So. I have been teasing for the past several days that I am developing some changes here at That’s Another Fine Mess. Now is the time to bring them up. First, nothing is going to happen until August 1, to give everyone time to think about what they like about That’s Another Fine Mess and how the changes affect their liking.
I enjoy your work and your perspective, and I’ve got no complaints about the quality or the substance of what you provide. For context, I also read Kareem, Joyce Vance, Heather Cox Richardson and Lucian Truscott; you are very comfortably in their league. I find your more personal stuff very engaging, most especially when it connects with your professional experiences and interests. I admire your willingness to look hard at your work and hope that you don’t judge it too harshly; I sure don’t. Good luck!
Dear Tom, You take us in. You have different voices depending on the subject and support ours. You are generous beyond my imagining. We are together in Thats Another Fine Mess as a pow-wow; a chorus; a rant; a townhall-meeting and in intimately, personal exchanges. Your ideas for the future sound as though there will be more opportunities to stretch our minds and know one another in new ways. Thank you for advancing how we may communicate and your place in it.
I for one, really like your take on the current political situation and your insight into how our history has impacted it. I also love the cats. ☺️ 7.00 is a Starbucks coffee. If people enjoy your hard work, I hope they budget that.
I'm good with your plan. I get more bile and steam coming off your posts than I get from NYT and WaPo, so price point not an issue. I'm really staying because you make me unsettled and I like who you are because it gives feet to what you have to say, whether it's about politics, flying, cats, movies, or the pain of living and dying. You have a lot to offer, TC, I'd miss your explosions on my Substack.
Well darn. I just erased my comment! I am not sure if I subscribe monthly or by the year, but I am in. I agree with the commenter who expressed appreciation for your words regarding our political mess. It helps me to deal better with my own feelings when you wrap them in your words and keeps me from screaming at the walls and terrifying my cats. Speaking of, your Caturdays are a delightful respite. Please keep TAFM going! Thanks!
I like the idea of photos of your models. You could even clump them by whatever categories align with specific favorite stories you want to tell about them, making them, or the original airplanes. I like the idea of showing more of the older photos you found in a box, too, and was looking forward to those.
One of the first things I noticed when I dipped my toes and nose in after seeing whatever I saw on Mr. Hubble's substack that lured me over was that it seemed to be a community. There were familiar voices (some from Hubble but some just familiar day after day on here) and names, and I lurked silently, made reticent by what might have been interpreted as a closed in addition to close community. I was lured out of hiding by one of your personal articles. I believe reaching out from behind the authorial wall opens an opportunity for others to share experiences that allow bonding. I think the community is a big part of the draw.
Still, of all the articles you do, my very favorite are the ones where you go into a subject in depth and analyze and educate. I get a thrill every time I learn even one new thing or am handed a new way of looking at something or a possible way of interpreting an event or response. I notice that you don't flame quite as hotly in those perhaps because you have slipped into your professorial mode, but those are the richest, most rewarding, and probably require the most effort to produce. Please keep a few of those in a month... or at least one (as the opportunity arises)!
When absolutely ridiculous events cause you to splutter with outrage and verbally tear your hair it amuses me. I get a wicked laugh because although that's not my style I can feel every bit that infuriated and it's cathartic - as if you're venting for me. I noticed there is sometimes a push back from some folks however, so in order to allow space for those who experience it as if walking into a sand storm, I'd suggest that if you've slammed your coffee mug down hard enough to spill coffee, or realize the growling isn't one of the cats, you might stretch and look out the window a few moments before maybe, just maybe removing or fine tuning a bit of the heat from deep char to perfectly seared.
I totally get what you're saying, but I LIKE when folks are inspired to push back a little. and, as I've said many times, Tom, when you get up a full head of steam, I usually feel like the result is ELOQUENCE.
well gee...and to think I've been feeling a little guilty about staying on a month-to-month subscription!
and now, it turns out to be the right thing. I thought it read as a lack of commitment. so the joke's on me.
some Substacks have turned me off to the idea of subscribing because pretty much ALL of their stuff is paywalled. and some writers actually give you a few paragraphs and to get the rest of the story, you gotta pay. I suppose my best reason for doing the month-to-month thing is that it gives me the freedom to sample other newsletters to see if they're actually worth keeping. this in no way applies to TAFM, which is a keeper. I feel like I have FRIENDS here. all the skipped days in June didn't so much irritate me as throw me into a state I can only describe as intellectual withdrawal symptoms.
since I tend to ask you lot of those "what are your favorite (fill in the blank)?"
which is a roundabout way of saying that I'm good with whatever you decide to do.
