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Suggested Ideas for Income Stream(s) for Stories Space.

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Members are requested to offer their ideas for ways in which Stories Space might induce income streams for the site. No idea is too silly so please share any and all thoughts you may have. As well, offer your pros and cons about ideas others have suggested.

My own thoughts:

Place a "Donate" button on the cover page. It may well not get much, but some is better than none.

SS could charge an annual membership as the mother site does.

Seek financial sponsorship from publishers. Give rights to advertise their services.

SS could issue a challenge to members to provide a theme-based poem or story, which would be compiled and published for sale. Proceeds to go entirely to SS.


Any other ideas or comments?
Crazy old ape
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I'm thinking about this for my other site right now (the one where I admin). We also don't have an income stream. Day-to-day costs are covered by the admin team as donations and only amount to a couple hundred US a year (for software maintenance and web hosting). However, we need some additional money for work related to a major upgrade and I'm thinking of ways to get the membership involved in funding that.

One idea I had was to invite donations and have a sponsor's page where anyone donating > $5 or $10 or whatever gets listed with a link to their profile. I was just going to do alphabetical order and not print the size of the donations so it wouldn't turn competitive. Of course, that link would be more valuable here since a link to your profile is also a link to your stories.

We also have some requests for additional functionality like a way to have blogs on the site that would cost extra $$ so I am looking at "stretch goals" where if we raise more than needed, we will promise to implement those. Basically, hey, if you folks come up with an extra hundred bucks over and above the cost of the upgrade, we will add x and y.

Don't know that the second one would really apply here but the first could be tried.

A mighty warrior meets an unusual challenger. The Last Challenge of Jadek Prynn.

Active Ink Slinger
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Quote by Dreamcatcher
Members are requested to offer their ideas for ways in which Stories Space might induce income streams for the site. No idea is too silly so please share any and all thoughts you may have. As well, offer your pros and cons about ideas others have suggested.

My own thoughts:

Place a "Donate" button on the cover page. It may well not get much, but some is better than none.

SS could charge an annual membership as the mother site does.

Seek financial sponsorship from publishers. Give rights to advertise their services.

SS could issue a challenge to members to provide a theme-based poem or story, which would be compiled and published for sale. Proceeds to go entirely to SS.


Any other ideas or comments?



I think that the ties to the 'mother site' are an obstacle to sponsorship, for obvious reasons. The move away from a 'mother site' may, ultimately, save this site as I am sure that the opportunity for publisher advertising and sponsorship will happen once a suitable distance is demonstrable, or our beloved stories space is sold.

I would be happy to purchase a membership but I would suggest that it would be detrimental to insist on compulsory paid membership. Personally wouldn't be seeking incentives to become a paid Member, but it is highly likely that others would. Just what those incentives might be is prob a discussion in itself. There is a huge opprtunity to grow the Membership here given that visits(views) to the site by non-members outnumber those by Members by more than, on average, 35 to 1.

That stories space should have it's own donation facility/key is a good idea and should be put in place immediately. As you say, anything by way of help is always welcome and major online publishers all seem to seek donations via their sites.

Ping's ideas (expressed elsewhere on the Forum) on regular Competitions are really worth considering as promotional tools; perhaps separate comps for Members and non-members? Non-members prizes could be Memberships. Would suggesting prize money and an opportunity to be published for winning Members be inappropriate? I am certain it is possible by way of sponsorship.

Congrats on the thread. Hope it brings the results you are hoping for.

Active Ink Slinger
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Quote by Dreamcatcher
Members are requested to offer their ideas for ways in which Stories Space might induce income streams for the site. No idea is too silly so please share any and all thoughts you may have. As well, offer your pros and cons about ideas others have suggested.

My own thoughts:

Place a "Donate" button on the cover page. It may well not get much, but some is better than none.

SS could charge an annual membership as the mother site does.

Seek financial sponsorship from publishers. Give rights to advertise their services.

SS could issue a challenge to members to provide a theme-based poem or story, which would be compiled and published for sale. Proceeds to go entirely to SS.


Any other ideas or comments?


Suggest you send this, your thoughts, to every Member via PM because not every Member visits the Forum.
Forum Facilitator
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Quote by hayley
Quote by Dreamcatcher
Members are requested to offer their ideas for ways in which Stories Space might induce income streams for the site. No idea is too silly so please share any and all thoughts you may have. As well, offer your pros and cons about ideas others have suggested.

My own thoughts:

Place a "Donate" button on the cover page. It may well not get much, but some is better than none.

SS could charge an annual membership as the mother site does.

Seek financial sponsorship from publishers. Give rights to advertise their services.

SS could issue a challenge to members to provide a theme-based poem or story, which would be compiled and published for sale. Proceeds to go entirely to SS.


Any other ideas or comments?


Suggest you send this, your thoughts, to every Member via PM because not every Member visits the Forum.



You might be right. How do I send a PM to all SS members?
Divine Rapscallion
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Quote by Dreamcatcher
Quote by hayley
Suggest you send this, your thoughts, to every Member via PM because not every Member visits the Forum.


You might be right. How do I send a PM to all SS members?


It would be very cumbersome for you to do. However, we're working on getting a newsletter message ready to go out to all members and will include a pointer to this thread in it.
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Forum Facilitator
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Quote by magnificent1rascal
Quote by Dreamcatcher
Quote by hayley
Suggest you send this, your thoughts, to every Member via PM because not every Member visits the Forum.


You might be right. How do I send a PM to all SS members?


It would be very cumbersome for you to do. However, we're working on getting a newsletter message ready to go out to all members and will include a pointer to this thread in it.


Okee Dokee...
Active Ink Slinger
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Quote by magnificent1rascal
Quote by Dreamcatcher
Quote by hayley
Suggest you send this, your thoughts, to every Member via PM because not every Member visits the Forum.


You might be right. How do I send a PM to all SS members?


It would be very cumbersome for you to do. However, we're working on getting a newsletter message ready to go out to all members and will include a pointer to this thread in it.


A newsletter message refering Members here is def the best way by far.