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Blog of a Writer on the Go and Barely Here.
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Monday, July 9, 2012

A Serious Consideration

I know, it's Monday and some of you have traversed scorching sands and stormy seas to get here and read the next chapter of What the Whole Town Knew. Sorry to disappoint, but I have had a serious consideration thrown my way. It concerns my blog, naturally, or else you'd all be reading Chapter 17, biting your nails down in anticipation of what will befall Lizzie. And is Officer Chambers making a pass at her? You'll have to wait until Wednesday to find out. Maybe.

What I have noticed since starting my Experiment is how much my blog stats jump on Mondays and Fridays. It became even more apparent when I neglected to post last Friday's chapter until the evening. Once it was posted and I let the whole world - or at least those who friend/follow me on various social media - know, my views doubled within half-an-hour. There were people waiting for my post announcement. Not going to lie, it completely made my night.

Now comes my slight dilemma. While my blog is getting lots of traffic, my bank account, sadly, is not. Before anyone clicks off, thinking I have suddenly turned into a Public Radio fund drive, rest assure that is not the case. Rather, I have come up with what I hope is a solution that will allow me to make something off what I put up here and for you all to let me know how much you love me, uh, my work.

Flattr.com  is a company I have recently discovered. It allows users to set an amount they wish to spend over the course of a month. They then can go about the internet, happily clicking on any web content with the 'Flattr' button. At the end of the month, Flattr tallies your clicks and divides your preset spending limit between them.

An small, unobtrusive button on my blog. Seems like a better solution than paid ads or subscription fees. If you like it, you click. Don't like it, no clicky. What I want to know is how you, my loving readers, feel about it. Would anyone use it? Or will you run in hordes away from me, never to discover what happens to Lizzie? Let me know in the comments.

I now return you to your regularly scheduled programming.

3 comments:

  1. I think it's a great idea.

    Sammy will clicky! :D

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  2. I want to give my opinion and would love to help, but I'm not sure I still understand the concept.

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    Replies
    1. Hi EB -
      If you go to the Flattr website, there's a video that explains the concept better than I can. Basically, if you sign up for Flattr, you tell site how much money you want to spend for the whole month. Say it's $10. You can then go on sites with the FLATTR button on it, and if you like what you see, you click the button. At the end of the month, Flattr will tally how many sites you clicked on and divide your $10 between them. If you clicked 10 sites, each will get a dollar. If you only click 2, each would get $5.

      This would not make my material 'pay-to-read' but rather 'tip-if-you-like.' You don't have to be a Flattr subscriber to read anything here. It eliminates ads on my blog and means I would only get money from people who think I deserve it.

      My hope is more Flattr users would learn about my site and click on the button. You can now see the button on the top of the main page as well as at the bottom of each post.

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