I think there has been a basic misunderstanding. I must have failed to make something clear in the post: this is my job. Writing three times a week on this website is what I do for a living. It's my livelihood, and it is the foundational structure of my daily life.
I've seen a lot of people, trying to be helpful, say, "Oh just post once a week." but this tells me that they don't understand what this is and why I do it. There's a reason I didn't list one post a week as one of the options; it's not on the table. When they say this, what I hear is, "Just quit your job." And being my brain, how it translates this is, "What you're doing isn't very important, it doesn't matter to us, so you might as well give up." I've responded individually to this multiple times, but the suggestion keeps coming, so I'll answer it here.
I take this work very seriously. I do it because I think it's important and useful, and worth the difficulty of producing. I thought I managed to at least make that very clear above. Posting once a week is the equivalent of quitting. It would be quitting taking it seriously, quitting thinking of it as work, as a job, to which I have serious obligations.
"What's wrong with once a week?"
This is where business ethics come in. I have made a promise to produce the things people have signed up for, whether free or paid, and that lays a serious obligation on me to the people who subscribe. They have expectations that I am obliged to fulfil. I enter into a relationship of personal and serious obligation with every person who subscribes, even moreso with people who pay to subscribe.
I have two levels of subscription, free and paid. I am morally obliged to provide material for both, and a higher level of in depth material for paid subscribers. That's the deal. They pay for it and I provide it; it's how business works. If I don't do that, I lose paid subscribers, and go broke and die under a bridge. And properly so. I would have failed in my obligations.
I don't have any family, no husband, parents, children, aunts uncles or cousins. There's no one to pick me up if I fail. I have no pension and no other source of income. So I work, and this blog is that. It's my work. And if I don't take it seriously, no one who pays me will take it seriously either.
On a personal level, having work to do, particularly having work that other people are expecting in some way, having a schedule, a structure and framework of the time in the days, is immensely important for a person recovering from a serious depression. Sinking into yourself, into isolation and the belief that nothing you do matters, that no one will care if you quit, is how to die. Telling a depressed person to quit their job - to have no income or a reduced income, to abandon their obligations and duties to others, their relationships with others, to jettison their framework and scheduling of time, their daily reason to get out of bed and dress and eat and continue living - is a terrible idea.
This work gives every aspect of my life, financial and personal and even spiritual, structure, form and meaning, purpose and direction.
When I said above: "I don’t have much; but I’ve got this." I wasn't speaking rhetorically or metaphorically. It's literally true. Doing this work is becoming the rope I'm holding on to.
I am enthusiastic and grateful for what you are writing about here on Sacred images Project . I am sharing it whenever I can. I especially want to bring it to other Catholic families and children. Raising a large family in these days, I feel most of the time crushed under a weight. I don’t have the time or energy to research Sacred Art and learn on my own. Your site has been opening up a window, a door, to the lost past and tradition that gives these tired times (both mine and in general) the good, true, and beautiful, and inspiration. Thank you and keep on! Because I am old school I wish it could all be put in a bound book for me to hold and read! For now, I am grateful for the internet.
Lots of personality traits in common! And comments about working from home and loneliness is spot on. I wish i minutes nearby to meet over coffee.
My main reason for paying and joining is about Western Christian Iconography. It is a really, really positive thing you do and it is unique. It connects the dots, theologically and historically, for modern western Christians, integrating the idea of Western Apostolic Faith and Practice that justifies who we are. It also helps us keep up our heads, with pride, when "attacked" by Orthodox christians in their unrelenting negativitity towards Catholicism. It enables us to present the "beauty of our faith" to others. It gives emotional support when one feels the existential weight of the Modernism that is destroying, not building.
I would stick to the knitting and don't be distracted by writing the history of the collapse of monasticism in the West. We know that history: we don't know what you know: our beautiful and spiritual, Western Art. Your writings feed the soul. Keep it up.
