We’re aiming to run Piccalilli full time

Recently we ran a survey that turned out some interesting results. We decided to do the survey off the back of the success of redesigning Piccalilli last year and launching our first course. The response to all of that blew our mind (thank you).

We’re launching two more courses this year: JavaScript for Everyone and Mindful Design. We’re doing it right though with a fair share of profits for author and publisher, which is a rarity in publishing. Publishers often give authors less than 20% and make them promote their own work. We’re not about that here.

I think courses are going to be the main driver of keeping the lights on and pushing us towards full time work on Piccalilli. Now that we have a nice system for publishing courses, the velocity will of course increase. I’m also interested in hearing from people who like the idea of publishing a course (give me a shout).

What does full time effort look like in terms of output?

One of the most common qualitative bits of feedback on our survey we got was “I want to see more articles by Andy”, which first of all, thank you, but also, are you sure?! 😅

The biggest blocker to me writing more articles is time. Running an agency, running a publisher and curating a newsletter is very time consuming. As Piccalilli becomes more viable — financially — that would free up a lot of my time, which of course, I would put straight into writing more content (I’ve got so much I want to write). I’d quite like to explore video and streaming more too.

Stuff we could do with more time is:

1. More in-depth article series
2. Collaborations with other known names from the web
3. More content to help bring beginners into the industry
4. Resources to help people land new roles in the industry
5. Help designers get proficient with code
6. Explore some more journalistic content about our industry (already working on an AI in the workplace one)

Something else I’d quite like to do is index and categorise The Index and our link posts. With our current publishing frequency, we’re putting out two newsletter issues a week. Accounting for holidays and time off, that still sees us publishing nearly 100 issues and about 30 link posts a year. If we can index that and make it more searchable, I think it would be a really valuable resource for the community.

Speaking of search, yes we hear you, Piccalilli needs search, but to do search right takes a heck of a lot of time. It’ll come though when we have more time to work with.

How do we enable a full time effort?

It all comes down to money, I’m afraid. We’re a team of four with families and mortgages/rent to pay. We try to make as much as possible free on Piccalilli and will always do that without resorting to paywalls etc.

This is what we’re doing to try to shift the needle:

1. Publishing more courses (including short, cheaper ones)
2. Opening up our advertising offering a bit more, giving advertisers some better options
3. Launching merch
4. Exploring a job board
5. Open Collective

Some stuff hasn’t worked as well as we hoped. For example, our open working initiative was really well received initially, but has been wildly unpopular compared to the rest of our content. It accounts for < 4% of our total readership so far.

My theory on that is that until we actively work with progressive movements, we won’t get a huge amount of traction. I’m working hard to make that happen though, working with our local MP to link up with local initiatives that need the most help. Time + money is another blocker on that one though, as is almost always the case when you want to do good.

I know this can work. Just look at how well 404 media and The Onion are doing — both of which I’m a paid subscriber to and hugely look up to. There should be no problem doing good stuff and living too as I see it.

How you can help

Simply put, give us money lol. There’s a few ways you can do that without hurting your own pocket though:

1. Ask your boss to advertise with us
2. Ask your boss to grab you a copy of one of our courses (spend that sweet training budget and get bulk discounts)
3. Read and share our content
4. Subscribe to our newsletter
5. Get your org to donate to our Open Collective (spend that sweet marketing budget)

Times are really hard at the moment for everyone. I actually think 2025 is harder that 2020 so far and I know I’m not alone with that feeling.

There’s a reason publishers pepper their content with horrible ads though: it’s a means to sustaining themselves. I’ll never let that happen on Piccalilli because the reading experience is, and will always be, our top priority. Yes, we’re changing how ads display on the site in a soon to be released update to our article view, but it’ll always be tasteful.

I think the biggest impact you, the reader, could do to help though is make a small donation to our Open Collective. There’s a few different options including one-off tips, a monthly donation and a yearly donation.

At the end of the day, if we can keep the vast majority of our content free at the point of entry and publish a hell of a lot more of it, everyone is winner. You’re not ready for what Piccalilli could be with all four of us putting a full time effort into it, trust me…