Hello fellow journalologists,

On Sunday some of you will receive the Journalology newsletter for the last time.

Let me explain.

Starting next week (i.e. in ~10 days’ time) there will be two versions of this newsletter:

1. A paid newsletter (called Journalology) that follows a similar format to what you’ve been receiving up until now, containing links to all the news and opinion alongside my thoughts on what the stories mean (JB: you know, commentary like this).
2. A free newsletter (called The Jist) that contains a short selection of 3-5 headlines, but no analysis from me, to give you the gist of the major news in scholarly publishing. You’ll receive The Jist by default if you decide not to pay for the full-length, premium version of Journalology.

Why the change?

I started the Journalology newsletter back in August 2022 as a way of sharing my thoughts about trends in scholarly publishing. It was a passion project, a hobby even, that morphed into something else over time.

I earn my living as a self-employed publishing consultant and coach. The newsletter has helped me to build a personal brand, but it’s also become a significant opportunity cost as it’s time consuming to create.

Writing the newsletter is enjoyable and rewarding, but with two kids to feed and a mortgage to pay I reluctantly came to the conclusion that I need to take Journalology in a different direction.

A work in progress

My goal is to create a premium subscription product that will:

• Save you time by collating the news in one place in an engaging format
• Help you to impress your boss with your industry knowledge (job interviews will be a breeze)
• Allow you to identify opportunities and threats for your journal or portfolio

The newsletter will be the core part of that offering, but I will trial some additional features in the months to come too.

I see this as an experiment, which may or may not work. If only a handful of you subscribe to the paid version then it’s possible that both the paid and free newsletters (Journalology and The Jist) will disappear in the fullness of time. Or maybe they will morph into something else entirely. We shall see.

Next steps

I’ll send you an email early next week with details of how to get access to the paid Journalology newsletter for the next 3 months (I’ll offer yearly subscriptions further down the line if there’s enough demand).

Alternatively, if you’re happy to receive just the main headlines via The Jist then you don’t need to do anything. (Short) emails will arrive in your inbox as usual and no money will exchange hands. You can, of course, unsubscribe at any time using the link at the bottom of the email.

I’m sending you this message with a certain degree of trepidation. This isn’t a decision I’ve taken lightly. I hope you’ve found the newsletter to be useful in the past and have got some value from it. Thank you in advance for your support and understanding.

If you have any questions, just hit reply to this email and I’ll do my best to respond.

James