Good morning everyone, I hope you are well. Today is my Birthday, and I’ll probably be taking it easy, likely spending the day reading, running, and writing (my three favorite r’s)
This post is going to be a “housekeeping” post, and more informal. Upon finishing, I realize it may be long. If there are typos1, I apologize. After all, I just finished editing/writing/scheduling six more posts, and kind of don’t care!
If you hadn’t noticed my pattern, I post every Tuesday and Friday at 8:30am, and I write many of my posts weeks in advance. I’m a binge-writer, which means I often will go a week or two without writing, but then I’ll spend another week or so cranking out what ends up being a month’s worth of content.
It’s a great work flow for me. It’s in line with my personal strategy of writing what I find interesting, not writing reactively, writing consistently (yet not obsessively), and making my writing practice about the process, not the results.
Starting later this month, I will be updating one of my rules. I will no longer limit myself to 500 words per post, but expand to 800. The 500 word limit existed originally to be “roughly” two pages, but also to be like an old-fashioned opinion column. It wasn’t until I read a recent Paul Krugman post that I realized that those are actually 800 or so words! So, I’ll be making that change.
The 500 word rule has been good for my editing and for cutting out superfluous examples and ramblings, and expanding to 800 words won’t hurt. I sincerely believe in the value of short essays, because I like their style, how it gets to the essentials, and when reading many of them, you feel super productive.
Upcoming Arcs
Here’s a screenshot of my upcoming posting schedule.
I’m really excited for the Epicurean Arc, which right now is scheduled to begin in March. I have one more planned post in that arc, but will probably start it today or next week. When I publish an arc, I’ll probably write a post that will go out the day before introducing it (on a Monday or Thursday).
If you would like me to move up a post or an arc, let me know, and I’ll see what I can do, I don’t want to move the Epicurean Arc up before, say, the second week of February, just because I just got done with a “spree” and it sometimes takes a couple days to get back into the writing groove.
Lastly, you can expect some Real Philosophy Bro posts on capitalism and libertarianism as my next arc. Don’t fret, I am not a libertarian, though I am definitely pro-capitalist and liberal. I’m definitely economically to the right of a lot of people, but not in toxic ways.
Changes I’m thinking about long-term
I’m really humbled that even five people have subscribed to my substack. Yet, I feel kind of icky about how everything on the internet is monetized. But it’s something that’s always in the back of my head when I produce content for anything.
For my creative growth, I need to keep my substack free for the foreseeable future. Even so, if I do monetize, I don’t think I’ll restrict posts, but other, non-written content.
I won’t monetize until I feel like it would be silly not to. For those of you who don’t know, there’s a consistent 10 percent rule on substack. If someone has 1000 subscribers, they likely have about 100 paid subs (10 percent) a month. If you estimate the average substacker gets $4 per month per subscriber (a number I made up), that’s almost $5000 a year. If I ever got to 1000 subs, that would be money I just couldn’t deny myself that.
One thing I am thinking seriously about (regardless of monetization) is compiling all of my posts for 2025 into a collection of essays that I sell as an e-book on Amazon in the $5 range. I’d ask all my subscribers to support me in that way if they can. At this point when it comes to writing, it doesn’t feel write to ask for people to give me more than $5 period, let alone $5 a month.
If I do monetize, you can still expect the normal posts, but I would probably think about doing something like a group chat, or a subscriber-only podcast where I bring on other people, answer questions, or even bring on subscribers for a conversation.
All of this will not happen any time soon. My goal is not to become a super famous substacker, but to use this as a successful side hustle. If I could get $5,000 a year, 1,000+ subscribers, and 100 paid subscribers, that’s good! In the meantime, this is a hobby, and I want it to be fun.
Subscriber Benefits Today!
I’m thinking about letting my subscribers help set my posting schedule. You see something you like in the schedule? Let me know if you’d like me to post it earlier, and I’ll get on that.
I think I’ll probably write a monthly housekeeping email like this to keep people updated. I’ll figure out ways to share what I’m working on
I hope everyone has a great Sunday,
-Joe
A word I always misspell the first time. Irony!