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UPDATE: Thanks to everyone for their feedback on this. It’s a contentious issue and I’ll probably shelve it until further notice. I appreciate your points of view.
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When I first envisioned this blog, I had it in my mind that it would be a potpourri of thoughts and feelings, curated with an eye to people of reasonable intelligence and cultural curiosity – with photographs too.
While it hasn’t veered off-course too much, I’ve found that ‘imaginary magnitude’ has become popular for the book reviews, which, owing to evolution, it seems have been the most prodigious type of posting. (As for the photographs, I’m still trying to get some quality scanning time – my scanner broke a while ago, leaving only my wife’s, and it’s hooked up to her computer, and I tripped over first base after my dog ate my shoelaces, blah blah blah).
So, lately, I’ve been wondering whether I should – with all aesthetic considerations taken into account – consider ads on the blog. Those Amazon-y things you see on other sites whenever they mention a book. Yes? No? Ambivalence? Do you find them invasive? Would you be offended by an ad in the margins or click-throughs that would enable people to purchase the books I’m reviewing directly?
I’m torn. I’m torn because I generally prefer to buy books locally at independent booksellers. That said, not everyone visiting my site lives in a major metropolitan area that allows for the cultivation of said booksellers. And hey, I can make a couple of bucks on the side for my time.
Let me know what you think – I’ll start a poll in the margin as well, in case you’re unable to type.
‘When I first envisioned this blog, I had it in my mind that it would be a potpourri of thoughts and feelings, curated with an eye to people of reasonable intelligence and cultural curiosity – with photographs.’
Sounds good to me. Did you found that specimen ?
Just to see if it’s still hope
Would these show up in feeds? If not, they might not have a lot of effect; That said, I know little of running adverts. So many different plans and approaches.
I don’t mind them. If someone feels an advert is in place, who am I to oppose. I don’t need them for hosting costs or anything (neither do you I suppose) but if someone offered a single advert for something I could endorse? Why not?
So, feel free to do so. As long as it’s done with taste eh? 😉
As soon as I see ads I start to wonder about one’s intention in their words.
Thanks for the comments…
manulea – there are *many* secimens to be found. You just have to look 🙂
nils – in order to do it, as you say, with taste, is going to require a lot of time/research/coding…all of which are in low supply at the moment. In other words, I think I’m going to shelve the idea.
pamela – this is true, and obviously I would be concerned about making sure there was a “sheet of glass” as it were between the content and the advertisement, so that one didn’t infect the other. However, as I said to Nils, doing a proper job of this will probably be too time-consuming in the end.