two years of nothing for the group, babes!

i promise this will be the only email you get about subs renewals

Hi friends (and enemies),

Nothing for the Group is about to turn two! Last July, I launched paid subscriptions and many of you will be getting renewal notifications starting tomorrow. I have written enough mediocre subscription brochure text to last me a lifetime, but here are a few highlights from the newsletter’s second year:

• Nothing for the Group’s readership doubled to over 4,200 subscribers. Each weekly round-up received between 6,000 - 8,000 unique views. (Thank you to Inside Hook and the LA Times for the press that partially contributed to this bump, as I have done zero marketing of my own.)

• I wrote 48 weekly round-ups highlighting in-person and digital work, season announcements, awards & commissions, and the latest power shifts in the regional theatre game of thrones. (I am always delighted to hear from people who’ve bought tickets and even traveled out-of-state to see work featured in the newsletter.)

• I launched two new features: That’s Not a Living Wage and Bills, Bills, Bills, a series of anonymous money diaries from theater workers curated by Jenna Clark Embrey. That’s Not A Living Wage — where I highlight underpaid job listings, paired with the location’s living wage and the theatre’s most recent 990 data — was especially popular. If we’re going to build a more equitable industry, we need to demystify compensation structures and humanize how theatre workers navigate the nexus of out-of-pocket expenses, freelancing precarity, student loans, caregiving responsibilities, and criminally low pay.

• I also wrote a few subscriber-only posts, ranging from my favorite self-created play genres (teen girls & blood rituals!) to a year-end round-up (who was the scammer of the year?) to two editions of Season Planning Futures. (A third Season Planning Futures is going to drop soon and I also started about eight other essays this year that I will eventually finish.) My output here wasn’t as robust as I wanted, but figuring out how to write around my full-time, non-arts day job is an ongoing struggle. (I welcome any tips on creating sustainable writing routines that don’t involve waking up at 4 AM!)

As always, there are three subscription tiers:

• $100 a year

• $50 a year

• $5 a month

If you’re an existing paid subscriber, you will receive an email notification seven days before your auto-renewal date. If you’re currently a free subscriber, you can upgrade to a paid tier by clicking the subscribe button below. Payments are securely processed via Stripe. (The beauty of Substack handling payments — and taking 10% of my earnings — is that it’s very hands-off for me, but if you run into issues, let me know and I can help.)

If your financial situation has changed, or if you want to redirect your money to an abortion fund (they need it!), food bank, or community mutual aid, that is A-OK by me. The weekly Friday round-ups and Bills, Bills, Bills will always be free for everyone. The revenue from paid subscriptions compensates me for my time and labor, but also allows me to practice my own values when it comes to paying folks for their work: editorial support; graphics; Bills, Bills, Bills contributors; and many subscriptions to newspapers, magazines, and trade publications. If you think Nothing for the Group is a valuable resource and you’d like to help sustain this project, I’m very grateful for the financial support, but it’s truly opt-in.

Two years ago, I was freshly laid off, wildly depressed, and lamenting the shambles of my career and impending financial ruin. The way Nothing for the Group has transformed my life — giving me a platform to amplify artists, articulate my frustrations and hopes for the industry, and find my own voice after years of adhering to institutional style guides — is a real gift. Thank you for being a part of it.

xoxo
Lauren