Heron Dance/Zen Mountain Journal Appeal & Where We Go From Here

Summary:

Heron Dance/Zen Mountain Journal needs to get better at marketing. To accomplish that, I need to find someone with marketing expertise/aptitude and an affinity for subjects related to inner peace as a central issue in life and how that relates to Taoist poetry.

By marketing I mean publicity -- publications focused on Zen and Taoism. And paid search -- Amazon (75% Amazon), Google, Facebook. And maybe Instagram – I don’t really understand Instagram.

I publish this here in the hope that that is you, or someone you know.

If I can find someone to help with the marketing, I will create unique, beautiful and useful books, journals etc. The combination of art and writing has made, and will make, Heron Dance books unique.

Another possibility if anyone with an interest in ancient Zen and Taoist poetry wants to talk about taking this work over completely, or take it over completely with the exception of the art, I’m open to discussing that possibility. Or take Heron Dance in a new direction, or return to the Pause for Beauty days — a simple expression of gratitude for the gift of life and for the Great Mystery.

Background Notes

1. The response to the appeal in total dollars was fine. Not great, but ok. What was disappointing is that it was highly concentrated in a very few people. About twenty in total. Almost 8000 people receive Zen Mountain Journal. Of those, about 35% read the average post, or about 2800 people. About twenty percent read every post, or about 1600. About four hundred support the work financially.

2. Heron Dance has always been dependent on the kindness of strangers. In many ways, including my own psychological wellbeing, that makes it an impractical business. It needs to be dependent instead on the sale of books and journals that are unique, beautiful and useful. The Substack can and should continue, but the business shouldn’t be dependent on it.

3. Heron Dance has an aging subscriber base. That presents a number of problems, but most important are two.

• Our average subscriber is 83 years of age, and most people that age don’t buy much art. At one time, Heron Dance sold, on average, $10,000 of art a month. For at least two months, that total was over $100,000. Of course in those days we had a staff over over ten people and now I work alone. But now Heron Dance sells only about $1500 in total of art a month. We need to find some younger subscribers.

• Our subscriber base is declining in terms of total readers, though not in terms of total financial support. In other words, fewer are contributing more. That’s not necessarily a financial problem but overall I work very long hours for very little compensation. So for this to work long term, we need to expand our number of readers.

4. The more I learn about how to use AI properly, for instance in book design and formatting, and in marketing, the more practical Heron Dance becomes. Not to write or do art, but to do all of the other stuff needed for it to continue. Using these tools, the financial aspects of this work can be viable.

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