An Appeal to Readers

This is one of those times when I have to make an appeal to you all. Because you’re important, right?

In fact, what would I do if there was nobody to read the stories I write, the comics I draw, or look at the paintings I occasionally create? What would be the point of my sacrificing leisure, sleep, reading, and a social life to do all that if you weren’t there?

See how important you are to me?

So now I’ve got all the flattery out of the way, let me go to the important point.

Look up to the top of this page. Also, go to my comic strip site and have a look at that as well. See that big DONATE button? You know, the one that looks like this:

Oh, that’s right, you can’t see it. Because it isn’t there.

Let me remind you that everything I put on this site is totally free and for your enjoyment (or not-enjoyment, as the case may be). Either way, I am not asking for your money, and I will never ask for your money for anything I post here, any more than I’d ask you money for a gift I’d present you.

You all – those fifteen or twenty of you who are regular readers, or the hundreds of others who might have dropped in once or twice in your lives – are of extreme importance to me. Without the encouragement of your presence, your readership, I would have no incentive whatever to write, or draw, or create in any way whatsoever. After all, all that comes out of my own time, the time I might have spent doing something else. And when you like something I do, and say so, it gladdens me down to the part of my liver which might go well with Fava beans and a nice Chianti.

Though I do not want anything from you in material terms, I would dearly love it if you could do me a favour in return. No, I repeat, I am not passing round a hat. I am not asking you to do anything that will take any effort at all on your part. What I’m asking for is absurdly simple.

No, it is not your soul, though that's both absurd and simple. 

Right?

It’s just this:

If you like anything I like or draw or paint, or my blog in general, please don’t keep it to yourself. Share the link(s) online on your Fakebook, Google Plus, Twitter, or whatever social media; on your blog if you want; tell your friends and relatives. It requires almost zero effort; the share buttons are there, right below this post.

See?

Some of you are already doing this, and to you I am profoundly grateful. To the others, this is just an appeal. I don’t plague you with petitions you should sign, I don’t ask you to show your appreciation with cold hard cash or the digital equivalent thereof; all I’m asking for, and that without making it any kind of condition whatsoever, is that you just share. It’s not that much to ask for, is it?

Whatever you decide, as long as I am physically and mentally capable of writing, drawing and painting, I will continue presenting my creations to you, and I will thrill at your pleasure at it. Your sharing or otherwise won’t affect that.

And, once again, thanks for reading.

~ Bill.