Innovations in Media: 'The Elysian'

You’ll want to hang on as I dig into this post because there’s a lot to unpack as it relates to The Elysian, whose varied tentacles include a Substack channel, an email newsletter, periodic digital and print pamphlets, a crowd-funded book, live and recorded video interviews, live events around the world, chats with subscribers, IRL meetings with subscribers, a member Slack channel, and probably a few other things I’ve yet to discover. 

All are powered or inspired by Elle Griffin, a dreamer inspired to uncover a better civilization. 

Am I hearing utopia? 

Yep. Perhaps it’s too far off, but the fun for Griffin is working toward utopia(s), and showing her homework along the way. 

As Griffin wrote in introducing the Elysian (also just Elysian, since I’ve seen some brand wiggle over several years): 

This is all because I’m nostalgic for the Enlightenment, when our writers were thinkers.

Literary salons popped up all over the place. So did leagues and social clubs. People wanted to think, and to think up solutions! They came up with ideas like democracy and capitalism and socialism and humanism. They were philosophers, literary thinkers, and spread these ideas far and wide with pamphlets delivered to every door.

Now all of our writers are doomers. Journalism is not about thinking up solutions, it’s about reporting on the problems. Even our fiction is dystopian. Our science fiction writers can only imagine a future plagued by AI apocalypse, government surveillance, computer chips in our brains, and space colonies that take us away from the polluted world we created.

If even our best literary minds cannot imagine a better future, how are we supposed to create it?

That’s why I’ve created The Elysian—a utopian garden where we can study philosophy and debate politics and rethink capitalism and enjoy contemplative leisure and be part of a new enlightenment. It’s a place where we can think through a more beautiful future through collaborative essay collections and print pamphlets.

And I’m just optimistic enough to believe that’s enough of a start to creating one.

That’s why I’m thinking through the most important ideas of our time through long-form essay series and print pamphlets. Paid subscribers get everything published online, Collector subscribers get everything we publish as collectible print pamphlets.

I was first drawn to Elysian 18 months ago by clicking on a link provocatively titled “No one will read your book.” But what pulled me in deeper to her work was this statement from her  “About” page: 

I want to see our media ecosystem transformed from doomer sensationalism, partisan journalism, and dystopian thought, to solutions-oriented journalism, speculative brainstorming, and generative thought about how we can create something better. I’d love to see that media ecosystem owned and operated by independent writers and podcasters and filmmakers rather than media moguls with an agenda, an algorithm, and an ad-captured sensationalist bent.

I couldn’t agree more. 

So how is Griffin addressing those goals? 

First, Griffin is prolific, and it’s hard to keep up with her energy if you read as much other stuff as I do. But she’s relentless, and I marvel at her creativity and willingness to put ideas out in space for followers to dismiss, improve or otherwise shape. Even if you read one of every four posts, you’ll find yourself engaged and eager to stay onboard for the journey. 

It’s a journey funded through Substack subscriptions (she’s in the top 5 percent of creators on the platform), grants, a WeFunder campaign for her  book, and other donations. And it’s a journey told transpently through platforms that fit the context of the moment. 

The Substack is home base, with larger themes directed toward physical books, detailed sidebars funneled through pamphlets, singular thoughts via Substack posts/emails and interviews with interesting creatives. You get the idea. 

Griffin is fascinated by the idea of serial publishing, and gained some acclaim a few years ago with a TEDx talk that captured her fascination with an idea more than a century old.  

To that end, Griffin kicked off her Elysian journey with an 83-page Elysian Manifesto that details why the world needs more thinkers at the table and how her multimedia venture intends to stir the conversation and drive change.  

So where do the readers, aka "thinkers," come in? 

Paid subscribers receive digital versions of her pamphlets. Print and audio versions are also available. One, titled “Let Cities Build Utopia,” cost me $10, plus shipping, and was an enlightening 11-part series highlighting utopian efforts big and small in locations around the world. “Let Cities Build Utopia” serves as the framework for Part 1 of her upcoming book, “We Should Own The Future.” 

Griffin’s next pamphlet is to be “The Sewing Machine Powers AI,”  attacking her “dissatisfaction with technology” through  “an essay series and print pamphlet exploring how technology can create a more analog life, not a screen-addicted one.” Here’s her title chapter.

And here’s an engaging interview with Tim Rettig, who created an employee-owned software company, all part of Griffin’s vision for utopian businesses. 

“I sold my company to my employees” by Elle Griffin

An interview with Tim Rettig, founder of Intrust IT, on how he sold his company to employees and became an employee ownership advocate.

Read on Substack

All this content is leading up to her yet-to-be-published book titled “We Should Own the Economy.” The book is crowd-funded through WeFunder, and I encourage creatives to visit this page, which details the book, its economics around distribution of 10,000 presale copies and 10,000 copies post publication, marketing plan and how individuals can bring it to life. 

Whew. That’s a lot, and I’ve barely scratched the surface of all The Elysian delivers and aims to deliver. I can’t wait to get my copy of “We Should Own the Economy” and see how it all came together.