You’ll have to take my word for it that I hate doing these sorts of posts (because I do). But they’re a part of running this site, so I have to do them every once in a while – and in fact, I see it’s been quite a long time since I’ve held out the hat this way. So bear with me, it’ll only take a minute.
Yes, I’m asking for your support support again. The acute cause is that I’ve just had to upgrade my hosting again, literally doubling my cost, and that was a body blow. I continue to put in a tremendous amount of time on LiA, all the more so now that the YouYube channel is up and running. I love it – believe me I wouldn’t do it if I didn’t. But it’s exhausting, I’m not getting any younger, and that time has to be productive more than just creatively for me to justify putting it in. It’s no exaggeration to say that increasing the number of supporters for LiA is absolutely essential to the site’s survival. If you can help in any way, even a buck or two a month, a one-time contribution, it’s hugely appreciated. Patreon and Paypal are the obvious ways to do it (links in the sidebar). With the latter you can either subscribe monthly or kick in a one-time pledge of support.
Speaking of YouTube, that’s a big part of LiA’s future if the site is going to survive, no question about it. Right now I’m really just hoping to get support of to subsistence level, but eventually I’d love to really amp up the technical side on YT and find ways to generate support specifically through that (crowdsourced video projects, for example). It’s a little ways off, but it’s a real goal. Travel videos(once the world gets through this) – maybe anime-themed – studio stuff, live streams. All stuff I’d love to do if I can grow LiA enough. That’s the long-term plan, even if the short term goal is survival.
I repeat this every time, but only because I mean it: I’m hugely grateful to everyone who supports LiA through commenting and visiting the site, whether they do so financially or not. You have my sincere thanks. It’s been my intent from the beginning never to have tiered content, and while I’ve managed to stay true to that vision so far, I don’t know whether it will always be possible. I hope it will be – still, I have to be realistic. The future holds what it holds irrespective of what we predict, so all I can do is wait and see. And ask for your help every once in a while.
Thank you again to everyone who reads, comments, watches, and of course, pledges. Feel free to use the comments here for any feedback or suggestions you might have – believe me I value them and take them very seriously. Stay frosty, and have a great 2021 – may it be a much better year for the world.
Enzo
P.S. – Please take a moment to vote in the Patreon poll in the sidebar, thank you!
John
February 25, 2021 at 1:13 amThank you for all the time and work you put into this, Enzo! A couple bits of questions/feedback:
First, do you have a preference between Paypal and Patreon? Does one of them take a bigger processing fee out or anything?
Second, have you considered changing the Patreon system from showing the amount earned “per article” to “per month”? I know it’s easy enough to set a monthly limit or make it a one-time monthly sum. However, for whatever reason those limited monthly payments are still shown as part of the displayed amount earned “per article.” I think people are more likely to support their favorite creators when they feel like it’s needed, and if someone were to check out your Patreon and take the “$80 per article” at face value, they’d think you’d have made $900 dollars in the last week alone. I guess it might depend on how many people prefer the “per article” system.
Finally, I know that some people also like additional incentives offered for supporting a Patreon, but I’m personally with you in that I’d prefer no tiered content or anything like that. However, speaking of your new YouTube channel, this could be a good opportunity…a very common Patreon reward from YouTube creators is to thank and include a list of their Patreon supporters at the end of every video as a kind of credits section. That might be a good idea.
Guardian Enzo
February 25, 2021 at 8:27 amThanks, John. In order:
1. I honestly don’t. Patreon may be a bit easier because tracking supporters is easier, but I have no strong preference. I’m just grateful for the help.
2. I was thinking the monthly limits thing had this more or less covered, but that’s an interesting take. I would love to hear opinions on this from anybody out there – please use the comments and share your thoughts!
3. I love that idea. Would you rather see it as a verbal acknowledgement or a credits roll?
John
February 25, 2021 at 9:24 amWell, verbally naming everyone might eventually get a bit unwieldy, but could be a nice extra personal touch while it’s still manageable. Could also do a combination where you include the full credits roll on screen and shout out a few specific names at random each video.
Really hope you find enough support — you certainly deserve it.
cerose8376
February 25, 2021 at 1:34 amYour Patreon calls this blog “Lost in America (www.lostinanime.com)”. Is that right?
Guardian Enzo
February 25, 2021 at 6:36 amYes, that is correct!
nadavu
February 27, 2021 at 10:13 amHi Enzo,
Here’s an idea for a travel video once the rona is over — come visit! We’d love to have you over.
Also, just throwing it out there, but I would personally prefer to use Subscribe Star over Patreon or PayPal because I don’t like how they’ve been banning creators who they don’t agree with politically. That being said, I realize that adding a third method for one subscriber is a lot of work for little gain, so I’m just voicing my opinion for the protocol (and in the unlikely event that more people feel the same).
Guardian Enzo
February 27, 2021 at 10:41 amI’ve never even heard of it! I’ll take a look.
Shawn
March 1, 2021 at 11:30 amBeen reading your stuff off and on since like 2010ish since I was still in undergrad….thanks all for all the posts and work that you do and have done on here. Cheers!
Guardian Enzo
March 1, 2021 at 1:01 pmThanks, Shawn! And thanks for your support, it’s incredibly generous.