Free to read : the experiment ends
A business inventory, class sale, and time to pivot
For the last 2+ months I have put most of my Monday newsletters behind the paywall in an experiment that I named Into the Mystic. You can read about it below and in today’s newsletter I want to break it down. I will share what my goals were and what actually happened. I can hear Jesse Palmer whisper softly This is the most shocking Bachelor finale we’ve ever seen.
Into the Mystic
Monday Monday will return to its original form from here on out : free every Monday. A newsletter by the people for the people. My monthly advice column, comments, occasional bonus essay, and seasonal offerings will remain behind the paywall. I once said “Monday Monday will always be free on Mondays” and after this experiment of doing the opposite I have never felt more aligned with this idea.
IS THE NEWSLETTER A PRODUCT OR A CHANNEL?
I wanted to take a break this week from the essay format and give you an inventory into how the business of writing and art has been going the past 2+ months. I’ll break down what felt good, what didn’t feel good, and how I see the structure of my newsletter and art and teaching business going forward. Before I even begin I want to make it clear how grateful I am for all my readers paid and free, and for the opportunity to write as a job. It’s a life young Cody could have only dreamt of.
FEELINGS
How I wanted to feel :
Expansive in my writing
Like a playground to try new things
Financially abundant and free
How it felt :
Constrictive
Like I had something to prove
The pressure of where to put the paywall, essentially creating weekly clickbait made me feel financially fearful
What I missed :
Email responses in my inbox. One of my favorite parts of writing to the people each week is the stories my readers tell me, and reaching 100% of my readers vs 5% of my readers was a huge difference each week. Especially in this time of separation from social media and not teaching during the experiment I felt so far from the community of readers I worked so hard to build and nourish. What can I say - I missed ya like hell! I felt the energetics of not reaching you, of not touching in with you on a weekly basis.
Wishing more people paid :
I never felt like, damn I wish more people would pay for this. I mostly missed the other aspects of my job : Flexible Office, teaching, and facilitating. I am so grateful people pay for this newsletter, it is about 1/3 of my income and this experiment in part was to see if it was realistic to make it more.
INQUIRY + GOALS
I didn’t make any specific goal around how many more paid subscribers I wanted to have but I wanted it to be significant and really change the way I work and use my newsletter to generate income.
My inquiry was : If I lean into writing more behind the paywall will I see a significant jump in paid subscribers.
My goal was : Take time off of teaching and hosting on zoom so that I can focus on grad school
Outcome :
In the past 90 days of putting most of my writing behind the paywall I gained 99 new paid subscribers
It should be said though that at some point in October I had almost as many paid subscribers as I do now. This number fluctuates so much it is almost impossible for me to tell what hurts or helps it the most. So while I “gained” 99 I probably actually gained 200 or so but lost 100. I am consistently losing paid subscribers and have come to accept this as a very normal part of keeping my newsletter.
I have about 800 more free subscribers than I did at the beginning of the experiment and did see a big jump in new free subscribers when I logged back into IG to post a link to the essay about changing my name to Cody
So a question I have asked myself is - is making paywalled content a way to get more paid subscribers or is it mostly how to keep the number the same. Because the ones dropping off need to be replaced with new ones. This can easily become a cat and mouse game and that is how the experiment felt to me. Like I was chasing numbers when before I kept my focus on my teaching, launch cycles, and when I wanted to co-work : using the newsletter primarily as a channel and not as a product.
OUTCOMES :
I committed to doing this experiment for three months and within the first month I knew it didn’t feel correct. Sending two paid newsletters in a row didn’t feel like what I wanted to do but I decided to push through and keep trying it. Every week it felt like I was playing a weird lottery with my writing and my time, relying far too heavily on metrics and measurements instead of the pleasure of showing up to this very sacred space.
I quickly found that by being disconnected from the people I wasn't as connected to my practice and to school. In some ways though I was able to turn my focus toward my study in a way that I don’t know that I could have done without the break. But I see where I could have taken a two week break from writing all together and had a more impactful pause.
I also put so much work into the Paying Attention section of the newsletter that having this behind the paywall felt sad. Especially when sharing resources about Palestine, my friend’s amazing books and classes, things I’ve read and loved and believed in, and more. Having these resources for the people for free feels important to me and impactful for the people and organizations it shines a light upon.
FUTURE :
Welcome back! If you’ve missed the free and full newsletter the last few months, here you go. I am glad you stayed. If you became a paid subscriber, thank you. I put so much work and care into this space and making a somewhat reliable monthly income at it has changed my life. I read all of your paid subscriber notes and I cry and scream from the top of the meadow God is good, god is good.
From time to time I know something will arise in me that will want to only go to the 5% of you who I exchange monetarily with and I will put those essays there. But the way my body feels knowing that Monday Monday is for all the people, every week, is how it was designed and how it will stay.
I have enough. I have enough that comes in that makes this possible, and what I really saw was that I was being constricted without a value increase. I was smothering my creativity without a great return.
SPRING CLEAN YOUR CREATIVE PRACTICE
CLASS SALE 20% OFF ALL CLASSES
Including : Teaching as a Practice now at a discounted rate PLUS the 20% off with code 20OFF at checkout
It is time for a class sale! From me to you! Registration for Flexible Office opens next week for April and May and I thought what better time to refresh your creative magic than when the light is changing and the days are a little bit longer and you want to dive in. Come out of hibernation, but slowly slowly! And with the great company of me on your computer screen.
Use code 20OFF when you check out and enjoy :
TEACHING AS A PRACTICE
WRITING THE PERSONAL
NEWSLETTER CLASS
ORGANIZING A DAY
THE ART OF BEGINNING
FROM DISCIPLINE TO DEVOTION
CULTIVATING A SOLO PRACTICE
CULTIVATING CREATIVE ATTENTION
THE PEOPLE’S RESEARCH
THE ARCHITECTURE OF BOOK WRITING
All classes have closed captions with lifetime access.
Would you rather work together 1:1? - book a session here
⌇⋰ Website
⌇⋰ Email : info@codycookparrott.com
When I started to investigate creating my own substack, I looked at the way a lot of substackers did their paid subscription thing and your approach felt the best to me, and I had been using it as a kind of guidepost for when I'm ready to offer paid subscriptions myself. When you changed that, I thought, oh, perhaps they've learned that that approach doesn't actually work--darn. So glad to read your conclusions about your experiment and learn that in fact, yes it's still great! And I really loved how you shared that whole learning process with us--thank you!
Good call, Cody. I'm not an expert, as I don't have paid subscriptions enabled, but I believe that everyone can contribute to the little communities we are building here in different ways. Sometimes, it can be something other than financial - a very thoughtful comment, a restack or a recommendation. I got the loveliest comments on the post that I shared over the weekend, and that alone made me so happy, especially in a stressful week. I also understand that only some can support all the fantastic writers here, and others may not. Thanks for sharing!