From the Blog to the Bank

Glenn Reynolds is praising Blogads. That's understandable, considering that the four that he's got on his main page right now are earning him — on top of his professorial salary, freelance writing payments, speaking gigs, and whatever his wife makes — a little bit more than the total income on which my family of three (plus dog) currently lives.

Don't get me wrong; I don't begrudge Prof. Reynolds a dime of what he makes. It just seems as if riches pile on top of riches. Me, I'd be happy just making a living doing the sorts of things that I don't consider to be drudge work. And the methods of earning income through a blog that John Hawkins recommends not only add a layer of administrative effort, but they seem to require an approach that I am reluctant to take. I'm not averse to advertising, as a practice, but it moves the emphasis from the conveyance of my ideas to you and toward the channeling of your money to an advertiser.

Not that my readership is such that advertising would be particularly lucrative, anyway. But there has been an increase in the number of people who visit Dust in the Light, so perhaps it's worth taking the opportunity of this post to mention the way in which I would prefer to make money through this blog if I could: Confidence Place. Perhaps you'll consider picking up a book:

Or two:

Whether your purchase is motivated by an interest to read or just to contribute, you can be assured that the boost to the author's spirits will far exceed the dollar amount. And hey, since I don't anticipate additional print runs (at least in the books' current form), perhaps you'll acquire what will one day be a collector's item — and autographed, too.