I’m struggling with some major ennui this week.

I don’t know if it’s because I was miserably sick late last week/early this week (I’m old and frail now, y’all!), if I’m still trying to get my sleep schedule back into some semblance of reasonable (why does 5am event exist?), or if it’s just…<waves at everything>.

Whatever the reason, I wanted to do this issue, I really did. Actually doing the newsletter was (is) another thing entirely.

So instead of going with my first instinct (which was to flake) or my second instinct (which is to do way too much until I collapsed at 2 in the morning), this issue will be whatever I can make happen by 10pm(ish). I’m celebrating a few people in Good News, and skipping Read / Watch / Listen this week, because I just do not have the energy to speed-read all the stuff I bookmarked.

I don’t really have a main topic for this issue, so I figure it’s a fitting time to talk about sustainability. Financial sustainability, that is.

Newsletters are a famously tough business. Everyone has one, and everyone wants to make money off having one (including me), which of course means most us probably won’t. I’m particularly bad at the business of newsletters, because it sits at the intersection of two things I despise doing, which are 1) asking people for money, and 2) promoting myself.

Which is to say that I’m currently paying to send you a new issue every week (or not to send you an issue every week, as the case may be). And while I’d be fine with that if things weren’t…<waves at everything>, the economy being what it is, I need to be realistic about what is sustainable and what isn’t.

This is not cause for alarm! I’m not planning on shutting down the newsletter anytime soon (not unless I’m forced to), but I am looking at ways I can make it more financially viable for me to publish (hopefully well into the future), even if it ends up looking a little bit different or getting to you a different way.

To do that, I need information and your honest input. If this newsletter won’t ever be something most people will want to pay for, I should adjust accordingly. I’ll still want to write it (I do it for me as much as you), but I’ll know I need to move it somewhere more affordable and trim off the extraneous stuff.

Toward that end, I’ve put together a few questions below — it would be a huge help if you could let me know what you think. It won’t hurt my feelings, and there’ll be no judgement for any answer.

I can tell you what I’m leaning toward and why, though. Ironically, the thing that first brought me to beehiiv (easy paid ads from an existing network of companies) is the thing that’s now kinda making me want to get off it.

The problem with the ads—aside from me just hating them on principle—is that they can be from any type of business, and increasingly that’s meant that they’re poor fits for my values and my audience, tend to be of poor quality, and subsequently they have pretty poor conversion. I worry they become a turnoff for all of you, so they’re not even worth the couple of bucks (at most) I get from them per issue. But if I eliminate those, that also eliminates the main incentive for paying $39 a month for the beehiiv platform, especially when there are cheaper publisher and self-hosting options out there.

You already know my discomfort with sponsorships; and there’s the matter of asking you to pay long-term for something I can’t promise will be consistent, given I’m putting it together in my spare time with duct tape and spite. On the one hand, I obviously think it’s worth it, but on the other, I’d feel better about asking you to pay a concrete amount in the short term, then decide next time if it’s still worth it for you.

One of the options that’s most appealing to me is getting rid of any paid subscriptions, any ads, and not worrying about sponsorships. Instead, I’d approach the money sorta like public broadcasting does: a fundraising drive 3-4 times a year, with a set amount that will cover expenses (maybe some stretch goals to pay myself); if I hit the goal we’re all done with the money shit until the next cycle. (I’d also cook up some rewards so that you’re not just giving your money for something intangible.)

But that’s my preference, which my not reflect your preferences, and that’s okay. There are other options, and the best one depends on whether you, the readers, are willing to spend your hard-earned (and nowadays, hard-kept) money on my tiny, snarky newsletter.

Anyway. I’ve yammered on about this long enough. Here are the polls. I appreciate your help!

The smaller number of folks we’re boosting today is due entirely to my late start, so don’t take this as a signal of the market.

Congrats to these awesome folks!

The Neurodiversity Gap in Experience Design
July 30 at 11am ET. Webinar hosted by CXPA. Get tickets here.