Letter to Inactive Subs

Update: Monday morning, June 3rd, I removed 35 names from my list, representing people who subscribed between 4 years and 1 year ago, but have never looked at any of my posts. After double-checking, I don’t think I deleted anyone who was viewing posts via Readwise (

Eleanor Konik

, I couldn’t find the email you’re subscribed under, so I hope I didn’t inadvertently delete you!). But if I did, please let me know! And do please resubscribe if you want to read my stuff!

The point of this is to allow me to use the subs list (and number) to better gauge how I’m actually doing. I don’t want to just inflate the number for its own sake and then wonder why people aren’t engaging. I’d prefer to have people reading, commenting, and even potentially supporting! Thanks!

I’m going to begin sending this out to people on my subscribers list who subscribed over a year ago but have never read any of my content:

Hello there! This is a quick note to people who subscribed to my Substack more than a year ago, but who haven't ever actually engaged with it, as far as I can tell. I wanted to touch base and let you know what I've been up to, in case it might interest you. Also, I'm going to purge my subscriber list soon, so I wanted to ask if you want to continue hearing from me?

I began posting from time to time on Substrack over four years ago. Initially, I just called it "Dan's Substack" and it was sort-of bloggy. Later, I renamed it "MakingHistory" and it became more about my work as a historian. Most recently, I have added a bunch of content categories that I had originally been doing on a separate Substack called "Lifelong Learning".

So now the topics cross a pretty wide range, including a Blog, my Book Club (videos), thoughts about the City and Country, Freethinkers, Great Conversations, History and Historiography, Note-making, Open Education, and Primary Sources. If one or some of these interest you but not others, you can adjust what sections you're getting notifications from, as well as whether you want notices of each post or weekly summaries.

If there are things you thought I was going to cover that I didn't, I'd be curious about that. Also if you have other feedback or suggestions. Also if you ARE reading my stuff and I just can't tell, please let me know! As I mentioned, I'm about to do a bit of house-cleaning and remove names from the list that don't seem to actually be reading any of my stuff. I'll be doing this because I want to have a realistic understanding of what type of progress I'm making (or not) on Substack, rather than just collecting names on a list that aren't really interested.

Thanks, --Dan