Thinking About Thinking Ahead

In which we examine a flat line and take a vote

Flatlining?

I wrote a behind-the-scenes post about this newsletter a while ago to mark its 50-day anniversary. Time for an update. This one is not inspired by a nice round number of days that have passed (222 for those of you who are counting), but by an observation.

Here it is:

This newsletter, Thinking Ahead, seems to be flatlining at 299 subscribers. Each one of them - of you - is much appreciated. It boggles my mind that people are willing to spend time reading my writing.

At the same time, I can’t help but look at the Substack newsletters with (tens of) thousands of (paid) subscribers and feel… inadequate? Make no mistake, everyone who puts their writing online wants to be read and acknowledged. The fact that several newsletters manage to attract a large audience on Substack implies that the issue with Thinking Ahead is not the platform.

It is the style and/or the content. Don’t worry about me; I’m going to keep writing. I have no choice, it’s a compulsion. But, I also want each of you to get something out of subscribing, and, I’m not going to lie, I want to zap that flat line back to life.

Are the topics too random? Is each topic too unfocused? Is my writing style too idiosyncratic? Too much wordplay (sometimes I can’t help myself)? This is your chance to tell me what I’m doing wrong (or right). You can leave a comment - be as critical as you want - keep reading, or reach out another way. I am listening.

Be heard

To help me tweak Thinking Ahead where needed, I want to ask you a few questions via polls. I will cherish every vote - but don’t feel any obligation. If you don’t have strong feelings about a question, feel free to skip to the next one. I’ll leave the polls open for three days.

Here we go.

Five is a good number, so let’s stop here. Thanks so much! This will really help me makes this a better newsletter / virtual place to hang out. I know opinions may differ, but if there are clear trends, that’s definitely a good signal for me to work with.

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