Continuing on the Trend Mill

The publication is a whole quarter old!

Hey Trend Mill readers,

I noticed last week that the newsletter has lived through its first quarter, so I’ve decided to implement something new — quarterly reflections. I hope they’ll give you more insight into me, the publication, and the future. Today’s edition will reflect on the journey so far, appreciate you, and look ahead.

I’ll also ask you a few questions as I go along, and if you have the time to respond, I’d love you to leave a comment below or email me at Stephen@sjmblog.com. 

I started Trend Mill in early March because I was a little disillusioned with Medium. So, I took a column I had written for a business publication on the platform (RIP Marker) and relaunched it here with a piece called Social Media Has Entered Its Death Spiral. I thought it was a great way to showcase what Trend Mill is about; sometimes informative, but always sassy. It’s still one of my most-read editions, so I guess it did the trick in announcing this newsletter. Thank you, thank you, thank you. The reception to that piece gave me the confidence to give this project a proper shot, and it comforted me to know that there are many other tech-cynical people out there who want to share in the misery with me—sending you a digital group hug. 

Since then, I’ve surprised myself — I’ve actually stuck to the twice-weekly cadence! I’ve always been a spontaneous writer who writes only when the lightbulb moment of inspiration strikes. The challenge of writing to a strict schedule of Monday to Thursday was daunting. But, to this point, I’ve delivered. Life does get in the way now and then, so apologies when one of these newsletters appears in your inbox late at night. Perhaps this is the first question to you all — does the exact date of publishing matter? If you sign up for a newsletter that promises to appear on Monday and Thursday but arrives on Tuesday or Friday, does that annoy you? I get caught in two minds about pushing it out late at night or calling it quits and publishing the day after at a more reasonable time. 

Trend Mill’s readership now stands at over 1,500, and it seems to be growing finally. I've dealt with a high percentage of churn over the first few months, essentially losing a sub for every sub I've gained. I think *fingers crossed* that I’m over that hill now. I hope to push that figure closer to 2,000 over the next quarter. As for paid subs, I have one paid subscriber (Hey you! It means the absolute world.) I'm still figuring out my paid offering besides the standard, “If you want to support me, upgrade.” Though seriously, if you want to support me, you can upgrade here. For now, that’s the best I’ve got (and I’ll send you a copy of my book on editing, which is currently around 50% finished.) 

In truth, I’m still figuring out this platform a little. Especially with how to balance the Notes function alongside my writing. After a recent call with Linda @ Substack, I’ve decided to approach Notes more like my Twitter feed, offering shorter snippets of thoughts/opinions and also engaging with fellow writers and, of course, my readers. So I’d love to engage with you all over there. 

But that brings me to my second question—If I started a subscriber-only chat (for both paid and free), would that bring you value? 

In my head, it can be a space to get to know each other more personally, a space to reflect and discuss my latest post, and a space to let me know what works, what doesn’t or even what I should cover next. I could open it every Wednesday, possibly with a question or prompt, and we’d go from there. It’s all good and well sending this out twice a week, but it would be super cool to get to know you all on some level more than being “my email list.” 

I don’t want to bore you, so I’ll wrap up this waffling. All this means to say is that I’m pretty happy. I’ve written some good stuff, and I’ve written a few duds. I’m still getting 100% clear on what lanes I want to stay within and what topics to dive deep into. But for now, Trend Mill is up and running, and most importantly, I’m solidifying the habit of publishing twice a week and even having fun doing it (sometimes).

That brings me to my final question — what was your favorite Trend Mill edition, and why? 

Since the debut of Trend Mill, we’ve already many so-called ‘next best things’ fall away. We’ve seen Bitcoin suffer, NFTs crash, and the Metaverse implode. Now we’re amid an avalanche of generative A.I. grifting. Trends come and go, quicker these days than ever, and Trend Mill will continue to be there to document it all.

If you’ve subscribed, read anything, commented, shared or restacked me, from the bottom of my heart, thank you.

I appreciate every one of you. 

Stephen.