ONE YEAR OF TRAIN SONGZ

I posted my first meme on July 27, 2023. Here’s a post I put up this morning celebrating that. (Always helps to like, comment, or share!) It’s been a damn joy. Cheers to the future, wherever this train is rolling…

MERCH ENDS SOON

Click here to visit the store.

Merch orders from this zine close Wednesday, July 31. These are pre-orders, and there’s no guarantee I’ll run any of these items again. Each merch item you purchase is equal to a $10 contribution toward the zine. Feel free to buy merch instead of donating! It costs you more, but you get something in return.

If merch isn’t for you, click here to contribute just a few bucks towards the zine.

ZINE FINANCES UPDATE

This level of financial transparency into a growing business is atypical, but it’s the way I want to run things. The majority of you—58% to be exact—have contributed. You trust me with your hard-earned money, and I want to return that trust to you. (I’m also hoping this visibility increases donations.) So let’s get into it.

The most important things to read:

I have spent $29,918.72 on things attributable to train_songz operations after 3 zines, merch runs, startup costs, etc.
I have brought in $40,873.94 between contributions and merch
- About $1,100 of that is from ads, and I think I can increase this to help out if you know anyone who might advertise…
This means train_songz has $10,955.22 in the bank
- Before whatever tax bill is coming my way at the end of the year! (Any heady CPAs out there?)
I have received a contribution for 58% of all-time zines sent (2,479 contributions received, 4,250 zines sent for those of you doing the math at home)
- My goal is to get this number up
If I estimate 2 hours/day on the memes and zines in the last year, I’ve worked 730 hours total…and likely more
Estimated rest-of-2024 budget is $9k for the summer ’24 zine ($6k) and a special Halloween edition of the zine ($3k - limited run)
Estimated 2025 budget is around $29,000: $24k for zines ($6k/zine) and $5k for train_songz radio band payments
- Keep reading for more details on that…
I still have a day job, and I am truly in 100% all-profits-reinvested mode. I have the goal of eventually taking a salary. But not yet.

CONTRIBUTION PERCENTAGE

My goal is to do better than 58% of zines sent with a donation attached. To me it’s not the best sign that donation percentage has dropped as the zine has grown, and I’d like to reverse that downturn on the fourth zine.

Can I do so without setting a minimum price on the zine, keeping it “pay what you want” where even $0 works? That’s the goal. I’ll let you know if it happens.

Let’s break down contribution percentage by zine:

ZINES 1 & 2

I need to combine zines 1 and 2 because my data is messy:

I had a combined 2,050 orders for my first two zines.
Of these 2,050 orders, 1,315 donated or bought merch.
That is 64% of people.

ZINE 3

I’ve sent 2,200 copies of zine 3 to date
I’ve received 1,164 contributions.
That is 53% of people.

THE FUTURE OF TRAIN_SONGZ

As I said, my goal is to get the percentage of the whole who donated up. I do trust that some people actually need the zine for free, but I want people who can afford to send a few bucks to be compelled to do so and value everything that goes into it.

In order to get donations up, we’ll be switching to “pay what you want” up front for the zine, instead of the current optional contribution after receiving.

I think paying before the zine comes versus after is a better reminder for people to give a few bucks. Zines should never be prohibitively expensive, that is against the spirit of the medium, and I want someone to be able to pay $2 or $20 depending on what they’re able to do at that time, but I’d like to minimize the amount of people getting the zine for $0.

I’m not going to police payments, and $0 will continue to be an option, but I will be more confident in saying my art should be paid for in a small way.

And maybe the zine audience has to shrink for that to happen—that’s okay. I want people who get the zine to actually really want to get, read, and collect the zine.

(More on this in August…)

For now, if you haven’t donated, please consider doing so!

And if you have, thank you so much. You earned this transparent update via your trust and support.

ADVERTISER SEARCH

As my audience grows, I’m looking for advertisers to get involved with the fourth zine and the radio show to help pay for things on top of individual contributions. If you or anyone is interested, please respond to this email!

THE FUTURE OF TRAIN_SONGZ: RE-INVESTING ALL PROFITS

You have my word that I’m not pocketing this money or using it for anything outside of the furtherance of the zine and train_songz, which is ultimately about supporting and celebrating the Billy Strings community and bluegrass music as a whole. (I especially want to work on supporting that second part, as I start to make more money and we can do more stuff with it, like get bands paid. Keep reading.)

If you want to be on board, I want you to trust me to reinvest this profit. This is not beer money. I’m motivated to grow this thing into something special. Maybe it can be my job one day. Maybe I can employ a few others. Or maybe it’s just a fun solo side project. I don’t know. But giving it a serious go and following my dream, in a way, means making a profit and then investing that profit back into the operation.

I want to get more people contributing towards the zine so I can:

Afford help, giving myself more time and energy back to put into the zine
Increase the zine’s quality by paying artists and creators to level it up
Start a bluegrass radio show, paying bands to appear and sharing the music to you all for free

I will continue running the zine, and we continue leveling up the quality each time by getting more folks involve and compensating them for their time and talents: That means paying artists, designers, puzzle-makers, and other talented creators (I will stay focused on the writing and data) to help me make the zine better. If the zine is going to bring in money, they deserve to be paid fairly for their talents.

I’m also working on a bluegrass radio show that you’ll be able to listen to in the coming months. I want the bands to get paid for that. And I ultimately want to expand the show’s format to a live event, that we can all attend and enjoy. (If you have any bands to recommend for the radio show, please respond to this email.)

PLEASE END THIS DAMN EMAIL…

I’m real glad to have you on board, and I hope that if the memes and zines have made you smile or connected you a little bit deeper to the Billy Strings and bluegrass community that we all love, you might continue supporting me with a few bucks towards the “pay what you can” zine and a merch order here or there.

-The Conductor

Smokestack

🚂 one year of train_songz! + $$ update