Can you make a serious point wearing a silly outfit?

I received a new Australia tracksuit top from the kids for Christmas, a signal that the family is on board with a 2026 trip to the USA/Canada/Mexico FIFA World Cup. I’ve got a feeling the football playing half of the cohort are fishing for an invite.

When I’m writing at World Cups future, it would be lovely if this was the financially viable place to publish those pieces, and the video and audio from the streets of the tournament.

I’ve long believed the publishing model is broken for authors. Who was the first author who agreed to the 10% royalty standard? Was it you, Jonathan Swift? I blame Jonathan Swift and his Lilliputian negotiation skills. The standard deal means that out of a purchase price of $30, the person who created the work gets $3. It ends up averaging less than a $1.50 when discounted bulk sales to predatory superstores are taken into account. It’s a 5% standard author royalty for picture books. Laura Wood and I sold 50,000 copies of The Cow Tripped Over the Moon, but we didn’t make $50,000 each.

Anyway, the idea behind this newsletter model is that we give you something fun or interesting or compelling or newsworthy in your inbox, and it’s all better than scrolling through the weight loss ads on instagram (I made the mistake of watching one. My feed is now endless line diagrams of reducing stomachs combined with crunch sit ups performed with a chair by old people, a demographic I’m still alarmed to find myself a part of)

And in return, readers take up a membership, which is $5 a month, or $4 if you latch onto this wild New Year’s Eve offer.

Happy New Year everyone.

Here is a New Year’s illustration drawn by my collaborator on four picture books, Laura Wood.

Can you make a serious point wearing a silly outfit - Cup Fever transcript

Edited and co-conceived by Cameron Fink, above video owned by Working Dog