Selling Out
If you happen to be a frequent reader of this blog, or even an infrequent reader, you may notice something different on it that has not appeared before. I recently signed up for Google AdSense, which places ads on my blog for readers to click on and, in turn, patronize ad-placing companies.
You should feel no obligation to do this, but you should know that I signed up for this service with my own interests in mind, as I get a dividend of the revenue that is generated from clicking on these ads.
You may accuse me of the title of this essay, "selling out,"with my newly adopted mercenary behavior. I can assure you that I will not be making very much money, if any at all. The amount I make is based on how many people click on the ads, which is then based on how many people read this blog. Then, even after people click on the ads, Google takes a large portion of the cut, leaving me with not much at all. The only way I would begin to start making actual money is if thousands of people suddenly start reading and are interested in the ads enough to click on them and buy something. I would be pleasantly surprised if I were to start receiving checks in the mail of any significance any time soon.
Signing up for the ads also puts me in place in a very interesting economic social experiment. The ads put on my blog are decided by an algorithm that determines what my blog is about topically, and then places ads based on their relevance to that topic. I am interested to see what the computer thinks my blog is about, first-of-all, and then what it thinks my readers are all about. I tend to cover a wide variety of topics, leaving nothing taboo, and with plenty of room for more topics, and my readers vary a great deal in beliefs, socio-economic status, and educational background. I'm no one-trick pony.
Nevertheless, I have been told by several people that they enjoy reading my stories on my blog, and that I have an interesting/entertaining way of telling a story. Thus, I've decided to pursue my writing with a little more fervor in the near future. I hope to become way more prolific and to inundate the reader with more essays than they can shake a stick at. My hope in doing such is to generate more interest in my blog, and, in turn, more revenue to supplement my meager salary, which comes and goes so easily. I do not intend, in the coming weeks, to compromise my integrity. I always write from the heart, and if I have nothing to write about, then I don't. It just so happens that I have a great deal of thoughts swimming around in my head that I am itching to put down in writing. So if I'm going to be doing that, then I might as well take any hand-outs I can, no?
It is my opinion that every artist everywhere has the general intention of selling out, one way or another. Although it is often thought of in a negative connotation, selling out is not exactly a bad thing. Theater performers dream of selling out the theater every night, so as to perform to a sold-out audience. When you try and get tickets to a concert or event, only to find it is sold out, that's not any good for you but it is great for the artist. Artists have every intention of creating great art. But what good is creating art if it is not going to be appreciated in one's own time? And what better way to show appreciation than to pay someone's hard-earned cash for it.
Besides, I need the money.
You should feel no obligation to do this, but you should know that I signed up for this service with my own interests in mind, as I get a dividend of the revenue that is generated from clicking on these ads.
You may accuse me of the title of this essay, "selling out,"with my newly adopted mercenary behavior. I can assure you that I will not be making very much money, if any at all. The amount I make is based on how many people click on the ads, which is then based on how many people read this blog. Then, even after people click on the ads, Google takes a large portion of the cut, leaving me with not much at all. The only way I would begin to start making actual money is if thousands of people suddenly start reading and are interested in the ads enough to click on them and buy something. I would be pleasantly surprised if I were to start receiving checks in the mail of any significance any time soon.
Signing up for the ads also puts me in place in a very interesting economic social experiment. The ads put on my blog are decided by an algorithm that determines what my blog is about topically, and then places ads based on their relevance to that topic. I am interested to see what the computer thinks my blog is about, first-of-all, and then what it thinks my readers are all about. I tend to cover a wide variety of topics, leaving nothing taboo, and with plenty of room for more topics, and my readers vary a great deal in beliefs, socio-economic status, and educational background. I'm no one-trick pony.
Nevertheless, I have been told by several people that they enjoy reading my stories on my blog, and that I have an interesting/entertaining way of telling a story. Thus, I've decided to pursue my writing with a little more fervor in the near future. I hope to become way more prolific and to inundate the reader with more essays than they can shake a stick at. My hope in doing such is to generate more interest in my blog, and, in turn, more revenue to supplement my meager salary, which comes and goes so easily. I do not intend, in the coming weeks, to compromise my integrity. I always write from the heart, and if I have nothing to write about, then I don't. It just so happens that I have a great deal of thoughts swimming around in my head that I am itching to put down in writing. So if I'm going to be doing that, then I might as well take any hand-outs I can, no?
It is my opinion that every artist everywhere has the general intention of selling out, one way or another. Although it is often thought of in a negative connotation, selling out is not exactly a bad thing. Theater performers dream of selling out the theater every night, so as to perform to a sold-out audience. When you try and get tickets to a concert or event, only to find it is sold out, that's not any good for you but it is great for the artist. Artists have every intention of creating great art. But what good is creating art if it is not going to be appreciated in one's own time? And what better way to show appreciation than to pay someone's hard-earned cash for it.
Besides, I need the money.
posted by Leland J. Fischer at 6:13 PM
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