CLOSE FRIENDS UPDATE

big one from me

Hello close friends, it’s been a long long long time. Disgracefully long. 

Firstly, I want to thank you for the support you’ve shown Cheek (me) by paying for independent media commentary and giving a shit about what I have to say for almost two years. Since the release of Bite Back, I have been a complete failure in consistent content - it has been extremely difficult to produce longer form writing and to broadcast my personal life on close friends. I’ve been pretty quiet for the audience I should have been loudest for: you.

I have decided to shut down Patreon as a channel, because I am simply not providing the service I promised and I don’t see myself having the capacity to be able to continue the newsletter in the format it currently exists in. I also don’t foresee myself wanting to mine my personal life for content in the coming year on close friends. I’m giving myself some pretty firm boundaries in the hopes of avoiding burnout.

I know many of you simply subscribe to support what I do, and I am so thankful. As you would already be aware, the existence of news on Instagram and Facebook is currently under threat. It is a scary time to be broadcasting on digital media, I have no idea what happens next for me, for Cheek or for democracy broadly. 

Instead, what I want to do is get as many people continuing to consume my opinion based content on other platforms outside of Instagram. In response, I will be giving this Substack a complete makeover, and re-launching simply with short, sharp weekly opinion pieces on a news topic of the week.

As I shut Patreon down, I am going to launch both free and paid versions of this current Substack directly through the platform. The paid subscription model will be $5 each month, or alternatively $50 a year.

Each week, I will publish an 800-1000 word column on the biggest story or debate of the week - starting next Monday. This way, you’re not getting my dribbly pre-amble and recommendations and fluff, but instead the stuff that may not exist on Cheek for much longer that I continue to be passionate writing about.

I totally understand that I have not been on my game for months, and do not expect you to come across as paying subscribers. 

The only thing I can be is honest, and I am so thankful for every contribution to date and so sorry to have been in such shit form as I try to navigate self-employment and a work load I committed to and couldn't execute. You are the reason I can produce the Instagram content I do each and every day. You are independent media in Australia. Thank you.

If you do want to move across to the new and refreshed weekly Cheek substack, you can find it here on this Substack page.

Please feel free to send me a message through Patreon with any thoughts or concerns you have. I will be disabling future payments today and shutting the account next week. 

Ferg x