Grumpy old man observation. I used to read the local newspaper on the bus every weekday morning on the way to work and in bed in my jammies on weekends. We subscribed to the Sunday New York Times and numerous magazines, and I read those, too. I always felt well informed. Now I'm oversubscribed to Substack writers, paid and free, and I can't keep up with the offerings. Organizations I care about and support financially send email alerts almost every day. News emails come pouring in, too. Everyone is trying to "win" the attention economy, and my customer experience sucks. I'm less informed and more anxious. There's no freaking way I can read all the content I'm interested in. For the last few years I've wondered if progressive journalists might organize to form business cooperatives in response to the market disruption that is driving everyone to fend for themselves. Could cooperatives produce the attention economy equivalent of the daily paper from 30 years ago? Instead of billionaire ownership, there would be "regular people" ownership. Could cooperatives afford to pay for original reporting, deep investigative reporting, fair and better wages for journalists, editors, and support staff? I'm sure that if this were easy or would obviously work well, someone would have done or tried it by now, but with the apparent death of old media (functionally as envisioned in the Constitution) the country desperately needs what local newspapers and national print outlets used to provide.
In Vermont USA we have a writer's / journalist's collective called Vermont Digger. It does the best job of providing news that informs in the entire Vermont ecosystem. Check it out to see a news collective in action.
Rachel, you rock. Your candor and commitment to embodying your values distinguish you from all the bright folks publishing on Substack with paywalls. I am a paid subscriber to a few weekly posts and I just can't afford more subscriptions. So I appreciate your willingness to share your brilliant commentary and delightful frankness with all of us. And I am reminded of Ruha Benjamin's brilliant quote: "We must populate our imaginations with images and stories of our shared humanity, our interconnectedness, of our solidarity as people—a poetics of welcome, not walls."
Thanks for this, Rachel. I have noticed the same thing: many new free subscribers but virtually no paid subscribers over the last few months. Economically speaking, Substack is a minor disaster for me, given the time I put into it. But through it I've become part of a community that's hard to put a price on, and I am able to write with a freedom not currently available in the mainstream press, particularly concerning the climate. I'm also been able to inform other writers, who do make it into broader publication. So I'll continue at this, and hope others like me do as well.
I like your call to tear down the walls. It is true in so many ways. The polycrisis is not an opportunity to be monetized. If Substack is to meet its potential, we'll need to think differently about what does and doesn't "pay."
Thanks, Rob. I agree, I think part of navigating the poly crisis is trying to do everything a little bit differently at its core. Monopolising attention and revenue in no way offers a different route through this crisis.
Similar story here, Rob and Rachel. I have a full-time job in academia, but would like to spend more time writing here. Just can't seem to drive conversions, despite targeted messages. Current conversion rate is 0.06% -- so two orders of magnitude off Substack's suggestion! You're doing great stuff, Rachel. Hope this drives some new paid subs for you. We're lucky to have you working in this space and offering it for free.
Thank you, Rachel, for raising this for as an avid reader of Substack posts I am constantly faced with the paywall problem that I can’t possibly afford all the subscriptions that would give me access to the important views of many writers.
It seems that Substack may be going the way of many platforms that begin with community values and then slide into commercialism and I very much agree that a step back to review how Substack can remain community oriented while providing some income for contributors is a worthwhile exercise and may even pave the way for returning the web to its roots.
“Returning the web to its roots” — I love that. Yes, I worry for readers, writers and everyone in between. The direction feels unsustainable, so what can we do about it?
I see this as a reflection of the general flow towards individualism which was first marked on the web by easy ways to make money - initially by innovative platform providers and then by individuals producing content. Your post highlighted the fact that the web is now primarily a marketplace and what was seen as an egalitarian opportunity for making a living is now a saturated space in which contributors are fighting for scraps.
The aim should be to create a demonetised space within the current structure. While the ideal(?!) would be a government-funded platform which was free of data mining it is perhaps a bit more realistic to think about a space within Substack that is purposefully collaborative.
