Quick question for you...
Good morning!
I took this past week off from producing my newsletter and podcast to move into my new apartment (I might have mentioned it…), so I don’t have much for you this week. But I wanted to say thanks so much for reading over the last year. I know I say this all the time but I’m insanely grateful I get to devote so much of myself to Maybe Baby, which I would never be able to do without your continued investment. I mean that figuratively but also literally, because my paying subscribers are keeping Maybe Baby free for most of my readers, sans ads or sponsors, and also my lights on, and I think that is maybe the coolest thing that’s ever happened to me. I wish I could thank you individually.
While I continue to be wary of how media is distributed and don’t think Substack is the perfect or only solution (far from it), I wish more people could experience what producing an audience-funded project has given me, like ownership of my work and a direct value exchange with the people I’m trying to reach through it. It’s a very humanizing way to make a living and experiencing it myself has only made me more steadfast in my belief that the status quo vis-a-vis work is extremely alienating and needs to change. I’m aware of the privilege I’ve been given to work for myself this way and I hope to use it wisely.
Anyway, sort of to that end, what I actually came here to ask is would you be open to taking a quick reader survey for me? I would love to learn more about you and why you’re here so that I can incorporate that into my plans for this project, which I expect to evolve like any healthy organism. The survey is anonymous, 25 questions, and should take you about 5 minutes. Here it is. Pretty much the only data I get about my readers is the number of subscribers I have and my open rates, and that doesn’t actually tell me very much (what if you open it and close it right away??), so if you have time to share a bit more about yourself and what you want from Maybe Baby, it would mean a lot!
Going to leave you with five of my favorite literary essays I’ve shared over the last year of 15 Things lists, in case you didn’t get the chance to read them and want to:
“Fuck the Bread. The Bread Is Over.” by Sabrina Orah Mark (May 2020)
“I Didn’t Mean to Adopt a Dozen Pet Snails,” by Rebecca Giggs (July 2020)
“Out There: On Not Finishing,” by Devin Kelly (Sep 2020)
“My Mustache, My Self,” by Wesley Morris (Oct 2020)
“Going Postal,” by Max Read (Nov 2020)
Okay, gonna get back to my move now.
I’ll see you next week!
Haley
This month a portion of subscriber proceeds will be redistributed to CAAV, an organization working to build grassroots community power across diverse poor and working class Asian immigrant and refugee communities in New York City.
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