How I earn money as a creator (and predictions for where I see it all going).
Plus everything I read last month, my favorite handbags, thoughts on Jones Road beauty, and more.
I had some technical difficulties and this post was accidentally sent twice. I am so sorry. There are two versions of this post, this is the one to read!
Happy Friday! This week has been a bit of a whirlwind. I had the best (micro!) trip to LA and now I’m back home in Charleston. It is one of those weeks where everything is great but I’m also scary behind. There have been a few late nights (it’s 10:30pm on Thursday as I finish this letter!) but it’s all worthwhile and good!
Today I thought it might be interesting to pull back the curtain a little bit and chat about the economics behind my job as a blogger/content creator - whatever you’d like to call it… but also: some future predictions! Let me know if this is interesting!
Also! This got way longer than I wanted it too - oops. I really did try to edit it down.
How I earn money as a content creator:
This is probably common knowledge by now but the two primary ways I monetize my site and social channels are via affiliate links and via brand partnerships. These two things are equally important to me. In 2023, 54% of my revenue came from brand partnerships (mostly on Instagram) and 44% came from affiliate revenue (mostly from my blog).
(The remaining 1% was banner ads on my blog which are gone now - we’ll get to that later.)
Brand partnerships:
A brand partnership is when I am paid a flat fee by a brand. This is in exchange for creating a piece of content that incorporates their talking points, uses their hashtags, is posted on a certain day (often dictated by the brand). A brand can buy a set of instagram stories (3-5 frames), a blog post, a grid post, or a combination. The back and forth with these brands is managed by my partnerships director. She does the negotiating, contract review, secures product for me to test (if applicable) etc.
If I agree to the terms and like the product, we will move forward with content creation. The brand will share their goals, talking points, etc. usually in a creative brief. I then submit a concept and outline (if applicable - this helps avoid reshoots for reels) to the brand. Once they approve that, I film or shoot the actual content and submit a draft to the brand, so that they can approve it before it goes live.
We have a rate card and each deliverable has a different fee. Instagram stories, reels, grid post (static or carousel), blog post. More recently we’ve launched a few options for brand partnerships on Substack that you will be seeing soon. A brand can choose one deliverable from the menu (loads of brands just want a single story set), but we also package them (for example: a reel + supporting stories, or a blog post + instagram carousel + stories). The least expensive deliverable is instagram stories, as they expire in 24 hours. That makes them the most popular with brands, (that and the ability to link directly to their site).
Brand partnerships can be a lot of work! I’m not saying this to complain, it’s a part of my job I genuinely enjoy but I don’t think a lot of people realize how much work it can be. Since many brands can be a bit controlling about messaging (rightfully so, it’s an advertisement that they’re paying for!), I am ultra picky about who I will work with. We say no to probably half (at least) of the opportunities that come my way. I have to really love the product and jive with their messaging. If it is for a skincare brand or something consumable, I have to test it for at least two weeks before signing a contract. The back and forth can also be challenging, especially if the brand demands a reshoot or makes last minute changes to the campaign. Both things happen regularly, you (the creator) need to be flexible.
This part of my business is also very up and down. The holidays are pretty intense as all of my favorite brands will want to work together, whereas January is slower for most retailers. In November I created 36 pieces of sponsored content for 26 different brands and in January I created 5 pieces of sponsored content for 4 brands. (By “piece” I mean a set of stories, a grid post, or a blog post).
As an content creator you have to actually be really responsible (I know that may seem counterintuitive as we are literally writing about shopping!!!). You have to plan (and save!) for the slower periods. And during those slower periods it can be tempting to take on partnerships that might not be a perfect fit but you have to think big picture. It just isn’t worth it if it will compromise the trust of your audience.
Affiliate Linking:
An affiliate link means that I will receive a small percentage of sales when you (the reader, instagram follower, etc.) click that link and make a purchase. It is sort of like a finders fee. It is paid by the brand (never the follower) but gives a nice (usually between 5-15%) kickback to the creator. It really depends on the item. I might make ten cents if you buy a book (there is truly so little money in talking about books, that part of my site is a labor of love!), or $75 if you buy a bigger ticket item.