Hi Hilary, I don't have the long winded good comments that have already been posted, but I would like to say thank you for what you are doing. I am a conservative Catholic in Oregon and can often feel quite alone out here. People like you give me hope, and let me know that I am not fighting and praying alone. Time will tell, but I think the Church will be resurgent, with current conditions how could it not be. Our Lady and the saints will not let us down.
Hilary, you are experiencing a pretty good dose of spiritual warfare, which means you are doing work (very good work) that pleases the Lord and is important for building his kingdom on earth (the Church). That’s why the powers of darkness have targeted you. As a working artist and experienced business person, I have had more than my share of spiritual warfare when producing works for the benefit of the Church and the faithful. I have some words of advice if you are interested. But they are more appropriate in a private exchange. If you are interested, please contact me.
Thank you for all you do. I'm here for the long haul and learn from every post (and agree that the Renaissance stuff was an early warning that not was well in Christendom). I have been delighted to find your essays.
I know the Substack algorithm suggests daily for "best engagement", but that's nuts. Writing is work, and good writing is hard work - and it's an art. I'm totally fine with less frequent essays, especially if they mean that you are yourself not getting burned out.
Well, writing is always work, but it's not always art. I think what I had in mind for short occasional posts, mostly unscheduled, was more like a peanut post. Just a quick little snack. Suitable for those moments when you're at your computer and just need a little visual break from whatever you're doing. A peanut.
Dear Hilary. I think your current posts are so rich that weekly is sufficient for me. They are quite long, but I fear that shortening would reduce the depth, and I would rather keep the current meal, but served less frequently. Most importantly, pls look after yourself because if something happens to you the loss will be collective. Your content is wonderful. Please persevere but within your own boundaries…and you set them based on your capabilities.
One post a week isn't on the table. This is like suggesting to a depressed person that they quit their job, the one thing that is still holding life together, and add idleness and poverty to their troubles. Being unemployed isn't a way to improve anyone's situation.
The only way my life is being held together, not only financially but in terms of my self-understanding as a person, is to keep doing this work. Quite a lot of people have said, Oh just do one a week. But this shows they don't understand why I do this. What you're suggesting, essentially, is to put myself out of work.
As I said above:
The posts need to be at least two a week because I am obliged to provide material for both paid and unpaid subscribers - it’s the job. If I just decided to post once a week or occasionally or whatever, the signal that sends, quite correctly, is that I don’t take seriously what I’m providing, and people will unsubscribe. I have a serious responsibility to provide what I’ve promised to people who purchase my product.
and:
Maybe I didn't make it clear. Simply put; meditating reading and making art don’t pay the rent. I think what the people here kindly suggesting I post once a week don't understand is that this blog is my livelihood. They or their husbands have jobs or pensions or whatever. For me, this is that. This is my job. It's what I did a year ago to drag myself out of penury. A year ago I was borrowing money I couldn't pay back to cover rent. In November I had ten unsubscriptions, that was a loss of US $1080. I've had three months of 9 or 10 unsubscriptions, so have lost over $3000 in annual income. The math is pretty straightforward; when I post regularly I get more subscriptions. When I post less, I get fewer. The only reason the numbers haven't gone down is that new people have come along to replace the unsubscriptions. The reason they have come along is that I post regularly on a schedule. That's just how it works. Now, I'm not in any financial difficulties for this right now, but if that pattern continues I certainly could be.
In short, this isn't my hobby, or a means of self expression. This is my job, and if I don't do it my life falls apart.
The reason I started it was that I couldn't make a living as a painter with the level of skill I had - even with expenses under $800/month. My expenses were that low because I had a roommate. I started monetising the blog and started the shop because my roommate was leaving in a few months, and I couldn't cover my own life by myself. I turned it into a job and it was successful. But I did that because I took it very very seriously, and worked extremely hard on it for a year.
Not working is out of the question. I don't' have a husband or a pension or a private income. It's just me, working. And if I don't work, I die. Simple.
