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Issue No. 247 · Est. 2019 · Brooklyn Perfectly Cursed Life Perfectly Cursed Life
Perfectly Cursed Life Issue No. 247  ·  Thursday, October 17, 2024  ·  Brooklyn, NY

A reader-funded publication · Independent since 2019

The only way this
publication survives
is if readers pay for it.

We have never run a display ad. We do not take brand money. We do not chase a media-buyer's brief. For five years, every essay, every therapist-on-retainer review, every late-night translation has been paid for, line by line, by 14,200 readers like you — out of the 96,400 who open this newsletter every Thursday.

Become a Paying Member Or read on first, decide later →
  • 96,400weekly subscribers
  • 14,200paying members
  • $0in display ads, since day one
  • 2,140+original essays published
A writer's hands on a stack of printed magazines at a Brooklyn kitchen table, late afternoon light.
The Brooklyn kitchen where Issue No. 1 was edited, 2019.

§ II — Membership

Three Ways To Read With Us

No tricks, no countdowns, no "first 100 readers get a tote bag." A flat list of what you get, what it costs, and who each tier is for. Cancel anytime in two clicks — we mean it.

Tier One

Cursed Free

$0always, forever

For the curious, the cautious, the broke.

  • The Thursday newsletter — our flagship
  • Two free essays a week, plus the full archive of 2,140+ pieces
  • Comment on essays; vote on next month's theme
  • Weekly "Quietly Cursed" round-up of reader letters (lightly edited)

Who it's for: anyone who likes us but isn't ready to commit. There is no paywall on reading.

Sign Up Free
Most chosen · 84% of paying members

Tier Two

Founding Member

$7/ month, or $70 a year (save $14)

For the regular who wants the whole thing.

  • Everything in Cursed Free, with no email cap
  • The Friday Members' Edition — one unfiltered long-read a week
  • Full access to the Substack CliffsNotes threads
  • Discord role: green badge, members' lounge, monthly editor AMA
  • The annual print zine, mailed to your door in December
  • A standing invitation to our four regional reading nights

Who it's for: the reader who opens every newsletter and would like to see us keep going.

Become a Founding Member

Tier Three

Inner Circle

$18/ month, or $180 a year (save $36)

For the patron who wants backstage access.

  • Everything in Founding Member
  • Quarterly editor's briefing call — a 60-minute no-holds Q&A with Lena and the masthead
  • Early reads: essays two weeks before public release
  • Your name printed in the colophon each January (or anonymously, your call)
  • Vote on the next guest editor for our annual "On Being" podcast slot
  • A hand-addressed thank-you from Lena in your first month

Who it's for: readers who treat independent media as something to fund, not just consume.

Join the Inner Circle

All tiers are billed in USD. International cards accepted; we serve readers in 41 countries. Student, fixed-income, and country-tier pricing available on request — write to [email protected] and we won't ask questions.

§ III — The Ledger

What A Subscription Actually Pays For

Our annual operating budget is roughly $2.1 million. Here is what one reader's annual sub translates into inside the building — not as marketing copy, but as line items.

  1. $42

    One hour of therapist-on-retainer review

    Two licensed therapists (a Brooklyn-based LCSW and a trauma-specialist LMHC) read every essay that touches mental health, medication, or crisis before it goes live. Their names are in the masthead.

  2. $185

    One essay, fully edited and fact-checked

    Average cost of a single published essay: 14 hours of editor time, 6 hours of fact-checking against primary sources, 2 hours of legal review for libel exposure, 1 hour of copy edit, and 1 hour of accessibility audit.

  3. $640

    One month of contributor honoraria

    We pay every contributing essayist — first-time or Pulitzer-finalist — the same flat rate of 40¢ a published word. No one writes for exposure here.

  4. $2,400

    One issue of the volunteer Translator Network

    Sixty-two volunteer translators keep us readable in Spanish, French, Portuguese, German, Japanese, and Korean. The honorarium pool pays for tooling, glossary maintenance, and a yearly in-person convening in Berlin.

