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Join us today at 2pm Eastern for Help! I wanna leave Substack!
It seems like everyone’s already forgotten about Substack’s latest controversy.
I moved my own Substack in 2020, and back then, I did it to be high and mighty but now, I’d do it all over again because I think Substack is pulling one over on their writers with a bad deal.
My beef with Substack is not just that their co-founders make comically misguided decisions—it’s that I think they are COSTING you money.
I was genuinely dumbfounded when Eric Newcomer wrote in last year’s annual report “While free subscriptions have been growing steadily and recently crossed 100,000, our paid subscriber count has remained relatively flat for the past two years.”
TWO YEARS Y’ALL!
That kind of result is not universal and some writers have had better luck there than on other platforms, but I gotta say it’s very clear Substack wants YOUR audience on THEIR app, and I think any newsletter growth gains you’ve had there will start to slow. Substack is starting to feel more like long form Twitter, which is fine as a social media channel but it also means you have to monetize on their terms.
So, if you’re leaving or thinking about it, come play it forward with us today. I’m prepared to be proven wrong and I’ll offer you some data informed ways to decide the right course of action for yourself.
Today at 11am Pacific/2pm Eastern
P.S. Coming this Saturday 👀—The team at Rascal added a “pay per article” feature to their paywall to give readers more ways to support their work. How’s it working for them? You’re gonna hear all about it! Stay tuned later this week.
