Who Do I Pay To Read?

A list of every newsletter I pay for, plus some thoughts on why, and how, to pay for words.

Last month, I raised the subscription price of Burnt Toast. When Corinne Fay and I stopped to consider how much the newsletter had grown in the past three years, from one weekly post, to one essay and a podcast, to an essay, a podcast, and a Friday Thread that is often another essay…we knew it was time to ask readers to pay what we’re worth. (If you became a paid subscriber prior to June 15, don’t worry — you’re locked into the old price forever!) And I’ve been so encouraged by the response: New subscribers are still joining us! Nobody got (very) mad about it, or told us we were over-charging! 

2/3 of your intrepid Burnt Toast team.

I think the increase went over so smoothly because we’ve been working hard to demonstrate the value of a paid subscription here. I do a lot of original reporting behind those paywalls. (Inside the alt-right cult of 1000 Hours Outside, how to co-parent with an ex stuck in diet culture) I also do a lot of cultural analysis (Huberman Husbands, Protein Girlies). And you get my most personal writing; the pieces I’m not ready for the entire Internet to read, like my divorce announcement or where I land on bikini waxing.

Corinne puts a ton of work into each of those pieces too—brainstorming with me, and then editing, sourcing images and links. On the podcast, the paywalls get you our unfiltered thoughts on breast reductions, Bridgerton bodies, jeans, and so much more. Our audio game is strong because of Tommy’s meticulous engineering, and the thousands of hours we all spend planning and editing each episode. (If you like to nerd out about all of this, you can hear a lot more about our workflow process in this episode.)  

Starting tomorrow, Burnt Toast is going on our summer break. We have an awesome slate of reruns planned for you, and we’ll be back right after Labor Day. (My apologies to those of you in states where school starts in July or August, but here in New York, August is the hardest childcare month of the year!) Because of paid subscribers, I’ll be continuing to pay Corinne, Tommy, and myself during this time off—which feels pretty amazing because PTO is also a concept that never existed when I was freelancing for mainstream media. If you're investing in this work, I trust that means you’re happy to invest in good working conditions for the people who make it for you, and understand that includes us figuring out the most sustainable publishing schedule.

If you haven’t joined us yet, subscribing now will help make this break possible for us. It’s also an investment in all of the great reporting, writing and audio we’ll be bringing your way come September.

Subscriptions start at just $7 per month. There are two tiers of access (regular and Extra Butter!) so you can choose whichever is best for you.

If you’re a free subscriber and staying that way—please know, we value you too. I know lots of you don’t subscribe, but do support our work by sharing what you read and listen to here, by subscribing to Big Undies, and by buying my books, or checking them out from your libraries. It has always been important to me that Burnt Toast stay accessible, which means keeping a significant portion free. That includes all of my guest interviews (Emma Copley Eisenberg! Christyna Johnson! Ash Brandin! Elise Hu! Tigress Osborn!) and all of our Burnt Toast Guides, where you can get answers to all of your top questions about navigating weight, health, diet culture and anti-fatness. And if you’d ever like to access the paywalled content but upgrading your subscription is financially out of reach, please remember that I will always give out comp subscriptions, no questions asked. (Just hit reply to this email.) 

Alina Vasylieva, Getty Images

But Can We Talk A Bit More About Paywalls?

There is one constant concern I hear from readers, both those who can and do pay, or those who could pay but aren’t yet, which I want to talk about today: What to do when you love a lot of newsletters but cannot possibly subscribe to them all. This is the reality of our fractured media landscape. For-profit newsletters offer writers one of the most sustainable ways to make a living that we’ve ever had —more than most staff media jobs, and more than writing a New York Times bestselling book (ask me how I know!). But for readers, you can see all those $5 and $7 and $10 monthly subscriptions add up to something deeply unsustainable, fast. I know this because I’m also a newsletter reader, and pay for a ton of subscriptions — which is doable for me since they are all a business write-off, but still a tally I keep an eye on.    

An adjacent argument I hear frequently is: “Why can’t you all just write for the same magazine?” After all, the first year of a digital The New Yorker subscription is $50 – less than this newsletter. And of course there, you get access to a full masthead of brilliant writers. But much, much less of your $50 (and then your $130 per year when it auto-renews) goes directly to those brilliant writers. You’re also supporting the entire toxic battleship that is Conde Nast. As someone who made a decent-ish living writing for monthly magazines most of her career, I can say: That model never, ever served writers. It served advertisers. At their height (late 90s, early 2000s), the best monthly magazines paid between $1 and $3 per word. These days, it’s far more common to be offered a flat rate of $500 or less for a piece that takes hours and hours to report and write, and once upon a time might have paid $5000 or more. And the contracts we’re offered are draconian. Writers rarely retain any rights to the pieces we write for hire, which means corporate media makes all the money on reprints of our work. I could go on. 

I do subscribe to mainstream media outlets, both for research purposes, and because I believe in supporting journalism in all forms, especially when one of the people running for president would like to decimate the free press as we know it. But I know those subscriptions don’t directly support writers in the same way. 

