Betches' Aleen Kuperman on explaining new media to immigrant parents—and not wanting to write about 'The Bachelor' again

Aleen Kuperman is co-founder and CEO at Betches Media. The company has grown from a blog created in a dorm room at Cornell in 2011 to a sprawling media network including nine podcasts, New York Times-bestselling books and millions of Instagram followers. In this episode of the “Ad Block” podcast, Kuperman talks about growing up as the child of Russian immigrants who escaped the Soviet Union in 1988, a year before the Berlin Wall fell. In particular, it was a struggle to explicate what “Betches” was to her parents, who had always had high expectations for her future. “I had to explain to my parents, ‘I’m not going to medical school next year,’” she says. “I was terrified to have that conversation. They were like, ‘What’s a blog? How are you making money? What are you talking about?’” As with many new media startups, the business model evolved quickly, and as soon as she had gotten her parents on board, things would change. “They had just figured out Facebook, now they have to go learn Instagram,” Kuperman says. Tangible successes helped, like the book deal the team landed while still in college. “To my parents, that’s legit. A book, they understand.” Kuperman grew up hearing the stories of the family’s journey out of Russia, living in Vienna and Italy off the personal possessions they could sell before eventually being allowed into the U.S. and settling on Long Island. “Only now, I think back to all the things they instilled,” like her strong work ethic, she says. “It... Continue reading at 'Advertising Age'

[ Advertising Age | 2019-10-18 09:01:00 UTC ]
News tagged with: #instagram followers #soviet union #high expectations #medical school #making money #long island #book deal

Other Publishing stories related to: ' Betches' Aleen Kuperman on explaining new media to immigrant parents—and not wanting to write about 'The Bachelor' again '

Betches' Aleen Kuperman on explaining new media to immigrant parents—and not wanting to write about 'The Bachelor' again

[ Advertising Age | 2019-10-18 09:01:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #instagram followers #soviet union #high expectations #medical school #making money #long island #book deal

How to Write the Book No One Wants You to Write

Sarah M. Broom’s The Yellow House is a feat—a memoir and historical narrative created amid governmental bureaucracy and resistance from some of her subjects. Continue reading at The Atlantic

[ The Atlantic | 2019-09-25 16:27:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #yellow house #memoir

How to Write the Book No One Wants You to Write

Sarah M. Broom’s The Yellow House is a feat—a memoir and historical narrative created amid governmental bureaucracy and resistance from some of her subjects. Continue reading at The Atlantic

[ The Atlantic | 2019-09-25 16:27:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #yellow house #memoir

Struggling as an author? Stop writing only what you want to write

Earning a living as a writer is as likely as winning the lottery. Instead of writing books and persuading others to buy them, find out what people want to write, then do it for themPhilip Pullman: professional writers set to become ‘an endangered species’ due to low wagesI left school with a... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2016-01-06 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Mat Osman: ‘I wanted to write about a dirty, dangerous, working-class London’

The Suede bassist and author on writing without a safety net, terrifying himself for his next novel and which of the Thursday Murder Club books – by his brother Richard – he likes bestMat Osman is, along with Brett Anderson, a founding and current member of the band Suede, and the author of two... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2024-03-23 18:00:26 UTC ]
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Most Parents Want School Libraries for Their Children–But With Restrictions

95% of parents believe every school should have a library, but 60% also believe those libraries should have restrictions. Continue reading at Book Riot

[ Book Riot | 2023-12-20 13:21:21 UTC ]
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Claire Keegan: ‘I can’t explain my work. I just write stories’

The much-acclaimed Irish author of Small Things Like These on her quietly devastating new story and why George Saunders wouldn’t read it aloud for a podcastClaire Keegan’s five books to date run to just 700 pages and some 140,000 words. “I love to see prose being written economically,” she tells... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2023-09-02 17:00:10 UTC ]
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As Digital Media Falters, Betches Hits Its Stride, Expanding Headcount and Revenue Streams

Lifestyle and comedy publisher Betches, which chronicles dating and pop culture for a predominantly female audience, just introduced digital advertising to its newly redesigned website in late July. The move is part of a broader effort to diversify its business and signal a new chapter for the... Continue reading at AdWeek

