Help Please! Would You like An Affiliate Scheme Here?

[AgentPete]

Affiliate schemes can be used to sell almost anything – Amazon is probably one of the biggest examples in the world.

Litopia now needs to get the word out and grow in order to be fully self-funding. We don’t charge untold thousands of pounds/dollars for sometimes-rather-dubious writing courses, as most other sites seem to do.

But since we (rightly) charge a fraction of what other sites charge – and indeed offer far more – then we we do need more members in order to keep the wheels turning.

One possibility is to create an affiliate scheme here.

It’s not for everybody, but for some people it might (a) provide a good way to help Litopia by introducing new Full Members; and (b) provide a reasonable amount of cash for themselves, too.

I haven’t worked out the exact details yet, but if you introduced say 2 – 5 new members a year, it would certainly pay for your own Full Membership. More, and you’d be making some useful spending money.

Could this be for you? Please vote above, and let me have any thoughts below.

 

[JohnBertel]

voted "but wouldn’t take part." Would like to add "for now"

 

[Aethalope]

It's a great idea and would take part...if only I actually had the right set of acquaintances.

 

[AgentPete]

It's a great idea and would take part...if only I actually had the right set of acquaintances.

I think that’s a real drawback, actually. How many other potential members do folk actually know?

The deal would be, the person you introduced would get a discount too, so both parties would get something out of it.

 

[Sedayne]

I think it's a great idea, but like Laura, I don't know many writers in real life.

For any Litopians who have active websites with decent traffic, an affiliate link might generate income, though.

 

[LJ Beck]

I do know a bunch of writers, many are screenwriters though. But I do have a good number of prose writer friends. I'll start promoting on my social media, etc. I didn't realize it wasn't self-funded. That sucks. Might I suggest you also have a "donations" page for those that can help?

 

[JohnBertel]

Well, it doesn't need to be people you actually know. If you have a website, you could, for instance, in the 'about me' section, write that you are a member of this writing community and post a link with an affiliate code. Or put a link in a social media profile.

 

[AgentPete]

Fyi, Litopia has never actually made money

Historically, there was no thought of charging folk anything for, hmm, at least the first decade or two. That was really the predominant ethos of the internet back then, charging for access to a “bulletin board” was simply not on the agenda.

When Zuckerberg and his VC friends got involved, things started to change, of course. And even then, he didn’t charge users a subscription; the general perception was that it was still “free”, while behind the scenes, of course, he and his minions were frantically monetising all your data like mad.

For all this time, I was happy to carry the costs, because I was personally getting as much out of it as any other member, i.e. I learnt so much about the new digital frontier as it was impacting writers, learnt how to produce podcasts, learnt about YouTube and so on. It was an education for me as much as for anyone else.

Now tho, our costs are pretty significant. And I feel we have a growing and very important role to play supporting authors. So we must at least wash our face (i.e. break even).

The market positioning I’ve chosen – and this is at least as much a moral decision as a business one – is that we should charge as low an annual subscription as feasible, while offering more and more. And always having a workable (i.e. not broken) free membership tier to fall back to.

Contrast this positioning with the rash of “GET YOUR NOVEL PUBLISHED!!!” (sorry for caps) websites that abound today, and you’ll find a lot to feel uncomfortable about. Many of these sites are hawking courses that cost well into the five grand territory, often more when you’ve paid for all the other “services” they claim are necessary. I feel the same moral outrage about this kind of hucksterism as I did about the bad old days of vanity presses… they’re exploiting exactly the same vulnerability of aspiring writers. Don't know how they sleep at night (on a pillow of cash, I suppose).

Anyway, we’re at the other end of the scale to that kind of thing, but… if its going to work, we must drive the numbers up. That’s really all there is to it.

p.

 

[Sedayne]

It's the ethical stance that will 'sell' it to me every time.

 

[Katie-Ellen]

Affiliate schemes can be used to sell almost anything – Amazon is probably one of the biggest examples in the world.

Litopia now needs to get the word out and grow in order to be fully self-funding. We don’t charge untold thousands of pounds/dollars for sometimes-rather-dubious writing courses, as most other sites seem to do.

But since we (rightly) charge a fraction of what other sites charge – and indeed offer far more – then we we do need more members in order to keep the wheels turning.

One possibility is to create an affiliate scheme here.

It’s not for everybody, but for some people it might (a) provide a good way to help Litopia by introducing new Full Members; and (b) provide a reasonable amount of cash for themselves, too.

I haven’t worked out the exact details yet, but if you introduced say 2 – 5 new members a year, it would certainly pay for your own Full Membership. More, and you’d be making some useful spending money.

Could this be for you? Please vote above, and let me have any thoughts below.

It is yet more work, so maybe a no go. Substack can build more publicity, and can be monetized, if Litopia starts up its own Substack, and shares selected content on there, in the publishing, literature and culture categories.

 

[LJ Beck]

It is yet more work, so maybe a no go. Substack can build more publicity, and can be monetized, if Litopia starts up its own Substack, and shares selected content on there, in the publishing, literature and culture categories.

Oh, that's an interesting idea... a Litopia Substack. I don't know all the ramifications of that, but part of the daunting idea of doing Substack is the need for regular postings. Having a collective Substack page feels like one of the "Community of Writer's" ideas. I wonder if there are any like that now? I've only followed single person Substacks but I think following a collective would be really cool. It's like a precursor to a writer-driven publishing collective. Isn't it? Not sure how you'd monetize that though... which is the whole purpose of this. But I don't know enough about it.

 

[Katie-Ellen]

Many writers monetize on there. So do Press sites. It's entirely a matter of choice, whether to monetize or not, uses Stripe, I think. Post as regularly or not as you wish. There could be a monthly showcasing, though they have just recently changed the algorithm in favour of big name writers and/or daily postings. So far though, it is entirely a matter of horses for courses.

 

[Sarit]

Hi Pete, I don't know enough people to sell Litopia to. I'm part of 2 other groups run by gurus/industry people and those are free, so it's a hard sell. Sorry, it's just the reality. FWIW I hate substack. Too crowded.

 

[AgentPete]

Yeah, I think that a pretty common reaction in fact. Writers tend to do it alone! p.

 

[Katie-Ellen]

Hi Pete, I don't know enough people to sell Litopia to. I'm part of 2 other groups run by gurus/industry people and those are free, so it's a hard sell. Sorry, it's just the reality. FWIW I hate substack. Too crowded.

Getting ever more so. A recent buyer? More opaque in consequence, just of late.