Five Year Anniversary of After Dinner Conversation!
Philosophy Ethics Short Story Literary Fiction
Five Year Anniversary
Five years ago the website went live, with a total paid staff and unpaid volunteers of exactly one…just me. And a belief that the world needed a place for people to have reasonable and respectful conversations.
It’s hard to even list all the changes that have happened in the last five years. We are now a print and digital magazine, with syndication partners. We are in hundreds of library locations, at least. We have a volunteer staff of about 100 people, with a very hardcore group of half a dozen people who work on the magazine every day.
We have themed books, best of books, season books, a substack, two podcasts, lesson plans for teachers… Between, free and paid short stories, we have had our stories downloaded over 250,000 times in the last five years. Plus another 25,000 podcast listens. Our substack stories regularly gets 7,500 reads per week.
We are a nonprofit that submits regularly for arts grants. Have a large and enthusiastic social media following. We now get about 150-200 submissions for publication every month to sort through…
We are available for subscriptions on our website, but also Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Libby, Overdrive, and about 20 other places. Just recently I noticed Walmart even sells our eBooks online.
Mostly, if I’m being honest, it’s all just work. Day after day, work. And I couldn’t be happier to do it. Here’s to five more years.
Thank you to everyone who works at the publication; to our subscribers, to the donors, and to our great volunteers. This all matters. And it happens because of you.
Kolby Granville - Editor
Yes, this is a positive trend. No, we can’t yet afford to pay anyone (including myself) that works on the magazine.
