🤑All the Substack subscriptions I pay for...

IN THIS EMAIL:

🥸 ALL THE SUBSTACK SUBSCRIPTIONS I PAY CASH MONEY FOR: I’m gonna take you into the vault and share all my best sources, aka my Substack paid subscription list…cause maybe you wanna be more in the know too.

TREND, BUSINESS, AND SOCIAL MEDIA
These are all my daily MUST reads.

➡️ Link In Bio: Written by social media ninja Rachel Karten [who’s run social teams at Bon Appétit and Epicurious mags] it’s billed as a newsletter for social media managers, BUT, I ain’t a social media manager and I still absolutely love it. She shares social news, fab insights on trends [like this one about brands who get invited to random customer’s weddings and then decide to crash them] and her takes on everything going down in the worlds of social media and business.
$8/per month

➡️ Feed Me: This is Emily Sundberg’s newsletter about business, news culture and basically all the “in the know” shit that your trendiest biz friends are probably already talking about. Emily posts a kinda funny, ironic selfie of herself to go along with each post that I find oddly comforting and charming…but also, her hot takes and analysis are always smart, well thought out and make me think about things in diff ways. I loved this rundown of what people are actually saving money for in 2024 [spoiler alert: botox is high on the list].
$5/per month

➡️ Embedded: Embedded is your essential guide to what’s good on the internet, written by Kate Lindsay. This one includes roundups of all of the most interesting links, articles and discussions on the internet, essays about cultural zeitgeist moments and internet habits of cool people. This was a fun read on the algorithmic quirks of Spotify’s end of the year Wrapped feature.
$5/per month

➡️ After School by Casey Lewis: If you’re old like me and looking to get some inside info on the social media and consumption habits of Gen Z, well then lemme introduce you to your new goto BFF. She posts 5x a week and shares all about the trends, issues and cultural moments that our cutie little Gen Z kids are obsessed with. And just in case you’re curious exactly what Gen Z got for Christmas, Casey sat through a bajillion Christmas hauls on TikTok to create this list of most loved items.
$7/per month

➡️ ICYMI: Written by Lia Haberman this is a really smart deep dive into the marketing and branding habits of all of the companies we should all be paying attention to. Industry insights, trends, social analysis…it’s all in there. As a paid subscriber you also get access to a google drive where Lia files away all of the social media trend reports she gets access to. This was such an interesting read that she dropped just today: Unhinged is 2024’s First Marketing Directive.
$6/per month

➡️ The Sociology of Business: I’m sure you’re thinking WHOA, $49 a month!? My first response would be: who decided that $5, $8 or $10 a month was the going rate for content subscriptions?🤔 I’m genuinely curious. My second response would be: this ain’t your mama’s average rinky dink newsletter. Written by Ana Andjelic who wrote LEGIT one of the best books I’ve ever ever ever read on branding and community: The Business of Aspiration, you get 4 monthly newsletters that are truly deep dive case studies or mini white papers on growth, culture, trends, strategy and brand building. This woman is smart AF and has such a next level clever take on the “attention” economy—I legit take notes on her emails. Annnnnd my third response would be: reminder, it’s my JOB to stay on top of this shit now, and holy shit does this chick help me do that.
$49/per month

FASHION & TRAVEL
Where to go and what to wear when you go there

➡️ The Love List: This one is from former journalist and current creative agency owner Jess Graves. She calls The Love List a “newsletter about the culture of shopping.” I’m obsessed with her New York City shopping map and her missive on whether or not the $860 High Sport pants are" “worth it”—For the record, these are THE fashion item that’s now being hotly and passionately discussed on literally every single fashion publication I read and, unsurprisingly, I now want them.
$10/per month

➡️ The Cereal Aisle by Leandra Medine Cohen: Written by the former Man Repeller founder, Cohen has been at the forefront of some of the most interesting, sometimes controversial fashion convos since 2010 [sidenote: how in the fuck was 2010 now FOURTEEN years ago?]. Since I’m hardcore in my vintage jewelry era now, I loved this recent post: How to Wear Jewelry in the Winter.
$5/per month

