State of the Eminent American Union
I reflect on roughly 20 months of substacking, plus the first annual EA Awards are awarded.
I launched this newsletter and podcast in April of 2023 with a very clear plan. I wanted to give myself time to succeed but not throw good money after bad. I would commit to being productive for a year, posting every two weeks or so, and then take stock. If it felt like I was succeeding, however I chose to define that feeling, I'd keep going for a while. If not, I'd shut it down. No regrets but also no more wasted time on an unsuccessful endeavor.
Within six months or so it was clear to me that I was succeeding in every way that mattered to me, and I have continued to feel that way about the endeavor. What do I mean by that?
There has been steady, if modest, growth in subscribers. I'm now at 1,179 total subscribers, 42 of whom are paying (which is extremely generous, given that I haven't paywalled anything yet). The pace of new subscribers has picked up lately, thanks mostly to a very small degree of virality around my long essay on Shamus Kahn's book Privilege. I suspect that the growth will slow down to its previous equilibrium, given that I haven't had time to post longer essays as much lately, and it seems as though there is a meaningful correlation between the amount of effort that I put into a written post and the traction it gets.
This points to another element of success. The harder I work, and the better I feel about something when I publish it, the more likely it seems to be to attract readers, shares, comments, etc. This is precisely the relationship between effort and outcome that I would hope for.
A small but significant number of my subscribers are other professional writers and editors. I value this for a few reasons. It's good for my ego to see that other professionals appreciate what I do. It holds the promise of improving my career in some fashion (and in fact it has led to a few assignments). And it just feels good, in what I think is a non-egoistic way, to be in intellectual and creative communion with other people who are skilled and serious writers and thinkers.
I've also benefited from a small cadre of very intelligent readers who comment on my work, occasionally refer to it in their own work, and occasionally email or message me off line. Some of these folks are professional writers or scholars in one fashion or another, and some aren't, but they all know their shit, write well, and have excellent taste. I got into writing for the ego and glory, of course, but also because I want to talk to people who care about the same stuff that I care about, and frankly such people are pretty rare on the ground. So this engagement has been immensely gratifying.
It's exciting to be part of a scene. What's coalescing among writers on Substack right now reminds me of the golden age of blogging, back in the 00s, when bloggers were having a transformative effect on American journalism and broader political and intellectual discourse. I wasn't participating in the scene back then, except as an occasional commenter, but I was a close observer of it, and it feels as though some version of what happened then is happening again. I don't know what the ultimate impact will be, this time around, but it seems clear to me that it will be meaningful. More importantly, for me, it's just fun. People are enjoying what they're doing. They're feeling generative. They're enjoying engaging with each other. They're excited about the vibe.
I have been a professional writer for 25 years or so, and it has always been an intellectually solitary endeavor, even during the few years I was a writer at an alt weekly newspaper. We worked together, but weren't collaborators or participants in some larger intellectual, creative, or political project. This is the first time that I've felt this way, scene-wise, and I really dig it.
The last thing I'll say about success, as I'm defining it, is that it's clear to me that I'm doing a good job. The writing and the podcasting are good. This is a big relief. I already knew I was a good writer going in, but even good writers don't find their groove in every context. I've written plenty of mediocre stuff when the topic isn't right, the editorial context is too rigid, or I don't have the right incentive structure in place. It wasn't clear until I started writing the newsletter that the concept and platform would be conducive to me writing well, but the right topics keep suggesting themselves, the sentences are flowing, and the insights are materializing.
I also, more interestingly, have found my voice as a podcaster. This was in no way guaranteed to happen. There are excellent writers who are flat when they podcast, because you have to be able to think and well in real time, which not every writer can do, and you have to be able to convey your own personality and sensibility in a manner that compels listeners. I'm not the next Terry Gross, but I seem to have found a mode that works. I’m stoked about that.
I have a few big projects in the works that may prevent me from writing as much for the newsletter as I'd like to over the next few months, but I'll continue to post podcast episodes regularly, and will write when I can. My hope and expectation is that I will keep this newsletter going, and growing, for years. Onward.
Hopes and Dreams
I'd like to collaborate with a more official publication or institution.
I don't think there will be nearly as much pure poaching of Substack talent by mainstream publications as there was blog talent in the early blogging era, because the incentive structures are so different now. The truly big names, like Yglesias and Deboer, simply make too much money from subscribers to be poachable. Even the lower key successes, the folks who are now making $3k/year or $10k or $20k, won't want to simply retire their email list, and the direct conduit it gives them to engaged readers, in return for the credibility boost of a mainstream publication and comparable or somewhat better money. It's not a good long term play, unless the deal that's being offered is just really sweet, which it won't be except for the aforementioned people who are mostly already too profitable to recruit.
