You may have noticed JP was down for a good part of the weekend. I didn’t notice the problem until Sunday morning. So what happened? JP outgrew its hosting. If you aren’t aware of how web hosting works, you subscribe to a package which offers a certain amount of bandwidth, storage space, and processors. I had a grandfathered account, but JP crossed some thresholds by a small margin. But mostly there are so many of you reading, that the old plan couldn’t handle the bandwidth and processing required.
I upgraded to the next tier, which should make JP load faster and fix some traffic-related problems. Thank you for reading and causing this problem! If I have to upgrade to the tier after this one, I may need to do something to defray the increased costs, such as including a few advertisements (yuck!), but I will worry about that problem if JP gets to that point. JP has a lot of room to grow with this upgraded plan.
So thanks again for handing me a good problem to solve!
I forget what you said somewhere previously, but have you seriously considered a patreon? I think you’ve got enough fans that there could easily be some stuff that would offset such costs.
Please forgive the unsolicited thoughts which I know plague every creative such as yourself, but as I was thinking about some monetization I suddenly got a picture of you at a convention with your books and a collection of your best explainer essays printed together as a manga-ish with some cool art and design that people could leaf through, and an overal booth vibe sort of like “hey otaku, level up!” style. Not that you’ve ever considered taking Japan Powered to a convention but I’m just saying you’ve got the credibility and I wish I saw your authoritative amd approachable style get you some virality in the interwebs.
It would be cool to see you have a public facing brand that brought you some income, because your cultural bridge work is fantastic.
-JP (“J” until now)
I’ve considered patreon, but I don’t have the time for make the extra content and other things most patreons offer. It’s not entirely off the table.
Thanks for the encouragement and the idea! I’ve been asked as an author to go to various events and librarian conferences. It might surprise readers, but I haven’t gone to an anime/manga convention yet. Only last year I found time to go to a video-game convention. I’m usually working and can’t take the time off. Although I could get press access if I want. I will give your suggestions some thought if the option presents itself.