Good day. I hope this finds you well.
This post will be pinned at the top of my Substack for a while, so you can view it anytime without worrying about it being buried somewhere.
I figured since this coming Sunday I will be posting about Book 12 of the Iliad, which marks the halfway point for the poem, I would write about the current state of my Substack and about my future plans.
This post will be divided up into the following sections.
1 — The current pace of my Substack
2 — My plans for the works I write about
3 — My plans for monetization
4 — Other potential projects that may or may not materialize
1 — The current pace of my Substack
If you are someone who thinks that posting once a week is a rather slow pace, I agree with you. I would like to be able to post twice, or even three times, a week. However, there were and are multiple factors that go into why I am going at such a slow pace.
I work. I have my own obligations at home. I have activities I enjoy doing outside of reading and blogging.
In the beginning, I had a lot to setup, plus a lot to learn, for blogging, social media, and the like. I still have more to learn, but it is not as chaotic as it was before.
I have gotten into something of a rhythm now, but that will change once work picks up for me at the end of August. Then, I will have to see what kind of rhythm I can maintain between work and this blog. I didn’t want to promise posting twice or three times a week only to get overwhelmed with both work and the blog and have to break my promise.
I didn’t want to promise making posts twice or three times a week because of the works I will be covering in the future. The Iliad and the Odyssey are easy for me because I have read both multiple times before. However, when I get to authors like Hippocrates, Plato, Aristotle, Euclid, and beyond, they will not be so easy to cover (even if I have read them once or more in the past). I may have to spend an entire week on one of their works or one portion of their works in order to reach an understanding with them. As I’ve stated elsewhere, most of these works I’ve never read. I’m on a journey to learn and understand them. Science, math, and the more esoteric aspects of philosophy are not my strong suits. They will require extra work for me, especially in the beginning.
I did a lot of work on the Iliad, some work on the Odyssey, and some work on the ancient Greek plays before starting my blog. I don’t know how much extra time I will need once I get to works I have written no notes or summaries for, much less works I have never read before.
Quite frankly, I didn’t know how well my motivation and mental stamina would hold up even posting once a week. Currently, writing the posts I write take a lot of mental energy out of me. I’m always left tired after writing. Hopefully, I’ll build up my stamina over time, but who knows? Also, I have tried and failed multiple times to read through the books list and get something like this blog off the ground—mostly because I lacked the motivation and confidence. However, I’m in a group now that has been instrumental in keeping me motivated to work this blog out and make it successful.
Having said all of that, I wanted to let you all know that, as of writing this, I have finished blog posts up to Book 21 of the Iliad and have notes for Book 22. I plan on finishing posts for all 24 Books by the end of this week and I plan on finishing my final essay on the Iliad by the end of next week.
As a result, after my post on Book 12 goes live this Sunday, August 21, I will be posting twice a week until the end of the Iliad. On top of posting Sunday at 3am PST, I will also be posting Wednesday at 3am PST. This is what the temporary posting schedule will look like:
8/21 – Book 12 post
8/24 – Book 13 post
8/28 – Book 14 post
8/31 – Book 15 post
9/4 – Book 16 post
9/7 – Book 17 post
9/11 – Book 18 post
9/14 – Book 19 post
9/18 – Book 20 post
9/21 – Book 21 post
9/25 – Book 22 post
9/28 – Book 23 post
10/2 – Book 24 post
10/9 – Final Essay on the Iliad (I’m waiting a week before posting this for extra time to edit)
After that, I will go back to once a week unless I feel comfortable keeping the pace. Who knows, by this time I may have all my posts for the Odyssey written?
2 — My plans for the works I write about
This is the basic plan for all the works I write about:
Write a post about each section of a work, or the whole work if it’s short like an essay, play, poem, etc.
