Bad News: Advertising Works!

It seems many of you lovely readers found your way here via an ad in Anne Kadet’s wonderful New York-themed newsletter, Café Anne. Welcome!

For the uninitiated, here’s some backstory. Last fall Anne debuted a Classified Section for her newsletter and launched an ad contest where the winner would receive free placement in an upcoming issue. In typical Anne fashion, she encouraged absurdity and said she hoped the ads would become an “extremely entertaining” part of her weekly posts.

I’m ridiculous and thirsty an extremely entertaining person, so I whipped up the following missive and sent it to her.

Madness Beckons

Do you feel good about yourself? Are you sexually satisfied? Do you believe people are intrinsically decent? Field Research can help. After just a few weeks of reading Substack’s least popular humor newsletter you’ll realize everything sucks, life is meaningless, and you’re destined to die sad and alone. Why delay the inevitable? Sign up now.

Of course, I recognized this ad had zero chance of winning the contest and simply hoped Anne would find it amusing. She did, my blurb never ran, and that was that.

But then, in early January, Anne told me she needed an ad for her next issue and wondered if I’d still be interested in publishing it. I was, she did, and you people made your choices.

By the way, Café Anne is a delight, and by far the cheapest and least rat-infested way to experience NYC every week. Sign up HERE.

Author's note: My old newsletter was titled Field Research and housed on Substack.