Help Expand Memoir Monday, and Fund Original Work!
Memoir Monday can be so much more...with your support.
Dear Memoir Monday subscribers,
I (Sari Botton) am writing to you today to let you know about some exciting changes I’d like to embark on at Memoir Monday, for which I’ll need your help.
First, those of you who were contributing to the PayPal tip jar that Lilly Dancyger had initiated (thank you!) have likely received a notice about that tip jar being discontinued. Since I came on board in June, Lilly has been forwarding the tips to me, and last week I linked my own PayPal account instead. Contributions there are welcome, as this is an unpaid gig.
However…for what I’m hoping to do with Memoir Monday in the near future, it will be much more helpful if you’ll consider becoming a paid subscriber.
I’m interested in expanding on Memoir Monday so that it’s more than just a vehicle for curating and publicizing published personal essays from a small handful of literary sites each week.
In addition to adding more publications to the roster, I’d like to begin curating, commissioning, and editing original personal essays and memoir excerpts, along with craft articles about writing. I’d like to be able to pay writers fairly, along with illustrators, and myself—the curator and editor. Who knows—maybe if I garner enough support, I’ll even be able to pay additional editors.
Expanding on Memoir Monday in this way will bring me back to the work I was doing as Essays Editor at Longreads, until I left in June of 2020. There, I edited a diverse roster of writers on a wide range of subjects. It’s work I love to do, and if I do say so myself, I’m pretty good at it. There’s evidence to suggest it’s true: Several of the writers I worked with at Longreads went on to win awards, land agents and book deals, and have their work selected for inclusion or notable mention in the Best American series.
So far, curating Memoir Monday has been a labor of love, which first Lilly, and then I, did for free—save for the $50 or $60 that landed in the tip jar each month. In order to do more with this newsletter, subscriber funding will be necessary.
I don’t wish to to create a paywall here; I’d like for all the original work that appears on Memoir Monday to be accessible for all readers, at all income levels. And so I hope those who can afford to support this work will become paid subscribers.
Thank you for considering supporting Memoir Monday in this way! In addition to continuing to share with you wonderful essays from quality publications, I look forward to delivering some fresh, new work to your inbox in the near future.
Sincerely,
Sari Botton, Editor/Curator of Memoir Monday
PS It’s going to take me a while to get up and running with expansion. How many paid subscriptions I garner will determine how much original work I can accept, and what I can pay for it. So for now, I’m not taking submissions. I’ll let you know when I am!
PPS If you’re a writer or publication with published pieces you’d like me to consider for inclusion in the weekly curated newsletter, email me at memoirmonday@gmail.com