There's a Special Place in Hell for Fashion Bloggers

The Official Nancy Drew Newsletter is going paid, here's why + a little bit about life currently (and the past)

In 2009 I started a blog with a friend I had in high school who was a huge bitch and a closet Christian. It didn’t last long. In 2011 I started my own personal style blog, which my mom likes to remind me she encouraged me to, and it ended up being my income (well, one of my incomes lol) for many years. I started this Substack in 2022 because I saw other people had one, I was a former fashion blogger and it this looked cool. I didn’t do anything with it until late last year.

I finally feel more on top of my angle and my space. I’m going paid for a few reasons, but the main is one simple… income lol and the fact that I’m a pretty non-traditional writer who is now (and again) making this into a career. If you don’t really know very much about my life or career, then here is the post for that. Love yall!

I studied English Lit in my undergrad and then for most of the 2010s made money from my fashion blog and nannying. My fashion blog was called “Hello, Mr. Rabbit” until I moved my platform from Blogspot to Squarespace and just went under “Lindsey Louise.” That, along with selling vintage clothing on Etsy and at markets, made enough for me to live in a $600 apartment in Kansas City, Missouri (with a roommate lol, usually). Before I had my apartment I lived with tons of roommates at punk houses and either paid less than $100 a month to live there or combination of buying food and doing dishes in exchange for rent. A lot of my following was very Midwest local, and I found ghost writing gigs for other fashion bloggers in my region. I started doing photography for bloggers and photoshoots to submit to magazines—I did anything and everything to make my creative life work and to get paid. I was considered the artsy (they all said that, no I did not use that word) blogger who could help “spice” up your photos or content ideas (aka I was just an indie girl in a sea of J.Jill and other mall stores, both valid).

We all know that being “in business for yourself” means working 24/7, but I enjoyed everything I did (until I didn’t lol). When the month was going well with sponsors and collabs on the blog, I had time to write fiction or fan fiction or screenplays or whatever I wanted. I wrote a YA novel that I self-published (no you cannot buy it, it’s bad don’t even search!!!), wrote a horror screenplay that I tried to produce into a film (I ran out of money to fund it lol), wrote poetry that was published in very small DIY presses, did readings at cafes, etc.

I was very happy with my life in my early and mid-20s, until I got burnt out from blogging and sharing my life online. When I was 26 I decided to go to graduate school to study Library Science and Education. I taught Middle School ELA for a few years. Before I started grad school, I got a job at a non-profit that helped house chronically homeless individuals. I made 32k a year and I felt relieved that I always had a steady paycheck and it would never change month to month. I even bought a new car (the cheapest one I could find lol) that had AC!!!

After I had my daughter I thought about going back to teaching, but I was living in a smaller “city” town whatever we wanna call it in Texas. The public school district was very strict and I didn’t feel like my values could be shown there, so I turned down the job. I started posting on Tiktok. I talked about fashion history, protest fashion, early internet it girls, and whatever else came to mind. I started making money from Tiktok, along with some social media or admin gig jobs, and it worked out great—reminder that childcare is extremely expensive in the United States and teachers don’t get paid shit (I made 36k a year teaching in Missouri), so I could work occasionally and still watch my daughter, win win! I moved a few times since then, now settling in Minneapolis for the foreseeable future.

At the beginning of the year, once we had lived here for a few months, I got an email that changed my life. I was contacted by a big publishing house (an editor and publicist) asking me if I wanted to write a book about the things I talk about and write about online. I thought being commissioned to write a piece for the Washington Post was gonna be my highlight of 2025 (also, it was killed due to new editorial guidelines dictated by Jeff Bezos, but you can read it here).

But I was very wrong! I started drafting a proposal and sample chapters right away, which is something I had 1. never done before 2. threw together in a few weeks I think normally people work on these for months and months, but I had a quick timeline 3. took a lot out of me creatively and mentally. I knew this would be my opportunity to find an agent, as well. The email reach out was not a set in stone book deal, so I knew I needed to keep my options open and secure an agent to help me navigate this.

I started reaching out to agents I found online via Manuscript Wishlist or other related websites, advice I found online because I don’t know people in this field. I had only ever published in small presses or DIY spaces with my poetry (and I’m not even in those spaces anymore, this was in my 20s), so I am very much an outsider to this world. After I wrote my YA novel, I sent out my manuscript everywhere and heard crickets. When I sent out my screenplay, I got one response back and it said “I am not interested in this”.

This time I got MANY responses. I will say almost everyone I emailed with this proposal said at least something to me. I met with multiple agents who were very interested in working with, a few who were hesitant to work with “influencers” (although I don’t sell anything online lol) but were interested because I could actually write and put together a strong researched proposal. I settled on my agent and worked for months to put together a (I would say) perfect non-fiction book proposal. This was just sent out last week. Here is where I could write that I can finally breathe again, but that won’t happen until after it’s sold and after it’s published!

Anyway, back to the main point and why I am turning on paid subscribers, and what you can expect here from now on.

I wanted to keep this space free, because I do believe it is getting harder and harder to view the written word—so often it is just discussed through a Tiktok where someone screenshots an article and summarizes it, or paywall after paywall and finally you just don’t care to read it anymore. To do that, because yes I do rely on my writing and content to make money, I plug in my Venmo for people to make a one-time donation. I’ll be honest, that was not cutting it lol. And in order for me to take this space more seriously and be more consistent, I needed something more formal to do that.

Turning on paid subscriptions is a way to support my writing and work on the platform I must like (sorry Tiktok, it’s too censored, also I’m a writer not a great content creator!). There will still be free posts, and paid posts will be free for 4 weeks after published. Here is the new breakdown for the ol’ blog:

Paid Subscribers will receive:

• access to every post, along with the full archive

• a much more in-depth sharing of my book-writing process, along with tips for entering the world of publishing and agents

• the ability to suggest topics and research for posts (anyone can do this, but I will listen to you lol)

• knowing you are supporting <333

There is a separate option for if you are rich, so decide that yourself what category you fall into! I’m already rich in life, but if I become rich in funds I will be excited to support others in the same way <3

I will be writing four posts a month, releasing on Wednesdays. All topics will be generally the same: internet culture, budget lifestyle guides, fashion trends relating to political climate, protest fashion, internet aesthetics, sometimes personal style, sometimes travel, and maybe even personal thoughts on whatever.

I’m very excited to continue with this series:

A Former Dumpster Diver's Guide to Hosting and Making a Home: Part 1 (Budget Hosting and Prep)

Also, this series that I started awhile ago and never completed. I love talking about my life online through the ages, and I think this one will not only be fun to write but also shed some light on patterns we see within social media.

Everything I Have Learned From Being Online For 18 Years: Part I (Xanga, Livejournal, MySpace, and Facebook)

Thanks for reading this long post, excited for the rest of 2025 and to be writing here. Thanks for all the support so far.