A September Update

Hello, everyone!

Right from the beginning, we had planned to send a letter when we reached fifty followers — but over the last few weeks, you people helped us cross fifty so fast that we didn’t even have time to react!

The first time we sent out a letter, three months ago, we’d published maybe half a dozen articles. We had barely ten followers. (To those of you who were there at the time — thank you for sticking around so long!)

We’ve come a long way since we first started. We’ve managed to publish a new piece every week — two of which were even picked up by the Medium editors!

We’d like to thank all our readers, especially those who took the time to stop by and comment before moving on: while algorithms and stats can give us some feedback, it’s nothing compared to thoughts coming directly from you.

But these days, algorithms are to be credited for an increasing amount of the statistical feedback we receive — and in fact, that’s what one of our most popular articles is about: how much influence do search-engines have over our thoughts?

(Ironically, that article is the one that helped our homepage get to the top of Google searches of “Snipette”).

Social media can build up powerful echo-chambers, where you get stuck in your own ideas and are unable to hear any new ones, whether right or wrong.

In some cases, it can not just control lives, but actually cause people to end them. You must have heard of the Blue Whale Challenge that’s been trending lately. The idea is, if blue-whales are dying, then why not humans too? But have you ever wondered why blue-whales are dying in the first place? Maybe it’s time to find out?

On a lighter note, you may have noticed your brain’s ability to store random facts, without the help of search-engines. That’s what Shalom discovered, while contemplating on the history of tomatoes , and their long journey from the land of the Incas and on to the pizzas of today.

These little-knows facts are on the list of the things we attempt to highlight in Snipette. Did you know, for instance, that pizzas are one of a long line of edible dishes? Now, you can also read up on how to survive if you get stuck in a microwave with the pizza.

I could go on, but this letter is getting long (then again, what is length?).

As you can see, we’re trying to showcase different things in Snipette. Different writing styles, different formats, different topics. But so far, most of our energy is going into churning out new articles for you every Sunday, and we haven’t managed to give you the kind of variety we’d been hoping for.

We want that to change.

For us, the first step towards doing that comes from you. We want you, our readers, to become a greater part of this community. Comment. Make suggestions. Ask questions. Better yet, come write for us.

We’re also making a conscious effort on our part to give you as diverse a reading experience as possible. So far, our stories have been largely environment and science based. We haven’t managed to get around to many of the more offbeat ideas we have. Those ideas are exactly what we’re hoping to realise over the next few months.

A Call for Writers

We’re trying to build our lineup of writers. To join us, send an email to snipettemag@gmail.com containing the following, and we’ll get back to you in 8–10 days:

• A link to your Medium profile
• A link to the draft or story you’d like to submit
• A pitch in 100-ish words about why you want to be a part of Snipette

Currently, we’re looking to expand our articles to the following areas:

• Book and Movie reviews
• DIY projects
• Poetry

While that’s our main focus, feel free to submit any other kinds of articles you have, as well. We’ll update the writer’s guidelines periodically, to let you know what our focus is. You can check out the latest changes right away.

Whether you decide to write, comment, or simply read, we hope you’ve been enjoying the Snipette experience so far. Do let us know if you have any general feedback or comments — we’d love to hear from you!

— Manasa and Badri, editors of Snipette

Any feedback for us? How are you liking the Snipette articles? Is there anything you’d like us to change or improve? Write a response below or email us at snipettemag@gmail.com.

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