Still relatively new to Substack and had this recommended to me. Appreciate the information, and I just happened to have recently seen the really downbeat "it won't be long before Substack is the new Twitter" rant which you quoted above.
Thank you, Harris. Appreciate you being here & your kind words. As I say in the piece, I have no intention of going anywhere anytime soon. My experience here has been largely good & I still think Substack beats other social media platforms hands down. BUT there are certainly big issues & I think talking openly about systemic problems (no matter the system) helps people not internalise feelings of failure if they are not at the tippy top of the pyramid. I also believe that starting a dialogue around these issues means that we can collectively work out how to solve them, cope with them or work around them.
I really hope you enjoy your time here, Harris - it is a special place full of special people & amazing writing. Just make sure you always feel as if this platform is giving more than it's taking from you. x
Really glad to have found your page. I started here to help me consistently write and work out ideas for a book. The laundry song by Joshua Idehen is spot on. Thank you for all the tips ✍️😊
Glad you found your way here too, Marjorie! Check out my Writers Workshop series. There's loads of practical writing tips there that I hope you'll find useful. & Good luck with the book! I'm two novels deep now & can promise such a rewarding journey! xx
I'm still relatively new to writing here weekly even though I've lingered for two years. Thank you for sharing your experiences and insights. Certainly a lot to mull over.
I found your post at a very timely moment as I have written about the future of Substack recently, although more in line with the problematic turn towards social media (and questionable support of figures such as Zuckerberg and Musk)to drive higher engagement the platform is taking.
Funnily enough right after that my notes feed was saturated with content from people loving Substack very, very, suspiciously much, so I'm glad your post managed to break into that.
As you point out Substack is a business and it can only thrive by making money out of paid subscriptions, which unsurprisingly will be driven by household names with an established audience that they can lure into the platform and not by the likes of us sharing our writing because who are we anyway?
There are amazing non-famous writers here who have given me so much inspiration. Some of them are slowly building an audience, some aren't. That's the way it goes. However, because Substack thrives when paid subscribers join, it's obvious that those able to attract more potential paid subscribers will be the ones being proactively promoted by the platform to secure revenue.
Eye-opening. Yes, I have a following. I love this community. But I didn’t know that Stripe isn’t available in Africa, or that the n-word doesn’t violate, well — all human decency — and is actually allowed within the TOS? Thank you for this thought-provoking article.
The N-word was a reference to Twitter standards, I believe, not Substack's, but there are creeps everywhere. We do know it exists here. Substack and other social media platforms (because yes, Substack is growing into a social media platform) are microcosms of the world we live in, don't you think? Thanks for restacking this, Mary, so I could read it.
Thing #1 is that I don’t follow you, had no idea who you are apart from this post, and I still found your work. The algorithm here is curated specifically by Substack for Reasons [TM] that are entirely theirs to know and never for us to find out. Once upon a Time the Internet was all about organic reach. Those days have long since passed, since Cambridge Analytical pointed out to us all that we are the product. It is what it is, as you pointed out.
Thing #2 is that you are a magnitude of order more well-known than I will ever be. You’ve got an audience who didn’t find you here. You are a great deal more fortunate than probably everybody else with the exception of maybe 5% of the audience who you consider more famous. This platform works best the bigger your fame. Even a wee bit of fame is an improvement. Except, as time goes on, that’s not why this platform matters.
Everywhere has a fascism problem online. Some are now more obvious than others. Some are running US government without a mandate. White people who think success = monetary gain alone are the real problem. That has to be fixed outside of the Internet, and the white guys who run this platform are no different, but this place (for my needs at least) remains the best place for me to build an audience from scratch. It’s slow, but it is undoubtedly happening.
Once you accept support here is literally non-existent, that lots of ‘famous’ people feel they are entitled to far more respect than is actually the case, and that life is what you make it in the end and not what a massive company define it as? This space works, at least 60% of the time. Everywhere has a fascism problem right now. Like, EVERYWHERE. You offer sensible options and don’t lecture, and honestly, that’s a refreshing change. Thank you.
I don’t need people to tell me the World is on fire any more than they are. I need firefighters, and mental health counsellors, and rewinding engineers, and none of them are here on Substack.
There is only so much commentary that reality will support before it collapses.
Thank you for writing this. I shared it. My experience here has been different than yours. Still, I appreciate your truth and your tips for making it worthwhile to be here. Sending love ♥️
Great piece Karla and some good ideas (as well as food for thought) about how to use this space so it works for us.
Really interesting food for thought, thank you
Still relatively new to Substack and had this recommended to me. Appreciate the information, and I just happened to have recently seen the really downbeat "it won't be long before Substack is the new Twitter" rant which you quoted above.
