Bidwell Hollow is Growing: What You Need to Know

Bidwell Hollow started in January 2018 as a replacement for The Writer's Almanac.

The original format for this blog was to publish daily stories about notable authors and poets on their birthdays. When that became too much work for one person to handle, Bidwell Hollow shifted to three stories per week.

Then The Writer's Almanac came back. Bidwell Hollow stopped publishing new content.

I didn't want to provide a copy of an existing, more-established player in online media. Plus, Bidwell Hollow took hours of my time each week and, because it made no money, was a volunteer project.

After lying dormant for a few months, I brought Bidwell Hollow back. This time I published author and poet interviews. Next, I added a weekly curated list of book lists.

And now it's time for the next chapter in Bidwell Hollow.

Bidwell Hollow returns to its roots

After Bidwell Hollow stopped publishing stories about authors and poets, some subscribers emailed to say they were disappointed.

And a few months ago, I surveyed Bidwell Hollow subscribers. I asked them what they'd like to read.

Nearly every subscriber said they wanted to read author and poet interviews. But most subscribers also said they missed the author and poet stories that Bidwell Hollow used to publish.

My reasons for no longer publishing those stories hadn't changed:

• They were a lot of work.

• I didn't want to publish a duplicate version of the content that was already available.

• I received no compensation for my time and effort.

But something did change. There's a new service that solves most of the challenges I had with the old Bidwell Hollow.

Bidwell Hollow moves to Substack

On Nov. 18, 2019, Bidwell Hollow is moving to Substack. Substack is an online tool that makes it easy to publish an email newsletter.

Right now, the behind-the-scenes maintenance of Bidwell Hollow takes time. With Substack, most of this work is off my plate. This removal of tasks frees me up to focus on providing more content to Bidwell Hollow subscribers.

Plus, Substack allows me to charge for some of the content that I publish. (More on that below.)

In other words, Substack answers for two of the three reasons I stopped publishing author and poet stories.

And that's why, starting on Nov. 18, 2019, Bidwell Hollow will:

• Resume publishing author and poet stories, twice weekly.

• Move to Substack.

• Continue publishing weekly author and poet interviews, as well as a weekly curated booklist post.

Bidwell Hollow subscribers, as of Nov. 17, 2019, don't have to do a thing. If that's you, stay subscribed, and you'll begin receiving the new Bidwell Hollow in your email inbox on Nov. 18.

If you're not a Bidwell Hollow subscriber, you can be by entering your email below.

The new Bidwell Hollow will publish four times a week.

You can see this weekly schedule and learn more about what to expect from Bidwell Hollow here.

Bidwell Hollow will not publish the week of Nov. 10, 2019, in order to make the transition to Substack. But new posts will arrive in subscribers' email inboxes on the morning of Nov. 18, 2019.

Did you say you're going to charge money?

One of the things Substack allows publishers like me to do is provide some content for free and some content to paid subscribers.

It takes hours of research, writing, and editing to provide author and poet stories. That's too much time to devote to a volunteer effort.

But many Bidwell Hollow readers said they want to read those stories. If that's you, starting in February I'm asking you to pay $5 a month, or $50 a year, for those stories.

Until Feb. 10, 2020, you don't have to pay a dime. This gives you a chance to see what I'm publishing and decide if you like it enough to pay for it.

And if you do like the twice-weekly author and poet stories, it will cost you a cup or two of coffee a month. That's it.

Author and poet interviews will remain free, as will the weekly curated booklist posts.

Thanks for your ongoing support of Bidwell Hollow. I'm excited to begin this new chapter with you.

If you have any questions or comments, please email me at nick at bidwellhollow dot com.