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The Sunday essay
Every week, free, in full. No paywalled cliffhangers — the essay is the deal, and everyone gets all of it.
Sundays · 8am ET14,200 readersWeekly since 2021
A weekly newsletter for slow readers.
Each Sunday: one essay, written carefully. About attention, work, and the small private problems that come up if you live long enough. No hot takes, no filler.
AttentionWorkMoneyFriendshipThe long view
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Sundays, one essay. Free tier gets everything weekly; paid ($6/month) adds audio and the Friday reading list.
Unsubscribe any time, one click, no hard feelings.
01The archive124 Sundays and counting
Essays readers forward
The week I didn't open a laptop
No. 124Attention2026A letter to my younger self about money
No. 123Money2026Why I quit reading the news for a year
No. 122The long view2025Friendship in your forties
No. 121Friendship2025
Four years in
14,200
Free readers · 2,400 paid
124
Sunday essays since 2021
63%
Open rate, last twelve issues
One essay. Written like it matters.
Twelve years writing for magazines taught me to file on time; four years of Sundays taught me why. The paid tier exists so there are no ads, no sponsors, and nothing in your inbox but the essay.
No adsNo sponsorsNo AI filler
Who writes it
The person in your inbox
Daniel Mercer
Writer · twelve years in magazines, four years of Sundays
Reported for print long enough to learn that a deadline improves a sentence and a word count rarely does. Started the letter in 2021 after a year of writing essays nobody had commissioned, and has not missed a Sunday since — including the one spent in an airport, which became issue 47. Lives in a small flat with too many books and a standing argument about whether the news counts as information.
“The only email I open on purpose, with coffee, like it's a magazine that knows me.”
A reader since issue nine
02What you getFree tier gets every essay
In your inbox
02
The audio edition
Paid. Every essay read aloud by me, about eighteen minutes, for walks and washing-up. Posted alongside the text.
03
The Friday reading list
Paid. Five things worth your weekend attention, with a sentence each on why. The inbox's quietest cult favourite.
04
The quarterly thread
Paid. A subscriber-only Q&A four times a year. Questions arrive all quarter; answers arrive considered.
03Behind the essaySlow by design
How a Sunday gets made
Monday · the notebook
Every essay starts longhand — a question that survived the weekend. Most don't; the notebook is where ideas go to be tested.
Wednesday · the draft
Fifteen hundred messy words. The point usually shows up around word nine hundred, uninvited.
Thursday · the cut
Fifteen hundred becomes nine hundred. The cut paragraphs go in a file called "later" that we both know means never.
Sunday · 8am ET
The essay ships. I go for a walk and don't look at the open rate until Monday. (I look Sunday afternoon.)
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Free, or six dollars
The Sunday essay is free forever and always arrives in full — no paywalled cliffhangers. Paying adds the audio, the Friday list and the quarterly thread, and is the reason there are no ads.
04The honest answers
Common questions
- How often will I hear from you?
- Once a week, Sundays at 8am ET. No "quick check-ins," no launch sequences, nothing on the holidays.
- What does paid add?
- The audio edition, the Friday reading list, and the quarterly Q&A thread — $6/month. The Sunday essay stays free for everyone, always.
- Can I cancel any time?
- One click in the footer. No exit survey, no win-back email, no hard feelings.
- Do you sell ads or take sponsors?
- No. The paid tier exists precisely so I don't have to. The only thing in your inbox is the essay.
Sundays, in your inbox.
Start free. Upgrade when — if — the essays earn it.
Free forever · paid is $6/month · cancel in one click
Write back
Reply to any issue or use the form — I read everything, including the disagreements. Especially those.
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- Forthcoming · 2027