Hold Something: Quarterly Update and Spiel

[bodlon]

I know I post periodic tiny status updates about Hold Something, mention it in passing, drop photos online occasionally, and so on.

April is a significant month, though. It means I've done this project for a full quarter and nothing has (as far as I'm aware of, at least) burst into flames. This is a great accomplishment for me, particularly considering that I frequently burn candles when I write, and the usual clutter level on my desk.

Ahem.

So basically I am taking a quarterly opportunity to share how things are going, bring new folks up to speed on what the whole thing is about, and encourage you all to spread the word to people who might be interested in checking this thing out.

What's Hold Something?
Each month, I choose a snapshot I've taken with my digital camera and use it as a prompt for a short story. Readers get a drugstore print of the photo, a copy of the story on high quality paper, and a note from me. I also draw one subscriber from the list every month at random to receive an extra goodie. This is usually a spare author's copy of something I have on hand, but it can also be a found object that relates to the story, or some other shiny thing that I think that reader will appreciate. You can get all the details here. You can also check out an excerpt from a previous month's story.

So how's Hold Something doing a quarter later?
Things are going pretty well from a production standpoint. I've got a regular editor (copperbadge, who's written and self-published some excellent novels), and I have a regular source for my materials. I know about how long it takes to do the actual material production and shipping. I would say in terms of reliability, things are Very Good.

Overall, readers are largely positive and enjoying what they get every month. I've got folks on two continents. There is nothing cooler than sending mail to TWO CONTINENTS every month.

Why should people subscribe?
1) Hold Something has turned out to be kind of awesome. (No, really. I love making this thing.)
2) I pay my editor a flat fee per subscriber, and would love to be able to pay him what he's worth.
3) Hold Something is a project that creates an immediate and mostly reliable revenue stream, which helps me justify the amount of time I spend writing instead of getting a "real" second job to support my mom, fix the house, etc. (This is especially urgent right now since we need to have work done on the roof this year and I'm still scrambling to figure out how I'm going to afford this. Being a grown-up is hard.)

Anyway. That's my quarterly spiel. Ping me if you've got questions, feel free to spread the word, etc. Also, thank you to the folks who do already subscribe. I grin every month when I go down the list, frantically writing addresses on envelopes.

This post has been mirrored from Christian A. Young's Dimlight Archive. To see it in its original format, visit dimlightarchive.com