Hi, It's Me. I'm Here.

plus a January sale

Last January I ran a $15 sale on annual subscriptions, and long planned to do so again this year. The controversy over Substack has me hesitant, but the controversy over Substack has me upset as well, because, well, I had long planned for this sale (but more, really, below). I may switch away from Substack, but I cannot do so now, for a variety of reasons, and so this controversy hurts me—not tragically, but, still.

And that’s what I am concerned about. I have read many a social media and Substack post and Substack and speech, and I have no intention of reviewing the main thrust of the debate here now. But I am miffed about some topics I am not reading as much about.

• Stripe. Stripe takes a cut of subscriptions as well as Substack. Stripe has no policy on speech that I know of, and will take money from right-wing extremists, but I don’t see protests against them. Some of the other newsletter providers people are switching to also use Stripe, and thus, following the logic of those leaving or refusing to pay Substack, are just as problematic as Substack. (Though it’s true they have not issued noxious statements explaining themselves.)
  
  Related to Stripe, but a bit more indirectly: the book publishers that many Substackers have contracts with that also publish right-wingers, the nefariousness of the companies that make the computers and phones that we write on, and sell us the writing we publish and buy. I am simply not sure that Substack is “more evil” than so many other companies people are continuing to pay or receive money from, or post to on social media.
  
  None of this is to say I disagree with those leaving. If it can be seen as form of collective action, it would be a smart form of digital-age activism (I’m not sure if it could be described as such, though, as I’m not sure the work was done beforehand to get enough people involved. No one reached out to me. I’m thinking here of the work needed to get votes to unionize, say, as a parallel. Substack is a workplace for many good people, after all). In theory of course I agree. But in practice I have reservations, because…
  

• It’s hurting the wrong people. So many people (including me, admittedly) have been able, with Substack, to earn money from their writing, something that has been frustratingly and dangerously hard to do for awhile now, but particularly over the past decade. Some of the best reporting happening is due to paid subscriptions to individual Substacks, and now funding for that precious and increasingly rare reporting is going to dry up (or has dried up). Ditto for some of the best cultural criticism out there. And ditto for some people for whom Substack has offered a decent side hustle income to support their writing, be it creative or critical or service or whatever. I just get so sad and frustrated each day as I receive emails from great people and writers about the stress their switch to a new newsletter platform is causing, and their anxiety about a potential loss of income they depend upon or the increased costs they will need to assume on another platform.
  
  I always thought any income from Substack would be a temporary gift, and would go away as have so may other similar start-ups of this century. I expected “enshittification,” but I thought it would be through dwindling returns on payments to writers. I also expected many more readers to tire of paying to subscribe than seems to have happened. I’ve been delighted to be proven wrong thus far. So it’s a cruel irony that what is causing an exodus from Substack are the good and responsible writers who have been benefitting from it.
  

• Not enough information about alternatives. I do wish those who have and are urging people to leave Substack would have provided a guide for how to move a newsletter and outlined the parallel politics and ethics of the other options, and articulated how such a move would not hurt the wages of the common Substack-worker.

I have zero loyalty to the company that creates this screen I am typing into that sends you emails. I respect those who refuse to pay or be paid by it. I respect those who (are not right-wing extremists and) continue to use it. I am loathe to envision a truly unnecessary loyalty test re “good politics” and Substack usage. (There are plenty of other places on the beach where clear lines should be drawn, imo). A critical mass, organized, with a clear alternative, is powerful. I’ll join that march in an instant.

So for now I’m running my planned January sale, and excited to write, here or maybe later there, about publishing, and tell you some exciting Belt news, coming very soon. And if you want to hear me talk right now, you can listen to this podcast (recorded a few months ago, live today), during which I got all choked up.