➡️ Happy Hoteling: This one’s from a creator I originally found and fell in love with on TikTok, Marissa Klurstein who has the most fab, bougie travel reccos, including a bunch of hotels I’ve never heard of and now wanna drop mad cash money on. She also used to go to Capri every summer with her dad growing up so her Italy reccos are especially fantastico [also: #GOALS].
$10/per month

➡️ Jenny Sais Quoi: Here’s the truth: I subscribed to this one cause 1. The writer, Jenny Walton lives in Milan and I have a weird Milan obsesh right now. 2. She used to be engaged to Scott Schuman, The Sartorialist, who I’m also obsessed with. Buuut the problem is the two things I’m obsessed with are not really Jenny related so I’m not 100% sure this one is a fit for me. BUT we also have one major thing in common which is that we’re brooch obsessed [ok, obsessions x 3] so maybe we are actually meant to be after all. Here’s her Milan List roundup.
$8/per month

➡️ Yolo Intel: This is a fab one is from the former Creative Director of Condé Nast Traveler, Yolanda Edwards. There’s travel reccos, hotel breakdowns, packing advice and even playlists. Truth time: I ended up subscribing cause I wanted access to her Mexico City Black Book guide and it is really good.
$8/per month

➡️ A La Carte: Written by Ali LaBelle, who basically just seems like a chic cool ass chick with insane taste and a really interesting POV [for the record: she’s a creative director and brand consultant]. “À La Carte is a place to explore the ways we can live a life of creative abundance” and includes things like recommendations, shopping roundups, gift ideas, travel info, and even some wild cards like job hunting and networking advice. I loved this thought piece on Personal Branding vs Personal Taste.
$40/per year

➡️ Magasin: This is a shopping digest and link-a-palooza with picks from all the chic-est sites and online sales from Laura Reilly. I loved her recent breakdown of every single thing she bought in 2023 with a cost-per-breakdown analysis.
$5/per month [This pub is actually free, BUT if you upgrade for $5/mo it all goes to non-profits and charity].

OTHER SHIT
Some other subs that don’t really fit into specific categories

➡️ Rich Text: I first subscribed to this Substack specifically for the extra monthly podcast you get with your upgraded subscription. I was already listening to Claire Fallon & Emma Gray’s other podcast Love to See It [a feminist podcast about reality dating shows, rom-coms, and what they say about us all] when they shared a preview of their Rich Text podcast on which they were doing Love Is Blind recaps. I was immediately hooked and still crazy love all of their their private podcasts eps. But I’ve honestly come to love their “This Week in Recommendations” curated roundups just as much. What can I say: I’m a gigantic STAN for any and all juicy curated roundups full of product, podcast, book, TV show and movie suggestions. 🤷🏻‍♀️
$6/per month

➡️ SFGirlByBay: This one is a holdover my interior designer days as Victoria Smith is someone I’ve followed and loved to read for many many years back when blogging was in its heyday. Now she’s doing the Substack thing and it’s been fun to dive back into her world. I love her curated roundups, travel guides and, of course, her design-y content. Her “best of” guides are my fave and the weirder the topic the better. Here’s a good “best of” on “euro vibe kitchen supplies.”
$5/per month

➡️ Things Worth Knowing with Farah Storr: Ok, honestly, uhm, I’m not even really sure why I’m paying for this one. I think it was because I was intrigued by the monthly online writer’s group she put together as it seemed like a diff spin on the typical Substack “upgrades” I see. So I’m not sure if I’m gonna keep this one, but right now I’m taking it for a test drive. She does link to some interesting articles and sites and I also do love her travel guides like: A Fashion Insider’s Guide to Paris or Inside My Provence [sidenote: OMGGGG I wanna go to Provence so damn bad next Summer! I have a secret, uhm, maybe not so secret desire to buy an old dilapidated mini chateau and move there [like Jamie Beck], but Greg refuses to move anywhere else where we don’t speak the language for awhile, sooooo 😭].
$9/per month

**Ok, so those are all the paid ones! ⬆️ But I actually subscribe to a TON more free versions of Substacks, which I can share another time if you want me to!? [Hi Everyone With Hillary Kerr and Shop Rat by Emilia Petrarca are two freebie subscriptions that I’m currently close to upgrading].

