Rachel Curry is a freelance tech and business journalist with work featured in CNBC, Observer, CIO and beyond. In December, Rachel launched her own newsletter, Acronym, that aims to tell impactful stories without the legacy media guardrails in a way readers from various backgrounds, not just the tech executive, can understand.
Independent media and newsletters like Acronym are gaining momentum as newsrooms continue to adjust and consumers crave more transparency in the media they consume.
To better understand this shift, Rachel joined me in the interviewee seat for once, where I asked her some questions about her inspiration behind Acronym, how she’s actively building a community among her readers at both traditional and non-traditional media outlets and her predictions for how independent newsletters like Acronym will evolve in the near future.
What was your inspiration for starting Acronym?
“It had to do with letting my more natural voice shine through. I come from a very working class background, and I don’t have the education and experience of the people who I often speak to, who are in C-suite executive roles at very complex organizations. I learn a lot from them, but I do carry value in that I can speak to a different population, or at least speak to any population in a more natural way.
Letting my voice shine through, not being so strict about the type of words I get to use, being a little more carefree with my word choice because I think it might be more relatable to an audience versus more hard and fast journalism rules.
All the while, I’m still trying to maintain journalistic integrity by not making it completely opinion-based. I’m allowing myself more of a soap box moment at the end because I think that does provide value and I don’t think it’s dangerous for me to do so in this context.”
You mention your audience. Who do you want to read Acronym and how do you plan on continuing to build that community?
“There’s a wide swath of people in business, and a wide swath of people who benefit from discussions around business. For example, talking to someone who owns a bootstrapped plumbing company in a local area versus someone who is an executive at a well-established major tech organization, I’m hoping this bridges the gap a little bit between that.
While I’m still massaging the type of stories that I hope to publish, I’m really happy where it’s going in the next couple months. It’s planned through April at this point, and I think it’s becoming increasingly culturally relevant which is something I’m aiming to accomplish. For example, I have a conversation coming up with someone who works at a company that offers an alternative health insurance option, and as we know, health insurance in America is a very touchy subject.
With that said, I do want to talk to people, it sounds so broad when I say anyone in business, but I’m just trying to have a more open conversation about all of this stuff. A lot of times, when we see, for example, thought leadership content on Forbes Executive or something, it’s very jargon-heavy and you have to be a certain kind of person to find value in that. Even if you are that person, it’s kind of exhausting to read that kind of language all of the time. It’s nice to hear a little of a straight shooter instead.”
Tell me more about the reason behind the name Acronym.
“The name and the concept came from a simple brainstorming session on pen and paper. I was thinking about the types of articles I wanted to write, and they all ended up being acronyms such as BTS, Q&A and so on. However, thinking back when I first started reporting in the space that I’m in now in which I’m talking to a lot of executives, I was astounded by the fact that I was able to very quickly jump into this world where I felt like people were speaking a different language. There were conversations about ‘silos’ and ‘architecture’ and all this other stuff that I didn’t have the context for before, but didn’t necessarily need to look up in order to understand because I was figuring it out on the fly. It was like I was learning another language. It was kind of like I was, not in the sense of being an imposter, but I was able to put on this costume and enter a room that I didn’t necessarily belong in, and still manage to have productive conversations and not get caught.
In that sense, this culture of speaking that way is so ridiculous. But at the same time, these people are saying really smart and valuable things. So I’m hoping to, again, just bridge that gap and try to make sense of that world. I’m sure you experience that as well as you sit in these conversations.”
As an independent journalist, you have the freedom to write whatever you want. Will you stick to one specific topic? I’m also curious where you find your ideas.
“I hesitate to put the word ‘workplace’ or ‘future of work’ label on it, just because of that pigeonholing, but I end up leaning in that direction solely because now, and always, I have been drawn to topics that directly impact people. Work is such a large part of our lives, and if there’s any way we can improve that for people, I think that’s all the better. For example, I have a Q&A coming up with a woman in tech leadership and how she works to advance other women in tech leadership.
I care about the world, and even in my most highly technical articles, you’re going to find at least a few sentences about how this intersects with people, the planet and other creatures that live among us. I think that it’s really hard for me to write something without addressing those issues, because we are in a time, maybe we’ve always been in a time, where there’s a lot of pressure on people. I’m just hoping to shed light on topics that hopefully could improve our circumstances over time.
As far as where I’m getting my ideas, it’s a combination of people reaching out in my inbox with ideas. Sometimes, I massage those ideas into something that I think might be more relevant and ask if they’d be willing to speak on that instead, and we come to some sort of happy medium.
I might reach out to people who I’ve spoken to in the past or might have an ongoing conversation with to see if they’d be willing to speak for this fledgling newsletter, which everyone’s been really open to and excited about so far. I wasn’t sure if that was going to happen because I do know that, for example, when I say this is for CNBC or Observer, they might be more eager about it, but I haven’t really gotten any pushback so far with this which is good.”
I want to talk a little bit about the state of media, both traditional and non-traditional, knowing that you contribute to both. I’m curious how you anticipate the rise of non-traditional media to evolve in the next 12 months?
“The trajectory of non-traditional media has been really interesting over the last few months, if not longer. I’ve become more invested in non-traditional media as a media consumer myself, but also I know other people have as well. People who might not necessarily have as much of an interest in journalism as someone like me. I think that a lot of publications are launching right now, I anticipate them finding more of a steady flow of readers, some more tangible weight to their publications, and hopefully see them grow more.
I’m sure more will arise as newsrooms continue to adjust. As far as mainstream or legacy media, there’s so much change happening at those organizations as well, whether it’s the digital ecosystem I’m seeing produced at publications like The New York Times, which are having this omnichannel approach that I’m seeing from Spotify to their app. The rise in bonus podcast episodes that you’re seeing, too, that you need to be a subscriber to a publication to access. That’s something that’s really interesting, but I personally feel, and know a lot of other people feel, given the state of the economy, really exhausted by subscriptions. That’s something I’m trying to avoid with mine. I know that at some point I’m going to be able to find a way to tap into revenue directly from readers. That’s not really a focus of mine right now because I’m focused on building trust and just being there for readers, and instead focusing on hopefully non-invasive ad revenue.”
How have you been working with PR people for Acronym?
“On the PR front, it’s really not any different than my work with other publications, except that I’m more flexible with deadlines and open to shifting angles because I don’t necessarily already have an assignment that I need to complete. Sometimes, the reason I might go to LinkedIn, or even Qwoted, is if I’m just having trouble finding something in my inbox or feeling a little bit lazy and want people to come to me. I often get people who I already know through that, so it works the same way.
I continue to appreciate the communication I receive from PR professionals, even if I don’t necessarily answer in a timely fashion.”
Thank you, Rachel, for a candid discussion about today’s media landscape, and giving us the BTS on all things Acronym. For more jargon-free business insights, subscribe to Acronym here.
