’s inherently limited. Can you do everything? Because I can’t. My time, energy and skills are limited. I keep chickens. I grow vegetables. But I have a chronic illness and I’m making my art and trying to run a business and a family. I just don’t have time to make everything that I use in my life, I honestly don’t. I barely get time to knit these days. And if I made my own chairs, I can safely say that none of you would dare sit on them! I’ve also noticed that sadly the government doesn’t accept nice fresh eggs instead of income tax.
That’s not to denigrate barter, it is useful, especially locally. I’m also interested in communal ownership of resources – does everyone need their own lawnmover or car? I belong to a car club, so I only book out a car when I need one and when I’m not using it, other people are. I also use my local library a lot. But honestly, I just don’t believe that money is the root of all evil. In fact, I believe the original quote is ‘the love of money is the root of all evil’.
Molly, I think you’re coming from the same place I am.
Our blogs aren’t STRICTLY craft blogs, they’re blogs that have to do with craft because we sell crafts.
For us, our payoff is a bit more straightforward (readers, buy our wares!) than it is for Sister Diane and ESPECIALLY for those crafty blogs that don’t sell a thing.
As a consumer, I love to send presents. If a blogger that I regularly read asks for something, if I have it or make it, I’m often happy to send it to them. I love the way Havi (Fluent Self) has Very Personal Ads where she asks for things, not necessarily from her readers and not necessarily material things. But often her readers will send her the things she was looking for, if they can.
That’s a nice idea, Karen – as one part of a multi-part sustainability system. I like the person-to-person friendliness of that.
I agree that we should feel connected to the world and how our actions effect it, but I throw my hands up when you suggest I should just give up money. I live in an apartment in San Francisco. I can’t barter my rent. I can’t grow my own food. I can’t barter with Walgreens, Safeway, or any other places where I have to get my necessities. Which means I have to work, which limits the amount of time I have to create things or do things to barter with. I agree with Kirsty, money isn’t the problem. I say people who are thoughtless and jerky are the problem. And, I believe they’d be thoughtless and jerky whether they had money or not.
That said, if all my blog readers wanted to send me yarn or craft supplies they made in exchange for my awesome blog, I’d be all over that.
p.s. how are you bartering for your web connection?
Molly, you bring to mind an interesting conversation I was having last night with two other long-term craft bloggers. We realized that we started this blogging adventure purely for the fun of it, not as a business. Then, down the road, people who liked our blogs approached us with professional opportunities. And now we’re trying to do the tricky dance of maintaining the blogging-for-love AND maintain some kind of sustainable business.
I’d also point out that bloggers who market services to artists and crafters are perhaps in a different boat than crafters who can sell handmade items to the population at large.
It’s not that your blog/business model doesn’t work, please understand – obviously, it’s working fine. It’s more that different bloggers occupy different universes, and this is part of the challenge of any kind of universal sustainability.
Thinking about this some more. I think so much of this is about a mindshift around the money/time/energy ratio. I’ve gone through such a huge change on this in the last year. This time last year I wasn’t earning money from anything I did but by July I had started attempting to earn money.
I am still not earning a living wage from what I do but I am getting closer. I’ve been letting go of my underearning mentality – I am learning that I need to constantly check my bottom line and that doing so doesn’t make me ‘greedy’, it means that I’m nourishing and protecting my time and energy. Because my time and energy are worth something.
At the moment I’m working out a sponsorship programme for my 365 Jars project: http://365jars.com/ The last time I did a daily year-long project in 2007, it would never have occurred to me to do this. I don’t think I even had a donation button.
I have already realised that the jars are taking me at least two or three hours every single day and naturally that leaves a lot less time and energy for my other business. Instead of thinking, ‘oh dear, I’m going to be out of pocket’ I thought, ‘OK, clearly I won’t have as much time for business stuff this year, so where’s the money coming from?’ and I came up with the ‘people can adopt a jar’ idea.
