The Riff

Hey CNFers,

A lot of this mess, this platform malarkey, is trial and error, lots of error, all the errors. Many of us are perilously desperate for a sliver of attention, and that attention must be earned. Make no mistake.

Since I’ve pulled back from social media almost entirely (I swoop in to drop an audiogram in the off chance it provides somebody out there a breadcrumb of inspiration), I’ve relied solely on the newsletter audience to promote the show, and a renewed promotional partnership with Longreads.

Publishing a weekly newsletter seemed like a GREAT idea to me. It has … not gone well.

Each missive is met with about five un-subs every week with nobody new coming in. Now, these unsubs could be people who weren’t very well engaged in the first place and it’s a natural shaking out of the dead leaves. Or, perhaps they were previously engaged but hated the new frequency and left. There’s no exit interview. This rager is driving blind.

With a book coming out in 2025, witnessing the audience you’ve painstakingly built over more than ten years shrink and shrink and shrink is demoralizing. I’ve lost 5% of my list. I say this knowing that some people have expressed how much they do love the extra emails. That said, every time I send out a newsletter, it’s inviting people to leave (an odd phrase, but it’s true).

And that’s fine. People move on. Outgrow a newsletter. Outgrow a podcast. Grow fatigued, even annoyed, by the artist (as I suspect this issue will). You can’t be for everyone, nor should you. It’s what makes this platform-growing business so difficult.

I find the people who do best are the ones who have a very strong point of view and are genuinely offering expertise and/or community. I’m thinking of Wendy McNaughton or Courtney Maum, even Cal Newport’s riffs on slow productivity in a digital age (a kissing cousin, IMO, to ye ol’ Rage Against the Algorithm). Or newsletter writers offer such over-the-top value in their curation of cool shit that you find yourself constantly recommending, say, Stephen Knezovich’s Read This.

So … what’s the plan, B.O., and why should I hang around?

Well, the newsletter will go back to the first of the month (Happy August, BTW). It will revert back to its classic form: four book recommendations, seven other cool links; it literally go up to eleven. It’ll still have my opening riff (like this breezy read!), ideally touching on themes of living a more intentional online life all while building a sustainable, satisfying platform for your writing. There might be book marketing involved (in case you haven’t heard, I have a book coming out in 2025). There might be riffs about writing, writing tips, research tips, or the insufferable angst from one of the most privileged people on the planet.

For people who liked the TL;DL (too long; didn’t listen) excerpts in the weekly newsletter, I’ll add those to the show notes. For those who like the “print” version of the parting shots, I’ll add that to the show notes, too.

If I have mini-essays that I was saving for the weekly newsletter, I’ll blog about them and, if they’re good, link up to them in the newsletter.

So much of writing and trying to make a go of it is so messy and convoluted and rife with desperation.

But I get to do this; I’m happy to do this; and I’m wonderfully grateful to you.

As you now, this newsletter does not use affiliate links, and the list starts here and … goes up to eleven.

The Books

I . Before and After the Book Deal: A Writer’s Guide to Finishing, Publishing, Promoting, and Surviving Your First Book by Courtney Maum.

II . Out of the Darkness: The Mystery of Aaron Rodgers by Ian O’Connor

III. Hungry Authors: The Indispensable Guide to Planning, Writing, and Publishing a Nonfiction Book by Liz Morrow and Ariel Curry

IV. Slow Productivity: The Lost Art of Accomplishment without Burnout by Cal Newport. This book is pretty good. I’m still a bigger fan of Deep Work and Digital Minimalism, but this is a good reminder that slow is fast.

The Other Stuff

V. I love a good Ira Glass interview.

VI. Leah Sottile on why local journalism matters.

VII. Something of a masterclass in how to conduct a tight, nine-minute interview. This with Seth Meyers and author of the new novel Bear, Julia Phillips. I want the book now. Also, really cool that someone like Meyers makes space for authors and reading.

VIII. Midlife creativity, for all the late bloomers out there (I count myself among them. I’ve always been about ten years behind the curve.). Always a good opportunity to re-read Malcolm Gladwell’s New Yorker piece on late bloomers.

IX. “Pennyroyal Tea” is my favorite Nirvana song. This is a pretty cool video about some of its history

X. Ah, burnout … I know thee well.

XI. Your brain on pencils. (h/t to the Blackwing newsletter)

Coda

Also, for face-to-face time and to support the podcast, you can window shop at patreon.com/cnfpod.

And if you leave a review on Apple Podcasts, take a screenshot, send it to [email protected] and I’ll coach up a piece of your writing of up to 2,000 words.

Thank you for reading, CNFers. I am off to Boston to see Metallica.

Rage,

b.r.o.