Jonathan Thomas (00:00)
Welcome back to the Anglotopia podcast. Hi everybody. So this week is a big week for Anglotopia and so this is a special podcast. Very special. I know we've been promising podcasts with guests, but this is the last of the special podcast. The guests are coming next week. We promise. There wasn't a podcast released last week because of what we're going to talk about today. It's a very good reason for that. So like I said, this is the

biggest thing that Anglotopia has done in its 17 year history and it's a fundamental change that we hope will usher in a new era for Anglotopia. And so the too long didn't read version is that we have launched a Friends of Anglotopia club and we're gonna talk all about what that is, what that means for the website, what that means for the content we release and all that wonderful stuff.

But first, what kind of tea do we have in teapot today? Yeah, so today we are doing... What's today's brew? We're doing Cornish Smuggler's Tea. Did we do that last time? I don't remember. It's like one of your favorites, so that makes sense. So if you're listening, please excuse the tea pouring noise. We're doing this after lunch, so which is... We normally drink Cornish tea after lunch. Yeah, it's a nice one for the afternoon. Not too much caffeine, but just enough.

Just enough to give you that little oomph to get through the rest of the day. I am desperate for tea right now. Are you? Is that why you were very cranky as we got ready? So he needed tea. Perfect. Well, so while Jon is sugaring his tea. Non -sugar sweetener. Okay. you have been a really busy guy.

the past couple of weeks getting the Friends of Anglotopia Club up and running. So, do you want to dive into like, what is this or how do you want to talk about this? Yeah. So I think the easiest way to explain it is it's like Patreon or Substack, except we're running it ourselves. We're not using Patreon. Correct.

for lots of reasons. The main reason is that when you give control of your business over to someone like Patreon, you are giving them control over your destiny. That makes us uncomfortable. Well, I mean, without, I really don't want to like go into it, go into it, but between Google and Facebook and like we've been burnt that way so many times. So this is one of those where we want to.

Yeah, do this ourselves. Yeah, we want to we wanted to be methodical about it and think about it and how how will this best work for us because the new trend in online the online creator verse is that you subscribe to them somehow whether it's on patreon sub stack with a newsletter or on Facebook with their subscription program or Instagram what there's like but we don't want to give that control to everybody so we're using anybody to anybody so what we wanted to we wanted to control the whole experience because that's what

the Anglotopia readers kind of expect from us. Well, and it's got to be... It's got to be good. When any time you interact with Anglotopia, whether it's on social media, the website, or Friends of Anglotopia Club, it's got to be a prime experience. Like, the very best. And you're... and when you interact with these things, you're interacting directly with us. Yes. There's nobody in the middle. And so we didn't want to put somebody in the middle. Correct. And so...

So what is it? Like we keep talking about Friends of Anglotopia What is the Friends of Anglotopia Club? So it is essentially, it's a paid membership where you pay a monthly fee or a yearly fee. And our goal with it is to remove Google ads from Anglotopia and eventually London -Topia. And I'll get, we'll get to that in a second. So what you get in the club is,

So the main feature is what we're calling the Sunday Post. And the Sunday Post will be a article that is available exclusively to Angletopia Club members released every Sunday on Friends of Angletopia members. Because I don't want to confuse people. Yeah. On the Friends of Angletopia member site and in your email inbox. So it's essentially a newsletter. And it's...

Exclusive to club members. So exclusive to club members. And so the Sunday Post every week will be a special essay that we've written about a topic related to British travel, history or culture that we spent a lot of time on. And I've spent the last couple of months queuing up these articles and getting them written. So there's plenty of content to go. And they're they're going to be about.

a nice place or a nice cultural thing or it's a very positive experience and it's very thoughtful and it's very like you could brew a cup of tea and read it and have a nice little experience. And another goal with it is also every month we're gonna we're gonna start if we reach a certain subscription target we'll be able to commission long -form writing about Britain from the various writers we've worked with over the years. So we've worked with some immense talent over the past couple of years.

Past two decades, right? Yeah, it's almost two decades. And so that way Because there's not a really it The reason we started the website is a problem that still exists there's there's still Not that many places celebrating great writing about the culture history and travel in Great Britain A lot of the online newspapers will cover British travel or British culture, but they do it as an afterthought. They're not dedicated to it like we are

And so this allows us to go deeper and to go further than we ever have before in our exploration of British travel history and culture. And so there will be other membership perks that will be available exclusively to members like discounts for British things. So we're working with some of our previous partners to get discounts for members on things.

