Hey everybody, I realize September was a slower month. But it’s only because it was this month where I realize I lack what other people I look up to lack. A big enough pool and foresight on expenses.
How Do You Get Extra Money?
This month was about trying to budget a number of things. Like cutting off Advanced Ads on my website even after paying for it for the rest of the year. Because despite improvements, Google has no faith in Gutternaut at all. Now my AdSense isn’t just disabled, it’s completely closed. After trying to reach out to other ad revenue sources and learning about my AdSense issues, I had to give up on a potential source of income in ad revenue.
I’ll be following advice from this post: https://thefemalebusiness.com/make-money-blogging-without-ads/. But I’ve been doing this stuff for a while and haven’t had much luck. Most messages on my contact have been Russian and crypto spam bots for crying out loud!
So today my main source of possible income comes from Amazon Associates… which doesn’t include the cheaper and more affordable digital stuff! Couldn’t just ruin Comixology you had to rip people off of other jargon could ya.
What I’m Doing To Get Content Without Blowing Budgets
I’m sorry, I’m sorry. That bit’s not all bad for making me appreciate how I got a Hoopla account. I got to read some of the best from Skottie Young like I Hate Fairyland and Middlewest. But I couldn’t find all of his stuff like his actually fun Spider-Man Mangaverse stint. And because I don’t want to waste my money on shipping costs via my other affiliate link MyComicShop.com or waste my gas money going to comic book store miles away from where I live to waste more money, I did the unthinkable and went onto comic scan websites.
Instead of Cease and Desists, Give Your Potential Customers Better Service!
Which is where one of the reasons one of my posts of this month comes into being. magico is a manga from the same magazine as a lot of people’s favorites like My Hero Acadamia.
But unlike MHA, this series isn’t available stateside, forcing fans to distribute through scanlations. For the uninitiated this means scanning pages from comics and Photoshopping translated lettering onto the pages. Then the modified scans are put onto a website for the world to see, practically free of charge… while the website gets ad revenue. These are technically illegal because it can keep readers from actually buying these. Not to mention, it could keep people from watching the anime it’s based on because it spoiled a surprise. But it’s considered a minor offense like trying to sue people over a dance move’s debatable trademark. Give one scanlator a cease and desist or take down a website, another one will pop up on a technically legal server.
Plus, I read magico on one of these sites because it was well received and because it’s not available through legal means in my country. Not even Viz’s manga apps have it in their catalogues. And Weekly Shonen Jump was made with a great service to discourage scanlations on their most popular titles! Good thing I have another excuse. magico ended publications in the 2010s with no adaptations. I try to do my posts ethically.
…Marvel, DC, and Every Other USA Publisher
Which brings me to the existence of American Comic Book scans websites. Much like with magico, I prefer to use it to find comic books I can’t find via legal means or without burning a hole in my budget on eBay. Sometimes I get lucky and find comics that I’ve never even heard of. Like one of the few comic IPs published by DC that they couldn’t keep their hands on called Xero. Ceased every publication save for the rare issues still in the wind. So yeah, even if this got republished for a movie by producer 50 Cent’s company, I’m in the legal gray area for that concern.
Not to worry, I do actually buy or use Comixology and Hoopla to read comics that’re actually available without going crazy. Especially when they’re pretty good. I spent so much time reading some of Christopher Priest or Mark Gruenwald’s bibliography, it felt like money well spent. Most of the time…
Ya see, some of the comics I read aren’t just scarcely available… they are so boring! Sometimes I drink sugar free soda, sports drinks, or herbal tea just to make sure I don’t doze off. Sometimes I wonder if my body’s becoming immune to the effects. I had only one time when I feel my heart beating fast. Thankfully I just take naps after that one instance. No need to give myself gray hairs or shorten my lifespan.
Seriously Get A Better Deal and Interface
As somebody who used the interface of different comic services, let me tell you my observations.
Comixology after being fully absorbed into Amazon Kindle is not the best service. Its Unlimited service doesn’t cover all its comics and you can’t pay for it with Amazon Gift Cards. The web version lost its easier to navigate panel-by-panel interface. As for its mobile app, you have that navigation but you can’t even buy new comics on it! Don’t even try to find a middle ground on the Kindle app.
As for Marvel, DC, and the other big publishers with services. They don’t market their content and they don’t even try to give users a friendly entrance point. Their Unlimited Services are also terrible, not including certain issues from the current series.
