DT’s Explosive Growth in 2022 & Plans for Next Year
I have great news to share: during 2022, subscriptions to Dappled Things grew by 82% and traffic to our website by 260%!
These astonishing numbers mean a lot, not only for our journal in particular, but for Catholic literature more generally. Let me explain.
Earlier this year, several Dappled Things editors had the chance to attend a conference at the University of Dallas about the future of the Catholic literary imagination. It was the fourth of such conferences that has been held since 2015, and it confirmed my belief that Catholic literature has a bright future indeed thanks to an extraordinarily talented crop of writers at work today, not to mention small presses and journals dedicated to fostering such work. We have already seen the first fruits of this movement in brilliant novels, story collections, and books of poetry published in the last few years, many of which we have discussed in our pages.
However, all this talent and output remains largely sterile without readers. Readers are the crucial piece of the puzzle without which an army of brilliant writers or a library of masterpieces can never amount to a cultural renaissance. That’s why it was thrilling to review our subscription numbers as I prepared to write this letter. With your support from previous years, we undertook a series of outreach initiatives during 2022 with the goal of increasing readership. We had noticed a strong response to our efforts, but had not looked at year-over-year percentage growth until now. I was expecting the number to be around 50%, which I would have been delighted with, so imagine how exuberant I was to learn the real figure was 82%. The success of our outreach efforts this year tells me that a desire for quality literature that engages questions of faith is strong and growing. All we had to do during the past months was to let new readers know that we exist.
We want to continue reaching new readers, and as we do so, revitalizing our culture with the overwhelming riches of the Catholic imagination. But we can only do it with your help.
A $5000 Matching Gift Challenge
To kickstart the campaign, the Collegium Institute has offered us a matching grant of up to $5,000, provided we can raise an equal amount on our own by the end of the year. Can you support us with a gift of $100, $50, $25, or even just $5? Or are you in a position to contribute $1,000, $500, or $250? We need donors at all these levels to reach our goal of $15,000, without which our all-volunteer team cannot continue publishing this little magazine that has shaken up the Catholic literary landscape during the past seventeen years. Please consider how much you can give and make your donation today.
Support DT and Get These Perks
Give $10: Thank you on social media.
Give $25: Thank you on social media and print edition (listed as a “Friend”).
Give $50: Thank you on social media and print edition (listed as a “Sponsor”).
Give $100: Thank you on social media and print edition (listed as a “Patron of the Arts”); a free 1 year print subscription (for current subscribers, subscriptions will be extended).
St. Francis De Sales Society
Give $250 (Hopkins Level): Thank you on social media and print edition, a free 1-year print subscription, and an exclusive print of artwork featured in the journal, signed by the artist.
Give $500 (Chaucer Level): All of the above, with a free 2-year print subscription.
Give $1,000+ (Dante Level): All of the above, with a free 3-year print subscription.
