Without you I'm a goldfish

"Why pay for good writing?"

Esteemed Readers ~

READING is one of the most foundational skills of our human experience; without it, we would be living like goldfish, imagining the limited scope of our senses and immediate surroundings are the extent of reality, the sum of our knowledge little more than an endless generational game of Telephone. 

Through reading we are given perspectives, ideas and stories we might never otherwise encounter, with the time and space to decide for ourselves the truth and wonder of it all, if any. 

It is Old Magic, and of course, the other side of that coin is writing.

We have come to a point in human progress where some of us are (ostensibly) free from existential threats to our survival—may we commit ourselves to bring that gift to all beings—and some of us can devote a portion or the entirety of our work production to writing.

Coincidentally, writing is the most effective way to disseminate ideas about such things as universal human rights, non-violent diplomacy, international cooperation, and environmentally sustainable industrial and living practices.

But there remain fundamental impediments to a wider and more fertile promulgation of ideas, endemic throttles on a truly democratic and representational system of debate, deliberation, and consensus. 

One of these is the capitalist profit-model in the world of traditional publishing, and its gatekeeping, which shines all the light on already lucrative genres and producers of writing, while starving the new, marginalized, specialized or untested of the necessary resources to devote sufficient time and attention to the further development of their craft.

Traditional publishing highlights many consequential artists, ideas and stories; without a more complex and robust system of publishing, many other wonderful writers will never see the light of day.

Enter Substack

On Substack, you are not finding the products of endless vetting, writing-by-committee, editing, designing, marketing, advertising and publishing; you are getting the unvarnished product of individual writers, artists and craftspeople’s toil. The only checks on our message are the responses and support of our readers and subscribers. 

To be sure, Substack has a profit-model, and they’ve introduced some questionable features, but they have also shown a willingness to reverse some of those missteps, and appear sincerely invested in fine-tuning a system balancing the needs of their writers and sources of income with their corporate values.

One of the most important features of Substack as a quasi-social media/self-publishing/blog hybrid is the ability to deliver the product of its writers directly to the inbox of their readers, removing the toxic blast of algorithms to a significant extent, and allowing a far more substantial engagement. 

No more firehose of random memes, hate speech, unwelcome vitriol and propaganda—you can now curate the material you consume with a simple subscribe/unsubscribe decision, and doomscrolling can be someone else’s problem.

With all that extra time, focus, and lightness of being, we are free to read the writers who are spending not mere moments on glib reactions, but hours and days crafting thoughtful essays, fictions, poetry, podcasts, music and articles about sincere and important issues, sometimes with seriousness, sometimes with humor, always with the desire to entertain and engage your best interests and best self.

Isn’t that worth paying for, if you can afford it? 

The patronage you provide with your paid subscriptions can be a lifeline—and a heart and soul-line—to the people working so hard to enrich our human experience.

Because we desperately need a new model that allows for as many writers and artists as possible to devote more time, as much time as they can, to their craft; a model which allows for more shades and more diversity than a two-point linear track between “starving artist” and “bestselling lottery winner.” 

We need a whole matrix of accessibility—and YOU, and Substack, are making this possible.

I offer my humblest and sincerest gratitude to all of my subscribers for every level of engagement, with special emphasis on that highest honor you bestow:

Thank you for reading FORD KNOWS.

Fondly,

MTF

P.S. And to that cohort of my fellow witches who also write here on Substack, a special shout-out to you—your Comments, Likes, Restacks, Notes, Recs and endless support are worth more than mere moola—you are the lifeblood of Substack to me.

Whenever I hear someone grousing about how all their subscribers are Substack writers, I think, What the hell?! Writers are the BEST readers! We are the most engaged and devoted readers a writer could wish for, deeply sympathetic to each other’s hopes and intent.

Together, we can fly. Thank YOU!