Better Services
Viz’s stuff is still the best hands down thanks to manga’s focus on panel layouts to help tell the story as a mechanic. It makes following the story easier thanks to that and expressive emotions. When they’re done right anyway. Not to mention Manga Plus and Weekly Shonen Jump lets users see certain content for free! The introductions and latest three chapters anyway. In Manga Plus, you can get the entire for free… for only one go per chapter mind you. As for payment, pretty simple when you can just use gift card money rather than put your credit card to pay for good deals. That’s money well spent for current and past series.
Whereas Hoopla just requires a library card with a way better interface where I can read 8 books a month for free.
Or another publisher called Interpop which allows users the option to look at some comics for free. And instead of just buying PDFs with practically no value, they know how give NFTs value. With the free bits, readers get a better chance to buy the full issue which each one sold being a bit more unique. And they give users a chance to vote in polls that can affect stories. This is actually very comparable to how professional musicians make money through NFTs.
Or how about Webtoons full of free content that can become featured. Webtoon being owned by South Korea’s premiere search engine shows all of their content (sans time locked bits) for free. And they find ways to publish some series into physical trades in general stores. Tapas, the only competitor I need to mention, also posts free content but has ways to earn points to buy featured content, some with good reception. Not to mention its partnerships to earn points through app game partnerships… some are better than others.
Finally let’s go into Global Comix, featuring well received content from different pay for publishers and the numerous webcomics looking for monetization. All of which are very well received and can be bought without NFTs with the potential to print more. Recently Source Point Press, a well received publisher decided to fold its entire digital catalogue into this service. All at a price of 7.99 a month… a bit less with a yearly subscription. It even took the best parts from those scan websites with reactions.
Conclusion: Make Your Services Worth My Money!
So with all of that in mind, why should I continue to waste money on rags that aren’t just hard to find but get expensive?
My own website’s provider BlueHost charges by the month and I’m going to need to get OptinMonster’s Pro version to make improvements and better traffic.
I’m practically making a gamble going through and reviewing content practically nobody cares about. My Superman Unbound post got no traffic. Thunder Child while praised, I did as a service and got only a little. Gepetto got a good start, and only that. I doubt anybody touched magico long enough. I’m practically gambling on Mark Gruenwald fanatics to help get my DP 7 post out to as many people as possible.
That’s not even including the subscriptions I apply. I’m lucky enough to use gift card money for Netflix.
Is There Something You Just Can’t Unsubscribe From?
As for my Patreon and Substack, I’m stuck in dilemmas. I respected someone so much that I signed up for his Patreon but ended my subscription before the month was over. When he brought it to me and other people on Twitter after I did it twice, I froze. It was pathetic and I realized too late that was stringing him along. I can’t even blame my neurodivergent mind even if it continues to get in my way. I tried to apologize after, but he cut me out of his life for good. I could still find his content in the wild but I lost that guy’s respect.
That’s not even including entertainment Patreon pages with great service and motivators. I have a yearly subscription to diverse entertainment in one Patreon, the others are places I have emotional connections with. I’m reluctant to leave a few of them because that above mistake.
It’s why I’ve been so strung out when I take the free subscriptions on SubStack. The only one I pay for is a collaboration between great comic creators like Jonathan Hickman where I received a source book with no ISBN. I think it’s supposed to be valuable to a collector if I put it on eBay. But more importantly it’s valuable for collecting all of these creatives hard work into something comprehensive.
How can I leave one of these service when compared to the above corporate services? These artists have goals and are going through the same struggles I am. But how can I support any more of them without throwing my money away?
What They Have That I Don’t
Which brings me to the sappy bits with realizations about my lack of financial support. I don’t have my 1000 true fans, people willing to spend their time or money listening to my ramblings. That takes time, effort, and marketing skills that I lack. Second, I don’t offer services that people feel comfortable spending their money on. I like to think that I’m a good writer but I don’t have a portfolio people feel comfortable enough to invest in. All I’ve got is a one-shot comic book slated for release in 2024, and that’s all I can say about it.
Besides I have a feeling most of my audience are in a similar financial situation as I am. Minimum wage workers trying to make ends meet or middle class trying to pick the best quality service among all of the riff-raff.
I’m afraid of the day I’ll have to resort to troll marketing to get any attention. Will I have to offend people so that the social algorithms can acknowledge that I exist? Because trying to stay nice is getting expensive.
Hope For The Future
Despite my remarks, I’m hoping I can prove to people I’m worth throwing a little pocket change with. I’ve recently gotten into contact with a sponsored content with an agreement that can get a little money come my way. At least as much as the minimum Ko-Fi fee is. That and I’ll be checking back and forth for the Polls to see if people are willing to throw money at me. Here and the Thread.
I have stuff that I wanna do, but I’m trying to collect a lot of intel to do more. If I have a focus, maybe that can change.