When a popup says it's a subscription and I'm not a subscriber but want to read the post, I simply click on No Thank You and then Keep Reading. Works every time for me.
However, what irritates me and puts me off adding additional Substack writers is that there is nothing to tell me how much the subscription will be; for me, that's a disincentive since I do need to keep track of how much is going out each month or year for subscriptions. Why isn't there anything on the page asking one to subscribe with information about the cost? Seems to me there was for the ones I currently subscribe to.
I’m definitely in! You are worth every monthly penny! Also, I ordered your book “Going Downtown” from Amazon for my husband. It arrived today. Woot! Woot!
TC, I very much enjoy your work. It NEVER occurred to me to drop my subscription to your Substack. You are one of my daily reads. When posts like Airplane Porn pop up, I appreciate that you are sharing a personal passion with deep historical knowledge. I love the pithy way you describe our political landscape, and every one of those weasels deserve the vivid descriptions. Thanks for helping me stay a little bit sane.
I just re-upped my annual subscription, but I'll change the info in Substack so the next renewal will be monthly. As many of us do, I read LFAA, Today's Edition, and Kareem along with TAFM and wouldn't consider dropping any of them. Between the current events commentary, the history, and the cats, this is my first read almost every day. The three history books I've read are a bonus.
For balance, I have TMD and The Bulwark, and a pretty fair perspective on our amazingly messed up but incredibly durable country. Keep at it TC, we will win in the end, even if we have to watch from the celestial bleachers.
I first encountered your comments on LFAA. I tended to agree more than disagree with your observations and points so I joined this community. I don’t regret it. I enjoy what you write even when it isn’t something I’d normally seek out.
I must remain a yearly subscriber due to my own budget constraints and in fact I received my annual receipt in late June so I can’t change it now.
I also first encountered you on HCR’s substack. We got into a little “back and forth” one time. I can’t remember what it was about now but I’m sure we were both right. When I saw you had your own Substack I joined then and am so glad I did.
I think you may be thinking about pricing in a counterproductive way. I chose $70 rather than $7 monthly, because it's less expensive. It never would have occurred to me to pay $84 instead of $70. I suppose there may be people who can afford the $7/month but can't put down $70. I have 4 other substack subscriptions that I pay for. One or two are $50; none is more than $70.
People are price sensitive. I suspect you'd get more subscriptions for $65 or $60 than for $70, and I wouldn't be surprised if you'd get fewer if you put everyone on $7/month instead of keeping the $70/year option.
I was on the free list for a number of months (can't remember exactly how many). I would have subscribed faster had I been able to get an annual price for less.
There probably are economists who could give you some solid advice on this.
As for your product, I quite enjoy it. You generally provide somewhat different info and perspective from Heather Cox Richardson and Robert Hubbell, both of whom I subscribe to. I find the way you make fun of the various nefarious characters to be quite humorous, and something most other people wouldn't be able to do without sounding stupid instead of humorous. It lightens the mood.
And the various personal touches, like the cats (the most recent of which--with the photos of the cats in their favorite perches--I sent to a friend for her daughter who has a pair of felines) make reading you seem more personal. It's too bad we don't all live in LA, where we could come and visit you and hear what you have to say in person.
Also, I've found some of the posts about the people you met back when you and some of us were in our youths, and your adventures back then to have been fascinating.
I too chose $70 instead of $7 per month because I prefer saving money where I can, so when my subscription comes due for renewal next May, I'll probably still opt for the annual one.
So often, you are the one who can speak for me, when I can’t find the words. Also, you introduce me to things I didn’t know I was interested in. Thank you.
Same question from me. I love your writing, Tom, and am happy to support in the best way for you. I really like your writing about cats because it brings out your sweet, sensitive side. Conversely, I get a kick out of your colorful rants because you often say what we are thinking but hold ourselves back from saying. And if you ever have to fall back to writing ingredient lists on food product packaging, just let me know which ones. I’ll read those too.
Tom, I usually subscribe for a freebie until I see the writer's posts for a bit, and then I pony up. Substack subscriptions are not expensive, although they can pile up if I take too many. It's good to be able to try before I buy. I have bailed on some after they haven't lived up to their promise (I tried one guy because he seemed to promise a focus on slide guitar, and then devoted several entries to rants about woke stuff. Go figure.)
