My Last Newsletter 🫡

this feels like clickbait bruv

two guys who needed some sleep / photo by another guy samir

Happy Wednesday! I promised big news in my last blog, so here goes—today was my last day writing The Publish Press.

A quick explainer: The Publish Press is a three-times-a-week “creator economy” newsletter publication started by YouTubers Colin and Samir. I started reading the newsletter when they launched it in 2021. Eventually, through building Creator Mag, I happened to meet the guys and several other members of the team on a trip out to Los Angeles in 2022.

We kept in touch, and in February 2023, I decided to join Publish full-time. It was a big change for me: not only was it my first “real” job—which I qualify as coming with a W2—but it also marked my first opportunity to really sink my teeth into a growth stage startup, after working with several early-stage companies (including my own) over the years.

And grow it did. I believe the newsletter was hovering at a little under fifty thousand subscribers when I came on board. Now, it’s over 130,000, a number that still blows me away every day.

It felt like the right time to move on. I learned a lot over the last two years, about working across a team and never missing a send. I spearheaded the launch of the team’s first (and second) print zine, collaborating closely with Colin to turn it into a reality. I had the opportunity to appear on the flagship show nine times, including on the YouTube channel once. And I spoke at several conferences, including two VidCons and one Publish event.

So much has happened in even just the last twelve months alone, too. At this time last year, Vicky and I were gearing up to move out to Los Angeles so that I could work out of Colin and Samir’s studio in Venice every day. Now, she lives on an entirely different continent.

I’ll save more thoughts for when they come into focus, but if you’ll indulge me, I wanted to take some time to highlight what I believe is the best work to come out of my time at Publish—a public portfolio of sorts. Maybe you’ve already read (or listened to) it all; maybe this is the first time you’ve ever heard of Publish, or didn’t realize I worked elsewhere; maybe you have zero interest whatsoever. But when you’re publishing a newsletter three times a week like I’ve been doing, it’s easy to forget just how much stuff you’ve put out into the world, and I always like to approach these big inflection points in life with a modicum of intentionality.

Without further ado, here’s my Top Ten Favorite Publish Press Stories…

10. Creators Take Capitol Hill (March ‘23)

In retrospect, it’s kind of wild that a month into my new job, I found myself in a media scrum at the Capitol.

I’d never really done that before. As I looked to my left and right, seasoned journalists from the biggest outlets in the world were covering the potential TikTok ban as it really kicked into high gear. Given I was living in DC at the time (which isn’t exactly a creator economy hotbed), for me, it was really just a good excuse to hop on the Red Line and say what’s up to some creators (read here).

9. How Creators Made CDs Cool Again (January ‘24)

It’s always a treat talking to singer-songwriter and YouTube creator Mary Spender, and I appreciate how effectively she’s able to articulate the modern state of the music business.

If you know me, then you know that I’m bullish on the untapped potential of physical media moving forward. This story was a great opportunity to dive into a successful use case in action (read here).

8. The Quietest Creator Product (January ‘24)

Basketball creators In The Lab (ITL) sold 15,000+ sound-free basketballs in only six months—all with a YouTube channel under one million subscribers.

It’s been cool watching them prove how you don’t have to be the biggest creator in the world in order to build a great product. You just have to know your audience really well. And ITL certainly does: kids and adults who want to work on their handles at home and at school without pissing off their parents and bosses, respectively.

ITL sent me a silent basketball in September, and I couldn’t help but dribble it around the studio constantly (read here).

7. Are Politicians Paying for Creators’ Endorsements? (September ‘24)

artwork by one moy zhong

A major talking point coming out of this year’s presidential campaign was that it was the first “podcast election” or “influencer election.” This was because both Trump and Harris consistently shunned interviews with traditional media outlets in favor of softball conversations with favorable creators.

One under-the-radar element to this narrative: unlike most influencer marketing, campaign finance laws are regulated by the Federal Election Commission (FEC), not the FTC. And when the FEC last updated its rules on “technological modernization” in December 2023, the commission declined to clarify whether creators need to disclose if they’re paid to post organic content about political candidates.

I had a couple off-the-record conversations with insiders that hinted at the fact that super PACs spent millions of dollars on creator endorsements this cycle. If the government decides not to close this loophole (which is very likely given Trump weakened the FEC during his last administration), it appears that creators will play an increasingly relevant role in politics in the years to come (read here).

