Why & How to Support My Work
Why & How to Support My Work
The Why
Greetings Everyone.
My voice, perspective, and Art is not only important, but critical right now.
As someone who works for a living, I realize that if I’m going to continue taking risks in my writing to speak up for women, and exist in my power, my writing must fully support me, financially. That is a non-negotiable. For this reason, I have set a goal to grow my Substack to provide a basic income of $1500 per month by the end of 2024.
That equates to about 250 paying subscribers, and ~3,000 overall subscribers. Right now, I have 10 paid subscribers and 85 overall subscribers, which is amazing, given that I’ve only been writing here for six months without much activity on social media, after being de-platformed.
Of course, I have more lofty income goals. I’d eventually love to earn $5k per month, or even be a six-figure sister! But I have to start somewhere. I am very resourceful and I know how to live well with a modest budget. After some calculations, I see that $1500 per month is the most basic amount I need to secure my future and move forward.
Historically, my economic circumstance has made me vulnerable to abusive living situations, and my current home life is no exception. I care for myself through traveling and house-sitting to have rest and relief, but shifting my holistic financial picture will ultimately change my life.
A basic, scalable income will cushion the blow of any potential cancellation I might face doing other forms of work. It will offer me enough money to finally move out of my toxic/abusive family home, offer options for me to live in a healthier space where I can continue my healing journey, and live in a city with a more culturally diverse community.
It will also allow me to revive my relationship with Pole Dancing and Sexual Wellness…passions I would love to share with you all, and further integrate into my business.
In this ripe age of cancel culture, working in the traditional sphere places me at risk of getting fired, based on even the most fundamental ways I set boundaries with queer/trans culture.
Aside from my blog, I also resist in more interpersonal ways, like refusing to engage in obligatory pronoun rituals, and not pretending I’m utterly delusional.
Truth be told, I have never quite fit into a traditional workplace setting, and I am a natural entrepreneur. In fact, I didn’t just ease into having my own business. I discovered self-employment because I had to sell my art to pay bills, upon experiencing difficulty getting hired. I talk in-depth about this journey in my memoir.
For the past several years, I have been fully self-employed, distributing my documentary film, Reflections Unheard: Black Women in Civil Rights, to University libraries and organizations around the world. My film has been my lifeboat. It still is, and I’m proud of what I’ve accomplished.
However, due to the nature of the business, and for various reasons—my film is really best suited as a supplementary income stream in the long run.
My earnings are also deeply tied to the University system, which is a hotbed for cancel culture. Being canceled last minute for a well-paid film screening, or being protested at a speaking engagement because a student or professor disagreed with my writing, is now a real concern for me.
Regardless, my self-employment is one element that has offered me the freedom and courage to speak up for women with less immediate consequence. However, as I have started this blog and my visibility increases, so do my safety and economic risks. It’s therefore imperative that I have a proper income to offer me options and cushioning as I grow my audience and navigate life.
I have committed to a 1-year plan to cultivate a better and more sustainable financial picture for myself. Aside from cultivating a monthly income stream, I am using every tool available to me to build my savings:
I am developing the largest distribution campaign my film has seen in years, I am applying for Artist grants, and I am crossing my fingers to receive a generous injury settlement that I am due after getting hit by a car when riding my bike last year.
I have also outlined a solid plan to grow my audience on Substack, which is why I am writing this here.
I want to invite you to help me grow my audience and reach my goal of having 250+ paid subscribers at the end of 2024. Here, I’ve outlined a few key ways that you can support me.
How You Can Support Me
Paid Subscription:
Becoming a paid subscriber is the most tangible way that you can support me and my work. Say it louder for the people in the back!
If you’re subscribing by yourself, you can purchase a monthly or annual subscription. There are discounts available if you purchase an annual subscription, or if you purchase a group subscription with others. New paid subscribers can also offer gift subscriptions to their friends for up to one month, so they can explore my work.
Becoming a paid subscriber offers you access to my full archive of past and future writings on this blog. Moving forward, I would like for most of my writing (about 75%) to be paid posts.
I am very used to being extremely generous with providing free content because inspiration just flows to me, and creating is a genuine form of self-expression. I have been blogging for more than a decade on various platforms, and this is my first blog where I’m getting paid for any of it!
I’ve always just swallowed my economic suffering while continuing to pour my heart out for free. So it’s definitely an adjustment for me! But all I’ve done to cultivate self-worth has given me clarity on the value of my work.
I love sharing my writing. I will still offer generous previews of my paid posts when I’m able to, and where it’s appropriate. Some of my free posts may also be set to “paid” at a later date.
With that said, I will always have some articles for free. Aside from blogs like this that are more “announcement”-type—I will also have high-quality articles and posts that will always be free for the public to read. Hint: If I’ve shared an article for free and I’m talking about some real shit, it means I want it to be widely shared. PSA!
Regardless of paywall, all of my posts will be available to share with others, which brings me to my next point…
Share My Blog (And Reap Rewards!):
Sharing my work is a huge way you can support me and help me build my audience. As a writer who is subject to censorship and cancellation, circulating my publication to the right people is going to be a community effort.
