Can we read? Year in review

December 19, 2024

Hello, hello!

I experiment a lot in this newsletter, and very few things are fixed. Of course, that means things are constantly evolving, and it also means that some of those things are failing. (It’s often interesting to me to see what fails, and what I experience as failure versus what you tell me has failed.)

To that end, I’m checking in with you on two things that I’ve tried over the past few months. If they work for you, I’ll keep them as permanent-for-now features of this newsletter — if they don’t, they’ll disappear. Either way, your feedback is invaluable to me.

I’ve been sending recaps on the last weekend of the month to help you catch up on what you may have missed.

I’ve reduced my publishing schedule to once a week rather than twice a week.

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What you loved (the most)

Though I have always measured my success here by the metric, “Am I having fun?”, ultimately what has kept Can we read? going is your support — your eyeballs, the space in your inbox, your engagement both in public or behind the scenes, and (for some of you) your dollars.

I am frequently surprised by the posts you enjoy versus the ones I enjoy writing (rarely the same), and your enthusiasm regularly bowls me over. Some of you literally — really literally, not hyperbolic “literally” — read every single thing I send, and that thrills and humbles me in equal measure.

Of the 77 posts I wrote in 2024 (well, thus far) here’s what you loved the most:

• Do you and your partner have different approaches to raising readers?

• 5 ways to overcome obstacles to reading

• Children’s books about bikes and biking

• How do you store books and then pass them along?

• Choosing good books

• Some Dos and Don'ts for Reading Aloud

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What failed

I want to keep it real here and be super transparent that for all my experimentation, there are things — quite a few things, actually — that just don’t work, or certainly don’t work as well as I’d hoped.

This year, my biggest failure has been my seasonal guides to picture books — spring, summer, fall, and winter.

Paid subscribers — who received these guides for free, as a perk — downloaded them like crazy. Free subscribers — who had to purchase them — were almost totally uninterested. (Like, my worst-selling season garnered two sales. My best, fourteen. I made $280.80 total on these guides, and that’s before Gumroad took 13%, which I am not going to do the math on because I know it’s bad. When I factor in the labor that went into these — the research, the writing, the Canva subscription, and most importantly, my time — these guides were a pretty big loss.)

I share this so that you know: for all the seeming “success” of this newsletter, whatever the hell that means, there is also failure. So the next time you’re sitting there wondering why the post your poured your soul into didn’t land, or why you’ve plateaued at 50 or 500 or 1500 subscribers, or why some other writer seemingly has some kind of talent/charisma/viral magic/dewy skin that you do not (that’s all a lie, btw), you can remind yourself that we ALL fail.

I truly believe the failure leads to the success, anyway — that you can’t have one without the other, that the former actively creates the latter. Anyone who claims they’re not failing in some way, often if not constantly, is either completely delulu or a total asshole and maybe even both.

So this year’s failure doesn’t bother me. I had a new idea, I tried it, it didn’t work, it cost me a bit — so what? Now I know that thing doesn’t work. Now I have new ideas. Thank you, next.

What inspired me

Speaking of new ideas: I am a strong believer that when it comes to creativity, quality and quantity of input both matter — you need good stuff going in, and as much of it as you can get. But where that all comes from is arbitrary and highly personal and maybe most importantly, out of your control.

I also believe that making art — beautifully described by Seth Godin as “the act of doing something that might not work, simply because it’s a generous thing to do” — is only possible when we’re more committed to the process than the outcome. (I’m not saying, don’t set out to make something, just create and see where it goes — though that may work better than you think — only that, you probably need to enjoy the extremely long journey of the making itself, because the “arrival,” whatever that even looks like, is fleeting.)

I take my input seriously, but only insofar as I trust my instincts and follow any and all rabbit holes. None of it has to make sense, ever.

The following things sparked or inspired me in some way this year, offering me useful information, ideas, changes in practice, or good old motivation to keep evolving and keep trying new things.

Books:

• 1000 Words: A Writer’s Guide to Staying Creative, Focused, and Productive All Year Round by Jami Attenberg (2024)

• Write for Life: Creative Tools for Every Writer by Julia Cameron (2023)

• The Practice: Shipping Creative Work by Seth Godin (2020)

• Do the Work by Steven Pressfield (2011)

• How to Write a Book Proposal: The Insider’s Step-By-Step Guide to Proposals That Get You Published by Jody Rein with Michael Larsen

Newsletters:

• How to Glow in the Dark by Anna Sproul-Latimer and Kent D. Wolf

• Sharp Read by Colby Sharp

• Vanderhacks by Laura Vanderkam

Miscellaneous:

• Daily Morning Pages — I began on June 20th and have missed only one day (!!)

• Attending events for children’s book authors Laura Bird and Lisl Detlefsen, who are also my lovely friends

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An update on a Can we read? book

Right now my book proposal is out on submission — that is, my wonderful agent has sent it to a list of editors in hopes that one of them will find it compelling enough to buy the idea and then work with us to bring it to print.

I am thrilled at the fact that I’ve made it this far — the work I did this past summer, in July in particular, is mind-boggling and I still don’t know how I did it, except to say that I would not have done it without my friend and accountability partner for this project, Rachel Michelle Wilson. Rachel was on the other end of my inbox while my life was burning to the ground and I was also doing “something, anything, no matter how small” with my book proposal and sharing it with her every day. We should all be so lucky.

Not gonna lie, though: I also feel deeply detached from this book, or whatever is it in its pre-book form. That sounds terrible, probably, but what I really mean is that I trust if this book is meant to be, it will be, and whatever the timing is, the timing is right. I continue to be grateful that my words are out in the world, in a variety of ways (many of which I’d never imagined, including this).

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Why are all my best selfies in the car

Thank you

Re: being grateful, I never stop yapping about my gratitude because I’m a fundamentally grateful person (which, I wholeheartedly believe, is a huge factor in my success in life, by any measure of that word). Whether this newsletter has 50 subscribers or 5,000, your support matters to me.

Thank you for reading, and thank you for continuing to read to your children — knowing that I’ve encouraged you to do more of that, in even the smallest way, is the real gift to me.

Here’s to the new year, and whatever comes next,
Sarah