Just some thoughts for Prose and Prosers.

So, I apologize in advance to what may be a long winded and needless run of reasoning that could easily be said in a few words. This is me, it is how I get my thoughts out, I feel I need to have a stout and sturdy foundation in order to build my opinion up and properly explain myself (I blame my dad).

 Keep in mind what follows is just my opinion. 

Apparently I missed a fairly interesting post by one of the Posers who also helps run the site. It appears to have been removed. I found out about it from Broken_Toe and he and I discussed it at length. Here are some things to think on.

You, my fellow Proser, have written something, be it for just your wall, mayhap a portal, or even a contest. You have spent time, poured your heart into, reread and edited, trim some fat or added meat. Then you may have had another read it for editing and suggestions. A deadline looms for the contest and yet you persevere and so, after hours or maybe even days you post your work and present your best—you get readers, but only 1% of those readers like it. You factor in taste and the genre bridge, but you still feel you should be seeing more likes or reposts. Is it ego? Are your fellow Prosers seeing that little heart and think it means love, and they say, “Well I like it, but I don’t love it.” Even though we all know it means “like” despite the heart symbol universally represents love. That could be why Facebook uses thumbs up… So, maybe they still think love deep down and hesitate. Now, imagine this has happen ten times or more. What do you feel? Rejection? Frustration? Do your posts taper off?

We could consider our “wages” for the works we have wrought the likes, reposts, comments, and followers. If we don’t received wages we may consider our works worthless.

If there seems to be no return for your effort, you think about giving up.

Granted, we should be investing our “wages” back into Prose with likes, reposts, comments, and following of other Prosers. Side note, I will be the first to admit I am not the best at this. I try, I will try harder. I need too anyway, my goal is to be a Partner.

So, some truths.

Writing is hard. It is work. We may write because we love to, but this DOES NOT negate the fact that it is still work. We seek validation, we want our fellow writers to enjoy it and tell us we have done well. If you spend a lot of time writing, then it is a job. Jobs require compensation. I love my job. But some days I don’t want to go to work. Some days I even hate my job. Some days I feel I am not paid enough to deal with all the shit.

But I get paid, actual money.

The people running this site should be paid. Currently they are not. They started like most of us. Eager even, while trying build up the site, thus making it a haven for fellow writers. We had many posts from them not too long ago, Motivation Mondays, Two for Tuesdays, Throwback Thursdays, Five for Fridays. There were the occasional interviews with authors or actors on top of Friday Feature, all to help, encourage, and build us up, the Prosers. I don’t remember if there was anything on Wednesday, but screw Wednesday.

Where are those now?

Money no doubt is running out. They are not being paid for their hard work and so they are not putting in the extra effort beyond keeping Prose up and running, along with coming up with fun and interesting sponsored challenges. I don’t blame them, I understand, I accept this. I would do the same.

For all I know they are paying the $100 winnings out of their pocket.

Running The Prose website is like an iceberg. Most of us only see the tip, not realizing over ¾ of the size is unseen below the water. Website and app bugs, contests, emails and instant messages to respond to, and even, I am sadly sure, trolls and out right needless bitching about other Prosers.

Do you like Facebook? Like those ads? Like how after shopping on Amazon you see ads for the stuff you looked at popping up on the Book of Faces?

I don’t.

Do you know how much Facebook makes off your information? They make about $6 per person per month to sell your information to AD companies. That is it. They are only making about $60 a year off of you. Is it worth the invasion into your privacy?

Think about this. $100 weekly challenge, 52 weeks, $5200 paid out a year.

We now have to pay 50 cents to enter said $100 contest, meaning Prose needs 200 entries per contest just to break even on each challenge. The last two paid challenges had only about 50-60 entries. They are still losing money.

What can be done? The short and easiest answer is-- ADS.

BOOO!

That will suck, so how can we fix this without wallowing in that quagmire?

Humble suggestion-- paid memberships. Everyone, whether paid member or not will still get access to all Prose has to offer.

But with membership comes perks.

50 cents per sponsored challenge equals $2 a month at $24 a year. So let’s start there. A $24 paid membership allows free entry into paid to enter weekly challenges. That could be the only perk or there could be more. But if that was it, Prose would only need 240 paid memberships to cover the cost of a year’s weekly challenges.

More than 240 paid memberships, that extra money is cheddar. It could pay the actual Prosers who run the site. Maybe get extra challenges with bigger purses.

It would work like a gym membership; they make money knowing not everyone is going to use the membership to the fullest. So not every paid member will use their credit to enter every Prose sponsored contest and they would still draw money from non-paid members entering weekly contest at 50 cents.

I say again, the paid membership would be an option, NOT a requirement.

But imagine, $24 paid membership-- 1000 paid Members means $24,000 to run the website and improve the overall Prose experience. What about 2000 paid members? What could be done with that to help us all?

Perks?

I said already, allowed to enter Prose sponsored challenges for free. What should the other perks be? Well besides supporting a site we all love, it could help it stay ad free, and pay for the running of the site. I don’t know if there should be other perks; as they may be considered an advantage non-paid membership Prosers don’t have access too.

What do you all think? Should there be other perks?

I also think there should be more time for deciding the winner of the $100 contests. You would still have a week to enter, but why couldn’t it be announced the following week, or even two weeks later? This gives more time to vet each entry and judge its merit. I am not saying this is not done now, but I am certain there is a bit of haste to it. A bigger span of time would ease the pressure.

And the judging can’t be easy. I will admit I am not completely sure as to how this goes down currently.

But, what if a paid Member, who also is a Partner, is thrown into the judging pool? Judges could num up to a dozen, and rotate out, like Jury duty. Again, just to ease the pressure.

These are just ideas and my opinion. They mean nothing really to anyone but me.

I will also admit, I will be cringing when I hit the post button. Fearing to see what you all think and how you will react.