Pivot to goodbye

Calling time on my newsletter

Illustration: Léo Hamelin

Dear readers,

After five brilliant years of sending Friday emails, this newsletter has reached the end of its road. This is my last post; I won’t be sending any more, neither paid nor free.

There are lots of reasons for this difficult decision, but they can be summed up quite simply: it's just not working. Most pressingly, the maths doesn’t add up anymore. The number of paying subscribers isn’t high enough to make this one-woman newsletter business sustainable anymore. I also realised recently that I’m spending more of my creative energy coming up with ways to fix that problem than I am on the actual writing part. It’s time to put my energy into something new.

When I began writing this newsletter in the summer of 2017, it was my release valve. I’d just lost my job and I didn’t know which way was up; I started this project for the simple reason of needing something to do. I never expected to grow it into a readership of 16,000 smart, kind and engaged readers. Doing so gave me a sense of purpose that I’ll cherish for a long time.

The newsletter may be over now, but there’s so much to celebrate, too. It was the springboard for writing my first book! At one point, it was my most reliable source of (good!) income. I made great friends here. I’m closing this newsletter as a better writer and business person, a gift that self-publishing gave me. In sum, it’s been a thrill.

But now, I just can’t write it anymore. While I’m deeply sad about that, I’m also hopeful. I’m viewing this as a “door closes, window opens” kind of situation. Coming full circle to when I first went freelance, I’m not entirely sure what’s next for me but I’m excited to find out. It’s been a joy to have you come along for the ride up until now.

And so, from the bottom of my heart, thank you for letting me into your inbox every Friday afternoon.

– Anna