Members get an exclusive discount, 20 % discount in the Angletopia store to start with. That's worth it. Yeah, that's worth it. I'm going to buy a light box now. Yeah, see? Light box right here. And it's, our main goal is to get to 300 paid members. If we can get to 300 paid members, we can remove the Google ads from Angletopia and eventually London -topia. Now, why would we want to do that?

That's well, hold on before we dive into why we'd want to do that. Cause it's super important. I think we need to make clear the Anglotopia and London Topia will always be free, free, free. You, there is not a paywall to access the sites. They are free. This is something in addition to, so if you're listening and you're going, wait a minute, it's okay. Like everything we,

we share with people other than the discounts in the club will eventually be released later on in Anglotopia. You're essentially getting it first. And so - First with a good bit of time. So it's not like you get it a week before. It's like months. It's like a month before. Yeah. And you'll get podcasts early. There's going to be a private chat room where we can talk about British things and private and safety and security.

the big thing. It's not open to social media. It's not open to anybody else. It'll be only open to members. And because a lot of the the Patreon types and creators, they'll do a Discord. Well, I don't I don't like Discord. And I think Discord would be very confusing for a lot of people. So we're going to do something that's much simpler, but also just as private. Very user friendly. Closed group kind of deal. Closed group. Yeah. So why do we I

I didn't mean to interrupt you, but I felt like that was an important point. But most importantly, why do we want to remove Google Ads from our pages? This is the bit where we talk about the business that is Engletopia, which we don't really talk about it. Stay on the rails though. So since we founded the website, we've had Google Ads on the website. Because initially that was how you monetize a website.

For those who may not know, for a very long time, this was your full -time job. And in recent years, it's still a big portion of the work and the income that you bring in. You do some contracting work as well on the side, but this feeds our family. Yeah. And I've always loved Google Ads because they were unobtrusive and when you run a business, things are very unreliable as far as income.

goes with cash flow and everything. But Google ad money would show up on the same day every month so we could count on it every month. Well, and it was usually a range like a comfortable range of funds. So we wouldn't like you never count the money until it's like deposited. But we would have a good idea of what was coming. Well, 10 years ago was enough to support us. Exactly. It's not enough anymore. Not even close. Not.

I don't think we can do groceries on it now, which is insane. Yeah, I think it pays our, it pays us some of our key costs like hosting and our email newsletter and stuff. Yeah. And because the, because the revenue has declined substantially from Google and which has been fine because it's like, well, we, we make money other ways with telling the imported products and all that. But the, the biggest problem though is because Google ads have become much more unprofitable for publishers like us.

Google has made them the experience awful. And they're more obtrusive. They're more obtrusive. They're like flashing and they're like, they can sometimes overlap text if you're on mobile. Well, they take over your whole screen. There's like, there's ones with countdowns. There's ones where they make you wait to read an article. Not a prime reading experience. No, it's a terrible reading experience. And the, in a,

Whenever we post our new articles, we always get comments people like I can't read this article These ads are terrible and like well We can't remove the ads because we need the ads to pay for important business costs but all at the other hand like they're making the website worse and We hated that and so this has been in development for a couple years to figure out a way for us to get rid of these ads and so To get rid of the ads we need we need more direct support from our from the

Friends of Angotopia. Correct. And so. But we also knew that it's not just right. We're getting rid of the ads. So it's a prime reading experience. But at the same time, we can't say, well, we want to get rid of the ads and offer nothing in return because it has to be something for you, the reader and listeners and, you know, fans of what we do. Like there's there's got to be value there for you. And we understand that. Right. And.

It's about, so this is about creating extra value. So now the goal is we need at least 300 members to remove the ads for everybody. And then in return for that, for your membership, which is $6 a month or $64 a year, which you save 10 % if you sign up for the year, there's also custom options where you can pledge whatever you like, which have people have chosen.

