Monetization

I found a new (to me) platform today that allows writers to potentially monetize their writing.

I am a blogger from way back. I started writing on blogspot.com when I needed to rant about what I saw as the disintegration of democracy. It was during the Bush era. I needed to vent. It clearly didn’t do much good. Here we are, waving the flag while thousands are dying in a pandemic, and fighting fascism on our own soil by our own government, despite eight years of Obama.

I started a blog for my dad’s writing after he died, trying to give him an audience for all the essays he’d painstakingly tapped out on a word processor all those years ago.

And I began a real-estate blog as a way to set myself apart from what seemed to be a herd of salespeople.

When I switched to a big, upscale real-estate company, their IT guy insisted I switch to WordPress. It, unlike Blogspot, was not free to use. Everything about that company was expensive, including working for that company. I left, but the blog remained.

Today, I switched all the WordPress content to the new platform. From here on, I’ll be adding content there. And, in time, if I get gazillions of subscribers, I’ll charge for access to that newsletter and share the proceeds with the platform.

But that’s unlikely to happen. In the meantime, I’m back to posting content for free, as it should be. If I don’t make a dime from what I write there, why do I have to pay to post? Yes, WordPress, I’m talking to you.

Read more installments of Village Voices by Susan Barnett.