The fun thing about having your own business is you get to decide what to call work.
A couple months ago, John and I decided to start a new venture we’re calling Gunpla 101, and we just launched it. It’s a site for beginners who might otherwise be intimidated by the battle for absolute perfection that permeates the Gunpla modeling world. We’re not experts, but we’re not beginners. We build Gunpla for fun and this site is all about that philosophy.
So the reason I’m calling this a business, not just another blog, is because selling Gunpla tools and kits has become a pretty sizeable chunk of my income thanks to this blog and some Gunpla articles I wrote for it a looong time ago.
My survey the other day basically confirmed that my current audience isn’t really into Gunpla, but each day without fail, Gundam Modeling 101 is still the most trafficked post on this site.
I wasn’t sure what it was about me that made me approachable to Gunpla beginners—that I’m a beginner, too? That I’m a girl?—but people write to me constantly for Gunpla advice. I realized I needed to dedicate an entire new venture to the topic.
Gunpla 101 won’t update three times a week like Otaku Journalist does—maybe once a week or less. We’re betting on the long tail of the Internet, the same phenomenon that keeps people visiting Gundam Modeling 101 all the time even though it’s older.
If you like Gunpla, you should check it out! Be sure to give kudos to Ben Huber, the geeky illustrator who designed our awesome logo.
4 Comments.
As part of the tiny subset of your audience that IS into gunpla, I think this is a cool idea and I hope it ends up being a success for you.
Model-building is one of my favorite hobbies and, in addition to around 10 gundam models, I’ve built and painted various other ships, spaceships, vehicles, and figurines. I also designed and scratch-built a 1/72 scale model of a Civil War earthen fort for the National Park Service when I worked for them a few years back.
I look forward to seeing how Gunpla 101 develops and if there’s ever anything I can do to help out, just let me know.
looking forward to your gunpla 101 as well :)
Thank you! I’m hoping to update it today, in fact!
[…] long time readers know, I launched Gunpla 101 this spring after learning that an article I wrote on Gundam modeling in 2012 was (and continues to […]