Fundraiser to Keep Shakesville Going

This is, for those who have requested it, your bi-monthly reminder to donate to Shakesville and an important fundraiser to keep Shakesville going.

It's also a follow-up to my August post in which I straightfowardly communicated that donations had to increase in order for me to keep doing this job, and to keep Shakesville a safe ad-free space, while making enough through donations to support myself, independently.

I promised that I would continue to communicate openly with this community about what I need to keep doing this and to reasonably assess how this space, and my work to make it what it is, is valued.

To give you a picture of what things currently look like for me, yesterday there were over 18,000 pageviews at Shakesville. I worked more than fifteen hours, which was longer than usual, because of my coverage of a major news story.

And for the entire day, I made $37.17 in donations, before taxes.

Now, some days donations are significantly higher than that, but some days they are even lower.

This is not a tenable situation for me.

I would very much like to keep doing this, but, as I've said before, if the readership of this space determines that they would rather not collectively donate so that I can keep running and writing for this space in the same way I do now, then that is a legitimate choice, and I will move on. But I have been asked to communicate frankly with you about what I need, if it gets to the point where I'm approaching a tough decision, so that's what I'm doing.

Again: I don't mean for that to sound like an ultimatum. I'm just trying to be as straightforward as possible. It takes an enormous amount of time, more than a full-time job, to manage the community, write and edit content, moderate comments alongside the other mods, and engage with readers via email and social media. I can't do this and hold down another job. So this has to pay me a livable wage for my time, and enough to pay contributors for their work, or I need to find another way to make a living.

And just to be abundantly clear: I'm not looking to get rich off this work. I simply want to make enough money that I am able to support myself, in exchange for my full-time labor.

So, if you value Shakesville, please consider setting up a subscription or making a one-time contribution.

I would certainly be grateful for your support, if you are able to chip in. The donation link is in the sidebar to the right. Or click here.

Please note that I don't want anyone to feel obliged to contribute financially, especially if money is tight. There is way more than a significant enough readership that no one needs to donate if it would be a hardship, and no one should ever feel bad about that.

Thank you to each of you who donates or has donated, whether monthly or as a one-off, financially or otherwise. I am deeply appreciative.