It's funny you should write this today Daniel as it happens to be the day I forked out for the first time for someone on Substack. I do however agree that it's an odd one. To go from buying a newspaper or magazine where you get a tonne of writers for a couple of quid to paying for individual writers' work for the same amount of money is a much bigger leap (and still different) than going from buying your toilet roll in a supermarket to subscribing to Who Gives a Crap for a monthly delivery. And yet some people are doing it (although Substack seems vague as to how many).
The paid side of Substack was the first thing I heard about it, but now that I'm in it, I hardly think about it - there's so much more to it than that. If anything I sort of separate the paid publications in my head because actually they're by big name journalists who I read in other places anyway. Instead of reading more by them, I'm actually glad to be reading the much more interesting and thought provoking pieces by us unknowns. Although I am worried that things will change on here once enough people are in - I mean does Substack make enough money just from the revenue brought in by those being paid?
Interesting thanks Caz. So those ‘6 figure sum’ posts are true then. I wonder if it’s those who already had a paying list which they transferred across ?
Last time I read about the top earners, the number one was an American history professor, so I'm going to guess she had no existing mailing list. Other top earners probably did, but I'd guess those lists were not nearly as big as their readership on Substack.
It's surprising to me that the most paid for newsletters tend to be serious essays on politics and culture or history. Business newsletters are also very popular.
That’s so interesting. So it’s no filter, citizen style journalism that people want, which is great. I think I get it now. Although I can’t see how anyone would pay for my substack if that’s the case!
Yes, that's pretty much it, although more opinion than journalism, along with business, crypto, culture, and how to succeed on Substack (I don't know how many are paying for the latter). 😁
In the past, I've looked at some of the top newsletters, but they weren't of interest to me.
Oh, recipes and fashion type newsletters also have big audiences!!
Great conversation you two have got going! I feel bad for gatecrashing this little party.
I'm no expert on Substack but as you say, Caz, the top earners are making a decent fortune here, and it tends to be the more well-known serious essayists and historians (Heather Cox Richardson for example, I think that's who you're referring to). In my post I mentioned Timothy Snyder, who has a 'modest' following of 147K subscribers, but there are a few with over half a million. I'm pretty it's the already established names pulling in the biggest numbers. It would be interesting to see the figures of no-namers like us (sorry - like me, I should say) who have made it 'big.'
There is concern that Substack is trending in the wrong direction, towards the more Instagram/TikTok dynamic by promoting videos and you're seeing more and more celebrities, marketers and influencer types starting newsletters. There are fears that ads are coming to, and people are getting spammed with bots and weird DM requests. If Substack wants to make money, then it's in their interest to attract more people (they take a 10% cut of subscriber fees).
The ones that baffle of me are the endless how to make money businessy ones that seem to recycle the same advice in these 'handy' bullet-point formats, and they seem focused on getting new subscribers rather than actually writing anything of substance. Sometimes it seems like one giant pyramid scheme!
All of my content is free but I don't expect that from others. Many rely on subscriptions for income and that's reasonable. That being said: I often only like one or two posts on most pages and would pay the price of a newspaper to read them, but not pay $5/month for a rare hit among other content I don't particularly care for. But wait! There's a solution! TIPS. There are many people I would tip for an article or essay but it seems to be a new thing (and a pain to set up). Hopefully it will catch on and I'll be able to show monetary appreciation when I find something spectacular- and I think a lot of people share my perspective.
Uh oh, now I'm terrified that my post is going to come across as an attack on those who have paywalls! No, no, it's anything but - I think it's totally reasonable, absolutely. I love your philosophy with keeping things free and I feel that if I am ever going to put up a paywall, it has to be for something extra. Actually, in my case, as an EFL teacher, where the majority of my subscribers are language learners, there's definitely potential here with lessons and video chats, but I'm so hopeless with taking initiative and being any kind of businessperson, and I lack ambition and honestly, I'm just flattered people take the time to read what I write, that gives me pleasure.
The tips thing is definitely an idea to think about, I've seen that more and more. I like it when people are humble and self-deprecating about it, using a bit of humour. It's the outright desperate begging that turns me off. One example is the Guardian - their requests for donations is overbearing and relentless and it's like 'yeah guys, lay off, i know, i'll give if/when i can' but the reality is, i'd rather support smaller writers trying to make a living, and i don't even read that many Guardian articles). There's one newsletter here I subscribe to (and there's a 0% chance they are reading this) who had a recent message saying "This obviously isn't working. We can’t keep giving away the vast majority of our work for free if folks take our work for granted" and they are constantly using that pressure which I find distasteful.
