Debunking for a living
Gideon “Health Nerd” Meyerowitz-Katz on threads:
“As an expert who earns money making content online, I would say it’s very simple: you cannot make a living from debunking lies. It’s just not possible. For reference, I write a blog, which is monetized on Medium and Substack. I also write a regular paid column, and do some other writing on the side. In total, I expect to make about ~$10k from my writing this year.”
If I have any modest claim to fame, it might be this: I kinda do make a living online from debunking.
Not a rich living, of course! But a healthy bit more than $10K/year. My debunking is not as hardcore/general as what Gideon does, and many others, and I might find it harder to swim in that end of the pool. But… but…
My books are full of strong skepticism about rehab and pain pseudoscience. Most of the most popular articles I’ve ever written are assaults on popular wellness and treatment myths.
My newsletter struggles because I constantly undermine my customers’ beliefs, and so I bleed paid subscribers who are “huge fans” … right up to the day a post upsets them. It’s a strange business model, isn’t it? My long-term members are truly a special breed: to last, you have to think that having your biases challenged is a feature, not a bug!
So I am a debunker, and it’s my only gig. But I limp on, rent gets paid, for 15 years and counting now.