Welcome to Charm of the Wilderness
A Publication for Lovers of Nature and the National Parks
Welcome to Charm of the Wilderness!
Some of you might know me from my other Substack newsletter Cramming for the Apocalypse! For those who don’t know about me over there, it’s a publication that centers around the intersection between disaster preparedness and climate grief/climate action. It’s where I have shared my own journey to prepare for disasters, figure out how to parent in the middle of a climate crisis, and pontificate on the importance of climate justice.
I’ve been publishing Cramming for three years now and it has grown beyond my wildest imaginations and has created a fantastic and fun community. I will continue to publish a weekly newsletter over there, so never fear. This new publication will be separate, but aligned and I’m excited to jump in.
TL;DR: This post is more about why I’m starting a new Substack. Stay tuned for more about the heart of Charm of the Wilderness.
What is Charm of the Wilderness then?
Charm of the Wilderness has some similarities to Cramming in that there is a focus on climate justice. However, Charm will be specifically focused on national parks, public lands, exploring nature, and anything that relates to those topics.
You see, I’m writing a book with that exact title Charm of the Wilderness. It’s a book about visiting national parks to learn more about climate change and climate justice.
While the book has yet to be sold, I’ve already started it. A trip to Yosemite National Park with my sister and eight-year-old son in June 2025 was the official step into the journey. And I plan to share those adventures with you here.
Charm of the Wilderness will be multi-faceted: part travelogue (come along on my adventures!), part news roundup (keep on the latest public lands fights!), part trip guide (let me help you with your trips!), and part showcasing others’ good works (you get to hear from the people already doing amazing work in the parks and beyond!).
The majority of posts will likely be shorter-form, especially some in the form of handy lists. There may be a few longer-form essays, but not as many as I publish in Cramming.
In short: this will be fun!
But why start a brand new Substack from scratch?
There are two clear answers to that:
While Charm intersects with topics in Cramming, there’s a lot of content that I would be holding back. And because I’m still passionate about the focus of Cramming and dedicated to giving those subscribers that content, it makes more sense to separate them into two.
Charm of the Wilderness is a proving ground for the concept of the book. I’m eager to build this from scratch and find partnerships and deliver content that shows publishers that this is a subject worth making a book into. And Substack is a great format to do that.
Tell me more about why you need to prove to publishers that this topic is worth it.
The long and short of it is we are in strange times for publishing. There is a perfect storm of factors leading to fewer book acquisitions: namely tariffs, the Federal approach to DEI/anything that criticizes the Administration/progressive content, and an anticipated recession.
Nonfiction books that are getting picked up are not narrative non-fiction and the authors who do sell their books have ample platforms on social media and beyond. And even those authors are getting less money. Anything beyond those needs to show publishers that there is an audience for that very topic.
I am incredibly lucky to have an amazing agent, Amanda Bernardi (who has a really great Substack called grassroots agenting. that helps writers navigate the publishing world). She is as dedicated as I am to get this book out there.
What can I (the reader) do to help?
Glad you asked ;). There are several ways you can help!
The best thing you can do is share this with everyone you know who loves nature, the national parks, and public lands! I want them to join me on this journey. I will be keeping Charm of the Wilderness free for everyone indefinitely, so it’s an easy commitment for folks.
Engage with the content here! We writers look at analytics like open-rates, engagement on posts (i.e., likes, comments, and shares), and rates of growth in subscribers. The engagement also helps give me insight into what content people want to receive and, in turn, gives me something to show publishers what people are interested in.
And last, if you have a Substack yourself, consider adding Charm of the Wilderness to your recommends list and mention this to your community.
And now that the logistical intros are out of the way, let’s start out journey to the wilderness.
Thank you for being along this ride with me!
Elizabeth Doerr