New Year Letter to my Patreons

Hi all,

I want to start with an apology. Over the years (I can’t believe just how many I’ve been doing this now), I’ve attempted to keep you updated with my thoughts, plans, ideas, and schedule with the channel. In 2022, I tried and failed to send a weekly note, be active in the discord, respond to as many messages as possible, and so on. The truth is, for various reasons, it’s been a stressful year.

 As a one-man act, it’s a careful balance between putting all my effort into making the best videos possible and incorporating all the other things I want to do with the channel, as well as administrative duties. Keeping up with Patreon, starting a side channel, translating videos into Spanish, learning new skills, building the website, improving photoshop ability for thumbnails, etc, are all things that I do behind the scenes, and working out priorities is difficult. But Patreon should be a priority.

 So in 2023, I want to keep you updated more.

 Because actually, I often get stressed for little reason. 2022 was a great year. It was the year I focused on becoming a better filmmaker, and I think it paid off.

 I shifted my style slightly, focused a bit more on accessibility, learned a lot about cameras and equipment, thought more carefully about balancing what I want to esoterically talk about and what people want to watch. As a result, I’ve made some videos I’m really proud of, that more people seem to want to watch, without sacrificing my values.

 I started the year with ‘How the Holocaust Happened’, made a longer video exploring the philosophy of authenticity, made ‘Spinoza: A Complete Guide to Life’ and ‘Kant: A Complete Guide to Reason’, used MrBeast to critique Big Philanthropy, and finished the year with an ambitious one on How the Internet Was Stolen.

 They’ve all done really well for Then & Now, so thank you for supporting them. Your support has meant I’ve been able to reinvest in equipment I’d never have been able to afford – new cameras, microphones, lighting, and I’ve learned a lot along the way.

 It’s also meant I’ve been able to film out more. The video on German history filmed on location, consumerism filmed in London, Kant in welsh mountains, and (one of my favourites), a reflection on literature, philosophy and the sea, filmed with family on the Scottish coast.

 So, in short, more of all of this in 2023. Upcoming videos include a critique of the ‘attention economy’, one on predicting the future in politics – looking at the history of ‘futurology’, Hegel: A Complete Guide to History, a video on (something like) ‘Stoic Bros.’ or ‘Productivity Bros.’ (you know who I mean), hopefully more on location, and, I’m planning a big one on the ‘Making of the Modern World’ based on the work of the historian Eric Hobsbawm.

 I also want to get to a position where I have someone else helping me out. Part of the stress of 2022 has been wanting to get to a place where I’m happy with the direction and success of the channel in an increasingly competitive landscape. Someone helping me with research, filming, and editing more would take some of the pressure off. To do so, though, I might have to accept sponsorship ads, something I’ve been hesitant to do so far. I’ve always thought that having a channel free from commercial sponsors and reliant on patreons was something admirable. Especially when my costs are low. What I’m realising now though is that, it’s not that sponsorship increases my salary – its what you can do with that extra cashflow. If it improves the channel by having more people helping, more money to spend on equipment, more time for research, etc, then it may be naïve not to accept it.
 
Either way, I’d be interested to hear your thoughts on all of this, and what you would like to see more or less of.

Here’s to a great 2023 for all of you – for my part, I promise to try to be more engaged here, and on the discord.

Most of all, as always, you have my immeasurable gratitude for your support. I wouldn’t be doing this without you. Thank you.

Lewis