Author:
Blog About:
Every month it’s the same thing.
Erin sitting on her stoop with a cup trying to keep this site open.
Every month I go through the same emotions.
1.) I Feel bad she has to do that.
2.) I get upset about having to shoulder the load for a lot of free-loaders.
Then I face reality.
I’m not excusing people for their lack of support. Rather I’m highly appreciative of those who do find a way to help out and wish to say thank you to them. To fuel my muse, I need an appreciative audience. Without BC, I simply would not have one. I started on one site that shut down when the owner got tired of fighting the financial battle. Then I went to another site and the same thing happened. I ended up on FM -- but when the bestiality became almost as prevalent as the incest, I could no longer stand to have my stories housed there. That’s a matter of personal preference and FM has provided a service for years.
My guess is that FM’s corporate sponsor has enjoyed a great symbiotic relationship with them, which pays their expense.
So . . . I donate to find an audience. And, I thank those who read my stories and find time to leave a comment.
3.) Having worked my way through it all, I send a donation. I just sent $50.
My last story ( https://bigclosetr.us/topshelf/fiction/76095/novitiate ) drew a nice number of hits and quite a few positive comments. And so it goes. Where else could I get so much for $50?
Jill
Comments
Thanks, hon
Hugs,
Erin
= Give everyone the benefit of the doubt because certainty is a fragile thing that can be shattered by one overlooked fact.
Well done, Jill,
after all you have done before already anyway.
The problem here seems to be, that as idealistic as the team may be, business and handling finance in this time and age requires either a really creative crook, like in a story of yours I read (*giggles*) or a saint sponsored by heaven, if you want to thrive and not just struggle for survival.
Having run a production company in the past I know what it can turn out like, the stress of everyday's bank demands, suppliers and customers who do not pay. Well, at least that last one doesn't apply here.
Being caught up in everyday's small financial problems though quickly and easily makes you forget to develop long term solutions for the future, because you think you don't have the time to to it. So the situation persists and repeats itself mercilessly. What you need then is a break. Stop, think out of the box and evaluate possibilities. If ou cannot brainstorm a solution ... you've reached the end of your tether.
Maybe they should delegate possibly money making jobs that seem too time consuming in the rush of monthly deadlines to some of us, who'd volunteer to help. I certainly would as much as I am able. I am certain there are others, too. We are a resonably happy crowd here but a lot of us are struggling financially. So perhaps a bit of time is more easily given than money.
Monique S
Totally agree
I go through those same thoughts each month as you do. I've contributed a good amount (> $350) in the past year to help keep the site going but it is never enough.
Erin and I have looked at producing a calendar (with my photos) but so far we could not find a way to do it and make it profitable AND at a price that people here could afford.
We will try again next year.
But... in the meantime, we are back at square 1.
We have to find a more sustainable way of funding this site. Erin should only come out with the begging bowl for special occassions.
To be honest, I really have no workable idea about how we can make the funding work month after month after month.
Samantha
Nice idea
Samantha. BUT,
the site makes money selling books on Amazon. But Amazon also makes money on that. I looked into publishing with them in 2011. As a former managing director of a high turnover company in the music industry I can say with a good conscience, that as cut throat as it is, Amazon makes all of them look like school children.
We might think they cannot be avoided if we want to sell books, but they cannot avoid autors if they want to do that either. There are publishers who try to compete with them. Smashwords is one I am currently checking out. Writing buddies on NaNoWriMo last year pointed them out to me. NaNoWriMo is a world-wide event, appearing there could be serious advertising for a publisher.
Talk about NaNoWriMo. I was more than just pleasantly surpised, how many Rainbow people there were writing all sorts of things, happy to make contact with like minded people. It is a serious challenge to write 50K or more words in a month, but two of my writing buddies outclassed my 74K words by the same again and more. Smashwords offers special treatment to "winners" on NaNoWriMo (people who achieve the 50K) may be Doppler should too? I am sure there are many here, who would happily "test read" manuscripts for them.
I also think Amazo should pay for all the so far free advertising they get here. Maybe what they make off TG-fiction is only peanuts for them, but maybe ... just maybe ... one day we will see smashwords giving them a run for their money at least in the book sales. They seem to sell on over sixty sites worldwide, Amazon is only one of them.
Thoughts?
Monique.
Monique S
Lulu?
I like Lulu for DRM-free pdf downloads but don’t know what is their ‘cut’.
Only Maddie Bell seems to use them.
Where money goes affects things too
Money is being used to pay down debt too so in reality more money is being collected per month than ever before. It does not excuse the freeloaders who come here regularly and can certainly afford to kick in 5 dollars a month.
