As regular readers will no doubt be aware, I invite those who wish to support this blog to subscribe to my Patreon. I’m gratified by the support that some of you have given – it lets me know that people value what I’m writing, as of course do comments, shares and so on. You can be sure that I also look at my page views and see when a post is popular, which usually means that people have shared it more widely, which is great.
Financial support is not more important to me than that sort of moral support, but is, obviously, different. It means I can spend more time on the blog, and it can mean that my financial situation is a little less precarious, all my sources of income being variable and not entirely within my control. So when you support me and my blog financially, you make a practical difference to my life, as well as encouraging me to write more.
One possible problem with Patreon, for some people who might like to offer such support, is that it is based on monthly subscriptions. You might wish to give support when you read something you particularly like, or when you have a spare few quid (or equivalent in other currency), rather than committing to a monthly contribution. While monthly contributions give me more predictable income, occasional contributions would still be very welcome.
Well, as eagle-eyed readers may have noticed in the sidebar (on desktop) or below posts (on mobile), you can now “buy me a coffee” and make a one-off contribution through Ko-Fi. You can also make a monthly contribution with Ko-Fi, though it will be easier for me to keep track if you do it through Patreon. However, if people prefer to do it with Ko-Fi, that’s fine with me.
As always, all blog content remains free to everyone, and supporters on either platform will have no exclusive content. Patreon supporters get some exclusive previews and opportunities for interaction, depending on the level of support, but no exclusive content, and previews do not mean early access to actual posts – just summaries of what is coming up. I don’t want anyone to feel any pressure to contribute financially – all support is welcome, whether it can be paid into the bank or not.
