Greetings, Team Dancing Bug!
I'm closing out the first month of the INNER HIVE, and I wanted to take the opportunity to thank everybody who's joined. Every single time I've been alerted to a new subscriber, I've read the new member's name and felt a wave of gratitude. Each was like a warm hug across the internet (my favorite kind -- I'm not much of a hugger). I'm truly touched that Tom the Dancing Bug means so much to you that you wanted to participate in this way.
So, how did it go? Really, really well. The number of subscribers exceeded my expectations, and the INNER HIVE is now my largest single source of revenue. Wow.
I also think it's terrific that other cartoonists have seen me make this model succeed and are looking at it as a way to ehance the viability of their own comic strips. My friend Tom Tomorrow has already used the INNER HIVE model to launch a subscription service, and I know others are looking into it as well.
I'm especially glad that INNER HIVE subscribers seem genuinely and enthusiastically happy with their membership.
In fact, the INNER HIVE has gone so well, I'm looking into ways of building on it. Yes, it's become the strip's largest single revenue source, but syndicated comic strips have always relied on hundreds or thousands of clients for sustainability. So while it was intended to, and has, become only a great supplementary way to keep the comic strip viable, its success has been inspiring enough to make me wonder if it could be developed into a primary source of financial support.
I've been kicking around some ideas on how to accomplish this, but it occurred to me that the best ideas may come from you, my esteemed readers and friends: the HIVE MIND, so to speak.
SO, in the INNER HIVE's spirit of cooperation and participation,
IF you have any ideas, suggestions, or offers, on how to:
Make the INNER HIVE better;
Get the word out to more people about the INNER HIVE;
Increase the revenue from the INNER HIVE; or
Leverage off the INNER HIVE model in any way,
please let me know at tomdbug [at] gmail [dot] com, or on twitter or facebook. Just spitballing here: there are so many considerations, who knows what I can or can't try.
Again, I THANK YOU for your participation, engagement and enthusiasm! Tom the Dancing Bug is the better for it, and will never be the same!
Yours,
Ruben Bolling