I love affiliate linking because I can generally find an affiliate link for pretty much anything on the Internet. This gives me total freedom over what I feature. I can talk about what I want to talk about, when I want to talk about it… and also be paid for my work. But of course there is no guarantee. Instagram could have a day where there’s a glitch and no one sees my stories. Boom - revenue hit! That’s why I like to have a healthy balance of affiliate linking + brand partnerships. I also spread my content out over the blog, instagram, and now Substack. I never want to rely on just one platfrom.
I work with a few different affiliate networks. The three main ones are LTK, Shop.My, and Amazon’s creator program.
I have been seeing brands getting more creative with their affiliate strategies. Some brands are creating more hybrid programs. For example, with Amazon and Shopbop if I hit a sales goal for the month using my affiliate links, I’ll be paid a bonus. Other brands like MyTheresa will give me a gifting credit if I hit their sales goal.
Another thing brands will do is to give me an affiliate link and a code. This has been a newer trend. You’ve seen that here with brands like La Ligne and Kule. This is really the sweet spot. A code = a treat for my audience and it generally will triple, even quadruple my conversion. Everyone wins! The follower gets a discount, I have full creative control and can share the code as much as I like (or not at all). The brand sees a nice spike in sales (without the risk of paying me a flat fee).
Banner ads:
This was 1% of my revenue last year. I decided that this was just not worth it. The ads were aggressive and ruined the user experience on my site. I regularly received messages from readers who were seeing ads for things I’d never promote (weight loss supplements, this horrible bikini body ad, weird super right wing stuff, etc). It felt like every day I was emailing my ad network to complain. Taking ads off the site bummed me out a little bit (Passive income is so nice!) but it was ultimately not worth it. I’d like to explore running ads again someday but still have such a bad taste in my mouth. Especially as we go into an election year. Not worth it!
Gifting:
I accept very limited gifting - it has to be something I really want or am super curious to try. Even when a brand says “we want to send you this, no strings attached,” there are usually strings. Nothing is ever really just a gift. I don’t like strings. I would rather have cut and dry business relationships where I am paid for my work… and then use my own money to purchase my clothing, makeup, etc. It’s simpler this way!
The gifting was getting excessive (this sounds like a ridiculous thing to complain about!) with random boxes constantly showing up at my old apartment. There would be 10, 12 boxes a day — often things I never wanted or signed up to receive. I’d spend at least an hour every day breaking down boxes and trying to figure out what to do with all that stuff.
When I moved into my house last year, I took it as an opportunity to start fresh.
I now have a whole gifting guidelines agreement I send brands now around gifting, making sure that they understand sending me something doesn’t guarantee it will be posted. I also ask them agree to not put my address on a mailing list or send random “surprise” mailings. This has been one of the best things I’ve done; this industry can be really wasteful and excessive.
Product collabs:
Maybe a few times a year I would do a product collaboration with a brand. For these I am typically paid a flat fee and then a percentage of sales from the collection.
I made a decision not to do any product collaborations in 2024; mostly for my mental health. I will revisit this in 2025 as there are parts of them I genuinely LOVE. The juice just isn’t (most of the time!) worth the squeeze. You (the creator) are involved in every detail of the design and production, then you create all of the brand assets (photos, video, etc.). Then you rely on your connections (gifting other creators with hopes that they will promote). Then there is the pressure to launch it perfectly, to sell through quickly… it’s a lot. I do love the creative process and making an actual product. Sometimes I dream of just starting my own product line instead but I have no idea what I would make. There would need to be a real reason to create something.. I never want to do something just because it’s the popular thing to do or feels like something I “should” do.
Where I see things going:
It’s fun to think about how the future will play out. Here are some predictions!
