Moving to SubStack

May 02, 2022

Firstly, if this newsletter seems new to you, then welcome. If it’s just the design that looks strange, hello old friend, it’s only me*. This is the new home for the newsletter, all will be explained.

I’m just going to crack on.

The MW is Hard.

Not that I ever thought it would be easy, but some days it really gets to you.

I’ve written before about my process, and my study concepts and ideas, but sometimes the weather is sunny and the snooker is on the telly.

Some days the feedback is great, and others the feedback is brutal. Resilience is probably the most important personal trait that an MW student requires. Luckily I’m pretty chilled about that sort of stuff, however testing that may be.

It’s precisely why I shouldn’t put myself under a bit more pressure by re-energising the crowd funding aspect of the MW studies in advance of Stage2, when I haven’t even sat the Stage1 exam yet.

Sounds a bit fucking nuts when I really think about.

My Bid to You

I’m suggesting a small subscription to carry on getting the newsletter that will directly go to funding future Master of Wine course fees and study. Just like the GoFundMe did.

I promise it won’t fund my lavish lifestyle, I’m not here to make a living out of writing a newsletter**.

The Stage2 part of the MW is another £5k paid on completion of Stage1, and as I didn’t have the money the first time around, I still don’t have it.

The general gist is that I started writing this newsletter as a way to communicate with the seventy-or-so people that chipped into funding the Stage1.

There are now quite a few more than that signed up***, and that’s quite fun, we’re about six months in and I do hope you’ll stick around.

The Method to the Maths

About that £5k.

My expectations are low, yet eternally optimistic. My best-case scenario would be that roughly a quarter of you signed up to £5 per month, over the next 12 months. With that we’d be a good chunk of the way there with the Stage 2 funding.

However, I’ve set a subscription tier at just £20 for the year. This was the average donation to the initial GoFundMe, and you carry on getting the newsletter as is for that.

Obviously, I’ll be finding other ways to fill the gap should none of the above workout.

Free Content? Yes.

I’m going to keep the newsletter and the online content free for all until the end of May.

I send the newsletter out on a Monday, so there’s another four emails, before it goes back to being a mostly a closed group for supporters****.

There will also be some new format, free content, mostly focussed around my main area of interest, the Independent Wine Merchant sector in the UK. With more on that to come.

You’re also more than welcome to hold-off on subscribing until I actually pass the Stage1 exam, which may or may not be a really long-way off, or fingers firmly crossed, it might be in September.

What Do You Get in Return?

More of the same, and hopefully a bit more.

Like I said, the newsletter is a way for me to build and grow the community of supportive types, who mostly know me, mostly enjoy my take on the wine world, and for some reason want to support me through the MW.

After Miles Beale, WSTA CEO suggested it in October 2020, the support has been rather humbling.

Miles Beale @WSTA_Miles

@dnkrbywine Dan, Have you thought about crowd sourcing funding to have a go at becoming an MW? A badass hipster wine mumbler with 1400+ followers only needs a tenner from most of his followers.... I'm in!

I’m also super-open about the MW process, you'll basically have direct access to an MW Student in your pocket, whenever, wherever you like. Ask me Anything 24/7 via WhatsApp, Twitter DM or IG Messages, in fact however you like.

There’s a good chance that down the line, I’ll figure something out personally for quite a lot of you. I’ll try my best at least.

What is Substack Anyway?

Right, so in their own words:

“Building a better future for writing
We started Substack because we believe that what you read matters and that good writing is valuable.
We believe that writers, bloggers, thinkers, and creatives of every background should be able to pursue their curiosity, generating income directly from their own audiences and on their own terms.”

It’s essentially a place that can handle email newsletters, but it can also sort out paid subscriptions, and it can host & distribute the podcast*****, and it’s nice and tidy, and mobile friendly, and it publishes all the stuff in one handy place, and hides anything I want behind a paywall.

Lots of other great people are moving over here as well, and as Substack themselves say, it only takes a few supportive people to make a personal newsletter relatively rewarding to the writer.

It all sounds really quite lovely, I do hope you join in.

Thanks,

* Welcome to you too, you superstar.

** There are many better writers, who spend good hours interviewing, researching and writing more than me, providing much more value than I do.

*** You really are all wonderful.

**** “Bite-size, relatable insight, for people who like drinking wine”.

***** Newbies, I keep mentioning a podcast in a hapless attempt to drum up interest. It’s a good idea, I just need to find the time to do it.