Pris's Problem

Gentle Readers, I want your advice about an unanticipated problem.

It seems that some people who came to blogging late did not want to work through those first few months when, no matter how many e-friends you have from other sites or even from real life, it takes people a while to remember where to find your blog, and so your hosting site tells you day after day that your last post has been read by two people, which is how many people the hosting site assigns to check on new blogs. Or they didn't trust sites like Blogspot, Live Journal, Weebly, Wix, etc., not to suppress their blogs for political reasons. So they put their blogs on Substack, which e-mails blog posts to followers. 

In addition to some publishers, here are five writers I follow on Substack: David B. Clear, Tom Cox, Wu Fei, Robert Reich, Naomi Wolf  There are others. Those are the first five that come to mind. 

For those who don't know, a few words about each of the five:

David B. Clear: Young, hardworking, not rich. Laugh-out-loud funny. He and his wife have been living on a shoestring to pursue their dream of owning a building they can rent out as apartments. They had bought a building and started work on it when they were told that Fabi (the wife) had to keep on alone while DBC left the country due to visa regulations. They are a little older than The Nephews/ I recommend his blog to The Nephews because, in my twenties, I always liked to read about people in their twenties doing adult things successfully. No traditionally published books, records, or films so far. Web site.

Tom Cox: Middle-aged, "voicy" novelist with an eye for the details of the British landscape. Wrote a novel about a village from the viewpoint of the oldest living "villager," a tree. Witty. Probably hard to read if you don't remember the pop culture Britain exported in the 1960s; tremendous fun if you do. Owns a nice house in the country, near his parents' nice house in the country. Goodreads author page.

Wu Fei: Writes quirky innovative music mixing Chinese and other traditions, and blog posts about all the places to which she's subsidized to travel and perform it. Old enough to write good English, young enough to seem to enjoy a busy schedule. Doesn't sound rich (no whining about travel) but obviously has no financial hardships. Recorded music here.

Robert Reich: At 78, the oldest writer on this list, and rich. Retired from the Clinton Cabinet. Became BC's buddy in university, specifically on the ship to England when both went to Oxford as Rhodes Scholars. Almost always writes about politics as a traditional, sane Democrat being dragged by party loyalty into supporting Loony Lefties. Web site.

Naomi Wolf: Middle-aged, middle-class, comfortable enough to write about ideas rather than soliciting for work or writing about frugal life hacks. Has been known to post video of her reading the Bible aloud. Writes about women's and children's health issues with enough edge to be snubbed by Ds, but writes about hurt feelings not poverty. Goodreads  author page.

So now you know I have a nice diverse reading list that represents different countries, ethnic groups, ages, sexes, religious identities and so on. This is not a problem. The writers my age or older have impressive lists. The one who's young enough to be my son will undoubtedly have an impressive list in another twenty years. All five of these writers send out one or more real original posts per week, free of charge. All also publish posts Substack sends to paid subscribers only. None of this is a problem.

The problem was this morning's e-mail: "Substack has gifted you with a free subscription to Robert Reich." 

Why him? He's not the first writer I followed onto Substack, nor the one whose posts I'm most likely to share or discuss. 

Because, of the five, he's been publishing longest and sold most books?

Because, as the oldest and richest of the five, he can afford to offer freebies to bloggers who are likely to link to one of those paid-subscribers-only posts and thus tell the world how good they are?

Because, as a teacher, he found one or more of my comments on his Substack "intelligent but uninformed" and thought I needed extra reading? Or listening--his subscriber-only posts include video conversations.

If I knew Reich ordered the offer himself, either to me or to his non-paying followers generally, I'd feel grateful, accept the offer, think "How nice," and have no problem. 

My problem is that I suspect Substack thought free content from the biggest-name writer on my list would entice me to pay for things online, which is banned by contract, so don't even think about asking, and free content from a younger, needier writer would not. And that's the total opposite of how I work.

If someone wants to make a gift to me of a subscription to a paid Substack, which is nice, and recommended,,,it should be the Substack of a young, struggling writer who needs the money. Of the five on this list, it should be David B. Clear. No question.

Likewise, if someone wants to make a gift of a subscription to a Christian literary magazine--although I'd take The Christian Century or Sojourners willingly enough--it should be Plough. They all publish some jewels, some kernels, and some chaff, but like the young struggling writer Plough does more with less than the more establilshed magazines do. 

What would you do, Gentle Readers? If "gifted with" a subscription to the writer or magazine on your list that needs the money least, would you just take it? Or would you try to change it and get a subsidized subscription to the one tht needs the money most?