The only reason I had to recently stop my paid subscription was for budget issues last month. One of your posts that drew me to being a paid subscriber was your discussion of the Pantocrator of Sinai, my very favorite image of Jesus. What you're doing is absolutely important. I will be a paid subscriber again soon.
I enjoyed reading through all this, and am excited about a lot of what you're doing and hoping to write about. I don't think you need to try and write every day .... honestly I would end up not reading everything you publish if there was something out every day just because I don't get online everyday and I it takes me a while to catch up with my emails when I get on and I'll end up just reading whatever has the most interesting headlines in my inbox. I'm the sort of reader that likes something about once a week or twice a month! I feel like the unsubscriptions are due to the time of the year. I blogged for about ten years over at blogspot and found that around the Holidays people don't really read blogs as much, and people are also more likely to stop paying for things to pay for Christmas gifts, etc. For this reason now I rarely post anything on my own platform November through December.
Hi! gosh, I didn't know you're reading me. Yeah, I think you're right about the unsubscriptions/slow-down and time of year. Also think people who've said it's US inflation are right too. We were going like gangbusters all through the spring and summer and into Sept/Oct. so it's a bit of a shock. Maybe I'll get used to it as we go along; it's only been a year. Thanks for the recommendation, btw. It's generated a lot of subscriptions and readers.
I think I'm going to keep going with 2/week scheduled, and occasional +1s and extras. I feel a serious obligation on both sides of my readership; people who have paid have a right to expect material in keeping with that commitment, and people who have subscribed for free have a right to material that isn't paywalled. So, that's two a week. But I'm going to be differentiating between them more. Maybe do a split on the free posts between a free and paywalled section. I've still got a boatload of videos and photos of the trip to Siena that are really great.
And I need to get out of the house more. I need to be braver (agoraphobia is a big part of my brain-problems) and just get on trains and go see things.
Yes! I think my husband said I should! But yes -- I know what you mean, my husband is experiencing the exact same thing right now and I'm telling him it's normal lol!! I sent him your post and he feels better knowing it's not just him.
And that makes sense! Because I keep my substack free I don't have to worry about pleasing people who might pay (but also I don't make money ;p). I also turn of all unsubscription notifications bc I can't handle the stress of thinking people hate what I write like you and Andy have to!
We just got off a three day train ride and had a nice long walk in chilly Nevada. Truly it does help one feel better about everything to just take a break from the stats and obligations and get some fresh air. I get it being scary though -- I hate being independent anymore!!
Hi Hillary! I subscribed for several months but then had to stop, because of the inflation/money mentioned by others, and I couldn’t keep up with the posts. But I share this only because I really like what you do and don’t want you to feel so tortured by the metrics! Once a week is good for me. The posts where you teach us how to interpret what we might encounter today (whether sacred or profane) are super interesting and helpful. As you know, I have homeschoolers who love art (and that’s what caused me to initially connect), but we just aren’t at the level yet to understand and really utilize some of your more technical writing as part of our lessons. Baby steps. So please know that I agree wholeheartedly what you are doing now is VERY good, you should forge ahead however the Holy Spirit leads you. If it feels like a huge drain you could dial back the posts to less frequent and we would be ok with that. Boundaries are good 😊 We all spend too much time in front of screens anyway. If i know you will publish one in-depth article every Weds (or whatever day), I'll make a mental note and look for it on Weds, or maybe catch up a day or two later when i have a gap. Leila Lawler does this with her weekly Happy Despite Them posts and I actually love it: one full hour podcast every Friday. I listen while I drive or do chores. Re: paid subscription, I need to wait until after the holiday balance sheet comes back into a healthy zone and then I would prefer a "one and done" payment so I don't have to feel guilty about monthly draws. Would like to do this with several other groups, too, actually. When they insist on monthly giving it usually scares me off. Happy Christmas and thank you for being so wonderfully generous with your knowledge, talent, and access to such beautiful examples of sacred art!
