The Reverse Cowgirl Diaries #7

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Catch Me at the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books

On Sunday, April 21, at 3:30 p.m., I’ll be on a panel at the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books. The panel is “Women and Bodies: Science Meets Sociology,” and tickets are required. My fellow panelists are Dr. Jen Gunter, Cat Bohannan, and M.G. Lord, and the moderator is Amy Alkon. I’ll be talking about my memoir, Data Baby: My Life in a Psychological Experiment; you can read more about my book here.

The panel description:

“It seems almost impossible that, in a year where a movie about an iconic doll broke nearly every record for success and female vocalists almost single-handedly boosted the economy with concert tours, there is still so much mystery, debate, contention, and law-making about women’s bodies. These writers share thought-provoking research and personal experience on everything from the role of female bodies in human evolution, to the gaps in medical knowledge about female reproductive systems and a 30+ year lab experiment about human personalities, and finally how all of this plays into the dolls we make to represent women. Though their stories differ, these writers are all experts in one extremely difficult field: being a woman.”

See you there!

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Fuck you, pay me #5: 19 Ways to Make Money as a Writer

This is part 5 of “Fuck You, Pay Me,” an ongoing series of posts on writing, editing, and publishing. Read the rest of the series: Part 1: How To Become a Writer in 12 Easy Steps, Part 2: The Pros and Cons of Traditional vs. Indie Publishing, Part 3: Scenes From My Life Writing a Porn Novel, Part 4: Why I Hate Memoirs (but Wrote One Anyway), Part 5: 19 Ways to Make Money as a Writer, Part 6: Letters From Johns Revisited, Part 7: Some of My Favorite Things I’ve Ever Written (Journalism Edition), Part 8: Some of My Favorite Things I’ve Ever Written (Fiction Edition), Part 9: How to Promote Your Book Without Going Crazy, Part 10: The Pornification of My Life, Part 11: How to Be More Creative, Part 12: The Fine Art of Applying to Writing Residencies, Part 13: How to Be a Consultant, Part 14: Cranking the Flywheel, Part 15: Why You Should Have a Newsletter, Part 16: An Excerpt From My Memoir, Part 17: How to Write a Short Story.

There’s been a lot of talk lately about the death of journalism. Reporters are being laid off. Journalists are out of work. I’ve been a writer for over 20 years. Throughout, I’ve been able to sustain my writing career by diversifying my talents. Here are some of the ways that I’ve made money by using my writer skills.

1. Copywriter. As I have written on this blog, I got paid $100 an hour pretending to be the personality of Pepto-Bismol on social media. This was a fun job. Sometimes I wish that I could do it again. According to my notes: “social media engagement [increased] by 500% and market share [grew] by 11%” during the time period in which I was pretending to be Pepto.

2. Journalist. Reporter. Journalist. Investigative whatever you want to call it. I’ve done pretty much every type of journalism there is. People say journalism dying. Maybe they’re right, but I doubt it. I’m probably best known for “They Shoot Porn Stars, Don’t They?,” an investigation of the Great Recession’s impact on the adult film industry. My reporting has been described as “unflinching and devastating.”

3. Author. Last year, I published a memoir: Data Baby: My Life in a Psychological Experiment. Twenty years earlier, I published a short story collection: You’re a Bad Man, Aren’t You? I got an advance for the former; I didn’t get an advance for the latter. Books are a long game hustle. They may pay more money, but they may cost you a great deal of time.

4. Editor. I’ve been an editor for from Forbes.com, where I was the founding editor of the Vices section, and The Frisky, a site for women that was owned by Turner. These roles involved interfacing with other writers and editing their work, so if you’re incapable of those things, don’t be an editor. These days, sometimes someone who has an “editor” title is really just a writer; why this is, I have no idea.

