This perspective is exactly why I started my newsletter here. Substack is committed to the integrity of the relationship between writers and their readers, as well as the health of our collective digital idea space. Just glad to be here. Thank you for making this space possible.
If Facebook and Twitter are jumping in the game it means they see the writing on the wall. Premium newsletters are the future of the content world. I only recently moved my blog to substack and it is already abundantly clear to me that this platform has limitless potential. So I say bring on the competition and let it bring new ideas and drive that competition so often does.
This is great. And really like what you're doing with Substack. I do think it is unlikely that Facebook or Twitter is throwing enough weight behind this model. This is their Malibu Hybrid (not even a Bolt) where they just don't want to miss out on the new hotness. We've got a ways to go before they commit their entire business (or even a big chunk of it) to electric. So keep at it. Build the Tesla that forces real change.
Substack is "Shibumi" -- a Japanese word that refers to a particular aesthetic of simplicity, subtlety, and unobtrusive beauty. It is a term from the Edo period in Japan referring to places, persons, or things of effortless perfection and understatement. Anything that is Shibumi is noble and fulfilling in a manner that is not shaped exclusively by analytical thought. Simply put, a state of great refinement underlying commonplace appearances.
I am considering switching to platforms for a couple of reasons. The first is that I'm paying Substack a considerable sum in fees each month (10% is a lot when you get to a decent number of subscribers). For that fee I do expect a certain level of customer support, and I have not experienced that at Substack of late. Not bothering to respond to tech questions or taking over a week to get back to us isn't reassuring, particularly when it happens multiple times. I'm guessing the bigger customers don't wait for support.
Second, the features on Substack are fine but now outdated in today's ultra competitive market. Analytics and audience segmentation are non existent from a practical point of view (no way to cut inactive email subscribers for example). The pace of innovation on the platform just isn't very fast.
Thirdly, it is extremely difficult to build an audience on Substack unless you have a large social media following already. Revue has a huge advantage here, as does Medium etc.
That being said, I still love Substack. It is a truly innovative company with a beautifully simple business model and design. It is a joy to write on and I don't like the "feel" of other platforms I have experimented with.
To the team at Substack, please talk me off the ledge. I want to stay, I really do, but as of late there are fewer and fewer reasons to do so.
This is all well and good but your entire business model relies on Twitter and FB for reader/writer discovery. I don’t see how that’s sustainable. Also your UI/UX is not as good as Medium, though their subscription model is nearly incomprehensible and yours is admirably simple.
I hope to hell that you don't sell out to one of those bastard companies. I'm sick of these tech giants censoring free speech. I loved your free speech notice, or terms of service that you published recently. But you NEED to take it a step further and allow us to insert videos from sources other than the YouTube censor machine.
I have discovered this wonderful new invention called magazines. Apparently they bring together writers of a certain level of quality through a process called journalistic editing, and they write articles which I really enjoy reading. Because their article quality is good, I look forward to reading them.
My favorites are The Atlantic, New Yorker and New York Times.
I think this is a really wonderful idea, and I hope that they can get VC backing.
If Facebook is creating (copying) something you can be guaranteed it'll be an aesthetic and ethical disaster. The best thing I ever did for my career as a writer was to migrate my site's mailing list over to Substack. I'm wonderfully surprised each time I post new content and then garner new subscribers. If people are respected and treated like intelligent beings they respond in kind.
1.Using the phrase "right side of history" is often used to foster a sense of self-righteous arrogance that may or may not be deserved. Who decides what the "right side" is? Is it you, me, or some "expert" that magically knows the future? How do we know what the right side is today with so much media censorship and disinformation? If you look at the history of totalitarian movements, the use of "right side" is just another way for tyrants to gain power while using rationalizations to justify violence and subterfuge. Basically the phrase is the secular version of "God is on our side." As a point for proof of rightness, this phrase fails because of its vagueness and lack of evidence. What's right today may fall deeply out of favor tomorrow.
2. Substack thus far, has presented some newsletters that are the opposite of calm. Some of the same ultra-partisanship and know-it-all rants occur, just in longer form. I've tried subscribing to multiple Substacks only to find the same old smug divisiveness after a couple newsletters. That doesn't mean they're all bad or that I can only read posts that I agree with. However the bias runs strong with quite a few Substacks, and I don't feel particularly welcome. Which is fine, but the flowery description of Substack being a calm place, is hyperbolic at best.
Hopefully I can foster a calm & welcoming Substack where others don't feel rejected for not being on "the right side of history."
I love this. And may I suggest that the next step in aligning your business model with the success of users is exploring various co-op and multi-stakeholder shared ownership models with users? The producer-owned cooperative may be your best proxi -- something figured out in the ag business long ago (Ocean Spray, Land O Lakes, etc.). If we writers are the producers on which your success lies, why not make us co-owners? Explore platform cooperatives as well, which represent the cutting edge of shared ownership innovation, bringing democracy into the digital economy.
Facebook and Twitter have too much power already. There are many creators and writers that are disillusioned with those mega social media networks. While they'll capture marketshare, the Substack ethos will attract writers that care about individual sovereignty, and those that are right to stay away from digital sharecropping.
Great post Hamish. Sounds like you've been reading our Creative Dharma newsletter – “One of the reasons we started Substack is that we were concerned about the effects of the attention economy on the human mind. ... We are feeding our minds with a poisoned information supply. ... Substack is designed to be a calm space that encourages reflection. … ”
This perspective is exactly why I started my newsletter here. Substack is committed to the integrity of the relationship between writers and their readers, as well as the health of our collective digital idea space. Just glad to be here. Thank you for making this space possible.
