Hey Look! Ads!

I’ve officially become a sell-out.

There’s now a floating "Support Me" badge linked to my Ko-fi.

I have a Substack newsletter with plans to move to a paid tier someday.

I occasionally panhandle for donations through PayPal.

And when The Movie Breakdown joined Spreaker, we agreed to shove in some ads.

Now, AdSense has officially arrived at Beyond the Balcony.

So far, I’ve made a whopping $0.03. Clearly, it is time to start making plans for my golden mansion.

I get it; ads are annoying. That’s why I resisted them for years, even back when Beyond the Balcony averaged tens of thousands of views a month and could have maybe earned me lunch money. I hate how cluttered and distracting they can be, and I always figured the irritation for my readers wouldn’t be worth the pennies.

That still might be true. But I’m in a different place now: financially, emotionally, and creatively. The AuDHD diagnosis helped me understand why life has always felt like cracking eggs for breakfast with a hammer, but it didn’t magically bring back lost work or summon new clients.

Right now, I’m trying to build up my Life on the Balcony Substack to the point where I can justify a paid tier and then offer exclusives and special projects. With just 12 subscribers, I’m hesitant to launch it and risk jettisoning those pieces into the void. I’m debating opening the paid tier early, promising that the exclusives will start rolling out once I either reach 10 paid subscribers or the new year hits. Given how long it took me to launch ads and a tip jar, let’s just say: I'll make my decision around 2035, right after flying cars and android housekeepers become standard.

As for the ads, I went with AdSense because they’re supposed to reflect the topics of the site. In practice, it seems the web crawlers think Beyond the Balcony is a lifestyle blog about vegetarian pizza, jewelry, water pipelines, and yoga pants. Clearly, all subjects I’ve covered extensively, especially that five-hour podcast ranking the best ways to eat eggplant pizza in pink workout pants.

So, why give in to the money overlords? Why has your friendly neighborhood neurodivergent pop culture dad writer joined forces with the Man, or at least, Gino’s Pizzeria and Meditation Centre?

Because my work matters. Or at least, on a good day, I truly believe that. Even on a bad one, I can’t deny the kind messages from readers and listeners who’ve told me a piece or podcast made them feel seen, or it deeply resonated with them.

But I also need to make a living. Writing is the one thing I’m confident in, as a skill where I know I can do good in the world. I'm growing back my freelance business, but that also means shaping my voice to fit someone else’s needs. I’m lucky to have editors who trust me, but most of my personal or weirdly passionate ideas still end up skipped.

That’s why Beyond the Balcony, the Life on the Balcony Substack, and The Movie Breakdown matter so much. Here, I get full creative freedom to write the poetic, the messy, the offbeat, and the unpublishable. The fact that anyone reads, listens, or supports that work astonishes me and I am so grateful.

And I want to do more. I have roughly two billion ideas: deep dives into pop culture history, oddball fiction experiments, essays about neurodivergence and creative life. But to make that happen, to write bigger, braver, better work, I need support so I can lean less on client gigs and more on my own voice.

Hence: the ads, the tip jar, and eventually, the paid tier. This isn’t selling out. It’s me saying my work has worth. Right now, that worth is three shiny cents, but with luck, maybe it’ll reach a dime by week’s end.

These monetizing efforts aren’t just for me; they’re for you. If something I’ve written has ever resonated with you, made you laugh, or helped you feel seen, then these little income streams make it possible for me to keep creating. If I launch a Patreon, then I may have a goal where I even turn the ads off entirely. But launching a Patreon is a problem for Future Christopher.

For now, sincerely thank you for reading, listening, and being part of this journey.

If you’d like to support Beyond the Balcony and help me grow this space, here’s how:

☕ Ko-fi: “Buy me a coffee” on my site or via the floating badge.
✉️ Substack: Subscribe (and maybe pledge) to get my latest work directly.
💸 PayPal: Old-school donations always welcome.

Even if you can’t contribute financially, every read, share, or kind word means the world.