Scratch began as a blog called Who Pays Writers? In 2011, Manjula Martin started the blog as a way for freelance writers to anonymously share information about pay rates and agitate for better pay and contracts. The blog began as a tumblr and eventually evolved into a standalone rates website. In 2013, to give more nuanced context to the Who Pays conversation, Martin founded Scratch as an online magazine for writers about “the intersection of work, money, and life.” In 2014 the magazine ended its run, and work on a book version of Scratch began.

The book, published in 2017, is an anthology in which authors candidly and thoughtfully discuss money, MFA programs, day jobs, book deals, and what success really means to them. Along the way these stellar writers expose the tensions between writing and money, work and life, literature and commerce. The book features new essays and interviews, as well as selected essays from the original online magazine Scratch.

SCRATCH includes:
Cheryl Strayed, Roxane Gay, Jonathan Franzen, Jennifer Weiner, Austin Kleon, Alexander Chee, Susan Orlean, Yiyun Li, Emily Gould, Kiese Laymon, Leslie Jamison, Sarah Smarsh, Meaghan O’Connell, Porochista Khakpour, Richard Rodriguez, Malinda Lo, Nina MacLaughlin, and many more