I've noticed that plateau for quite some time as well personally. I think Substack is reaching that certain point of saturation and so it either is costing readers too much to be subscribed to so many writers or only the top writers are the ones who are garnering attention. Likely a combination …
I've noticed that plateau for quite some time as well personally. I think Substack is reaching that certain point of saturation and so it either is costing readers too much to be subscribed to so many writers or only the top writers are the ones who are garnering attention. Likely a combination of both. It'd be interesting to see what comes of Substack in the future- it seems like most people have slowed down regardless, which makes it curious what will happen with this arena.
In any case, hopefully your future pursuits prove fruitful if not for others at least for yourself!
The one criticism I have of Substack is that they have proven too willing to promote "names"--people with established social media followers--at the expense of those of us who are not "names".
Substack can, of course, do as it wishes in this regard, but I have said more than once that Substack would be a truly awesome plaftorm for writers of all kind if they would not favor "names" over everyone else, if their algorithms would give unknown writers the same exposure as the "names". People might not get rich off their content, but a few more might be able to eke out a living, or at least do well enough to allow them to devote their full attention to their craft.
Truth be told, were I able to support myself by writing All Facts Matter, I might not have come to this crossroads.
But I will say All Facts Matter was in many ways extremely fruitful for me. It was an education both in the craft of writing and communicating as well as in the myriad aspects of economics, law, science, and politics. It compelled me to think seriously about serious subjects, and that is never a bad thing. That I was able to earn a little coin from the endeavor allowed me to keep doing it over pursuing other means of earning extra income, and that allowed me to keep learning. That's no small benefit.
My challenge now, as always, will be to take all that I have learned here and to apply it elsewhere.
It really does seem like Substack is now mostly for those who have a larger prior audience or people who are more audacious and willing to engage in clickbait. It doesn't seem like many earnest, authentic approaches to Substack get rewarded in turn.
I usually don't have time to read your articles and for the ones I skim it's a reminder there's a lot regarding the economy that I need to learn about. It's at least earnest in trying to display what's going on with the market, jobs, etc and at least seems to inform readers. Unfortunately I don't think this is the direction many people are taking.
Engaging with emotions, fear porn, and all that seems to garner more attention and more financial incentives to move in that direction. The fact that Substack is moving towards more gamification doesn't help much of anything, and it's a shame that it sometimes doesn't feel any different than Twitter.
I certainly understand the crossroads predicament. You can only put in so much work with the hope that it will turn around in the end, but reality comes up and you have to sit down and think things through. Going back to work meant that I didn't have much time for Substack research and writing anymore, but it also meant that I at least had stable income. There's many people who are putting their hopes into making do on Substack that are likely paying more into being paid subscribers to other people's Substacks than they are actually making money.
It is good to hear that you're looking at things from an optimistic perspective! Certainly irrespective of what comes from this Substack the fact that a lot of effort was put in is reflective of learning and growing. I wouldn't be as big of a critic of studies if not for COVID, and that certainly has made me skeptical of anything that gets published as "good science" and especially with how such science gets reported. At the end of the day writing allowed us to learn more and gain different perspectives.
It's a pursuit very few people are willing to attempt these days!
Good luck with your future endeavors Peter!
I've noticed that plateau for quite some time as well personally. I think Substack is reaching that certain point of saturation and so it either is costing readers too much to be subscribed to so many writers or only the top writers are the ones who are garnering attention. Likely a combination of both. It'd be interesting to see what comes of Substack in the future- it seems like most people have slowed down regardless, which makes it curious what will happen with this arena.
In any case, hopefully your future pursuits prove fruitful if not for others at least for yourself!
Thank you!
The one criticism I have of Substack is that they have proven too willing to promote "names"--people with established social media followers--at the expense of those of us who are not "names".
Substack can, of course, do as it wishes in this regard, but I have said more than once that Substack would be a truly awesome plaftorm for writers of all kind if they would not favor "names" over everyone else, if their algorithms would give unknown writers the same exposure as the "names". People might not get rich off their content, but a few more might be able to eke out a living, or at least do well enough to allow them to devote their full attention to their craft.
Truth be told, were I able to support myself by writing All Facts Matter, I might not have come to this crossroads.
But I will say All Facts Matter was in many ways extremely fruitful for me. It was an education both in the craft of writing and communicating as well as in the myriad aspects of economics, law, science, and politics. It compelled me to think seriously about serious subjects, and that is never a bad thing. That I was able to earn a little coin from the endeavor allowed me to keep doing it over pursuing other means of earning extra income, and that allowed me to keep learning. That's no small benefit.
My challenge now, as always, will be to take all that I have learned here and to apply it elsewhere.
It really does seem like Substack is now mostly for those who have a larger prior audience or people who are more audacious and willing to engage in clickbait. It doesn't seem like many earnest, authentic approaches to Substack get rewarded in turn.
I usually don't have time to read your articles and for the ones I skim it's a reminder there's a lot regarding the economy that I need to learn about. It's at least earnest in trying to display what's going on with the market, jobs, etc and at least seems to inform readers. Unfortunately I don't think this is the direction many people are taking.
Engaging with emotions, fear porn, and all that seems to garner more attention and more financial incentives to move in that direction. The fact that Substack is moving towards more gamification doesn't help much of anything, and it's a shame that it sometimes doesn't feel any different than Twitter.
I certainly understand the crossroads predicament. You can only put in so much work with the hope that it will turn around in the end, but reality comes up and you have to sit down and think things through. Going back to work meant that I didn't have much time for Substack research and writing anymore, but it also meant that I at least had stable income. There's many people who are putting their hopes into making do on Substack that are likely paying more into being paid subscribers to other people's Substacks than they are actually making money.
It is good to hear that you're looking at things from an optimistic perspective! Certainly irrespective of what comes from this Substack the fact that a lot of effort was put in is reflective of learning and growing. I wouldn't be as big of a critic of studies if not for COVID, and that certainly has made me skeptical of anything that gets published as "good science" and especially with how such science gets reported. At the end of the day writing allowed us to learn more and gain different perspectives.
It's a pursuit very few people are willing to attempt these days!