It’s almost impossible for me to explain how radical a sea change that is for me – honestly, it’s like I’ve turned into a whole new person! And frankly, this person is way smarter than my previous incarnation.
I’ve been asking people to give me their opinions on my ‘Adopt-A-Jar’ idea. As part of that public consultation, someone suggested today that I sent a zine, print or sketch at the £10 sponsorship level. Instead of thinking, ‘oh yay, that would be cool’, I immediately thought, ‘that would be absolutely impossible at that price’. Not only is my art worth far more than that but I’d have to not only make the thing but also go to post office, write or print out addresses and messages and organise a database of sponsors. I’d be operating at a loss, which would totally defeat the purpose of having sponsors. Because I’m now thinking in terms of my bottom line, I could instantly see that.
I really appreciate you sharing this perspective, Kirsty. it’s becoming clear to me that I’ll have to go through a similar evolution – and that it will necessarily change the landscape of this blog. Which is ultimately okay, as it really can’t continue unsustainably.
Yes, the word ‘sustainable’ is so key in this conversation. Over the last few months, I have come to realise a huge amount of stuff around this issue. And one of the major things I’ve realised is that my time and energy are not infinite resources. I mean, I sort of realised that before but now I’m feeling it even more. I’m starting to join up the dots and realise that if I say yes to that free thing it means there’s less time for other things. And not just paid work but other things that nourish me like spending time with my family, gardening and knitting.
If it’s appropriate Diane, I’d like to the article I wrote for Customer Love back in November where I talked about my Inner Businesswoman and her struggle with my Inner Volunteer Junkie, I think it’s so apt to this conversation. Here’s the link: http://makecustomersloveyou.com/day-12-the-volunteer-junkie/
Absolutely, Kirsty – I missed this article, and am glad to have read it. Thank you! I’m definitely feeling the finite-ness of my time and energy these days, too. :-)
I’m definitely in agreement that good deeds come back, Heather. And you’re right about trial and error. Thank you for joining the discussion here – I’m happy to hear from another blogger who’s been at it as long as I have.
I love this comment Heather, especially your recognition that sometimes we’ll make mistakes and do something that feels a bit ‘ick’. I agree that the only way we’re going to know where our personal boundaries lie is by going up to those boundaries.
Personally, I think that’s OK because we’re all just learning this stuff and there are no models because this is all so new. Sure, we can try out older business models but the internet often fundamentally changes how those models work.
We’re all groping around looking for the light switch and there is no single answer that will work for everyone because we all have different audiences, styles, needs and comfort levels.
Thank you for joining in here, Nisedd. I really appreciate you sharing your thoughts honestly as a consumer of content. You were so sweet, sending me awesome PC books, and I’ve never forgotten it. It’s true that these kinds of personal exchanges are wonderful. Plus, from you commenting here, we were able to meet in person in Seattle a couple years back!
Thank you for joining in here, Nisedd. I really appreciate you sharing your thoughts honestly as a consumer of content. You were so sweet, sending me awesome PC books, and I’ve never forgotten it. It’s true that these kinds of personal exchanges are wonderful. Plus, from you commenting here, we were able to meet in person in Seattle a couple years back!
You know, Judy, I used to be all militant against those forms of Free where people have to give me something to get it. But now, I can see the wisdom of necessity in it – after all, how else can you know what kind of marketing value the Free had?
I’m finding it harder and harder to rely entirely on the rather vague general sense of “put it out there and they will be inspired to support you back.” It’s not that people aren’t nice and well-meaning – they are. They just haven’t been asked for anything in exchange, so with all the other cacophony of information they’re coping with in a day, they’ll move right on to the next thing.
I think also people ‘mean to get to it’ but it’s just not compelling. That’s why people do those limited time offers because without that sense of urgency, ‘I’ll do it someday’ tends to become ‘never’. It’s not that the person is being mean, you’ve just not given them any good reason to do it right now.
