Dear friends,
First, we’re excited to share some big news: Ursa is putting on a live show in NYC on July 9 at The Center for Fiction!
Join us for a special live recording of our podcasts Ursa Short Fiction and Reckon True Stories, hosted by Deesha Philyaw, Dawnie Walton & Kiese Laymon, featuring authors Lawrence Burney (NO SENSE IN WISHING) and Carrie R. Moore (MAKE YOUR WAY HOME). Followed by a reception and book sale / signings.
Doors 6:30 pm, show 7 pm.
Celebrating Three Years of Ursa
As we approach our third anniversary making podcasts like Ursa Short Fiction and Reckon True Stories, we’ve wanted to make some small changes to our membership offerings, to better reflect how we work, and to make sure you’re getting your money’s worth when you choose to support us.
Many of you have been so generous, and we can’t thank you enough for being a part of Ursa with us.
Something we always wanted to do was produce ambitious work that celebrates underrepresented storytellers and artists. But in podcasting there is increased pressure to be “always on,” which makes it harder to produce some of the things we love — like audio short stories and essays written and performed by writers and voice actors.
We’ve chosen to produce our shows in seasons, which means we also take breaks between seasons. But it’s been hard for us to reconcile the monthly paid membership when folks might not be receiving new episodes during certain months. (Though we also recognize that after three years we now have a treasure trove of great episodes available for our members – all thanks to your support.)
Moving to discounted yearly memberships
So starting this month we are going to start to move away from monthly subscriptions and drop the price of our yearly memberships to $25. You’ll still get access to our entire archive of exclusive members-only episodes, all ad-free.
If you want to continue to support us with your current monthly or yearly membership, nothing will change for you. Existing $50 yearly subscriptions will automatically be discounted 50% going forward. If you’d like to switch your membership in any other way, you can change your subscription by going to your membership account.
As an ongoing Ursa member, you’ll also get access to our newest podcast release…
Introducing The Business of Publishing
One of our favorite running topics on Ursa Short Fiction is around how to manage the business of being a writer (and eventually published author!). So we’ve compiled all of those episodes into a standalone podcast series for Ursa Members, called The Business of Publishing.
You can follow the podcast feed in your Ursa Member Account, or on Apple Podcasts (if you subscribed to our membership through Apple Podcasts).
We’ll also have a brand new Ursa Short Fiction / Business of Publishing episode for you next week.
We’re looking for more anthologies to produce
As we change our publishing schedule, this will also give us an opportunity to publish more short-run anthology podcasts. If you’re a publisher who’d like to work with us on a short-run anthology series (fiction or nonfiction), please get in touch: hello@ursastory.com.
Thanks again for your continued support,
-Deesha, Dawnie, and Mark
Author photos by Shan Wallace (Lawrence Burney), and Matt Valentine (Carrie R. Moore)