An important announcement from Wudan about TWC…
Also, Season 8: Episode 10: Your questions and TWC’s answers!
Hi everyone,
I’m writing to you on the heels of an unprecedented election week — one that’s been impossible to ignore.
I’m sure many of you are still trying to grieve before making sense of what happened and to chart a path forward. I wanted to lock myself in my car and scream forever. Instead, I went to the Science Writers’ conference in Raleigh and was reminded of how powerful being in community can be — of how good it feels to be around people who care about what they do, and believing that the work they do has impact.
This month, I decided to release the last episode of the season to everyone in one fell swoop. And the reason is because the episode goes into some details about the future of The Writers’ Co-op.
I’m not going to beat around the bush: The podcast is coming to a natural end. In the last five (!) years of running TWC, interviewing dozens of guests for the show, and coaching even more freelancers both privately and in groups, I’ve learned that businesses are in a constant state of flux. Some solopreneurs I’ve interviewed and worked with were in an explosive phase of growth. Others were seeking sustainability and stasis. Others were trying to figure out why a specific service was burning them out, all the while carving space for something new.
I’ve heard about many iterations of the life cycle of a freelance business, and I’ve gone through many of them myself in the time I’ve spearheaded conversations on the show about how to run things in a sustainable, anti-capitalistic manner.
So, I know that some things just come to an end.
I know that the show has benefited many freelancers and shifted your mindset about what’s not just possible, but even reasonable, about knowing your worth, asking for better, and protecting your personal peace. I’m proud of the impact that TWC has had and I hope everyone reading this continues to recommend the podcast and other resources I’ve developed over the years to others who are starting their journey in freelancing and entrepreneurship.
But producing the show is no longer serving me. Over the last year, I’ve experienced significant burnout while making the show and trying to expand the company’s reach. (And as someone who has recovered from burnout a few years ago, I know that burnout is symptomatic of repeated exposure to systemic forces of injustice.) I see an endemic scarcity mindset in owners of other groups that aim to help freelancers but prohibit the marketing of paid events and workshops that could absolutely provide value to their audience. Inherent biases have led partners to take me — a woman, and a woman of color — less seriously, and ask more of me to justify the worth that The Writers’ Co-op can provide. I’m not here to play politics and curry favor. I don’t justify my company’s worth when my company has demonstrated worth. None of that aligns with what I value.
At the same time, I’ve been able to create something else, my new fact-checking agency, Factual. It is not sustainable to run three businesses in earnest, and something has got to go.
So, for everyone who’s made it this far, here’s what you can expect moving forward:
No new episodes of the podcast will be released, but all old episodes will remain available to listen for free across all podcast platforms. TWC was always intended to be an audiobook handbook for freelancers and will remain as such
TWC typically runs a December end-of-year business audit. I will no longer be holding a group format, but if you are interested in working together 1:1, feel free to reach out here: www.wudanyan.com/coaching.
TWC has also been a learning academy for freelancers. The resources, classes, and webinars will still be available for purchase. .
I don’t believe in taking away people’s community and I know TWC’s psychologically safe Slack community has been valuable to many. Folks who are caregivers. Folks who are neurodivergent. Folks who are people of color, queer—it doesn’t matter. Everyone is welcome, and I’m sorry to sound trite but community continues to remain important. Since maintaining the Slack requires moderation (which requires compensation), I have adjusted the rate on Patreon for folks to join at $5/month.
There may be a point in the future where TWC materials are licensed or sold to other companies (If you’re someone at one of those companies who may be interested in TWC’s materials, email me and let’s talk!) and I will make that transparent to my audience and update in the show notes where to find those materials.
Of course, I’ll still be around. And trust me, it’s pretty hard to get me to shut up entirely about the business of freelancing and dispense advice when appropriate. So you can follow me on LinkedIn or Instagram (wudanyan). If you’re curious about my agency, and either want to apply to be a fact-checker or hire a fact-checker, let’s talk.
Again, I so appreciate everyone who’s made this show possible over the last few years: the National Association of Science Writers and the International Women's Media Foundation, who made the first two seasons possible; everyone who’s shared the show with a friend; anyone who’s joined for a webinar— thank you for supporting the TWC team.
Wudan