You’re right, Kirsty. A part of me really hates having to do that kind of game-play to get people to take that laaaaaast step to concrete action, but in a hugely abundant universe, manufacturing urgency becomes a viable tool.
I don’t like it when it’s very artificial but I must admit I was quite pleased when I realised that hey, I only have 365 jars available to adopt and if people want specific dates, well, there’s only ONE of those available. Of course, it’s just occurred to me that I could have more than one person sponsoring specific jars but I don’t think I want to do that. I suspect people want the exclusivity and feeling of ‘that’s MY jar’.
That’s a great development on this theme – I like it. This is, incidentally, one of the reasons I love doing online classes – since they happen on a specific day, there’s an impetus not to put off signing up. That built-in limitation sure allows my marketing efforts to be more targeted and effective.
I can’t answer for other bloggers but I value all my commenters, whether they have blogs or not. I try to answer all of them.
Wow, I just read a great article about this: http://www.familyfreshcooking.com/2010/09/17/food-blogging-for-money-passion-and-a-living/
A quote: ‘“Free” actually costs us bloggers money. Blog posts cost in time, expertise, commitment, ingredients, camera gear, memory chips, care for our children. Catch my drift.’
AMEN! For some, it also costs money every month in web hosting fees. I pay several web hosting fees, plus podcast hosting fees, and Skype fees so I can call out to regular phones to interview people. Then there are annual Flickr and domain registration fees. All that runs me about $50 per month, before I even get into the things on your list.
Thanks for the link, Heather! Excellent point.
Fabulous link.
That’s a great point, AMV – thank you so much for sharing it here! I’ve really been liking the talk of specificity in these comment-discussions. It’s an excellent concept – how else to reach through the rushing river of information everyone copes with each day?
Ah, so it sounds like your equation for blogging is in balance – and this is a wonderful thing!
I hear what you’re saying about the “Great job!” comment – true, it doesn’t necessarily contribute meaningful discussion. But it IS a tiny point of visibility, letting you see that someone actually read the post you worked so hard on, and appreciated it. It’s sure better than nothing.
That’s a great point about inviting an audience to participate. Totally ties in with discussion going on elsewhere in these comments about telling your audience what you need in order to keep your flow of Free sustainable.
I’m not sure if my thoughts really fit in here all that well, but in general blogging for free is something I struggle with a lot.
There is a lot of pressure on me to blog, from people in my industry and from the people who read my books – yet I just can’t seem to make myself do it all that often.
First of all, I make all of my money based on words of some sort. Whether I’m writing a book or teaching an eCourse, all I have to exchange for money is my words, ideas, concepts and thoughts. Since I make my living this way, I find it too hard to generate content for free. It just seems like extra work for me. Thus my blog so far has been much more personal and rarely updated.
It’s so hard when we deal in words – to figure out where those boundaries lie. Recently I’ve found myself trying to avoid conversations with my friends about their businesses, because that is the kind of thing I get paid for. I mean, if I ask a designer friend to design a business card for me, I expect to get a bill. However, if I spend an hour over coffee coaching the same friend through business questions and situations, I could never say, “Your share of the bill is 5.50 and my time is worth 75.00, so you own $80.50. If you don’t have that much cash on you, I take paypal.” I mean – I feel like I’m giving away Free all of the time!
I think there is also an underlying issue here too. What do we all want from our jobs? Blogging is a job. Podcasting is a job. It isn’t always so easy to be full of good ideas, and then to figure out a way to communicate them to people… I have whole notebooks devoted to just brainstorming ideas that I think could benefit my creative community – and that’s where the work begins!
I think it’s true that good things can come from Free, like friendships (Hi Diane! You are one of the most important people to me, in my own made up creative family, and I wouldn’t have you in my life it weren’t for your free blog and free podcast!) book deals and other types of paying gigs… but sometimes, in the end, those things don’t pay very much either. I wish people could just be a lot more open about money in general, how much things cost.
