The (quarter) year in review

Happy New Year to you. So glad you made it.

So far, I've launched over a dozen of these newsletters into your inbox. About a calendar quarter's worth, on a (mostly) regular cadence. And now, as 2024 fades in the rearview mirror, is the last quarter a big enough sample to support a "year in review" issue of the newsletter?

Well, no. But did that stop me? Nope! It did not.

And funny thing: even with that small amount of data, a very interesting trend emerged. Interesting enough that I have a very important question to ask you about the future direction of this newsletter. A question that you are uniquely qualified to answer.

First, let me show you some stats, so you can see what I need your help on.

Right after the news.

What’s going on?

• No updates for Your Parasite and You. I've submitted to a bunch of festivals that will be announcing their choices in Spring, so I'm hoping YPaY will be on some lists when the weather warms.
• I had started in on my slate of projects to work on for 2025, and was planning to get seriously back in the studio after the New Year. Then, the day after Christmas, my muse or the universe or my subconscious or something says to me, "Oh hey, that one project you've had in mind for years but could never figure out a way in? Well, here it is." And boom, it just arrived. So I spent a couple of days in Keynote, and pretty much finished the animations. Still a lot of work to do, but I guess it's my next project now. I'll keep you posted.

Clicking like an Orca cocktail party

One of the things you get from releasing a newsletter on a service like Buttondown (which I used at the beginning) or Ghost (which I use now), is performance statistics.

So here's the stats on the last dozen newsletters. Stalwart readers will have received a few issues before this, but I feel like Hello again! / The yes line is the beginning of my new commitment to a regular schedule.

There's two numbers being tracked here:

• Open: what percentage of subscribers opened the email?
• Clicks: what percentage of readers clicked on a link in the issue?

So here's the chart, ordered from most recent to earliest released:

Again, this a ridiculously small sample to draw any conclusions from. That said, there's a 3-way tie for most popular issue:

• The joys of "pleasantly baffled"
• Creative Misuse: when the wrong tool becomes the right tool
• No "buts" about it

And a clear winner for most links clicked:

• Animation escalation

Remember how I said this wasn't enough of a data sample to draw any trends from? Well, I couldn't resist:

So, yeah, Opens is trending down. Admittedly, A spark from a flame was sent in at the beginning of full holiday mayhem, when we all were just trying to make it to January. So that skews the trend a little.

But look at the upward trend on Clicks. Clearly, there were things in the last dozen issues that you found interesting. So I can cautiously conclude that I'm doing something you're finding worth your valuable time and attention.

Which brings up the question: what do you find interesting?

I would like to ask a favor of you. But first, here's some more Fun Facts.

Fun facts to know and share

welcome to my bog :)

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Over to you

And I mean, literally, over to you.

This newsletter started with a core of readers who listened to Mari's and my seasonal podcast, The Four Weeks of Halloween. And I thought that maybe my perspective as an indie filmmaker who animates his films using business presentation software might be unique and interesting to others. Especially when you factor in my sideline as the on-stage assistant to a lounge-singing puppet. (Kind of a unique CV.)

So far, this has been a newsletter about what bubbles to the surface of my noggin as I deal with life and art and art and life. But should things be a little more, you know, focused?

Beats me. So I turn to you, the reader. What would you like to see more of in this newsletter? It could be something new, it could be something the newsletter already has. What interests you? What delights you?

Here's a link to the ridiculously short (one-question, short answer) survey. What's the first couple of words that come to mind when you see the question? Vague is fine:

What would you like to see in (rf)T?

Take this survey powered by surveymonkey.com. Create your own surveys for free.

I'd like to keep doing this newsletter. And I'd like you, and others, to enjoy reading it. So if you could take a moment and let me know what you're looking for in (required field) Transmissions, I would be tremendously grateful.

Until we talk again, I remain,

Your pal,

Jamie