To the me who was trembling, thinking 'Making money on note is impossible!': Listen, calm down first
To the me from back then.
Hello, it's me,
who was terrified of the very idea of
“making money is too much to ask…”
even though I hadn't published a single paid article on note.
Today, I want you to let me talk
with a serious face for just a moment.
I'll probably mess around halfway through, but please forgive me for that.
The trailer is here
“The note dream comedian, me”
When I first started note,
there lived a
“dreaming note dreamer” inside me.
“No, no, the first one can be free. The problem is the second one. That's when the real work begins.”
“If I write something that really hits home, the likes will fly in like crazy, and before I know it, I'll be viral.”
“Featured by the management. The note Twitter account picks it up, I get invited to note pro, and my life changes—isn't that the pattern?”
—Up to that point, well,
it was at a heartwarming level.
The problem was what came after.
My note went so viral that
I started having hallucinations that it was finally being made into a drama.
The title is 'You Were Beyond the Likes'.
Starring Masato Sakai and Yui Aragaki.
Masato Sakai, playing me, shouts,
“I'm… betting my life on note!” and
Gakky whispers through tears,
“I love your likes.”
The final episode is the two of them hugging in the note management office while pressing the like button—.
Wait a minute.
Who is that drama even for? Only I would cry at that.
-----------------From here on out----------------
(It's free. Obviously. I'm talking about how I'm still too scared to press the paid button.)
“The note free-article-100-pro appears”
But in reality, I was a “free-article-100-pro”.
Delusions are free, but reality was quite plain.
One way or another, I posted over 100 articles on note. All for free.
My followers increased, and I got likes.
Sometimes I would get comments like
“This really hit home,” and I almost cried.
Thankfully,
sometimes I even receive tips.
Honestly, when the first notification came,
I thought, “Huh? For me?” and
I couldn't believe it for a second.
But the emotion that followed
was just purely “thank you.”
Even though I had never written a paid article.
Still, the fact that someone, somewhere
thought “I'm glad I read this”
gently pushed me forward.
That alone made me feel a little rewarded.
“The ‘mysterious judge’ is usually inside yourself”
Why was I so afraid of charging for it?
I thought about it again.
・People might say, “You're charging for this level of content?”
・People might think, “You don't have any titles or expertise.”
・What if they think I'm “unscrupulous”?
・Isn't note supposed to be for reading for free anyway?
None of this was said by anyone.
But for some reason, a “mysterious judge”
was talking in my head the whole time.
“Is this writing worth 700 yen?”
“What are you a professional at?”
“Isn't it impossible to make money on note?”
That's how I would
freeze up right before the paywall button, over and over again.
“Paid content = hometown tax (not really)”
But recently, my thinking has changed a bit.
The place called note
is operated by paid articles.
A portion of that revenue becomes operating funds.
In other words,
because there are people writing paid articles,
a mountain of articles that can be read for free exists.
Knowing that,
something changed a little inside me.
Charging for content isn't just for “my own profit.”
It's also “an act of supporting this place, even if just a little.”
In a way, aren't paid articles
like note's hometown tax? (Not really)
“Even so, I will write on note”
Right now, I still haven't published any paid articles.
I am still a little bit afraid of "putting a price on my own words."
However,
I no longer think that "making money is a bad thing" like I used to.
Writing words on note.
Having a price attached to those words.
That is surely not the same as "selling yourself."
I think it is about the resolve to say, "I want to properly deliver these feelings."
Finally, a word from my future self.
To the me from back then,
Charging for content might still be scary,
but fantasies are only worth something if you make them a reality.
If I ever really become able to make money on note,
I'll have Gakky and Masato Sakai play us in a drama again.
The title for that would be... let's see,
"Can You Buy Love on note? ~Beyond the Paid Likes~"
I hope a day comes when I can laugh a little at myself for having such ridiculous fantasies,
and feel a little proud of them too.
Don't you also have a "note judge" and a "fantasy drama production team"
living inside you?
...Huh? You don't?
But you've had a note dream at least once, right?
You should just be honest, Yo.
──And that's the end of the story.