Write a final essay either about the work (like the Iliad), a group of works (like the Oresteia, a trilogy by Aeschylus), or all works of a particular author (if all that author has are shorter works)
Record an audio version of the final essay
Edit and compile all the posts (and perhaps supplemental materials) I made into ebooks which can be purchased. I could have ebooks on individual works or groups of works and I may compile all of those into one ebook. For example, I could have an ebook on the Iliad, one on the Odyssey, and then one on Homer which are the two ebooks put together (perhaps with bonus content?).
These ebooks could be very different from my posts. I may heavily edit these posts, as well as any supplemental material I may add to the ebook. This could include adding or removing sections as I see fit.
These plans could change at any time, but that’s the current goal I am aiming for.
3 — My plans for monetization
First of all, I want to make this very clear: I will not hide posts about the works on my books list behind a paywall. Ever. The only exception would be if I do sneak peeks of some kind—like how content creators may say “Subscribe and see x one week before everyone else.” However, the sneak peeks I would do won’t be anything substantial (see below).
Having said that, by the time this post reaches you, my Substack will be setup for paid subscriptions, my Locals will have monetization (should it become a viable platform for me), and I will have a SubscribeStar account. Go here for that information, plus where you can find me on social media.
Right now, I have ideas on what kind of extra content I could put out for those that get a paid subscription to my Substack, but I won’t be implementing anything in the near future.
That means that, for now, any money you give will be more of an encouragement to keep working than a subscription with access to unique content. Or, perhaps, a gesture of faith that I will get to the plans I will list below.
For paid subscriber content, I have come up with the following ideas:
My raw notes on a post that will come out a few days before the post. This would be the “sneak peek” I wrote about above. Only a fraction of what I take notes on make it to the post I write. This means you will get to see everything that stuck out to me, my raw reactions to what I’m reading before I sit down and think deeper about them, and questions that I wrestle with that do not make it to the post. You will see the good, the bad, and the ugly of my thought processes.
Writing reviews on classic works that are not in my books list. For example: the works of Hesiod. They would not be of the same depth as my posts on the works in my books list, but I would intend on giving the reader an idea about what the work is about and what interested me about it.
Writing reviews on spurious works. For example: there are works in the corpus of writings of Hippocrates, Plato, and Aristotle whose authorship is either doubted or without question not by that author. Again, nothing too in depth, but enough to give you an idea of what it’s about and my thoughts.
Writing reviews on modern (and some classic) books about the works in the books list or their history and culture. For example: Mythology by Thomas Bulfinch (otherwise known as Bulfinch’s Mythology) or a book by Edith Hamilton. Again, nothing too in depth.
Reviews on any other books I’m reading. It would go back and forth whether I would put these behind a paywall. If I’m writing a review for someone to get the word out about it, I obvious won’t restrict its access. However, if I’m reading a book on conservative or libertarian politics, a book about Christianity or religion in general, or perhaps a current year controversial topic, I may put those behind paywalls. It would depend on the audience I build. I may not do this at all.
I may do all of these ideas or perhaps only one. I won’t know until I get into a better rhythm with creating content for this blog, as well as balancing it with my work schedule when it picks up again.
4 — Other potential projects that may or may not happen
I have one project in mind that I may or may not finish (or, if I do finish, I may decide not to share it with the public). That project would be to do a thorough reading of How to Read a Book by Mortimer Adler. After that, I would thoroughly read his revised edition of How to Read a Book. Lastly, I would combine what I read from both editions and come up with a “master reading plan” of some kind. Perhaps some sort of curriculum for teaching people how to read (by Adler’s standards, that is).
This would be a project that would be months, perhaps over a year, in the making. I don’t know if I would be able to finish something like this, but my plan is to chip away at it little by little and see what comes out as a result.
Other projects I’ve brainstormed:
Going through Jordan Peterson’s reading list (the readings not in my books list)
Going through all the books in the Mises Institute bookstore, particularly those that are free to download
Streaming of some kind—to discuss books, hangout with others, maybe even play a video game?
This is all up in the air. At the end of the day, my effort toward getting through the books list is top priority, and if I have to stick strictly to that in order to go through it, then I will.
That’s all for the State of Wends of Change.
May your days be filled with grace.
-Andronikos