How to Inspire Your Followers

I’ll try (and, knowing me, fail) to keep this brief.

Believe it or not, it has been six months since I started the subscription service and stopped running display ads on my site. I figure its high time I  gave you a status update.

I must start by thanking everyone who has donated, subscribed, used the Amazon links (US, UK, Canada), and sponsored the site. It is because of your support that I have been able to spend much less time at the old day job and more time on the comic. Just so you know what your money has bought, I now work two to three days at the day job, and I have not posted a rerun in six months. Also, I have had time for other projects, which I will tell you about when and if they are ready.

The Amazon links continue to far outperform the old display ads. Also, the Subscription Service has provided a nice steady source of income and moral support. An unexpected benefit of the Subscription Service is that the subscribers often catch and correct my typos long before the rest of you have to look at them. It is true that sponsors for the site have been few and far between, and thats fine. Better to do business with a few clients who know what I do and are excited to get involved than to work with a bunch of clients to whom I'm nothing but an anonymous source of eyeballs.

That brings us to donations. when I brought back the donation button six months ago people started calling it a funding drive. That was not my original intent, but there was a surprisingly positive response to the idea, and I feel like I’d be a fool not to keep it up. I am, essentially running on the PBS business model now. Every six months seems like a good time period for funding drives, but I don’t feel like I can ask you all for anything when you’ve already been so generous, so instead, I’m giving you a thank you gift. It’s a .zip file containing high res copies of all of my Super Hero comics in the order they appeared. This includes two prehistoric comics I failed to include when I re-ran the hero comics in July, 2011, and several comics that have been made since, including the one attached to this screed. You can claim your gift in one of three ways.

Subscribe: The download link for the zip file will be in the subscription e-mails all month. I should also point out that the high rez comics in the zip file are the exact same resolution the subscribers get.

Donate: If you donate during the month of October you will automatically be given the option to download the zip file after any donation, no matter how small, if you use the button to the left.

E-Mail me with the Subject “I want my thank you gift”: This is a free thank you gift. You don’t have to give me anything to get it. The e-mail address is scott@basicinstructions.net.

So, six months later, no one source of income is enough to pay all my bills, but between them I am making my primary living off of my comic strip. You might not know how rare that is. There are many nationally syndicated cartoonists who can’t say that. I remain the luckiest guy any of you know.