The newsletters I open every time

On Substack and Off

First off, if you’re reading this and you live in New York, you should come to our happy hour on 8/22! It’s also my early Birthday party and the start of Virgo season so a lot to celebrate. RSVP here, it’s at Last Call in Williamsburg.

I read more newsletters than the average person and I have for a long time. I love email as a medium and used to exchange lengthy letters with friends over email in college and beyond, dispatches that dove deep and got a little rambling sometimes. I subscribe to a lot of newsletters for myself and for work (we love to send samples to Substack writers and it’s so much fun to get to work with writers I admire).

Also on the topic of newsletters, I listened to a great conversation with

Tembe Denton-Hurst

and James Nord all about Substack. I agree with so much of what Tembe said—don’t start a Substack to get rich quick, it takes a lot of work and time to grow. Like most things, starting is easier if you are excellent or bring a large audience (or both). I led a workshop for Substack about this topic four years ago and it still applies (you can watch it here, I have such a baby face even though I was 26) I still think Substack is a great way to establish your voice as a writer—it helped me get my first freelance writing assignments and taught me so much.

There is a saturation point for sure, but most people still don’t know what substack is–I know 95% of you read this in your inboxes as opposed to their app. I beta tested their app and I like it, it’s like a feed of newsletters with room for discovery and it’s good if you’re trying to spend less time on social media apps.

Now on to some of my favorite newsletters of the moment! This is not an exhaustive list by any means, (I’m keeping it small so it’s not overwhelming) but hopefully it will add some fun reads to your routine. I’m always down for recs in the newsletter category and I appreciate you making This Needs Hot Sauce part of your weekly reading.

Staying in bed reading newsletters feels so much better than staying in bed and scrolling Instagram, do you agree? Also this hotel robe is Dusen Dusen and I want it!.