"No man but a blockhead..."
It's time to go full Samuel Johnson with this blog
It’s time to see if I can make “I Think We’ve Been Playing It Wrong” work as part of this new patronage economy thing. On the one hand, I am still reluctant to throw up the paywall because, according to how these things usually work, no more than 10% of you will pony up for my best stuff and it won’t be as fun writing for such a small audience. On the other hand, I do have to treat the time and effort that I put into writing this blog as if it has value. I literally cannot afford to keep giving it away because ego fulfillment and amusement don’t seem to be acceptable forms of payment for rent, utilities, groceries and the like. I’ve tried it; it doesn’t work. This is why my favorite of Samuel Johnson’s aphorisms (as handed down to us by Boswell, anyway) has always been, “No man but a blockhead ever wrote, except for money.” That by itself makes Dr. Johnson the patron saint of freelance writers, AFAIC.
Having blogged on Substack for over a year now and having done some research into how Substack will let me manipulate their subscription structure, I’ve finally figured out how I think I can make this work. There will be two subscription tiers, Free and Paid.
Free subscriptions: You’ll get 3 or more posts per month and access to the archives. Free posts will include announcements for Ramen Sandwich Press and Ramen Sandwich Tees; glimpses into how and why I write what I write for roleplaying games; and my quick-takes on news relevant to the gaming hobby and game publishing. Free content will also include reviews of tabletop and digital games, as they seem to be an effective way of drawing new readers to the blog.
Paid subscriptions: In addition to all of the above, you’ll get access to 3 more posts per month. These posts hidden behind the velvet rope will be, as a general rule, longer and more substantial than the free content, including (but not limited to) media reviews, longer and more thoughtful essays on games and gaming and other nerdy matters, extended reminiscences from my years as a gamer and a writer, developer and self-publisher of games, tips and hints essays and photo rolls from conventions that I have attended. Maybe I’ll experiment with posting fiction here, as well. Subscriptions will cost $5/month or $30/year — the least that Substack allows me to charge.
Free subscribers will also get teasers for posts that lie behind the paywall, with the requisite prodding to upgrade to a paid subscription.
Options to sample before you buy are available, some of which are built into Substack, while others require a bit of fudging. Substack allows you access to one paywalled post for free. That has always struck me as a little restrictive, so I’m going to experiment a bit. First of all, everyone who is a free subscriber to “I Think We’ve Been Playing It Wrong” as of November 2, 2024 gets a 1-month paid subscription on the house. I’ll add all of you manually. That should give you a bit of grace to decide whether you want to pay for a paid subscription or just keep on as a free subscriber. Also, if you tip me $5 through PayPal or Buy Me a Coffee, I’ll gift you a 3-month paid subscription as a sort of trial subscription thing. I’ll keep track, so it will only work once; after that, you’re more than welcome to hit the tip jar, but I’ll treat it as a gift and thank you very much.
In addition to all of that, everyone who hit the tip jar to help me through my recent data recovery crisis will get a 1-year paid subscription on the house as a modest gesture of thanks. It’s the least I can do — and of course, doing the least I can do in a given situation is something with which I have a lot of experience. If you are already a paid subscriber, I’ll tack a free month on to the end of your current subscription. Substack will let me know when you’re up.
And with that, on with the show! In a few days, I’ll post a short essay, mostly taken from a post from a previous incarnation of “I Think We’ve Been Playing It Wrong,” about why publishing boardgames basically sucks as a business proposition. After that? Well, stay tuned.