I enjoy your mix of topics, the personal, cultural and political. I am less interested in airplane porn, but read your accounts of naval battles etc. avidly. When you cite your career in politics, that interests me a lot. Your posts about Jurate's passing and your feral family have touched my heart. I sometimes share the latter with a few cat lovers in my world.
This is a roundabout way of saying that the odd post that doesn't turn my crank is not going to cause me to unsubscribe. You and I are part of the same generation, grew up experiencing many of the same life-changing events; our biggest difference is that I drew a very lucky number in the first draft lottery, and didn't have to deal with Vietnam. Ironically, when the lottery was held, I was in a VW Beetle, traveling from Boston, where I went to university, to San Francisco. I had some clothes, a guitar, stereo, and two cats and their litter box. My travel partner had been bounced from the Navy after telling his skipper that he was experiencing acid flashbacks. For that, he was put in a locked ward at the Chelsea Naval Base Hospital for a month, and then given a general discharge. (The next 6 sailors who tried the same thing were thrown in the brig.)
From San Francisco, I made my way to Vancouver, where I was chasing a girl, and have lived here happily for the past 53 years. The America I knew growing up in New Joisey is unrecognizable to me. I watch with a Canadian perspective now, and feel great sadness at what I see.
You are one of the good guys, Tom, and I am glad to help support you!
I love your story Terry. My first car was a 55 VW Beetle. It had the turn signals that popped up from the side between the front passenger and rear window and blinked. I loved that car. Many trips over the Santa Cruz Mountains in that little bug.
I enjoy your work and your perspective, and I’ve got no complaints about the quality or the substance of what you provide. For context, I also read Kareem, Joyce Vance, Heather Cox Richardson and Lucian Truscott; you are very comfortably in their league. I find your more personal stuff very engaging, most especially when it connects with your professional experiences and interests. I admire your willingness to look hard at your work and hope that you don’t judge it too harshly; I sure don’t. Good luck!
My reads exactly!
Mine also!
What Bill Smith said...keep doing what you do, Tom!
Dear Tom, You take us in. You have different voices depending on the subject and support ours. You are generous beyond my imagining. We are together in Thats Another Fine Mess as a pow-wow; a chorus; a rant; a townhall-meeting and in intimately, personal exchanges. Your ideas for the future sound as though there will be more opportunities to stretch our minds and know one another in new ways. Thank you for advancing how we may communicate and your place in it.
Yup. Fern and David, you both are "exactly" right about Tom.
exactly.
I for one, really like your take on the current political situation and your insight into how our history has impacted it. I also love the cats. ☺️ 7.00 is a Starbucks coffee. If people enjoy your hard work, I hope they budget that.
I'm good with your plan. I get more bile and steam coming off your posts than I get from NYT and WaPo, so price point not an issue. I'm really staying because you make me unsettled and I like who you are because it gives feet to what you have to say, whether it's about politics, flying, cats, movies, or the pain of living and dying. You have a lot to offer, TC, I'd miss your explosions on my Substack.
I always love your political perspective, movies and screenplays, personal stories, airplanes, and so dear to my heart....the kitcats❤️
exactly.
Well darn. I just erased my comment! I am not sure if I subscribe monthly or by the year, but I am in. I agree with the commenter who expressed appreciation for your words regarding our political mess. It helps me to deal better with my own feelings when you wrap them in your words and keeps me from screaming at the walls and terrifying my cats. Speaking of, your Caturdays are a delightful respite. Please keep TAFM going! Thanks!
Best not to scare the felines
exactly.
I like the idea of photos of your models. You could even clump them by whatever categories align with specific favorite stories you want to tell about them, making them, or the original airplanes. I like the idea of showing more of the older photos you found in a box, too, and was looking forward to those.
One of the first things I noticed when I dipped my toes and nose in after seeing whatever I saw on Mr. Hubble's substack that lured me over was that it seemed to be a community. There were familiar voices (some from Hubble but some just familiar day after day on here) and names, and I lurked silently, made reticent by what might have been interpreted as a closed in addition to close community. I was lured out of hiding by one of your personal articles. I believe reaching out from behind the authorial wall opens an opportunity for others to share experiences that allow bonding. I think the community is a big part of the draw.