We actually had somebody pledge a hundred dollars a month for a year, which is so, you know who you are. I'm not going to call you out because that's not appropriate, but just want to say an abundant thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you for your support, your vote of confidence. just wow. We've been blown away. Yeah. So we launched this last Friday. Hence why we didn't have a podcast because we were launching the club last Friday. We wanted to see how it went before we.

so we could talk about it in context. And the overwhelming, because it's like this response in my inbox has been positive. People are like, this is great. We're so glad you're doing this. We're happy to do this, which is great. Because it's - Because nobody wants to play with Google. I shouldn't say nobody. Most people. I think the shine has worn off. And like we were saying earlier, it's about giving away control. And you give away control to Google to have their ads on your website. And it's creating a bad experience for everybody. And -

We got one email, someone was like, well, I never see ads on your website. What are you talking about? And I'm like, well, a lot of people have ad blockers installed. okay. And if you have an ad blocker installed, you never see the ads, but that's kind of a workaround because then, you know, the ads aren't being shown, we don't earn any revenue at all. So this is a way for people, if you enjoy what we're publishing and what we're doing, and you want more and more in depth, longer form.

So this is a way to support Angotopia in doing that. And it's very similar to when we had a magazine a few years ago, where we had the magazine, we could commission long form articles about Britain that were very popular with the readers and very popular on the website when we eventually published them on the website. And unfortunately, the economics of...

Running a print magazine. Running a print magazine. Just do not add up. That were shipped internationally. Well, on a small scale, just it was not working. So we had to shutter the magazine a few years ago. This is kind of a this is a new thing. This is a a new way to where our. It's essentially a digital magazine. Yeah, it's essentially. Yeah, it's kind of think of it as a digital magazine, except you're going to get it every every Sunday in your inbox and occasionally some something else special will arrive in your inbox.

and it's all available in a special members only area of the website. But we want to be very clear, though. We're not going to like spam Friends of Anglotopia's inbox. Like, we respect your inbox. Like, yeah, we will only send club communications and we'll try to put, you know, new information and news about club stuff in the Sunday Post rather than sending special emails because we we all get too much email. Exactly. And we're already sending the weekly newsletter.

for London -topia and Anglotopia. So we send a lot of email as it is. This is a special thing. It's only going to a small number of people. Or hopefully a large number of people. Hopefully a large number of people. So, I mean. But you have to sign up for it. We could share. Since we launched, we have just about 50 members so far. So we've been blown away. Yeah. So that is a great start. I mean, a really strong start. And hopefully.

This continues on because I don't think either of us will miss Google. Yeah. And I don't think our readers will either. So, and it's a, this is a long -term investment in the future of the website because if we get enough people to sign up and create a sustaining momentum with the website, with regular revenue from, and replacing these ads, we're going to be a lot healthier and we can do a lot more than we're doing now. Correct. So I don't want to, but I don't want to over promise cause we, that we don't.

We get in trouble that that No, no, no. So. Yeah, you know, I think it's interesting that the club is has launched right around Inglotopia's Anglotopia's birthday. Yeah. So 17 years that's I feel like in a lot of ways, Inglotopia Anglotopia my first child. Yeah. Like our most challenging child, Inglotopia. Anglotopia. Yeah. So.

We celebrated our 17th birthday on May 26th. Yep. Which was... 17 years online. Which was a Sunday on a holiday weekend. So that's why we didn't launch it on the birthday. We wanted to launch it on the birthday, but you can't launch something on a Sunday. So we did this week instead. And yeah, it's, you know, we started in a closet in Chicago. Have you ever shared that story? I, I, I...

Probably it's been so long though. You should share if people haven't heard it before or you're listening in for the first time like How did you start in Anglotopia? I'm going to deep history here. Well, not too deep people don't have all day, but so What I granted at the time What year was it Jon? It is 2007 2007 and I have just even know it was on the charts in 2007. It's all I know we're I was in college I

You I had finished. Yeah, I still had a semester. I think I had a semester or two left. So I just graduated from Purdue University with a degree in English. Boiler up! With a degree in English because, you know, me. Yeah, this situation. And I was looking for a job. Yep. And didn't quite know what I was going to do or where we were going to go or we're going to be moving and all that.

But we eventually, what happened is we, I got a job with a company in a Northern Chicago suburbs. And so we moved to Chicago. Cause that was a requirement. They required that I be in Chicagoland. Yep. And so we moved from Indiana to Chicago to a tiny apartment that had a one bedroom and one closet. Like, but it was a, it was a walk -in closet. Like not big enough to be a bedroom. You could have maybe got a twin bed in there. But it just fit my desk. Yeah.

