Going commercial. Kinda.

So first of all: don't panic. I'm not about to start charging you for anything. (Although, if anyone wants to pay me, my rates would be reasonable.)

However. Long-time readers and friends will know I've thought for many, many years about just how I might make a bit of money (however small) from the effort and time I put into writing fiction that's primarily, let's be honest, there to help you get off. I mean, even the lowliest of working girls and boys get paid, so why shouldn't I when the results are the same, right?

Okay, I don't want to put anyone off their food here, so I'll get right to the point. I've slapped some Google Ads here on the blog. So from now on, here's the simple request I'll add to any fiction I post:

If you liked what you just read, go to my blog and click on a Google Ad.

That's it. If enough of you click, I'll get a bit of cash. I think this is pretty much a win-win situation for you and I, because:

• It costs you nothing but the click, and the time to load another page. (And if you're smart, and running a modern browser, you've probably got tabs going on. You can open stuff and not even look at it.)
• Did I mention it costs you nothing?
• The ads are targetted by keyword search, so hey - you might even find something useful via one of them.
• And being Google Ads, they're completely unobtrusive. I've moved the ads up to the top right for a while just so you can see they're here; but before too long I'll slide 'em back down the sidebar. They're just links.

I absolutely cannot see any reason not to do this. So basically, if you've ever read one of my stories and liked it, click on an ad or two. Heck, click an ad each time you visit this blog. Costs you nothing. Gets me cash (eventually, it takes a lot of clicks). We all benefit. Click one now!! Heh.

Just for clarification: I will always be writing and releasing fiction for free. I will not hold you folks to 'ransom' before releasing fiction ("If I don't get 5,000 clicks no-one gets any more Spider-Girl!!!" or similar). I will not install any kind of intrusive ads at all (no pop-ups, pop-unders, or similar). If Google Ads changes to do that kind of thing, I'll drop them.

Finally, for those of you concerned about your privacy... I don't think you should be. Google Ads don't look at you or your browsing, they look at the page they're on. Considering the sort of sites I've seen appearing so far on the ads (mostly, about writing) I am pretty damn certain you'll be okay. But frankly, if you're really concerned about what some anonymous corporation might know about you by checking your web browsing habits... well, I can direct you to some good conspiracy sites.

I would very much like to hear your opinions on this, good or bad. I've always listened and reacted to people's opinions and comments, and I'm not about to stop. So feel free to comment below or email me - the address is my name at g mail dot com.

Annnnnd finally... one day I may well produce actual printed material of mine that you can buy (reprinting stuff you can already get on the web for free, natch). If anyone would be interested in buying a 'Collected Ghostly Writer' I'd love to hear from you too. Right now I think I might be the sole person in the world interested, but you never know...!