Still, of all the articles you do, my very favorite are the ones where you go into a subject in depth and analyze and educate. I get a thrill every time I learn even one new thing or am handed a new way of looking at something or a possible way of interpreting an event or response. I notice that you don't flame quite as hotly in those perhaps because you have slipped into your professorial mode, but those are the richest, most rewarding, and probably require the most effort to produce. Please keep a few of those in a month... or at least one (as the opportunity arises)!
When absolutely ridiculous events cause you to splutter with outrage and verbally tear your hair it amuses me. I get a wicked laugh because although that's not my style I can feel every bit that infuriated and it's cathartic - as if you're venting for me. I noticed there is sometimes a push back from some folks however, so in order to allow space for those who experience it as if walking into a sand storm, I'd suggest that if you've slammed your coffee mug down hard enough to spill coffee, or realize the growling isn't one of the cats, you might stretch and look out the window a few moments before maybe, just maybe removing or fine tuning a bit of the heat from deep char to perfectly seared.
An excellent set of suggestions. I shall put them to use.
I totally get what you're saying, but I LIKE when folks are inspired to push back a little. and, as I've said many times, Tom, when you get up a full head of steam, I usually feel like the result is ELOQUENCE.
just saying...
well gee...and to think I've been feeling a little guilty about staying on a month-to-month subscription!
and now, it turns out to be the right thing. I thought it read as a lack of commitment. so the joke's on me.
some Substacks have turned me off to the idea of subscribing because pretty much ALL of their stuff is paywalled. and some writers actually give you a few paragraphs and to get the rest of the story, you gotta pay. I suppose my best reason for doing the month-to-month thing is that it gives me the freedom to sample other newsletters to see if they're actually worth keeping. this in no way applies to TAFM, which is a keeper. I feel like I have FRIENDS here. all the skipped days in June didn't so much irritate me as throw me into a state I can only describe as intellectual withdrawal symptoms.
since I tend to ask you lot of those "what are your favorite (fill in the blank)?"
which is a roundabout way of saying that I'm good with whatever you decide to do.
but you already knew that...
Thanks.
When a popup says it's a subscription and I'm not a subscriber but want to read the post, I simply click on No Thank You and then Keep Reading. Works every time for me.
However, what irritates me and puts me off adding additional Substack writers is that there is nothing to tell me how much the subscription will be; for me, that's a disincentive since I do need to keep track of how much is going out each month or year for subscriptions. Why isn't there anything on the page asking one to subscribe with information about the cost? Seems to me there was for the ones I currently subscribe to.
I’m definitely in! You are worth every monthly penny! Also, I ordered your book “Going Downtown” from Amazon for my husband. It arrived today. Woot! Woot!
exactly.
TC, I very much enjoy your work. It NEVER occurred to me to drop my subscription to your Substack. You are one of my daily reads. When posts like Airplane Porn pop up, I appreciate that you are sharing a personal passion with deep historical knowledge. I love the pithy way you describe our political landscape, and every one of those weasels deserve the vivid descriptions. Thanks for helping me stay a little bit sane.
I'm in, your writing is worthy of being paid. If monthly is what works for you, it works for me too. Wishing you lots of success with the new model.
Good stuff, Tom. I'm with you.
exactly.
exactly. at this point, I hope you've Laughed Out Loud.
I just re-upped my annual subscription, but I'll change the info in Substack so the next renewal will be monthly. As many of us do, I read LFAA, Today's Edition, and Kareem along with TAFM and wouldn't consider dropping any of them. Between the current events commentary, the history, and the cats, this is my first read almost every day. The three history books I've read are a bonus.
For balance, I have TMD and The Bulwark, and a pretty fair perspective on our amazingly messed up but incredibly durable country. Keep at it TC, we will win in the end, even if we have to watch from the celestial bleachers.
Tom, your new plan is fine with me. I’m already a monthly subscriber. It’s easier to budget that way, just as you say.
I first encountered your comments on LFAA. I tended to agree more than disagree with your observations and points so I joined this community. I don’t regret it. I enjoy what you write even when it isn’t something I’d normally seek out.
I must remain a yearly subscriber due to my own budget constraints and in fact I received my annual receipt in late June so I can’t change it now.
No problem. I appreciate the support however it arrives.
I also first encountered you on HCR’s substack. We got into a little “back and forth” one time. I can’t remember what it was about now but I’m sure we were both right. When I saw you had your own Substack I joined then and am so glad I did.