5. Publicist. One of my first jobs after graduate school was doing PR for a book publisher. Being a publicist is a tough job because you do a lot of pitching, and oftentimes your pitches are ignored or declined. But being a publicist is one of the most important jobs I’ve ever had because I learned how to publicize myself. That skill came in handy when my memoir came out, and I worked hard to promote it.

6. Traffic driver. I’m not sure what to call this gig, even though I’ve done it for big companies. Organizations hire me to drive traffic to their digital platforms. I’ve found I obtain the best results when I function as both an editor and / or content creator in addition to driving traffic. For example, when I was at The Frisky, I grew the site from startup to 4M+ unique visitors and 22M+ page views a month.

7. Consultant. My consulting work as The Fixer is my highest-paid work. Typically my client is a CEO / founder / venture capitalist. They have a problem, and they hire me to fix it. This covers a range of issues, from getting media coverage to assisting in business development to strategic growth. Truth be told, I am better at this than anything else and have added millions of dollars to clients’ portfolios.

8. Essayist. I wrote “I Spent My Childhood as a Guinea Pig for Science. It Was … Great?” — on spec. I avoid writing on spec, because it sucks, but I knew the essay would help me promote my memoir. Once I was done, I shopped the essay around to a dozen outlets. Two were interested. I went back and forth on contract terms with the first, and we were unable to resolve them. The essay ended up at Slate, where I had a great editor, it got an excellent title, and I was happy.

9. Fiction writer. I write short stories, and I have had many of them published. I was paid for some of the short stories that were published, and I was not paid for others. Currently, I’m writing a novel that is set in the San Fernando Valley’s adult film industry, and I’m really excited about that.

10. Screenwriter / Producer. I’ve done some writing and producing for TV. This includes developing documentary and scripted TV series, including true crime, outdoor adventure, and miniseries. I was also a consultant for a movie directed by an Oscar-winning director. The TV business is not for the faint of heart. If you’re writing your own TV or movie project, please register it with the WGA.

11. Fellow. From 2018 to 2019, I was the Lawrence Grauman Jr. Post-graduate Fellow at the Investigative Reporting Program at the Graduate School of Journalism at U.C. Berkeley. This was a salaried role with benefits. At the time, the IRP’s leadership was in flux, but that has since changed for the better. I used my time as a fellow there to work on my memoir, which includes investigative reporting.

12. Teacher. When I was in grad school, I had a fellowship. My tuition was waived, I received a stipend, and I taught one undergraduate course per semester. I taught freshman composition and writing the research paper. After I graduated, I taught at various community colleges around the Bay Area (aka a gypsy scholar). Sometimes I think about getting my doctorate but haven’t decided yet.

13. Photographer. Over the course of my career, I have had some of my photos published in media outlets. These include Men’s Health, Forbes.com, Le Journale de la Photographie, mashKULTURE, Nerve, and Arthur. I can’t recall if I was paid for any of these photos, but I do enjoy taking pictures.

14. Ghost. I’ve been a ghostwriter in various incarnations, from ghostwriting tweets for celebrities to ghostwriting speeches for CEOs. I haven’t ghostwritten a book, although I imagine at some point I will. Everyone wants to be an author nowadays. They just don’t want to write the book. Recently, I enjoyed reading a story about a ghostwriter conference: “Ghostwriters Emerge From the Shadows.”

15. Blogger. I started blogging in 2002. I had a very popular blog called The Reverse Cowgirl. It was one of the internet’s first sex blogs. In 2008, Time.com named it one of the best blogs of the year. These days The Reverse Cowgirl is the name of my Substack newsletter, which I plan to monetize.

16. Project-er. I create independent projects. The Letters Project series was conducted over five years. I shared anonymous letters sent to me from johns, working girls, strip club patrons, cheaters, and porn-watchers. These projects were covered by Salon, Newsweek, and CBC Radio, among other outlets.

17. Talker. I’ve been a speaker on various panels, presented my work at conferences, and read my writing at literary events. Some of these events have been paid; some of them have not. Quite a few of them have connected me with other writers, and that experience has been invaluable.

