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I’m giving myself a raise! Or at least, I’m trying to. In just under a year of existence, Chortle has brought in about $4,500 from our generous paid subscribers. In that same stretch, I’ve spent roughly $4,000 on things like advertising, domain hosting, taxes, and—most importantly—paying writers. Which means that after nearly 12 months of near-daily publishing, I, your friendly founder/editor/designer/publicist/accountant, have taken home… about $500. I know what you’re thinking: “Greg,...
Lately, I’ve been wanting to make a podcast. WAIT, DON’T STOP READING! I know the world definitely doesn’t need more “casual political conversations” that are mostly 90 minutes of people interrupting each other. I want to make something weird and funny and full of surprises. Something that’s focused on written comedy, like a throwback to old-school variety shows. In my head, I’ve been calling it The Chortle Hour. Imagine a mix of sketches, fake ads, strange characters, and smart writing, kind...
Guess how many websites there are that pay comedy writers? Seven. That’s not a typo. Across the entire world wide web, I found seven humor publishers with an open submission policy and guaranteed payments. Chortle is one of them. Some of the others have been around for decades and have big institutional backing. The New Yorker has a zillion rich subscribers. McSweeney’s was founded by Dave Eggers (an author slightly more celebrated than I). But even that kind of support isn’t always enough to...