"It’s the calmness of the model that’s the real killer feature."
Keep pushing. Their business model is not aligned with Substack's.
If Facebook and Twitter are jumping in the game it means they see the writing on the wall. Premium newsletters are the future of the content world. I only recently moved my blog to substack and it is already abundantly clear to me that this platform has limitless potential. So I say bring on the competition and let it bring new ideas and drive that competition so often does.
This is great. And really like what you're doing with Substack. I do think it is unlikely that Facebook or Twitter is throwing enough weight behind this model. This is their Malibu Hybrid (not even a Bolt) where they just don't want to miss out on the new hotness. We've got a ways to go before they commit their entire business (or even a big chunk of it) to electric. So keep at it. Build the Tesla that forces real change.
we need more folks writing. that's all that matters.
Substack is "Shibumi" -- a Japanese word that refers to a particular aesthetic of simplicity, subtlety, and unobtrusive beauty. It is a term from the Edo period in Japan referring to places, persons, or things of effortless perfection and understatement. Anything that is Shibumi is noble and fulfilling in a manner that is not shaped exclusively by analytical thought. Simply put, a state of great refinement underlying commonplace appearances.
Thank you for having me on Substack.
I am considering switching to platforms for a couple of reasons. The first is that I'm paying Substack a considerable sum in fees each month (10% is a lot when you get to a decent number of subscribers). For that fee I do expect a certain level of customer support, and I have not experienced that at Substack of late. Not bothering to respond to tech questions or taking over a week to get back to us isn't reassuring, particularly when it happens multiple times. I'm guessing the bigger customers don't wait for support.
Second, the features on Substack are fine but now outdated in today's ultra competitive market. Analytics and audience segmentation are non existent from a practical point of view (no way to cut inactive email subscribers for example). The pace of innovation on the platform just isn't very fast.
Thirdly, it is extremely difficult to build an audience on Substack unless you have a large social media following already. Revue has a huge advantage here, as does Medium etc.
That being said, I still love Substack. It is a truly innovative company with a beautifully simple business model and design. It is a joy to write on and I don't like the "feel" of other platforms I have experimented with.
To the team at Substack, please talk me off the ledge. I want to stay, I really do, but as of late there are fewer and fewer reasons to do so.
This is all well and good but your entire business model relies on Twitter and FB for reader/writer discovery. I don’t see how that’s sustainable. Also your UI/UX is not as good as Medium, though their subscription model is nearly incomprehensible and yours is admirably simple.
I hope to hell that you don't sell out to one of those bastard companies. I'm sick of these tech giants censoring free speech. I loved your free speech notice, or terms of service that you published recently. But you NEED to take it a step further and allow us to insert videos from sources other than the YouTube censor machine.
I have discovered this wonderful new invention called magazines. Apparently they bring together writers of a certain level of quality through a process called journalistic editing, and they write articles which I really enjoy reading. Because their article quality is good, I look forward to reading them.
My favorites are The Atlantic, New Yorker and New York Times.
I think this is a really wonderful idea, and I hope that they can get VC backing.
If Facebook is creating (copying) something you can be guaranteed it'll be an aesthetic and ethical disaster. The best thing I ever did for my career as a writer was to migrate my site's mailing list over to Substack. I'm wonderfully surprised each time I post new content and then garner new subscribers. If people are respected and treated like intelligent beings they respond in kind.
1.Using the phrase "right side of history" is often used to foster a sense of self-righteous arrogance that may or may not be deserved. Who decides what the "right side" is? Is it you, me, or some "expert" that magically knows the future? How do we know what the right side is today with so much media censorship and disinformation? If you look at the history of totalitarian movements, the use of "right side" is just another way for tyrants to gain power while using rationalizations to justify violence and subterfuge. Basically the phrase is the secular version of "God is on our side." As a point for proof of rightness, this phrase fails because of its vagueness and lack of evidence. What's right today may fall deeply out of favor tomorrow.
2. Substack thus far, has presented some newsletters that are the opposite of calm. Some of the same ultra-partisanship and know-it-all rants occur, just in longer form. I've tried subscribing to multiple Substacks only to find the same old smug divisiveness after a couple newsletters. That doesn't mean they're all bad or that I can only read posts that I agree with. However the bias runs strong with quite a few Substacks, and I don't feel particularly welcome. Which is fine, but the flowery description of Substack being a calm place, is hyperbolic at best.
Hopefully I can foster a calm & welcoming Substack where others don't feel rejected for not being on "the right side of history."
This was well articulated. Also, I didn't have to end up doomscrolling to get to it/find it.
I love this. And may I suggest that the next step in aligning your business model with the success of users is exploring various co-op and multi-stakeholder shared ownership models with users? The producer-owned cooperative may be your best proxi -- something figured out in the ag business long ago (Ocean Spray, Land O Lakes, etc.). If we writers are the producers on which your success lies, why not make us co-owners? Explore platform cooperatives as well, which represent the cutting edge of shared ownership innovation, bringing democracy into the digital economy.
Facebook and Twitter have too much power already. There are many creators and writers that are disillusioned with those mega social media networks. While they'll capture marketshare, the Substack ethos will attract writers that care about individual sovereignty, and those that are right to stay away from digital sharecropping.
Great post Hamish. Sounds like you've been reading our Creative Dharma newsletter – “One of the reasons we started Substack is that we were concerned about the effects of the attention economy on the human mind. ... We are feeding our minds with a poisoned information supply. ... Substack is designed to be a calm space that encourages reflection. … ”