Currently there are myriad contributions on particular subjects that all take a slightly different tack and all have something to say. The problem is that there is no coalescing of these views to provide a coherent shared story that might form the basis of a manifesto. Of the contributors I follow you and Grace are the only ones who have made a point of trying to answer the question of “what do we do?" but this needs to include a lot more people - both the informed and uninformed - to grow into something we might call a movement. The old phrase ‘united we rise, divided we fall’ is as true as ever.
Rachel, you make a compelling case that while platforms like Substack are reshaping public discourse for the better, we also risk recreating the same exclusionary dynamics we claim to oppose—especially on the Left.
I write a Substack called Less Certain, where I explore how we can become more comfortable with ambiguity, less certain—how we debate, disagree, and share insights without falling into certainty or ideological rigidity. Like you, I’ve been thinking a lot about how to write meaningfully, accessibly, and sustainably, without defaulting to scarcity logic or pay-to-play politics.
I completely agree: solidarity and strategy matter more than just “content.” Substack is a powerful tool—but it’s what we build with it, and who we build it for, that really counts.
It’s such a good point that as things become more uncertain people will seek to draw harder, bolder lines—and I think paywalls are a way of doing that, in a sense. I completely empathise with the need driving so many writers’ decisions. I just wonder if we can somehow fulfil those needs as a collective.
If only there were aggregators, who could curate the work of a stable of writers, and then publish the compendium as a subscription. People could afford to pay for that, and if enough did, the -- what shall we call it? magazine, perhaps by analogy to a store of discrete articles -- could pay its writers.
Thanks, Rachel! I have been keeping my small substack offering free for the time being. It's a wonderful place to workshop ideas and build community with radically courageous and brilliant voices such as yours. As a result of staying free my substack posts and notes do not seem to get any exposure and subscriptions (free!) are growing at a snail's pace. Substack is not collecting its 10% from my subscribers, and I don't hide this. This lack of exposure is seemingly worse since the founders of Substack hired turncoat Trumper Marc Andreessen as an advisor.
Hey Nadine, honestly I wish I had answers for people joining who don’t have some social capital at their back. I think cross-posting and dialogue is probably the way to go: interview a bigger newsletter writer and ensure they post to their own readers! But ultimately to me this is all a sign we need to build a different kind of media ecosystem.
Hey Rachel, thank you. Great tips. I'm teaching this semester, intending to focus on my writing and networking once we wrap. Media and capitalism are so scarily inter-connected - and have been here in US since the beginning. I'll be sharing more as my decades of theories and practice considering the informationsphere come together. Meantime thanks for all the nourishment you provide.
Thank you Rachel! I so agree with you! I have no paywalls on my Substacks--of course I'm delighted and grateful if people voluntarily send me money for my work, but I consider like "pro bono" writing work that I do as a committed, engaged citizen and teacher. I would never paywall it. https://jenniferbrowdy.substack.com
I so agree with your analysis Rachel and very much appreciate your free work. The more interesting content I find here the more I’m coming across a paywall, often a few paragraphs in and therefore feeling hooked. But even if I had the means to pay it would still be a problem because I would be spending all my time reading! Part of the problem is that certainly here in the UK there’s no political party that’s offering a convincing chance to actually do something. I’m waiting with bated breath for the few MPs worth their salt to leave the Labour Party and align with the Green Party so we can get active.
Have you considered running yourself as a Green or Independent? If I’ve learned anything over the past few years it’s that nobody is coming to save us!
I’m afraid it’s too late for me, I’m 75 and too weighed down with family matters. But I’m on the board of a Community Land Trust that’s running a Farm Start programme. It’s sort of politics, it’s certainly challenging enough, the UK government is suddenly devouring small farms.
Excellent piece Rachel- points it out very clearly. You are a powerhouse of the Dana (generosity) principle.
And Thank you for making your warehouse of UBIK available to us all (Phillip K Dick reference, not sorry) - we will all stay sane and present a little longer amidst the world of toaster-subscription-services.
Thanks for this great article Rachel. I'm new to substack. I'm in Australia so I'm coming from a different viewpoint. I've lived in the US and my dad was American.
I'm surprised at how many articles or comments are behind a pay wall especially if they are talking about something so serious.
