Your Favorite Instagram Dog Just ‘Wrote’ a Book

Toast is a Cavalier King Charles spaniel who was rescued from a North Carolina puppy mill in 2011 by Katie Sturino, blogger and wife of comedian Josh Ostrovsky, aka the Fat Jew. Toast quickly—in human years, at least—transcended her humble beginnings. Five years later she’s internet-famous, with more than 360,000 Instagram followers. She’s appeared in photos with actresses such as Jane Lynch and Reese Witherspoon; she wore more than $150,000 in diamonds to her “wedding” in January, which was sponsored by a dozen-plus high-end brands promoted on her account; and she recently released her own lifestyle book, ToastHampton: How to Summer in Style (Harper Design).

ToastHampton is as much a manual for how to leverage fame in 2016 as it is a book about a cute dog. Advertisers spend half a billion dollars a year selling products via animal influencers, says James Nord of Fur Card, an online platform that connects marketers with glam pets. Toast has promoted products for brands including Barneys and Coach. Karen Walker, a designer known for her stylish sunglasses, gave Toast her big break last summer with a photo shoot featuring a wind machine. Animals with accounts as big as Toast’s can make about a thousand dollars per sponsored post; those with a few million followers can make enough money for their owners to quit their jobs. So if your supercute Pomeranian isn’t earning his keep, the book might be worth the $16.99 to see what you two can aspire to.