I read a story once about a housewife who decided to start invoicing her family for the things she did all day. Imagine if bloggers did that! Post # 423 – 2 hours of brainstorming + $50.00 3 Hours to write 1st draft of post and find photographs = $75.00. 30 minutes to format and post = 15.00
1 hour of marketing post (newsletter/Twitter/Facebook) = 25.00. Benefit to Reader – PRICELESS. Can you imagine!?!
Most of the blogs I read and find true value in are written by experts in their field. So many experts that are mostly working for free! I don’t think the readers really know what’s going on here. But on the flip side, what would we want from readers? How can they help support what they love? Maybe bloggers and the like need to get together to really figure out if they are enjoying what they’re doing and how they could best be compensated.
I would hate to lose a member of my community, but until as a reader, I can fully understand how to give back to them, I guess things won’t change.
PS – while writing this comment, I was on the phone with my local Internet provider, trying to figure out how much it would be to get Internet in my office. The total comes to $64.90 a month. Everything we do adds up!
I am SO GLAD you shared this, Kari – thank you indeed. You’re right – it’s so challenging to protect the skills you make your living from, and still find ways to share in the community without compromising your living.
I regularly have nice people email or DM me on Twitter, asking huge questions like “How should I market my business?” or “What’s the best way to start a blog?” I really have to get better about replying with “You know, I actually make some of my living helping people with those very questions. Would you like to hire me? Or, maybe you’ll find help in these archive posts from my blog.” It never feels comfortable doing that, of course, but there seems to be so much misunderstanding about what goes into producing a blog or podcast. The only way to help correct this is to be up-front about it.
…The big “And Yet…” about that is, YES – through sharing Free I have met some wonderful, wonderful friends, of which you are one. I wouldn’t trade that for the world, either. But clearly, there comes a point in your journey where you have to start balancing the two realities.
“I regularly have nice people email or DM me on Twitter, asking huge questions like “How should I market my business?” or “What’s the best way to start a blog?”
You need a FAQ, sweetie. If you’re getting this often enough that it’s a problem (and I know you are), you need a place to point them. I’d also consider TextExpander, if you haven’t already got it (you’re a Mac girl, right?) – it saves a ton of time for those things you regularly have to cut and paste.
Ooh, I’ll look into that – I use draft emails now but they’re not the flawless solution. Thanks!
Thank you so much for adding your experiences to the discussion, Christine! This is a really good illustration of how we all have different balance-points in our individual equations.
Since you mentioned that your podcast isn’t your family’s principal source of income, I think I’ll raise a question here that’s actually very uncomfortable for me to raise – but I’ve wondered about it many times. If we could look at the statistics, would we find that the larger percentage of popular blogs and podcasts are in fact subsidized by another household partner having a well-paying job?
…And if so, how does this affect our whole perception of Free and sustainability?
Awesome – thanks so much for joining in, Jena! When we talked for the podcast, I was really impressed by how well your equation seemed balanced, so it’s instructive to see that, even with the monetary side operating fine, there can be other points of imbalance.
I’m also very inspired by the way you see the value you provide as part of an ecosystem of sorts – your content keeps readers engaged, and readers support your advertisers, and advertisers in turn support you. Makes me want to start noodling with other ways to apply that idea to a non-ad environment.
…Time, time – the universal limitation! :-) I hear ya on that one.
What a good question, Sandy! A couple blog-friends and I were talking recently about our journeys. Interestingly, we’ve all been blogging for 6 years, and have each been able to grow a community around giving out Free. And we’re all at a point where we feel we can’t do this much longer unless we can find ways to be compensated for our time. We were joking about the “6-year itch” of blogging.
Any other long-time bloggers care to chime in on this question? When did the imbalance start happening for you all?
Last summer, so around the 3 year mark but I’d been blogging for several years on Livejournal before that, so I’m probably in a similar timescale to you, Diane.
OK I’m marking that timeline. And start thinking about goals before I get there.