18. Seller. This is a sector to which I hope to devote more attention moving forward. I have a Gumroad store where I sell a short story that I self-published, signed copies of my memoir, and my consulting services. Gumroad is a very simple, easy platform to use, and I highly recommend it.

19. On camera reporter. Years ago, I was an on camera reporter for Playboy TV’s “Sexcetera.” I did this gig for five years, I got paid well for my time, and I traveled the world. I saw very wild things, and I wrote some of my own scripts, and I got to visit the Playboy Mansion three times. Being on camera taught me a lot about myself. It also boosted my confidence. And for that I have Hef to thank.

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The Jezebels

Anna Holmes has an interesting piece at The New Yorker: “Jezebel and the Question of Women’s Anger.” Holmes was the founding editor of Jezebel in its heyday, and she explores how the website was groundbreaking in its articulations of the things women are not supposed to discuss and the ways in which they are not supposed to discuss them. I am briefly mentioned in the essay, as someone who complained Jezebel’s writers were doing little more than “‘caterwauling about the patriarchy.’” In any case, the story is a good read and a thoughtful consideration of whether or not the feminist blogosphere laid the groundwork for today’s online fracturosphere. I do wish, though, that she had talked more about the current state of Jezebel and what she thinks of it now. Was Jezebel subsumed … or a feminist-rage machine not built to last?

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All the News That's Fit to Sell

I took this photo at a newsstand in the Valley. Follow me on Instagram for more scenes from my life in L.A.

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The Dominatrix Question

I’m a big fan of the “Real Housewives” franchise, fashion icon Jenna Lyons, and superchick Julia Fox, so when Bravo mastermind Andy Cohen posted a call on Twitter asking for questions that would be posed to Jenna and / or Julia on an upcoming episode of “Watch What Happens Live,” I shared a question I had for Julia about the time she spent working as a dominatrix. Find out what I asked and what Julia said here.

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The Lost Vagina

A short nonfiction essay I wrote for the Lost Objects series, “Silicone Vagina,” will be published in an upcoming PROJECT:OBJECT anthology to be published by Hat & Beard Press. The book should be available in spring 2022. I’ll post an update here when it’s available. You can read my story online here.

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Hollywood Is Reading

There’s an interesting article in the Los Angeles Times about Hollywood gobbling up the dramatic rights to books. All those unbusy producers have been spending their time reading, and optioning, apparently.

An excerpt:

“Like housebound folks across the country, studio executives, filmmakers and actors have had far more time to read books. That newfound availability, coupled with streaming services’ and media companies’ insatiable appetite for fresh material, has led to a substantial uptick in sales, according to agents and producers.”

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The Flesh Eaters

I'm happy to report that a short story I wrote will appear in an upcoming issue of a literary magazine. I'll announce which magazine as publication nears. The story is called "The Flesh Eaters," and it's about a woman who works in a San Fernando Valley factory, where she makes sex toys. The story is one in a short story collection-in-progress called Porn Valley Stories. All of the stories are set in and around the adult industry. This will be the first one to be published. If you're an editor interested in seeing another story for consideration, email me: susannahbreslin @ gmail.

My controversial digital short story "The Tumor" has been called "a masterpiece." Buy it today!

Los Angeles

Last month, I moved back to Los Angeles, which I'm really excited about, and I'm happy to be here again. I grew up in Berkeley, so California is my home. I love seeing those undulating golden hills in the distance. And those yards overflowing with a cacophony of wildflowers. And those crazy pastel sunsets that last forever.

The Return of Christy Mack

War Machine was convicted today in the trial of his assault of Christy Mack. 

Maybe you're old enough to remember the "Twinkie defense"? 

This guy offered up the "Raging Bull" defense:

"The defense attorney characterized Koppenhaver as a 'raging bull' with brain injuries from his fighting career and emotions inflamed by the use of steroids and non-prescription stimulant and antidepressant drugs that combined could have caused mood swings and violence that Leiderman termed 'roid rage.'"

