Dear Reader: A Call to Community
Big things are coming, the archive opens through the end of the year, AND half off our annual subscription!
Howdy folks.
Last May, five of us got together and began working on The Westrn as a collective project to see what might happen. As these things go, we’re whittled down to a focused team of three, and the tightness of the group continues to form a bud.
In lieu of a newsletter, I want to share a bit about where we are, why we’re here, and how we’re thinking about the future. We’re also knocking the price of an annual subscription to The Westrn by a full 50% off and offering some perks for end-of-year subscribers.
Really, what we’re thinking about is community, and we hope that you’re thinking about it as well. More on all that below!
Defining the Writing Trade
To me, writing — like carpentry, welding, or farming — is a trade. Writers build work from language. It’s less a talent than a consistently honed skill.
We are specialists in this craft. An SEO writer hones a different skill set than a poet. An investigative journalist writes much differently than a chef testing and writing recipes. A technical writer might focus on workbooks, while an academic focuses on peer-reviewed work. Everything you read is deliberately crafted by a person in a specific writing trade.
Most writers are also paid like blue collar tradespeople. As a first generation college student from the working class, I am deeply proud that I support myself and my critters on a writer’s budget. There’s a lot going on right now in the world of private equity media that pushes writing into places no writer really wants to go. It does, however, pay the bills.
Thankfully, there’s also an art to what we do. The best carpenters speak through solid design, and the best welders combine harmony with strength. Every writer I know aspires to this sort of artful achievement, even in their technical work. It’s inherent in the process.
That feeling pushed me, Katie, and Kestrel to build this project together, and it’s that feeling that keeps us here. It’s that same feeling that has us looking forward, with big ideas about what the future could hold.
The Growth of The Westrn
I always feel a little reticent going into new projects. Will we be consistent? Do we have time to work on a heart project that isn’t a breadwinner? Each of us has needs far beyond what sharing art a few times a month can meet. Will this work? That’s the ultimate question.
The answer is a resounding yes. We’re seven months in and proud of it. Through a million time constraints, shuffled decks, occasional (and normal) human conflict, and a resounding echo of teamwork and support, it’s December and we’re still here.
Early on, we decided if we got this far and maintained consistency on our promises, we’d make bigger plans for 2025. And we are.
Spoiler: they go far beyond an email a few times a month.
The plans we’re making involve tangible ways to build community. They’re a long time coming.
Yesterday was my 10th anniversary as a communicator in the world of hunting and outdoor media. I started working at ZPZ Productions in the Bozeman office as the Community Manager for the show MeatEater on December 1st, 2014.
Back then, many legitimate communities grew from an extremely open and organic sort of social media. Scoff if you like, but the majority of my long-time hunting friends came from this online camaraderie. Unfortunately, I’m not sure that the vibration of social media leans that way any longer.
I don’t know about you, but these days I limit my time on social media. It’s much different than it was a decade ago. I personally want something more than piles of ads and reels of tweens giving me makeup advice. Ick.
So, we’re looking to the past for ideas and the future for execution. We’re actively building a product that we think will reopen the lines beyond the internet. It will not be expensive, time-consuming, or heavy-handed.
We hope to share it with you in January.
A Deal Because It’s That Time of Year
Anyone who subscribes to our Substack this year will be considered part of our original community.
We currently have 844 total subscribers, and 79 of you have chipped in because you’ve seen something in our work that you believe in. That means a lot. Trust. Currently, paid subscribers have access to the full suite of our work since the beginning, and free subscribers have a two-week window to read new pieces.
In the spirit of the season, we’re offering 50% off a paid subscription through the end of the year. This would give you unlimited access to all our content, rather than just what we’ve published in the last two weeks. We move slow, and we believe our writing is valuable and interesting over the long-term.
Currently, paid subscribers have access to the full suite of our work since the beginning, and free subscribers have a two-week window to read new pieces.
But, we’ve decided to open up the archive until the end of the year, so that free subscribers can dig into past work and better understand who we are and what we do.
Here’s what we want to do with your investment:
Our first goal is to pay an artist to help us develop a branding package that we can use well into the future. This will likely cost $1,500 to $2,000.
Beyond that we have two other fundraising goals:
Start a seed fund so we can work with freelance writers and artists while paying them a fair market rate.
Eventually, we might be able to pay ourselves a bit!
Any investment you make will go toward these three goals, creating a major impact for us.
In return, you can expect us to follow through— just like we have since we began this project.
We’d also love to notch 1,000 total subscribers by the end of the year. If you know anyone who would value our work, please share your favorite story with them.
Since community is at the core of what we do, we invited other Substacks to participate in our 50% off sale. Our friends at Runamuk Acres, The Generous Garden, and Next Adventure are using the the same deal. Go check them out!
Alas, this diatribe doesn’t count as one of our December long reads. I’m up next to share my story from The Westrn’s hunting retreat in central Montana. And we’ll have one more for you, plus a final holiday newsletter, before we ring in the new year.
We hope you’re having a great season afield wherever you may wander. As always, we’re grateful you’re here. We’re looking forward to a big bloom of transformational work in 2025, for The Westrn and beyond.
Happy trails —
Nicole Qualtieri
Editor-in-Chief, The Westrn
Keep up the awesome work, friends!
Love what you all are doing!! Looking forward to what the future holds!