Drew Stegmaier

I want to earn a living while being polite, kind, fun, and not salesy. The best way I know to do that is to keep making stuff to the best of my ability, sharing it for free, and asking for an energetic exchange in the form of money where it makes sense. I don’t want to say hey, it’s five hundred bucks or go F yourself. This page lists how I think about monetization:

Donate to support the Drewniverse 🪐

At this moment in time, I am not sure what a maximum value for my work should be but $30 per month, limited to a one-year commitment, would be of tremendous value to me. One of my supporters suggested this, saying I was placing too low a value on the knowledge and wisdom here. I’m open to other amounts too, it’s just a suggestion!

Gosh, writing “drewniverse” feels pompous and egoic! But, it’s the best word I could think of to describe the hodgepodge of things I create. I’ve had a bugaboo for years wondering why people don’t pay for articles. I’ve chatted with multiple industry bigwigs about it. This collective failure leads to lots of fluffy, shitty books, simply because a series of delicious articles wasn’t easily monetized. Sure, paying five bucks for an article may seem high. The value of articles often lies not during or immediately after reading, but years down the road. I still share the same few articles years later. 

As a reader of Wait But Why one day I thought…wait a minute! I drop fifteen bucks on a movie without thinking, yet I’ve spent dozens of hours on this blog without giving the author a penny. That feels criminal! So I bought their t-shirt and hoodie for about a hundred bucks. Both the shirt and hoodie were bad quality. They were just excuses to throw some bones at a creator I love. 

I wondered how I could be different. That’s where donations come in! Maria Popova’s Brain Pickings and Tara Brach’s weekly meditation workshops serve as examples of how I want to be. Tara uses the Dana model, which from my understanding means to pay what you can or are comfortable with. It’s a way to support the vibe, the general shenanigans I dabble in as a creator. If you’ve enjoyed and gotten value out of what I make, donating is a great way to share the love. ❤️

Think of this as being a patron of the arts. A sort of throwing money into the guitar case as you enjoy music on the corner if such a thing existed on the internet. Past contributions have ranged from $3 to $1,000, but other offerings are welcome, too. 

D🤑  is used throughout the site for links that give Drew money, as a means of being transparent. I do not and will not recommend anything I have not personally used. 

Gear– 🧰 Lists the gear I use and recommend. I like nice things. When purchasing, I opt for the cheapest or best quality. Sometimes the cheapest is the best. Often the most expensive is not the best, occasionally it is. Quality doesn’t matter until it does. 

I also list gear I don’t recommend, to warn you against buying junk. While living in Brazil, I learned the word frescurento, which translates roughly to picky, or having highly specific taste. Often imitators are junk. For example, once I wanted a pricy pair of wool injinji socks. Instead, I was gifted four pairs of a cheap knockoff brand. All of them wore out with holes then went in the trash. I bought the injinji socks myself anyway. Years later I still use them. 

My Book Notes and Reviews- 📚 Each of these has a blurb describing what I took from the book, along with my notes, which are free. If you got value out of either, or simply want to support my creative efforts, purchasing the book through the affiliated link will give some D🤑. You are welcome to read all of my notes! Books that are great for some folks aren’t great for others, and that has nothing to do with the quality of the writing.