[ AdWeek | 2023-08-03 11:50:06 UTC ]
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Kraft increases investment in its digital media mix with a focus on nostalgia and millennial parents

In addition to preparing television and sponsored ads, Kraft has also taken an interest in digital OOH and social media displays to account for how consumer shopping habits have changed. Continue reading at Digiday

[ Digiday | 2023-05-22 04:01:00 UTC ]
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Christine Ma-Kellams Wants to Survive What Happens in Your Writing

In our monthly series Can Writing Be Taught? we partner with Catapult to ask their course instructors all our burning questions about the process of teaching writing. This time, we’re talking to Christine Ma-Kellams, who’s teaching an online eight-week fiction workshop. From improving narrative... Continue reading at Electric Literature

[ Electric Literature | 2023-01-20 12:00:00 UTC ]
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Writing the Historical Mystery Novel: Jane Smiley Explains Her Process

Jane Smiley is a master of plot, with multiple awards for her novels, including the Pulitzer Prize and National Book Critics Circle award for A Thousand Acres (King Lear as set on an Iowa farm circa 1979). She’s also distilled her years of teaching and cultural criticism into a superb writing... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2022-12-06 09:53:58 UTC ]
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Augusten Burroughs wants to help you process your trauma through writing (for $50,000).

If you have unprocessed trauma, $50,000, and a sense of adventure when it comes to your mental health, a new “wellness recovery program” created by Augusten Burroughs—author of the best-selling memoir Running With Scissors—may be right up your alley. The week-long program, called Focus-Directed... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2022-08-08 14:41:32 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #mental health #memoir

Jennifer Killick | 'I want to write for all children... I need to keep them engaged'

For her first title with Farshore, Jennifer Killick has conjured an exciting, chilling tale of friendship. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2021-12-03 05:05:12 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #jennifer killick

Rosie Jones | 'I wanted to write the book I needed as a child'

Comedian Rosie Jones has added another string to her bow by authoring a children’s book series—the sort of titles she says she needed as a child Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2021-09-24 00:06:18 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #book series— #rosie jones #children’s book

Sarah Gilmartin | 'I loved writing and I knew I wanted to continue to do it after college'

Sarah Gilmartin admits "there has been a game-keeper turned poacher headline” in the Irish press in the run-up to the release of her début novel, after putting in eight years as a literary critic for the Irish Times. And she was a very specific sort of gamekeeper, as her brief for the Times was... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2021-09-10 12:32:50 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #irish times #irish press #début #literary critic

But what if I want to write about mangoes?

Here I am. Writing about mangoes, while eating a mango. I am a stereotype dream come true. “I try to avoid any mention of mangoes, of spices and monsoons,” said writer Jeet Thayil, in an NPR interview a few years ago. Yes, these are the stereotypes that we are often pigeonholed in. I debated and... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2021-05-28 09:09:52 UTC ]
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Harriet Evans | 'I want to write about things that interest me'

On the sunny spring morning that we speak, Harriet Evans has been going through the page proofs of her 12th novel, The Beloved Girls, with a forensic eye—long before she was a bestselling author, Evans was a highly regarded editor—and it has not met her exacting standards. “I’m actually... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2021-05-14 16:27:00 UTC ]
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Dr Gwen Adshead | 'I wanted to write something that could be read by a lay person'

"I have spent decades working with people who have caused horror and grief to others. I will tell horror stories in this book but I will also tell stories of change and recovery. It may surprise the reader that this is possible.” So writes forensic psychiatrist and psychotherapist Dr Gwen... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2021-03-19 19:46:17 UTC ]
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‘A retail media company’: How CAMP wants its online content to eventually drive customers back to stores

CAMP had to shift from brick-and-mortar to a strategy that more directly resembles a digital publisher with a penchant for e-commerce. The post ‘A retail media company’: How CAMP wants its online content to eventually drive customers back to stores appeared first on Digiday. Continue reading at Digiday

[ Digiday | 2021-02-03 05:01:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #stores appeared #online content #directly resembles #digital publisher