vintagewitch | Substack + Newsletters

The new obsession that seems to have taken over writer twitter is Substack and paid newsletter subscriptions. It's like ... patreon, but more intimate?

It's also sort of being marketed as the next big thing in magazines, except you're paying individual writers. A while back I saw a writer on Twitter saying "hey, instead of everyone subscribing to our individual newsletters, why don't we just ... create ... a magazine?" Which really, when you think about it, is a multi-contributor blog except you pay for it. It's something I've considered for one of my professional projects, but it doesn't feel like an efficient way of distributing content. I don't know! Maybe it's what the people truly want! But the archivist/librarian in me wants things to be in one place, that is easily searchable, with complimentary content next to it.

There are plenty of unpaid newsletters as well, but I find those end up just stacking up in the unread part of my inbox. I'd rather all these separate newsletters be a feed - which I suppose my email has become, but still. With my email, everything feels so Important and Essential. It's also where my New York Times daily briefings stack up, because so frequently I just can't deal with the news daily. (And yes - I'm trying to get away from the NYT daily briefing email, esp since the NYT doxxed the whistleblower, but I just can't find something comparable.)

What if we all just collectively decided to go back to places like Dreamwidth and Google Reader? RIP Google Reader, I miss you daily. It would be so awesome to have a robust Dreamwidth community for personal life and diary stuff in one tab, and my Google Reader open in the other tab.

Do y'all have favorite newsletters you subscribe to? Or an rss feed you're satisfied with? Let me know, I am curious.

In other news: Started the process of perhaps going back to ED Intensive Outpatient therapy today. So ... yay I guess?

A friend of mine is also dying of kidney failure. He's only 32, so I'm hoping he'll be able to find a donor and be physically able to get the surgery. I've processed this a lot today, so I won't go into it too much here. Needless to say, I'm extremely sad about this and trying to figure out how best to support and help him.

Time for therapy-suggested gratitude list:

1. I am so grateful for the library.
2. I am grateful for lovely escapist fiction for hard times (currently sucked in to A Storm of Swords)
3. Extremely grateful for my partner, who helped me to clean the apartment yesterday and is really supportive of seeking more therapy.

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Sometimes it feels like everything old will eventually be new again (or at least close to it). I'd not yet heard of Substack, but now I will want to go look. I still haven't managed to get on Patreon and start supporting the few folks I've long planned to do so. Maybe I should do that first...?

RIP Google Reader indeed, OMG I miss it so. That and Political Theory Daily Review. And... what was that link aggregator..? De.licio.us.

I keep up with FB and that's about it. Sorry I don't have any better ideas.

And ditto gratitude for the library. All libraries!

While I still miss Google Reader, I've made do with feedly as my rss feed reader. I've been using it pretty much solidly since they shut down Google Reader and it does the job decently enough.

Sorry to hear about your friend. <3 <3 <3

I think I made a feedly account way back in the day? I wonder if I can track down my login info. It would probably help my writing career, to keep up on stuff better.

I love Pocket, which is great for saving links, but it doesn't follow outlets and what they publish (as far as I can see). But it does make for a great archive.

I would love to have more people on DW. The resistance I get from people is that this seems too hard and no one can use it on their phones. This is probably still my favorite platform for social media.

<3 getting therapy is hard and I'm proud you're seeking it when you need to. And I'm so sorry about your friend, words feel really empty, but I just felt weird not acknowledging it. <3

I mostly just subscribe to author newsletters, which are helpful for keeping up with new works. I also really like The Rec Center which is a weekly fanfic rec news letter. As well as fic in contains article about fandom and generally so silly tumblr posts.

Libraries are amazing! I too am grateful for mine.

I'm so sorry about your friend. *tea and support*

I really don't know what to say about your friend. :-(

The US health care system sucks.

Thank you <3

I'm really hoping that one of the people who filled out donor pre-screen questions can come through for him. The US health care system sucks horribly.

The mobile thing is a major issue. I actually have several friends who don't even have a laptop, because they either use the work computer or don't really write much/don't need the keyboard, and it blows my mind.

It's also weirdly nostalgic for me in ways that other people don't have - like, I *lived* on LJ. It was where I spent most of my time as a teen, and it brought me so much comfort. It's also easier for me to type than it is for me to write longhand, and I'm So Online that it makes sense to keep an online diary. Eh?

And thank you re: therapy + my friend. Eating disorder life is tricky. A whole bunch of people filled out the pre-screen questionnaire for him to be living donors, so I'm hopeful.

ooooohhh I'll have to check out The Rec Center. I'm fairly limited in my active fandoms (HP and GoT), but I loooooove fanart and fan culture. Link me?

And thank you for the tea and support. I'm really hopeful that one of the folks who did the living donor pre-screen will be able to come through for him.

Sure the sign up for The Rec Center is here: https://tinyletter.com/elizabethandgav and there's an archive here https://tinyletter.com/elizabethandgav/archive if you want to look through some of the older newsletters.

There have been both HP and GOT recs recently! I actually don't read much of the fic that's reced, but I like the other content, plus I just kinda enjoy reading recs even if they are not my fandom.

I really hope things work out for your friend.

Thanks for the link! I'm perusing the archives now

And re: my friend, yeah, I hope so too <3

Same on all counts. LJ may have very well saved my life, considering what my life was like when I found it. I mean, I write professionally and my deepest relationships still are basically online because of places like LJ, to the point where I can't really imagine life without a computer.

Substack + Newsletters

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