It has been a long time since I wrote daily commentaries. Sure I comment about politics all the time on social media but it has been a long time since I wrote full-length daily commentaries. There are many reasons why I quit writing but they don’t matter. I’m back.
Welcome to the Boyd Report, which is a daily newsletter on culture, life, and politics. My name is Kevin Boyd and I have been writing off and on since 2003. I was a part of the old school of blogging and I made the transition to social media and I have been writing professionally since 2014.
While I’m not closing the door to writing for an outside publication on occasion, I have decided to embrace this new format Substack has created. I believe the return of the e-mail newsletter is the future of online journalism.
The Future of Online Journalism Is Now
I have always wanted to own my own online magazine. It has always been my dream to make a living using the keyboard of my laptop. The only person I would ultimately answer to is my conscience.
I knew that it would lead to me creating my own online magazine, which you are reading now. The Boyd Report is where I report on culture, life, and politics. I try to defend life, liberty, and property one newsletter at a time.
The traditional model of an online magazine has been to build a website and pay the bills with online advertising with occasionally supplementing it through selling merchandise and renting out the e-mail list. The problem with this model is that online advertising does not pay a whole lot of money. This is a problem affecting the entire media landscape. It is the reason why most online publications are simply not profitable.
Now there are successful models to build a profitable online publication. You could subsidize the online presence through cable, satellite, and streaming subscription fees and TV commercial advertising which is what CNN, Fox News, and MSNBC do currently. You could also subsidize the online presence through just TV commercial advertising which is what the broadcast networks do. But these two models are not a viable option for entirely digital operations.
Some publications operate as non-profits and generate revenues either from donations, events, and even from the government. But this leads to a couple of moral hazards. Some of these publications degenerate into propaganda outlets for their wealthy and politically connected backers. Even worse, some of the ones that take government funding become little more than government propaganda outlets.
The only viable model for funding an online publication is through a subscription model. The most successful publications use a mix of free and subscription articles. The free articles serve to encourage readers to switch to paid subscriptions by delivering product that people will pay for.
Substack’s model is that it does not rely on online advertising. Instead, it only makes money when its creators setup paid e-mail subscriptions. It was a no brainer for me to embrace this model.
In addition, traditional online publications are at the mercy of social media companies and are subject to possible censorship and changing policies. E-mail newsletters are less susceptible to online pressure campaigns due to their more decentralized structure.
The Boyd Report will be a free daily newsletter, for now. Eventually the goal is to switch to a paid subscription model. But when that happens there will always be a free component because some things are too important to be hidden behind a paywall.
What Your Subscriptions Will Pay For
When the Boyd Report goes partially behind a paywall, the money you pay will go to not only keep this publication afloat but it will be used to expand its scope and operations. I hope to generate enough revenue to justify more on scene original reporting of important events and gatherings.
The reason why I want to do more in depth and on scene reporting is to get around the agenda driven media landscape we have in America. This has led to stories being ignored that do not meet either the thirst for clicks or that go against the established narrative. I want to go beyond the headlines and show how a story impacts your daily life and to tell the stories that are otherwise ignored.
I also plan to use the Boyd Report as an experimental medium for my ultimate goal with this. The plan is to create a new publication through Substack that gathers the best up and coming pro-freedom voices from not just the United States but from all around the world in order to combat the growing drive towards authoritarianism, centralization, globalism, and tyranny. We will show how the ideas of liberty can lead to greater human flourishing and a better world for all.
What Do You Get Now For Subscribing
You will get an e-mail newsletter five days a week that will provide in depth reporting and commentary on a story of the day. I will never sell or rent your e-mail address to any outside party. I have not decided yet what a paid subscription package will look like but I will announce that before I create that package.
I encourage you to share my work on social media and forward it to your friends. More importantly, I encourage you to subscribe and encourage everyone you know to subscribe to the Boyd Report.
How Can I Help?
There are a few things I need your help with in order for the Boyd Report in order for it to succeed.
Subscribe to this newsletter. It’s free and only comes once a day.
Share this newsletter on your social media networks and encourage your friends and followers to subscribe.
Pray for our success. I will need God’s blessing in order for this to become a fruitful venture.
I look forward to being able to bring you the stories and fresh takes that you won’t be able to find elsewhere. More importantly, I look forward to building a community of liberty lovers and those eager to go unto the breach.