Every day, her column reaches 110 million people through syndication in about 1,400 newspapers. Every week, she gets from 5,000 to 10,000 letters and emails asking her for advice. Owing to email's growing usage, by 2013 less than 10% of her letters were through postal mail. Phillips said she yearned for tangible letters for being more intimate because as described by the "Palm Beach Daily News" she could see "tear stains on the stationery, the smell of cigarette smoke in the paper, the penmanship style and other things that reflect the individual writing". Reading and replying to the mail sometimes takes her more than eight hours a day. After crafting a response, Phillips sets it aside. A few days later, she reviews it to ensure that her feelings about the subject remain unchanged. When she is not knowledgeable about a subject, she consults experts from various fields, including "medical, psychiatric, legal, ethical", and religious. Phillips noted that the column touches on numerous topics, including "organ donation, domestic violence, mental health, child safety, volunteerism, civility, alcohol abuse, inhalant abuse ... and the dangers of tobacco". According to Pernell Watson of the "Daily Press", Phillips will send an unprinted, confidential reply to readers who send a "self-addressed, stamped envelope".