Not really. It’s the beginning.
Sorry that was clickbait-y, but a serious note ahead. I want to tell you all that I’ve had a lot of fun writing the site again over the past few months. One silver lining of the pandemic has been a clarity of sorts with what I want to be doing with my time. It’s also helped me start to move on some ideas that I’ve had floating around my head for a while.
As I’ve thought about what I am doing with ACL recently I haven’t been totally sure what direction to take it. It’s been really nice to be a one-man-band and be free of the idea that this is going to be some big media company. I’ve realized though that the one issue with a blog format is that I’m not a single man in his 20s/30s with endless amounts of free time to update a site. I can’t manage a publishing format that can absorb (and encourages) endless amounts of editorial content. But I do have things I want to say and some perspective that I think is valuable. So I’ve made the decision to move to a newsletter format going forward.
I had been thinking about starting a newsletter for a while and in May I set up a Substack account after a little flurry of inspiration. I had it all ready to go but didn’t write anything because I wasn’t sure if splitting things up between that newsletter and this site was the right move. Then last week, unbeknownst to me, Inside Hook included my newsletter in a story they did and my Substack started to get subscribers — even paying subscribers. The funny thing was, I had yet to post anything there. Sometimes no decision is a decision. With that in mind, I spent time this week working on a story and sent out my first newsletter this past Saturday about the situation facing J.Crew. F/ck it, we’ll do it live!
Since I haven’t been exactly prolific over the past few years, and now that I have two places to write, this is what I am planning to do going forward. I will be posting every Wednesday and Saturday over at acontinuouslean.substack.com without fail. This might get adjusted depending on usability for readers and how things generally go. If there’s a better schedule or I have more things to say then I will change things around accordingly. Most of what I write in the newsletter will be subscriber-only content. It gives me a way to focus on a very specific group of readers and also releases me from having to deal with any business stuff for the site. No sponsored posts, no ads, and no bullsh/t. I see this as an opportunity to do something very pure and I hope the people who read and subscribe will feel the same way. In addition to the newsletter, I’ve also done some podcasts with interesting people that I will have hosted at Substack with the newsletter.
So what does that mean for ACL? I’m going to continue to share more photo or media-driven stories though this site. The archive will remain and the current layout will stay largely as-is. Thought I have been thinking that I should strip this thing down a bit and simplify things. That’s my plan, in time. Any new stories that are posted here will be linked from the newsletter, so if you subscribe there you will get it all. Some stuff will be cross-posted from the newsletter to here. It should be fun and it will definitely mean I will be writing much more regularly. If you get the current ACL emails you might also consider signing up at acontinuouslean.substack.com if you want to see the newsletter content too.
Over the past few months, I’ve received so many great emails, tweets and DMs about ACL coming back to life and I can’t thank you all enough. It means so much to hear people tell me about how over the years the site helped shape their personal style, how they buy clothes, or how it impacted their outlook on things. It has absolutely been just as rewarding for me too. Thank you all for all of your support. -Michael
TLDR: I started a newsletter but will still update ACL. Your subscription and support are appreciated.