Welcome to A-Mail, a newsletter about nothing and everything.
š©āš» Iām Anna Codrea-Rado, a journalist, author and podcaster. Iām the author of Youāre The Business and the co-host of the Is This Working? podcast. My work appears in the New York Times, Financial Times, Wired, BBC and many other places. Before going freelance in 2017 (pivot to video, yo!) I was on staff at Vice, and before that, at the Guardian.
š I write about nothing and everything. Maybe that sounds clever, or maybe it sounds dumb, but itās really just a cop-out because I donāt have a neat way to describe my beat. Iām obsessed with the paradoxes and contradictions, big and small, of life. There are some topics I keep coming back to, like work and how it makes us feel; small-town life; calling bullshit on the things we put up with without question; my dogs, and anything else that I canāt stop thinking about. I like to say that I keep my writing free, both literally and creatively.
Here are some A-Mail top reads:
Saying you like January is a bit like saying you like Nickelback, a difficult position to defend
What's the difference between a diary and a journal? Judgement
š° I also write about money and how I make mine as a freelance writer. These are the only posts I paywall because writing about money on the internet is fraught and itās a practical way to draw a boundary. In my quarterly income reports and monthly money memos, I share how much money I make (revenue AND profit). I share my figures and feelings about the realities of making it work as a freelance writer.
š 18,000+ readers love A-Mail for lots of different reasons. The vibe of this newsletter is somewhere between a reporterās notebook and an email to a long-distance friend. Iāve been writing it since July 2017. Much like my journalistic interests, itās meandered through many topics. Itās always, however, been led by my curiosity about how the world works and my place in it. To paraphrase the late, great David Carr, the best newsletters are hard to describe but easy to enjoy. Thatās what I aim to do with A-Mail.
š° Rules of engagement. Iām a follower of the greatest guitarist of all time, Sir Brian Mayās, approach to running online communities: āEveryone who is here is here at my invitation. Iām no more important than anyone else; we all have the right in our own small corner of the Internet to run things the way we see fit.ā
This is how I run A-Mail:
Pay what you like. Despite the payment mechanism being on a monthly/yearly cycle, I donāt view it as a subscription. You're not paying to access content, but instead, you're supporting my work more generally. In other words: you're my reader, not my customer. You are under no obligation to continue paying each month āĀ I encourage you to cancel at any point.
No refunds. Any financial support you offer me will be considered patronage, meaning I see it as the equivalent of arts funding rather than payment for a business service.Ā
Seasons. Rather than commit to delivering a set amount of content per week, I publish in seasons. My guiding principle is that if I donāt have anything to say, youāre not going to want to read a whole lot of nothing.Ā
Iām not for everyone. And thatās ok! You have my permission to scroll on by. Weāre cool.
If youāre still reading this, I think youāll like what Iām doing with this newsletter. Iād love to see you in your inbox.