One year in, On Montlake is here to stay

Sometimes, betting on yourself isn’t really a gamble at all.

The first column went live at 8 a.m., not yet six full days after my previous employer informed me I didn’t work there anymore.

It’s funny: I remembered only recently that I actually did file an initial unemployment claim with the state, wanting to keep my options open. Who knew what the future held? As a relatively risk-averse person, going independent — particularly with niche coverage of a single college football team — was not my initial instinct. I can admit now that in the past, whenever I’d see a friend or colleague go that route, I’d think, “man, I’m glad that’s not me.” 

Your feedback, though, was overwhelming: messages of support, vows to cancel your old subscriptions, promises to follow me if I ventured out on my own. What choice did I really have?

So I workshopped site names with my wife. Bought a Google domain. Paid for a Zoom subscription. Set prices, wrote a column, scheduled it to publish and, on March 1, 2023, went to bed hoping that I might have triple-digit subscribers by the time I set my head on the pillow the following evening.

It took 36 minutes for those first 100 to sign up. On Montlake had more than 600 paid subscribers by the end of the day, and 1,000 by the end of its first week, and as I write to you today, on the site’s one-year anniversary, that figure has more than doubled — benefiting, without question, from what might have been the most newsworthy year in the history of Washington’s football program.

In the 12 months since The Athletic deemed UW unworthy of regular coverage, the Huskies won 14 consecutive games, a Pac-12 championship and a College Football Playoff semifinal, and appeared in a national title game; left the Pac-12 for the Big Ten; sent their quarterback to the Heisman Trophy ceremony; watched Kalen DeBoer leave for Alabama; hired Jedd Fisch from Arizona; hired Troy Dannen to replace athletic director Jen Cohen, who left for USC; and won three (3) football games on grass fields.

So, look: I got lucky. Exceedingly, hilariously, astoundingly lucky. And not just because I launched this business when I did. I’m fortunate, too, because so many of you have invested your money and time into helping me get this site off the ground. Every renewal, every email opened, every “like,” every comment — it all adds up, and it all lends legitimacy to this little operation, and I don’t take a penny of it for granted.

In a little more than a month, On Montlake was a top-10 sports publication on Substack (and still is). Not long after I launched, 710 Seattle Sports brought me on as a regular contributor. The Washington Post mentioned me in a story about local sports journalism start-ups. I was selected as a finalist for Washington sportswriter of the year. “Say Who, Say Pod,” which I co-host with Danny O’Neil, continues to grow. Revenue is healthy enough that I can afford to travel to road games. And it was gratifying to see On Montlake honored this week in the Associated Press Sports Editors annual writing contest, earning top-10 recognition in the D division for long feature, short feature, beat writing and game story. 

The Athletic was a fun gig, a worthwhile risk for me to take back in the summer of 2018. I’m still proud of the work I did there, and grateful to have crossed paths with some folks I’m still in touch with. More practically, I’m grateful to have spent four-plus years building a paid audience. Without that time, I’m not sure this venture would have been possible. And it’s just as true that if The Athletic hadn’t let me go, I’d likely still be there, burnt out and fretting about the future, and never would have discovered how much better off I am on my own.

That’s true for both financial and creative reasons. I want to write stories you want to read, and I love that I can write directly to you, the UW fan, without concern over whether I might lose a national audience. This endeavor feels so much more personal in a way I wasn’t necessarily expecting, like I can see each subscriber just on the other side of my laptop screen. On Montlake’s Friend of the Program tier has only strengthened that connection. The majority of those 145 folks skip the monthly Zoom calls, which is completely fine, but I always enjoy chatting with those who attend, and always leave those sessions in a better mood.

Your support and engagement on this platform empowered me to follow the first piece of advice I’d give to any aspiring journalist: write more, tweet less. I still share links and alert followers to breaking news, but have mostly opted out of a social-media landscape dominated by silly graphics, out-of-context quotations, performative overreaction and mindless debate. I love that I can write at length on this site and send stories to paying customers for them to consider in full. It’s a privilege I don’t take for granted. 

Hopefully, you all feel like I’m holding up my end of the bargain. I had a blast taking you behind the scenes with Kalen DeBoer for the spring game, and along with me as I followed the team throughout the 2023 season, from East Lansing to Las Vegas to New Orleans and finally to Houston. I asked questions of UW president Ana Mari Cauce that I knew you wanted answered. I told you what it was like for Rome Odunze to drive home from Tucson. I tried to explore the lighter side of UW football, too, and always tried to tell you something new along the way. I did my best to make sure you knew exactly what it sounded like on an historic afternoon at Husky Stadium. And it was my honor to share with you the story of my uncle’s life.

If it seems like I’m bragging, well, I suppose I am. I’ll ask your forgiveness on that front. It’s just that in this business, true success stories are few and far between. We’ve been conditioned to believe that if any new idea or model or venture appears too good to be true, it probably is, and will meet its demise soon enough. 

Life is too short not to celebrate the wins, and you all deserve to take this victory lap along with me.

I’m not naive enough to believe On Montlake is immune to the industry’s pitfalls. But the past year reinforced to me the passion of UW’s fan base, and the desire for quality, differentiated coverage of your favorite football team. It taught me, too, that sometimes betting on yourself isn’t really a gamble at all, and that we too often allow others to define our worth.

No more. On Montlake is barreling forward like Corey Dillon in the open field, ready to document the Jedd Fisch era in ways that deliver upon the investment you’ve made in my work.

Thanks again for your support. Here’s to Year 2.

— Christian Caple, On Montlake