Originally publsihed via Armageddon Prose Substack:
If you’ve ever had a kind thought for Armageddon Prose, hear me out.
I don’t often ask for money, and nothing I have written here has been behind a paywall for a long time.
Truth be told, I would write for Armageddon Prose even if I never made a cent and I lived in a cardboard box on the street selling pens from a cup, as Christopher Hitchens might say. It’s a labor of love.
That said, what’s true is that I do spend a lot of time and effort on research, the actual writing process, and administrative bullshit. And the ability of individuals other than me to eat food depends on me generating income.
The harsh reality of the current media landscape is that, due to the content of my articles and my ideological disposition, very few outlets are willing to pay me for journalism, and certainly not the ones with large bankrolls.
Even the independent outlets that do publish my stuff, like American Thinker, to which I am grateful for the exposure, don’t have the ability to pay anything. I don’t know the ins and outs of their finances, but they are almost certainly censored and constrained due to their ideology as well.
I’ve been diligent about increasing the volume of articles as of late, hopefully without sacrificing quality.
I strive to deliver value to you, the reader. A minority of my posts are indulgent and mostly inconsequential, such as speculating about whether Michelle Obama is actually a man, but most concern matters of significant public interest like the pharmaceutical industry’s limitless lies and abuses and the climate change long con to lock the world down in 15-minute prisons and force us to eat zhe bugs.
As of September 2nd, I have roughly 1,600 subscribers, the vast majority of which – all but 1.6% — are free. If just 10% of the remaining audience were willing and able to commit to a $5/month membership, that income would be enormously helpful.
Of course, if you can’t afford it, I understand financial constraints all too well. Take care of yourself and your family first. But, if you can, give it some consideration.
And if a Substack membership isn’t your jam for whatever reason, you can also drop me a tip in the coffee thing or send some Bitcoin (address at the bottom).
Or you might check out the exclusive AP merch store. There’s lots of neat stuff like beach towels and coffee mugs and hats with AP branding.
Finally, you can support my work by nabbing my recently released memoir, Broken English Teacher: Notes From Exile. The e-book is $5 and there’s also a physical copy available.
It hasn’t been out for long, but the people who have read it seem to enjoy it greatly. It’s billed as a memoir, but it’s not a conventional one. Some may be inclined to describe it as a “travel” book, but that’s not really true either. What it is is a clusterfuck of my personal experiences, often sordid, that I managed to amalgamate into a semi-coherent treatise on life – which is obviously not a neat category for Barnes & Noble.
God bless.
Ben Bartee, author of Broken English Teacher: Notes From Exile, is an independent Bangkok-based American journalist with opposable thumbs.
Follow his stuff Substack if you are inclined to support independent journalism free of corporate slant. Also, keep tabs via Twitter.
For hip Armageddon Prose t-shirts, hats, etc., peruse the merch store.
Insta-tip jar and Bitcoin public address: bc1qvq4hgnx3eu09e0m2kk5uanxnm8ljfmpefwhawv
