This will come at the beginning of each month to keep everyone updated on the goings on. This is where we will post the monthly schedule, raffle prizes, writer spotlights, and more. Over time, we will be moving all of the resources onto our website to design them, integrate them with profiles, and offer unique tools to help writers. For now, all interactions, updates, news and so on will remain here. You can sign up for Sub Club on our website. Or, for the PB&J Tier, you can go straight through Substack.
First things first tho…
Oh, hey!
This is our first month of Sub Club by Chill Subs. You might be curious why the heck we created this while we’re running places like Chill Subs & Write or Die. Well, that’s pretty simple. Money.
We will never paywall the information we provide on Chill Subs. We’ve been on the other side of paywalls for information we need, and it sucks. We get that it’s just how the internet works, but where we can avoid it, we will.
We also considered Kickstarter or pushing donations. For this, it’s just we feel “given money” would be better spent on people who need it to live; and there are far too many. If Chill Subs totally shits the bed, we can feed ourselves with our respective skills. So, we developed this membership to be able to give something in return to help fund building some paid optional features on Chill Subs.
So, let’s take a look at our finances and goals.
Finances
(we will be updating this each month):
Money being made: $500 per month.
Maintenance costs for Chill Subs: about $300/m.
Pay our database person: $1000/m.
Pay our second developer: $1000/m.
Pay our cartoonist: $200/m.
Pay contributors to Write or Die: $300/m
We (and most of our team) make nothing. And we won’t until that ‘total made’ gets past those costs ($2800/m). We have no investors and don’t want them.
*Karina had a bit of an emergency today so these numbers will get more exact as the weeks go on and we’ll include them in the footer of posts.
Current goals:
Chill Subs: Build Slushpile (our submissions manager) and make enough to pay our database helper & 2nd developer.
Write or Die: Fill our selection of workshops, make enough to pay our writers $50 per piece, and our editors something.
If you’d like to support us in other ways, you can buy some of our merch, or take a workshop with one of our amazing instructors.
All right! Business Daddy stuff is all done, let’s find out what’s coming this month in Sub Club!
Wait! Some housekeeping:
If you were a paid subscriber to our Startup Diary or this newsletter via Substack, we have comped you the full membership.
If you claimed a free subscription from a promotion somewhere and still don’t have access, let us know.
If you’d like to join Sub Club but don’t have the funds. Use our Scholarship form.
We have your profile badges ready! Yay! Since the emails you subscribed with and the emails connected to your chill subs profile may be different, please send us your chill subs profile so we can get you set up with a badge. OK, here they are:
The Plan
We plan to take a community-centric approach to submitting. Some places will say “Give us money and we’ll get you published!” And eh, that may be true. For what they charge, I freakin’ hope so.
We prefer to take the approach of giving you a ton of information, support, and really really bad puns to make submitting more clear and fun.
In that vein, here are some things coming your way for all members:
Weekly Sub Club Specials: A list of five magazines (with some honorable mentions) based around a theme we choose with a breakdown of why we chose it. And we had this crazy idea for providing expert advice on how to submit to these magazines…just ask the editors. Yep, we will be reaching out to editors from these magazines to provide additional tips to improve your chances of getting in. It will come out every Saturday. And yes, it will include a sandwich recipe.
Weekly ‘Last Chance to Submit’ lists: These will be free lists coming out every Monday which cover all magazines closing in the week ahead. We’ll be including a one-line description, genres accepted, any themes, whether they pay, response times & acceptance rates (when we have them) and any other info we think would be useful including any interviews we may have done with the editors.
Submissions Help Hotline (COMING SOON): This will be a space where you can ask any questions about the submissions process and we will do our best to answer. They are also community zones where we encourage others to respond. Once a question has been answered to everyone’s satisfaction, we’ll add it to the post so future members can read through them in a Q&A style.
Threads: Substack has this threads feature so we’re going to test it out with “I’ve got a story, poem, essay…” threads (every week-ish depending on how it goes). Got something and are not sure where to submit it? Post the details there and we’ll recommend a place to the best of our knowledge.
Submitter’s Handbook: a resource of strategies & advice for submitting your writing. This will continue to grow and any contributors will be comped a month of Sub Club and be credited in the handbook.
Submitter’s Dictionary: a dictionary of terms we think will be useful to people submitting their writing.
Resource Database (COMING SOON): an ever-growing free list of resources that help with the submission process. We will add notes for what their good for and their vibe so you can choose the ones you want to use.
Random List: Every Thursday, we’ll come out with a random list. Sometimes openings, sometimes themed, sometimes contests. Recommend what you want to see and we’ll put it together.
