My “winter depression beard” has the early lead on CHS Athletic Director Willie Smith’s more dapper face fuzz. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)
Somehow, I have managed to avoid reality for two-and-a-half years.
I started Coupeville Sports in Aug. 2012, but stepped away from my “real world” job and went to full-time writing June 1, 2015.
With no business plan beyond “hey, I’ll devote all my time to covering high school and middle school sports in a rural town on a rock in the middle of the water and maybe someone will toss a coin or two into my hat,” I have persisted.
It helps I don’t pour money into smoking, drinking or owning a phone. The last part makes watching movies so much better – embrace the quiet.
It also helps I am fine with driving what can charitably be referred to as a “hunk o’ junk” and I have pared my bills down to the barest of bare minimums.
Also really helps I have a landlord, CHS alum Jack Sell, who hasn’t drop-kicked me those times when I needed an extra day or two to pull together his money.
How much longer can I keep this going? Good question.
Journalism is a fickle business, whether you work for a newspaper funded by a kajillionaire in Moose Jaw or hack away at the keyboard in the middle of the night on the (sometimes fragrant) shores of Penn Cove.
For me, not counting sales of my books (Stephen King trembles…), there’s essentially three ways to fund Coupeville Sports. One is dry, the other will never work and the third is my lifeblood.
When I started this blog, 5+ years and 5,681 articles ago, there was no reason for anyone to believe it would survive longer than that South Whidbey sports blog which went down in spectacular flames after a single day.
To convince people to give me a try, I sold my advertising for “the life of the site.” Which pretty much guaranteed that, if I survived, at some point, there would be little room for growth.
So be it.
Those who took a chance on me in the early days, from Shelli Trumbull to Jon Roberts to Paula Spina, got more than they probably anticipated.
I’m glad it worked out for them, and the others who have chosen to support me in that manner, even if that means there’s little room for future growth.
Route #2 would be to mirror many newspapers and drop a pay wall on Coupeville Sports.
Never going to happen. Ever.
If you choose to go that way as a publication, God bless.
And if, while you insist it works, the bean counters up North still make you lop off an editor during the holidays, well, maybe the pay wall kept that job in play a few more days. Maybe.
But I have said since day one, Coupeville Sports is free. If you want to read it, read it. If you want to support it, great. If you don’t, such is life.
Call me obstinate, but no pay wall. Ever.
Which brings us to the only way this blog has stayed on its feet — you, the reader. Especially the reader who gives back.
Donations, from the person who slips money into my pocket as we pass at Prairie Center, to those who use the PayPal button on the top right of the blog, are what keep me moving forward.
The longer I’ve been away from having a “real world” job, the more I have not wanted to return.
There are many days where I’m a half step away from fully embracing the hermit life, so it’s a good thing my “winter depression beard” is coming in thick.
Writing Coupeville Sports, and attending games, forces me to have interaction with the outside world, to “use my words” with someone other than my landlord’s outside cats.
Which is probably a good thing.
In a magical world, someone (are you listening Mr. Gates?) would step up and offer me a $5,000 grant, which would pay my rent at Coupeville Sports World Headquarters for a year.
Back here, in the real world, I’ll just say this — if you enjoy reading my work, if you think it’s providing something unique, if you believe it’s worth supporting, maybe add me to your Black Friday list and use this handy link:
https://www.paypal.me/DavidSvien
If you do, thank you. And, if you don’t, keep reading.
Coupeville Sports 