In July, I sent a newsletter announcing that I would be launching a podcast as a companion to my book This American Ex-Wife.
In that newsletter, I talked about how since writing about my divorce, so many people (mostly women), have told me their stories of breaking, of getting free, of the hard lessons they’ve learned about life and love.
So many of those stories are the stories we don’t get to hear. The personal stories of everyday breaking. Of the deaths by a thousand little cuts. Of freedom and the happiness that lies on the other side of Eden.
I read them in my DMs. I heard them after the evening’s second glass of wine. The stories were powerful, and revolutionary. So, for the podcast, I asked for your stories and you all delivered. I received dozens of voicemails and hundreds of emails. It was overwhelming, wonderful, and truly incredible.
Today, the podcast is here! Over the past five months, my producer and I made 10 episode for you. In This American Ex-Wife: The Podcast, I talk to I talk to experts and ex-wives about love, capitalism, ex-wives of the past, our bodies, our names, and our identities. It’s raw, honest, real, dishy, and insightful.
And most importantly, the podcast features your stories. My producer
, wove into each episode the stories you all sent in. And because of the abundance of emails we received, I recorded two episodes where we read your stories (anonymized of course) with special guests.
It was a lot of work! Turns out a highly-produced podcast takes focus, skill, and a lot of editing. I learned a lot. And I have a lot more to learn.
Also, as we planned out the first season, I realized there were topics I wasn’t exploring. Queer divorce. Queering gender roles. Dating post-divorce. And on and on. These issues weren’t omitted for any reason other than a lack of time, and resources, and a couple of guests had to reschedule.
All of this to say, I’d love to do a second season! And, even though I repeatedly made fun of his facial hair, so would Zach.
But the reality is, that making this season cost me approximately $8,000. That’s producer labor, equipment (we even cheaped out and we’d need to upgrade for a second season), art, music, and more. That is a lot for me, but less than some of the podcast estimates I got when I was researching what it would cost.
Despite the popularity of the genre, podcast companies are cutting podcasts, firing staff, and struggling to generate revenue. It’s a tricky medium to monetize. And I don’t want to get rich off it, I just want to pay my producer so he can feed his cat babies and buy a comb for his hair. I also would like to offer a stipend to guests for donating their time and labor for the project.
I didn’t sell ads on this podcast. But I might in the future. I don’t know. I’d like to at least have the ability to say no to ads and not be beholden to capitalist forces.
So, if you want to support the podcast, here are three things you can do:
Become a paying subscriber to this newsletter.
You can also rate this podcast on Apple podcast or any of the other platforms you listen on. The links will be on the right side of the newsletter. If you don’t see the podcast on your favorite streaming app, SIT TIGHT! It takes a bit for the RSS feed to populate for the first episode. After that, it will be smooth sailing.
You can also support this podcast by pre-ordering the book.1
Episode 1: “The one where he buries the gold” with Allison Werner Smith
Many years ago, as I sat in an office at a law firm in Iowa City trying to figure out the minutiae of my own divorce, I asked my lawyer about the divorces she’s seen and what she’s learned in her 20-year career. The conversation was enlightening and really, really funny.
“You should make a podcast about this,” my lawyer said. “I have so many stories.”
Well, never give Lyz Lenz a bad idea, because she’ll do it. For the first episode, I had my divorce lawyer come on as a guest. She shared her wildest stories and deepest insights.
Show notes:
Men add on average seven hours of labor a week to their wives lives. In the show, I incorrectly cite this statistic about men and marriage and labor. My apologies to men.
I also the statistic: 70 percent of breakups and divorces are initiated by women.
Alison talks about the rise in gray divorces. You can read about that here.
Transcripts for the show are automatically generated by AI and linked in the drop-down box above.
This American Ex-Wife is hosted by me and produced by
. The illustration for the show was drawn by Alessandro Gottardo. Art was made by Suzanne Glémot.
One quick note for transparency. I don’t earn affiliate money for links. And per my publisher’s request, I switch up the links between Bookshop, Amazon, and Barnes and Noble. I prefer independent bookstores! But I also know that our lives our complex and we are all doing the best we can. A pre-order is a pre-order. Thank you so much for your support.
“The one where he buries the gold”