Hi,
Look, I get it. When I get these kinds of pitches, I feel like the blind guy after being given a piece of matzoh: “Who writes this stuff?”
The good news is that, as with my forthcoming book The Amish Guide to Computer Programming, I’m going to keep it short—because I don’t want to waste your time. In fact, not wasting your time is a big part of our mission here.
My dad was an editor, and he always told me that every sentence should either be good or important. If it’s important, the reader will recognize it. If it’s good, the reader won’t mind if it’s not important. If it’s neither: Get rid of it. Obviously, this is an impossible ideal, but that’s why we call them ideals. They’re something to strive for.
And that’s what we strive for, everyday: to tell you—through reporting and analysis—what we think is important enough to warrant some of your precious time. And, if it’s not the most important, must-know information (I’m looking at you, G-File), we want everything else we send you to be insightful, enjoyable, or interesting enough that you don’t regret the time you spent reading (or listening to) it.
Our first year has been a great success and Steve Hayes has a three-hour PowerPoint presentation he can show you to prove it. You may have heard about our partner Substack. It’s a great company and they’ve been in the news a lot. It’s changing the way people get journalism – and for the better. Well, we’ve been atop the Substack “leaderboard”–a ranking of top individuals and outlets on the platform–basically since we launched.
I’ll forgo more chest thumping and skip to the more important point: We couldn’t have done it without our members. The demand for sane, serious, right-of-center reporting and analysis was greater than we anticipated and the demand is only growing. We want to meet that demand, as much as possible, and stay ahead of everybody emulating our model.
If even half the people who subscribe to our free newsletters converted to paid members, it would be transformative. Not only could we do things tomorrow that we plan on doing three years out, the story of The Dispatch and what it represents would send shockwaves across the political, business, and media landscape. Steve and I launched The Dispatch to do something important and with your help, success is virtually guaranteed.
But that’s not the main reason I think you should take the plunge. I think you should hop aboard our pirate skiff because I think it’s good. I think we’re offering value. Obviously, if you’re struggling during these rough times, that’s one thing. But at $10 a month, we cost less than a single burger at Chili’s. Don’t get me wrong, Chili’s makes a good burger. But getting all we offer for about three dimes and three pennies a day strikes me as a bargain.
I know I said we want to provide stuff that’s either good or important. And we do. But, the truth is I think what we’re providing is both.
Please consider joining. Of course, you can cancel at any time and we’ll provide a refund. But I sincerely think you won’t want to. Thank you for your time.
Please note that we at The Dispatch hold ourselves, our work, and our commenters to a higher standard than other places on the internet. We welcome comments that foster genuine debate or discussion—including comments critical of us or our work—but responses that include ad hominem attacks on fellow Dispatch members or are intended to stoke fear and anger may be moderated.