Yeah, the desk you still have, which is incredible. Yeah, the desk I still have, because that's the perfect desk. I would never trade it for anything. Yeah. So if it just fit my desk and... And that was kind of the trade off because we moved into the neighborhood I wanted to move into in Chicago. And as opposed to had like we'd been in a suburb and that kind of thing where we maybe would have had a little more room. So the trade off was, OK, if we pick the apartment I want,

you could have this spare room or closet as an office. And so it was a good compromise. And so we, I couldn't find a website that, that, that I was looking for that covered all things British the way I was, I wanted to find. And so. Well, there was the website. It wasn't comprehensive, but was it London town? Yeah. That was for travel. Yeah. For travel. Which I liked, but in.

which is no longer around. Yeah, but that was London centric. Yeah. And so I was always like, I can't find anybody talking about Doctor Who or British TV shows. I like, like, this is a miss. There's gotta be an opportunity there. And so I was like, well, I was a very tech guy, computer guy. I built my own computers and all that. I was like, well, I'll build the website then I'll build it. And so.

Back in 2007. Yeah, so in that little closet in Chicago, I started building Angotopia using iWeb on my Mac. Ha! Does that even exist? Still? I don't think so. Okay. I was thinking like blogger or something. But I didn't know how to build a website. So like it still didn't do what I wanted to do and I didn't get it right. But you were learning. So, but I'm getting into the weeds. So eventually we found WordPress. Yeah.

which WordPress is revolutionized online publishing. I mean, I think 50 % of the global websites now run on WordPress. And because it's an, as an online publishing platform where you literally type it in and publish it and it's on the web. Okay. You know, but back on the rails. So it's 2007. You started this domain name, Angle, topia .net. Yeah. Cause .com was not available at the time. I now own the .com just so everybody knows.

Okay. And so we started it and here I started my job after college and I was going to work. You were going back. I was finishing my degree. You were going back and forth in Indiana to finish your degree and so I'm sitting in there. And working in Chicago and it was crazy. You could only be 22 when these things are going on. Exactly. Exactly. Because it's just too much. I can't imagine the energy we had, right? gosh. If I had like three or four days with 22 year old energy, I would.

As we as we desperately sip our tea for the caffeine hit and so I you know and you know We're post college. I have my first job out of college and we're not making any money like no like I'm at an entry -level salary I'm driving two hours a day even though we live nearby like Yeah, there was never enough money. So I'm like, well I'm gonna make money with my blog and she looked at me like I was like I was Like I was insane

Well, I just didn't understand how like, because keep in mind folks again, 2007, this is such a new concept. Like how do you monetize a blog? Now you don't start a blog without a path to monetization. Like what? But I think it's, yeah. So we stayed in the apartment for a little over a year and then we moved new job, moved back to Indiana. You got more money.

More money. Learned more about the internet and marketing. That was the key thing. Got pregnant. Yeah. with our son and you were working another, you had moved jobs again and still growing the website. And we were getting to that point, like right before our son was born where you were like, Jack, I think. 2011. Yeah. 2011. I think this could be a thing. Like I think this could make some money. And I think. Well, by, by when I was.

Right before he was born, I was just starting to make more money from the website than I was from my job. Yes, and so that conversation happened. Like, I think maybe within the next six months to a year, we're going to make this jump. And, you know, we were, like I said, expecting our first baby and I'm like, I'm sorry, you're going to do what? Like, OK, I love you.

I was just terrified. So then a bunch of things happened like that. Now it's like all that happening so close together is like mind -boggling. But yeah. So William and Kate set their wedding date and yes. And I was our son was born. No, not yet. Not yet. No, he was. He was he was born right before the wedding. Okay, sorry. I'm sorry. So they set the wedding date and then I wasn't like I had no

grand designs to go cover the wedding. But then like a few weeks after the date was set that autumn, I started getting emails from the BBC, the BBC. They're like, are you coming? We'd like to interview you live on TV about this. And so as your very beginning brand new PR, I'm like, yes, he's coming. So how are we going to do a plane ticket? How are you? Yes, he's coming. So suddenly I'm going to this and you're going to be.

interviewed on international television for like the event of the year, if not the decade, right? And so like learning how to media coach you and cause my degree is in public relations. How to get your business to pay for things when it can't. And you know, make sure your camera ready, well rehearsed because after they set the date,

Our son was born. Yeah. So he was born a few weeks before the wedding. And I now I couldn't travel with you. And then right after like three weeks after he was born, I lost my job. I got laid off. Yeah. And very inconvenient timing. Yeah. With a newborn. And you called me from the commuter bus. This is where she's a hero. I'm not a hero. He called me from the commuter bus.

