đźš‚ help keep the zine chuggin'
Hello there!
Writing with a few humble requests to contribute toward the “pay what you can” zine, if you have not yet:
This zine store will close Wednesday, July 31, and I’m taking pre-orders for the 4.13.24 setlist shirts again: https://trainsongz.bigcartel.com
If you’ve received your zine and haven’t donated yet, I ask that you please consider giving at least $2.50 to help offset the cost of your zine, $5 to pay it forward, etc. All my payment links are here.
Tell a friend about the zine! I can’t emphasize enough how helpful this is, and I love hearing about groups of friends who all get the zine.
Zine bulk orders. You want to stock the zine at a heady record store? Café? Something else? Hit me up. Respond here!
I’ll pick 5 random donors + merch purchasers next Friday to get a 99% off merch code, for a new order or applied to an existing one.
Want a first edition zine?
Speaking of random selection, I’m also giving away two first editions of the zine I found under my couch yesterday. Fill out this form to have a shot at it.
Brainstorming new zine payment models…
If you’ve seen me yapping on Instagram Stories the last few days, I’ve been thinking through new payment models for the zine. I do think I’ll switch to some kind of “pay up front” model, instead of relying on after-the-fact donations. But if I do switch to that, I will still send a $0 physical zine if you select that as your “pay what you want” option, with maybe more stickers or merch discounts being given to certain levels of contribution. (But I don’t want to create a tiered system of special zines. Against the vibe.)
Under this model, which is still just an idea…please stay tuned for an official update…say every 10 zines purchased, I’d send out a free one to someone who cannot afford it. It’s important to me to keep this thing as equitable as possible, although I do need to make a bit more money on it to scale it (2150 this edition!), afford help to keep it fun for me, have time to keep responsible my day job, etc.
I’ll be thinking through this the next few weeks. I do think the upfront payment thing would be easier for people to give than once they receive the zine. But the $0 option thing is important to me, and I gotta trust that people won’t take advantage of that. Stay tuned! If you have any other ideas, I welcome your emails! Respond here.
Grateful for you all! Thank you for your generosity and support in this project. I love doing it, and I’m committed to keeping it as equitable as possible (while also keeping it fun and engaging for me, which requires some guaranteed money up front). Ideally I can find a model where I feel like I can balance this for years to come…that’s the goal!
-The Conductor