Dear Friends,
Happy new year 2021!
— and good luck for all of your resolutions. One of mine is to simplify my life; not very original, I’m afraid, but necessary all the same. And one of the things that has to go is … my newsletter.
I’ve enjoyed keeping in touch with everyone over the last five years, and I’ve especially enjoyed all the e-mails I’ve received from old friends who were prompted to write after receiving one of my newsletters. I started the newsletter because many friends and colleagues asked me to e-mail them when I published articles, and it only made sense to e-mail everyone at the same time. But out of 1050 confirmed subscribers, only around 300-400 actually open each newsletter, and fewer than 100 ever click on any of the links to the articles themselves. When I offered a more intensive paid newsletter featuring original analyses, only 5 people signed up.
I sincerely appreciate all the interest that so many of you have shown in reading my work, but it’s a lot of work to do for such a small audience. I have, however, consolidated nearly all of my online writing in a regular column for Foreign Policy magazine; you can find me there at:
If you’d like to follow my online international affairs writing, from now on you’ll be able to find almost all of it at Foreign Policy. And for my Australian writing, in 2021 I’ll be contributing a fortnightly column to The Australian newspaper!
I’m also writing a monthly front-of-book essay for Quadrant magazine under the moniker “The Philistine.” If you’re in Australia, you can pick it up at most newsstands. I’ve really enjoyed writing these essays, and I heartily recommend Quadrant. If you’re in Australia and haven’t read it in a long time, check it out. It’s very much worth another look.
Thanks everyone for subscribing, and again please do accept my apologies for canceling (or at least suspending) my newsletter. I’ll keep this mailing list active, and if anything changes with my life plans, you may hear from me again. Until then, take care, and have a happy new year!
Yours,
Salvatore