Upcoming Stuff

I'm going to be contributing to an upcoming installment of the OBJECTS project. A few years ago, I was lucky enough to be included in Significant Objects. Keep an eye out for it! 

Brainwashing for Good

Make sure to read Sarah Stillman's latest in the New Yorker: "Can Behavioral Science Help in Flint?" It's the story of the water trouble in Flint, the quiet problem of helping people make change that will help themselves, and the stark division between race and state.

"Social science—or, more accurately, in some cases, pseudoscience—has a fraught history when it comes to communities of color. Eugenics; phrenology; the Tuskegee Study of Untreated Syphilis in the Negro Male. It’s easy to grasp why, especially in many disenfranchised neighborhoods, the sudden appearance of two cheerful behavioral scientists doling out help 'for the good of the American people' (a phrase of which Shankar is fond) might be met with suspicion. Such wariness hovered over a morning meeting that Shankar and Tucker-Ray had on their second day, at the Genesee County health department."

Stillman is always a great read. She was my mentor at THREAD at Yale in 2015 and won a Genius grant last year.

Why You Should Volunteer If You're a Freelancer

I started volunteering at Planned Parenthood about nine months ago. My role is to escort clients into the clinic on days when they're doing abortion procedures. I ended up volunteering because I was driving by the clinic and saw the protestors out front. It made me upset. I thought instead of being upset, it would be more productive if I did something, so now I volunteer.

I'm a freelance journalist, and the volunteering has been a great thing for me. You should try it.

It gives you a routine. One thing about freelancing is that, most of the time, every day is different. This is good for originality, but it's less good for establishing a set routine. The volunteering I do is a set routine. It requires a minimal time commitment from me, and it rarely deviates from it.

It's good to give freely. In some ways, freelancing is like choosing a career path that requires you to constantly negotiate your worth. You're negotiating for fees, extracting payment, building up your brand so you can demand a higher rate. Volunteering is simple: You give and expect nothing material in return. You get other things: self-esteem, empathy, humility.

It needs you now. I don't know what you might do to volunteer, but I'd suggest picking something that resonates with you emotionally. Right now, Planned Parenthood and women's reproductive rights are under attack by a giant Cheetos snack who has hijacked the Oval Office. This is a great time for you to make yourself of use before Stalinism takes over the United States of America.

Bored? Give yourself a literary shock and buy THE TUMOR, a "masterpiece of short fiction" by Susannah Breslin.

Storm Clouds Over the State of Louisiana

🚌

See this Instagram photo by @susannahbreslin * 19 likes

I've got a new short story up on Contrary Magazine. I wrote this story in 2004 or 2005. Enjoy it.

They were in a bar. They were in a bar with a woman and a man. It had been the two women, but they had made calls, and then the men had come. She knew when she talked to him that he was drunk. He was drunk and he was at a strip club nearby with one of his friends. Now, he was here. The other man and the other woman didn’t know each other as well as she and the man knew each other, even though the other man and the other woman had been dating for awhile. The other man had his arms crossed over his chest like he was trying to hide his heart. She looked at the man that she was with. She loved it when he was drunk. That was the only time he said what he wanted. Later, the other woman would tell her that her drunk boyfriend who had been at the strip club looked at her like she was his whole world. And, she thought: You bet.

Support the arts! Buy a digital copy of THE TUMOR, a "masterpiece of short fiction" by me, Susannah Breslin.

Redecorating

I made a few functionally minor, aesthetically significant changes to this website recently. I changed the background image to GUNS! And I rewrote my ABOUT page. I've long wrestled with saying who I am and what I do. Am I a journalist? A fiction writer? A, as of late, reality TV producer? A maker of comics? A photographer? A blogger? This time, I decided, I'm all of those.

Here's what it reads now:

ABOUT ...

