It is with unimaginable grief that I write this letter. I cannot continue the endeavour that has become get born any longer, and because the magazine, in spite of great fan adoration and excellent content, has failed to support a staff, there is no one else able to carry it either.

I started this journey honestly, and I will end it honestly, too. Advertising revenue had been steadily declining since before I was diagnosed with stage IV breast cancer in 2008, but it only got worse as I was unable, more and more, to do the incredibly taxing work of pounding the proverbial pavement begging businesses to support the magazine financially. Additionally, get born made an investment of over $2000 to establish a better web presence, only to have the web designer cut and run with no live website. Losing that seemingly paltry amount of money was devastating to our little rag. This year, I had to pay for the fall issue out of our family’s personal finances, and, unfortunately, that sort of investment isn’t a short or long term solution. Additionally, I decided this year to homeschool my children due to one of my daughters’ prolonged trauma as a result of my diagnosis. That decision has made me mostly unavailable to devote the time and work necessary to publishing a quarterly magazine.

I started get born nearly five years ago, with Katie Cassis, because I desperately needed what I have heard you all say get born has become for you: a tribe of like-minded women and mothers willing and ready to risk honesty for the sake of community. Simply stated, when get born got birthed, I found hope.

Today I feel like I’ve cut off my own arm, and I’m a magnificent wreck. get born has been my greatest passion outside of motherhood. It created who I’ve become.

I’d like get born to transition into something different rather than to end altogether. At the suggestion of one of our most loyal volunteers, Stephanie Rayburn, we’re going to try something new, in order to keep get born alive, albeit not four times a year. We’d like to transition get born into an annual print publication chock full of the phenomenal writing you’ve come to love and expect. To that end, we will feature online essays, maintain our active facebook page, and then have a big push one time a year to compile a coffee table style book that we will sell.  Our current subscribers will be offered a credit for the remainder of their subscription price to put toward the book.

Undoubtedly we will all gravely miss the quarterly magazine, but perhaps a bigger, fancier publication will ease some of the sorrow (now I’m REALLY getting dramatic).

Thank you for your contributions to get born: through your subscriptions, your conversations, your ongoing support.  May the next half-decade of get born, while different, be no less transformative than this one.

Heather Janssen