Wanna help me reach my goal? [September Subscription Drive]

Good morning, Friday morning,

I hope your post-Labor-Day malaise hasn't hit you too bad this week. The usual labor digest will be in your inbox later today, but I wanted to send a message out to folks this morning with a bit of an ask for you: will you help me reach my paid subscriber goal for the month?

Asking for financial support is a wildly uncomfortable experience, especially knowing that many of us are struggling to make ends meet in an increasingly hostile world. That being said, this work is reader-funded: every dollar helps me devote more time to news threads on social media, original reporting, longform series and investigations, photo essays, sassy quips about the state of the news industry, dunking on bosses on Bluesky, and all the rest.

In just in the last few months, I’ve helped break news on social media about the Feds storming MacArthur Park in Los Angeles, documented continuous police brutality outside the Metropolitan Detention Center, and helped elevate important community gatherings that strengthen the social safety net in Los Angeles and beyond.

Here at Words About Work, I've continued that work: Every week, I send you digests of important headlines from the world of labor that help folks remember that the work is still continuing. I'm branching out into more original reporting, including a series about what it means to struggle for stable work in the wake of a layoff, and covering the labor movement in Southern California and across the country. None of these things would be possible without the support of you--my readers. Seriously.

That's why I've joined the Back Indie Media Drive for the month of September. This month, I'm working alongside over 30 other indie creators to make their own work sustainable through reader funding. In addition to trying to reach my own goal, I encourage you to check out the folks on this list and see if there's anyone else you'd love to support. (Hint: they're all great!)

In the spirit of transparency, here's where I'm at:

Out of over 1200 subscriptions, 17 are paid (17 is honestly a solid number, given how many incredible journalists and creatives have taken to the audience funding model). However, I'd love nothing more than to reach a point where I can credibly call this newsletter my full-time job. I'm working hard to build this into something that has value for my readers; to that end, I need your help.

If you're a free subscriber and you've been with me for awhile, please consider upgrading to a paid subscription. I've got a number of tiered options for folks that I hope can fit your individual budget. The annual subscriptions are heavily discounted as well, so if that floats your fancy and it's in your budget, please sign up here or in the box below.

Transparent fundraising, part 2

What sort of goals am I looking at for this month? The next six months? The next year? Glad you asked...

With...

• 100 paid subscribers, I could begin to think less about finding part-time bartending shifts to pay the bills, and more about the newsletter
• 250 paid subscribers, I could cover the bulk of my bills and do this newsletter full-time
• 500 paid subscribers, I could travel more extensively for my reporting, outside Southern California and into the wider US to chase labor stories that matter (and afford the annual subscription fees required in order to migrate everything over to Ghost)
• 750 paid subscribers, I could bring on an editor to help with original reporting and producer for a new podcast idea I've been kicking around (the dream!)
• 1000 paid subscribers, I will fly anywhere in the U.S. to personally fight your boss
• 5000 paid subscribers, I will fly anywhere in the U.S. to personally fight your boss...in a steel cage match

Okay so, for legal purposes, those last two are jokes, lmao.

For the month of September, my goal is to reach 50 paid subscribers to the newsletter. That's just 33 folks who wanna chip in as little as 5 bucks a month to help me do this work. Will you become one of them?

At any rate, the fact that folks have dropped their email into the box for a subscription at any tier is wild to me. Over 1000 of you give a shit about my work and it's an incredible feeling. I truly hope I'm doing you, and the folks I write about, justice.

Thanks for your support, your solidarity, and your words of encouragement.

With love and solidarity of my own,

Mel B.

Please note: For the duration of this month, you're gonna see a few more posts of this nature than you normally would. I will do my best not to flood your inbox with fundraising emails, but I also want to make the most of this subscriber drive and provide regular updates on my progress as we move through September. It'll be back to your regularly scheduled programming as we head into October. Much love and thanks--