I believe it is a problem of numbers
May I project for just a little bit? There seems to be enough traffic (readers) if "everyone" sent in two dollars a month, less than the price of a coffee and doughnut, it would solve the financials. That's twenty four dollars a year. Or eight dollars, less than a hamburger and coke.
What does a magazine cost now? Most are over six dollars. A book? is five to twenty dollars. There is no way I could afford to pay for all the stories I read here every month if they were in paper and ink form. Hell, I don't believe there are any better authors than many of those here posting their stories for free.
But when it is all said and done, free is the key word. I dare say most don't understand the economics of running a business. Thus they don't realize what The Girls, go through keeping the doors open. Trust me people, the costs never stop. We owned and operated several businesses over the years. Some of those cost (overhead) us over two hundred dollars a day whether I ever got out of bed or not. If that doesn't make you think then think of what you have to pay in utilities, rent, food, clothes, etc whether you get out of bed or not.
There are several girls who are donating their stories, their time, their money and we readers never know because they don't say anything. I'm positive Erin and the others would be happy campers if everyone tossed a little change into the collection jar. If you want to make Erin work for it tell her to bill you through PayPal. She has to stop everything else and give that her personal attention.
I have a personal stake in keeping BCTS going. I'll have to gear up http:\\BarbieLee.com again to post my stories. Spammers and virus writers got to using my name for their fake return mail. Think of receiving a couple hundred hate mails every day. I took it offline and parked it. I'm sure as hell not touching FM ever again.
Life is a gift. Treasure it until it's time to return it.
always,
Barb
Oklahoma born and raised cowgirl
I can't do much at the moment,
But I set up a $5 US recurring gift last month to help out as much as I can on a regular basis.
If I find myself in better financial circumstances at some point, I'll raise that recurring amount to whatever I can then afford.
Now we just need other people to step up and help. Even if it is as little as I gave, it all helps Erin, Piper and the rest to keep this place going.
I wish I could at the moment.
I’m one of those that currently can’t donate right now. Cash for me is almost always short, but I do throw out $25 here and there when I can... Currently after having to shell out almost $4500 last monthfor my court proceedings JUST to prove the charges my ex brought against me were false, my cash flow is severely limited... Trying to catch up I’m currently skipping lunch through the week since we’ve been back just so my daughters don’t have to miss any meals. Not trying for a sob story, its just where I’m at until I dig myself out of the hole she put me in...
Becca
I know I’m weird. The fact that I’m trans is probably one of the more normal things about me.
And then there's people like
And then there's people like me who can't pay ... Heck I am wondering if I can manage to pay my end of the year bill for power as wel as the gas oil I need to heat this place through winter. I am already eating spagetthi almost every day because it's the cheapest food around. The only luxeries I have are the 1 dog / 1 cat and my average internet connection (don't even have a TV set). Has been 3 months since I put any money on the smarthphone and that was only 15 euro prepay for emergencies and appointments. Only clothing I bought this year was one american style overall and a pair of dunlop farmer boots. and that only because I try to walk 10k each each day with the dog most acrros fields and pastures
BC is one of the things that keeps me a bit sane ,although there has been a change of writingstyle away from the things I enjoy.
So sorry, can't ad any money right now or even in the near futue which doesn't help make me feel less guilty about not being able to , Also think that I am only in the lower middle of the people of around.here in term of means as I still afford renting on my own
Maybe some of you don't know how much Erin has done.
When she opened Big Closet, she had $35,000 in the bank. Since then she has burned through that along with another 30,000 or more in credit card debt, trying to keep the site online and functioning! And let's not ignore all the hours and hours of work herding cats and putting out flame wars and posting new stuff and getting repairs and upkeep stuff going that Erin has worked her fingers to the bone doing. Many sleepless hours and more work than most people put in in a week, Erin does in a couple of days. Why does she do all this?
I can tell you it isn't because she thrives on controversy and loves working as hard as she does. She does it because she loves us, pure and simple. She does it because she knows that, for a lot of us, Top Shelf is out only outlet for us to be ourselves without fear of rejection. She enables us to get out thoughts out there for others. She gives us an audience for our stories. She has helped others to gather the courage to transition when they were unsure.
She instituted Patreon in the last few months and I think it's the way to go. If you have a checking account or credit card, it's simple and easy to use Patreon to help the site and Erin. I'm not asking anyone to give $50 or $100 bucks. I'm asking EACH of you to kick in 1 or 2 dollars a month via Patreon. With all the members at Top Shelf, just that small donation every month would alleviate the need for Erin to go begging every month for funds to keep the lights on.
Look. I know that some of us, maybe even a lot of us, are functioning in survival mode with damned little left over moneywise at the end of a week or month. There ARE some who regularly contribute much more than a couple of bucks a month and they are appreciated more than words can say. I fully understand if you don't have even a dollar left over to help financially and I wish I could help you with that, but I can't. I'm on a fixed low income myself.
