If You Like The Big Whoop, You'll Love My Patreon-Only Secret Daily Blog!
A few weeks back I came to a realization that what I was doing with Nathan Rabin’s Happy Place wasn’t working when it came to attracting new patrons or generating income.
Nearly five years into its existence, the site’s Patreon had hit an all-time low. Page-views were in the toilet. The Joy of Trash, a book I had hoped would attract attention and income to the Happy Place is underperforming wildly and feels culturally invisible.
I realized that I had to do something and I had to do something soon if I wanted to hold onto my fragile dream of making a living doing what I love for a loyal, appreciative and engaged audience.
So I sprung into action and implemented some new ideas designed to breathe new life into Nathan Rabin’s Happy Place and its Patreon. I introduced a bunch of awesome new merch featuring Felipe Sobreiro’s amazing artwork for The Joy of Trash and Crank N’ Mank Month.
Like so much I do these days, that did not succeed, in part because Patreon’s merch program is incredibly complicated, confusing and impossible to use for creators. I’ve been begging them for help for literally months and I’ve gotten nothing.
It’s very frustrating!
I can earn money through blogging? #GameChanger
I’ve implemented other changes as well. I’ve cut out out much of the boilerplate text for Control Nathan Rabin 4.0 and made the non-Big Whoop posts longer and meatier. I’ve also introduced Talking About Bruno, a masochistic project where I watch and write about the seven movies Bruce Willis released in 2021.
That column has done okay but not phenomenally. I’m hoping that it will pick up momentum as it goes along, as I’ve written all the entries and am super happy with them. I’ve even contemplated extended the column with a follow-up feature entitled Still Talking About Bruno that would cover even more of Willis’ direct to streaming fare.
I’m looking to Talking About Willis as a model for the kind of offbeat projects I can pursue on the site.
But the biggest and so far most successful change I have implemented has been a secret daily blog I have been pounding out for patrons, and patrons only, for the last three weeks.
It took me decades to become a blogger but I have really taken to the medium. It’s the most direct and personal way to engage with you, the reader and hopefully patron.
Publishing four Big Whoop blog posts a week is a wonderful challenge. Publishing four Big Whoop blog posts PLUS five secret blog posts for patrons is an even bigger and even more rewarding challenge.
So if you are not yet a patron, please do considering hopping onboard. Thanks in no small part to the secret blog, I am gaining patrons instead of losing them for the first time in forever.
I’m nearly up to 500 patrons and I will be sure to send something nice to the kind soul whose pledge allows me to reach that 500 patron goal.
After that my goal is to reach 600 patrons by my forty-five birthday, April 24th.
Will I succeed? Probably not but it’s all about progress, not perfection.
So pledge to the Happy Place Patreon, binge-read the fifteen blog posts I’ve posted already and ENJOY the ride!
Also, buy The Joy of Trash, I have lowered the price to a mere 16.50, domestic shipping, handling and taxes included, and 30 dollars for two signed books. It’s my way of saying, “Please buy my books. They’re fucking amazing!”
The Joy of Trash is out and it is magnificent and my livelihood is kind of dependent on it doing well.
Buy The Joy of Trash, The Weird Accordion to Al and the The Weird Accordion to Al in both paperback and hardcover and The Weird A-Coloring to Al and The Weird A-Coloring to Al: Colored-In Special Edition signed from me personally (recommended) over at https://www.nathanrabin.com/shop
Or you can buy The Joy of Trash here and The Weird A-Coloring to Al here and The Weird Accordion to Al here
Help ensure a future for the Happy Place during an uncertain era AND get sweet merch by pledging to the site’s Patreon account at https://www.patreon.com/nathanrabinshappyplace I just added a patron-only blog to make it even more appealing!
Alternately you can buy The Weird Accordion to Al, signed, for just 19.50, tax and shipping included, at the https://www.nathanrabin.com/shop or for more, unsigned, from Amazon here.
I make my living exclusively through book sales and Patreon so please support independent media and one man’s dream and kick in a shekel or two!