Products |
A letter from the editor: The future of HeadButler.com
By
Published: Oct 08, 2017
Category:
editor's letter
SHOPPING ON AMAZON: The business model of this site is Amazon. You start here, buy something there, Butler gets a commission. And not just on the item reviewed. Anything you buy during a session that starts with a click from Butler helps this site. There are two ways to get to Amazon. 1) Click on a specific link on a Butler review. Or 2) just click here. Many thanks.
—
Dear Friends,
HeadButler.com is at an inflection point.
After 13 years, its business model no longer works.
The business model — as I note at the top of every piece I publish — is Amazon.
Butler makes money when I review something and you click to buy it on Amazon.
And Butler makes money when you click from Butler to Amazon and buy something else.
Either way, I get a commission of 7-8%. Pennies, really. But pennies become dollars. And dollars add up.
A ringing cash register wasn’t the reason I launched Butler in 2004. Back then every magazine and website reviewed pretty much the same high-profile, low-protein stuff. What was missing: a place where you could find something more compelling than formal reviews of over-hyped titles. So I created a home for enthusiastic recommendations and passionate advocacy, with pieces that read like emails you send to friends when you’re excited about a book, music or movie you love. And because everything ever released is available on Amazon, the book/movie/music I was praising didn’t have to be new.
For 13 years, it’s been a joy to write pieces like that, 4 days a week, 50 weeks a year. By design, there are no message boards on Butler, so if you want to comment about a piece or ask a question, you’ve had to write to me. And in this way, friendships blossomed. I know it sounds ridiculous, but some of my closest friends are readers of this site — people I’ve never met.
As a business, Butler never had large ambitions. All I ever wanted for it was to break even. That meant: pay for the newsletter, pay for servers, buy the occasional book/movie/CD. I’ve never redesigned the site, but I have spent a bundle on invisible improvements, like making Butler accessible for phones.
Butler no longer pays for itself.
I like to write about music, but you don’t buy music from Butler/Amazon because you get it from iTunes or Spotify.
I like to write about movies, but you don’t buy or stream films from Butler/Amazon because you have Netflix.
That reduces Butler’s most basic income possibilities to Books and Products. And with Butler coming at you 4 times a week, how many books can you read? How much stuff can you buy? I see these as my choices:
1) Butler remains a free site, accessible to all, with no pay wall — and yet, like NPR, it’s supported by subscribers who are willing to pay for what others get for free. Is that you? Would you be willing to pay for Butler? And if so, what sounds fair to you? $5 a month? $10? More?
2 Another, better idea… that comes from you.
One thing is clear. Your responses are a vote for Butler’s future. I welcome — I need — your suggestions. Write me at HeadButlerNYC@AOL.com or comment on the Jesse Kornbluth page on Facebook.
Thanks for your time and interest.
– Jesse
