So I am learning that lots of people in publishing – writers, editors, bloggers, librarians – are paying attention to what’s happening on bedlamfarm.com. I was interviewed this morning by a trade industry reporter. I told him that the blog was becoming my book, my daily book. More and more of my work – and my income – is moving online. I said my future is now more with publishing online than in paper, although I hope to keep writing paper books.

Five or six years ago, I saw that revenues and sales of hard cover books – my bread and butter – were declining and that decline has continued sharply, especially for mid-list writers like myself. I saw publishing and writing begin to move online – blogs, websites, e-books. I decided I wished to be relevant as a writer rather than simply complain about these changes. Civilization was not ending, I saw, it was just moving around.

The first step for me was to make the blog a source of frequent daily posts. To make sure that when people come here, they see something new.

The second step was to broaden the idea of a blog and to make it visual by adding photographs, something that has grown beyond my expectations and imagination. The third was to add different kinds of content around the blog – podcasts, open groups, videos.

Then I broadened the editorial content of the blog. Animals are at the heart of my writing, but I wrote about other elements of my life as well — fear, growth, depression, love, spirituality, change and growth. I share my life, not all of it, but much of it, and that has made the blog more meaningful and authentic to some people than simply selling things. The blog has grown dramatically, from a handful of people in 2007 to roughly 175,000 unique visitors a month.

When the blog began, I was under some pressure to use it as a sales took for my books, but I resisted that idea. I thought any selling ought to indirect and implicit – if people liked my writing, they would find my books. Today, the blog has become the book and so selling means subscriptions, a completely new idea, unimaginable even a few years ago.

Then this year, the most radical step, a very unusual experiment to ask people to pay for the work I do on the blog, to pay for it in the same way they once paid for magazines or newspapers. The difference being my subscription program is on the macro-model – small amounts of money paid by large amounts of people. For that to happen, the blog needs to be good and regular and useful or entertaining. This required some experimentation. I offered subscriptions for $5 a month and $60 and then realized that for some people, even $5 was too much. So I offered a $3 option, and many people who are financially pressured felt comfortable subscribing at that rate.

I saw that many people love Paypal but some prefer credit cards, so I have just added a credit card option and that has brought in some people who were unfamiliar with Paypal or uncomfortable with it. I also converted the blog to a mobile design so that people can read it easily and comfortably on their smart phones.

Once again, I am resisting conventional wisdom. I have decided to keep the blog free for those who can’t afford to pay for it. The marketers say that means most people will not pay for it, I disagree. We’ll see. Many people have said they appreciate the blog and are quite happy to pay for it. Very affirming for me.

People are not used to paying for Internet content, it is a new idea and a growing trend. It is inevitable. Obviously writers like me cannot survive if we are not paid for our work, and this is where my readers are, and this is where I am. The literary establishment and it’s many media outlets have advanced the idea that reading is dead, quality writing and story-telling are vanishing, I say nuts to that. I have seen many writers simply vanish, unable to earn a living writing, unable to find publishers or outlets for their books. Many made conscious choices to give up writing rather than tackle the challenges of digital publishing, blogs and social media.  I do not intend to vanish. I love being a writer, I will leave the world a writer if I have to tell my stories with chalk on concrete pavements.

Reading and story-telling and publishing is entering a Golden Age – more people are reading more books at cheaper prices in convenient ways than ever before in our history – but this kind of publishing has moved to a different venue – the digital one.

I am moving with it.

So my blog has become my daily book, a passionate work, a continuous work, a living memoir, a new kind of book. If I told the reporter, I figured the least I could do is share it with you as well. Thanks for the subscriptions, they are making history.

And what is the bottom line here? I am very happy to be taking responsibility for my creative life. I have had to learn about marketing, promotion, credit card transactions, publicity. I have to solicit funds just like NPR, not conceivable just a short time ago. I welcome the opportunity to change and grow, I will not be washed away by the winds of change, I am figuring it out.