Today in our papers the US cut funding worth millions in research to our Universities unless we bow down to what they want and do things their way. They had a memorandum they sent out and later a questionnaire about the values of the Universities. I've just written my first substack on it (and I'm not really a writer and doing it on my phone sooo.. ). I want people to think about the far reaching consequences of this. What the US is doing right now is not just affecting the US its affecting the rest of the world. They are distracting you while they do underhanded things behind your back. More than likely Australian Universities will now get their money from Europe instead. This means the US will lose out again. When you fund things it doesn't just help others it helps you. You also benefit. Instead Europe will know be the first to get this knowledge. You are isolating yourself and the questions are not nice. Australia is a multicultural country and part of the commonwealth. We have very strong anti discrimination laws in place. They were tightened only a couple of years ago. Does the US think it can come in and dismantle our laws with a questionnaire? These are the reasons you need free speech and need to be able to see the substacks. My substack is free with a paid option of $2 donation. I only have one thing written so I'm not expecting anything. Just visit and learn. My page has a link to the memorandum.
In Vermont USA we have a writer's / journalist's collective called Vermont Digger. It does the best job of providing news that informs in the entire Vermont ecosystem. Check it out to see a news collective in action.
An accurate picture from various perspectives. Because subscriptions tie people in, are being required widely while income becomes more precarious and unpredictable for many, could Substack be persuaded to set up a periodic one -off pay system, every 2 weeks or at intervals set by the writer? I'm sure this would often offer a real alternative. Congrats on book too, & onward!
What about basic income? Why not, is the question. I suppose it changes the rules; intolerable to some. Greens often support it. Staunch articulate proponents are Guy Standing, Scott Santens and Mariana Mazzucato; potentially fascinating guests : )
Gary Stevenson is playing a blinder as well these days with economics for the people towards equality. Thank you!
Grumpy old man observation. I used to read the local newspaper on the bus every weekday morning on the way to work and in bed in my jammies on weekends. We subscribed to the Sunday New York Times and numerous magazines, and I read those, too. I always felt well informed. Now I'm oversubscribed to Substack writers, paid and free, and I can't keep up with the offerings. Organizations I care about and support financially send email alerts almost every day. News emails come pouring in, too. Everyone is trying to "win" the attention economy, and my customer experience sucks. I'm less informed and more anxious. There's no freaking way I can read all the content I'm interested in. For the last few years I've wondered if progressive journalists might organize to form business cooperatives in response to the market disruption that is driving everyone to fend for themselves. Could cooperatives produce the attention economy equivalent of the daily paper from 30 years ago? Instead of billionaire ownership, there would be "regular people" ownership. Could cooperatives afford to pay for original reporting, deep investigative reporting, fair and better wages for journalists, editors, and support staff? I'm sure that if this were easy or would obviously work well, someone would have done or tried it by now, but with the apparent death of old media (functionally as envisioned in the Constitution) the country desperately needs what local newspapers and national print outlets used to provide.
We’re investigating it!!
In Vermont USA we have a writer's / journalist's collective called Vermont Digger. It does the best job of providing news that informs in the entire Vermont ecosystem. Check it out to see a news collective in action.
Brilliant thank you!!
Rachel, Your work, your mind and your vision are inspiring to me. I hope you will indulge me a moment to check out my substack post:
https://findmeinthetrenches.substack.com/p/why-is-our-world-in-crisis
I intend to continue to post my essays here, but Substack isn't my first priority, so I'm irregular. I hope you enjoy this one, I am very proud of it.
Rachel, you rock. Your candor and commitment to embodying your values distinguish you from all the bright folks publishing on Substack with paywalls. I am a paid subscriber to a few weekly posts and I just can't afford more subscriptions. So I appreciate your willingness to share your brilliant commentary and delightful frankness with all of us. And I am reminded of Ruha Benjamin's brilliant quote: "We must populate our imaginations with images and stories of our shared humanity, our interconnectedness, of our solidarity as people—a poetics of welcome, not walls."
Thank you, Leaf! And thank you for the brilliant quote!
Thanks for this, Rachel. I have noticed the same thing: many new free subscribers but virtually no paid subscribers over the last few months. Economically speaking, Substack is a minor disaster for me, given the time I put into it. But through it I've become part of a community that's hard to put a price on, and I am able to write with a freedom not currently available in the mainstream press, particularly concerning the climate. I'm also been able to inform other writers, who do make it into broader publication. So I'll continue at this, and hope others like me do as well.
