2012-01-29
Support The Ghibli Blog - An Appeal For Tip Money
And now the tip jar comes out.
The Ghibli Blog is nearly six years old. Since its humble beginnings, it has become, more or less, a full-time job. I have to write and edit articles, create the art assets, and scour the internets for the latest news, as well as interesting bits of Ghibli-themed trivia. It's a lot of work, but very satisfying, and I'm very thankful for this opportunity. Now I'm asking for your support.
If you enjoy this website and the content it provides, then show your support with a donation. I have added a PayPal Donate button at the top-right of the page.
If every one of Ghibli Blog's monthly visitors would donate $1 per year - just one dollar - I could quit my day job and operate this site full-time. Is that likely to happen in the immediate future? No, most likely not. But it is an attainable dream, and one that would enable me to raise this website to the next level.
I would very much like to redesign the site, modernize it, and that would require hiring skilled web designers. I would like to attend press events, movie premiers, and film festivals, and report back to you. I would like to expand this site's coverage to include more anime and animation.
Advertising revenue is not a revenue generator for most websites. Ad revenue brings in enough money to pay for domain names and hosting fees (another option I would like for this site). Nearly all of the support comes from the readers themselves. You are the reason blogs can become full-time jobs, and to be perfectly honest, I would prefer it that way. Can you really trust someone whose livelihood depends on ad revenue? Can you really trust me to give an honest opinion with, say, a huge Disney banner on every page that pays my rent? Of course not. Take a look at video game magazines and websites if you want to see that corruption in action.
So, friends, I am pulling out the tip jar and asking for your help. If you enjoy the work I do, support Ghibli Blog and its skilled staff of writers. Which is just me. Ahem. My deepest thanks to everyone who supports Ghibli Blog - visitors, fans, industry people, fellow websites. Muchos gracias.
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6 comments:
Really appreciate all of the hard work! Thanks a lot!
Maybe a subscription / fan membership would work better for keeping track?
You do hard work on this site, and I've only just started reading this recently. I hope you get plenty of donations! I just sent some your way, and thank you for keeping up with all the Ghibli news! It's so great to read it all.
That's an interesting idea. PayPal does have a "subscribe" button that I could add, so that wouldn't be a problem. I'm not entirely sure what a "subscription" to Ghibli Blog would even mean. Does that mean I'd have to mail out buttons or t-shirts? What extras would be available with such a membership?
The only point to a subscription, which means it's my best guess at the moment, is convenience. If you wanted to donate $5 every month, that option would be available to you. I'm not quite sure how effective or useful that would be.
As always, these things are constantly in flux. I'd like to hear from successful bloggers. I'm sure they'll tell me the same thing as freelance writers: hustle, hustle, hustle. We're basically the internet version of street musicians.
Our deepest thanks to everyone for supporting the site. Marcee and I are overwhelmed. Muchos gracias, domo arigatou, minna-san!
I think this means Clarence earns his wings, right?
I'll donate if you stop doing those Dracula burger things...
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