Update for All You Need to Freelance

Some bittersweet news!

Hi and happy Monday!

I have some bittersweet news today. It feels wild to say this, but I’ll be pumping the brakes on this newsletter. Let me tell you why.

Why I’m Pulling Back From This Newsletter

The past few weeks, especially, I’ve noticed I have less time (and honestly, desire) to do my work for this newsletter. That’s for several reasons:

• I’ve had some annoyances with credit card companies / the money part. Long story short, there’s been some confusion and credit card charges from subscribers’ companies (when they forget they have a paid subscription and change their mind later, I think!) and I’m charged $15 per dispute, which adds up and takes time for me to handle. A customer service person at Stripe suggested checking the platform regularly for “early fraud detection warnings” and messaging people, but again, that’s time and effort (and the chance it won’t help). More on that here.

• I haven’t had as much growth as I’d like. Roughly, I think I gain and lose about the same amount of total subscribers per month, and the amount of money I make from the paid subscriptions is stagnant (and perhaps too low to be worth it).

• I’m getting more journalism gigs and am in graduate school to become a therapist. In other words, I’m moving on! I have less time for work like this that isn’t propelling me forward or centered on what I want for my career right now and in the future.

• This newsletter feels like an old chapter. To continue on the point above, I just keep thinking about how I feel like this newsletter is a part of my writing past, not my writing present/future. It’s a gut feeling sort-of-thing I can’t ignore.

What You Can Expect From This Newsletter Moving Forward / How This Will Affect You

• To be clear, I am not going to stop sending newsletters here entirely. Every now and then (I can’t be more specific at the moment because I’m still thinking it all through!), I’ll probably share some things. If there’s anything in particular you’d like to see, let me know!

• I’m putting a pause on paid subscriptions, so subscribers who pay monthly won’t be charged in the coming months. You do not need to unsubscribe or anything like that to avoid the monthly charge.

• Annual subscribers should get prorated refunds through Stripe. If this doesn’t happen for a hot minute, please email me (ashleybroadwater346@gmail.com) first and I can try to get an answer for you!

Where to Find the Content I Usually Share Here

Another piece I want to be clear on: I still want to help other writers grow! I still offer resources and coaching/consulting, for example (more info here). I still want to share helpful links I come across, paid pitch calls, etc. Other than occasional emails from this newsletter—which again, I don’t know what that looks like yet—you’ll see those things on my Twitter page. (And my Twitter account is public, so you don’t need an account to see those tweets and retweets!)

Thanks for understanding, y’all! Again, this isn’t goodbye forever, just for now.

All my best,

Ashley