Substack’s growth spurt brings growing pains

The publishing platform’s founders want Substack to be an 'alternate universe on the internet.' But it faces copycat rivals, an exodus by writers and a need to move beyond newsletters.

Posted

There are things that the newsletter writer Kirsten Han misses about Substack. They just aren’t enough to outweigh the downsides.

She disliked how the platform portrayed itself as a haven for independent writers with fewer resources while offering six-figure advances to several prominent white men. The hands-off content moderation policy, which allowed transphobic and anti-vaccine language, did not sit well with her. She also didn’t like earning $20,000 in subscription revenue, and then giving up $2,600 in fees to Substack and its payment processor.

So last year, Ms. Han moved her newsletter, We, The Citizens, to a competing service. She now pays $780 a year to publish through Ghost, but said she still made roughly the same in subscriptions.

Click here to read more.

Comments

No comments on this item Please log in to comment by clicking here


Scroll the Latest Job Opportunities From The Media Job Board