An editor's desk: handwritten margin notes on a manuscript, fountain pen, reading glasses, red pencil corrections.
The cost of one essay, broken down on a single legal pad. Brooklyn office, 2024.

Gift A Sub

For the friend who won't read another self-help book.

Three Founding-Member memberships, one checkout, no wrapping paper. We email the recipient a hand-written note (you write it; we send it) and they never see the price.

  1. 1
    Pick a tier. Founding Member or Inner Circle, in any combination.
  2. 2
    Write the note. Up to 240 characters. We don't edit it; we just sign it as a publication.
  3. 3
    Choose a date. Send now, or schedule for a specific morning — birthdays, bad weeks, the anniversary of nothing in particular.
Gift a Subscription

Highest-volume weeks: December, May (Mental Health Awareness Month), and the week of the anniversary of any breakup your friend has mentioned.

The Community

48,000 readers, one Discord, no performative wellness.

Two parallel spaces: the Discord (real-time, threaded, lightly moderated by 6 volunteer moderators and two paid community editors) and the Substack CliffsNotes threads (async, slow, beautifully argued).

  • 48,000members across Discord & Substack
  • 64topic channels, from burnout to bad in-laws
  • 8moderators on rotation, 24/7 coverage
  • $0to join — pay-what-you-can from $0 upward

A few of the rooms:

#burnout-recovery#family-texts-i-cant-send#money-shame#quarter-life-crisis#career-implosions#sleep-that-wont-come

Enter the Discord

§ V — A Note From The Editor

A Note On The Ads You'll Never See Here

Five years ago, in February of 2019, I sat on the floor of a Brooklyn apartment with a WordPress login and a Squarespace receipt, and decided that whatever this publication became, it would never carry a banner ad. Not a retargeted one, not a "brought to you by" one, not a sponsored-content one dressed up as a real essay. The reasoning was simple, and it has not changed: the moment we take money from a brand, we stop being free to write the thing that brand wishes we wouldn't. Every reader who pays for this publication today is defending that decision. The ads you don't see are the cost of the essays you do.

— Lena Vos, Editor-in-Chief & Founder
Brooklyn, NY · Written on the morning of Issue No. 247

§ VI — Frequently Asked, Honestly Answered

Questions We'd Rather Answer Now Than In Your Cancellation Email.

Six real objections, in the order we hear them most. If yours isn't here, write to [email protected] — a human editor (probably Iris or Marco) reads every note.

Can I cancel anytime, or is this another "cancel anytime (with three retention screens and a guilt trip)" situation?
Cancel anytime, in two clicks, no retention screen, no exit interview, no follow-up email from a fake VP of Customer Success. We will not beg. You can also pause for up to 90 days if you're between paychecks.
How do gift subscriptions work, mechanically? Will my friend know how much I paid?
You check out like any other purchase. We email the recipient a digital certificate with your note on it. The price is never displayed. If they reply asking, we will politely lie on your behalf.
I can't afford a paid tier but I want to be in the Discord. Is that okay?
Yes. The Discord is pay-what-you-can from $0 to whatever you can sustain. About 31% of our Discord members pay nothing. The other 69% subsidize them. That math is the entire point of being reader-funded.
What happens if reader funding falls short? Do you have a Plan B?
Plan B is to publish less. We've done it — in late 2022 we cut to one essay a week for four months when revenue dipped. We will never take ads, never sell the reader list, never accept "educational sponsorship" money from a brand with a healthcare vertical. Slowing down is the only lever we will pull.
Are your essays peer-reviewed? Should I cite them in academic work?
No. Our essays are reported and edited, but they are not peer-reviewed research. They are personal essays, reported features, and informed opinion. If you need a clinical citation, the original research we link to in each essay's footer is the correct source — and we'd rather you use that.
Does my subscription count as a charitable donation? Can I get a tax receipt?
Perfectly Cursed Life Media, LLC is a for-profit publisher, not a registered 501(c)(3). Your subscription is not tax-deductible in the United States. Several employers do match cultural-media subscriptions through a lifestyle spending account — check yours.

Still on the fence? Read three of our most-shared essays and decide with a full deck.

Become a Paying Member