Ethical Martini has joined Patreon

Hello to all my faithful subscribers and welcome if you’ve just dropped in here randomly or out of curiosity. This is the last post I’ll be doing on this platform, at least for a while. Eventually I will continue to archive my writing here, but if you want to see it when it’s fresh and relevant, you will have to make the move with me.

I have now taken up residence at Patreon and I’ve moved all my online real estate and social media action to that site. I have done this because I’m now working in the “gig economy” and I need to make a living.

I’m hoping you’ll follow me to Patreon and consider subscribing to my feed from there. I have a very cheap option of $1.0) per month, which I’m calling “A dollar a word”, but of course feel free to consider a higher level of membership.

If you’re not sure what Patreon is, or what it’s for, you can read about it on the FAQ site”: What is Patreon?

Here is a sample of what I’ll be doing via Patreon, as you can imagine, it revolves around journalism and art.

Syndicated journalism
I have written for several progressive online outlets over the past few years, but the honest truth is they cannot pay me a living wage. I am planning to syndicate my work to several of the better outlets so that it can reach a wider audience. If you’d like to support progressive journalism and help me increase the reach of my work please consider becoming a Patreon.

Political Reporting
I am a member of the Canberra Press Gallery and also the Victorian gallery in Melbourne. I would like to spend more time on political reporting and, in particular, I’d like to cover the 2019 federal election in some detail. I would like to build up a salon of Patreons to fund some travel and other expenses so that I can go on the road this year.

Freedom of Investigation
A lot of public interest stories never get told because the smoking gun documents are hidden behind a veil of secrecy. There is only one way to peek behind this curtain and that is Freedom of Information requests. However, Freedom of Information is never free. In fact, there are huge financial costs involved in successfully releasing information from its hiding place. There is a lodgement fee of between $30 and $50 for each request and then there’s the cost of actually having the request processed which can reach into the hundreds of dollars. I am currently funding my own FOI requests, but I sure could use some help. If you’d like to support my Freedom to Investigate, consider becoming a Patreon.

Good, commentary, entertaining analysis
I am an established writer when it comes to political commentary. I can write 100s of 1000s of words that are insightful and entertaining. I write with wit, intelligence and humour and I can do it all day. The problem is, I have to pay my bills.

Art is its own reward
OK, so I’m no Van Gogh, but I do have a garret studio and I think I’d make a good Impressionist. My patreons will be rewarded with a selection from my extensive catalogue and for the right price you can even commission a work.

My Paper.li feed
I already curate a lot of content via social media, including my Twitter account Ethical Martini, a WordPress blog, also called Ethical Martini, and six paper.li publications.
The paper.li publications are currently operating without much input from me except for being populated by the various Twitter lists I manage. My first goal on Patreon is to unlock the full potential of these paper.li feeds by taking a paid account.

 

 

Ethical Martini 501 posts and still blogging

This is the 501st post on Ethical Martini, so I guess it’s some sort of milestone. I’ve been blogging now since April 2007, which roughly coincides with my arrival in Auckland to take up my current position at AUT University.

My first post was a bit crude and I’ve certainly learned a lot over the past 2.5 years.It’s also interesting to look at the traffic numbers – even though they’re somewhat unreliable.

The traffic has grown steadily, which I guess you’d expect, but EM has really taken off this year.
In 2007 I had 4261 visitors, in 2008 36777 and so far in 2009 103928 have dropped in for a peek.
My daily average has jumped from 17 per day in 2007 to over 350 in 2009.
Still not massive, but I’m happy enough with the numbers, at least for now. Though I’m not going to get rich quickly from blogging. At the average Google AdSense rate of about $7.00 per 1000 hits, so far this year I would have made about $727.36. That’s about 36 bottles of Bombay Sapphire bought duty-free. I suppose that’s roughly a year’s supply, or maybe a little longer if a bottle can last me around two weeks worth of Martinis.

Over the summer I am going to investigate establishing Ethical Martini somewhere else with a unique URL and a bit more functionality, design and sorting of topics – I don’t like that Martini Music and the general purpose of the blog – journalism and media politics etc – are all mashed together. It would be nice to have separate category pages. First I need to upgrade my account here at WordPress and then recruit some technical assistance with the redesign etc.

For now though, “Happy birthday” to me and thanks to everyone who visits and comments on this site.

I have also been keen for sometime to recruit another person(s) to share EM, so if you think you might fit the bill and can commit to regular posting on topics of your choice (suitably and tangientially related to the themes herein) I’d love to hear from you.

Dribblejaws need not apply.

EM leaps 17 places in the national rankings – “Woo hoo”

Note to self:

Congratulations EM, you’ve cracked the NZ top 50 blogs at number 47 for July. Well done, keep up the hard work and get Harper to mix a celebratory bucket.

Grateful hat tips to the folks at TUMEKE! who do all the number crunching. I will be buying these lovely people a beer at the first opportunity. BTW: I hate that question mark, you can replace it with a specific description of my politics: “Non-aligned socialist”.

Postscript: A big thanks too to readers and browsers. I hope you’ve been informed, entertained and/or outraged enough to come back.

20,000 unique hits can’t be too far off the mark

Thanks to my subscribers, regular readers and drop-ins. For what it’s worth Ethical Martini has now had over 20,000 unique visitors. That’s Ok in just over a year, for a blog that came from left field.

And I’d just like to say: “You’re all unique.”

I hope I keep you informed and entertained. Drop me a line, or join the fun. Applications now open for keen, ethical, martini-friendly and outspoken accomplices.

cheers

EM