I really appreciate the work you do and the content you put out there, but the extra butter is twice as much, and there are multiple writers I want to support - so while I’m bummed when there is something I’m interested in I can’t access, at this point, it would mean not supporting another person at all. (The price point where I would pay for extra butter is probably $3 a month)
I work hard to support all the writers I love. This feels unsustainable. Not only am I spending WAY more than I would if all of this writing was gathered into one magazine, newspaper, or site but I simply don’t have time to consume all the extra content. It feels like every single writer I love is writing a substack, doing a podcast, is active on threads. What a thrill! But I cannot afford (from both a time and economic standpoint) to consume it all.
Dec 19, 2023Liked by Corinne Fay, Virginia Sole-Smith
What Was I Made For? was my favorite piece I read on Substack last week out of all the many things I read (I have been reading a lot the last two weeks as I put off finishing all my Christmas tasks). I am shocked it had the lowest open rate, but maybe other people are actually doing a good job finishing up their before Christmas tasks unlike me!
I really enjoy everything you write, Virginia--I just know that I won't have time to read and/or engage with the content of "Extra Butter" in my daily life. With two small children and my own freelance career, I can barely find five minutes to read the base level that I have paid for! However, keep up the excellent work, it's definitely not personal!
What Was I Made For was one of the most heartbreakingly profound things I've read all year. I would love to see more content about the intersection of diet/exercise culture and aging. Thank you for all you do. May you have a way more easeful 2024.
Dec 19, 2023·edited Dec 19, 2023Liked by Virginia Sole-Smith
BT has become hands-down my favourite podcast/newsletter this year, so I'm glad its reach has ballooned so incredibly! in relation to one of your observations about email opening: sometimes if a title feels too close to the bone (i.e. it's about a struggle I'm currently or was recently dealing with) I tend to leave it until I'm feeling braver. So, ironically, the most relevant content takes the longest to consume !
I will echo the comments here that say that I can only support so many amazing folks via Substack and patreon. I’m working to rebuild my life post-separation. Not getting Extra Butter means I get to buy myself a pair of jeans and new shoes.
Thank you Virginia. Our parasocial relationship has been valuable and validating to me in many ways. I'll send you more memes when I'm back on social media in the New Year. Finding Burnt Toast has been life changing for me physically and mentally. I have a community here I do not have in real life and I truly need this support system. (I have half a dozen cookie recipes pinned from last week's thread and I'm so excited about them.)
Thank you for your incredible work. Thank you to Corinne for her wonderful contributions as well, I love hearing her perspectives.
My request for an episode, is like your step mother, I would love to hear about aging women and menopause specifically pre or peri menopause and how it's a catalyst for growth and change. I'm not there yet, but I want to embrace it, not dread it.
Ah, I love this end-of-the-year business/editorial recap, thank you so much! About the kids workout piece, I read it and loved it. It was very instructive! But it took me a LONG time to open it because the title was difficult to understand. "Barbie feet" doesn't ring any bells to me. Once I clicked, I was happy I did. So the title might be why it performed less well than what you'd expected!
I’m new here and have no clue what extra butter is, but when I clicked on the link in the article to check it out it says I’m already subscribed- so yay! I love all of this content and look forward to these emails hitting my inbox while I drink my coffee. My husband thinks I’m crazy always writing novels in these comments before the sun even comes out, but I’m happy to have a space like this where I can add my anti-diet thoughts. I don’t have many people in my world I can talk to about this stuff other than my hubby and my therapist because they all are deep in diet culture and don’t get it or don’t want to listen. I feel seen and validated here, so I would pay whatever the monthly is to get that (within reason obviously!)
When it comes to New Year’s resolutions - I like to pick a word that serves me throughout the year. Last year I picked “health” because I was (and still am) dealing with health issues and this year I’m picking “positivity” because those health issues have given me a negative outlook. But by picking positivity, I will focus on that and work on it throughout the year. I write it on my mirror so I see it every morning as well. Anyway! Thanks for all you do!! Happy to be here!!
For the poll - it's not a lack of interest in Burnt Toast content, just the pricing! My budget only seems to be getting tighter, and while I've been trying to avoid dropping the paid subscription altogether... I can't imagine a scenario in which it makes sense for me to go the other direction and pay twice as much.
Absolutely love everything you write but can't really justify paying even more per month just for one journalist so I make do without extra butter and cult of perfection. I am actually embarrassed of how much I want to share all your pieces with my mum groups and especially my "feminist" mum group - when our local mum&baby club offered a post-partum weightloss bootcamp we had some real debate about whether the advertising was supportive of new mothers (to my Virginia-trained mind absolutely 100% not!!) and made me want to introduce your work to everybody... But don't want to seem too weird about it either!! Anyway, big thanks, always a pleasure to get your newsletter even if I am keenest on the fat / parenting content.
I'll say it once again: as a non-parent/never-going-to-be-a-parent who still loves kids, I have always felt welcomed and engaged here! Thanks for writing so well.
I’m curious about your thoughts on the growth imperative and how it relates to this newsletter/podcast. I know that you have plans to expand (e.g., hire a fact-checker/editor) but is there a subscriber number/income you have in mind where you don’t have to scramble for more paid subscription conversions and can really nurture the existing subscriber base? I’m so fascinated that this newsletter has almost doubled its subscriptions in 1 year.
FWIW Virginia, I would categorize “What was I Made For?” as your most beautiful piece of the year (tied with your divorce essay). Many of the lower performed pieces were ones i loved a lot. Maybe the performance for some can be due to timing of things outside your control? Takeaway: don’t overvalue the stats, keep doing what you’re doing!
