I am aware that sending this as a newsletter and posting it to the website seems counterproductive. But why do I have the site if not to share posts, right? Anyway, here is the January 2023 newsletter as best as I could copy it. To get this in your inbox, subscribe here. Thanks!
Dessert Menu: January 2023
New year, new me! Okay, not really since I'm a day late. But let's try to have some fun. As always, thank you for being here and I'm open to suggestions for this and the show. Contact me here or on Linktree to make a special request.
"You should make money with this"
I get this and the "you should narrow your scope for marketing" suggestions a lot. Look, I'd love to make money from this because I put a lot of work into it. If more of you and your friends subscribed to the Patreon, I might actually get a payout. But making money was never the goal. I have a job. And the stability it brings outweighs any desire to be self-employed. As for the marketing angle? I already did single topic shows. They were fun, but the whole point of The Melting Pat is that all of those are mixed together. I would get bored having to limit myself. So tell your pals to join the Patreon so everyone's dreams can come true. Or just send me five dollars a week.
Podcast paywalls
Speaking of making money, here's a thing that bothers me. When a podcast has old episodes locked behind a paywall. I get it: you want to make money from your show. But here's my big issue: Say I discover your show after you've already released 75 episodes, but you've only made the most recent 25 episodes available. If I, a new listener to your show, want to go back and listen from the beginning? I have to pay for another subscription service. Or if I fall behind on your show, I now cannot catch up without paying for a thing (that might be expensive and/or hard to cancel once I'm done with it). Save the subs for Patreon.
Podcast Tip: Get the right microphone
There are hundreds of thousands of articles and YouTube videos about podcast setups. I won't turn this into one, but I will say this: examine your recording space before spending money. If you live in a noisy area, the expensive condenser microphone won't be the choice. If you don't have room or the budget for a booster, the top-dollar SM7B (the one Marc Maron uses) will not work how you need. If you don't want a mixer, make sure you go with a USB connection instead of XLR. Don't just drop bills because a big name uses it. Their configuration may be different from yours, and that can change your sound.
Door-to-door energy people
I talked about this on the show a few weeks ago, but I'm bringing it up again because there was a bit of an incident (patrons already heard this - sign up for bonuses!). Dude came to the door and asked to see the electric bill, because these people want to sign you up for whatever their service is. Jill said no and that she's told them before to stop coming here. We have a sign that says no soliciting, so she pointed to it and said she'd call the cops if he didn't leave. This asshole said "go ahead, call em." First, you know you're doing shady shit. There's no reason to be a dick on top of it. Second, what happens next if she had called? Does he wait for the cops to come to explain himself? Say he does: the best the police can do is tell him not to come back. As much as people like to prop them up, they're kind of useless until an actual crime has been committed (and sometimes even after that). But we're getting off track. Don't sign up for these clear scams. And if you work for one of these companies, be a bit more self-aware and understand that many people don't want what you're selling.
Could a book club podcast work?
Someone brought this up years ago and I have been curious about it. If a group of people agreed to read a book, could a pair (or more) of hosts go through a chapter per episode? It'd be like a TV recap podcast for reading. Is this already a thing? Could you have the author on when you get to the end of the book to chat? Would that work as a show? Is anyone still reading this? What if every planet really is flat?
Music
Shoutout to Yvette on Twitter (who won't read this, probably) for the connection here. She makes quilts for bands she likes and gifts them when she goes to shows. That's so cool. Anyway, this band is great and this song is "a bop" as the kids say. Get on it!
I was supposed to have this band on the show when their EP, Puzzle Pieces, came out in 2021. Hope from 25/8PR reached out and everything. But Arthur was brand new at that point so my schedule was pretty limited. I can tell you that we are in talks to have a chat since the band will have new music at some point. Yeah!
Shoutout to Madi on Twitter (who also may not read this) for connecting me to glimmers. I actually tried to reach out to the band several months ago when my friend, Hope (the one from 25/8PR up there) wrote a piece about women in rock. I couldn't find contact info though, so I tagged them on Twitter and Madi went to work. Maggie reached out and sent me two tracks, so I think that warrants an appearance for them on the show, right? (lol like that's some kind of prize). Anyway, glimmers makes great tunes and I'm thankful I was able to feature one.
👀
Thanks for signing up for this thing and reading this many words. I hope you have a wonderful time doing whatever it is that you do. If you know someone who may enjoy more of me, send them the link to subscribe. Also you can join the Facebook group by clicking here. If you have any suggestions for what I should put here and/or on the show, let me know and let's all have fun together. Until whenever you hear from me again, don't do anything I wouldn't do!
Crap open a cold one!
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