NON SUBSTACK CONTENT I PAY FOR:

➡️ Air Mail: This is Graydon Carter’s online media publication [Graydon was the editor of Vanity Fair magazine for many years] and I’m kinda loving it. Because of his relationships he’s got a lot of super interesting, really talented people writing for him over there. And they send out there content in a series of weekly emails that go out on different days. I especially love their travel coverage [like THIS piece about a new hotel in the Marais district of Paris I now wanna go to or THIS piece about an estate in Scotland you can stay at. For the record, I’m newly obsessed with Scotland and not cause of Outlander—I tried, but I hate Claire with the fire of a thousand hot burning suns. Anyway, I wanna go there real bad].
$9.99/per month

➡️ NY Magazine: I really love all the online “offshoots” of NY Magazine: The Cut for style, culture and fashion news, The Strategist for shopping and “best of” reccos and Vulture for TV recaps and news. I somehow didn’t even realize until the other day that one of my former fave blogs Curbed [which is all about real estate] is still around and now under the umbrella of NY mag [I shared THIS piece about the rise of Innkeepers on social media…INNfluencers if you will 😂]. Also, I desperately want to be an INNfluencer.
$50/per year

➡️ The New York Times: This is probably the real world publication I read [and love] the most. I also dig the iPad app for this one a lot and usually make my way over there after I do my Substack deep dive.
Free for me cause we use Greg’s dad’s login 🫣

IN SUMMARY
Here are your takeaways for today

➡️ Substack whaaaa?: If you’ve never checked out what’s goin on over on Substack, I def think it’s worth a looksie. There’s lots of excitement and momentum over on that platform right now [minus, uhm, a lil problem that they’re having with some Nazis 😳]. In addition to all of my subscriptions, this paid content thing is a trend I’m watching closely and, in my opinion, is only going to keep getting bigger and bigger. Right now Substack is front and center in that movement and so I want you to know about it too.

➡️ Pay content creators: It takes a LOT of fucking work to create dope content. If you’re in a financial position to swing it, I would highly encourage you to throw $5 or $10 bucks toward a few creators who you really love and wanna support. Even though I know I’m not going to read every single piece of content on every Substack I’m subscribed to, it feels really good to be “investing” my money in the talent of other creators and writers [a lot of Podcasters even offer subscription upgrades on Patreon!].

It’s also just a great place to be if you’re as obsessed as being “in the know” as I am. Now again: I honestly consider this part of my job as I’m always advising other biz owners, my CMO clients and now writing an exclusive monthly trends report for our [One] Membership. I’m constantly getting asked about all of my “sources” and where I’m finding all the info and trends I share about on social media. Welp, it very often comes from the writers and creators I’ve shared with you on this list ⬆️ [so yeah…this email is kinda gold. You probs wanna save it cause I’ve already done all the research for you 💋].

And duh: yep, ALL of these subscriptions are tax write off, so cha ching.

➡️ Consider creating your own Substack: This Substack thang isn’t necessarily a fit for every biz owner, but it might be one for you? See if this makes sense as either an add-on to your social media presence orrrrr as an alternative that might allow you to stay the hell o-f-f of social media more.

I’m currently talking to two clients who are thinking of starting their own Substacks and I’m honestly close to pulling the trigger myself.

[Again, I’m really intrigued by the idea of doing a “fluffier” personal weekly email over there about fun shit that’s not biz related [fashion, TV, shopping, random links and articles, Amazon faves etc], so I will keep you posted if I do and report back on the Substack experience from a creator POV.]