Thanks to better access to data, brand partnerships are becoming more and more performance-based. The majority of the partnerships I receive come from my affiliate networks as they can see the metrics down to every click and/or dollar. Once upon a time, creators could just throw out rates - it was the Wild West in a way. Now, brands are very ROI focused and most of the time, they are the ones dictating the budget.
More brands are going to do the code/affiliate link combination. It’s a happy medium and a good way to test a partnership before committing to an ad. It literally works for everyone.
Video is important and will stay important. Reels remain the best way to grow on Instagram. Attention spans are down. People want short-form content that is easily digestible.
There’s a counter to that though! People are worried (I know I am!) about their lack of attention span and seeking out more long form content to sit and actually read. That’s where Substack and newsletters (and hopefully blogs too!) come in. Substack is definitely the platform where I see the most engagement and growth. This makes me happy as it is the first “shiny new toy” in a while that is something I genuinely enjoy. I really like it here. :)
Something I think about a lot that worries me: Instagram is making it a lot harder to build a community. Those of us who were lucky to start ages ago are okay as we built our communities already… but for someone new it will be hard as the algorithm prioritizes sharing content from accounts we don’t follow. This will help with growth, but not an actual relationship between creator and follower. For the first time in a while when someone I meet wants to get started with social media, I tell them to start a Substack (vs. an Instagram). I think there is more opportunity here.
I won’t be surprised if in 5 years or so we start to see lawsuits against the platforms for making them so addictive.
Creator burnout is real. I think we will see more creators stepping back from product collabs, (as well as how much personal info they share, how often they are on Instagram, etc.) I also think that taking vacation as an creator will be normalized. I’ve been seeing it happen more and more and am all for it.
On The Stripe (my blog!) this week.
We had a lot of great content this week - 5 new posts and I refreshed my Jones Road review with a few new products I’ve tried.
Emotional Support Bags: a roundup of Carly and my current favorite bags.
I updated my Jones Road Beauty review — they are definitely one of my favorite brands.
A recap of my favorite hotels in Charleston.
Is a humidifier good for your home?
Our second resort edit: non-boring neutrals!
Everything I read this past month! (It was a twelve book kind of month, wow).
This Week in Reading:
I started and finished End of Story by A.J. Finn. I hate to say it (because I loved The Woman in the Window so much) but this was a major slog for me. It was overly complicated with nothing happening for the first 75% of the book. But it was worth the slog as it had a magnificent (truly!) ending. So do with that information what you’d like. It’s a bit of suffering for what is one of the more creative and clever twists. I’m glad I read it but needed to warn you.
On the audio front, I started and finished Adam Grant’s Hidden Potential. This one is short (at least compared to my last audiobook) clocking in at just around 7 hours. I find Adam Grant to be such an interesting person; his podcasts are always really helpful - this book was the same. It’s all about ways to learn and grow and (let’s hope!) achieve greatness. It’s very engaging, with great story telling and advice.
A Reader Question!
(if you have a question for a future newsletter, please email grace@thestripe.com - it helps if you are specific and include budget, your personal style, etc.)
We are skipping questions this week - we’ll answer more next week!
Grace I loved reading this! Thank you for being so thought-filled in your approach to break everything down and share for all of us. I love following your Substack🤍 and the community it has created.
I am so glad you shared this! One of my pet peeves is that influencers are not often covered as the entrepreneurs they are—lots of startup/tech/VC brands get serious reporting and coverage, both positive and negative, but influencing isn’t treated with as much seriousness even though it’s just as legitimate a business, with regulatory requirements and all. (Where’s the “How I Built This” episode with a major influencer?!) I’m glad you approach “no-strings-attached” gifting with healthy skepticism, too.
This is probably nerding out too far, but if you’re ever interested in writing a follow-up piece on the regulatory and tax pieces of the influencing business, I would be so interested. Rosey Blair mentioned in a story the other day that for her clothing purchases to be considered business expenses, she has to discard them from her closet after a certain time period, and it got me thinking that the influencer lifestyle must be a bit tricky when it comes to things like that.