Call me a weird political wonk, but I have a feeling that the situation with inflation in the US will get better after January, and then there will be a ripple effect on the rest of the world. (If we make it to January. If not, I guess we'll have to figure something else out.)
Thanks very kindly for the encouragement. I need to post three a week or it stops “feeling” like a job that I’m doing. Three a week with a serious deadline is the minimum for me to make my brain regard it as my work, and take it seriously. If I feel like I don’t have work that needs doing, my life just falls apart like a half set jelly without a bowl.
I put the note into every post that says you can pay monthly. The site allows you to chose an annual discounted payment. I also include a link to the studio blog that allows one-offs and monthly or annual payments in an amount of your choice, but hardly anyone seems to pay attention to that.
You have great insight!! I’m glad you are finding the right path. Just know that we are truly grateful and will continue to read. And hopefully, please God, the world will start shifting in a better direction soon.
You are part of the force that’s urging that shift, btw. I hope you realize it. Eyes have been opened. We are starting to see past the fog of modern decadence to something older and true. I guess that’s a benefit of tribulation. 😌
For me, one article a week is the perfect cadence, I really struggle to read more than that and then feel a little bad that I'm not using the subscription to the fullest. I think "Notes" are good for the small shoutouts ("look at this cool painting!").
The problem with Notes is that very few people know it’s there and use it. only a tiny fraction of my readership is even aware that Substack exists. Not being internet people, they just think of it as Hilary’s newsletter that arrives by email. very few people ever read instructions, so you can’t really direct them to Notes. I personally love Notes, but it gets very little traffic. I post Notes every day, and my site even has a separate feed so you can follow them like a blog, but I don’t think it gets any attention. The whole business is oriented around the emails, so instead of going to a website, they just open the email in their inbox. Notes don't go to your readership; they just sit there on the Substack site, so the great majority of the readership won't see them.
Makes sense. I am also fine with getting more shorter articles :) Personally, I'm having troubles with the Substack app - I get a notification that you posted a Note but when I click on it, I don't get redirected to the Note and must find it myself.
Yeah, the app is terrible. I use it on my phone to read stuff, but it won't let me into my dashboard, so it's useless for doing any kind of work. Substackers complain about it all the time. They suck at apps.
Ooops…the Reader’s time. I need to check, but maybe a method to donate on occasion- something between all or none. I’m sure many occasional, but unpaid,readers feel a bit of guilt about not offering something.
Good to know! I suspect most readers assume the Paid subscription is the only method. Thanks, this helps. Not sure it would be of use in Italy, but I’ve had interaction with some who also have link to their “wish list” on Amazon if a reader is interested in that means of contributing.
Yes. Amazon is everywhere. But I don't really need people to buy me things. I have had some help in the past with big ticket things for the studio, like the big easel and the high res scanner. What I need is stable subscribers, and the energy to do the work.
😨 wrote a three paragraph comment, then power interruption. Won’t duplicate now ( 3:30 a.m. here), just this: 1) whatever and whenever you post is most welcome 2) very glad you’ve decided to put your art first, it’s the most important despite my own keen interest in your investigative journalism.
On the business end— unpaid subscribers want to convert to paid, however resources are sometimes difficult to apportion when there are so many really stellar substacks. I let several paid subscriptions go because I could not read them all in a timely way. This is not a comment on the value of YOUR content, which is excellent. The question is the reader’s time
I think there has been a basic misunderstanding. I must have failed to make something clear in the post: this is my job. Writing three times a week on this website is what I do for a living. It's my livelihood, and it is the foundational structure of my daily life.
I've seen a lot of people, trying to be helpful, say, "Oh just post once a week." but this tells me that they don't understand what this is and why I do it. There's a reason I didn't list one post a week as one of the options; it's not on the table. When they say this, what I hear is, "Just quit your job." And being my brain, how it translates this is, "What you're doing isn't very important, it doesn't matter to us, so you might as well give up." I've responded individually to this multiple times, but the suggestion keeps coming, so I'll answer it here.
