As always, there is work going on to re-think bedlamfarm.com. This is the age of the blog and good blogs require constant change, mechanically, graphically, and in terms of content. At the moment, we are working on a design change to the header of the Farm Journal Page. I’ve asked Mannix Marketing to explore a way to bring moving or fading text to the top of the page below my by-line. I’d like to connect the blog more with words, more with the idea of a daily, living book, even if it is not in paper form.
We’re thinking of streaming some quotes from my blog posts across the top of the page, I’m hoping to connect the blog with the idea and form of the book.
As many of you know, I have come to recognize that the blog no longer exists simply to promote my books, it has become a book in its own right. As such, I have been working to establish a secure and easy-to-use subscription program so I can be paid for my work and my photographs. You can use Paypal or Credit Cards. You can manage your own subscriptions and cancel at any time. I am not accepting donations or contributions, the blog is not a charity, but I have recently opened a Post Office Box for people who wish to send me letters (no gifts please, they will not be accepted). The address is P.O. Box 2, Cambridge, N.Y., 12816. There are people, I realize, who do not like to use e-mail and are not on Facebook and they have the right to communicate with me also. I will try to read all of your messages, I can’t often respond, there are just too many messages these days coming from too many different places.
Your subscriptions are important to me. They make a difference. It is very affirming to be paid for one’s work, it will also help keep the blog vibrant and secure in a changing publishing climate. The blog will remain free to those in need. For those who can afford, I would ask you to pay for the blog if it is uplifting, informative or entertaining for you. You have a number of payment options: $3 a month for those who are financially pressed, $5 a month or $60 a year. I know how many people are subscribing and how many unique visitors there are, but I do not keep track of who subscribes and who does not. That is your business.
You will also have to make your own ethical decisions about reading the content of writers and artists and not paying for them. From the response to the subscription program so far, people seem happy to pay for the things they value, even online. So thanks for your subscriptions, they keep this blog going and growing. For those of you who simply can’t afford to pay anything, the blog will always be free to you.