6. Exploring Tokenization on YouTube with F.D Signifier (January ‘24)

In this wide-ranging interview, I spoke with the video essayist and one of the most recognizable faces of “BreadTube”—a reference to an informal group of creators whose commentary videos argue in favor of left-wing ideas.

F.D is a former PhD candidate in sociology, and he’s unafraid of tackling big topics and breaking them down for his YouTube audience. We dove into how he balances advocacy work with producing entertainment (read here).

5. Creators on Creators: Cleo Abram x Johnny Harris (June ‘24)

I first met Cleo Abram when I interviewed her for Edition.3 of Creator Mag in 2022. She was several months into launching her new channel after leaving Vox; now, she has a real shot of closing in on five million (!!) subscribers by the end of the year.

It’s always a tumultuous time for journalism, yet the “media apocalypse” at the beginning of 2024 felt different. Therefore, it was a privilege to host (and sit in on) this conversation about the state of the industry between Cleo and Johnny Harris—two of the brightest video journalists not just on YouTube, but across the industry, period (read here, listen here).

4. The Quiet Battle for the Soul of YouTube (June ‘23)

photos by zach phillipy, design work by moy zhong

Over the last several years, an upstart group of young creators started the #YouTubeNewWave—a movement I had a chance to document at Creator Camp ‘23 in Park City, Utah.

It’s been amazing watching all of these creators blossom ever since, and I count several of them as genuine friends. Oddly enough, I’ve found myself back in Utah twice this year. It’s a beautiful state! (read here)

3. Inside Nebula, the Creator-Owned Streaming Service (March ‘24)

Around the studio, everyone always joked that I was the guy they called on to explain what Nebula is. Luckily, the company’s CEO, Dave Wiskus, did it for me here.

Whenever I talk to Dave, I find that our conversations run long but are never devoid of interesting side tangents to explore. I enjoyed getting to take one of those conversations, chop it up, and produce it as a podcast (listen here).

2. Unpacking #PatientsNotPatents with John Green (July ‘23)

This was the first time I spoke with John, and what wild timing it was. The veteran creator and bestselling author had just pulled off a viral campaign to fight Big Pharma—not only taking over Twitter, but also accomplishing his campaign’s goal in the process.

I find all of John and Hank’s work to be incredibly inspiring, and I think a lot of creators can learn from them in regards to mobilizing their communities for good. The last quote he shared has stuck with me ever since:

“[My nonprofit work] is a big part of what has allowed me to sustain a 17-year career as a creator on YouTube.

The views go up, the views go down. The likes go up, the likes go down. And it's easy to feel like your value as a person is growing or shrinking.

But gosh, when you're worrying about the reality of injustice in this world, the importance of those views just shrinks. And the thing that you're grateful for is to be able to encourage and accompany and work with people who are changing the world every day.”

I’ve spent a lot of time talking to the Greens and those around them this year. More to come soon 👀 (read here)

1. The Year Creators Went Hollywood (June ‘24)

photo by taiga fukuyama

At the end of 2023, I packed up the car and moved out to Los Angeles. Around that time, the film industry began to experience an identity crisis.

In January, I started to explore the past, present, and future of Hollywood’s collision course with YouTube. What I found over several months (and a dozen interviews with creators and industry insiders) might not fit the cut-and-dry narrative you'd think.

This story served as the cover for our second print zine at Publish, and it’s probably one of my favorite things I’ve ever written. There were lots of Sunday afternoons spent working in coffee shops in order to make it happen, but when I look back at the final product, I can’t help but feel like it was all worth it.

And I certainly believe that the underlying thesis of the piece is only going to get increasingly more relevant! As Josh Scherer, the host of YouTube cooking show Mythical Kitchen, told me:

“Everything’s TV and TV is nothing, right? Forty percent of our views now are coming from big-screen TVs, and, like, forty-eight percent are coming from phones. So everything’s sort of amassing into one organic globule called ‘content.’”

If you ever have a chance to check it out, let me know what you think (read here, podcast with Rhett & Link here).

photo by jesse leon

So the big question…what’s next for me?

I’ll have more to share as the New Year approaches. This space will certainly be a part of things moving forward, and I’m thankful for you for tuning in as I move onto this next chapter.

In the meantime, I’d greatly appreciate if you can share this with a friend or family member that you think would enjoy my work. It helps me a lot!

I’m taking this upcoming Sunday off, but I hope everyone has a fantastic Thanksgiving. I’ll be back in your inbox soon enough 📬

Thanks for reading! Shoot me a reply or DM if anything resonated with you in particular—I respond to them all.