Welcome to the new home of Hotwire Native Weekly

I moved my newsletter to Substack. Here's why and what that means for you.

Hey friends,

Today’s a special one - this is the official first issue coming to you from my new home on Substack. I wanted to take a moment to share why I made the switch, what this means for you, and what’s coming next.

Why I moved

I’ve been writing this newsletter for 4+ years. And during that time Buttondown has been a fantastic home. I love the founder and the platform; it’s built by a thoughtful indie developer who genuinely cares about his work. But over time, keeping everything running smoothly became harder and harder for me.

Every week I found myself copying and pasting from Buttondown to my blog, reformatting things, and doing a lot of manual work just to hit publish. It got in the way of actually writing.

I’ve always wanted this newsletter to be more than just a one-way email in your inbox. I want to spend less time on social media but still connect with you and other Rails developers. Substack gives me that middle ground: comments, chat, and real community - without the noise and toxicity of a social network.

And here’s the biggest reason I made the switch:

So that I can dedicate even more time to making it great.

How? Because when the newsletter generates revenue, it can move up on my priority list each week. Paid subscriptions on Substack make it easy for you to directly support my work. Which drives bigger and better content.

I’ve never, not in my 12 years of writing online, had more than a single piece of content queued up ready to be published. Until now.

Four upcoming newsletter editions!

What this means for you

If you want to stay free

If you solely read this newsletter in your inbox, the only thing you should notice is that the emails now come from @substack.com. Nothing changes for you other than that domain. You still get the same weekly emails from me without paying a thing.

If you want to unlock more

Consider becoming a paid subscriber.

You’ll get:

• Monthly office hours where I’ll answer your toughest questions

• Deep dives into tricky Hotwire Native problems

• A place to connect with other Hotwire Native developers

• Behind-the-scenes updates on what I’m building

• Exclusive discount codes on my products

Most importantly, you’ll directly support the time I spend creating this newsletter and help keep it sustainable.

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Here’s your first chance to help shape the next season of Hotwire Native Weekly. I’d love to know what you want to read next, just pick one option below.