Right Decision by Left Cartoonist
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Sometimes you just have to up and walk away.
When you are a political cartoonist your two sources of wherewithal are brains and hands. When limitations are put on what your mind can think creative people, for their own mental health, must leave.
So Ann Telnaes left. Which may be the best decision she has ever made.
The Telnaes talent was reason for her recent (and second) Pultizer Prize win. She is undeniably one of the best political cartoonists in the world, her blistering ideas flowing from her mind’s eye to her artistic hand with fantastic designs and sure lines.
Her brave choice to walk away from a steady paycheck was also a very small part of that win. Even The Pulitzer Board agreed with The Pulitzer Judges who mentioned the departure in their decision:
a fearlessness that led to her departure from the news organization after 17 years.
But aside from being mentally healthy and creatively freeing it seems the decision to leave was a healthy choice in another way, which she had no idea would happen. From Ann’s Open Windows Substack:
…and some more great news! Due to you all, my Substack Open Windows has reached 100,000 subscribers!!
Is Ann Telnaes making far more money now than she did at WaPo?
… she may be far better off without [The Washington Post].
Noting that Ann now has 100,000 Substack subscribers Mike does some quick math.
… if everyone paid for a subscription at $80/year or $8/month she would gross perhaps $8,000,000 to a maximum of $9,600,000.
From Substack: 10% [fee] of each transaction
From Stripe: Credit cards
A credit card fee (2.9% + $0.30 per transaction fee) and a Billing fee for recurring subscriptions (0.7% for recurring payments as of July 2024).
If only 10% pay to subscribe to Ann’s Open Windows her abandoning the WaPo was a good move.
If 50% her 100,000 followers are paid subscribers then it was a very good choice.
And more power to her!
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