I’m also reluctant to cough up £5 to get a subscription when all I really want is to read _this_ article. I expect Substack loses a lot of money to tipping services like “Buy me a coffee”. They could be keeping all that for themselves if they only had a tipping service. They could even call it “Tips”!
I was at all those same Champions League games in the 90s except I was in California. I also managed to persuade many of my American friends to get up at 3AM to watch Man U at the Britannia Arms.
I once persuaded a friend to take the afternoon off to come watch England beat Holland 5-1 in a packed pub in Tribeca. He said it was the best sporting event he had ever experienced and we followed it up with a pub crawl that took us all the way up into Greenwich Village!
I also have fond memories of the 2002 World Cup in Japan and South Korea. The kickoff times were a killer, some at 2am, 4.30am and 7am Boston time. I had to ask my manager for flexible working arrangements on some days because those 7am kickoff times meant I'd get to work over an hour late. In the knockout rounds, with the threat of extra time, it was an even bigger pain. I'm still surprised they put up with my antics.
I posted a note about this a while back because I actually felt bad for not upgrading to "paid" on so many wonderful publications, but I'm on a Sabbatical and have to budget, so it's just not possible right now... When I am once again in the position to, I will always be happy to support other writers and other creatives through actual payment for their art and content!
There's no need to feel bad, I think the vast majority of writers understand and don't hold it against us. At some point, I will support a few of the publications I really like - I hope readers don't think I'm upset with writers paywalling their content, it's totally understandable and good for them. One thing I didn't mention that I easily could've - I've never been comfortable with marketing and selling myself and I try to be humble/self-deprecating about it (that's the British half of me talking, btw!).
Same here, my European half is dominant in that aspect as well. "Selling" and presenting myself makes me horribly uncomfortable and I admire people who have that quality.
It's funny you should write this today Daniel as it happens to be the day I forked out for the first time for someone on Substack. I do however agree that it's an odd one. To go from buying a newspaper or magazine where you get a tonne of writers for a couple of quid to paying for individual writers' work for the same amount of money is a much bigger leap (and still different) than going from buying your toilet roll in a supermarket to subscribing to Who Gives a Crap for a monthly delivery. And yet some people are doing it (although Substack seems vague as to how many).
The paid side of Substack was the first thing I heard about it, but now that I'm in it, I hardly think about it - there's so much more to it than that. If anything I sort of separate the paid publications in my head because actually they're by big name journalists who I read in other places anyway. Instead of reading more by them, I'm actually glad to be reading the much more interesting and thought provoking pieces by us unknowns. Although I am worried that things will change on here once enough people are in - I mean does Substack make enough money just from the revenue brought in by those being paid?
Bless Who Gives a Crap, especially the special Xmas paper wraps. 😁
Substack do not yet make a profit, is my understanding.
Some writers have become millionaires with Substack, that's a lot of readers parting with real money.
Interesting thanks Caz. So those ‘6 figure sum’ posts are true then. I wonder if it’s those who already had a paying list which they transferred across ?
Oh yes, they're true.
Last time I read about the top earners, the number one was an American history professor, so I'm going to guess she had no existing mailing list. Other top earners probably did, but I'd guess those lists were not nearly as big as their readership on Substack.
It's surprising to me that the most paid for newsletters tend to be serious essays on politics and culture or history. Business newsletters are also very popular.
That’s so interesting. So it’s no filter, citizen style journalism that people want, which is great. I think I get it now. Although I can’t see how anyone would pay for my substack if that’s the case!
Yes, that's pretty much it, although more opinion than journalism, along with business, crypto, culture, and how to succeed on Substack (I don't know how many are paying for the latter). 😁
In the past, I've looked at some of the top newsletters, but they weren't of interest to me.
Oh, recipes and fashion type newsletters also have big audiences!!
Great conversation you two have got going! I feel bad for gatecrashing this little party.
I'm no expert on Substack but as you say, Caz, the top earners are making a decent fortune here, and it tends to be the more well-known serious essayists and historians (Heather Cox Richardson for example, I think that's who you're referring to). In my post I mentioned Timothy Snyder, who has a 'modest' following of 147K subscribers, but there are a few with over half a million. I'm pretty it's the already established names pulling in the biggest numbers. It would be interesting to see the figures of no-namers like us (sorry - like me, I should say) who have made it 'big.'