I like your call to tear down the walls. It is true in so many ways. The polycrisis is not an opportunity to be monetized. If Substack is to meet its potential, we'll need to think differently about what does and doesn't "pay."
Thanks, Rob. I agree, I think part of navigating the poly crisis is trying to do everything a little bit differently at its core. Monopolising attention and revenue in no way offers a different route through this crisis.
Similar story here, Rob and Rachel. I have a full-time job in academia, but would like to spend more time writing here. Just can't seem to drive conversions, despite targeted messages. Current conversion rate is 0.06% -- so two orders of magnitude off Substack's suggestion! You're doing great stuff, Rachel. Hope this drives some new paid subs for you. We're lucky to have you working in this space and offering it for free.
Spot on Rob. I'm moved by what Rachel has expressed and seeing you supporting that is encouraging me to do the same. I'll give it serious thought.
Thank you, Rachel, for raising this for as an avid reader of Substack posts I am constantly faced with the paywall problem that I can’t possibly afford all the subscriptions that would give me access to the important views of many writers.
It seems that Substack may be going the way of many platforms that begin with community values and then slide into commercialism and I very much agree that a step back to review how Substack can remain community oriented while providing some income for contributors is a worthwhile exercise and may even pave the way for returning the web to its roots.
“Returning the web to its roots” — I love that. Yes, I worry for readers, writers and everyone in between. The direction feels unsustainable, so what can we do about it?
I see this as a reflection of the general flow towards individualism which was first marked on the web by easy ways to make money - initially by innovative platform providers and then by individuals producing content. Your post highlighted the fact that the web is now primarily a marketplace and what was seen as an egalitarian opportunity for making a living is now a saturated space in which contributors are fighting for scraps.
The aim should be to create a demonetised space within the current structure. While the ideal(?!) would be a government-funded platform which was free of data mining it is perhaps a bit more realistic to think about a space within Substack that is purposefully collaborative.
Currently there are myriad contributions on particular subjects that all take a slightly different tack and all have something to say. The problem is that there is no coalescing of these views to provide a coherent shared story that might form the basis of a manifesto. Of the contributors I follow you and Grace are the only ones who have made a point of trying to answer the question of “what do we do?" but this needs to include a lot more people - both the informed and uninformed - to grow into something we might call a movement. The old phrase ‘united we rise, divided we fall’ is as true as ever.
Rachel, you make a compelling case that while platforms like Substack are reshaping public discourse for the better, we also risk recreating the same exclusionary dynamics we claim to oppose—especially on the Left.
I write a Substack called Less Certain, where I explore how we can become more comfortable with ambiguity, less certain—how we debate, disagree, and share insights without falling into certainty or ideological rigidity. Like you, I’ve been thinking a lot about how to write meaningfully, accessibly, and sustainably, without defaulting to scarcity logic or pay-to-play politics.
I completely agree: solidarity and strategy matter more than just “content.” Substack is a powerful tool—but it’s what we build with it, and who we build it for, that really counts.
It’s such a good point that as things become more uncertain people will seek to draw harder, bolder lines—and I think paywalls are a way of doing that, in a sense. I completely empathise with the need driving so many writers’ decisions. I just wonder if we can somehow fulfil those needs as a collective.
If only there were aggregators, who could curate the work of a stable of writers, and then publish the compendium as a subscription. People could afford to pay for that, and if enough did, the -- what shall we call it? magazine, perhaps by analogy to a store of discrete articles -- could pay its writers.
Something like Wonkette, maybe.
Thanks, Rachel! I have been keeping my small substack offering free for the time being. It's a wonderful place to workshop ideas and build community with radically courageous and brilliant voices such as yours. As a result of staying free my substack posts and notes do not seem to get any exposure and subscriptions (free!) are growing at a snail's pace. Substack is not collecting its 10% from my subscribers, and I don't hide this. This lack of exposure is seemingly worse since the founders of Substack hired turncoat Trumper Marc Andreessen as an advisor.
