There's two weeks left to make an instant impact on Raising Mothers
Become a monthly, annual, or founding member and help us reach our goal!
This might get long, emo and a bit rambly. I need a moment. I’m not sorry.
words from :
The first half of August saw a lot of change. This fundraiser was announced, then Patreon decided to throw a wrench in things (something that’s needed to happen for a long while now) and finally made me break up with them. It’s a bit scary to have all my eggs in one basket and I will definitely find other ways to switch it up in the coming months now that RM is within this network and not freestanding. But you have to do it scared sometimes.
I want to take a moment to acknowledge all the change here. And the support. Migrating to Substack wasn’t as straightforward as I was led to believe, and for the foreseeable future, I’ll be in formatting purgatory, haha. I don’t mind that so much because it’s also given me a chance to reread so much of the work we’ve published and I need to pat myself on the back. I started out with just myself. My ideas for this space morphed pretty quickly, and it was nice to have something out of my head and on the paper (or in this case, screen). Something that was truly collaborative because it depends on the stories of others.
With time, I was able to bring on different groups of editors—all volunteer, like me. People I have learned from and communed with. Many who started as strangers and have turned into friends. They filled in the gaps while I worked on the vision. You can succeed on your own, but you never get there quickly and you have no one to share it with when you insist on relying on yourself. I’ve had to learn to trust others with my vision. I’ve had to learn to become a more effective leader. I have had to break out of my fear of being seen and continue to learn that I deserve a space—that we deserve a space that is unapologetic about our value system and is unafraid of the consequence. We need speaking up for, too.
This space has grown as I’ve grown as a mother. I’ve watched the internet change, and unfortunately change back again. I have inched closer and closer to wanting to share my own stories. I’ve watched my vision expand and take off. I am so proud of every step that got me here. I’m proud of the me that fought through the feelings of invisibility, the me that became bogged down with irrational but real jealousy. I’m proud of the woman on this side. I got back to my essence and have been moving forward with a clear heart and mind for years. I wish more founders (& people in general) were simply honest about the lows instead of only broadcasting the highs. Building something from scratch is not something to just brush off.
I believe deeply in sisterhood, community, connection, collaboration. I believe deeply in cooperative efforts. I’m excited for the next year, and the next decade to come.
words from :
What’s going on with Patreon?
About a week ago, Patreon sent out an email that they are moving everyone to subscription based billing model. I don’t use a subscription based model there. I never have. And their solution for every member is to either increase tier prices or take the huge hit to our monthly payouts. I didn’t like either option, so while i’ll miss the ability to customize tiers, i’m learning maybe I don’t need all those options. I can’t tell you how much stress it gave me for months and months to figure out what was reasonable and what I felt I was worth and Raising Mothers was worth, then breaking that down. Having too many options isn’t always a good thing. I’ve been a member there since 2016.
If you are a Patreon member (follower or paid), please read the link to figure out your next steps. I’m closing the doors on Patreon after October 1st.
Read: 🚨 Peace out, Patreon. ✌🏾 Here's what I need you to do
more words from :
What can we accomplish in these last two weeks of our FUND-Raising Mothers fundraiser?
We’ve seen a lot of new free subscribers this month and we welcome you! We’ve also had quite a few new paid members, even our first founding member! Thank you all so much for joining us
For now, the goal is still 100 annual subscribers. When we bust that goal, the next goal is 250 monthly or annual subscribers.
How we plan to put it to use:
we can pay membership dues to various literary orgs
we will be able to increase our payments from free or barely anything to up to $50 per essay
we’ll actually be able to have set rates or at least a scale to share
be able to cover overhead and tech costs
work towards building a mutual aid pool for writers
create a small stipend for myself, editors and illustrators
words from :
What are some of our offerings?
I hesitate to use the term perks, because that goes against everything I believe, but as a thank you to paid members, here’s some of what we’re offering, starting September 1:
First 10 founding members (VIPs) on Substack get 6 months of paid access to Literary Liberation.
Annual members: opportunity to dedicate a column to someone special.
Newsletter mentions: Paid members will be acknowledged in our newsletters; annual and VIPs will be featured on a dedicated page.
Submission calls: Paid members will be notified before everyone else.
Newsletter access: Full access to our newsletter, Mom’s the Word.
Event discounts: Reduced prices on events and workshops.
words from :
Support Raising Mothers
Centering the narratives of the Global majority is essential. Especially, especially in 2024. We live in a time where our rights are being openly stripped away, our voices and histories are being forcibly silenced. I believe those of us with more access always have a personal responsibility to actively aide in the dismantling of any system that seeks to oppress the marginalized. Touting the importance of the work without any tangible support doesn’t feed families or keep lights on.
Become a member of Raising Mothers and help us reach our 1st mini goal of 100 annual members. By joining, you are helping us build a sustainable future AND getting some exclusive content, early access, and special deals.
If you answer YES to any of the following, you should definitely join Raising Mothers as paid member!
Have you enjoyed reading Raising Mothers these past nine years? Have you deeply connected or expanded your worldview because of the stories we’ve shared?
Are you committed to keeping our archives and future works ad-free, available to everyone regardless of financial situations?
You believe all writers should be paid for their work. You believe all illustrators should be paid for their work. You believe that editors should be paid for their time and hard work.
You want to help Raising Mothers grow in our ninth year so we finish this first decade strong?
Free member? Upgrade to paid.
Paid member? Donate a subscription.
Everyone? Help us by sharing this far & wide. Tell a friend to tell a friend. Forward this email. Post this link on socials.