A poll about the future of newsletter
About this newsletter
I’ve been thinking about what I want this newsletter to be.
Lately I’ve been seeing a lot of activity on Substack, and it made me realize I might be not using the platform properly. Up to now, I’ve treated it like a traditional email blast: very occasional updates along the lines of “I launched something new; here’s what you should know.”
The reason is: I don’t want to spam people. I don’t want to send too many emails. I don’t want anyone to feel bored getting updates like “here’s a cool new spread for an RPG that isn’t even out yet,” or other in-progress, behind-the-scenes devlog stuff.
I’ve tried putting that kind of content on my own blog and sharing links on Bluesky, but it hasn’t been especially fruitful. I also considered Patreon. I genuinely love the concept behind Patreon, but using it as a creator is… not fun. I’m a software engineer during the day, and every time I open their web or mobile app, I scream internally at how painful it is to use.
Substack, on the other hand, feels nice to write on.
So I’m thinking: maybe this is where I should start posting my updates and devlogs; the things I’m excited about as I’m building them. That could mean early access to games, screenshots of what I’m working on, short blurbs of ideas, and regular progress notes.
Now I’d love your input.
There’s a poll below. I’d really appreciate you taking a moment to answer it:
Should this newsletter stay as a “once a month (or once every two months) announcement email” whenever something is finished and ready?
Or would you rather get more regular updates, like a weekly post about what I’ve been up to?
One more note: Substack lets me publish posts without necessarily sending them as emails. That could be a good middle ground; frequent posts for those who want to follow along, without filling inboxes for those who don’t.
If that sounds appealing, leave a comment and tell me what you’d prefer.
Here’s the poll. Happy Monday!
I think monthly is enough. I personally can’t keep up with reading all the blogs I love. Also, while a devlog might interest others, I’d be more interested in learning about HOW you create games. Maybe your devlogs are written with this mind?
Personally I like there to be a reason for a newsletter, something I can get out of by reading. So the monthly update stuff for me is ideal.
The TTRPG space has a glut of people writing about writing, I like it when people are writing about doing something. You're always doing something, so I think it's fine to just write about that :)