'Please Sponsor Me'

[Ryan]

Spreading the Word: The Tomkins Times
Monday, October 12, 2009
It is fair to say that Paul Tomkins is one of the leading Liverpool writers out there (Brian Reade, Oliver Kay, Tony Barrett and Tony Evans are the others), a reputation built over the years initially on various forums and then on the club's official website. He is also probably the most prolific author of books about Liverpool FC having published some eight books in the space of four years.

Yet, as many other writers have found out before him, it is difficult to earn a living purely from writing even if you produce one bestseller after the other as he has. It is a difficulty about which he spoke in detail on his blog a couple of months ago, which was quite surprising given how downbeat the writer known for his positive outlook on matters was.

Those difficulties have, however, led to the development of a new venture: the Tomkins Times. This is quite an interesting experiment as Tomkins will now be charging for his articles even if the fees are minimal - £2 monthly for a regular subscription and £3.50 for a premium one - which are what you would normally pay for a magazine. There have been such experiments in the past most notably on Koptalk although that was a completely different beast as it was based exclusively on pushing out as many news stories (true or otherwise) as possible.

News and gossip are, you would think, the last thing that Tomkins would resort to. His strength has always been an ability to look at matters as objectively as possible and in analysing aspects of Liverpool's play where others simply go with the flow. It is what has attracted so many people to his writing and why he has sold so many books.

There is, however, something of a shift in his writing style for the Tomkins Times. Given the audience and the medium, he was never going to say what he really wanted to say whilst writing for the official site. All that changes here as his recent article about Tony Cascarino's misguided opinions on Liverpool illustrates.

This is a very interesting project as it gives the fans of his writing access to many more articles than they were used to. For Tomkins this is an opportunity to keep on writing on a subject which he enjoys whilst ensuring a fairly stable source of revenue. In reality, that is the key: it is fairly easy to get people to subscribe in the first month but much less so to ensure that they keep on paying month after month. Given the quality of his writing, I would think that it is a safe bet that many will be doing so.



A taster of the type of articles on the Tomkins Times can be found here.

http://www.aliverpoolthing.com/2009/10/spreading-word-tomkins-times.html

 

[ILD]

On a side note, Cascarino does piss me off.

 

[Ryan]

[quote author=ILD link=topic=36408.msg961570#msg961570 date=1255392393]
On a side note, Cascarino does piss me off.
[/quote]

But, you can pay 3 or 4 quid for the 'privilege' of reading Tomkins dissect Cascarino's musings to the fucking nth degree if you like.

Tomkins has some cheek to be fair. Doesn't he get disability allowance anyway? It's all ME ME ME with him.

 

[Mistadobalina]

[quote author=Ryan link=topic=36408.msg961572#msg961572 date=1255393007]
[quote author=ILD link=topic=36408.msg961570#msg961570 date=1255392393]
On a side note, Cascarino does piss me off.
[/quote]

But, you can pay 3 or 4 quid for the 'privilege' of reading Tomkins dissect Cascarino's musings to the fucking nth degree if you like.

Tomkins has some cheek to be fair. Doesn't he get disability allowance anyway? It's all ME ME ME with him.
[/quote]

Hahaha

Seriously has any person ever made it to the end of Tomkins article without scan reading most of it. I find it very tedious.

 

[gareth_thomas]

I'd rather pay $5 to read most of the shite spouted on SCM.

 

[Rosco]

really ....

 

[keniget]

Yet, as many other writers have found out before him, it is difficult to earn a living purely from writing even if you produce one bestseller after the other as he has.

I thought it was going to be a pisstake after that bit. Who wrote that article?

 

[Oncy]

[quote author=Rosco link=topic=36408.msg961617#msg961617 date=1255415284]
really ....
[/quote]Board meeting?

 

[Holle]

[quote author=Herr Onceared link=topic=36408.msg961626#msg961626 date=1255417255]
[quote author=Rosco link=topic=36408.msg961617#msg961617 date=1255415284]
really ....
[/quote]Board meeting?
[/quote]

You could call it 'Gold Club' for example. Add some fake inside stories and some topless lasses - voila!

 

[gkmacca]

I doubt it's practicable, but I do sympathise with him. The Daily Mail will call up people for a five minute chat, hand the notes to some hack who'll write it up as though it's been written by the person and pay them £500 (or sometimes twice that if it's, say, Michael Winner) for the right to publish it. Talk about easy money. Whereas Tomkins will get peanuts for doing it all himself with good intentions. No wonder writers get depressed!

