Tag: begging

Phone it in Friday XLII: An Appeal to Readers

The Portly PoliticoLeave a comment

The following is an adaption of an e-mail I sent to paid subscribers on 1 August 2023.  I’m working hard to provide quality content on a daily basis, and am hoping to increase my subscribers.  There are real financial costs associated with maintaining The Portly Politico, and ad revenue does not come close to covering those costs.  Subscriptions are what keep the blog self-sustaining; without them, it would require a substantial financial outlay from yours portly to keep the blog going.

There is also a substantial amount of time that goes into maintaining the blog.  It takes hours each week to write, edit, and promote the blog and my related ventures.  Subscriptions certainly help financially, yes, but they also motivate me to keep going.  I want to provide a quality product in exchange for your hard-earned dollars.  It is difficult, at times, to churn out post after post, day after day.

As conservatives, we should support conservative creators.  The Left is eating our lunch in the culture wars (well, they were until everyone started waking up in the last couple of years) in large part because they support their own.  Maybe it’s not me you choose to support, but I would be humbled to receive your support.  Remember, Ben Shapiro, Turning Point, Dennis Prager, etc., etc., have plenty of resources already.

As the below e-mail/post relates, I am a good steward of the money sent my way.  I don’t blow it on fancy parties or glossy promos.  I use it to maintain the blog and to obtain necessary supplies, and occasionally to commission works from other creators for the blog.

Thank you for taking the time to read this appeal.  Even if you are not in a place to subscribe, please forward this message to others who might be interested.  Every little bit helps.

Regards,

TPP

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The Return of Bandcamp Friday

The Portly Politico3 Comments

After taking off during the long summer months, Bandcamp is bringing back Bandcamp Friday today, and continuing it the first Friday of every month through the end of 2021.

For those that have forgotten—or steadfastly ignored my many, many, many, many, many posts about it—Bandcamp Friday is when Bandcamp waives the 15% commission they usually take on sales through the site.  So, if you buy, say, Electrock EP: The Four Unicorns of the Apocalypse for $4, I get almost the full $4 (PayPal takes a small cut still), instead of $4 minus $0.60 to Bandcamp.

Another, more dramatic example:  if you buy my full discography at $19.98, Bandcamp doesn’t take their $3 cut, so most of that goes directly to me (again, minus the transaction fee PayPal assesses).

Bandcamp began doing Bandcamp Fridays during The Age of The Virus, when most musicians (myself included) witnessed a catastrophic drop in their revenue.  Venues closed or stopped live music; parents withdrew students from one-on-one lessons; and private parties were cancelled, meaning fewer of those lucrative gigs.  Also, fewer live performances meant fewer royalties for songwriters.

Fortunately, that situation is improving, and people are eager to get out and hear live music again.  Still, pitching in a few bucks helps immensely—and you get some good music in the process, too!

So, on with the sales pitch!  Here are my seven releases, in chronological order:

  • Electrock Music (2006, $5) – Twelve tracks from my senior year of college, all instrumental MIDI tunes.  I gave physical copies to my Fiction Writing Workshop class; I wonder if they still have those little homemade copies.
  • Electrock II: Space Rock (2007, $7) – I’m obsessed with the idea of the sci-fi rock opera (I actually tried to write one for piano and vocals back in 2012-2013, but never finished it)—it’s the most decadent, self-indulgent form of musical expression.  That was the driving spirit behind this rockin’ collection of out-of-this-world jams.
  • Electrock EP: The Four Unicorns of the Apocalypse (2012, $4) – My younger brother introduced me to a song call “Biomachinery” by some melodic death metal band, and the rhythm of that word inspired the lead-off track of this four-song cycle, “Cyborg Unicorn.”  Of course, the instrumental chorus of that track is basically Joan Jett’s “I Love Rock ‘n’ Roll,” so it’s true what they say:  composers swipe from each other all the time.
  • Electrock Retrospective, Volume I: Dance Party (2013, $3.60) – I had a number of tracks stored up for a never-completed Electrock III, so I thought I would begin dribbling them out as part of repackaged “retrospectives.”  This first one, Dance Party, features “Robobop,” which is also a perk for $5 subscribers to my SubscribeStar page.
  • Electrock Retrospective, Volume II: Technological Romance (2013, $2.14) – Technological Romance features “Pwrblld (Ballad II)“—with apologies to Chicago’s “You’re the Inspiration.”
  • Contest Winner EP (2015, $5) – This album is my tour de force.  I recorded it in a real-life studio, overdubbing my vocals with my piano part.  It was an amazing experience, and these tunes are staples of my live shows (especially fan favorites “Hipster Girl Next Door” and “Greek Fair“).
  • The Lo-Fi Hymnal (2020, $4) – I started playing piano at my little Free Will Baptist Church a couple of years ago, and I began taking little recordings of offertory, invitational, etc.  I compiled the four very lo-fi recordings into a short compilation.  I’m hoping to record a second volume at some point.

