Substack Continues to Fade
Moral and financial problems are bolstering alternatives the play a simpler game
I was an early adopter of Substack, and an early fan. I named it the “Site of the Year” in 2018 (as if anyone cared), boasted of an early “top newsletter” on the platform, interviewed a co-founder, and so forth. But then the company started to allow anti-vaxxers (and, later Nazis) to publish, many began to seek alternatives.
In 2022, I found a good option (Ghost), moved the newsletter, and realized two things:
- Substack had gone over to the dark side of Silicon Valley surveillance and manipulation economics
- Substack has a bad business model — commissions are their main source of revenue
The financial benefit of moving was the most immediate. I saved a couple of thousand the first year, and have ever since.
Substack switching continues as more writers realize it’s too expensive to pay a 10% tithe on all your revenues, while being on Substack is a bad look. As coverage in The Verge outlines:
. . . Substack takes a 10 percent cut of total subscription revenue. That tax may not seem substantial at first, but it quickly adds up as creators gain subscribers and begin charging more for their subscriptions. . . . for a newsletter charging $10 per month with 400 subscribers, the total monthly cost — including the platform’s 10 percent cut and credit card processing fees — would add up to $636. That cost jumps to $15,900 per month with 10,000 subscribers . . . Many Substack rivals charge a flat monthly fee, rather than a commission.
In addition to Ghost, alternatives like Beehiiv, Passport, and Patreon are also attracting converts. The finances, sense of control, and lack of creepiness can all contribute to decisions to move.
This all seems like part of a larger backlash against information manipulation via tech platforms, something scientific and scholarly publishers should watch carefully as they inject AI, platform sketchy papers, and cater to the attention economy. Moral and financial sensitivities are on the rise among information producers and consumer.
People are tired of being exploited.