 

[Sunny]

[quote author=Doped White Mouse link=topic=36408.msg961657#msg961657 date=1255422561]
[quote author=Herr Onceared link=topic=36408.msg961626#msg961626 date=1255417255]
[quote author=Rosco link=topic=36408.msg961617#msg961617 date=1255415284]
really ....
[/quote]Board meeting?
[/quote]

You could call it 'Gold Club' for example. Add some fake inside stories and some topless lasses - voila!
[/quote]

We could call it

[size=12pt]S[/size]pecial [size=12pt]U[/size]nit for [size=12pt]C[/size]ontributing [size=12pt]K[/size]opites [size=12pt]E[/size]xpressing [size=12pt]R[/size]eal [size=12pt]S[/size]upport

 

[Holle]

[quote author=Sunny link=topic=36408.msg961725#msg961725 date=1255430605]
[quote author=Doped White Mouse link=topic=36408.msg961657#msg961657 date=1255422561]
[quote author=Herr Onceared link=topic=36408.msg961626#msg961626 date=1255417255]
[quote author=Rosco link=topic=36408.msg961617#msg961617 date=1255415284]
really ....
[/quote]Board meeting?
[/quote]

You could call it 'Gold Club' for example. Add some fake inside stories and some topless lasses - voila!
[/quote]

We could call it

[size=12pt]S[/size]pecial [size=12pt]U[/size]nit for [size=12pt]C[/size]ontributing [size=12pt]K[/size]opites [size=12pt]E[/size]xpressing [size=12pt]R[/size]eal [size=12pt]S[/size]upport
[/quote]

You'd lure lots of SOS members this way.

 

[Ryan]

[quote author=Ryan link=topic=36408.msg961572#msg961572 date=1255393007]
[quote author=ILD link=topic=36408.msg961570#msg961570 date=1255392393]
On a side note, Cascarino does piss me off.
[/quote]

But, you can pay 3 or 4 quid for the 'privilege' of reading Tomkins dissect Cascarino's musings to the fucking nth degree if you like.

Tomkins has some cheek to be fair. Doesn't he get disability allowance anyway? It's all ME ME ME with him.
[/quote]

I can't believe I didn't get more kudos for the 'ME ME ME' gag.

 

[SaintGeorge67]

Knowing ME, knowing you.

You've got to keep the energy up.

 

[Sunny]

[quote author=Ryan link=topic=36408.msg962082#msg962082 date=1255474035]
[quote author=Ryan link=topic=36408.msg961572#msg961572 date=1255393007]
[quote author=ILD link=topic=36408.msg961570#msg961570 date=1255392393]
On a side note, Cascarino does piss me off.
[/quote]

But, you can pay 3 or 4 quid for the 'privilege' of reading Tomkins dissect Cascarino's musings to the fucking nth degree if you like.

Tomkins has some cheek to be fair. Doesn't he get disability allowance anyway? It's all ME ME ME with him.
[/quote]

I can't believe I didn't get more kudos for the 'ME ME ME' gag.
[/quote]

I got it but I was just too exhausted to respond.

 

[Ryan]

[quote author=Sunny link=topic=36408.msg962098#msg962098 date=1255476104]
[quote author=Ryan link=topic=36408.msg962082#msg962082 date=1255474035]
[quote author=Ryan link=topic=36408.msg961572#msg961572 date=1255393007]
[quote author=ILD link=topic=36408.msg961570#msg961570 date=1255392393]
On a side note, Cascarino does piss me off.
[/quote]

But, you can pay 3 or 4 quid for the 'privilege' of reading Tomkins dissect Cascarino's musings to the fucking nth degree if you like.

Tomkins has some cheek to be fair. Doesn't he get disability allowance anyway? It's all ME ME ME with him.
[/quote]

I can't believe I didn't get more kudos for the 'ME ME ME' gag.
[/quote]

I got it but I was just too exhausted to respond.
[/quote]

'So what you're saying is... that by "too exhausted to respond", and if I could use an analogy here, you were akin to a leaf blowing limplessly in the wind, as everything else around it rages, which is irnoic because you'd think the external forces (the wind, the air, the oxygen (oh how paradoxical the word 'oxygen' is to someone like me, because you see I've been struck down by this debilitating illness that leaves me sometimes to weak to even t...y...p...e, butididgettoistanbulandathensforthebiggamescosimthatsortarealfan) you'd think that such forces would almost encourage you (and the leaf) to get up - so to speak (difficult for the leaf of course) and push on. It reminds me of when I was a semi-professional footballer myself back in the late 80s for Meek Strikers.... '

 

[Sunny]

That pretty much covers it. Every word is a struggle with forces within and without.