Cheque, Please!

Because I want to pay other writers as well as I get paid

In the last major round of subscriptions to this substack, six of you made pledges, telling me you were happy to pay for it without me asking for anything in the way of remuneration.

To that end, I’m curious to discover how many other people out there are interested in pledging support. I haven’t yet turned on paid subscriptions, and if the interest tops out at six people, I probably won’t.

As I’ve already discussed in the “About” section, I don’t need the money. Not only am I retired from a job that paid me well while I worked, my writing is also well paid. The US outlets for which I write pay me between .75 and $1 USD a word, and as you would be aware, I write longreads. UK outlets pay less, which is why I don’t write for them as often. Australians pay about the same as the Americans once currency conversion is taken into account.

The USA and Australia are both wealthier countries than the UK, though, which probably explains that phenomenon.

What I can’t do as a substacker is pay the guest writers who appear here as well as I get paid as a writer. Doing so would be a serious financial impost. I’m not a publishing company. This means I’m not paying Lorenzo what he’s worth. He’s every bit as good a writer as I am, and as people have already pointed out, his longreads on this site — there are another 25 to be published over the next six months, and possibly more — are full of insight.

His next essay will be published here on Tuesday, January 10th.

Any money that people pledge will go straight into Lorenzo’s pocket. If enough of you pledge, that also gives me a ready-made money-pot to buy essays and pieces from other writers I rate. I realise that N=1 when it comes to you assessing my taste in writing, so you’ll have to trust me that the other writers I know are as good as Lorenzo.

Another thing: I used to blog back in the days when blogging was a thing, and the basic principle behind blogging was that blogs were always free to read, while people contributed only if they wanted to “put money in the tip jar”. I will operate this substack on the same principle. It’ll always be kept free for everyone.

I’m also vain enough to think that Lorenzo’s ideas are important enough not to go behind a paywall. I want people to read them. So does he.

So, if you’re really keen, hit the tip jar.

UPDATE:

Three people in the comments have indicated they want to take out a paid subscription/pay tips but can’t see where to do so.

It looks like substack hasn’t made it easy for people who are already free subscribers to pledge — it seems only to be offered to new subscribers — and I must admit I didn’t know this was the case.

Those three people take the total to nine paid would-be subscriptions already, so I’ll turn on paid subscriptions (adhering to the rules set out in this post, above) in advance of publishing Lorenzo’s next essay on Tuesday.

Apologies for the faffle, everyone, I’m afraid I can be relied upon to be completely rubbish at tech!

Bonus pic of Chilli for tax