A Short Service Announcement.

Not much to read this time.

A few months ago, I decided that, after a year of writing these essays, or when I reached 2000 subscribers, I would stop to take stock of things. It so happened that the two things occurred more-or-less simultaneously. I have over 2000 subscribers now, which is frankly more than I expected for a site that publishes long essays on difficult subjects. A typical post is seen by something like 3,500-4,000 people, considerably more if a site like Naked Capitalism—to whom I’m very grateful by the way—notices it and includes a link. Again, that’s a lot better than I expected.

I’ve also received a lot of encouraging private emails, and I’m grateful for supportive comments in the comments sections in the essays. I now have a fair number of people who have pledged money for a paid version as well, or who have encouraged me to introduce one. I wasn’t originally thinking about this, but now I need to decide what to do.

I’m going to continue writing, at least for a while, because there are still things I haven’t said. But I don’t think there’s any point in introducing a paid tier as such. I’m already producing 15-20,000 words a month, which is the equivalent of several full-length books over the last year. Not only do I not have the time to produce extra paid content, but I’m not sure my readers necessarily want it. Do you need any more collections of links? Any more book and cinema reviews? Any more one-paragraph witty responses to complex problems? I doubt it. I don’t intend to get into Substack Notes, either. My preferred form is longer and more thoughtful, and I have no plans to change that.

So I will do the following. In the summer, when I have more time, I will switch on a paid tier for those who want to make use of it. I will continue to produce one essay a week, of about the same length, and it will always be free. Payment will therefore be entirely voluntary, and will not entitle you to anything extra: it’s just a gesture of support, which some of you have been kind enough to say you want to make. We’ll then see how it goes. Some people have written to me asking if they can make a one-off payment. The easiest way to do that would be to take out an annual subscription, and then immediately cancel it after the first payment. I won’t be offended.

I’ll send another message nearer the time. Thanks for all the support and encouragement. There will be another proper essay on Wednesday.