The controversies around Substack miss the point that it is just a tool for sovereign writers, who are in control as they are paid directly by subscribers
Manage your Stratechery subscription. — There has been a bit of controversy around Substack over the last week … Tweets: @mohamed , @nbj914 , @paulconstant , @grimmelm , @susie_c , @lorcand , @jessesingal , @kantrowitz , and @carnage4life Tweets: Mohamed Nanabhay / @mohamed : “I suspect we have only begun to appreciate how destructive this new reality will be for many media organizations....” @benthompson on Sovereign Writers and Substack https://stratechery.com/... Nicholas Jackson / @nbj914 : 11,000 more words about Subtack, from @benthompson ("I would bet that publications start being stricter about this [letting employees start newsletters] going forward") https://stratechery.com/... and @SethAbramson ("the best digital platform I've ever used") https://sethabramson.substack.com/ ... Paul Constant / @paulconstant : I'm seeing people refer to Substack and other subscription-supported writers as “sovereign writers.” That's incredibly bad framing. All good writing—especially good journalism—is collaborative. James Grimmelmann / @grimmelm : This @stratechery column is helpful, but if anything I don't think it goes far enough. Substack wants to be a platform, but its business niche looks more like magazine subscription and distribution, only easier to get into. https://stratechery.com/... Susie Cagle / @susie_c : Wait hold up so according to this, Substack processes each subscription separately? instead of lumping them together? which would save a lot in processing fees for both platform and writer? https://stratechery.com/... Lorcan Dempsey / @lorcand : “ ... the real reason why the media has reason to fear Substack: it's not that Substack will compete with existing publications for their best writers, but rather that Substack makes it easy for the best writers to discover their actual market value.” https://stratechery.com/... https://twitter.com/... Jesse Singal / @jessesingal : One of the only sane things that has been written about the fake Substack scandal, and it's just as much about the future of media and how the newsletter economy selects for punditry over reporting. Worth a read. https://stratechery.com/... Alex Kantrowitz / @kantrowitz : “The beautiful thing about being my own boss is that they don't determine my success; my subscribers do, just as they do every author on Substack.” https://stratechery.com/... Dare Obasanjo / @carnage4life : Substack is a threat to the media because popular writers can make more money from subscriptions than a journalism gig. The Internet unbundled ads from newspapers and is now unbundling journalists from news sites as well. The business model is under siege https://stratechery.com/...
“I suspect we have only begun to appreciate how destructive this new reality will be for many media organizations....” @benthompson on Sovereign Writers and Substack https://stratechery.com/...
11,000 more words about Subtack, from @benthompson ("I would bet that publications start being stricter about this [letting employees start newsletters] going forward") https://stratechery.com/... and @SethAbramson ("the best digital platform I've ever used") https://sethabramson…
I'm seeing people refer to Substack and other subscription-supported writers as “sovereign writers.” That's incredibly bad framing. All good writing—especially good journalism—is collaborative.
This @stratechery column is helpful, but if anything I don't think it goes far enough. Substack wants to be a platform, but its business niche looks more like magazine subscription and distribution, only easier to get into. https://stratechery.com/...
Wait hold up so according to this, Substack processes each subscription separately? instead of lumping them together? which would save a lot in processing fees for both platform and writer? https://stratechery.com/...
“ ... the real reason why the media has reason to fear Substack: it's not that Substack will compete with existing publications for their best writers, but rather that Substack makes it easy for the best writers to discover their actual market value.” https://stratechery.com/... …
One of the only sane things that has been written about the fake Substack scandal, and it's just as much about the future of media and how the newsletter economy selects for punditry over reporting. Worth a read. https://stratechery.com/...
“The beautiful thing about being my own boss is that they don't determine my success; my subscribers do, just as they do every author on Substack.” https://stratechery.com/...
Substack is a threat to the media because popular writers can make more money from subscriptions than a journalism gig. The Internet unbundled ads from newspapers and is now unbundling journalists from news sites as well. The business model is under siege https://stratechery.com/…
Sovereign Writers and Substack Substack is at the center of media controversy, most of which misses the point that sovereign writers — not Substack — are in control. https://stratechery.com/...