Most of you probably know this, but for those who don’t, AltDaily is a mom-and-pop shop.

Sid and Nancy.

More or less literally. There are just two of us: Hannah and Jesse. We’re not married, but we are in a relationship (even if it’s often more Sid and Nancy than Regis and Kathie Lee).

Hannah and Jesse.

Of course, our writers and art/photography contributors are the blood and soul of the operation. They are some of the truest stewards of Hampton Roads you’ll ever be lucky to meet. And they all contribute for free, God bless their literary-, art-, and healthy society-loving souls. We’ve also gotten a few utterly vital days of help in the programming area (thank you, Ethan from 757labs.com; Michael Bergin; and Rob Simmons). But everything else, we do ourselves. We solicit, edit, and post the stories. Hannah does the graphic design and back end maintenance. Jesse does the social networking and social marketing. We do our little best with ad sales [which is hard for us (and everyone, we think)].

If we are going to be almost embarrassingly honest, we’re not 100% sure our little business can make it long term. (We sure are gonna try: trust.) And if we’re not sure about AltDaily, we’re pretty cynical about the future of most non-corporately connected, non-industrial scale media outlets. Many of whom have–of course–already went the way of the snap bracelet and Dodo bird.

We want us to work. We want the likes of us across America and the world to work. We shiver at the thought of an America without a truly free press as much as that of a religious inquisition. Without the belief that something called truth exists, society is nothing more than a mirage, a house built on stilts haphazardly thrust into unstable sands.

So we have some ideas. Nothing here is what anyone would call revolutionary. They all are, more or less, rehashed traditional media revenue streams. But what might be somewhat revolutionary, though, is the degree to which media outlets can be transparent with their readers about their private/sales relationships. What might change is that uber-idealistic journalists like us have a chance at survival without selling out so hard that nothing we print can be counted as True anymore.

We are offering these as both ideas for which we seek partners, and also for other small indie outlets to steal.

• Cash Club. This is a twist on the traditional advertorial. We call it Cash Club because it alerts the reader of two things: that we think the advertiser is money (in the ‘talking cool’ sense), and that they, to a degree, paid for the editorial. Here’s how it will work: if a business, event, or anything else wants to be in the Cash Club, we go and visit as customers wanting to love it. If we do love it, we write a nice fluffy article about it and slap “Cash Club” before the headline. If we don’t love it, they can still (please) advertise, but they can’t be in the Cash Club.
• Traditional advertising. Blah blah. Email us if you’d like to see our media kit.
• Video advertising. Jesse once was the executive producer on a series for BET, and he has a master’s degree in journalism from NYU. Hannah is a killer graphic designer and editor. We know many great musicians.
• Ad trades. We need things. Like dinner. Like a new bedframe. Like therapy. Like tattoos, or a record player and every album The Band, the Stones, the Beatles, Fleetwood Mac, and Radiohead ever put out. Getting things for free that we would already be spending money on is almost as good as cash to us.
• Co-sponsoring events. If someone brings us an event that we believe in, we will advertise it, write about it, and social media about it to the full extent of our powers, in exchange for a share of the profits.
• Marketing companies 30% deal. If a marketing firm brings us an advertiser, there is a 30% discount on the ad. 15% of the savings go to the marketer, 15% goes to the client.
• And… like… anything else we missed.

If you’ve got more ideas, or if you’d like to partner with us, send us emails:

jesse@altdaily.com

hannah@altdaily.com