Audience Participation Time Please! (Don’t worry it’s only a comment.)

Hello snowflakes.

This week I’ve been attempting to organise myself and get closer to being a perfect handbag lady (without the threat of a breakdown, mostly) and that is why I’ve discovered – well, started using – HootSuite for all my Internet stuff. It’s very good, although I’m still learning it, but there is a snag: to add all the accounts I need to, especially for The Webways, I’ll have to upgrade to the ‘pro’ setting. It’s $10 a month which isn’t a whole lot but I don’t currently have a form of employment and won’t have one until the summer because exam season is starting and, hey, priorities. I don’t want to start selling ad space or doing paid reviews because nobody likes them. So I want to bounce an Indifferent Ignorance Fund Idea off you guys. If it works, it could fund the entire site plus HootSuite possibly an upgrade or The Webways.

• Etsy listing: JPEG file of a picture that says something witty like ‘I support independent bloggers who don’t want to sell advertising space’. You purchase and download the file, which you can print out or use as a display picture or whatever. It’s a kind of deposit for the super cool thing I make alongside because:
• When you order, there’s option to ‘add a note’. You write in a word or phrase.
• I take one of the A6 cards I use for greetings cards and handwrite a story or witty musing all over it (I will show you an example at the weekend) using the word or phrase as a prompt.
• I send it to you in the post.

Because the listing will be a downloadable file, to cover the shipping of the card I’ll have to add £2 or £3 to the price I work out for the materials and for site-funding profit so the Post Office doesn’t take the lot. It shouldn’t cost more than £5 though, which is a) less than a two-coffee trip to Starbucks, b) less than most CDs, c) less than most books, d) oh you get the idea. Plus you get two pieces of art, one of which will be totally unique as well as the fuzzy joy of supporting a blog you know and love.

It’s not a big thing but it’s simple and personal. What do you reckon?

Update: here is an example.