State of the Herald 2024: Looking Forward To Year 15

Good evening, and happy Monday.

The end of the year is upon us once more, as 2024 comes to a close, and we set our sights toward 2025. As the year's final moments tick away, it's hard to avoid the melancholy that blankets the season like a fresh snowfall.

Even so, it's hard to deny that the past year has been a positive one for us at Anime Herald, as we re-launched with our new design in February. The team at Hand Design Co. did an amazing job with the redesign, and we are all thrilled with the results. I can't wait to work with them on future projects.

Furthermore, this year, we welcomed Kerine Wint to the team as our new editor. She’s already doing amazing work behind the scenes, and I can’t wait to share what everyone’s been working on with you in the coming months.

With regards to articles, 2024 proved to be one of our busiest since we closed our newsroom in 2019. From the start of the year to the first day of our vacation, we published a staggering 127 articles, columns, and interviews. We explored the history of Abridged Anime fandubs and broke down the economics of anime freelancing. We explored the earliest days of Western fandom with living legends like Robert Fenelon and chatted about the future of VTubing with Cover Corporation CEO Motoaki Tanigo.

In addition, we were thrilled to cover a half-dozen conventions this year, including Anime Boston, Otakon, Katsucon, and Animazement. At the same time, we helped bring patron ideas to life, including an exploration of Carl Macek's generation-defining work.

And, through it all, we've been fortunate enough to be able to pay a fair rate of $50 per article to our writers and editors alike, thanks to our incredible Patrons and Ko-fi supporters. In fact, support was so strong that we posted our first-ever profits this year. We’re passing these returns on to the folks who make our articles possible. Starting January 1, we're increasing our rates to $55 per article.

I'm genuinely grateful to everyone on our team, whose skills and expertise have helped us to bring something genuinely special into the world every single week. Likewise, I offer my deepest thanks to our backers and our community, whose faith and support in us on Discord and on social media have inspired us to bring our very best every single day.

But, more than that, I'm thankful to all of you readers, whose support over the years has helped us become the publication you enjoy today. Next year, we will celebrate our 15th anniversary, and I can't wait to show you everything we've been working on to make it extra special.

Happy New Year,

Samantha Ferreira