I think you may be thinking about pricing in a counterproductive way. I chose $70 rather than $7 monthly, because it's less expensive. It never would have occurred to me to pay $84 instead of $70. I suppose there may be people who can afford the $7/month but can't put down $70. I have 4 other substack subscriptions that I pay for. One or two are $50; none is more than $70.
People are price sensitive. I suspect you'd get more subscriptions for $65 or $60 than for $70, and I wouldn't be surprised if you'd get fewer if you put everyone on $7/month instead of keeping the $70/year option.
I was on the free list for a number of months (can't remember exactly how many). I would have subscribed faster had I been able to get an annual price for less.
There probably are economists who could give you some solid advice on this.
As for your product, I quite enjoy it. You generally provide somewhat different info and perspective from Heather Cox Richardson and Robert Hubbell, both of whom I subscribe to. I find the way you make fun of the various nefarious characters to be quite humorous, and something most other people wouldn't be able to do without sounding stupid instead of humorous. It lightens the mood.
And the various personal touches, like the cats (the most recent of which--with the photos of the cats in their favorite perches--I sent to a friend for her daughter who has a pair of felines) make reading you seem more personal. It's too bad we don't all live in LA, where we could come and visit you and hear what you have to say in person.
Also, I've found some of the posts about the people you met back when you and some of us were in our youths, and your adventures back then to have been fascinating.
Nothing's set in concrete yet. Those are solid points.
I'm glad you find them helpful.
I too chose $70 instead of $7 per month because I prefer saving money where I can, so when my subscription comes due for renewal next May, I'll probably still opt for the annual one.
There's no problem with that. Obviously subscribers are in charge of their subscriptions. I consider any support wonderful.
So often, you are the one who can speak for me, when I can’t find the words. Also, you introduce me to things I didn’t know I was interested in. Thank you.
I’m in. I’ll figure out how to change my subscription... somehow. How will that work? I subscribed for a year but I’m willing to change that.
You can't change till it comes up for renewal. Don't try to make the bookkeeping difficult.
Same question from me. I love your writing, Tom, and am happy to support in the best way for you. I really like your writing about cats because it brings out your sweet, sensitive side. Conversely, I get a kick out of your colorful rants because you often say what we are thinking but hold ourselves back from saying. And if you ever have to fall back to writing ingredient lists on food product packaging, just let me know which ones. I’ll read those too.
See the note to Carla.
Tom, I usually subscribe for a freebie until I see the writer's posts for a bit, and then I pony up. Substack subscriptions are not expensive, although they can pile up if I take too many. It's good to be able to try before I buy. I have bailed on some after they haven't lived up to their promise (I tried one guy because he seemed to promise a focus on slide guitar, and then devoted several entries to rants about woke stuff. Go figure.)
I enjoy your mix of topics, the personal, cultural and political. I am less interested in airplane porn, but read your accounts of naval battles etc. avidly. When you cite your career in politics, that interests me a lot. Your posts about Jurate's passing and your feral family have touched my heart. I sometimes share the latter with a few cat lovers in my world.
This is a roundabout way of saying that the odd post that doesn't turn my crank is not going to cause me to unsubscribe. You and I are part of the same generation, grew up experiencing many of the same life-changing events; our biggest difference is that I drew a very lucky number in the first draft lottery, and didn't have to deal with Vietnam. Ironically, when the lottery was held, I was in a VW Beetle, traveling from Boston, where I went to university, to San Francisco. I had some clothes, a guitar, stereo, and two cats and their litter box. My travel partner had been bounced from the Navy after telling his skipper that he was experiencing acid flashbacks. For that, he was put in a locked ward at the Chelsea Naval Base Hospital for a month, and then given a general discharge. (The next 6 sailors who tried the same thing were thrown in the brig.)
From San Francisco, I made my way to Vancouver, where I was chasing a girl, and have lived here happily for the past 53 years. The America I knew growing up in New Joisey is unrecognizable to me. I watch with a Canadian perspective now, and feel great sadness at what I see.
You are one of the good guys, Tom, and I am glad to help support you!
I love your story Terry. My first car was a 55 VW Beetle. It had the turn signals that popped up from the side between the front passenger and rear window and blinked. I loved that car. Many trips over the Santa Cruz Mountains in that little bug.
Thanks very much Terry.
very, very well said Terry.
Thank you, MaryB...You said everything I have been thinking of writing--and you wrote it far better than I could have!