I Need Your Support

Hi everyone,

I started this newsletter six years ago. As you may recall, the world was a very different place in May 2020, and Substack was a much smaller platform. As time went on I played around with a few areas of focus and a few names, but it never became as successful as I hoped. Around 2023 I took a break from the newsletter when I got a full-time journalism job, but still dipped back into Substack on occasion, purely for fun.

Then, earlier this year, readers of this newsletter got good news: I lost that full-time job, and had more time to devote to Substack. Since April, I’ve published much more often and been more focused on the intersection of culture, economics, and politics. As a result I’ve had a few pieces go semi-viral (by Substack standards), I’ve gotten more subscribers, and some people have even pledged money in the event that I ever turn on payments.

Meanwhile, off of Substack, I have been freelancing and working on a local journalism startup idea that I am excited about1. But as I’ve gotten deeper into what LinkedIn would call “fractional work,” I’ve been thinking more about how I can carve out an income from my writing.

Two weeks from today I’m going to turn on paid subscriptions. Though I don’t anticipate putting anything behind a paywall in the near future, I will be asking for money.

I’ve been hesitant to do this for a few reasons. For a long time my subscribe count low was so low that trying to monetize this felt pointless. Then I was writing here so infrequently that I didn’t feel I could ask anyone for money. And, as I wrote way back in 2020, it’s very difficult to make an income with a small newsletter, and writers sometimes fall into a kind of trap when they produce subscribers-only content for a tiny subscriber base.

Now that I have over 1,000 subscribers and have the intention of updating this newsletter regularly, I want to know how regularly I can afford to update it. With 300 paid subscribers, I could likely commit to weekly posts. Any fewer, and I may scale this newsletter back to being a biweekly or monthly endeavor as I focus on work that can actually pay my bills.

So here is what I’m asking:

• If you enjoy this newsletter and have the means to do so, please pledge your support or subscribe when I turn subscriptions on. This newsletter will continue to be free, but your support will enable me to keep it running.

• If you have a Substack newsletter yourself, consider recommending this one. (I’m bad at recommendations myself but have been attempting to get better.)

• If you are a regular reader, email me or jump in the comments and tell me what you like about this newsletter, what you don’t like, and what you want to see more of.

Thank you. I’ll be back in your inbox next week with a regular post.