How Randall P. Girdner uses Buttondown

– Tell us a bit about yourself and your background.

My name is Randall P. Girdner. I am a teacher, writer, and artist, originally from Oklahoma but now proudly Canadian, who writes novels, makes films, and draws cartoons. You can find most of my things at www.gracelandwest.com.

– What do you write about in your newsletter?

I am involved with two newsletters. My personal newsletter is Ridiculous Opinions. I started Ridiculous Opinions waaaaaay back in 2014 as a way to stay in touch with my students who would graduate from high school and then ABANDON ME. I wanted my kids to be able to still hear my lectures and ramblings and it seemed like a newsletter was the best place to do that. So, Ridiculous Opinions is more of a personal newsletter from a teacher with an odd point of view and a very specific audience.

But what is most exciting is the newsletter that I recently created called Sunday Comix. I have been putting comics on the web since 2010 (Maurice the Beaver), and I have been friends with webcomics artists online for a little while, and we are constantly lamenting the sad state of affairs for comics artists on the web. We put our work up for free and then are constantly subject to the whims of big tech. Whether it's a platform that changes trajectory entirely and becomes an unsafe place for us to add our work, or whether it's simply changing the granular aspects of how our work is seen on the web, we have a tendency to be blown around like the wind when it comes to our work. We have no control over things. 

One of our artists even made a video about it, which we included in the first newsletter.

So, we got together and created Sunday Comix, which is a way for us to send our work out to people who are interested in reading it. We retain control over how our work is presented, who our work is sent to, and how people can engage with the work, all in a way that avoids the dreaded algorithm and ensures that the people who want to see our work actually get to see it! 

So, just like the beloved Sunday Comic Strips from those long ago days in newspapers, we send out a newsletter every two weeks that enables readers to have a chuckle in a way that gives us ultimate control over our comics. So far, it's been very successful and we look forward to continuing to grow both our audience and our artists over time. Hopefully someday our Sunday Comix newsletter will be as popular as Sunday Comics were in original newspapers! A boy can dream...

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

I've tried several newsletters over the years and after being subject to the continued whims of Big Tech, with their changing priorities and odd platform audiences, it seemed like Buttondown was the way to go. I did quite a bit of research and after some experiments, I realized that Buttondown had the things that I needed, while simultaneously being a down-to-earth company that was more interested in their customers than exponential growth. I've been using Buttondown for a couple of years now and have been extraordinarily happy with the results. 

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

Running a newsletter and producing it regularly is all about systems and processes. The more organized one is, the more likely they are able to maintain a schedule and keep their audience happy. Buttondown's success, for me, is their ability to NOT interfere with that schedule or those processes. I know what to expect when I type up a newsletter with Buttondown. I know what my audience needs, and I know that everything is reliable in terms of what I am looking for.

With that simplicity and ease of use, I don't have to think about anything other than the content that I am producing, and for that, I am happy as a clam!