Getting something for free - like content - cuts both ways. I've been burned out and Atop The Cliffs the poetry journal I run is firmly on the back burner in my life right now. It isn't a great feeling.
But it's free.
Everyone can access the website and poems going back to 2017 for free. My time that I devote to reading poems submitted, replying to emails, formatting them for the site, running the site, paying for the domain, assuming risk - it's all done at my expense.
I judged the Passage Prize for free. It took hours of my time, caught me flack, raised my stress levels, took me away from this project. Someone else makes money off of it, and I don’t begrudge that, we need people to buy our art and these kind of contests start with volunteers working for free.
There isn't much if any money in poetry, my own book sales have been modest at best, but there is almost zero money in publishing other peoples poetry.
This isn't anything more than honesty: once you professionalize responsibilities appear with money. There is an obligation. Part of me feels like 'that chump' working for free but it is a passion project and when I enjoy it I don't mind devoting my time but people need to understand that money changes things. It can change things for the better.
So much of the content you consume in this sphere comes for free because our people are not able to access money the way the rest of the web does (advertiser spend or affiliate spend models) and they ask for patronage. There is only so much to go around.
I’ve decided to ask for donations via Substack subscriptions and here is what will be on offer:
First and foremost knowledge that for 4$ a month you’re supporting an alternative voice for poetry. With monetary funding I want to move towards being more professional, in essence to take it more seriously and even move towards publishing compilations of the great work.
Subscribers will get a dedicated post a week (that conveniently will link to any new poems published on the Journal of course).
If we want a future for our peoples poetry and art and culture to survive we must fund it, I’ve had a long run doing this as a hobby for 5+ years never taking a dime. It’s time to grow and professionalize.
Sign up to support the future you want.
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We appreciate all the poetry. It's definitely the only way I know of to express those ineffable feelings of tragedy, hope, the complex connections between our experiences that sometimes burst through the veil.