Support MWS
Support Independent Creativity
Yes, by support, I mean “give money to” at least in this context. I’m an DIY, independent creator. I write, make music, and create other content, and most of it is made available for free in one form or another. I’ve left it up to the audience, to you: if you like what I do, I hope you will compensate me for it.
Don’t You Have A Day Job?
I do! That, and my wife’s job, takes care of living expenses, bills, mortgage, car upkeep, pet upkeep… you know, life stuff. There’s very little to nothing left over to finance creativity. Creativity has to pay for itself.
It’s An Exchange
The way I see it, if a work of art — be it podcast, novel, short story, film, photograph, song, what have you — provides you with an emotional experience, the artist has done their job and done you a service. In exchange for that service, I believe we should provide the artist with whatever they need to continue producing that art.
Ways To Support My Creative Efforts
Obviously, the most obvious thing you can do is ,a href=”http://www.mattselznick.com/writing/fiction/novels/brave-men-run/”>buy my book and donate amount you feel is appropriate for the e-book and music downloads I’ve made available on this site. You can also donate to Sonitotum if you enjoy the podcast.
Shop The Mall
You buy books? Music? Movies? Electronics? Sure you do. You’re just like me; it’s why we get along so well. If you’re gonna spend money, start by linking through to Amazon.com
It doesn’t cost any more, and I’ll get a small percentage of whatever you spend. It’s a win-win: you get the goodies you want, I get a little pocket change to put toward my creative endeavors.
You’ll notice links to books, music, and other stuff throughout this site. Just like in the Mall, those are affiliate links. There’s a couple right there two paragraphs up! Click, buy, and I get a sliver of the pie, with thanks.
Participate In Crowdfunding
Every now and then, I’ll hold a fund drive with a specific goal. I’ll ask all of you to donate just a little individually toward that goal. We’ll keep track on the sidebar of the website, and shut it down when the goal is reached. Your five or six bucks when a Crowdfunding is in effect is appreciated.
Give Just Because
If you like the stuff I do, the things I say, the principles I stand for, and you have money laying around you’re not using… give it to me.
Cheeky son of a gun, ain’t I?
I’m talking about patronage in the purest sense. Give whatever you feel you can spare balanced with whatever you think I’m worth, once a month, and you actively contribute to the support of DIY, independent creative endeavors. Mine in particular.
Monthly patrons will be listed on the Patrons page. I’ll include a link to your web site, business, or cause, so you can use the space to promote whatever it is that you do and who you are. If you stay subscribed for at least two months but then decide against continuing, I’ll still keep your name in a Past Patrons section of the page.
The Terms Of Use spell this out, but it’s worth repeating here, because who really reads Terms of Use pages? Any monetary or material donation provided to Matthew Wayne Selznick or MWS Media by an individual, group, organization, corporation, company or other entity is considered a gift. Gifts are not tax-deductible. Gifts are not refundable or returnable. Just so everyone is clear.
Regardless of the level of monthly generosity, anyone who does this is very, very special to me. Thank you, in advance!
Notice The Ads
There are text ads here and there throughout the site. They’re not very conspicuous; I like that, since they don’t really get in the way. They are there, though — give ‘em a glance every now and then.
Selznick Sucks
What’s that? You don’t understand why I’m holding out one hand and reaching for your wallet with the other? You think I’m turning my back on my punk rock beginnings and morphing into some kind of sell-out black hat SEO commercial blogger?
$3,000.00
That’s how far in the red I was in 2007 — expenses directly related to being a DIY, independent artist. Travel, web hosting and domain registration costs, bandwidth, equipment, software, and so on… it adds up.
Now, even if I was stone broke, I’d still be creative — you can’t stop the drive, the urge to make stuff, no matter what. That said, it would be nice to know that the things I love to do — those things which others also love that I do — are at least paying for themselves, and at best providing for myself and my wife and our pets.
So mattselznick.com is monetized. But I’ll make you a deal. I’ll post my earnings and expenses right here on the site starting with April 2008, so every one of you can know just how and where your money is going. And if the day ever comes when my net income from all my creative endeavors exceeds my gross day job income (currently about $2,700.00 a month) for six months in a row, I’ll quit that day job and focus on making things for you, full time. Deal?
