I still feel ambivalent about notes. I've loved Substack for the smart, thoughtful writing; I hope Notes continues to maintain that focus. Also, thanks for your kind words about my newsletter :)
For Notes to work, there needs to be a lot of readers and not just writers. I think this is true for Substack as a whole. I love my fellow writers but if we are all passing the same $5 around subscribing to each others newsletters, the business model won’t hold. Notes could be a great way to involve people who primarily want to read but I’m not counting on it. I’ll enjoy Notes while it’s fun
Interesting point! I do see lots of readers without publications commenting and more of us have moved our mailing lists here so it’s perhaps moving that way?
I remain amazed at how many people do pay, but I've also never thought the model would last very long. It's an SV company that is losing money, and they will likely shift to another revenue model soon. Or we will all tire of all these newsletters in our inboxes :( Me too: enjoying it while it's fun.
I like the “stream” (Notes) next to the “forest and fields” (Newsletter/Posts) feel of Substack and I hope that it says that way, where Notes is a walking and talking stroll with people along the path of a thought whereas Newsletters is an in-depth, philosophical discussion with a group. ... I don’t think that’s gonna happen, though, and I think Notes will eat into Newsletter Subs, maybe even annoy a lot of Notes users when they read a promo to a Newsletter that is behind a paywall. But lifting the paywall will be devastating to the folks who built a subscription base. We’ll see how this plays out...
I still feel ambivalent about notes. I've loved Substack for the smart, thoughtful writing; I hope Notes continues to maintain that focus. Also, thanks for your kind words about my newsletter :)
For Notes to work, there needs to be a lot of readers and not just writers. I think this is true for Substack as a whole. I love my fellow writers but if we are all passing the same $5 around subscribing to each others newsletters, the business model won’t hold. Notes could be a great way to involve people who primarily want to read but I’m not counting on it. I’ll enjoy Notes while it’s fun
Interesting point! I do see lots of readers without publications commenting and more of us have moved our mailing lists here so it’s perhaps moving that way?
I remain amazed at how many people do pay, but I've also never thought the model would last very long. It's an SV company that is losing money, and they will likely shift to another revenue model soon. Or we will all tire of all these newsletters in our inboxes :( Me too: enjoying it while it's fun.
Your point about Notes is very well taken.
I like the “stream” (Notes) next to the “forest and fields” (Newsletter/Posts) feel of Substack and I hope that it says that way, where Notes is a walking and talking stroll with people along the path of a thought whereas Newsletters is an in-depth, philosophical discussion with a group. ... I don’t think that’s gonna happen, though, and I think Notes will eat into Newsletter Subs, maybe even annoy a lot of Notes users when they read a promo to a Newsletter that is behind a paywall. But lifting the paywall will be devastating to the folks who built a subscription base. We’ll see how this plays out...