Why Newsletters Matter. . .
In which I appeal to you to subscribe
“By you subscribing to this newsletter, paid or unpaid, your numbers have given me the freedom to write about all the things I think YOU’D like to read and cook. Rather than trying to pitch my stories to an editor, waiting 6 months for that editor to respond, only for that editor to pass me down to another editor, and then a year without hearing from either editors triggers the “no response is a response,” mantra I learned in therapy.”
-Illyanna Maisonet
“As a freelancer, I usually had what we call an “anchor gig”: a stable base of money to rely on monthly that would pay fixed bills, and beyond that, I’d be hustling, pitching, and chasing down invoices. The periods when I didn’t have an anchor gig were financially ruinous. . .”
-Alicia Kennedy
I recently read these words by two fellow newsletter writers, and I felt so seen.
When people ask me if I’m still freelancing, I tell them yes, but I always say it with a little faraway look in my eyes. That’s because freelance writing is not a job. Not really. Freelance writing (and staff writing too) can very much be where good ideas (and important information) go to die.
The timeline laid out by Ilyana Maisonett is not an exaggeration, and very very often, your story, while interesting, is probably not going to make the cut.
It’s not because you’re a bad writer or even because your story is uninteresting but because there are not enough hours in the day to fight to get your work published, and the hourly rate for compensation considering these timelines is very low.
But the real reason to read a newsletter is not for the writers but for you, the readers. The niche you can get by reading a newsletter is without comparison in regular media entities.
A few of the newsletters I’m reading include a food writer who might elect to write about penises (yes, penises) instead of food; a Puerto Rican cookbook writer who delves into the Indigenous roots of Puerto Rican cooking, and a food writer of color who left her gig as editor of one of the top food magazines in the country in order to launch a newsletter instead– because she can (and likely because the stories she can tell without gatekeepers will be better, more accurate, and more real.)
The next post you will read in my newsletter will include the story of Kealoha and Kalaiunuola Domingo, an ex-mechanic and a teacher who are helping to revitalize Native Hawaiian cuisine and culture. They do not have a restaurant. They are amazing.
For paid subscribers only, you’ll also get our O’ahu restaurant recommendations in case you do want to check out some restaurants– but this is important: There are no Native Hawaiian restaurants on O’ahu to my knowledge. And that’s why this newsletter matters– ignoring food stories because the subjects within do not have the time, resources, energy, or desire to have a restaurant does not make their stories unimportant.
I hope you will subscribe and join us in this important (and fun) storytelling!