FG Trade Latin, Getty Images

So here’s what I do instead, as a reader of newsletters: I set a monthly budget for how much I want to spend on paid subscriptions. (Yours might be $5! Mine is more because again, this is a business expense.) Then every few months, I check over my list of subscriptions and rotate out the publications I find I’m reading less to make space to rotate in the new writers I’m discovering.

Let me say this clearly: I don’t expect you to subscribe to Burnt Toast forever. I get that is an unreasonable ask for the vast majority of readers! Rotate us in for a few months, then rotate us out to make room for a new voice. Maybe rotate us back in later, maybe don’t. 

Switching up subscriptions like this is labor, yes, but it’s also fun. It’s just like a trip to the bookstore, or the ye olde magazine stand; a chance to discover new writers and new ideas, and fall in love over and over again. This is how we continue to diversify the voices we listen to; to make space for new writers who were never going to make it onto the very white, very exclusive mastheads back in the heyday of magazines, and still aren’t making it into nearly enough newsrooms. As long as enough readers understand why it’s important to pay for words, there will be enough audience to go around. 

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So, Who Am I Paying to Read Right Now?  

If you need ideas of who to read next, here’s a full list of every writer I’m loving and paying for at the moment.

• #AmWriting by KJ (and her co-hosts); relentlessly helpful advice for every stage of a writing career.

• The Audacity by Roxane Gay; impeccable link roundups, plus great guest voices because Roxane knows how to use her platform to lift others up.

• Big Salad by Joanna Goddard; I love how joyfully Jo writes about post-divorce life.

• bitches gotta eat! by samantha irby; because I will pay for every word Sam ever writes.

• The Blonde Mule by Kim; come for the pop culture recs, stay for the fat joy.

• Can I Have Another Snack? By Laura Thomas; no longer on Substack, still absolutely worth the read if you’re feeding kids!

• Culture Study and the Culture Study Podcast by Anne Helen Petersen; probably don’t need to tell you why you should read this one bc you already do!

• Donita Reason by Angela Garbes; one of my favorite thinkers and humans.

• The Double Shift by Katherine Goldstein; smart analysis about how we revolutionize care work.

• Evil Witches by Claire Zulkey; “parenting content” for those of us who hate parenting content.

• Extended Scenes by jenn romolini; a new fav! Love how Jenn writes about ambition, beauty, everything.

• Frump Feelings by Emma Copley Eisenberg; our beloved First Lady of Frump.

• Gretagram by greta johnsen; formerly of Nerdette, always of my heart.

• Honey Stay Super by Kimberly Harrington; very honest, messy and joyful writing about divorced life.

• How to Move by Anna Maltby; another new fav! Solidly anti-diet and incredibly useful fitness writing.

• In Pursuit of Clean Countertops by Sara Petersen; one of my work wives, also our nation’s leading scholar on Ballerina Farm and trad wives.

• Is My Kid The Asshole? By Melinda Wenner Moyer; the MOST helpful parenting advice (no like, legit useful and never shaming).

• Keep Calm & Cook On by Julia Turshen; you will learn so many change-your-life useful kitchen tricks, plus power lifting and other fat positive writing!

• Landline by Mary Mahoney; truly the most hilarious pop culture writer, I said it and I stand by it.

• The Liberation Collective from Chrissy King; excellent rants and wisdom from body liberationist and author Chrissy King.

• Living Small by Laura Fenton; I will never be a minimalist or a small house person, but I so admire how Laura inspires me to think hard about consumerism.

• Lotus of Control by Kate Summers; beautiful writing on self-care, trauma, and mental health from my genius cousin.

• Mad Woman by Amanda Montei; another work wife and one of my favorite feminist writers.

• Men Yell At Me by lyz; I’ve talked before about how Lyz’s writing (and friendship) helped get me through my divorce but she’s also one of our smartest political journalists.

• The Nutrition Tea by Shana Minei Spence; also! Preorder Shana’s new book!

• Out of Your League by Frankie de la Cretaz; “profoundly athletic” is a big part of my personality and yet I adore Frankie’s smart, queer, sports writing. I don’t make these rules.

• Over The Influence by Jo Piazza; Jo is another powerhouse who does so much to support other writers. And such a smart, funny writer.

• Pinch of Dirt by Jessica McKenzie; smart nature and environmental writing from a Burnt Toast alum!  

• Practicing by Lynn Steger Strong; gorgeous writing about writing.

• Rethinking Wellness by Christy Harrison, MPH, RD; one of my OG colleagues on this beat, now doing critical work around wellness culture, disinformation and more.

• The Review of Beauty by Jessica DeFino; required reading for anyone questioning beauty standards and beauty labor.

• TCF Emails by Tracy Clark-Flory; always a killer link roundup plus feminist pop culture analysis.

• Unflattering by Dacy Gillespie; indispensable for anyone who dresses themselves.

• Weight and Healthcare by Ragen Chastain; the most thorough researcher we have working to untangle questions of weight and health.

• YTF Community by Amy Palanjian; also not on Substack, but essays + meal plans!!

And next on my list to rotate in: All Things Fat With Jessica Torres

Who are you reading, loving, and paying for, right now?