There is concern that Substack is trending in the wrong direction, towards the more Instagram/TikTok dynamic by promoting videos and you're seeing more and more celebrities, marketers and influencer types starting newsletters. There are fears that ads are coming to, and people are getting spammed with bots and weird DM requests. If Substack wants to make money, then it's in their interest to attract more people (they take a 10% cut of subscriber fees).
The ones that baffle of me are the endless how to make money businessy ones that seem to recycle the same advice in these 'handy' bullet-point formats, and they seem focused on getting new subscribers rather than actually writing anything of substance. Sometimes it seems like one giant pyramid scheme!
Everyone loves food! Great research thank you!
All of my content is free but I don't expect that from others. Many rely on subscriptions for income and that's reasonable. That being said: I often only like one or two posts on most pages and would pay the price of a newspaper to read them, but not pay $5/month for a rare hit among other content I don't particularly care for. But wait! There's a solution! TIPS. There are many people I would tip for an article or essay but it seems to be a new thing (and a pain to set up). Hopefully it will catch on and I'll be able to show monetary appreciation when I find something spectacular- and I think a lot of people share my perspective.
Uh oh, now I'm terrified that my post is going to come across as an attack on those who have paywalls! No, no, it's anything but - I think it's totally reasonable, absolutely. I love your philosophy with keeping things free and I feel that if I am ever going to put up a paywall, it has to be for something extra. Actually, in my case, as an EFL teacher, where the majority of my subscribers are language learners, there's definitely potential here with lessons and video chats, but I'm so hopeless with taking initiative and being any kind of businessperson, and I lack ambition and honestly, I'm just flattered people take the time to read what I write, that gives me pleasure.
The tips thing is definitely an idea to think about, I've seen that more and more. I like it when people are humble and self-deprecating about it, using a bit of humour. It's the outright desperate begging that turns me off. One example is the Guardian - their requests for donations is overbearing and relentless and it's like 'yeah guys, lay off, i know, i'll give if/when i can' but the reality is, i'd rather support smaller writers trying to make a living, and i don't even read that many Guardian articles). There's one newsletter here I subscribe to (and there's a 0% chance they are reading this) who had a recent message saying "This obviously isn't working. We can’t keep giving away the vast majority of our work for free if folks take our work for granted" and they are constantly using that pressure which I find distasteful.
I’m also reluctant to cough up £5 to get a subscription when all I really want is to read _this_ article. I expect Substack loses a lot of money to tipping services like “Buy me a coffee”. They could be keeping all that for themselves if they only had a tipping service. They could even call it “Tips”!
I’d imagine they take a cut of those tips too, though, right? Every little bit helps as far as they’re concerned.
Right. But that's all good, I think. We want Substack to be financially successful and we'd like a little bit for ourselves too.
I’m reluctant to start a subscription because I don't think I am with it and it feels a bit vain. I would totally use a “tips” button though.
I was at all those same Champions League games in the 90s except I was in California. I also managed to persuade many of my American friends to get up at 3AM to watch Man U at the Britannia Arms.
I once persuaded a friend to take the afternoon off to come watch England beat Holland 5-1 in a packed pub in Tribeca. He said it was the best sporting event he had ever experienced and we followed it up with a pub crawl that took us all the way up into Greenwich Village!
Good times!
I also have fond memories of the 2002 World Cup in Japan and South Korea. The kickoff times were a killer, some at 2am, 4.30am and 7am Boston time. I had to ask my manager for flexible working arrangements on some days because those 7am kickoff times meant I'd get to work over an hour late. In the knockout rounds, with the threat of extra time, it was an even bigger pain. I'm still surprised they put up with my antics.
Fair enough!
I posted a note about this a while back because I actually felt bad for not upgrading to "paid" on so many wonderful publications, but I'm on a Sabbatical and have to budget, so it's just not possible right now... When I am once again in the position to, I will always be happy to support other writers and other creatives through actual payment for their art and content!
There's no need to feel bad, I think the vast majority of writers understand and don't hold it against us. At some point, I will support a few of the publications I really like - I hope readers don't think I'm upset with writers paywalling their content, it's totally understandable and good for them. One thing I didn't mention that I easily could've - I've never been comfortable with marketing and selling myself and I try to be humble/self-deprecating about it (that's the British half of me talking, btw!).
Same here, my European half is dominant in that aspect as well. "Selling" and presenting myself makes me horribly uncomfortable and I admire people who have that quality.