If you haven't noticed, there are Amazon links to both my book and other books I've hand picked on the front page. If you are interested in ordering my book or any of my recommended books on Amazon, please consider doing it through my link on the front page; I make a very small referral fee that way. Again, the other books listed are ones that I own and/or have read. I didn't go down the list picking out all the New Jersey books I could come across. While most are site related, some are ones I just plain like.
For about 3 years now, I've received emails and forum posts asking when t-shirts and the like would be available. For the longest time I hated the idea of doing some sort of store. I was always worried about being labelled a sellout by fans, despite fans requesting the stuff to buy. But the demand is apparently there, and quite frankly, after paying for the site out of pocket for 6 years, it would be nice if it started to help pay for itself.
So after a lot of debating, Annie and I have decided to put
a CafePress
shop together. I personally don't care about the clothing; I'm more interested
in their ability to print posters and calendars - not being able to slap a
logo on a thong. I don't really have an "official" logo, anyway
- as you will see in the shop.
I tried to pick things that I feel people would actually find useful. CafePress
offers a lot of things, some of which I don't understand why anyone would
buy. So no, I'm not going down the list slapping my URL on everything they
offer. BUT - if there is an item I don't offer and there's enough demand for
it, I will consider designing it.
Also keep in mind this is a basic shop - meaning it's free for us to
run. This also means what we can make is limited; we can only make one
design per item with a basic shop. If this does fairly well, I may consider
upgrading to premium, meaning I can make more than one design. Believe me,
I'm not happy being able to provide only 3 posters.
We don't make very much on this stuff - depending on the
item, we get 50 cents to 2 bucks. If I wanted to make more, the items would
be nearly unaffordable, though I think some of them already are.
Which is why I'm providing another option to those who would be interested
in helping the site but don't want to pay for shop stuff. If you would like
to donate a little bit through Paypal, I've provided a button to do so. I've
never asked for donations, but if you feel like being nice, I'm not gonna
stop you.
So it comes down to this - times are tough, people have wanted merchandise
for some time, and I just moved, am hoping to start a family, and all that
gooey good stuff.
If it upsets you that much that I made a store, then don't buy anything from
it. But also keep in mind the site has NEVER had ads (except my Amazon
book ads, which I put there myself), pop-ups, or any of that nonsense. This
stuff is here because readers ASKED for it, not because I woke up one
day and decided you owe me some money.
...besides, if you think a stupid internet shop makes me a grubber, you've apparently missed me whoring my book.