Working with the Chimp | Authors Alliance

"Last year Authors Alliance turned to a cartoon monkey, MailChimp, to handle our email. The chimp had more to offer than we realized, and through them we gained an unexpected view of fame, ca 2015, and the hidden virtue of sharing stuff for free. At year’s end MailChimp was celebrated with the breakthrough podcast it sponsored, Serial, true crime journalism from public radio. Both chimp and reporters were embedded in the online chatter of fans (more than 5 million listeners) and the Saturday Night Live parody (more than 12 million viewers). The adage that “time, perseverance, and ten years of trying will eventually make you look like an overnight success” could have been the New Year’s toast for both the writers and the software entrepreneurs. Serial built on more than a decade of skills developed on public radio, especially This American Life. If you search your email In box for “MailChimp,” you will find that institutions you trust have quietly turned to MailChimp in recent years. This is stimulating history for Authors Alliance because it is another reminder that good writing and inspired ways of sharing work can be, in the long run, the way to standout. Serious writers deserve all that the market will provide as they reach their first audience, readers we may all hope will be renewed for years. But when that audience yields no real commercial benefit to author or publisher, it is time to embrace the MailChimp idea of 'freemium' ..."