Hey Nadine, honestly I wish I had answers for people joining who don’t have some social capital at their back. I think cross-posting and dialogue is probably the way to go: interview a bigger newsletter writer and ensure they post to their own readers! But ultimately to me this is all a sign we need to build a different kind of media ecosystem.
Hey Rachel, thank you. Great tips. I'm teaching this semester, intending to focus on my writing and networking once we wrap. Media and capitalism are so scarily inter-connected - and have been here in US since the beginning. I'll be sharing more as my decades of theories and practice considering the informationsphere come together. Meantime thanks for all the nourishment you provide.
Thank you Rachel! I so agree with you! I have no paywalls on my Substacks--of course I'm delighted and grateful if people voluntarily send me money for my work, but I consider like "pro bono" writing work that I do as a committed, engaged citizen and teacher. I would never paywall it. https://jenniferbrowdy.substack.com
I so agree with your analysis Rachel and very much appreciate your free work. The more interesting content I find here the more I’m coming across a paywall, often a few paragraphs in and therefore feeling hooked. But even if I had the means to pay it would still be a problem because I would be spending all my time reading! Part of the problem is that certainly here in the UK there’s no political party that’s offering a convincing chance to actually do something. I’m waiting with bated breath for the few MPs worth their salt to leave the Labour Party and align with the Green Party so we can get active.
Have you considered running yourself as a Green or Independent? If I’ve learned anything over the past few years it’s that nobody is coming to save us!
I’m afraid it’s too late for me, I’m 75 and too weighed down with family matters. But I’m on the board of a Community Land Trust that’s running a Farm Start programme. It’s sort of politics, it’s certainly challenging enough, the UK government is suddenly devouring small farms.
YES!❤️🌎
Thanks Rachel. That changed my perspective a bit. Give me a few days to think.about it. Perhaps I'll follow your lead.
Excellent piece Rachel- points it out very clearly. You are a powerhouse of the Dana (generosity) principle.
And Thank you for making your warehouse of UBIK available to us all (Phillip K Dick reference, not sorry) - we will all stay sane and present a little longer amidst the world of toaster-subscription-services.
Thanks for this great article Rachel. I'm new to substack. I'm in Australia so I'm coming from a different viewpoint. I've lived in the US and my dad was American.
I'm surprised at how many articles or comments are behind a pay wall especially if they are talking about something so serious.
Today in our papers the US cut funding worth millions in research to our Universities unless we bow down to what they want and do things their way. They had a memorandum they sent out and later a questionnaire about the values of the Universities. I've just written my first substack on it (and I'm not really a writer and doing it on my phone sooo.. ). I want people to think about the far reaching consequences of this. What the US is doing right now is not just affecting the US its affecting the rest of the world. They are distracting you while they do underhanded things behind your back. More than likely Australian Universities will now get their money from Europe instead. This means the US will lose out again. When you fund things it doesn't just help others it helps you. You also benefit. Instead Europe will know be the first to get this knowledge. You are isolating yourself and the questions are not nice. Australia is a multicultural country and part of the commonwealth. We have very strong anti discrimination laws in place. They were tightened only a couple of years ago. Does the US think it can come in and dismantle our laws with a questionnaire? These are the reasons you need free speech and need to be able to see the substacks. My substack is free with a paid option of $2 donation. I only have one thing written so I'm not expecting anything. Just visit and learn. My page has a link to the memorandum.
In Vermont USA we have a writer's / journalist's collective called Vermont Digger. It does the best job of providing news that informs in the entire Vermont ecosystem. Check it out to see a news collective in action.
thanks for your solidarity, inspiration and loving awareness ^.^
Thank you for being here!
An accurate picture from various perspectives. Because subscriptions tie people in, are being required widely while income becomes more precarious and unpredictable for many, could Substack be persuaded to set up a periodic one -off pay system, every 2 weeks or at intervals set by the writer? I'm sure this would often offer a real alternative. Congrats on book too, & onward!
Thank you Caroline! I think ultimately we’re going to have to figure out how to share.
What about basic income? Why not, is the question. I suppose it changes the rules; intolerable to some. Greens often support it. Staunch articulate proponents are Guy Standing, Scott Santens and Mariana Mazzucato; potentially fascinating guests : )
Gary Stevenson is playing a blinder as well these days with economics for the people towards equality. Thank you!