Earlier today I celebrated reaching 10,000 views in a month on my blog. This was such an exciting milestone to reach and one I’m incredibly happy about. But it made me reflect on what is actually next for the blog.

Over the past year and a half (since deciding to try monetising the blog) it has occurred to me that I am really bad at selling myself. Okay, I already knew that given I’ve previously described myself as a ‘mostly functional human being’ in a job interview or words to that affect, but it has occurred to me how contradictory I am being. On the one hand, I really want my blog to end up being something full time and not a hobby which means I need to sell myself as a writer but on the other hand explicitly promoting my Patreon always feels pushy.

The occasional tweet reminder and the small button at the bottom of posts is usually about all I really do to promote my Patreon page because any other time when I go to write something I just think it sounds like I’m being obnoxious. And if you find it obnoxious, I’m going to warn you, now is the time to bail out of this post because what this post is going to be is an outline as to why I feel people should become Patrons of 100 Word Anime, a thanks to those who have been patrons, and a look toward the future.

So, full disclosure and no trying to sneak in a sales pitch. This is a sales pitch for my blog and hopefully you stick around to read it.

Why Should You Become a Patron?

Every person will have a slightly different reason as to why they will decide to become someone’s patron, but the shared idea is that they feel the content is worth supporting. However, I am going to be specific and lay out the reasons why I feel it is worth your time becoming a patron of my blog by the end of September:

01. By becoming a patron for even $1 per month, you will gain access to patron only posts that are currently password protected. While there aren’t as many of these as I would have liked for this year with sickness and a few other issues making it harder to do extra content,  there’s still a fair amount of content that you will gain instant access to. This includes some audio blogs, episode reviews of Darling in the Franxx and the currently airing Kakuriyo no Yadomeshi, and my so far only video review for Darling in the Franxx (both the first and second versions of it).

While that isn’t an amazing amount of content, it is a growing pool of content created for patrons as a thanks for helping me to achieving my goal of one day being a full time anime blogger and looking at other forms of content other than written (even if written content will remain my primary focus). While working full time and maintaining my usual content takes a lot of my time, I’m going to keep working to increase output for patrons to help them feel that they are getting a little something back for their support.

The other part of being a patron is that should you wish to have a say on content (a particular show you would like to be reviewed for patrons during the season) being a patron gives you access to this. The Summer season didn’t have any requests so there isn’t a title being reviewed for patrons only, but as we enter the Autumn season we will see if anything gets suggested.

02. The second reason for signing up to be a patron by the end of September is because all of my patrons have been offered a PDF version of the book Thoughts on Anime 2017, and anyone who becomes a patron before the end of September this year and maintains their status as a patron until at least the end of December (so $4 total if you pledge $1 a month), will have access to 2017’s book immediately after September and the second release, Thoughts on Anime 2018 in PDF form which will be released in January and already has much more content packed into it than last year’s release. Seriously, it needs an edit but it is already topping 200,000 words and contains my features, top 5’s, episode and series reviews for 2018 to date and will also have some small amount of totally new content added in once I’ve got it into a state that doesn’t make me want to delete it.

03. If you happen to pledge more than $1 a month, you start opening up access to requests for post topics, guest posts for your own blog, or requested reviews of streaming anime where each episode review will include a link to your blog as the person who has requested it. While none of these are amazing rewards, it does give you increased access to control over the content on 100 Word Anime. I’m also fairly open to discussion about what else could be offered to patrons so if you think of something you would like as a reward let me know via my contact page or a DM on Twitter.

If you want to know all the reward levels, be sure to check them out on Patreon. And again, if you want to negotiate your own reward I’m very happy to discuss.

I am aware that many people out there are struggling and while they might like to be patrons it just isn’t possible. I’m very grateful for all my readers and the support you give the blog through visiting and reading content, your likes and comments, and making me feel like a welcome member of the community.

A Million Thank-Yous

Now, I know some of my Patrons aren’t listed and some of the links need updating. Part of this is because some patrons have chosen to remain anonymous and part of it is because I haven’t got the current link or name the patron wants to list. However, I want all of my patrons to know how much I appreciate you. Over the past year I’ve started closing in on that first goal of $50 a month and I am definitely continuing to work on developing more content for you. As always, if you have suggestions of things you would like to see on the blog or improvements I could make, message me. I value your input greatly and I want 100 Word Anime to be a blog you enjoy.

And, if you are a patron and you are missing from the list below, or your link is wrong (and you didn’t ask to be anonymous), please contact me. I will update the about page and ensure your links are accurate and I also want to add links into the sidebar of my blog for my patrons so I want to make sure they are correct. I’m going to contact you sometime this month requesting an image you would like associated with your link so that I can put this together. If you continue to not want to be listed, that’s also fine.

• Kendra Ressler
• Mark King
• Crystal Dennis
• Scott
• Ravenhawks’ Magazine
• Games Like Finder
• The Backloggers
• Mythos
• Kat Sade
• Astral Gemini
• Annie Gallagher
• Aaron
• Bannet

The Future

As we continue on this blogging journey, I’m continuing to work to improve the blog and ensure there is content people want to read on it. When I reach that first target of $50 a month, I am aiming to ensure that patrons gain access to video content on a semi-regular basis in addition to the normal blog content.  At $100 I am going to remove WordAds and minimise all other advertising on the blog. Should I actually make it to $500 a month, the goal is to produce to video posts every month in addition to existing content, as at that stage I will be able to step back in my role at my day job and focus more on blogging.

Looking beyond that point is hard because I’m not really sure how long it will take to get there. Still with reaching the 10,000 view goal, I really feel positive that I can achieve this. I do know that whatever direction the blog goes in, I’m going to continue to work hard to make it the best it can be. If I were to look really far into the future when the blog was actually a full time job I’d certainly be looking to take on other writers at some point in order to expand the range of anime covered here. However that is a very distant future goal (or feels like it at this point).

For those who made it to the end of the post, thanks for your time and thanks for listening to my sales pitch. As always, you can use the links below to support the blog by becoming a patron, buying me coffee, or you can make a one off donation into PayPal.

Let’s have fun discussing anime now and into the future.

Thanks for reading.

Karandi James

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