Let's Talk About Advertisements (and Guest Writers)

The short version:

• I’m trying to make the newsletter more sustainable for me. The first step was to get more people to subscribe, which the sweepstakes helped with. The next step is to bring in guest writers.
• To do that, I need to pay them. So Now I Know needs to make more money.
• A decent way to do that is to run ads.
• You’ll find out about those advertisers through separate emails that are specifically about the contest.

That last bullet is the new thing. I’ve run ads before -- all the time, in fact. And that will still happen. But no more than once a month, you'll be getting an email from me that shares an offer from an advertiser -- and it won't be the typical day's Now I Know. It's called a “dedicated” email — basically, an email that is only about the service being offered. On those days, you'll get two emails from me: the regular Now I Know and the dedicated advertiser email.
 

The FAQ and longer version:

The Now I Know Week in Review

Monday: The Derogatory Term in Your Junk Drawer. Ready for an embarrassing story? Great!

This wasn't a re-run. On Sunday and into Monday, I did what I always do: I wrote the newsletter, reading all sorts of articles to help tell the story. I had this one ready to go and then wanted to check something -- I had, previously, said that the phrase "got off scot free" had nothing to do with being Scottish. So I went to find that article -- and I found one titled: "The Casual Slur in Your Utility Drawer." I had no recollection whatsoever of writing it, even though I wrote that in July 2019, which isn't that long ago. It's the same story -- and almost the same headline! -- but written entirely independently, my subconscious self notwithstanding.  

Tuesday: An Initial Reaction to Disaster Relief?: A few years ago, I wrote a full Now I Know story about the bonus item (Tim Duncan losing his pool to a hurricane and becoming a Hall of Fame basketball player as a result) -- and never sent it. In fact, I deleted it instead. I wrote it, re-wrote it, and re-wrote it again, but all three times, I kept making it sound like the silver lining of Tim Duncan playing basketball somehow counterbalanced the devestating loss from the hurricane. 

Wednesday: The Internet's Hidden Teapot: It's short and stout, I guess?

Thursday: Why You Shouldn’t Hold in a Sneeze: It'll come out eventually, even if it has to make its own escape.

And some other things you should check out: