A Quick Message for Subscribers

“Circumstances are the rulers of the weak; they are but the instruments of the wise.” - Samuel Lover, Anglo-Irish novelist, songwriter, composer and painter (1797-1868)

Hello All,

I am writing this message to bring you up to speed on a couple of developments (and oddities) here at Midnight at the Matinee. I should, however, begin with a word of thanks—given the deluge of emails you likely receive each day, presumably from writers far more talented and assuredly more prolific than I, it genuinely means a lot that you’d choose to read my work.

Now, for something of a head-scratcher. You see, ever since returning to Substack, I’ve been continuing to grow pretty steadily, or at least I had been until a very recent and very abrupt flatlining in metrics—an experience, it would seem, shared by a growing number writers on here. Naturally, I don’t want to go jumping to conclusions regarding algorithmic demotion or any such comparably nefarious shenanigans, but no matter whether this slowdown can be attributed to platform manipulation, a temporary glitch, or simply a case of reaching the natural limits of my readership, it’s kind of forced me to consider the alternatives.

Don’t worry, you won’t have to do anything—if ever I do migrate over to Ghost or Beehiiv, you’ll still receive everything I publish sent straight to your inbox, no fuss, no muss. Ultimately, I’ll just have to see how the situation plays out, but in the meantime, if you do enjoy something I write, I would really appreciate, now more than ever, if you might consider sharing it with others who might feel likewise.

I’m also trying to be a bit more active on other platforms; links are included below if you’d like to connect elsewhere.

Gab - @AnUlstermaninIdaho

Twitter/X - @CarsonJMcAuley

YouTube - @MidnightattheMatinee

Odysee - @MidnightattheMatinee

Bitchute - @MidnightattheMatinee

Rumble - @MidnightattheMatinee

A Word for Paid Subscribers

Needless to say, this message is primarily intended for you guys. As those who’ve been with me for a while may recall, a couple of years ago I was compelled to take something of a hiatus from Substack, during which time I chose to deactivate paid subscriptions. I’ve kept these disabled until now, some seven months since, unsure as I was that life would grant sufficient opportunities to properly repay your generosity. Mercifully, the past couple of weeks have seen a pretty dramatic opening up of my schedule—so much so that I will now be able to function on more than Monster energy drinks and three hours’ worth of sleep and so, with that in mind, I’ve elected to turn this option back on.

This is motivated, at least in part, by the aforementioned slowdown in subscriptions (Substack more inclined to push writers turning a profit). That’s not to say I’m about to start erecting paywalls or anything—you can cancel your subscription and still read whatever you please—I just didn’t want anyone to be surprised if they happened to find $5 plus tax inexplicably missing from their bank account.

I’ll hold off for about a week or so before I actually re-enable payments, by which time I hope you’ll all have had a chance to read this. But whether or not you choose to stick around, my gratitude remains unbounded; there is legitimately no way to express what it means to a writer when someone finds value in their work.

Kindest possible regards,

Carson