I really appreciate the work you do and the content you put out there, but the extra butter is twice as much, and there are multiple writers I want to support - so while I’m bummed when there is something I’m interested in I can’t access, at this point, it would mean not supporting another person at all. (The price point where I would pay for extra butter is probably $3 a month)
I work hard to support all the writers I love. This feels unsustainable. Not only am I spending WAY more than I would if all of this writing was gathered into one magazine, newspaper, or site but I simply don’t have time to consume all the extra content. It feels like every single writer I love is writing a substack, doing a podcast, is active on threads. What a thrill! But I cannot afford (from both a time and economic standpoint) to consume it all.
What Was I Made For? was my favorite piece I read on Substack last week out of all the many things I read (I have been reading a lot the last two weeks as I put off finishing all my Christmas tasks). I am shocked it had the lowest open rate, but maybe other people are actually doing a good job finishing up their before Christmas tasks unlike me!
I really enjoy everything you write, Virginia--I just know that I won't have time to read and/or engage with the content of "Extra Butter" in my daily life. With two small children and my own freelance career, I can barely find five minutes to read the base level that I have paid for! However, keep up the excellent work, it's definitely not personal!
What Was I Made For was one of the most heartbreakingly profound things I've read all year. I would love to see more content about the intersection of diet/exercise culture and aging. Thank you for all you do. May you have a way more easeful 2024.
BT has become hands-down my favourite podcast/newsletter this year, so I'm glad its reach has ballooned so incredibly! in relation to one of your observations about email opening: sometimes if a title feels too close to the bone (i.e. it's about a struggle I'm currently or was recently dealing with) I tend to leave it until I'm feeling braver. So, ironically, the most relevant content takes the longest to consume !
I will echo the comments here that say that I can only support so many amazing folks via Substack and patreon. I’m working to rebuild my life post-separation. Not getting Extra Butter means I get to buy myself a pair of jeans and new shoes.
The “what’s my purpose if I am not thin” may have had low rates but it was the only one that made me weep, and that I think about the MOST
Thank you Virginia. Our parasocial relationship has been valuable and validating to me in many ways. I'll send you more memes when I'm back on social media in the New Year. Finding Burnt Toast has been life changing for me physically and mentally. I have a community here I do not have in real life and I truly need this support system. (I have half a dozen cookie recipes pinned from last week's thread and I'm so excited about them.)
Thank you for your incredible work. Thank you to Corinne for her wonderful contributions as well, I love hearing her perspectives.
My request for an episode, is like your step mother, I would love to hear about aging women and menopause specifically pre or peri menopause and how it's a catalyst for growth and change. I'm not there yet, but I want to embrace it, not dread it.
Thank you Virginia and Corrine.
Ah, I love this end-of-the-year business/editorial recap, thank you so much! About the kids workout piece, I read it and loved it. It was very instructive! But it took me a LONG time to open it because the title was difficult to understand. "Barbie feet" doesn't ring any bells to me. Once I clicked, I was happy I did. So the title might be why it performed less well than what you'd expected!
I’m new here and have no clue what extra butter is, but when I clicked on the link in the article to check it out it says I’m already subscribed- so yay! I love all of this content and look forward to these emails hitting my inbox while I drink my coffee. My husband thinks I’m crazy always writing novels in these comments before the sun even comes out, but I’m happy to have a space like this where I can add my anti-diet thoughts. I don’t have many people in my world I can talk to about this stuff other than my hubby and my therapist because they all are deep in diet culture and don’t get it or don’t want to listen. I feel seen and validated here, so I would pay whatever the monthly is to get that (within reason obviously!)
When it comes to New Year’s resolutions - I like to pick a word that serves me throughout the year. Last year I picked “health” because I was (and still am) dealing with health issues and this year I’m picking “positivity” because those health issues have given me a negative outlook. But by picking positivity, I will focus on that and work on it throughout the year. I write it on my mirror so I see it every morning as well. Anyway! Thanks for all you do!! Happy to be here!!
For the poll - it's not a lack of interest in Burnt Toast content, just the pricing! My budget only seems to be getting tighter, and while I've been trying to avoid dropping the paid subscription altogether... I can't imagine a scenario in which it makes sense for me to go the other direction and pay twice as much.
Absolutely love everything you write but can't really justify paying even more per month just for one journalist so I make do without extra butter and cult of perfection. I am actually embarrassed of how much I want to share all your pieces with my mum groups and especially my "feminist" mum group - when our local mum&baby club offered a post-partum weightloss bootcamp we had some real debate about whether the advertising was supportive of new mothers (to my Virginia-trained mind absolutely 100% not!!) and made me want to introduce your work to everybody... But don't want to seem too weird about it either!! Anyway, big thanks, always a pleasure to get your newsletter even if I am keenest on the fat / parenting content.
I'll say it once again: as a non-parent/never-going-to-be-a-parent who still loves kids, I have always felt welcomed and engaged here! Thanks for writing so well.
I’m curious about your thoughts on the growth imperative and how it relates to this newsletter/podcast. I know that you have plans to expand (e.g., hire a fact-checker/editor) but is there a subscriber number/income you have in mind where you don’t have to scramble for more paid subscription conversions and can really nurture the existing subscriber base? I’m so fascinated that this newsletter has almost doubled its subscriptions in 1 year.
FWIW Virginia, I would categorize “What was I Made For?” as your most beautiful piece of the year (tied with your divorce essay). Many of the lower performed pieces were ones i loved a lot. Maybe the performance for some can be due to timing of things outside your control? Takeaway: don’t overvalue the stats, keep doing what you’re doing!