An easy (and free) way to support me is to “follow” my Bandcamp page and my Amazon author page.  I post updates about new merchandise, new music, and other interesting offers about once a month to the Bandcamp page, and new books will pop up on my Amazon page as they’re published.  It’s a good way to keep up with the latest news on my musical adventures.

Another free way to support me is to turn off your ad-blocker.  The site delivers several thousand ad impressions monthly, but most of those are blocked, which means they don’t pay out.  You can usually find the ad-blocker as a little widget or icon in the upper-right-hand side of your browser; click on it and it will usually give you the option to “pause” or stop the blocker from running on this site.  I know ads are annoying, but seeing a few DuckDuckGo ads helps out in an incremental way.

Even if none of that entices you, no worries!  I’m just glad to have you here, reading my self-indulgent garbage and my lengthy advertisement posts.

Happy Friday!

—TPP

Lazy Sunday CIII: Begging

The Portly PoliticoLeave a comment

In maintaining this blog, I write mostly for the fulfillment and enjoyment of writing.  It helps clarify my thoughts, and the act of writing—especially in the mornings—is calming (oddly, even when I’m writing about something infuriates me).  The blog is not a moneymaking venture (though it has started bringing in a few bucks a month thanks to SubscribeStar).

That said, I often use the blog to push my music and merch—and, often, to straight-up beg for donations and subscriptions.  It seems like I’ve been making more of these appeals lately, so in the spirit of self-indulgent self-promotion, I decided to dedicate this Lazy Sunday to a solipsistic sampling of sales pitches:

So, if those posts don’t convince you to give me your money, well, it’s a lost cause.  But thanks for reading!

Happy Sunday!

—TPP

Other Lazy Sunday Installments:

Tip The Portly Politico:  Support quality commentary on politics, education, culture, and the arts with your one-time donation.

***NOTE: This link is NOT a subscription to my SubscribeStar Page; it is for a one-time donation/tip via PayPal. To subscribe to my SubscribeStar page, use this URL:   https://subscribestar.com/the-portly-politico***

Panning Panhandlers

The Portly Politico2 Comments

Today’s post is about panhandling.  In that spirit, consider subscribing to my SubscribeStar page.  $1 a month gets you exclusive access to posts every Saturday, as well as special posts throughout the year.

As a Christian, I struggle with how to deal with the homeless.  On the one hand, Jesus makes it pretty clear in Matthew 25:40 that whatever we do to the least, we likewise do to Him.  There’s also that verse—more scripturally-literate readers can assist with the exact verse in a comment—about some poor people being Jesus in disguise.

On the other hand, homeless people are (often) mentally ill (see below), (potentially) dangerous nuisances that extort you for cash.  The economy of it is simple:  the homeless person will leave you in peace if you just toss a few quarters into his cup.  Some have more elaborate cons—the guy who perennially needs $10 to buy gas to get home—but it all amounts to an impromptu shakedown.

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Support The Portly Politico on SubscribeStar

The Portly Politico1 Comment

Today’s post is a brief departure from the regular quality analysis and commentary you crave to make a shameless sales pitch. Actually, it’s more a plea akin to online begging.

I’ve recently created an account at SubscribeStar, a subscription service that allows creators to collect subscription fees from their followers. If you’d like to support the writing here at TPP, but previously weren’t sure how, consider subscribing to my SubscribeStar page. You can do so for as little as $1 a month.

If you subscribe at $5 or more, you’ll receive some additional weekly content that will only be available at the Portly Politico SubscribeStar page. You’ll also get advanced notice (and special deals) on some planned TPP ebooks.

I will, of course, continue updating the WordPress blog daily (to the best of my ability), which will always be free.

Long-term, I still have plans to launch The Portly Podcast, which may begin life as a SubscribeStar exclusive.

The Portly Politico is a passion project, one that I hope adds some value to your life, and something original and productive to the discussion of national, cultural, and political problems. I’ll continue with it regardless of the number of subscribers I receive, for as long as it’s feasible to do so.

That said, financial support is appreciated, and it helps improve the quality of the blog, as I can invest funds into improving the layout, registering a domain name, building readership, etc.

So whether you can pitch in $1, $5, or nothing but your eyeballs, I look forward to writing quality commentary and analysis into the future.

Thanks again, and God bless.

–TPP