The Spanish general election is over. The PP has won, just, in minority, but who knows who is going to form the next government. I promised to keep writing here for you on the Substack until the elections were over.
The Substack experiment for The Spain Report has worked, up to a point, creating some value for some readers, but not enough for not enough of you, I fear. Total email subscribers are 2,700 or so, which is about where it was last September, with some up and some down in between, and total paid subscribers are just over 30, about 1%; again, not terribly different from where we were last year, and new paid subscribers this year have been the exception rather than the rule. It has not been lines constantly going up and to the right, which would have indicated ongoing interest and value creation.
So now it is time for a longer break and a think. I have put all of the existing paid subscriptions on pause. I think perhaps a longer, feature reporting thing might work to illustrate some larger issues around Spain, an in-depth story every month or so, with photos and video and testimonies, but we’re at a kind of chicken-or-egg situation in terms of starting to make that work. Or perhaps Kindle books would work better. Who knows.
So far, I have not found the solution to the break down of what until the middle of 2021 was a promising, fulfilling project. Thank you for reading over the past few months and for your support. I will gladly read your suggestions and ideas in the comments.
Thank you Matthew. I’m a Spanish teacher and love using your reports to examine the language you use with my students. I hope you can find a way to continue. Your reports are so informative.
Feeling your pain, Matthew, and watching with great interest. Your work stands heads above anything else out there, thank you for your continued diligence, concise analysis and balanced perspectives. Don't go too far, we need you. We are told all the kids get their news on tiktok these days... feels alien, and not sure we are the right ones to deliver to those kids anyway.
Keep us in the loop, and if we can ever find a desirable way to collaborate appropriately you can be sure we, for one, would love to help find ways to get your words out there. It's just that damn egg and chicken, it needs a farmer to bring one or the other to market and repeat...