Ha. Tonight I had a chat about the newsletter with an old friend, and explained that even though the readership and paid subscriber list is growing slowly, I'm definitely not going to move into cheap clickbait themes just to boost my numbers.
And then... RIGHT after that conversation... this piece by Shalom Auslander showed up in my inbox and left me HOWLING.
This is for all the writers out there wrestling with the biggest question in our careers. 😁
#WritingCommunity
https://open.substack.com/pub/shalomauslander/p/should-i-do-anal
The problem, as this article notes, is that the way politics is written about in many news outlets and through many popular newsletters, it might as well be the equivalent of such titillation-based clickbait. Every writer's line might be different when it comes to writing about politics for views, but the important thing is to know what that line is for you!
@MLClark And yet I would argue that we're living in particularly interesting political times. Sure, a lot of it is sensationalist, as well as inaccurate, but news has been that way for centuries.
We just had this discussion ... 😊
I did my best with my history book to keep it accurate, although I did throw in the occasional (true and factual) gossipy tidbit to make it attractive to the casual reader, e.g. a certain politician got busted for soliciting an undercover cop and had to resign.
@MLClark 🤣 Very clever! Life goals!
@MLClark dumbest article I’ve read this year lmao
The year is young yet, but it's good to have some competition for whatever comes next!
@MLClark Earlier today, I was browsing through my various newspaper subscriptions when an article popped up about an increase in teenagers doing anal sex and why. Obvious click bait. When that becomes boring, they'll start pimping bestiality articles.