Two Months Into the Newsletter Thing

It’s surprisingly gratifying

Photo by Tim Marshall on Unsplash

I started my newsletter about the writing life, The Grasshopper, in March of 2022 and have published two weekly posts since. One is a more formal issue dealing with various aspects of writing and creativity. The other is more random, a blog post type of thing.

So far, I have never suffered for lack of ideas about what to dive into, but these days my challenge is too many ideas. Life is just too interesting I guess. 

Having a lot of things to write about is a gift. Right now in my Google Docs file I have two things lined up for Medium, both in the political/climate/current events topics I write about. But The Grasshopper is not about those things, it is about life and the life of a creative.

I don’t remember the word Creative being used as a noun when I was finding my way, but I happily describe myself that way. And it turns out that a lot of us also see ourselves as creators. They are the people I write for with my newsletter.

I’m unconcerned with growth, subscriber counts, or revenue, though I definitely keep track and appreciate every new subscription. When I started on Medium, for example, those stats were interesting, but I never thought they would amount to anything and they were not my motivators.

This hands off attitude when it comes to growth has served me well on Medium and, since the newsletter is a new thing, growth has not been my focus. The focus was to see if I could keep this thing going on a regular basis while keeping it interesting. Not only has it become a favorite place to write, but I am now thinking about a second newsletter for my topical stuff.

Anyone who reads me regularly knows I get irritated on a regular basis by those stupid posts with people obsessing about followers, revenue, side hustles, etc. There are exceptions, but building a following online is a slow and steady thing, not an overnight road to riches.

When I recently told a friend I was thinking about starting a second newsletter he commented about my ‘publishing empire’, which made me laugh and still does. If only he knew the extent of my ‘empire’!

The only thing I care about is whether readers get something out of my work. It so happens that on Medium, if they do you can make some money. Don’t get me wrong, I love that. And if there is a path to that with The Grasshopper, I’ll pursue it. But I want it to be freely available.

There is some ego in this. Validation of my ideas being interesting. The world these days is frankly pretty horrifying. Last night I watched the January Sixth insurrection hearings and they were graphic in their depiction of how bad things have become in our country.

A lot of the reason I write is to cope with my anger and frustration about our day to day reality, anger and frustration shared by many of my readers. But my newsletter stuff is the other side of that, the side where I sit here on a gorgeous morning with birds singing outside and my apartment flooded with sunlight, thinking another coffee is in order.

This is the dichotomy of this life. Humans generate darkness and others try to bring light. But outside the planet simply exists. Yesterday was dreary and rainy. As Kurt Vonnegut would say, ‘so it goes’.

Meanwhile I’m just going to keep writing and see what happens because it is pretty interesting, can be done anywhere at no cost, and makes a few bucks. Nothing bad about any of that.

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What is Substack?

A free thing that makes this possible

This newsletter is published on a free platform called Substack designed to support newsletters and podcasts. It’s kind of like a blogging platform, but there is a community support function that helps readers find interesting newsletters and newsletter publishers find readers.

Substack gives writers the ability to monetize their work through optional paid subscriptions. The writer can pick the pricing plans and Substack takes 15%. It is possible to make a living from this if you build up a following. Or you can choose to keep it free or offer a choice.

There are thousands of newsletters on every imaginable topic. It’s really quite mind boggling. If you opt to participate in their various community stuff they will send you samples of newsletters, provide tips on growth, and help you find subscribers. It is very easy to set up and navigate and I’ve been enjoying the process, not always the case with earlier platforms.

As I mentioned above, I’m planning to launch a new newsletter which will primarily feature my topical stuff that I write on Medium, which requires a subscription. Still working out the details, but my Grasshopper subscribers will soon get an invite to the new newsletter. 

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