Love the name of your eclectic writing.
Thank you, Harris. Appreciate you being here & your kind words. As I say in the piece, I have no intention of going anywhere anytime soon. My experience here has been largely good & I still think Substack beats other social media platforms hands down. BUT there are certainly big issues & I think talking openly about systemic problems (no matter the system) helps people not internalise feelings of failure if they are not at the tippy top of the pyramid. I also believe that starting a dialogue around these issues means that we can collectively work out how to solve them, cope with them or work around them.
I really hope you enjoy your time here, Harris - it is a special place full of special people & amazing writing. Just make sure you always feel as if this platform is giving more than it's taking from you. x
Really glad to have found your page. I started here to help me consistently write and work out ideas for a book. The laundry song by Joshua Idehen is spot on. Thank you for all the tips ✍️😊
Glad you found your way here too, Marjorie! Check out my Writers Workshop series. There's loads of practical writing tips there that I hope you'll find useful. & Good luck with the book! I'm two novels deep now & can promise such a rewarding journey! xx
Such a great read, Karla.
This image 🎯
This!!!
Shooting you a voice note shortly!
I'm still relatively new to writing here weekly even though I've lingered for two years. Thank you for sharing your experiences and insights. Certainly a lot to mull over.
I found your post at a very timely moment as I have written about the future of Substack recently, although more in line with the problematic turn towards social media (and questionable support of figures such as Zuckerberg and Musk)to drive higher engagement the platform is taking.
Funnily enough right after that my notes feed was saturated with content from people loving Substack very, very, suspiciously much, so I'm glad your post managed to break into that.
As you point out Substack is a business and it can only thrive by making money out of paid subscriptions, which unsurprisingly will be driven by household names with an established audience that they can lure into the platform and not by the likes of us sharing our writing because who are we anyway?
There are amazing non-famous writers here who have given me so much inspiration. Some of them are slowly building an audience, some aren't. That's the way it goes. However, because Substack thrives when paid subscribers join, it's obvious that those able to attract more potential paid subscribers will be the ones being proactively promoted by the platform to secure revenue.
Eye-opening. Yes, I have a following. I love this community. But I didn’t know that Stripe isn’t available in Africa, or that the n-word doesn’t violate, well — all human decency — and is actually allowed within the TOS? Thank you for this thought-provoking article.
The N-word was a reference to Twitter standards, I believe, not Substack's, but there are creeps everywhere. We do know it exists here. Substack and other social media platforms (because yes, Substack is growing into a social media platform) are microcosms of the world we live in, don't you think? Thanks for restacking this, Mary, so I could read it.
Yes, creeps everywhere. I’m not on Twix and never have been. Substack is the only social media platform I use. And yes, it definitely is social media.
You've got it. After the first year, Substack's MLMness seemed like a possibility. After Notes, the MLM became glaringly obvious.
Hey There :D
Thing #1 is that I don’t follow you, had no idea who you are apart from this post, and I still found your work. The algorithm here is curated specifically by Substack for Reasons [TM] that are entirely theirs to know and never for us to find out. Once upon a Time the Internet was all about organic reach. Those days have long since passed, since Cambridge Analytical pointed out to us all that we are the product. It is what it is, as you pointed out.
Thing #2 is that you are a magnitude of order more well-known than I will ever be. You’ve got an audience who didn’t find you here. You are a great deal more fortunate than probably everybody else with the exception of maybe 5% of the audience who you consider more famous. This platform works best the bigger your fame. Even a wee bit of fame is an improvement. Except, as time goes on, that’s not why this platform matters.
Everywhere has a fascism problem online. Some are now more obvious than others. Some are running US government without a mandate. White people who think success = monetary gain alone are the real problem. That has to be fixed outside of the Internet, and the white guys who run this platform are no different, but this place (for my needs at least) remains the best place for me to build an audience from scratch. It’s slow, but it is undoubtedly happening.
Once you accept support here is literally non-existent, that lots of ‘famous’ people feel they are entitled to far more respect than is actually the case, and that life is what you make it in the end and not what a massive company define it as? This space works, at least 60% of the time. Everywhere has a fascism problem right now. Like, EVERYWHERE. You offer sensible options and don’t lecture, and honestly, that’s a refreshing change. Thank you.
I don’t need people to tell me the World is on fire any more than they are. I need firefighters, and mental health counsellors, and rewinding engineers, and none of them are here on Substack.
There is only so much commentary that reality will support before it collapses.
Thank you for your time.
Thank you for writing this. I shared it. My experience here has been different than yours. Still, I appreciate your truth and your tips for making it worthwhile to be here. Sending love ♥️