The readership is growing. The bills are too.
After more than 30 years in journalism, I’m asking readers to help keep the work going through a rough stretch.
Dear Readers,
Student loan payments restart this week, and the timing could not be much worse.
Like a lot of people, I’ve watched grocery and gas prices steadily eat away at what used to feel like a manageable budget. Right now, my accounts are overdrawn by more than $600, and by the 15th I’ve got a car payment, insurance, electricity, cell phone, and loan payments all lining up at once. I’m trying to stabilize things long enough to regroup this summer.
At the same time, the audience here continues to grow. More people are reading than ever before. Unfortunately, readership and revenue are currently two very different things.
I’ve been doing journalism work in one form or another since 1993 — reporting, editing, web work, columns, features, humor, commentary. These days, I do it around a full-time teaching schedule and part-time journalism work because I still believe the craft matters.
This is not a newsletter I update once every few weeks when inspiration strikes. It’s ongoing work: humor columns most weekdays, a Sunday column or essay every week, and constant reading, reporting, editing, and writing behind the scenes.
I also made a deliberate decision to open the archives to everyone. I could paywall years of work. I’d rather people read it.
But if this writing has become part of your routine — if you read the columns regularly, laugh at the jokes, argue with the opinions, or simply appreciate having an independent newspaperman still grinding away at the craft — this is the moment where I need support to catch up with readership.
My immediate goal is to raise about $3,000 to stabilize monthly bills and get through the next stretch without falling further behind.
Paid subscriptions are $12 a month or $120 a year, and I’m still offering 33% off for new subscribers. If subscriptions are not realistic right now, one-time donations help enormously as well.
If you’d like to support the work directly, here are a few ways to do it:
Paid subscriptions: [https://paragraphstacker.substack.com/extracredit]
PayPal: @paragraphstackers
Venmo: @paragraphstacker
CashApp: (I learned today my CashApp account was closed for “suspicious activity, so that avenue is not available.)
Checks can be mailed to:
Daniel P. Finney
1217 24th St.
Apt. 36
Des Moines, IA 50311
I also want to say clearly that this is a request, not an obligation. I know many readers are retired, on fixed incomes, raising families, paying off their own loans, or simply trying to stay afloat themselves. I understand completely. If all you can do is keep reading, sharing the work, or stopping by now and then, I’m grateful for that too.
Writing is about the closest I get to feeling fully like myself. In the personal essays especially, I try to turn difficult experiences into something useful, hopeful, or at least recognizable to somebody else reading along at home.
I’m going to keep writing either way. But if you’ve been meaning to subscribe, donate, or share the work with somebody else, now would help more than usual.
Sincerely,
Daniel P. Finney