The Riff

Hi,

You know what I find funny, as someone who is chronically online, maybe debilitatingly online, is hearing the scurry of writers — the thump of Doc Martens — running to new platforms out of some sense of obligation, even PANIC.

• Oh, I need to be on Twitter.

• Oh, I need to start a blog.

• Oh, I need to be on Instagram.

• Oh, I need to be on TikTok.

• Oh, I need to start a podcast.

• Oh, I need to pick my blog back up.

• Oh, I need a YouTube channel.

• Oh, I need to start a Substack.

What you end up finding are trees with lots of shriveled berries. A fitness/lifting coach I follow (Dan John, nearly 70 years old and a former athlete, so he’s not the gag-me-with-a-spoon fitness influencer type) says, “You can’t chase two rabbits at the same time.” Usually that has something to do with someone trying to gain muscle, but also lose fat. Or gain mass, but also be an endurance athlete. It’s damn near impossible to pursue two at the same time.

And so it is with platform building.

Many of us have several places where we hang out and wonder why, by and large, none “take off.” My main rabbit is the podcast, naturally. I put 95% of my energy into making that great. My most personal and vulnerable riffs are in the parting shots at the end of every podcast. True, very few people listen to the end, but if they do, boy, what a treat they’re in for!

We would all benefit from perhaps picking no more than three areas for our author platforming. (For me, the podcast, Pitch Club, Instagram (ew), and perhaps YouTube (more on this another time)). That seems manageable and doable and maybe even nourishing, to some extent. If you deem Twitter and Facebook and TikTok gross or annoying, prune them.

Shit, where is the fun? Where do you have fun? Remember fun? What is fun? As my pal Stephen Knezovich said in a recent newsletter webinar he led with Craft Talks (he has another more intensive one coming up), “Interest is contagious … so is disinterest.” If you’re on a platform out of some weird sense of obligation because that’s “trending” in the author-verse, it will come across as forced and won’t be a fun read and your unsubscribes will walk hand-in-hand to the Gray Havens.

But what we’re talking about when we’re talking about newslettering, something that’s having its moment, is a matter of intimacy, authenticity, and a truer sense of connection, what comes as a result of permission. [WARNING: Do NOT under any circumstance manually enter people onto your email list without permission. I fucking hate this. Just because we’ve shared a few emails does not mean you get to add me to your newsletter list. You have to earn that shit.]

A newsletter done well lands in our most sacred place: our inbox. Sure, it’s bat-shit crazy in there, but our bat-shitty-ness. Done well, newsletters are weird and special.

Think of all the junk mail you get in your actual mailbox and you chuck it. But if you get an actual letter from someone? With a stamp? With handwriting? That is something bordering on holy. 

Newsletters in all their forms are supremely personal. That’s why when people unsubscribe I get supremely bummed out because it’s a very core rejection of an offering that I hope is of service. I’m trying to help, to entertain, and to be batted away and unsubscribed like so many Starbucks emails, it’s hard not to take it personally.

That said, that’s part of this game, and over time you learn that unsubs are a gift because you’re not for everyone. I’m not for everyone. You outgrow newsletters and podcasts and YouTube channels. They served you for a time and you have to be OK when you’re on the other side, when you no longer serve someone, as much as that stings. Maybe you helped them grow and, who knows, maybe they’ll come back.

That’s why I always leave the light on for you.

Issue 9 of Pitch Club with Erika Hyasaki

Love this latest Pitch Club as Erika talks about how she “tuned up” her New York Times story pitch to fit a particular editor and section.

The Books

1. How to Keep House While Drowning: A Gentle Approach to Cleaning and Organizing by KC Davis. Bro, I’m drowning over here.

2. Black AF History: The Un-Whitewashed Story of America by Michael Harriot. This book is excellent and very voicey.

3. Heartland: A Forgotten Place, an Impossible Dream, and the Miracle of Larry Bird by Keith O’Brien. Growing up in Massachusetts, the only person more important than the pope was Larry Bird.

4. In The Days of My Youth I Was Told What It Means to be a Man by Tom Junod. You know Tom. He wrote the famous profile of Mister Rogers and the famous story about the “falling man” after 9/11.

The Other Stuff

5. Aw, shit, Stephen Knezovich is writing about newsletters. And he’s got a newsletter intensive course coming up this month.

6. Aw, shit, an interview with George Saunders.

7. Aw, shit, I posted a short video of a river on a loop. I shot it in Ketchum, ID on the author-subsidized book tour. I call it “Hemingway River,” and it was the little creek below the Hemingway Memorial. Use it for ambient noise. Use it for writing. Use it to relax.

8. Aw, shit, 6 Nordic habits to make life feel lighter, and don’t we all need that?

9. Aw, shit, Flash February started with the gang at Short-Reads. We’ve been having good hangs at the Flash52 Sessions if you’re a CNFin’ Patron. All paid tiers are invited to the Flash52 Sessions, a weekly hang where we hang out and write.

10. Aw, shit, Kim H. Cross had me annotate a chapter of The Front Runner for Nieman Storyboard.

11. Aw, shit, Hermione Hoby wrote about Infinite Jest at age 30. I’m bringing back the lit bro, bro. This is my moment.

Coda

I hope you dug this issue of RATA. To support what it is I do, you can buy copies of The Front Runner, subscribe to Pitch Club, and/or leave kind reviews for the podcast on Apple Podcast and/or leave kind reviews for The Front Runner on Amazon and Goodreads. My understanding is the book is well received, and well reviewed, though I still refuse to look. Can always use more. As my pal Kim says, buying a book or leaving a review is a vote for the next book; it makes us just a tad more attractive to publishers.

If you have a few bucks burning a hole in your pocket, you may check out Patreon.com/cnfpod.

Otherwise, rage on ragin’ on,

b.r.o.