I'm a journalist, a novelist, a copywriter, a reality TV producer, a photojournalist, a maker of comics, a blogger, an editor, and a pundit. In 2008, TIME named me one of the best bloggers of the year. I've been described as a "modern-age Studs Terkel," a "rare commodity online," and a "certifiable asshole." If you're interested in contacting me, you can email me at susannahbreslin at gmail dot com.

I also changed my profile photo here and elsewhere. It's rather dark. It's a selfie I took backstage before an improv performance.

Support the arts! Buy a digital copy of THE TUMOR, a "masterpiece of short fiction" by me, Susannah Breslin.

What Happens in Silicon Valley

A very strange, sordid story out of Silicon Valley involving a Sequoia Capital partner:

A lawsuit filed 8 March in San Mateo county superior court in California claims Goguen abused Amber Laurel Baptiste “sexually, physically and emotionally for over 13 years."

Goguen signed a contract to pay Baptiste $40m as compensation, but after paying her $10m Goguen refused to honor the rest of his agreement, according to the lawsuit.

And then this happened:

Former Sequoia Capital partner Michael Goguen countersued the woman who claims he sexually abused her for more than a decade, alleging that she’d threatened to publicly accuse him of "false, horrific acts" unless he paid her $40 million in hush money.

Goguen accused Amber Laurel Baptiste of extortion in San Mateo County Superior Court, six days after she sued him. His 16-page countersuit, littered with intimate details of their affair, alleges that Baptiste was an exotic dancer when the two met, “first looking for a payday and later for revenge.”

[SFGate | The Guardian]

El Chapo & The Girl

The New Yorker has a semi-intriguing profile of Mexican actress Kate del Castillo's involvement in the whole Sean Penn-Rolling Stone-El Chapo saga. Now that Mr. Chapo is back in the pokey, del Castillo claims to be bizarrely unaware that Penn was doing a profile on him, despite her personal involvement in their meeting.

The piece includes some love-ish texts that The Chapo sent del Castillo.

"Amiga, if you'll bring the wine, I'll also drink yours. . . . I'm not a drinker, but your presence will be a lovely thing and I very much want to get to know you and become very good friends. You are the best in this world. . . . I will take care of you more than I do my own eyes."

[The New Yorker]

Go Away, Gwyneth

Gwyneth Paltrow and co. have bought Larry Flynt's to-be-closed Hustler store on the Sunset Strip, and the Blonde Monster is going to tear the structure down and turn it into some stick-up-the-ass club for douchebags.

My fondest memory of the Hustler store is the time they asked me to do a reading there, and I gave some sort of a lecture about how to make bukkake comics. I blew up the panels so they were very large and propped them up an easel. (I think it was the prequel to this one.)

[TMZ]

Porn Watchers Are More Feminist Than Others

According to recent research published in The Journal of Sex Research, those who watch porn are not, in fact, misogynist pigs. In reality, they're down for making love, not hate.

From "Is Pornography Really about 'Making Hate to Women'? Pornography Users Hold More Gender Egalitarian Attitudes Than Nonusers in a Representative American Sample":

According to radical feminist theory, pornography serves to further the subordination of women by training its users, males and females alike, to view women as little more than sex objects over whom men should have complete control. Composite variables from the General Social Survey were used to test the hypothesis that pornography users would hold attitudes that were more supportive of gender nonegalitarianism than nonusers of pornography. Results did not support hypotheses derived from radical feminist theory. Pornography users held more egalitarian attitudes—toward women in positions of power, toward women working outside the home, and toward abortion—than nonusers of pornography. Further, pornography users and pornography nonusers did not differ significantly in their attitudes toward the traditional family and in their self-identification as feminist. The results of this study suggest that pornography use may not be associated with gender nonegalitarian attitudes in a manner that is consistent with radical feminist theory.

Take that, Gloria Steinem.

[The Journal of Sex Research via Complex]