My substack Newsletter
Going into the New Year, you’ll soon notice a few changes on the site, which I’m in the process of sprucing up. On the Home page you’ll be able to see posts, from the most recent ones, to all the recipes on the blog by categories. In addition, there will be a dedicated space that features Paris tips, including my favorite restaurants, bakeries, wine bars, shops, and outdoor markets.
A bigger change is that I’m expanding my newsletter, which I started in 2006/2007, and am writing more stories and sharing more recipes there. The blog will evolve, along with the new design, as I move forward.
Since I started the blog, over the years, it has changed and evolved. Along with that, the technology to publish a post or recipe on the site has shifted radically. Some of it has been great: I used to have to write blog posts in HTML code, which meant (literally) eleven keystrokes just to write an é, and total of seventeen if I wanted to italicize it as é. Imagine how my hands (and head) felt after typing crème brûlée and crème fraîche. It was indeed a glorious day when I no longer had to write in code…!
But now there’s filling in “fields” with keywords, writing meta-descriptions to describe a post in a short, catchy phrase for Google, and sharing posts on social media as most of us stopped using RSS readers to keep us updated on our favorite blogs. I’ve been avoiding it for the past year, but I also need to learn a new editing and writing system for publishing blog posts and have a six-page “cheat sheet” someone gave me on how to do that. (I’ve also bookmarked a 1 hour, 2-minute tutorial video on how to use the new system, too.) I haven’t done either, as watching an hour-long video sounds like devoir (homework), and isn’t high on my list of “…things that spark joy.” Hence the move to writing stories and sharing recipes on my Substack newsletter.
I’m also evolving my blog and newsletter for personal reasons: It’s time to consolidate and revise a few things in my life to focus on what I enjoy doing the most. (And with all due respect to the kind woman who shared her knowledge on YouTube, 1 hour, 2-minute video tutorials aren’t high on that list.) I’ve enjoyed the comments people have left here on the blog (and have replied to 7,063 of them), but I’ve been fielding comments and DMs coming in from all sides, including Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, and email, and can’t keep up. I’ve missed exploring Paris and writing about things going on in the city, and want to go back to that. So after twenty+ years of writing the blog, I am feeling refreshed and excited about the newsletter, where I am writing more candidly* – which is reader-supported, rather than ad-supported.
As always subscriptions to my newsletter will continue to be free, and there is also a paid version for those who’d like additional content. All subscribers get my Favorite Bakeries and Pastry Shops in Paris guide (the link arrives in your confirmation email), and subscribers can upgrade their subscription at any time…whatever feels right for you.
If you’d like a paid subscription, you can take 20% off the annual rate through January 5th, 2022 at this link only.
I’ll still be sharing blog posts here from time to time, likely focusing on Paris tips and stories, but I’m heading over to my newsletter and I hope you’ll join me there!
A Few Words and FAQs About the Newsletter
-Once you subscribe to the newsletter, you will receive a confirmation email. If you don’t get a confirmation email shortly after subscribing, check your spam folder as it may end up there. If your email program has a filter, you may wish to add davidlebovitz.substack.com to it and direct those messages to your Inbox.
-If you find you’re not getting the newsletters, you can go here and follow the instructions to verify if you’re subscribed.
-You can also go to the newsletter Home page and see the newsletters archived there. Free subscribers will see most of the posts, and Paid subscribers will see all posts unlocked. Newsletter archives will always be available to subscribers. Note that newsletters are published throughout the month so once you subscribe, it may take several days, like the blog, for the next one to arrive. (You can check the archives to see when the last newsletter went out.)
-If you currently subscribe to have blog posts emailed to you, the newsletter posts will now come to you the same way. (You can read the Substack privacy policy here.) If you’d like to Unsubscribe, you can do so at any time using the link at the bottom of the newsletters.
-You’ll receive a message about a week before your subscription expires letting you know it’s time to renew.
*One story I’ve been writing about in my newsletter, for those who have been following, is that we may be moving. Yikes! I know I said that I’d never do it again, but…I’m doing it again.
We’ve been looking at places and I’ve been posting about those experiences here and here in my newsletter, and have some upcoming newsletters (with lots of photos) that I’m going to post of the often-asked-for renovation of my current place. So if you want to follow along, you can do so in my newsletter.
