Afternoon, it’s Larry 👋
Since you subscribed to The Reflectionist here on Substack, things have been quiet. But I’ve been thinking… and I thought I’d offer you an update on what’s happening.
Since joining Substack, I’ve been trying to figure out how best to use the platform to connect with my readers and integrate it with my existing writing. I write on Medium several times per week, I have my personal blog, and there is the weekly newsletter, Sunday Letters, that I’ve been sending to readers for the last five years.
It’s a lot of balls in the air and to add another one just didn’t make sense.
I’ve been considering dumping MailChimp for some time now given that it is one of the more costly tools that I use for connecting with my readers. Substack might well be the replacement for that, although I would lose the functionality MailChimp provides.
But do I really need that? I’m asking myself.
Why don’t I just bring over my subscribers and write Sunday Letters here? What does MailChimp really do for me other than taking money from my pocket every month?
I’m thinking out loud…💭
Currently, if a reader wants to support my writing they can subscribe to Sunday Letters Premium via a €5/mth purchase on my personal site. For this they receive;
Sunday Letters Weekly newsletter
FREE access to my Medium content (paywall backdoor)
Audio recordings & clips (each Sunday Letters includes audio from me)
Members-only products (some products I’ve reserved for supporters only)
Book acknowledgements (thanks to all m supporters by name in paperbacks and ebooks)
Free ebooks and paperbacks* (for supporters 3 months and over)
Members area (moving to Substack)
Sunday Letters Community (moving to Substack)
If that’s not their preference, they can subscribe to the FREE monthly Sunday Letters without the perks.
But all of this set-up is costly and tricky, and although I can nerd out on putting it all together, there’s something more appealing about simplicity.
So that’s the buzz I’m on…
Simplify.
The Content
As the subtitle to Sunday Letters goes, I write articles on life, work, and the pursuit of happiness. If I were to categorise the material broadly, I’d say it falls into Society & Culture. I’m an MSc. student in Work Psychology and hold an honours BA in Psychology so these topics influence the material I write quite a bit. Philosophy comes into the mix too.
Using these topics as a foundation, I explore the meaning and purpose of work; why we do it and what would we do without it. I examine the nature of the self; who am I? Who are you? How did we get here and where are we going? I write about happiness and unhappiness and if these are conditions that can, in fact, be stationary, achievable or not achievable.
I go deep, and if that’s your bag then I think you’ll enjoy the material. I hope you do.
I’ll keep writing on these subjects anyway because a writer allows themselves to be drawn into subject matter that engages their creativity. A writer, an artist, doesn’t write to cajole or manipulate. They write to create first and foremost. In many ways, it’s none of my business what people think about what I write, it’s merely my job to write.
In the words of the master;
“A writer owes nothing except to his writing. He owes nothing to the reader except the availability of the printed page. And worse, many of the doorknockers are not even readers. They’ve just heard something. The best reader and the best human is the one who rewards me with his or her absence.” Buk | The Captain Is Out To Lunch, 28th August, 1991
Sounds a bit rude and dismissive doesn’t it?
But what Bukowski was talking about here, is connecting with a degree of focus that goes deeper than the surface level thought of, “how can I get these people to like me and buy my shit?”
That’s what most writers think when they write. It’s what most of the content you engage with in daily life is about. I know, I’ve thought it too. It’s an Everlong battle with the egotistic bastard that lives on the surface of our being.
Members Area
Currently, I have built a members’ area on another platform and it’s not working. I need something integrated with Sunday Letters and Substack seems to fit that need. Members-only products and posts can be locked on Substack and comments & discussion can also. It seems that everything I’d like you to have access to, I can have in one place.
Anyway, back to Substack…
I’ve decided to launch Sunday Letters here on Substack and publish each weekly edition for free to you guys for a month or so and see how it goes down for you. If the move is working then I’ll bring over m existing subscriber base and close MailChimp.
So The Reflectionist is now Sunday Letters and the 127th Issue will go out here tomorrow.
I’ll do a separate post during the week to let you know more about paid subscriber perks, but you won’t need to make any decisions about parting with your dollars for a while. See how you like what I write first
So for now, have a good day and I’ll see you tomorrow for Sunday Letters issue #127.
Slán for now 👋
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