Dear Readers,
There has been considerable activity behind the scenes here at Bacon’s Rebellion as we work on elevating the blog to the next level. We see a tremendous market opportunity as newspaper newsrooms continue to shrink, skewing consistently leftward in their editorial coverage as they do so. We believe that there is a large audience for a publication with a moderately conservative center of gravity that delivers Virginia news and commentary while maintaining a diversity of perspectives and a civil exchange of views. And we believe that Bacon’s Rebellion is the logical candidate to fill that niche.
As believers in free-market capitalism, we are not seeking foundation grants to propel us forward. And we hate to rely upon your charity (although we will ask for your help). Instead, for the foreseeable future, we will generate revenue from advertising. That means you soon will be seeing ads on the blog for the first time. I promise that they will not be intrusive. I can’t predict exactly when the ads will first appear, but the day is not far off. So, don’t be shocked.
Our next initiative will be to publish a newsletter. Initially, as we get our bearings, we will publish only two or three times a week, but eventually we hope to blast it out daily. Besides highlighting blog posts on Bacon’s Rebellion, we plan to aggregate a wealth of content you can’t access by subscribing to VA News, The Virginia Mercury. Virginia Business or The Virginia Star. This, too, will be supported by advertising.
In the relatively near term, we plan a major re-design of the website to accommodate publication of more content. We’ll also be recruiting new contributors. In the long run, our aspiration is to support a full-time news team, although we’re still figuring out the business model. For now, our primary business goal is to boost readership, upon which all else depends. Every dollar we make will pay for IT support, upgrading the product, and finding new readers.
We don’t have deep pockets. We don’t have a sugar daddy. We’re bootstrapping this one step at a time. For those of you who have made donations to Bacon’s Rebellion, please know how much we appreciate your support. Your gifts have provided the seed money to get this initiative off the ground. At the appropriate time, I will call again for your assistance — but of a very different nature. I’ll be getting back in touch soon.
— JAB
