This upgraded subscription newsletter came out of my desire to get back to my journalism roots. It's something I've been mulling for a while now.
There are a lot of challenges to running a website like Amish365. If you want your site to survive, you can't just slap up stories about buggy crashes and barn raisings. I did that for years and it held the site back because Google doesn't like that. Every day when I post content on the website, I think about how Google will react to it. So much of running a website today depends on pleasing one player: Google. For the most part, I find I can please readers AND Google, but it gets old after a while, and as a writer and an Amish researcher, it's limiting. Because there's so much more I can share with you. And that's what THIS newsletter is for:
I will curate a 'deep dive' email each week that explores what is happening among the Amish RIGHT NOW in 2023 fused with my own personal musings! This will reach your inbox EVERY FRIDAY.
Each week you can expect the following from the Amish Editor's Notebook newsletter:
Editors Op-Ed -- Often the news may guide our deep dive, but more than that, my experience, bits and pieces of my story about my journey, how I got started among the Amish; and the different detours my life has taken into the Amish arena will always guide my writings. So you can count on this being a space for more interesting observations about the plain people.
Top Amish News -- I'll round up the top Amish events in the news each week. For such peaceful people and people who don't want to be in the spotlight, they end up in the news a fair amount.
Plain People Social Media -- I'll share a brand new photo(s) that just hit the internet from the Amish Community every week. The Amish aren't photographed often, so it's pretty cool when they are captured on camera willingly.
Amish Business Spotlight: I'll also highlight Amish businesses around the country that are worth visiting. I love to travel and one of the reasons I enjoy it so much is because of the people and places I meet along the way -- particularly those run by the Amish. We'll explore Amish businesses that I've been to and even ones I plan to visit. I also curate a weekly "Amish Products On Amazon" that serves as a great one stop shop for everything Amish! I do make a small commission off these links (like pennies) but it benefits the Amish businesses the most.
Why Upgrade?
Well, I'm hoping to build a community of Amish enthusiasts like me! In this part of my life, I find the online community I've built refreshing and a real part of my circle. I enjoy sharing my daily musings with everyone. But Amish365 is a business -- so this is my attempt to reclaim a more personal space for myself and my readers without my SEO assistant telling me that "this post doesn't cut it for google".
So for just $25/month, you can join my Editor's Notebook. I'm sure you will find this weekly deep-dive valuable, interesting and a significant upgrade from my daily musings. I'm really looking forward to just having a conversation about the Amish with you and sharing some of the more intimate stories behind the recipes (which google finds as fluff). Since I'm a journalist and love the news, I will always share a curated version of what's happening in the Amish news and my experience will hopefully shed a bit more light on it. Overall I just want this space to be an enjoyable, engaging read for those of you who want "extra Amish."