That said, there are really interesting opportunities for more traditional publications and entities to support individual authors on Substack in ways that benefit both parties. I think about how much glory, for instance, Tyler Cowen's public work has brought to George Mason and its Mercatus Center. Some version of that structure, at different scales, should be replicable within the Substack ecosystem, with the outside institution providing additional resources and prestige to the artists in return for sharing in the attention that that person is able to accrue through the creative work. My guess is that the key element in these collaborations will be allowing the artists to continue to own their own email list and distribution mechanism, and probably the payment model as well, so that the benefits from growth in audience will accrue primarily to them.
I'd like to produce a more narrative, NPR-style podcast episode.
This is much more labor intensive than the typical episode I do, which is why I haven't done it yet, but I'm fascinated by the audio documentary form and at some point would like to teach myself how to do it well.
I'd like to spend more time exploring contemporary thinkers on the left.
I feel like I’ve been too right-curious so far. Who are the leftists out there who are most compelling and/or influential in their perspectives on American culture, politics, letters, etc. If you have suggestions, drop them in the comments. It could be either guests I should have on the show, or people I should do a show about. If the latter, tell me who I should have on the show to talk about them with.
There are a bunch of people I'd like to talk about on the podcast…
but only if I can find a conversation partner who has the temperament and knowledge to discuss them in depth. Please send me suggestions for guests who would be good on these folks: Zadie Smith, Pankaj Mishra, Andrew Sullivan, Patrick Deneen, Matthew Yglesias, Sohrab Amari, Tyler Cowen, Caitlin Flanagan, Jay Caspian Kang, Masha Gessen, Keith Gessen, Bhaskar Sunkara.
I'd like to experiment with the paywall.
Right now the very modest amount of money I make from paid subscriptions goes to my audio producer. At the current level, he's cutting me a very good deal for his services. It would be nice to pay him more, which means increasing by a meaningful amount the number of subscribers who pay. The only real way I can see to do this is to paywall some content.
I also have fantasies of gradually growing this newsletter to the point where it can be a meaningful part of both his and my income. The deep fantasy is that when my state pension vests in seven years, I can make up a substantial part of the difference between my salary and the pension through this work. So at some point I need to figure out what my options are in terms of monetizing.
Friends of the Stack
A simple way to grok my reading habits is just to look at who I subscribe to, but the "friends of the stack" designation is a different bucket. Apologies if I leave any friends out (or if I include you as a friend but you don't feel the same way about me).
Close Friends:
Friendly Acquaintances with Potential:
Obviously Too Cool for Me but Maybe They’d Invite me to Their Party if I Lived Nearby:
High school classmates:
Brothers:
Sons: Asa and Gideon
Erratic and Infuriating Geniuses I Publicly Worry About: Freddie Deboer
Missing Friends: ?
First Annual EA Awards
Substack legend
said to me some time back that one big thing that Substack needs in order to persuade more good writers to hop on board, or at least to take the platform seriously, are big awards. We need a Pulitzer for Substack, in other words, or Critics’ Circle prizes, etc.. The backing of a high prestige institution would help, as would some real cash attached to winning.This is not that, but in the spirit of it, I’m hereby announcing the winners of the first annual Eminent Americans (EA) Awards. Most of the winners are me, but a few other worthy souls are sprinkled in.
Additional award submissions are accepted in the comments, and will be deemed as acceptable based on how clever they are.
❤️🩹 👂🏻 🏆
Podcast episode in which I do the best impression of my wife, the therapist:
🫣😳🏆
Repeat podcast guest who always seems just on the verge of saying something that is going to get both of us cancelled: Blake Smith
🏆🏆🏆
Most popular post
😎🎩🏆
I was there before she was huge:
📕🤗🏆
Best Novel That Was Serialized on Substack Before Being Adopted by a Small, Rust-Belt-Based Indie Publisher: Major Arcana, by John Pistelli
❝🏆❞
Best titled podcast episode
🤖🎨🏆
Best AI-generated featured image: Noam Chomsky as the angel of history
🥺📖🏆
Most under-appreciated post IMO
📚🤓🏆
Best Forthcoming Substack-Based Publication Edited by Former Podcast Guests of Mine: Metropolitan Review
🥺👂🏻🏆
Most under-appreciated episode IMO
🤯👍🏆
First Episode Where I Felt Like I Was Really on to Something
🍦☠️💔🏆
Best Substack Hall of Fame Concept, Hands-Down: Bombed Out Husk of Friendly’s Restaurant in the Forest Park Neighborhood of Springfield, MA
This was a fun post, I'm honored to be counted among the friends of Eminent Americans and anxious to see what the future of the blog and pod looks like! I don't think I'm qualified to talk about any of the people you're looking for hosts on right now and the topic I suggested last year wound up eluding me, but hit me up if you ever want to talk Podhoretz or (half joking here) gnosticism!
Enjoyed this! Also: "Podcast episode in which I do the best impression of my wife, the therapist." I was hooked from minute two when you suggested that Dreher's demonic possession sounded a lot like Family Systems Theory, and he was like, yeah.