Patreon, Social Media, So on

I made a Patreon page the other day because… well, because I’m supposed to? Honestly, I don’t know why I made it. I don’t write often enough to justify anyone handing me money, and while I’d love to say that’s a practice that will soon change, it won’t. I do have a plan regarding Flash Fiction posts and paid access and all that… and that’s nice. But when I lay it out, it makes no sense. I have no followers (with good reason), and the price point I have in mind for paid content is so low it doesn’t even make sense to have a price point at all. At best, I’d pull in five bucks a month.

Woo. Hoo.

Of course, I’m not supposed to doubt myself here. I’m supposed to be supercharged and motivated and eager to make my product and platform grow! Go out there and get more followers and interact with the community and make a load of amazing content that will propel me into the stratosphere of online presence!

What a load of shit.

Not that it can’t be done, but that is the last thing I want to do or achieve. I hate social media. Hate it. I despise social media so much, I closed my Facebook account when on the verge of completing my first novel. That is not how you’re supposed to self-promote, folks, but I gotta tell ya, I couldn’t be happier. With everything going on in the world, the mental vomit the spews across Facebook on a daily basis is the last thing I want to see, and I am so much happier not having it in my life. Same goes for places like Twitter (that account still exists, but I never view it) and Reddit.

I suppose my hope with Patreon is that it will provide exposure on a platform that has far less noise. It seems like a cleaner experience. I post, people read, everyone moves on. No political nonsense, no conspiracies, no pointless arguing.

We’ll see.

For now, I need to restore some habits I’ve lost when it comes to writing. Get back into Flash Fiction, do the final pass on Far to the North and release, so on. Until those habits become routine, I’ll post anything I do on both platforms (for free) and let it be. Should anything gain traction, both in followers and productivity, I’ll revisit the idea of paid content on Patreon.

Also, for those who read my previous post on turning 40 and saw the sunset photo I took from the coast, say hello to my smoke-ridden sky. It’s quite the departure from the previous photo. We’re safe, our troubles trivial compared to others, but I’m ready for some breathable air to come back into my life.