Chill Subs Got Married!
Speak now or forever hold your peace...too late.
Wouldn’t it be nice if company mergers were actually like weddings where everyone could go and scream, “I OBJECT!” and then get really toasted and accidentally kiss their cousins? Oh well. We hope that this new venture doesn’t make anyone want to do either of those things. That’s right, we have officially merged with Write or Die! Read on to learn all about what this means for our future.
Karina & I are not what you might call, “social butterflies” (unless you removed the wings and mistook the poor squirming creatures for sticks).
But Kailey, who you might recognize as the founder of Write or Die, is butterfly as fuck.
So, when we realized that Chill Subs was missing a key cornerstone of the writing community (ahem, the “writing” and “community” bits), we knew we had two options:
Fuck it up.
Find someone who wouldn’t fuck it up.
We think we chose well.
To be honest, the old-guard ‘literary establishment’ isn’t exactly banging on our door asking for Chill Subs to come to speak with graduating classes of the Iowa Workshop. And we’re infinitely more likely to read Taco Bell Quarterly or BULLSHIT LIT (real magazines) than we are to pick up a copy of Intelligensia Quarterly.
So when someone from a magazine & community called “Write or Die” invited us to join one of their Hit Submit Parties, Karina & I were like, ‘Oooo!’
Over the past four years, Kailey has created an incredible community of writers & editors with a magazine putting out killer craft content & in-depth interviews with writers & editors from all walks of the lit world.
And she has a way better signature than us:
She is also exceptionally kind (the #1 quality we look for in anyone we work with). So on Feb. 1st, we pitched the idea. Two months later, here we are.
Some revelations we had along the way:
Pretty sure lawyers want us all to be enemies. Literally every conversation led to them saying (in lawyer speak) “Yes, yes, but what if some of you turn out to be fucking sociopaths.” While we all sat around being like, “No, it’s OK, they’re cool…You’re cool, right!?”
Design is way more complicated than you’d think. Our designer Nikita is pure genius. We all know it. And whenever any of us creates something not really thinking about it, he’ll notice, sigh, and then go and make something that’s way better than any of us could’ve come up with on software that might as well be a spaceship console to us.
Kailey is one of the most badass outreach people I’ve ever seen. When we started planning out launching workshops, we said, “In an ideal world we’d launch with like…thirty workshops ha! Ha!” And Kailey said, “OK.”
What do we all get out of this, you may ask?
combined social media + newsletter reach of over 45,000.
custom-designed magazine that puts writers first with a kickass editorial team.
probably some other words beginning with “C”
the ability to offer weekly events, more content (there it is) & joy.
30+ educational opportunities for writers and an info-packed new membership program (more info below).
…and a lot more we’re only just scratching the surface of.
This merger has also brought some clarity to what we want to offer at Chill Subs. We can now offer services & fun in three distinct categories:
Write: education & magazine to help writers improve
Submit: information & technology to help writers get published
Connect: events & platforms to help writers & editors form communities
These will remain our focus. Each with an underlying theme of accessibility, acceptance, and affordability.
(Look, idk what’s going on with my alliteration today. I’m excited. Let me have it.)
But let’s jump into what this means for subscribers to this newsletter specifically.
With the addition of Write or Die to Chill Subs along with all of Kailey’s skills (people & otherwise), we’re creating some awesome-saucsome stuff. Like a shiny new magazine!
Fucking hell, Nikita is so talented. OH, and the workshops page:
AND we’re able to open up a membership program!
Sub Club - Come hungry, leave published.
Yay! We don’t have to ask you for money anymore! Well, kinda. But now, we have a load of stuff to offer in return.
[If you are not a writer or editor (nor curious about what we’re launching) then you can stop reading here and instead read this super interesting article about how ‘disgust’ influences human behavior, or this classic essay by Peter Singer on the ethics of eating animals (I’m not vegetarian but can’t help agreeing) or a book! Yeah, read a book.] Or, idk, watch Netflix or something. We just don’t want to waste your time if you’re here for the lols.