I was working in Chicago. And he was like, babe, you're never going to believe what just happened. I just got laid off. And I swear to God, it was one of those out of body experience where my mind was saying one thing like, how are we going to buy diapers and formula and rent and all, you know, all the things that you go through. Right. And but what came out of my mouth was.

Congratulations, it's the first day you work for Anglotopia. And when he got home, like I don't remember exactly what I did, but I know I did something special and small because right now we don't have a paycheck, but, or I should say a traditional paycheck, right? And literally the next morning you got up and you were like, I was like, have a nice day at work, honey, as you know, you shut the door to the Anglotopia office, which was in our basement.

in that house and got to work. And it was our full time, both of our full times for almost 10 years. Exactly. And it would, you know, I think what's incredible about the way that Anglotopia grew is that there was so much that we learned by doing, right? There were really incredible, I mean, we've had some of the most incredible

incredible life experiences thanks to Anglotopia where we've had access to things in Britain as we've traveled part unbelievable partnerships and I think it's important to take a moment as we reminisce about Anglotopia and thank some of those strategic partners that Really? I mean we couldn't have done it without them in the earlier

days and we still deeply value those partnerships. Visit Britain. Yeah. British Airways. British Airways has been just incredible, incredible to Anglotopia and we are so grateful for their partnership over the years. Just unbelievable. BBC. You know, you not only did you do the first wedding,

But then you went back and did the second wedding and we like, think about it. Where was it? Was it St. Paul's where we did the private tour?

Where they gave us they let us take pictures like up in the rafters. Where was that? St. Paul's that was a poor you tour the Triforium tour What am I trying to say the house our head we got all that private tour of Stourhead as Anglotopia just yeah, I mean incredible access to things and we are so

unbelievably foundations are one of our most valuable partners exactly and i know we have like we have tons of partners and we're not even scratching the surface so if we don't mention you yeah thank you thank you thank you we didn't plan to talk about this so i didn't make a list so but thank you but over the years yeah and thank you you know we've we've always fought to be considered a serious publication and we're there people people respect

Angletopia as a publication. It opens doors for us that we never thought would open. And that's the kind of the as we circle back around with the goal of the club is that by joining the club and helping sustain us the business, not us personally, correct. You will allow us to do more of these amazing things that we actually have been able to do a lot in the last few years. Well, there was a global pandemic. Yeah.

So, you know, we, 2018 was kind of like our high point where I had gone to England four times that year. That was crazy. That was wild. And then, but it was serendipitous though, because what we didn't foresee, because how could anybody foresee is that it would be a really long stretch of time before global travel started again. And the content that you got,

And we're able the experiences you had like exactly exactly and so the quivers empty as they say now we need to go back we do we do and eventually that will happen but That's that's one thing we want to make clear About the Friends Club is it's not like a travel slush fund for us to go on vacation This is this money is for operations. It's for

Maintaining the website it's for keeping our email newsletter going it's for because there are fixed costs there are fixed costs that we have to pay every month to keep everything going well and at the global scale that it is because it's not that sweet Humble little blog. No and I clean the closet in Chicago We know we get several million visitors on the website a year and that I don't want to get into the weeds of Web server infrastructure, but you know

It takes, there's a lot on the backend that nobody ever sees when you read Anglotopia that keeps things going. And this is, that's what the Google ad money paid for. And that's what we want this money to pay for once we reach the target we need to reach. And then one, I just, I'm super pumped because now that we have almost 50 members, like it feels like the number is achievable.

And it is. It absolutely is. Like the day I get to go in the back end of the website and remove the code for the Google Ads is going to be such an exciting day. We might have to like live stream that somewhere. Well, I don't know if we're going to live stream code. Maybe I'll do it like from the front of the computer. Like, there we go. They're off. So, Yeah, so.

We kind of want to address some questions that we have gotten or that we think we're going to get. Okay. About the Anglotopia Club? About the club. Yes. Okay. Not like, what's your favorite thing to do on a Saturday evening, Jon? Watch a British movie, of course. Well, that was a given, but - Or like last night, watch Game of Thrones. No, we didn't watch. It wasn't - Okay. Anyway, we're getting into the weeds. Sorry folks. Nobody cares about what we watched on TV last night. They like the banter. Okay.

