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HeroPress at 100

March 8th we’ll have 100 HeroPress essays published. This seems like an auspicious time to look back at what we’ve built.

Since the first one I’ve only missed maybe 2 weeks. One essay has been taken down for security reasons. Only once has anyone really stood me up, and only four times or so has anyone asked for more time at the last second. In those times someone always stepped up.

A goal of mine has always been diversity, across a number of vectors. I did pretty poorly in the first few months and ended up with diversity debt. Here are some stats as of the 100th post:

Men Women Americans Non-Americans
55 44 34 66

That said, if you look at the last 50, the numbers look much more diverse:

Men Women Americans Non-Americans
22 26 16 34

I have the next 8 contributors planned out, and they continue to enhance the diversity of HeroPress.

Sponsorship

Last June XWP started sponsoring HeroPress. As I’ve mentioned many times before, I’m wary of mixing money with HeroPress, because I never want to make money from the stories of these people I admire and respect so much. That said, the sponsorship makes it easier for me to spend the time away from my family working on HeroPress. Some wise people have told me that using money appropriately won’t lose me any real friends, so there we are.

If you’re interested in talking to me about sponsorship, just send me an email, topher at this domain.

The Future

I don’t have any plans for changing the way essays work. I have people lined up through the end of April. I’ve recently found some new ways to find WordPressers in places I couldn’t access before, and I’m excited about the new places we’re going to hear about.

I’ve been talking for months about doing a podcast. It would simply be me and someone far away from me talking about how they work and live. I hesitate to talk to Americans, because I already know how they live and work, but on the other hand, people outside America might be interested. We’ll see what happens after some research.

I have some ideas about scholarships and software accessibility programs, but I’m still putting those together. I’ve recently been contacted by another organization that wants to work together on a scholarship, and that sounds exciting.  Again, we’ll see what happens.

Thanks

I’d like to thanks everyone that’s been involved in making HeroPress great.  At this point there are too many to name. Those of you that have tweeted, blogged, podcasted, and generally spread the word are amazing. Thanks to those that have written essays especially.  Without contributors HeroPress wouldn’t exist at all.

Thanks to those that have facilitated getting me to WordCamps like Pune, Europe, and US.

Lastly, thanks to those that have committed to the future of HeroPress. I’m looking forward to all the things to come.

8 Comments

  1. Hello everyone,
    Because of the security of WordPress I screwed up when installing a security plugin. IThemes Security plugin to make a video.
    I have had many problems with attacks on my main blog.

    Thanks to all who make it possible to have “ours” WordPress.
    For me a WordPress was a hobby now my passion.

    Thanks to everyone who makes WordPress an almost imaginary reality. I’m not technological at all. I’m on this wave online.

  2. Topher, congratulations and thanks for keeping this platform going. I don’t comment a lot on HeroPress, but I usually make sure to read all the essays. Great inspiration!

  3. Many congratulations to the entire team and thank you for making me a part of it. Topher you are indeed a great inspiration for all of us. Keep doing the amazing work. :)

  4. I am proud of you , Topher . Even though I don’t do this “thing ” I really enjoy reading the success stories . Thank you for your thoughtfulness .

  5. Congratulations, Topher! Thank you for letting me share my story. It was an honor and privilege to work with you. Keep up the good work! :-)

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