I take this work very seriously. I do it because I think it's important and useful, and worth the difficulty of producing. I thought I managed to at least make that very clear above. Posting once a week is the equivalent of quitting. It would be quitting taking it seriously, quitting thinking of it as work, as a job, to which I have serious obligations.
"What's wrong with once a week?"
This is where business ethics come in. I have made a promise to produce the things people have signed up for, whether free or paid, and that lays a serious obligation on me to the people who subscribe. They have expectations that I am obliged to fulfil. I enter into a relationship of personal and serious obligation with every person who subscribes, even moreso with people who pay to subscribe.
I have two levels of subscription, free and paid. I am morally obliged to provide material for both, and a higher level of in depth material for paid subscribers. That's the deal. They pay for it and I provide it; it's how business works. If I don't do that, I lose paid subscribers, and go broke and die under a bridge. And properly so. I would have failed in my obligations.
I don't have any family, no husband, parents, children, aunts uncles or cousins. There's no one to pick me up if I fail. I have no pension and no other source of income. So I work, and this blog is that. It's my work. And if I don't take it seriously, no one who pays me will take it seriously either.
On a personal level, having work to do, particularly having work that other people are expecting in some way, having a schedule, a structure and framework of the time in the days, is immensely important for a person recovering from a serious depression. Sinking into yourself, into isolation and the belief that nothing you do matters, that no one will care if you quit, is how to die. Telling a depressed person to quit their job - to have no income or a reduced income, to abandon their obligations and duties to others, their relationships with others, to jettison their framework and scheduling of time, their daily reason to get out of bed and dress and eat and continue living - is a terrible idea.
This work gives every aspect of my life, financial and personal and even spiritual, structure, form and meaning, purpose and direction.
When I said above: "I don’t have much; but I’ve got this." I wasn't speaking rhetorically or metaphorically. It's literally true. Doing this work is becoming the rope I'm holding on to.
I adore you, Hilary.❤️
Hilary, I learn, I enjoy and I appreciate your work.
Mercy and peace to you!
Hi Hilary,
I am enthusiastic and grateful for what you are writing about here on Sacred images Project . I am sharing it whenever I can. I especially want to bring it to other Catholic families and children. Raising a large family in these days, I feel most of the time crushed under a weight. I don’t have the time or energy to research Sacred Art and learn on my own. Your site has been opening up a window, a door, to the lost past and tradition that gives these tired times (both mine and in general) the good, true, and beautiful, and inspiration. Thank you and keep on! Because I am old school I wish it could all be put in a bound book for me to hold and read! For now, I am grateful for the internet.
Lots of personality traits in common! And comments about working from home and loneliness is spot on. I wish i minutes nearby to meet over coffee.
My main reason for paying and joining is about Western Christian Iconography. It is a really, really positive thing you do and it is unique. It connects the dots, theologically and historically, for modern western Christians, integrating the idea of Western Apostolic Faith and Practice that justifies who we are. It also helps us keep up our heads, with pride, when "attacked" by Orthodox christians in their unrelenting negativitity towards Catholicism. It enables us to present the "beauty of our faith" to others. It gives emotional support when one feels the existential weight of the Modernism that is destroying, not building.
I would stick to the knitting and don't be distracted by writing the history of the collapse of monasticism in the West. We know that history: we don't know what you know: our beautiful and spiritual, Western Art. Your writings feed the soul. Keep it up.
Hi Hilary, I don't have the long winded good comments that have already been posted, but I would like to say thank you for what you are doing. I am a conservative Catholic in Oregon and can often feel quite alone out here. People like you give me hope, and let me know that I am not fighting and praying alone. Time will tell, but I think the Church will be resurgent, with current conditions how could it not be. Our Lady and the saints will not let us down.
