A Toast to ‘The Toast’

A Friday Chat on Money and Media

ESTER: Hello! Happy “RIP The Toast” day. What a sad moment for media and the Internet and anyone who cares about things that are feminist and weird and funny.

We Are Closing The Toast July 1st

NICOLE: The good news is weird, feminist, funny stuff isn’t going away — there will always be people ready to talk about those topics in an interesting way. I hope! But yeah, RIP The Toast.

MEGHAN: I’m definitely going to pour one out tonight. They created something really special, and even though I wish I could put my energy towards just celebrating Nicole and Mallory, I can’t help but be saddened by their demise, especially by how closely it is tied to the inability of niche sites like theirs to survive, financially.

“Niche” = funny women writing about smart things. What a niche!

ESTER: Of course, it’s not just niche sites that are hurting right now. Grantland is gone. Al Jazeera said auf wiedersehen. Mashable laid off whole teams of writers. And lots of publications are making the choice to migrate over to Medium, like we’ve done, to figure out new business strategies to keep the shop open.

NICOLE: On the subject of writers and money: Did either of you think, “I should start putting out a tip jar?” I kinda feel like my Patreon is already a tip jar of sorts (even though people are paying me for book chapters, so it’s not quite the same thing as a tip). People have opportunities to support me if they want, but I did immediately think “what if I put out a tip jar TOO?”

I Ask For Tips On All My Creative Work — And I Don’t Feel Bad About It

MEGHAN: Well, I’d been curious about virtual tip jars since I saw the one on The Toast, which is why I approached Jamie to talk about hers. I was actually surprised that she had made so much! ($1,000 is certainly more than I’ve been paid for any one piece of writing.) From what Nicole and Mallory have said, it seems like theirs was a bit of a Hail Mary; i.e., I don’t think it’s a sustainable way to survive. But yeah: I thought about it. Still, it feels like “too little, too late,” or like a way for readers (myself included) to feel better when ultimately we’re part of the problem (by expecting the work I want to read to be given to me for free).

ESTER: I am all for people setting out tip jars! But I don’t know how that would work in my case, since my work appears on other people’s sites, not my own. I’d add a link in my bio? Does anyone even read the bio?

NICOLE: I read the bios! I used to read them to find other sites to pitch, LOL. Now I’m just interested to see where other people are writing.

MEGHAN: But the very notion of “tips” is the idea that we’d be getting something on top of a base salary of some kind — often not so much the case! Did you both poke around the Who Pays Writers site? Were there any surprises there for you?

Who Pays Writers?

ESTER: I have not, but I should confess, I’ve never given to someone’s online tip jar. Even when I’ve meant to, and I’ve loved someone’s work … Whereas in the real world, I’ve definitely been guilted by the sight of a tip jar to throw something in after making a purchase that required way less effort from someone. I guess I need to adjust to this new digital model, but I’m not there yet.

MEGHAN: Ugh, the number of quarters I’ve tossed in a jar for the people who put hot water in my mug…I mean, I was a barista, and the job required seriously less effort than what I’ve put towards my writing. (No disrespect to the baristas out there — I was just a particularly shitty one, and “tea” is not a drink that requires much artistry or effort.)

NICOLE: Cleaning the toilets and mopping the floors, on the other hand… actually, now that I’m thinking about it, I never cleaned a toilet while I did food service, which makes me incredibly lucky. I carried a lot of plates and rolled a lot of forks and took a lot of orders.

But there are so many tip jars now. You go to a coffee shop and take your banana off the counter and put your own coffee in the cup and there’s still a tip jar. The last time I bought Girl Scout Cookies, there was a tip jar. (An electronic tip jar, which proves that the Girl Scouts are a forward-thinking organization.)

I did some very quick math and I donate about $500 a year to various crowdfunding endeavors, which again is not quite like the tip jar, but it feels more structured and I guess that is more attractive to me? I’m not sure I’ve ever donated to a writer’s tip jar either.

ESTER: I’ve definitely given to Kickstarters and the like! Maybe that structure appeals to me too? Or at least it puts me in a philanthropic frame of mind, whereas when I’m reading on the Internet I’m not thinking about spending money.

MEGHAN: The first thing my boyfriend said upon hearing the news about The Toast was, “Why didn’t someone start a Kickstarter!” I don’t doubt that would have worked, at least for a time; it’s probably why in their announcement they flat out said, “DO NOT KICKSTART US.” It’s ultimately another half-measure, since the industry isn’t designed to support web media long-term. And, you know, no one wants to do a job forever. I appreciate that they both got to make what they wanted to make and didn’t have to sacrifice themselves or their visions to do it.

NICOLE: I’ll toast to that.

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