HAHAHA! I want to hug you right now. I’ve TOTALLY had those worn-out emotional mother moments. It’s definitely flattering, the idea that people are interested enough in what you make to request it. But you are so right – how many of them understand what they’re really asking for?
I’m reaching the same conclusion you are – this year, the amount of Free here will have to scale back. The hours I’m taking back, I have to focus on building my livelihood to a more sustainable level. I know this will cost me some readers, because let’s face it – there’s a healthy percentage of people out there who’ll just follow the Free elsewhere. But I think I can live with that, if the people who remain are thoughtful and supportive. (Like you are.)
…And I’m so glad you mentioned that we’re likely to see new platforms in the future that will make some of this compensation stuff simpler. We are not the only internet community struggling with these questions, so you’re right – market forces, bless their hearts, will begin generating new options sooner or later. :-)
“there’s a healthy percentage of people out there who’ll just follow the Free elsewhere.”
You don’t want those people, Diane. They are, not to put too fine a point on it, freeloaders. If they don’t value what you give enough to pay for it, you shouldn’t be worrying about them at all. They’re not your Right People. Having said that, I know it’s hard to let go emotionally, we all love to be loved.
But it’s not as if you’re saying ‘Craftypod is going behind a paywall, hahaha, you must all pay me a gazillion dollars! By the way, have you met my evil cat?’ You’re saying, ‘hey, the level of free I provide right now is unsustainable because I have bills to pay, so something has to give.’ There will still be free on Crafypod, I’m sure, just maybe not quite as much.
This is 100% true. :-)
And definitely, I won’t stop doing Free altogether – I wouldn’t be happy that way, either. It’ll just be less abundant. Luckily, though, there’s a rather large Free archive on here already. :-)
Btw, Diane, I was pleased to see you reposting some of your older podcasts on Handmade Spark. I thought that was an excellent use of your existing work. Republishing and reusing in an appropriate way is super-smart.
Ah, I can’t take credit for thinking of that, Kirsty. Amber from Handmade Spark contacted me, and when she described what she wanted to do, it was like a lightbulb clicking on for me. It’s been so fun to see the old shows getting a second life on Handmade Spark!
I hope they’re reaching a whole new audience, Diane – not least because I’m in a couple of them ;-)
Thank you, Molly – people like you, who are committed to community and actively seek to support it, make a huge difference for so many people. In this crazy early moment of online community, it really can seem like we give more than comes back. But I’m inspired by your drive to keep going. So important.
Oh, Yay! I was just admiring your comment over on The Long Thread, and then came back here to see you here. Thank you for bringing this note to the conversation here, too!
I think you’re right – there’s got to be a strong thread of our “female guilt” (if you will) keeping us from charging appropriately for really ANY product or service… which then puts more of us in a position not to afford supporting others. Unfortunate cycle, and hard to break out of. Kirsty Hall has a related comment elsewhere in this discussion.
On advertising, here’s something rather random: I listen to old-time radio shows a lot, and it’s interesting how much sponsors were embraced back then. (At the dawn of advertising, of course, and before the public had been beaten over the head with ads for decades.) But, sponsor products were woven into the content, and sponsors were seen as the nice people who made the show possible. I wonder if tiny subsets of advertising could come back to this model? Sure seems appropriate to the craft industry.
I don’t know…do you think it could be done well? Product placement works, but people also mock it a lot. It’s good food for thought though….
Oh, I think anything’s pretty possible in these Wild West days. All I’m saying is, as much as we all disdain advertising, many forms of media still really need advertisers. Might be nice if someone could find a less combative way for advertisers to appear with content. I’ve seen some really nice integrations over on YouTube in the last six months, so that’s promising.
HAHAHA! I’m in! :-)
Oh – while I’m here, a note for everyone – you should read Ellen’s post on The Long Thread about this same subject we’re all discussing. One blogger’s viewpoint, very honestly written: http://thelongthread.com/?p=7197