I Have a VERY EXCITING ANNOUNCEMENT!
Some clickbait in your headline, and an entreaty to my dear readers.
Hello and happy ongoing August to all of you.
I hope you are enjoying these dog days of summer. I’ve been feeling a bit fitful, as I mentioned last, but I don’t actually have much to complain about beyond some general ennui. It’s unclear whether I’d have anything to write about if I weren’t constantly kvetching about my ennui, but I guess we will find out.
Because….
Barring an act of god (I never bar an act of god), I’m going to revamp this as a paid publication starting in the new year - which, not for nothing, almost exactly coincides with my 40th birthday. I feel it’s time for many reasons:
I need to start making changes to how I earn money, both for the sake of the money itself but also for the sake of my sanity. Making money on Substack doesn’t seem like the easiest thing, but people are doing it. Which is cool!
I’m genuinely curious to see if I can do it - both develop something that people want to read, and effectively promote it. I’ve always skimped on self-promotion, in part because of my social media ambivalence, but this is professionally unsustainable. Maybe I can finally figure out how to do it without wanting to kill myself and/or everyone else.
I need to start taking myself more seriously as a writer again, which means demanding that other people take me more seriously as a writer again, i.e. by paying me for my writing. (Corporate copywriting doesn’t count here.)
Relatedly, on the eve of turning 40, I need to get more comfortable putting work into things that carry the potential for failure. This is a big, evolving conversation I’ve been having with myself all year. This will take work, and will likely fail! I have to be comfortable with that!
Sort of relatedly, I still want to keep chipping away at my new novel idea, but I’ve got to prioritize something that might generate a bit of income. And developing literally any kind of platform would be useful if I want to sell a book in the future.
Everyone I know IRL (i.e. 95% of current subscribers) is going to be comped, because I’m not going to make my beloved friends and family pay money to read my bullshit.
However if you WANT to pay for a subscription to “support my writing,” I would be incredibly grateful and moved and encouraged. I’ll tell you how to do this once I figure out how it works, ha. But I will absolutely not hold it against you if you don’t pay, especially given how stingy I’ve had to be about this stuff in the last year.
So now what?
Not too much, yet. I’m not planning to turn on paid subscriptions until Jan 2025, in no small part because I need R&D time.
This fall I’m gonna get back on a regular posting schedule - again shooting to write something substantive every two weeks.
I’ll also likely do a monthly reading/watching/whatever list in some form, because recommending things seems to be some sort of unofficial requirement for having a paid Substack. And apparently they perform well.
My plea to you
An absolutely enormous, non-monetary favor you could do for me, my dear and darling beta readers, is give me some content feedback going forward. I feel like I’ve got a good test group here, because it’s a mix of smart and thoughtful lay readers, and media pros of various sorts.
I would be so deeply, eternally grateful if you have any very quick (or even extensive) thoughts on any of the following:
What would you like to read from me, or think other people might like to read from me?
I don’t want to be too specialized because my brain is restless, and I’ve been surprised by how many successful Substacks are basically just people digging into random shit. But I’d love to know if you feel particularly positive or negative about any of the following:
Expat life in Berlin; general meditations on being a New York American who is trying to create a life abroad.
Reflections on being a woman-entering-her-40s who has, both intentionally and by accident, not wound up exactly where she thought she would by now.
(Honestly, 1 and 2 will be the inevitable lens through which everything gets framed, because that’s just my life. But I’m curious whether these topics are interesting to people in their own right.)
Reflections on, and analysis of, books and films and culture stuff. Beyond just basic round-ups.
Reflections on writing and creativity, and the trials of trying to organize your life around these things in a sustainable way. AKA the story of my adult life!
Travel stuff. I will never write a full-time travel blog, because that’s not the lifestyle I want. But being able to make money off of Substack could help me take more trips again, which I could then write about! Meanwhile, I could maybe write a bit about past travel experiences.
Posting my own photography. This will definitely not be a photography blog, but if people think photo content would be a draw, it might be good for me to have a reason to take more photos again.
What have I written that you’ve enjoyed, or thought worked well?
If you want a refresher, my full archive is here.
It would also be so helpful for you to drop me a quick note or comment if I publish any new posts you particularly like in the coming months.
(Is this all just a ploy to get y’all to compliment me more? Writers are thirrrrsssssty.)
What do you not like as much, or don’t think works well for me?
I’ve been writing seriously for more than two decades so as long you’re “constructive,” I will handle the criticism just fine.
Any other thoughts or suggestions you have on content, format, useful comps, literally anything.
Open invitation to tell me your thoughts! I’m all ears!
Anyway
Thank you for bearing with me through this very longwinded announcement. I admit that I wrote it in part to hype myself up and keep myself accountable - in addition to very genuinely wanting and being grateful for your input. Market research, etc.
If you made it this far, you are truly appreciated and are the reason I’m even thinking about trying to do any of this.
Much love,
Tania