By Don Hall

When David and I started Literate Ape, our goals were simple: pay writers to write things to be published online in a hub of a magazine without borders or boundaries. Is it well-written? Does it have a strong point of view? Groovy. Here's a bit of cash and folks can read it.

For a few years, despite our ongoing disdain for advertising on the site or requiring some sort of subscriber-based payment plan, David and I paid our writers out of pocket. We launched BUGHOUSE! in Chicago, charged $10 at the door or online, took the cash, and paid writers out of that, too. Yeah, I know, a pretty terrible business model all around but the result was some awesome writing by some amazing writers. It was destined to end as David had a kid, bought a house, and I moved to Nevada without many financial prospects. I launched a Las Vegas BUGHOUSE! but realized pretty quickly that locals in Vegas don't pay for things like Live Lit so we made it a Pay What You Can. Oh, and there was that whole pandemic thing that made live shows a bit more tricky.

We stopped paying our writers.

Of course, most of them ceased writing for us and we don't blame them. A few stuck around, writing great stuff for free. Our goals, however, hadn't changed.

Last year, I decided to both work from home as a copywriter and make my living writing in general. And it hit me—I ran a non-profit theater in Chicago for fifteen years. I've written hundreds of grants. If Literate Ape went 501(c)(3) we could garner some donations, get awarded some grants, and suddenly be able to pay writers who spend so much time submitting with submission fees in an overcrowded marketplace, offer workshops for writers and storytellers, and produce community events for free.

So, it's official. Literate Ape is now Literate Ape Press, Inc. a 501(c)(3) Nevada Corporation. If you dig what we publish, like reading from the archive of thousands of articles, stories, and poetry, you can toss us some tax deductible cash. 100 percent of the proceeds will be utilized to maintain the site and pay writers to write.

Even if you're not able or interested in a cash donation, do us a solid and sign up to our mailing list—we don't sell your data, we don't spam you, and we won't bug you a bunch for more donations.