Hilary, you are experiencing a pretty good dose of spiritual warfare, which means you are doing work (very good work) that pleases the Lord and is important for building his kingdom on earth (the Church). That’s why the powers of darkness have targeted you. As a working artist and experienced business person, I have had more than my share of spiritual warfare when producing works for the benefit of the Church and the faithful. I have some words of advice if you are interested. But they are more appropriate in a private exchange. If you are interested, please contact me.
Maybe, but it's not something I would ever talk about with anyone but authorised persons.
Thank you for all you do. I'm here for the long haul and learn from every post (and agree that the Renaissance stuff was an early warning that not was well in Christendom). I have been delighted to find your essays.
I know the Substack algorithm suggests daily for "best engagement", but that's nuts. Writing is work, and good writing is hard work - and it's an art. I'm totally fine with less frequent essays, especially if they mean that you are yourself not getting burned out.
Well, writing is always work, but it's not always art. I think what I had in mind for short occasional posts, mostly unscheduled, was more like a peanut post. Just a quick little snack. Suitable for those moments when you're at your computer and just need a little visual break from whatever you're doing. A peanut.
Ah, that makes sense.
BTW - I keep trying to suggest your substack to others (I have some artist friends, for instance). I keep hoping one of them will bite soon.
Dear Hilary. I think your current posts are so rich that weekly is sufficient for me. They are quite long, but I fear that shortening would reduce the depth, and I would rather keep the current meal, but served less frequently. Most importantly, pls look after yourself because if something happens to you the loss will be collective. Your content is wonderful. Please persevere but within your own boundaries…and you set them based on your capabilities.
One post a week isn't on the table. This is like suggesting to a depressed person that they quit their job, the one thing that is still holding life together, and add idleness and poverty to their troubles. Being unemployed isn't a way to improve anyone's situation.
The only way my life is being held together, not only financially but in terms of my self-understanding as a person, is to keep doing this work. Quite a lot of people have said, Oh just do one a week. But this shows they don't understand why I do this. What you're suggesting, essentially, is to put myself out of work.
As I said above:
The posts need to be at least two a week because I am obliged to provide material for both paid and unpaid subscribers - it’s the job. If I just decided to post once a week or occasionally or whatever, the signal that sends, quite correctly, is that I don’t take seriously what I’m providing, and people will unsubscribe. I have a serious responsibility to provide what I’ve promised to people who purchase my product.
and:
Maybe I didn't make it clear. Simply put; meditating reading and making art don’t pay the rent. I think what the people here kindly suggesting I post once a week don't understand is that this blog is my livelihood. They or their husbands have jobs or pensions or whatever. For me, this is that. This is my job. It's what I did a year ago to drag myself out of penury. A year ago I was borrowing money I couldn't pay back to cover rent. In November I had ten unsubscriptions, that was a loss of US $1080. I've had three months of 9 or 10 unsubscriptions, so have lost over $3000 in annual income. The math is pretty straightforward; when I post regularly I get more subscriptions. When I post less, I get fewer. The only reason the numbers haven't gone down is that new people have come along to replace the unsubscriptions. The reason they have come along is that I post regularly on a schedule. That's just how it works. Now, I'm not in any financial difficulties for this right now, but if that pattern continues I certainly could be.
In short, this isn't my hobby, or a means of self expression. This is my job, and if I don't do it my life falls apart.
The reason I started it was that I couldn't make a living as a painter with the level of skill I had - even with expenses under $800/month. My expenses were that low because I had a roommate. I started monetising the blog and started the shop because my roommate was leaving in a few months, and I couldn't cover my own life by myself. I turned it into a job and it was successful. But I did that because I took it very very seriously, and worked extremely hard on it for a year.
Not working is out of the question. I don't' have a husband or a pension or a private income. It's just me, working. And if I don't work, I die. Simple.