If you can't contribute money, how about proofreading? or helping with paperwork, or helping with the book publishing. How about mentoring new authors? If you have a book being published, how about giving a small portion of the sales from it to Top Shelf? There are several of us who have designated all the income from our books to the site. I also have a patreon subscription for 10 bucks a month to the site.
You can't get a decent cup of coffee for a dollar, or a snack or a hamburger, hell you can't even get a bottle of WATER for a buck, but you CAN get hours of enjoyment from stories written by some the very best authors in our genre right here at Top Shelf for a measly 1 dollar patreon pledge.
It pisses me off that Erin has to get down on her knees and beg for money every damned month! I'm doing the best I can to help...Are you?
Catherine Linda Michel
As a T-woman, I do have a Y chromosome... it's just in cursive, pink script.
Not many will pay for what's provided free
A basic fact of human nature, my experience is mostly related to modding PC games, but it's just the same.
Roughly around 10% of users comment, and only 10% of commenters, are helpful to users and/or author.
That 1 in 100 user is the source of most donations, of money and/or time.
Only a tiny fraction will ever donate money, and if that fraction alone isn't enough, other means must be found.
I would only consider users to be "freeloaders", if they don't contribute with time, or money, and block advertisements.
Advertising is the typical route used to provide free content, and ideally it should provide enough funds, but it clearly doesn't.
So either the numbers using the site are too low, or the sites TG focus deters most advertisers, neither is likely to change.
The main issue I see with Amazon Kindle, is their forcing the removal of the stories here. This is in my view very counterproductive.
Those that use the site, and also buy the Kindle releases (which are often revised/updated/edited versions), are mostly, if not all, regulars that have already read the story here. New BC readers are unlikely to go buy these removed stories, and the savvy internet user will know how to still find the free one.
Other options are Lulu, as mentioned above, and Doppler Press (Which seems to be BC's self publishing system), but I suspect these have far less customers than Kindle, and as far as Doppler is concerned, most will be already BC regulars.
That brings me back to the sites other regular means of support, and the one I chose that is being totally neglected, Premium Stories.
In January I paid $100 for the yearly subscription, and it was as a means of supporting the site, so I'm not complaining.
However, no new stories have been added, and if getting access to the stories is all I wanted, I could have gone for the minimum, and got them much cheaper.
The main thing I don't like is that the stories are pay walled in the first place, it is also likely to be the main reason authors don't use it much.
So this is my suggestion.
A number of serial stories are clearly completed well in advance of posting, and these would be ideally suited to being Premium content.
The completed novel is available to premium subscribers, and the chapters are posted as normal for everyone else.
So more like an Early Access system than permanent pay walling, which would encourage authors to use the Premium system to benefit the site, without restricting access to their work, which is likely the main reason nothings been added since at least January.
Currently their is no benefit to paying for Premium for more than the minimum period, and this is the only way I can see to making it worthwhile.
I'm not suggesting withholding chapters posted in the normal manner, only providing them earlier when they are already written.
Also I would suggest linking, or merging Premium, and Patreon Support, so access is provided to both.
Adding access to Premium, to an existing Patreon reward tier would seem to be the easiest method
Dark Elven Sissy Slut – Uhuru N’Uru
I always try to send something,
And I will point out the obvious, without our help this marvelous site can not exist I don't think it is too much for people to wrap their head around, but maybe it is,
BTW: Haven't done it yet but I'll paypal $10 ASAP
patreon support
I've been reading this site for years, and I've finally managed to start making enough that I can start helping out. I know its not much, but I've set up a Patreon monthly payment of $20. I love this site and don't ever want to see it close.
_________________________________________________________________
"By the pricking of my thumbs, something wicked this way comes." -Shakespeare
Thanks, hon
Hugs,
Erin
= Give everyone the benefit of the doubt because certainty is a fragile thing that can be shattered by one overlooked fact.
Thanks, hon
Hugs,
Erin
= Give everyone the benefit of the doubt because certainty is a fragile thing that can be shattered by one overlooked fact.
Non-US currency
What is the best way to make a donation in UK pounds sterling ?
I'm thinking that small, regular payments will each have a fixed commission on top of any percentage, so single annual payments, whilst not as useful for your cashflow, may end up with a larger percentage of my expenditure in the Hatbox ?
Well, yes
Probably the simplest way is through Paypal. You can use the links in the right-hand column or just click this link https://paypal.me/BigClosetTopShelf
Paypal makes currency conversion simple, they just charge a small fee on my end or I can leave it in GBP and use it to pay debts in the UK.
Hugs,
Erin
= Give everyone the benefit of the doubt because certainty is a fragile thing that can be shattered by one overlooked fact.