Launch Week!

And I Have A Favor To Ask

Hi, it’s Gregory. Emails from me will come a bit more frequently this week. Because it’s finally here. Launch Week. On Wednesday, July 26th, Love Commandos Episode 1 drops. It’s Rough Translation’s final season with NPR, and I’m so very excited for you to hear it.

Raquel Scoggin/NPR

It’s also our highest stakes launch since Season 1. The success of that season determined whether we’d have a Season 2. Now, success means finding a home after NPR. 

But what is success, you say???

An existential question. But in this case, easy to answer. It means:

1. An Audience that’s Growing.

2. An Audience that’s Engaged.

That’s really it. It’s really what any future funder of the show cares about. You can help me tell that story by doing two things right now.

1. Subscribe to the Rough Translation podcast. Send a friend, a grandma, and all your social media followers this link to subscribe.

2. Subscribe to this Substack. Tell your friends and family to subscribe too.

Thank you TrepanThis and Viry Gonzalez!

I know how busy you are. Important things demand your attention. Loved ones depend on you. Many of you won’t even open this email. But if you are reading this now, it’s like this: If you were sad/angry/confused when Rough Translation was ended, if you want a show like this to continue making stories, or if you’ve ever enjoyed one of the episodes and want to send me a thank you that makes a giant difference: please consider doing those two things: Subscribe to the show, Subscribe to the Substack, and importantly, spread the word to those who should be part of this.

But who? Who might like this next season of Rough Translation? Well, lots of people. People who like love stories. People who like fresh takes on the genre of true crime. People who feel the pull of love vs family in their own lives.

Sharing the podcast, you help our numbers. Sharing this Substack, you help us grow a community. With these things together, you are making a future for this storytelling post-NPR. Because you’re helping me, and everyone who helps me make this show, and everyone reading this, say that this is a show worth investing in. We’re like an old dog, racing to the top of the charts. 

You’re growing a community of listeners who think it’s important - nay, life-giving -  to travel around the world looking at people’s lives with care and curiosity.

That’s the mission. That’s the work I want to keep doing. That’s the work I can do with your help.

I can search far and wide for new stories (as I will). Our team can work through a summer weekend getting episodes ready (as they did). But what none of us can do alone is show that audience story. Only you can.

Trolls vs Fans? A Lesson:

Roughly 5 years and 49 weeks ago, we launched the very first trailer for the very first season of Rough Translation. 

And we got our first negative review.

No actually, like 70 negative reviews. For a 3 minute trailer!! And they were MEAN.

Turns out that the Daily Wire guy, Dan Shapiro, had just launched his show, and he was sending his followers to troll the other top 10 podcasts so he could rise to #1. (Oprah and Malcolm got it rougher than I did.)

What’s the lesson of this? That sending people out in Anger is more of a motivator than sending people out with Love?

Maybe. But six years later, I have both on my side. 

If you’re angry about Rough Translation, and that being taken away.

If you love Rough Transition, and everything we can do in the future.

If it’s both.

Lets DO this.