Make money doing the work you believe in
My Substack posts usually end with thanks to people who gave me comments on earlier drafts and/or discussed the issues with me. But I notice that I’m a weirdo here—almost nobody else does this. This could mean one of two things.
Other people don’t get advice on their posts and don’t work through the ideas with friends/partners/other writers.
Other people do get advice/feedback, but don’t acknowledge the people who helped them.
If it’s 1, then of course, there are no acknowledgments. Lone geniuses have nobody to thank!
But if it’s 2, I think people should reconsider. I get that magazine articles don’t have acknowledgments, and this practice has become the default for almost all writing. But it’s a bad practice! It’s just decent to thank people for the help that they provide, particularly when they contribute ideas, examples, and arguments. I think this is one way—the only way maybe—where academic articles do things right.
In the post below, I argue that magazine articles should include acknowledgments; in this short Note, I’m making the case that you, my fellow Substackers, should do the same.
