The Future of Pig Tales

Hello friends, it's been a while

How’s it going friends? I hope you’re having a wonderful Sunday evening. It’s been a while since you’ve heard from me, and I think that means I’ve got some explaining to do. Prepare for two big announcements:

Announcement 1

When I first started Pig Tales, I envisioned a weekly newsletter— a little something going out once every week and including some kind of analysis or recap of what was happening in Razorback world. However, as I wrote on it a little more, it occurred to me that a lot happens in a week, and it’s easy to get overwhelmed parsing out what was actually important. I wanted to write more, but instead I kind of clammed up because of all the ideas bouncing around in my head.

After a lot of soul searching, I’ve finally figured out what I want Pig Tales to be! A lot of you know me from meeting me in the pre-pandemic world, but several of you know me from my days as site manager at Arkansas Fight. I was at my most fulfilled making content for Arkansas Fight, and that required posting something just about every day. The beauty of it though was that I could post anything— blogs, stat analyses, joke stories, satire articles, and whatever else I wanted in pursuit of ultimate Arkansas fandom.

Simply put, once a week wasn’t enough! Now, you may respond to that and say, “well why haven’t you posted since the Auburn game then?” Well, despite the fact that I’d love to say that it was because the SEC referees made me too mad to post, it’s actually a lot simpler than that.

I lost my job at the beginning of the pandemic, and pretty much every waking hour of mine has been dedicated to slamming my head into the job hunt with little to no success. It’s been trying, and it’s led to me feeling burned out instead of motivated to write Pig Tales. How do I solve this though?

Well, that’s why I’m writing you tonight. I’m incredibly excited, and a bit nervous to declare with this email, that Pig Tales is going to be my job. Now, before I lose you because I can hear your wallets groaning, let me explain what that means.

By making Pig Tales my full time pursuit, I plan to offer five posts a week, each coming right to your inbox. This will give me the flexibility to preview and recap games, conduct interviews with guests, analyze game plans, and do goofy joke posts like the NCAA 06 piece at a pace that’s comfortable for me. Rather than having the pressure of deciding what’s good enough on one day a week, you’ll get five posts of dedicated, thought out material.

What does that mean for you as a subscriber though? For now, nothing will change. For the next two weeks, I’ll be posting once a day every week day, and you’ll get to access that content completely free of charge. When that two weeks has passed, only two of the weekly posts will become premium posts, and three will remain completely, absolutely free. You’ll have access to previews of the premium posts to check out what you’re missing, and hopefully the two week free trial everyone is getting will be enticing enough to keep you coming.

Now, for the main question:

How much is it?

I’m happy to share, that it’s really not going to be that much. For $7 a month or $70 a year, you’ll get access to all five Pig Tales posts a week. In the short term, that money will be used to market Pig Tales. In the long term, it’ll help finance content that’s on the way, and hopefully provide me with enough to keep doing this for a living. What content is on the way though?

Announcement 2

I’m incredibly excited to announce that in addition to a much more frequent written version of Pig Tales, you’ll also be seeing a live video version of the newsletter, which will be aired on Twitch each Saturday after whichever game is being played, football or basketball. For simplicity’s sake, I’m calling it Pig Tales Live.

I’ll be hosting, and the show will feature pre-written content as well as hopefully some live fan feedback. I intend to keep that free for as long as I am able. The stream replays will be saved to a YouTube Channel for your convenience, and announcements will be made on this twitter account. I encourage you to check both out.

In addition to the live show, I plan on just hanging out and streaming sometimes during the week, so feel free to check out my content schedule for a closer look at when I’ll be available. This will include live streams of my podcast that’s already in circulation, Hoggin’ the Mic, which of course I encourage you to check out as well.

These streams will be beginning tomorrow night with a live edition of Hoggin’ the Mic, so please subscribe on the Pig Tales Live Twitch Channel to stay up to date on when things are happening.

Stream highlights will be posted on the Pig Tales Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook pages, so please look out for those, and of course, give them a follow if you haven’t already done so.

Conclusion

I really appreciate the concern of some of you reaching out wondering why there’s been radio silence for the past few weeks. To tell you the truth, 2020 has been very difficult, and I’ve struggled to find the right balance. Over these next two weeks, I hope to show that I’ve found it, and will exceed all of your expectations for what Razorback content can be.

In the meantime, feel free to subscribe, and share to spread the word! I hope to become a premiere source of Arkansas sports entertainment.

Thank you so much for coming along for the ride, I’ll see you tomorrow in my first post, as well as hopefully on stream while we record the podcast. Stay safe, stay healthy, and go hogs!