Substack

Never Mailed

I never sent this email because after reading more about Substack I found that it was a large part of their notoriety that they didn’t use page ads. Do I believe it’s the right thing to do? Yes. Do I believe Substack is destined to become another failed platform? Yes. Substack is worth about a half billion dollars where as YouTube is worth a good thirty Billion.

Then again, what do I know? I’m no economist.

29th August 2024

Dear Substack,

I was turned on to your website by a YouTube Creator who has an account with you folks and is doing well. It surprised me to know that you had been around for seven years without me knowing and I like your business ideas.

The idea that you don’t make money unless I make money is a strong incentive to become a Substack Creator. I would say, however, that Substack looks to be a blog hosting platform and not one as user friendly as some but with greater potential for discovery. I can run two blogs on Substack, one free and one paid, which is problematic but not that big of an issue.

The point that I would have to make is that the pay-wall makes Substack less interesting. For one thing, you’re just going to see far more free content than paid content and this will eventually weight down your website with more and more pressure on the paid content to make it all hold water.

I can tell you that I could go to my old blog posts and post them on Substack. I could post once an hour for ten years and still not use all the material I have. Between blog posts, YouTube videos, and short format videos I often post more than twelve times a day.

Adding page ads and tips to your platform would offset this somewhat. Anyone would like to get tipped even if it is just a dollar and page ads would mean that even my free content would make money. 

Best, 

 

Richard Leland Neal