I am back on social media-not because they restored my account-but because I gathered the courage to start over. However, I cannot rely on Big Tech algorithms to do the heavy lifting for me as far as growing my audience, and I have to take my existence on these platforms with a grain of salt. I also cannot rely on major Institutions to platform my voice, no matter how brilliant my work is.
Consequently, I must rely on word of mouth and intra-network circulation to build my audience.
That is where you come in.
I so appreciate y’all who have shared my work with friends and networks, and I’ve created a referral rewards program to share gratitude for those who would like to support my publication in this way.
How it works is simple: Each person who subscribes to me through your referral link counts as $1 towards a paid monthly subscription. For every 8 people who sign up, you get a free month of access to my paid writings.
Just look for the ‘Share’ Button on a blog post, or the “Refer a Friend” button. Click on those buttons, and share the link with friends or on social media. Sign-ups through these links will count towards your reward.
Some of my most treasured readers are low-income, and have supported me in a myriad of ways over the past couple of years, so this rewards program was especially created for women who can’t afford to pay for a monthly subscription, but who would still love to support me, and who will benefit from reading my work.
I know that my writing can be nourishing for a lot of women, and I would love to offer an avenue for greater accessibility to my work. Of course, if you are not low-income, you’re also more than welcome to share my work and reap the rewards for it! All forms of support are needed, welcome, and appreciated.
However if you love my work and want to support me in any tangible way, I kindly suggest that you also contribute through a paid subscription if you’re able to.
Here’s a few of my favorite articles I’ve published so far that are 100% free & shareable:
I will continue to refine and add to this list as I go along, since this post will be a living webpage on my Blog.
Where to Share My Work (With & Without Social Media):
I know that some people might have reservations about sharing my work because they don’t have a huge following on social media, or maybe they don’t have any social media at all!
Or maybe they are simply not comfortable sharing my work publicly because of what their friends and colleagues might think.
That’s okay. I gotchu.
There are still ways that you can share my work, within safe spaces. Here are a few suggestions:
If you follow someone online who you feel would appreciate my work and want to support me, or if my writing is relevant to their work—go ahead and refer them to my blog. Drop a link to my blog in their DMs or send them an email. This could be a friend, a more well-known or accomplished figure, or even an organization.
Join an online feminist community such as Facebook’s Gender-Critical groups, Reddit’s FourthWaveWomen, Ovarit, or Spinster. You can share the link to an article or video I’ve created, start a valuable discussion within the community, and put a lot of people onto my work at one time.
If you have a Substack account, or if you publish here, you can also Recommend my publication to your followers.
Whether you’re a reader or writer, you can “Re-stack” an entire Blog Post, or a Note I’ve written, or you can share a quote from my article by highlighting any amount of text, and clicking “restack”.
These “re-stacks” are a way of sharing posts within the Substack network, similar to a retweet. A few of my subscribers have actually found me through Reader-to-Reader sharing.
Of course, if you do have a social media account, shout me out! Follow me, and share links to my work in your stories where you feel inspired. I’ve re-created an Instagram account which I’m actively developing, and I am also on Twitter (but not very active there). You’re welcome to tag me on either platform.
Other Ways to Support Me:
~Books~
There are a few other ways you can support my work. I don’t just write on this blog—I also write books, and I am a memoirist. In fact, I have one short, juicy memoir that I will be publishing and sharing very soon on this platform. There are a lot of other ideas I have in the works to publish in the future, including well-researched essays, video and writing anthologies, and memoirs—all of which I will be highlighting on this blog.
Some of my books are only available by request, and are limited to a women-only readership of those who are connected with me and my work, while others are available for anyone to purchase. You’re welcome to browse my published works on my website, and see if anything interests you.
~Donations~
You’re always welcome to send me a donation to share your appreciation for my work—those are always very much appreciated and helpful.
Especially right now, as I have been knee-deep in a planning phase for the next stages of my work, I have spent less time on the money-making activities, and more time at the drawing board for all of my work and life goals—so donations are much appreciated.
~Love~
And…I just want to say that I love receiving your comments, your resonance, and your likes. I love engaging with my readers, and feeling connected to my audience means a lot to me. Without that connection, this would not feel worth it.
I know to some people, it seems like I’m just an internet person, but I am sensitive about my work, and I go through stuff too—and sometimes, a genuine, thoughtful comment or a “like” on my posts can really boost my spirits.
Phew!
I want to thank you all again for your magnificent support. I have so much gratitude for my supporters—both those who are new to my work, and those who have supported me over the years, through thick and thin. I appreciate you. You are seen, loved, and never forgotten.
If you’ve learned from me, love my work, and want to see me grow, thrive, and continue to be a light in the world-consider how you can reciprocate that energy by investing in me.
Women like me are the future.
It’s taken a lot for me to get where I am but I feel hopeful and inspired for this new phase of my life and I look forward to bringing you along with me for the ride.
You in?
I’ll be sharing more, as things progress. 🌱
Thank yew.
💜🙏🏾💜