First things first. I want to thank all you readers who made those amazing, wonderful, supportive comments while I was trying to figure out what to do with this blog: Lady Glamis, Laura Eno, Jordan McCollum, Stephanie St. Clair, Amy, Kathryn Estrada, Amy Sue Nathan, Jeffrey Russell, Andrew, BenM, techtigger, Gretchen, Livia Blackburne, Teresa, Terresa Wellborn, Maureen, christopher ryan, and Sheldon. You people are the reason the blogosphere works!
Next, I want to mention that we are by no means alone in struggling with this issue of online copyright violation. When I wrote my book (a thousand years ago), everyone thought the biggest problem of the Internet would be children accessing inappropriate material. It hadn’t even occurred to anyone that someday this many of us would have permanent sites online and we’d have to think about copyright law. (Or that children would be exposed to that inappropriate material in their own homes by their own parents when onscreen sex became common in mainstream movies.) In about a year—maybe two, tops—there’ll be a whole host of accepted solutions to the problem of blog copyright violation, and nobody will think twice about using them. But right now I’m part of the vanguard trying to invent those solutions.
My husband and I have been on the vanguard of a lot of the evolution of the Internet. We were already geeks in the ’80s. We’re kind of used to it. But if you’re among the vast majority who aren’t—
DON’T PANIC!
This blog is not going away. It’s not dropping its readership. And it’s not losing its character. It’s simply going to become a whole lot more like other writing blogs. You can still read it for free, if you want—entirely up to you. I’ll still be promoting it. And, hey! All of you who were brilliant enough to stumble upon it in its infancy got a whole lot of unique professional advice free for a good eight months!
You. Are. Welcome.
Of course, I am aware of other blogs on writing out there—that’s how I know what they’re like. Clever me. I’m friends with the authors of some of them. I’m friends with other editors. I put their blogs on my blogroll. Not all of the best industry professionals have blogs, either. The virtual world is still only one small part of the real world, and a lot of stuff goes on outside of the blogosphere that virtual participants never even know about.
There are authors and editors out here who know how to write and edit fiction, there are agents who know how to market to agents, and there are publishers who know what they’d love to publish. These are smart, professional people with the whole world of publishing to offer, a great community, and I like them a lot.
They tend to sell the essays they write like the ones I was posting on my blog, though.
My husband has suggested folks might feel more comfortable thinking of the new blog as an online magazine, so they don’t have to wrap their brains around the concept of a blog that acts like a magazine. That’s fine with me. It’ll be a little different from a magazine in that it will come out with a new article every few days instead of saving them all up for once a month. It might look like a blog for awhile. And at this moment, it doesn’t have ads. It will also be frighteningly cheap: $10 for a six-month subscription—that’s approximately 75 full-length essays on the craft of fiction, possibly more if I really like you individually and don’t run out of things to say.
Most importantly, it will exist for one purpose and one purpose only. Mine. Because I love doing it. I get to continue to write the posts I love writing, and I get to keep putting what I know out there for people who want to learn it.
Anyone who wants to be a part of that. . .you know, you guys are wonderful. I’m not going to get rich off you (more’s the pity). But I’d be happier than I can say to have you along for the ride!
Welcome to A. Victoria Mixon, Editor’s Pulp Rag.
Having a good time: Why do we write? Seriously—what’s the point? I have a theory. . . Read the full essay on Pulp Rag.
Okay, I’m all signed up and ready to roll on the new Pulp Rag. I’ve been following you for a few months now and found some nice insights, and the occasional light bulb moment in your essays so I’m happy to pay up for six months and see where we go from here.
Well, thank you, BT! You carry the torch!
I got your payment, but haven’t yet got a registration to approve. You should have been directed to a website on which you picked a username and password.
Send me an email at gotheca@mcn.org and we’ll get you registered and approved PDQ.
Victoria
I’m so excited! This is so fantastic, and I can’t wait to read what you offer.
It might be awhile before I can subscribe, though. My husband just lost his job, and we literally have no money. We can’t even pay our rent. Things look a little brighter on the horizon, though, so I’ll be joining along sometime in the future I hope!
This is such a great idea, Victoria, and I’m definitely happy you’ve made such a fantastic venture and decision. Thank you so much for all you do!
How exciting! Um, did I say before that I probably wouldn’t subscribe? Can I change my mind? I’ve actually been thinking about this a bit lately because it’s such an interesting question – the whole blog subscription thing, what we choose to read on the internet, and what we’re likely to pay for. I made a comment earlier that one thing I appreciate about blogs is the free exchange of ideas, but I should have clarified. By “free” I didn’t so much mean “not requiring payment,” as “open” or maybe just “with freedom”. The difficulty of subscriptions is that you miss that flood of interested readers when people discuss your blog in their blogs and link to you. But I think your husband has a good point about thinking of it more like a magazine. It’s just different. Anyway, I realize the debate for you is over.
I do want to say that I appreciate your motivation – that you’re doing it because you love it. I think that’s likely the best reason. I’m not a professional writer myself, but I love blogging. A small audience of like-minded readers keeps me motivated to do what I enjoy doing: writing.
So, good luck! For such a reasonable price (Thank you!) I’ll certainly get around to subscribing soon.
(Also, did you say recently that you were considering the possibility of a book? I think you should. I’m sure it would be a success and a wonderful contribution to the writing world.)
Good Morning,
Whewww… so I still get access to your gifts. How do I sign up?
Jeffrey
Gretchen,
Thank you for your kind words! Yes, I do appreciate the cocktail hour ambience of the blogosphere—my friend Lucia refers to Twitter chats as a glass of wine at the end of the day—and it is like a party, except nobody breaks my lamps. I think it was Chris Brogan who said, “Be the one making the most comments on your own blog,” and it was an epiphany for me: your blog is your party, and you are the host.
I’m right now thinking of ways to streamline content production for this public blog—I’m going to have a blog-referral day (Wednesdays) when I profile a particular blog I think is a great resource for writers, a book-referral day (Fridays) when I profile particular books I love (right now mysteries, hot dog), and some other standardized day for Mondays. I’ll let the whim take me with Pulp Rag, though. That was always so much fun in the earlier incarnation of this blog—the field of fiction is vast and deep, and there is always so much more to say.
I’ll look forward to seeing you on Pulp Rag when you get around to it!
Victoria
Jeffrey,
You click on either the link in “Read the full essay on Pulp Rag” or the button “Subscribe to Pulp Rag magazine.”
I’ll watch for you—
Victoria
You? Run out of things to say?
Let’s see here. I’m just reading one of your e-mails and I see you spent 1, 2,…6 paragraphs talking about how a girl feels when her father is angry with her.
I think I’ll get my 10 bucks worth!
Kathryn
Yes, Kathryn, I try to take good care of my clients. 🙂
I do let my love of the craft get in the way of the cash register—dang me.
Victoria