Thank You, and Hang On!

A note from your trepidatious editor to our generous supporters and readers

Well, The Mudsill launches in three days. I am nervous.

I’m also very happy to be in the position to pay others for their work, and it’s your generosity that has made this possible.

Right now, our little venture has eighteen paying subscribers, including two sponsor-tier supporters (well over $50 per year), eight annual subscribers, and eight monthly subscribers. This means that we have about $98 per month coming in to pay our contributors. That’s not bad for a subscription-based magazine that hasn’t even published its first issue!

Until we get enough subscribers to be self-sustaining, I can cover the difference with my income from writing for ArcDigital. Speaking of which…I commend ArcDigital to you as a publication that makes space for spirited engagement on issues of public interest from a broad range of viewpoints. I often don’t agree with my fellow contributors—never mind the occasional alarming commenter—but I am pleased that our bylines all show up there cheek by jowl, centrist by conservative, liberal by libertarian.

The Mudsill cannot and will not be the next ArcDigital, or the next The Awl, or the next anything. The Mudsill, as befits its name, is a humble venture, with a different set of goals than many other outlets. Each issue will be very deliberate about presenting a balance of creative work alongside cultural criticism, historical context alongside personal reflection. Context. Comment. Craft. Critique. We will have something from those categories in every number.

I envision The Mudsill as the digital version of the little magazines that I used to send submissions to in the 1980s, when I would go down to the county library and find that year’s Writer’s Digest market guide and look for an outlet where I thought I might have a shot. Sometimes I did have a shot, and I got a poem published here or there. Most of the time I was firing far beyond my range. But at least I had a place to aim for.

I want The Mudsill to be a place that gives writers a shot and a decent outlet for clips they would be proud to share as part of their growing portfolio. We won’t be able to publish every submission, but we’ll be able to pay for every submission we publish. I hope that commitment will draw as many readers as it does writers.

Please invite your friends to subscribe, or just to sign up for the free emails. It’s nice to get something a little different in your inbox once in a while.

The Mudsill is something different.

It is a small magazine, yet there are those who will love it.