A Message from Kareem
You asked, I'm answering
First, the good news: My Substack column, which has only been in existence nine months, has been nominated for a Southern California Journalism Award as Best Columnist of the Year.
Second, I’ve been getting a lot of emails and comments lately asking why there’s a paid subscription tier. The general perception is that because I was a successful basketball player 30 years ago, I should be producing this newsletter for free. I guess some people think I’m like Scrooge McDuck, rolling around in my swimming pool filled with cash. If only I hadn’t invested all my money in Blockbuster and 8-track tapes. (Maybe they’ll make a comeback. Fingers crossed.)
As many of you know, I’ve been writing books, articles, graphic novels, and film and TV scripts for years. That’s been my main profession since retiring from basketball. As a writer, I’ve won 7 journalism awards and an NAACP Image Award. When I started my Substack newsletter, I quit writing for the magazines and newspapers that were paying me in order to share my writing directly with you.
But I don’t do it alone. I have an editor/researcher who helps me check my facts and grammar. I have a photo assistant who searches for the right art to go with my articles. Your paid monthly subscription—about the cost of a hamburger—helps me keep my team together to make sure we can get you the best content possible.
I’ve been adamant that we make as much content as possible available to our free subscribers because I value you as well. However, we do give perks to paid subscribers because they keep the lights on and the words coming for everyone. Only paid subscribers can comment on the articles, plus we post articles and videos exclusively for them.
I hope that explains everything. If you’d like to subscribe, click on the button below. Doing so is vital to keeping this Substack site alive. It also helps when you share my posts so we can gather more people into the community. Your comments and questions are always welcome.
Go ahead. You know you want to.
Your subscription is the best deal in journalism as far as I am concerned. Keep it coming! We will gladly slap down a few bucks for the privilege of enjoying your thoughts.
Yes I am very honored to be a paid subscriber of your work Kareem because you seem to care and believe in what your writing. Your articles are enlightening and real eye openers. This is why I dont mind paying 5 dollars a month to read your content because it's of great substance and helps us become better people as a society. I especially enjoy your popular culture analysis on the different movies, and shows they are very spot on. Please keep it going in writing engaging and enlightening articles that not only is interesting, but make us think and see things in a different light. 😁
BTW Congrats on your nomination no one deserves it more then you Kareem. 😁