Raffles, chat prompts, parties, and so much more. Honestly, if I included everything we’ll be doing, this would go on forever. Read on for examples of each coming in May.
MAY Raffle Prizes!
Yup, each month, we’ll be doing a raffle for prizes for all Sub Club Members. These will be constantly rotating and anyone who has something to offer who wants to join in on the fun is welcome.
*This raffle is for all members! Don’t need to do a thing. We’ll do it by a randomized pull of the emails.
Here is what’s coming in MAY Raffle:
ONE Writer Spotlight: Each month we randomly select one member to promote the hell out of. (We will need a picture of you or a cute animal eating a sandwich).
ONE Only a Draft or Blank Page T-Shirt from Chill Subs + 3 Months of Sub Club comped: Hoagie Tier
ONE Custom list created by Chill Subs for a piece of writing of your choice.
THREE one month of Sub Club: PB&J Tier
We will do a randomized pull live in the last Hit Submit Party of each month (all members are eligible to win).
NOW For the May Schedule!
MONTHLY CHALLENGE: Submit to 30 magazines to earn a special badge for your Chill Subs Profile. I’m going to try and join everyone on this challenge since (ironically) running Chill Subs all the time has made my submissions game weak af.
May 6th: The Sub Club List - Grilled Cheese: Magazines that spread the love. (The Sub Club Newsletter)
May 8th: (FREE) Last Chance Submits: Magazines & Contests closing for submissions before 05/15. (The Sub Club Newsletter)
May 9th: Hit Submit Party! (On Google Meets from 1-2 PM EST)
May 10th: “Hello! My name is Lilith and I have no idea what I’m doing here!” - Lilith Noah shares her thoughts on how the hell she landed 100,000 subscribers on Instagram as a poet. (Things We Do While Waiting to Die)
May 11th: Random List! (The Sub Club Newsletter) Sometimes openings, sometimes themed calls, we’ll change it up and take recommendations from the community, (I’m thinking magazines for older writers! Who is with me?)
May 13th: The Sub Club List: Parmesan Sub: Publish essays about Pop Culture
May 15th: (FREE) Last Chance Submits: Magazines & Contests closing for submissions before 05/21. (The Sub Club Newsletter)
May 17th: Hit Submit Party! (On Google Meets from 8-9 PM EST) & “1 Year Anniversary Since Karina Quit Her Job and Started Making No Money” (Things We Do While Waiting to Die)
May 18th: Random List! (The Sub Club Newsletter) Sometimes openings, sometimes themed calls, we’ll change it up and take recommendations from the community.
May 20th: The Sub Club List Ham & Cheese with Yellow Mustard: Magazines who love new writers
May 21st: Hit Submit Party! (On Google Meets from 4-5 PM EST)
May 22nd: (FREE) Last Chance Submits: Magazines & Contests closing for submissions before 05/28. (The Sub Club Newsletter)
May 24th: “Why are we so open with our finances?” (Things We Do While Waiting to Die)
May 25th: Random List! (The Sub Club Newsletter) Sometimes openings, sometimes themed calls, we’ll change it up and take recommendations from the community,
May 27th: The Sub Club List: BLT: What the F*ck is Flash Fiction and where do you send it?
May 29th: (FREE) Last Chance Submits: Magazines & Contests closing for submissions before 06/04. (The Sub Club Newsletter)
May 30th: Hit Submit Party! (On Google Meets from 9-10 PM EST)
May 31st: Are we going after every aspect of the writing world? (Kinda) (Things We Do While Waiting to Die)
Oof! Yes, we know this is a lot. We really want to make sure you’re getting your money’s worth.
*Things We Do While Waiting to Die posts may change since we mostly write them in fits of inspiration
Info for higher tiers:
Hit Submit Parties are for Hoagie Members and up (for sanity & space). So, if that’s you, please fill out this form to let us know when you plan to attend:
These parties will happen on Google Meets. Hoagie Members can choose 2 per month. French Dip & Club Sub Members are welcome to all.
For Club Sub Tier ($30 per month)
Here is your form for editorial feedback from Pencilhouse:
Here is your form for a customized list of magazines for a work of your choice:
This is our first month, so there will be growing pains, learning experiences, and total fuck ups. Bear with us as we find our bearings…bear bear bear. We are very into the idea of this being a community so please, your feedback is invaluable to us. We don’t have the people power to run experiments and analyze user behavior or anything like that. We rely on you to keep us improving. Never hesitate to reach out to ben@chillsubs.com or kailey@chillsubs.com
If you’re curious who is writing this thing. It’s Ben & Kailey from Chill Subs & Write or Die mostly. But our whole team at Chill Subs is our support system.