How Graham Oliver uses Buttondown

– Tell us a bit about yourself and your background.

My name is Graham Oliver and I'm a teacher at National Taiwan University, a writer, and an editor. I've been teaching for more than ten years, at both the university and high school level. My wife and I have always wanted to live outside the United States, and six years ago we got the chance. We moved to Taipei, thinking of it as a little adventure, that we'd stay there for a couple of years. But two things happened: we loved living in Taiwan a lot more than we thought, and COVID changed our worldview.

– What do you write about in your newsletter?

I started my newsletter at the beginning of 2017, while in grad school for creative writing. I was reading a lot, writing a lot of book reviews, and talking to other writers a lot. The experience was invigorating. So many ideas were floating through my head, and I wanted to capture them for myself as well as share them with friends and family outside of social media. The kinds of things I wanted to say weren't focused enough for articles or essays, and a newsletter seemed more convenient than a blog for the readers I was aiming at.

Then, I graduated, we moved to Taiwan, and my writing shifted focus to that experience. Each month, I try to zoom in on one or two interesting things I've encountered: from my job, to the healthcare system, to making friends, to local traditions, to what it's like to return to the US for a hectic once-a-year trip. In addition, I always share links to neat things I think my reader might like to check out, mostly with some connection to Taiwan but also general good stuff. I try to keep the vibes mostly positive, and I try to write about things that haven't already been written about by a hundred other people.

– Where did you first learn of Buttondown, and what made you decide to give it a try?

My newsletter's first home was TinyLetter, but then MailChimp shut it down, so I was looking for another venue. I ended up spending a year on WordPress, thinking I could use it as a homepage and a newsletter. But it didn't work as well as I wanted to - the newsletter feature had several bugs and unintuitive functions, and honestly I'm not motivated enough to take advantage of the website customization it offers. I also throw my content onto Medium, but its account requirement for access doesn't fit my readers.

So after reading other people's migration experiences, I narrowed it down to Substack, Beehive, Ghost, or Buttondown. Buttondown won quickly - the other three have associations with far-right political content, generative AI, and cryptocurrency that I don't want to support. Additionally, I didn't read anything negative about Buttondown, and the features lined up perfectly with what I wanted to do.

– What are some ways Buttondown has helped you run your email?

Buttondown made importing previous writing from three different platforms seamless. When I had a concern about what would happen to images in those imported articles, they responded quickly and didn't just answer the concern, they fully fixed the issue for me without my asking, beyond what I expected. They've also answered additional little questions I had as I've gotten to know the platform. Finally, they sent little check-in emails the first few months that were wholesome and encouraging.

– What are some things you’d be excited to see Buttondown build in the next few months?

Although I hesitate to say this due to the way too much focus on "discoverability" can ruin a platform, I would love to explore the other people who use Buttondown more easily. I definitely would want it to be an opt-in feature. A tiny thing: I'd also like word count to be viewable without clicking "send"–that makes me so nervous.

– Anything else you’d like to add?

Just hope you stay true to the simple and direct mission that's on your front page, and don't chase after the trends that have made other platforms unpalatable.