The only reason I had to recently stop my paid subscription was for budget issues last month. One of your posts that drew me to being a paid subscriber was your discussion of the Pantocrator of Sinai, my very favorite image of Jesus. What you're doing is absolutely important. I will be a paid subscriber again soon.
I enjoyed reading through all this, and am excited about a lot of what you're doing and hoping to write about. I don't think you need to try and write every day .... honestly I would end up not reading everything you publish if there was something out every day just because I don't get online everyday and I it takes me a while to catch up with my emails when I get on and I'll end up just reading whatever has the most interesting headlines in my inbox. I'm the sort of reader that likes something about once a week or twice a month! I feel like the unsubscriptions are due to the time of the year. I blogged for about ten years over at blogspot and found that around the Holidays people don't really read blogs as much, and people are also more likely to stop paying for things to pay for Christmas gifts, etc. For this reason now I rarely post anything on my own platform November through December.
Hi! gosh, I didn't know you're reading me. Yeah, I think you're right about the unsubscriptions/slow-down and time of year. Also think people who've said it's US inflation are right too. We were going like gangbusters all through the spring and summer and into Sept/Oct. so it's a bit of a shock. Maybe I'll get used to it as we go along; it's only been a year. Thanks for the recommendation, btw. It's generated a lot of subscriptions and readers.
I think I'm going to keep going with 2/week scheduled, and occasional +1s and extras. I feel a serious obligation on both sides of my readership; people who have paid have a right to expect material in keeping with that commitment, and people who have subscribed for free have a right to material that isn't paywalled. So, that's two a week. But I'm going to be differentiating between them more. Maybe do a split on the free posts between a free and paywalled section. I've still got a boatload of videos and photos of the trip to Siena that are really great.
And I need to get out of the house more. I need to be braver (agoraphobia is a big part of my brain-problems) and just get on trains and go see things.
Yes! I think my husband said I should! But yes -- I know what you mean, my husband is experiencing the exact same thing right now and I'm telling him it's normal lol!! I sent him your post and he feels better knowing it's not just him.
And that makes sense! Because I keep my substack free I don't have to worry about pleasing people who might pay (but also I don't make money ;p). I also turn of all unsubscription notifications bc I can't handle the stress of thinking people hate what I write like you and Andy have to!
We just got off a three day train ride and had a nice long walk in chilly Nevada. Truly it does help one feel better about everything to just take a break from the stats and obligations and get some fresh air. I get it being scary though -- I hate being independent anymore!!
Well, now I feel better knowing it's not just me. So thanks.
Hi Hillary! I subscribed for several months but then had to stop, because of the inflation/money mentioned by others, and I couldn’t keep up with the posts. But I share this only because I really like what you do and don’t want you to feel so tortured by the metrics! Once a week is good for me. The posts where you teach us how to interpret what we might encounter today (whether sacred or profane) are super interesting and helpful. As you know, I have homeschoolers who love art (and that’s what caused me to initially connect), but we just aren’t at the level yet to understand and really utilize some of your more technical writing as part of our lessons. Baby steps. So please know that I agree wholeheartedly what you are doing now is VERY good, you should forge ahead however the Holy Spirit leads you. If it feels like a huge drain you could dial back the posts to less frequent and we would be ok with that. Boundaries are good 😊 We all spend too much time in front of screens anyway. If i know you will publish one in-depth article every Weds (or whatever day), I'll make a mental note and look for it on Weds, or maybe catch up a day or two later when i have a gap. Leila Lawler does this with her weekly Happy Despite Them posts and I actually love it: one full hour podcast every Friday. I listen while I drive or do chores. Re: paid subscription, I need to wait until after the holiday balance sheet comes back into a healthy zone and then I would prefer a "one and done" payment so I don't have to feel guilty about monthly draws. Would like to do this with several other groups, too, actually. When they insist on monthly giving it usually scares me off. Happy Christmas and thank you for being so wonderfully generous with your knowledge, talent, and access to such beautiful examples of sacred art!
