On the Future of Welcome to Garbagetown--And YOU
Hello…um…Garbagetowners?
It is your friendly local yeller of things here.
We’ve been doing this for about a year and a half now, and as I mentioned before, it remains commented upon to me privately that I do not post enough of the essays you all come here for.
As I said in that post, this is about my fourth job (I write books! One is coming out in September!) and it doesn’t make me a huge amount of money, unlike many folk you’re certainly aware of who make a whole living here.
But as my post frequency or lack thereof keeps coming up, and I do deeply enjoy and value the community and commentariat we’ve grown here, and this is a really intense time politically, but…I’m a single parent with a small child and many animals to feed as well as, occasionally, myself, I thought I’d make a suggestion/offer:
If we can get up to 500 paid subscribers, of any type, I’ll commit to doing a pair (one public, one for too-spicy-for-prime-time hollering under the paywall) of WtG-brand long-form essays every month instead of…whenever I can while not going broke.
That’s a fair jump, but not impossible, and I know the economy is hard…but the economy is hard and I have to balance this against my paying work somehow. And you’ll get the fresh new essay from today plus all the other treehouse club posts from the last 19 months.
I have no idea if it’s possible to make that jump, but I guess we’ll see. I feel embarrassed even suggesting it, so that’s super fun for all of us!
I will also count any subscriptions of the same monthly/yearly amount to my Patreon if you message me to tell me that’s why you’re subscribing. I know many people have issues with Substack, and I’ve made it a policy to cross-post any paywalled essays here over there 24 hours later as long as someone actively asks to see it. (My Patreon is a much cozier place, dedicated to art as this place is to politics and cultural screaming. I like that separation, but one or the other is and should be fine.)
So there’s my offer for making WtG a fixture. Hopefully this place has value to you—if not, that’s fine too and we’ll keep on as we can and current events inspire.
Please register to vote and vote Harris in November!
I am a member on your Patreon. And I am happy with that. I'm expecting to have a job soon and can increase my support.
I came to say that I'm uncomfortable with a situation in which a person is demanded to create fixed content on a fixed schedule. Including you. I'm not your publisher, nor even your agent. We have no contract with deadlines. I subscribe because creative people need to get paid, and my world gets better with more creative people doing more creative things. Et voila.
So please don't take my membership as any sort of demand for you to produce... well, anything. I love Garbagetown. I read your rants to my family and friends, often. Sometimes I post shit like "Cat Valente for President" on X because I am so highly pleased and amused. I hope you'll continue doing it, and get the support you need. And if not, I'll still be a Patron and still enjoy your fiction and other writings when they appear.
What you day is important. When it's ready to be said, say it. You don't owe me a certain amount of content.