Anyway, so what are some common questions that we've received about the Friends of Anglotopia Club? So, we're not putting up a paywall on Anglotopia. Yeah, we talked about that. So we should reiterate. Yeah, it's we're not a lot. We're like, you know, when you think of a paywall, I think of the New York Times where you go to their website and like you want to read an article and you've got to you've got to pay immediately to read. We're not doing that. We're not doing that. So no most of the

Most of the website is going to continue to be free. So the club content will be behind this, this, this paywall, essentially, but it'll be time so that it eventually it becomes available to everybody for free. So what you're paying, what you're paying for as a member is the exclusivity of getting it first before everybody else and getting an insight into how we think and how we write and, and how, how we think about Britain.

Well, not only that, it's about the ability to provide long form content. And what we mean by long form content is a whole article, not a blog post. Yeah. Like think about like a National Geographic magazine and you pick up a... Do they even still print that? I think they just announced they've stopped printing the magazine. my gosh.

Okay, a long form article that's like five or six pages that you, it's like a deep dive. Above a thousand words at least. Exactly. With several pictures of the subject. Pretty pictures, not just stock pictures. Is there a screensaver portion to that too? Or no, am I? Do I have something mixed up? No, we're giving away desktop wallpapers for free in our weekly newsletter. Free?

Yeah, so the weekly news favorite price the weekly newsletter. We're giving away a free desktop wall. Sorry got our perks mixed up there because the all the idea will see the People who want to get into marketing. Okay. No the free newsletter is a sales pitch for the paid newsletter. And so nobody wants to do that. Okay and so Questions, okay questions like my gosh. We're like the dog with a squirrel today focus questions.

What is the most common question you've gotten about the Friends of Anglotopia podcast? Or sorry, the club. Friends of Anglotopia club. It's a mouthful. It is. Talk about marketing. But anyway, keep going. Lost my vibe there. Sorry, I know. I just saw your face. Like if you're watching this, like you just had like a deer in the headlights moment. Like, huh? Don't worry, we'll cut this out.

No, we should keep it in. It's hilarious. OK, so some of the questions we've gotten immediately, something we didn't foresee. People wanted to have a custom annual plan. So that's exceptionally cool. So there was when we launched, there was a custom monthly plan where you could set your contribution from $10 and above a month. And several people have done that. Thank you. Thank you, Mom, for doing that.

Yeah, his mom is so sweet. And a couple people wrote in and they were like, well, can I do a custom annual one as well? And so we've added that in. So you can. So you can set a yearly contribution. Which thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Yeah. So and then by by like a 70 % margin, the annual subscription is the most popular thing that people have signed up for.

So you, when you sign up for the annual subscription, you get charged for the year upfront and then you don't get charged again until next year. the monthly sustainers, they get billed every month on the first of the month. after this month. So it's the first of every month. and so our, our sales pitch, the marketing pitch is that it's like the cost of a cup of tea.

It's not like the cost of a cup of tea. It is the same as the cost of a cup of tea. So we're just asking you to buy us a cup of tea. Yep. And when you in exchange for your cup of tea, you you're going to get what four articles a month that will not be available on the website immediately. But and there's a lot more. We keep talking about the articles, but there is so much more to the club and they can visit. Is there is the is the club tab live yet on the website? Not live on the main website, but you can if you.

We'll put a link in the show notes to the announcement post. It has all the perks. Yeah, because we're not like we need to talk about all the perks and we keep talking about the big long articles, which are super cool and beautiful. So and I have this vision of of like getting the the newsletter like on a Sunday morning and like curling up with a, you know, a good cup of tea and a blanket and like just doing a deep dive into.

all things lovely and British. Well here are some more features because I have conveniently pulled up the list on my iPad. I saw you, I got you! So,

See the ads I'm being bombarded with the ads. I want to get rid of them. Okay. Okay. So,

We didn't talk about this. We're going to release new episodes of the podcast two days early to members of the club. So you'll get to hear the podcast before everybody else. Will they be able to watch the podcast too? Yes. so audio and visual. Yes. Perfect. Because of the way we do the podcast now, it's much more planned well in advance. So like these things are done well before release. So it'll make it much easier to share. Okay, we're in the weeds.

but you get it first. and so obviously we publish a lot of books and so, and I'm, I'm always working on the next big book, travel memoir style book. Like we did our memoir about our travel from Lansing and DeNongroats last year. I'm always working on the next book. And so occasionally members will get a look at the books that we're working on. I don't think we have that one behind us right now. No, we don't. Anyway.