Call me a weird political wonk, but I have a feeling that the situation with inflation in the US will get better after January, and then there will be a ripple effect on the rest of the world. (If we make it to January. If not, I guess we'll have to figure something else out.)
Thanks very kindly for the encouragement. I need to post three a week or it stops “feeling” like a job that I’m doing. Three a week with a serious deadline is the minimum for me to make my brain regard it as my work, and take it seriously. If I feel like I don’t have work that needs doing, my life just falls apart like a half set jelly without a bowl.
I put the note into every post that says you can pay monthly. The site allows you to chose an annual discounted payment. I also include a link to the studio blog that allows one-offs and monthly or annual payments in an amount of your choice, but hardly anyone seems to pay attention to that.
You have great insight!! I’m glad you are finding the right path. Just know that we are truly grateful and will continue to read. And hopefully, please God, the world will start shifting in a better direction soon.
You are part of the force that’s urging that shift, btw. I hope you realize it. Eyes have been opened. We are starting to see past the fog of modern decadence to something older and true. I guess that’s a benefit of tribulation. 😌
For me, one article a week is the perfect cadence, I really struggle to read more than that and then feel a little bad that I'm not using the subscription to the fullest. I think "Notes" are good for the small shoutouts ("look at this cool painting!").
The problem with Notes is that very few people know it’s there and use it. only a tiny fraction of my readership is even aware that Substack exists. Not being internet people, they just think of it as Hilary’s newsletter that arrives by email. very few people ever read instructions, so you can’t really direct them to Notes. I personally love Notes, but it gets very little traffic. I post Notes every day, and my site even has a separate feed so you can follow them like a blog, but I don’t think it gets any attention. The whole business is oriented around the emails, so instead of going to a website, they just open the email in their inbox. Notes don't go to your readership; they just sit there on the Substack site, so the great majority of the readership won't see them.
Makes sense. I am also fine with getting more shorter articles :) Personally, I'm having troubles with the Substack app - I get a notification that you posted a Note but when I click on it, I don't get redirected to the Note and must find it myself.
Yeah, the app is terrible. I use it on my phone to read stuff, but it won't let me into my dashboard, so it's useless for doing any kind of work. Substackers complain about it all the time. They suck at apps.
The -1 paid subscriber is probably me. I like to move my paid subscriptions around, so it’s not caused by anything you’ve written.
Ooops…the Reader’s time. I need to check, but maybe a method to donate on occasion- something between all or none. I’m sure many occasional, but unpaid,readers feel a bit of guilt about not offering something.
Prayers for you, your work and your readers 🙏🏻.
on every post, I include a linked button to the studio blog and the following note:
"If you would prefer to set up a recurring donation in an amount of your choice, or make a one-off contribution, you can do that at my studio blog.
This helps me a lot because the patronages through the studio blog are not subject to the 10% Substack fee."
Which I guess no one pays the slightest attention to.
Good to know! I suspect most readers assume the Paid subscription is the only method. Thanks, this helps. Not sure it would be of use in Italy, but I’ve had interaction with some who also have link to their “wish list” on Amazon if a reader is interested in that means of contributing.
Yes. Amazon is everywhere. But I don't really need people to buy me things. I have had some help in the past with big ticket things for the studio, like the big easel and the high res scanner. What I need is stable subscribers, and the energy to do the work.
😨 wrote a three paragraph comment, then power interruption. Won’t duplicate now ( 3:30 a.m. here), just this: 1) whatever and whenever you post is most welcome 2) very glad you’ve decided to put your art first, it’s the most important despite my own keen interest in your investigative journalism.
On the business end— unpaid subscribers want to convert to paid, however resources are sometimes difficult to apportion when there are so many really stellar substacks. I let several paid subscriptions go because I could not read them all in a timely way. This is not a comment on the value of YOUR content, which is excellent. The question is the reader’s time