Big Changes to Tom’s Mad Blog!

This past June I very quietly celebrated the 15th anniversary of the start of “Tom’s Mad Blog”. By “very quietly” I mean I never acknowledged the milestone, nor even remembered it actually. This post is my 5,423th post. That’s a lot of posts. I started doing this back in the day as a way to scratch my “writing” itch, and to share what I do, how I do it, and my journey getting it done with anyone who would care to listen. Mission accomplished, I think.

Fifteen years is a long time in the tech world. When I started this blog, MySpace was the dominant force in the fledgling world of social media (which was not a term yet), Facebook had just changed its name from “The Facebook”, had only been around for about two years and hardly anyone had heard about it yet. Twitter was one month away from launching. Instagram was six years away from its start. Safe to say, it was a different world.

A lot of things have changed over the years. Blogs went from being a popular form of social/marketing outreach to one step above daily newspapers in today’s media world (this from a guy who still gets a daily newspaper delivered into the bushes next to my front door every day… what can I say, I’m old school). Social media went from being a straight forward “the people who follow you always get your content” platform to delivery being dependent on algorithms that prioritize based on not your audience’s choices but the platform’s own agenda… meaning even if you build a big following they might not see your content if Facebook or Instagram decides their platform would get more engagement and thus they more money showing your audience something else instead. This blog used to get average of 3.5K unique visitors per day at its peak in 2008. Today a really good day is less than 1K. It has become obvious to me (after being shown the facts by some very smart friends) that I am spending my time sharing my work, insights, and experiences with a world that mostly doesn’t get a chance to see it.

So, starting next week there will be a paradigm shift in approach and philosophy here at Tom’s Mad Blog.

I am not going to abandon the blog, but I am shifting my focus from daily posts here to a weekly email called “The Ink Stained Wretch”. It’s an evolution of my current newsletter, which has up until now been VERY infrequent to the toon of only a handful a year. Basically, instead of writing articles, features, sharing original work, and telling stories about the world of freelance illustration every day here on the blog, I’ll be doing that but in a private email to only those who really want to see and hear those things. Instead of having to come visit my website every so often, you will get the same content delivered right to your inbox every Wednesday, to read at your leisure. Some of the stuff I put in “the Ink Stained Wretch” may eventually make it to “Tom’s Mad Blog”, but it will be weeks later if at all. Subscribers will get first run and exclusive content every week. As with the current newsletter, it’s an opt-in and opt-out thing. If you opt in, you’ll get an email from me every Wednesday chock full o’fun stuff. If you decide you’ve had enough, each email has an “unsubscribe” link. Click it and you are unsubscribed… none of that “it may take up to 14 days for the computers that can instantaneously calculate the variables necessary to launch a satellite into geosynchronous orbit of this planet to remove your simple email from our mailing list” bullshit.

What will you be getting by subscribing to “The Ink Stained Wretch!”? For starters my “Sketch o’the Week’ will be exclusive to subscribers for at least two weeks before I share it anywhere else, and for the first time ever I will let subscribers suggest future subjects! There will also be at least one article on the world of freelancing, art, illustration, MAD magazine or cartooning included… likely more. Features like “Sunday Mailbag” will shift to the newsletter, and questions from subscribers will be the first ones I answer. I’ll also share stories about my time with MAD and my career apart from “The Usual Gang of Idiots”, news and views ont he world of cartooning, etc. There will be plenty of exclusive or first look content in each weekly publication.

If this is bumming you out, I get it. Our inboxes are already full of stuff and it’s sometimes overwhelming. The nice thing about this change is you don’t have to go to my website and find content, it comes to you. The other nice thing is you can open and enjoy “The Ink Stained Wretch” when it’s convenient for you. Or trash it if you don’t have the time that week. Or save it and read it the next week. Or opt out if you don’t enjoy it. If you hate the idea of a weekly email, some (not all) of the stuff I put in “The Ink Stained Wretch” will eventually filter down and appear here on the blog. Tom’s Mad Blog won’t stop, but I’ll only be posting a few times a week, and eventually what you see here will have already been shared with “The Ink Stained Wretch” subscribers weeks earlier.

My goal with “The Ink Stained Wretch” is to give you something new, exclusive and entertaining every Wednesday. Yes, I’ll be announcing any new projects I have available for sale when that happens, but this will not be a advertisement disguised as a publication. It will be a way to share what I do and how I do it with the people who actually want to see and read that.

So, if you are already subscribed to my newsletter, you will get the first “issue” of “The Ink Stained Wretch” on Wednesday next week! if you are not subscriber, what are you waiting for, clod? A furshlugginer written invitation?? Subscribe below! It’s only $0.00 (CHEAP!)