Archive Nov 2022- New Month - Update
New Publishing Schedule, New Blog, Free Merch, New Contributor?
TLDR;
The publishing schedule has been changed to Tuesdays. A new blog was born. Seeking a Paid Contributor. Reviewing options for free merch for paid and loyal subs. Re-introducing TTS.
((This post is for the archive. Original publishing date November 29th, 2022))
I started this little corner of the web in late October 2022 without much of a clue what I was doing, only that I felt compelled to write. In no uncertain terms, my first half dozen articles were complete and utter garbage from my perspective (and undoubtedly yours had you read them). Half of those articles were removed out of sheer embarrassment while I sought to narrow down what I was trying to convey to you all.
For the last month, I've committed myself to three articles a week, every week. Partially because looking upon this sad homepage of emptiness was more depressing than not, and partially because I wanted the experience of writing in a less technical format without spending four months to accumulate the experience of what I effectively accomplished in one.
Thus far, I've produced 17 articles, not including this update or the previously deleted content. Looking back over the content I've written, I feel a little impressed by my sudden ability to engage in one-sided conversations with you, dear reader, while also a growing disappointment in my quality standards.
From this, I've learned a few things:
Writing late into the night attempting to reach a 6 am publishing schedule doesn't produce the best content, but it does build the skills and discipline I originally sought.
Forcing myself to write, especially from memory or creatively, tends more towards a drone-like style, if not a repetitious use of 'perhaps/therein/whereas' for joiners.
I truly can write, at least to such a degree, to be entertaining and intriguing in parts and paragraphs.
More dense content that requires focused reading isn't a turn-off for some viewers as long as it's interesting or perhaps different than other content creators.
As for my small but dedicated readers, I've learned a few things:
You aren't afraid of darker content related to my Evil Prevails series.
You enjoy re-reading articles, and for many of you, re-re-re-re-re-reading articles. At first, I thought you were merely looking back to reference my trends reports, but even articles without lists of trends are repeatedly viewed.
To date, my most popular articles are
Paypal is No Friend of Mine (which was published just after the PayPal drama)
The first and second don't surprise me, given their more timely nature with current events occurring, but the third was definitely a shock. I wrote that piece fully expecting to do just as well as my worst piece to date, which is the “Plastic People-4-Plastic Worlds” essay piece which wasn't published to email, only on the website under the 'Timely Writings' tab. (Don't read it, I hate it)
As many of you do, I also re-re-re-read many of these articles, which often leads to a heavy critique within my mind, namely that my current publishing schedule doesn't allow me the chance to truly get to the nuts and bolts of some content. In contrast, others are seemingly fairly rounded but heavily lacking in a more polished writing methods and format. Others still lack detailed references for further research if you are the type to do that sort of thing. I believe citations are important as a device to relay information, especially if you are reading something for the first time and wondering how in the hell I came to such conclusions or came across such information. In many cases, my citations are poor (mostly because I'm writing from memory and then fact-checking myself), and I have a heavy reliance on Wikipedia in that process, which I mildly detest.
To the few of you who have shared this content with friends, I thank you greatly. The self-promotion aspects of this type of medium are, in no uncertain terms, difficult. However, the best driver of new subscribers so far has been The Sample, an automated service that sends you 'samples' of blogs within your tastes. Extra thanks to Jacob, who runs that service.
Moving forward, I'm going to be shifting “TheObserver” from 3 days a week to once a week, Tuesdays, while also splitting off my shorter or more timely content into a blog titled “Timely Observances,” which is linked on the main page. To start, I will be importing my current mailing list (that’s you!) into that blog but feel free to unsubscribe from Timely Observances and continue following this specific content.
I've also been negotiating with a friend about supplying TheObserver with some Contributor Posts, hopefully once a month. She has some rather interesting tastes and appears intrigued by the idea. So, I'll keep pestering her; hopefully, she will produce something for us all soon.
For those of you who enjoy the voice-over (TTS), I will be re-introducing this feature. I originally stopped because I didn’t like how these ‘podcasts’ flooded my main page, but I’ve found a way to make it work for this platform.
In the meantime, I'm interested in devising an incentive structure for paid subscribers that involves free stuff, preferably in the Coffee Mug, Sweater, and T-Shirt variety – without the need to handle your personal information and mailing addresses (Privacy Policies and IT Security – its a mess). So if you are aware of any service that allows me to pre-pay for merch and send you a code so you can input your shipping information, I would greatly appreciate that. Also, feel free to send your referral link if you have one.
Otherwise, the search continues.
With this, I extend my many thanks to you all. One of the main drivers over the last four weeks has, without a doubt, been you. Your few but powerful subscriptions to this space are what pushes me to maintain a consistent publishing schedule, along with attempting to maintain the Trends Forecasts along the lines of suitable logic.
As always - Thanks for reading.
-Dark Philosopher
November 2022 Quick Stats:
Email Open Rate Average – 74.63% (Many consider 40% or above to be good)
4,138 Total Views @ 125.39 average views a day (Many of which are re-reads)
1,844 Direct Views to the Blog website
Best day: 237 views (Saturday), Worst day: 18 (Sunday)
1,068,952 Words Checked by Grammarly since Oct 23rd, 2022
Many of these were sliced out in editing and re-writes