And so we'll share an insight into the books we're working on. We'll give you exclusive excerpts and stuff like that. And then you'll get a, you'll be able to anticipate the upcoming releases. So there's not enough time to promote the Bridgerton book that will be released in a few weeks, but you know, we talked about the chat room. You can continue to read AngleTopia ad free in our mobile app, which you can download from the iOS or Google store.

This is a technical -y thing, but it's something a lot of these patron clubs give. We're gonna give you an RSS feed that's private that gives you full read access to the entire website. So that there's no, it's not like if you subscribe by RSS as a normal reader, it's just an excerpt and a link. We'll give you a full feed and you can subscribe to everything and read everything. I haven't set that up yet, so.

It's coming. If you're a member, you'll be notified in the Sunday post. The discounts, we talked about discounts for working on getting some discounts for you. I don't want to say anything. There's a lot in the work. There's a lot in the work. It's going to be worth it. But we had to have members first before we could start approach people like what do you want to offer to our customers? We can't say names. So yeah. So now that we have members, we can say, hey, we've got this pool of people who might be interested in a discount. And so.

Again, we'll notify you in the Sunday post of new discounts. And that's just the beginning. Our goal is to add more perks as this goes on. We just didn't want to promise too much upfront. We wanted to keep it simple and usable and usable. And we want to make sure the flow works because you're you have to, you know, log into this thing and give your credit card, which is it's a lot of people. And just to be clear, we never see your credit card information.

So the platform we're using is called Nemberful and they've been around for years. They're a very reputable company. They're actually owned by Patreon, ironically, but it's a separate entity and they don't even see your credit card information. Our credit card processor is the only one in the chain who sees your credit card information. So we do our very best to ensure security. Yeah. And so everything is security compliant with...

all the standards and stuff. Again, these are the technical things that have to happen on the back end that we never talk about because they're boring. So your payment information is secure and you can cancel your subscription at any time. If you cancel the annual, it'll just won't renew the next year. If you cancel the monthly, it cancels that month and you won't get charged again. If you don't want it renewed, you can just turn off auto renewal.

and manually pay every month. But our goal is the default is auto renewal. Well, and I think it's important to note too, is that we are open to feedback. If there's something that our members love and they want to see more of, let us know. If there's something you hate in mass, let us know if something's not working. Yeah, I was I was really surprised. I logged in this morning and there were several lovely comments.

from members on the Sunday post that I sent yesterday. If you're like, this is great. I'm so glad I paid for this. Yay. I love positive feedback. You know, no one has, no one's written something mean. Constructive feedback though is important too. Like we're not, I'm not like asking for the onslaught of negative feedback. Please be constructive in your feedback.

if you have constructive feedback. And we've always been responsive to feedback. We really do try. And you know, this we like to say that Angletopia is a two way conversation because, you know, it's one thing for me to bang on about all things lovely and British, but there's no point if nobody's reading us. And so we have changed many times over the years based on what people want to read, how they want to read it. I mean,

think about it like going full circle. There were no apps when we launched the website. Yeah. In 2007, I think I still had, that was like, that was, that was pre iPhone. That was no, we were just got the first iPhone. Remember? Remember you stood in line for me. Yeah. For eight hours, eight hours. I stood in line. This is a fun addendum to the story. She told, she said, she's like, if you get a job,

right after college like the like as soon as you like just graduated and we were so broke so broke post college she's like as soon as you get a job I will go buy you the iPhone I'll go get it on the day it comes out if you get a job I was like okay I like this deal so I got a job and she had to go stay in his life it was my first day at work no it was the job interview is it where they're making the offer right yep and I literally camped outside the store

And you walked up like, and I had been there all day, like made friends with people. I was in a suit and tie. It's the only time I think I've ever stood in line for a product ever. And you literally walked up at like 10 minutes till they opened the door going, I got the job. And I was like, woo. And then you were like, you can get out of line now. I swear to you. And he went in and got his phone. But anyway, long tangent point is, is that really like,

So much has changed. Yeah. Just even how people read and consume media. And that's why Anglotopia has to change. Yeah. We have, you know, we've, we've had, I don't want to go into the, into the weeds about this, but we've pivoted the business several times over the last 17 years. I mean, we went from an advertising only revenue generator to, we did the t -shirt business, Anglotees for a few years that.