First! - THE SUB CLUB NEWSLETTER
Non-GMO, free-range submission opportunities served fresh to your inbox each week.
In this weekly newsletter, you'll get the following (weekly):
Protein: one curated list of 5 magazines opened for submissions vetted & verified by chill subs & write or die based on a theme that will connect to each week's hit submit party.
Veg: lists of magazines & contests that will close in the following week.
Cheese: random fun lists. Sometimes openings. Sometimes themes. Chapbook Contests. Whatever comes to mind! Always for open venues.
Garnish: a sandwich recipe. Yes, a sandwich recipe. Never submit hungry.
Special sauce: for each curated list, we will reach out to the editors of the magazines we feature for some extra tips they have for those looking to submit to their magazine.
Bread: whatever random fun intro-outro nonsense we come up with each week.
Writer’s spotlights: Pun-less opportunity for members to get featured without having to go write a famous book or something. Just struggling writers appreciating other struggling writers.
If you’re a five-dollar-per-month subscriber or donor, you’ll receive access to this newsletter along with other fun stuff like…
Submission resources:
a big list of resources for writers updated monthly
Paid submission opportunities with rewards & writer spotlights
Sandwich recipes (We’re really not kidding about this)
Submissions Help Hotline
Higher Tiers will have access to weekly Hit Submit Parties now on Chill Subs, discounts on merch & workshops, badges, exclusive chats, and more.
And for the highest tier (limited to 20) we’ve partnered with Pencilhouse (remember Jason’s guest post?) who will be offering feedback and editorial services on one piece of writing per month AND Chill Subs’ team will help cultivate a list of magazines who fit a piece of your choice each month.
This is only the beginning. Eventually, we will be building premium writer profiles with all sorts of cool features. Our goal is to always keep essentials free, then build useful & cool shit that is paid. Sub Club Members will get the first crack at those profiles when they come and free access for the first (we haven’t decided, probably 3 or 6) months after they launch.
*Paid subscribers to this newsletter & donors: you will receive comped access to this Membership Program. Don’t worry, we’re on it.
*There will also be tons of free useful content so if you don’t want to pay, still check it out:
And if you can’t pay, no problem, we’ve got a form for that
We will also be offering Workshops, writing classes, mentorships, & cohorts!
After Catapult shut down, we all knew it was time for someone to step up and offer some quality classes with more behind them than only being a workshop platform. So, we’re launching a whole suite of educational options taking a people-centric approach. Here’s the breakdown.
Instructors who care, writers who want to grow.
Compensation: A 50/50 split of all profits.
Support: A home & support team for instructors to help with organization, platform set-up, scheduling, and more.
Mini-Media Kits: We will build mini-media kits for instructors to advertise their workshops with promotional images for social media. We want to celebrate our instructors and inform our writers! Each kit will have a mini-interview attached so you can learn a bit more about your instructor and why they chose to teach their course.
Open door policy: Got a class you’ve always wanted to teach? We’ll help you get it out there. Nothing is too outrageous.
For writers:
Instructor-inspired workshops: Rather than dictate what instructors teach, we want to host lessons by those with a passion for what they’re teaching. So you know our lessons are taught by those who want to be there, not those waiting for a paycheck.
Writer-requested workshops: We will have a form for writers who would love to take a workshop that doesn’t exist. We’ll put these ideas to a community vote, pick the best, find an instructor, and create it!
Scholarship opportunities: Every workshop we offer will come with scholarship opportunities created by the instructors.
BONUS: Every workshop purchased on Chill Subs will come with one free month of Sub Club!
BADGES: For every workshop you complete, you’ll earn a badge on your profile verifying that you completed the workshop.
AHhh, bleghrgheghhhh! I think that’s it. Sleep. Need sleep. Soon!
Thank you as always for your support. As thanks, here are pictures of everyone on our team eating a sandwich in preparation for next week’s social media announcement for sub club:
damn we’re so cool I will cry
BEST DAY EVER