Six months in

Half a year of this newsletter, plus Links of the Week: Beyoncé, college football, and a great cover in the nick of time

So I started this Substack six months ago, on the first of February. I hope you’re enjoying it and that you feel like it’s getting better. From my end, doing this is a real treat—a place to toss around some new ideas, write however long or short feels right, and most of all, share some of the great work I run across every week.

If you’re interested in the numbers:

In musical terms, that’s a regular gig at a nice theater—bigger than a sweaty club but not quite arena rock. I’m very happy with this. I haven’t promoted the newsletter much (yet) because I want to keep tinkering with it before I ask a lot more people to get on board. For those of you already here—especially those who have been here since the beginning—I’ll always be grateful.

Having said that … if you do the math, the number of paid subscribers to the newsletter is only about 7 percent of all subscribers. The industry standard is more like 10 percent, and several of my friends with newsletters do even better than that.

I’m deeply honored that anyone would pay a dime to let me send words to your inbox. (I can think of a few people I’d pay to NOT send me emails.) But of course, now that I’ve started this little adventure, I’d like to see it grow.

So far, every post I’ve done has been free to everyone. But I would like to give a perk to paid subscribers, and an incentive for some of you on the fence to sign up. I’m going to do an AMA (Ask Me Anything) post for paid subscribers only on Sept. 15.

You might have seen AMAs on Reddit … it’s basically a Q&A about anything. You can ask about my new book, my old book, newspaper life, sports, music, our semi-Satanic cat … whatever you like.

Any of y’all—free or paid—are welcome to ask questions for the post. You can leave them in the comments or reply to any newsletter between now and the AMA. But only paid subscribers will be able to see the AMA post.

If you become a paid subscriber between now and Sept. 14, you’ll be able to see that post (and future paid-only posts). Might as well go ahead:

I know a lot of people—including a lot of writers—are asking for your money right now. I’m honored if you should choose to send any of yours my way. These six months have been a joy for me, and I hope for you. Thanks to all of you for reading.

10 things I wanted to share this week:

1. The new episode of SouthBound features one of my all-time favorite guests: Tressie McMillan Cottom. She’s a brilliant thinker and talker, and we go deep on everything from the concept of whiteness to the death of Choco Tacos.

2. My other newsletter this week was on the magic of Vin Scully.

3. My weekly for WFAE was about a strange blip: In one small way, Charlotte is shrinking instead of growing.

4. After the great Bill Russell died, there was one writer I wanted to read: ESPN’s Howard Bryant. He delivered.

5. DOG NEWS: While I work on my book, I’m devoting this slot to dog stories. This week: The complications and tribulations of life as The Dog Lawyer. (I feel like this would make a great TV series.)

6. Always read Wesley Morris, and always always read Wesley Morris on Beyoncé.

7. Michael Hobbes is one of the clearest thinkers I know when it comes to how and why well-meaning journalists (and others not so well-meaning) have a hard time processing the world we live in. This Q&A is a pretty good summary of his thoughts. I won’t be forgetting this quote:

   

8. I don’t know who’s behind the site lsufootball.net—it’s not an official LSU site—but one of my favorite moments as a diehard college football fan is when the site publishes its list of every game scheduled for the upcoming season. The list is out now. Bask in its glory. (And make sure to note that the games are listed in Central Time.)

9. Very much enjoyed stumbling across an old acoustic version of R.E.M.’s “Driver 8”:
   

   10. Also very much enjoyed stumbling across Lake Street Dive’s gorgeous cover of Bonnie Raitt’s song “Nick of Time.” Man, does that song hit harder every time I hear it.
   

   See y’all next week, everyone.