hey guys welcome (back) to my channel

New week, new subscribers, new introduction

There are a lot of new email addresses in my subscriber list right now, which is very exciting to see. I quit Twitter in 2024 and for the most part this was a really good decision, but I’d be lying if I said I didn’t miss some of the dopamine rush. I am only human, and if I am sometimes a wild Beast, I cannot help it. It is not my own fault.

Some of you may recognize the quote above as being from a letter Jane Austen wrote to her sister Cassandra. Some of you may not, and that is okay! Maybe you are subscribing to my Substack because you, like me, love Austen. Maybe you found me through another post about books, or my kids being funny, or something satirical about the ridiculous news informing our headlines These Days. Maybe you are here because you know me in real life (please be cool) and are kindly supporting my efforts, and though you like to read, Jane Austen is mostly unknown to you.

If that last descriptor applies, I want to assure you this blog isn’t all Austen, all the time. It is currently summer in the northern hemisphere, and so I am doing a series I call The Summer of Jane Austen (which I started in 2024 when I was trying to earn enough freelance income to go to the Jane Austen Society of North America’s Annual General Meeting). If Austen is really not your thing, you can edit your subscription at amy-collen.com/account and uncheck the option for The Summer of Jane Austen. See below. (Ignore the Best of This Month thing. I don’t do that series anymore but I can’t figure out how to remove it.)

Okay, I hope that was helpful! Now, on to some other Substacky stuff.

Lore Wilbert wrote a really helpful breakdown of how Substack works, for people who just signed up to receive newsletters with an email address and aren’t really sure what exactly is going on with this platform. This is specific to her own website, of course, but it also contains a lot of information about Substack subscriptions in general.

The really short version is that if you entered your email to receive updates from me, you’ll continue to get them! And if you’re wondering what you’ve gotten yourself into, you can start here for a little introductory guide to my site.

The short version about me? I am a voracious reader and the mother of two small boys. I am married to a nerdy history geek who works long hours at a blue-collar job to support our rambunctious little family. I am going back to school as an adult and sometimes I write about that experience.

What can you expect going forward? Well, lots of book-related posts, including the aforementioned Austen-specific ones. You will occasionally get conceptual humor like this and this, and the occasional impassioned stump speech about my personal principles.

And another thing? I am writing a book about Jane Austen and the writing life, and I’m going to begin querying agents very soon. You heard it here first.

As such, I am trying to expand my internet platform, and so if you feel inclined, sharing my website with a friend is one of the very best ways to support me. Publishers look for high numbers on email lists when they are thinking about signing a contract with a debut author, and by adding yours—and letting your friends know—you are helping me get one step closer to your local bookstore.

Thanks for being here.

Yours in the margins,

Amy