Storyteller Academy Closing Announcement
- Storyteller Academy
- May 23, 2024
Beginnings, Endings, and a New Chapter
After much consideration, I’ve made a difficult decision to close Storyteller Academy. I didn’t consider this decision lightly, so let me explain why.
There are three main reasons why:
TOO RISKY
Over the past four years, we’ve grown Storyteller Academy primarily from Facebook Advertising, running launches, and webinars to enroll new students.
In the last few years, enrolling students has been difficult. Perhaps folks are returning to work or finding themselves too busy. We are now enrolling one-quarter of the students we did previously.
Because of this, running advertising campaigns to grow and sustain Storyteller Academy has become too risky and has been taking a toll on my mental health.
TOO BIG
Between 2020 and 2021, we grew an amazing community and created an amazing program. I’ll always be grateful to you, our students, and our teammates (Amy, Myrna, and many others) for running the program. But as revenues have declined, we’ve had to cut back. We’ve prioritized giving feedback, revising courses, and continuing to teach.
I really love what we do but there are too many days where I find myself not wanting to operate a big program with a big staff. I am finding myself needing more space for creativity and time to pursue other passions.
A NEW CHAPTER
Outside of children’s books, I have many other interests. To create space and to recover mentally, I’ve decided it’s time to close my online schools.
This has been a really difficult decision because I love Storyteller Academy and appreciate you and all the instructors. Storyteller Academy has been something I thought I would run forever.
After much reflection, I’ve concluded that I must rebalance my life. In the beginning, I wanted to make my whole world about children’s books. But I’ve found creating a business out of your passion is tricky. There are a lot of frustrations and disappointments along the way. And although I love teaching the craft, I don’t always love the marketing and selling aspect of running the online school.
So I’ve decided the best thing to do is balance my creative life with a different business unrelated to creativity. I’m still planning on making books, but I don’t want to have my whole life built around creativity and children’s books.
WHAT HAPPENS NEXT?
I know you are wondering, what happens now?
First, we will still run workshops and live classes through February 2025. We are also stopping all monthly payments on May 30th.
If you are an Annual member, you’ll have access to courses and workshops through 2025. If you are a monthly member, there will be an opportunity for you to upgrade with a one-time payment if you would like to extend through February 2025.
All re-occurring memberships will be canceled following May 30th.
Thank you again for being a Storyteller Academy member for all these years. Our story isn’t ending.
We’re just starting a new chapter.
Sincerely,
Arree Chung
CEO/Founder of Storyteller Academy
Award-winning Author/Illustrator