And that was our primary way of making money. Then we had that was like a boom and bust. That was a boom and bust because it was a trend. It was a trend. And then Facebook took away traffic. And so and then we did the imports business, which for a few years, that was really hot. And that's kind of that's kind of tailed off. And we're if you've wondered and wondering where the new imports are, well, we're not really doing that right now. Doesn't mean it won't come back. It won't come back. We're just we're waiting for the right products and the right opportunities. And.

It's well, and I think it's hard. Importing goods is really complicated right now, especially post Brexit. Well, and honestly, we try and offer products that you cannot find elsewhere online because you've got big retailers, eBay and Amazon and that kind of thing where you can get just about anything you want globally. So when we do choose to import a product, it's usually something special. It's something that's a little more difficult to find and that is really unique.

Well, like we're still the only place in the U .S. you can get Cornish tea. So we're going to continue to offer it because people keep buying it. Yeah. So but I think that's an important thing to say. We are still importing some. Yeah, we're just not launching new stuff right now, but that could change. And like I said, like for the right product. Right. Right. Because we I mean, we're the we're the first to admit we were Amazon shoppers. We get everything we want on Amazon. Not everything. We do try and I try and shop local where I can.

But you any British, most British products you can buy on Amazon now. Yeah. If you're in the US. And I like to say I cannot compete with the world's richest man on price. So we don't really want to offer anything you get on Amazon. And so we want to offer special products. Well, and not only that, when you buy and I don't want to like, I don't want to go like too into Amazon. But when you buy from Amazon, you don't necessarily know.

who you're buying from, what you're getting. Like when you buy from a small retailer, let's say a British grocer, and that's all they do is British groceries, right? You know what you're getting. Where as opposed to, you know, buying a loaf of hoviss bread on Amazon, which I don't even know if you could do that, but you don't know how long - I wanna find out. You don't know how long that bread's been there. You don't, like, you just don't know. Like that, that, I would not.

That would be a pass from me. You know, like with Cornish Tea, I love shooting an email over to my contacts at Cornish Tea to place the next order. It's a personal relationship. Yeah. And those are the best ones. And so we, again, we're getting into the weeds, but way into the weeds like we can't even be seen. So like I was saying, we've we've pivoted the business several times over the years and this is just the latest pivot. So, you know, please join the club. Join the club.

It's where all the cool kids are. It's where all the cool Anglophiles are. And we hope that you'll join and you'll continue the conversation and appreciation of all things British that we started 17 years ago. Positive British. Positive. And that's the thing. We are a positive corner of the Internet. Not toxically positive. No. But positive. Positive. Where we celebrate British history, British culture and British travel from an American perspective.

And that's not changed from day one. I mean, all the way through. And our hope is that if we get enough club members, we can make the reading experience on the website better for everybody so that when we do publish our daily articles, you're not being bombarded with ads. You're not having your screen taken over by Google. And it just overall is much better for everybody. So sign our Google, sign our Google. I guess that that will be a happy day. Yes.

I think we have talked enough about this. I think so too. So we're going to wrap it up there. A link to everything will be in the show notes. If you have any questions at all, please leave a comment or please shoot us an email. Happy to answer. And if you're one of our lovely new club members who has already joined, thank you for doing that. You really validated the idea to do this by signing up so quickly and

Like she'll and she'll attest to this I was afraid for months to do to actually launch this because I'm like What if we you know, what if we build it and nobody comes but people started knocking on the door as soon as we launched I have faith in our readers our readers are loyal and they love what you do and they love they love Anglotopia so so thank you for for signing up and joining and I hope that if you haven't signed up that this video helps persuade you that I

You're not supporting a fly by night operation. We've been around for 17 years and we hope to be around for another 17 years longer. Yeah. I was going to say, are you doing something 18 years from now that I don't know? I don't know. So, you know, this is a, it's exciting time for us and I hope that you are come along for the ride. Thank you so much for joining us today. Until next time. Thank you. Bye bye.