…so is loose change
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Standing At The Crossroad (Now with commentary from 2024)
My Problem: For a long time now, I’ve known that my blog gets very few visits. The why of this is probably a combination of many things, and really, it’s not important. It all boils down to me writing stuff, sometimes as often as 7 days a week, that less than a handful of people ever read.
True, I’ve always said that I write for my own enjoyment, and I do, but I also enjoy finding out that people like my stuff. Some years ago, I started a Patreon for my blog and it has had varying numbers of supporters, all of them wonderful people. Their donations have helped myself and my little family through some tough financial times.
(I still love my Patrons!)
But I have, for at least the last couple of years, felt like I have not been doing enough for my patrons. I’ve also been having feelings about my blog’s lack of readership. Part of my brain has been trying to figure out the next step. I think I’ve figured it out.
In the last couple of weeks, this has caused a pretty severe case of Writer’s Block. I had to do something about that.
The Solution: I have no idea what the overall readership of blogs is, but I’d bet that it is much less than 10 years ago, and WAY less than it was 16.5 years ago when I started on Blogger.
The why of that is simple: Facebook, Twitter, podcasts and vidcasts. Facebook and Twitter have let much of what folks blogged about find a huge new audience. Podcasts and vidcasts are just easier to do than read a blog, the former especially if you are on the go.
(Of course, in the last couple of years, Twitter, now stupidly called “X”, has turned into a fascist/racist shithole after losing almost all advertisers and most sane users. Fuck Elon Musk.)
I write plenty of stuff on Facebook, including non- game related stuff that used to go up on the blog, especially after I moved from Blogger to LiveJournal. 98% of my personal stuff goes up on FB now. Almost none goes on the blog.
So now, my blog is pretty much for fiction, and FB handles personal stuff. I don’t see a reason to change the FB part, but the blog is gonna change. I’m finally going to move to a podcast. I considered a vidcast, but since that would just be me looking at a camera talking, the only reason to have the visual aspect would be to see which bandanna I was wearing. Not enough of a reason.
(My thoughts on this have changed)
I recorded a test episode of a podcast last year on Anchor. It did not suck, but I didn’t do another one, for a few reasons including the Recent Plague. The other night, I recorded a new first episode where I just read the first installment of my “Confessions of a Dungeon Master”. It did not suck, plus it had some extra comments by me not found in the blog version.
So I’m going to record more episodes of CoaDM. When I hit 7, I’ll put up one a day on my Patreon page for my beloved patrons to hear in advance of the rest of the world. When I’ve done at least 3 weeks worth of daily podcasts, I’ll start putting them on Anchor. That means that patrons will be 3 weeks ahead of everyone else.
Can I actually do a daily short podcast? Bitch, please. I have over 2,100 Doclopedia entries, 13 years of CritterCon reports, and tons of other fiction. Just reading that stuff daily will do the trick for years. And it’s not like I’ll stop writing, it’s just that I’ll write for the podcast first, then post it on the blog later. Of course, there will be differences, since on the podcast I’ll have spur of the moment comments and such.
(A daily podcast? NO!)
Oh, and my patrons will get to hear content that does not make it to Anchor.
And as far as writing goes, I may also write stuff just for the blog, but probably infrequently. I will definitely put up Patreon only spanking new short fiction, Doclopedia posts and other stuff. Because I love my patrons, all of whom are excellent examples of humanity.
(Doclopedia is now nearing 3,000 posts)
I’m not promising a fancy podcast, since I still need to learn stuff about Audacity, which I’ll do once my friend Cathy Ford and I can sit down in person (hopefully Real Soon Now), so she can lead me though it like the tech dummy I am.
So, first episodes may not have music until they go on Anchor. They almost certainly will have fake advertisements. Because you know, me.
As to when I’ll put the first one up on Patreon, well, there are a few dates in May that have meaning for me, both happy and sad. I’ll have to think on this.
Whenever it starts, Patrons will be able to hear it for as low as a buck a month.
If you’ve read this far, thank you. I can tell you that even as I type this, I can feel a sort of creative weight lifting from my poor old brain. I hope y’all give the podcast a listen.
Doc
(The podcast has been going for nearly 3 years and is approaching 200 episodes. It does have music. Still not sure if I’m even getting 10 listens a month, but I’m okay with it. Have an idea for a livestream I might start this spring on YouTube. Probably monthly or every 2 weeks. Blog and podcast aren’t going anywhere anytime soon.)
NOTE FROM September, 2025: Celebrated the start of Season 4 of the podcast in early June, just in time to take 2 months off due to knee replacement surgery. Still not doing livestreams yet, but have done a couple of short vidcasts.
I’m having Deep Thoughts about monetization and how to combine stuff from the blog with the podcast to make a few more $$. An experiment will begin in early October. We’ll see where it goes.
The Dociverse Blog 