Forum / Where are the banners?

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  James Lloyd Davis

  Mar 25, 04:10pm

  Been noticing the absence of banners at the top of the page for a while. Is Fictionaut no longer involved in advertising? It wasn't really intrusive. In fact, I'd actually followed some of the links out of curiosity.

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  Frank Vander Rasky

  Mar 25, 05:36pm

  I’m headed south in a few days for an overdue sabbatical in North Carolina’s heavenly Outer Banks, and then further south to visit with family members near Orlando. But I have enough time to say I hope the owners of Fnaut reinstate the lit ads on this site and develop multiple revenue streams. I seriously doubt income derived from banner ads from their upstream pay-per-click advertising host covers their investment. Imagine what this place would be like if the current owners, obviously lovers of literature, passionately devoted to making this an extraordinary reading-writing resource, were to sell Fnaut to a purely profit-driven publishing corporation?

  The owners of Fnaut have shown restraint in terms of how they could monetize this site. The insertion of geo-targeted ads, for example. You’re from New York City? Kaching! Faster than you can say Big Apple there could be rows of contexual ads for Macy’s, Bloomingdale’s, and other NYC advertisers on whatever Fn page site you visited. Your IP address reveals your geo-location.

  Hooray for the terrific owners of Fnaut! May they live long–and prosper–through their tasteful, artistic, entrepreneurial efforts.

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  Jürgen Fauth

  Mar 28, 04:38pm

  Thank you, Frank, and yes -- the banners are gone for now. The reason is simple: LitSense, the ad network we were working with, folded. We're looking for a new advertising partner (or begin selling our own), but we'd rather keep the ads lit-related. I have to admit, I liked the ads -- they gave the page a splash of color, and I didn't think they were too distracting and often interesting.

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  James Lloyd Davis

  Mar 28, 05:08pm

  Thanks, Jurgen. I agree about the splash ... and agree with Frank about the idea that the site deserves financial support by any means necessary. Whatever choice you make, I'm sure it will be tasteful.

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  Marcus Speh

  Mar 28, 06:13pm

  i also agree with all the points jurgen made. keep it lit and keep it light. perhaps it's time to start another ad network...since we're talking so much about sources of funding. i am curious, too, why LitSense folded if you know. is there no money in this? i'd be surprised if that was the reason. will, of course, google the cause now...

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  James Lloyd Davis

  Mar 28, 06:54pm

  Here's the only link I found on the demise of LitSense:

  http://hilobrow.com/2011/03/16/hello-goodbye/

  Sounded like a good idea and may yet be a good idea. Ventures rise and fall constantly. Even good ones. That doesn't mean someone can't take the shell of it and rebuild successfully.

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