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is make or break for TLW. Basically, unless things really pick up financially I'm not going to be able to carry on much longer. I'm sick of constantly worrying about money and bills and shit, and unless I can start making this work I'm going to have to pack it in and look for a steady job with a regular pay cheque at the end of every month. The thought of that scares the shit out of me, as I've been doing this for so long I can't imagine doing anything else. But I see no alternative the way things are going. Sales of the fanzine have been pretty consistent overall, I sell roughly the same now as I did when I started. That's not bad, considering how many fanzines across the country have come and gone in that time. The internet has killed a lot of fanzines, and although I'm sure it's had an effect on TLW, it's also helped in a way as the site has really helped promote the magazine across the world. But when I started I lived with my parents, and didn't have any bills to pay or any family to support. It was fine then, money wasn't an issue. It's different now though. The cost of living has gone up a fair bit since 1999 too, but in that time there's only been the one price increase to £2.50. I've no plans to put it up again though, as I don't think that's the issue. It's not about getting more money from the people who are already buying TLW, I need to either get more people buying it or find another way to get money in. I do the ressies reports for the Post and Echo, and even though the money is crap, without that extra cash I'd have had to pack TLW in a year or two ago. Sales at the match are shit, and getting worse. I sell less than half what I did when I started, but the number of subscribers I have has helped to soften the blow a bit. I hit an all time low at the Pompey game though, when me and my dad sold 24 between us. A crowd of 45,000 and we sold twenty fucking four. Just what I needed before Christmas. The fanzine is how I make my living, and the website is how I promote the fanzine. In an ideal world it would be the other way round. I'd make enough off the site to live on, and the fanzine would be extra cash rather than my only real source of income. I don't think that's possible though, even though the site generally gets around 50,000 visitors a month. I'm not saying this to get people to make 'donations' to the site, as that side of things is actually ok. Between donations, the bonus ball and atk's ridiculous bets the hosting fees are being taken care of, and I can honestly say I don't touch any of that money myself. It's a seperate bank account that is only used for the running of the site. Dipping into that would be like stealing from the church plate! On that subject by the way, I know I'm well behind on the bonus ball payments, but I've got a list of names who I need to send cheques out to and I will be doing that in the next couple of days. I'm just fed up of relying on family helping me out. I drive a car that my dad bought for me and my mum insured, and I'm living in a house that my missus has more or less paid for with money she got from selling her own house. We furnished it with money from my parents. It's unacceptable really, I've got a little girl to support and I need to get my act together financially. I either need to sell more fanzines, make money from the site, get more freelance work, or pack it all in and get a 'proper' job. I don't know how to do the first three, and I don't want to do the fourth, but I think I'm going to have to. Sorry to be putting all my troubles on you in the festive season and all that, but I need ideas, or Steve Kelly won't be the only Liverpool Fanzine editor hanging up his keyboard this season.

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