2015 was a great year for us here at 4LN. Our readership base grew exponentially, thanks in part to some very well received articles, and we also brought on our good friend Jeff Merrick as a full-time member of our team!
Looking forward to 2016, we sat down and discussed what we’d all like to do, and what direction we’d like to take 4LN from here. The idea came up of branching out and writing articles that maybe don’t fall exclusively under the umbrella of “nerd culture”. We thought out loud, “What if we post about topics that are just… culture?” It seemed like an interesting enough idea so we discussed it further and all agreed that at the very least it could be an interesting experiment. We also realized that this medium of nerd culture is constantly in competition with itself, and we don’t want to be a part of that. It doesn’t matter if this site breaks news, or that site gets an exclusive interview. All that really matters is that we share with the world what we love, and we just want to do more of that.
SO! What does all that really mean? Well, it means that alongside our usual comic book reviews, superhero debates, and general empowerment of nerd-life, you’ll also be reading things like…music reviews, satire articles (like what you’d read on The Onion or The Hard Times), food-blog type posts, motivational articles designed to help you organize various aspects of your life, and reviews for books or television shows that wouldn’t have necessarily fallen within the previous topical boundaries we set for ourselves. We’re not limiting ourselves to these few new topics, but they are examples of what you can expect to see pop up.
We’ll also be making more of an effort to feature guest contributor’s the way we did when we first started. We do not make any money off of Four Letter Nerd and at this time we have no solid plans to. For us, this is genuinely about our love of writing and sharing about all the things we love. We want to again, and more intentionally, provide that opportunity to others. We can’t post every article idea we get, but we’ll certainly take a look an let you know if it’s something we’re interested in sharing. Hey, Jeff started out as just a guest contributor and today he makes the big bucks ($0 an hour) to put up with our relentlessly immature shenanigans, all because he loves to write! That could be you one day! (Also, Jeff might also just be a bit of an emotional masochist, I’m not sure.) If you have an idea for an article, or something you’d like to write about, please get in touch with us through our Facebook page!
One thing I do want to stress is this… THE OLD FOUR LETTER NERD IS NOT GOING AWAY. (NO MATTER HOW BAD YOU WANT IT TO!)
We are not burning the whole thing down and starting over. We’re just throwing some other things into the mix to test the waters and see how they go over. Think of it like a salad. Since the beginning we’ve had our lettuce, cheese, croutons, carrots, and Ranch dressing. Now, we’re throwing in some tomatoes, some bacon bits, and maybe changing up the dressing every now and then. Maybe a Thousand Island, or an Italian. Hell, some days it might just be a basic Caesar. In the end though, it’s all still a delicious salad. (Damnit, now I’m hungry.)
Bottom line: We’ll still be posting the same types of article we’ve been posting since the beginning, and we’ll still be putting our emphasis on keeping our articles and posts focusing on positives. You get enough negative bull… I mean… enough negative opinions on literally every other website that exists, so we will continue our commitment to you that our content will be free of pessimism and gloom.
In addition to our new content direction, we’ll also be rolling out a new website and brand design sometime this year. At this point, we do not have a specific timeline for when this will happen. It could be next month, it could be not until the end of the year. But, it’s something we’re exploring and we’ll make an announcement about it once we have confirmed plans.
Thank you, for being a reader and follower of Four Letter Nerd. Could we do this without you? Well… yes, actually. If we were the only ones reading each others articles (and believe me, there are days that’s true) then we’d still be here. But, we appreciate that you girls and guys have joined us on this adventure and we do not take that accompaniment for granted. We want to write things that you want to read, and we hope you’ll continue to support what we’re doing by commenting on what you want to see more of!
