A New Plan
Changing my Substackin'
When I started this newsletter 2 years, 103 posts and 2,600 subscribers ago — I was confident and committed to these things:
Writing on a fixed schedule: Every Friday you get something from me. You can expect it. I’ve received so many comments and private emails saying that this cadence is an encouragement that you look forward to. All the while, I’ve experienced the discipline of writing every week, whether I feel it or not. This process has taught me a metric ton and gifted me with a better understanding of my creative world. Really good stuff.
I would favor authenticity over bravado: I have been committed to being myself out loud, rather than trying to be an expert with all of the answers. I’m trying to be the best illustrator, author, and artist I can be. It’s messy. It’s funny. It’s painful. It’s honest.
I would not let my newsletter become the main thing: My heart is in making books for kids. Keeping that creative journey humming is at the core of everything and requires a lot from me. Drawing a Blank is a place for sharing that journey — teaching, inspiring and sharing everything that is fit to print. But it must be in that order. Or else.
I’m still committed to this stuff, but have realized the way I’ve been doing things could be improved. In the interest of being honest, here’s what is not working as well as it could:
The deepest deep dives I have that I want to share require the most work and can eat up a lot of time! They are all-consuming some weeks. If I’m overly focused on writing for Substack, I’m not writing or illustrating the books I’m feeling called to make. I want to shift the focus and bulk of my studio time to getting better at making books for kids.
The model for paid and regular subscribers has been 3 free, 1 paid over 4 Fridays. For as long as I’ve been doing this (went paid after 1 year), I’ve felt like my paid subscribers have not been getting as much attention as they deserve. I want to give you more.
Maybe the most alarming is that while I’ve gotten better at writing for you, making new art has slid too far back, off the back burner and behind the stove! It’s nasty back there. I’ve routinely used my back-log of illustrations as headers for Drawing a Blank, but I’m running out. New work should be filling those folders and there’s just not enough. I need more art-making time.
So what to do?
Here’s my modest proposal. Let me know what you think!
Friday’s Newsletter will be free and will follow the format I’ve been using on and off for the past couple of months, Five Things from the Studio This Week. I’ll make new work(box checked!), share something I love, make a book recommendation (usually kid lit, but not exclusively), share some work wisdom (something that struck me from my reading about the creative life), and ephemera (what I’m excited about, things I’ve been thinking about, book news, sneak peeks, etc.). I see this as a kind of creative ground-zero. The stuff here grows up to be books, deep dives, and inspiration.
Kind of like:
Every other Wednesday I’ll take paid subscribers on a deep dive. Kind of like:
In addition — paid subscribers will still have full access to the archives, occasional special events like group portfolio reviews and critiques, and special deals on super-secret projects I’m developing right now that I think will be INCREDIBLE (but I can’t say more just yet).
What I’m hoping this means for you is more authenticity real-time as I struggle work in my studio every week, encouragement and inspiration, and a more digestible weekly read. I hope the paid-only deep dives are more um, deep and specially formulated to be helpful and hopeful on your own creative journey. They should be something you want to return to and see as valuable.
I’m hoping this realignment and slight shift in how things work around here to be a win for all.
Onto book writing — got a new manuscript to struggle with!
Best,
Jacob
We are grateful for all of your insights, but would never want to get between you and your primary passions. This model will better keep things on the stovetop for you, and I’m all for it!
I agree with everyone here that we appreciate you being up front with all subscribers, agree that making art and books is def top priority and that the new plan seems much more feasible, but still a treasure trove of valuable info for us! :)