KEEPER COMMENTS 4
Regarding subscriptions. We Don’t Want Good Writers Wearing Sack Cloth Now, Do We?
“Ladies and gentlemen, allow me to introduce Soandso N. D’Pen~Dent, an investigative journalist who writes for Substack.”
What is a Substack? Words stacked together by an author which are read by subscribers? Or, is Substack masses of subscribers stacked together, reading an author’s words? Ideally, if the the second definition is most accurate, one would hope those subscribers made sure their favorite authors not only didn’t starve to death but also were afforded the time needed to put out good work. By good work, I mean investigative journalism that is factual, impartial and concise with sources cited and proof read at least once. In the case of satire and comedy, that it actually be funny; prose, it is engaging; advice, it is helpful, opinion, it is presented as such, and so on.
Literature - written works, especially those of lasting or artistic merit. (Webster’s)
What is a Substack? An open webpage where anyone can sign up to put a dent in perceptions using a pen (really a keyboard, N. D’Keyboard~Dent just didn’t convey my intent. Don’t Shake your Spears at me!) Get that? ANYONE can be “a writer for Substack”. People may think that falls short of literature and certainly some of the fluff there is trash. Likewise, there is talent on Substack, raw, unfettered talent as well as polished and credentialed talent.
Let the reader beware!
What is a Substack? A platform where you figure out for your own damned self what you care to see and whom you care to read. For those you really enjoy, let the reader prepare! There are ways to increase the amount of content made available and at cursory glance, these appear to be quite reasonable. Especially when you consider the new currency, as lucrative as it is! Clicks are some form of cash these days. Ah! But there are no ads on Substack, none at all. So, do clicks alone have a value all of their own? Good question, though it doesn’t matter because if they do, that particular revenue goes directly to Substack the company, not to any contributors aka writers, aka journalist nor to badunkadunk fear porn pushers.
It seems fairly accurate to say, a Substack is a social media platform where people with decent attention spans have free license to publish and to enjoy stacks of words. It can be informative and engaging and users can pick and choose who they want to support. That is, as long as you have a good bit of money, don’t read much or don’t value the written word. Each writer decides how much to charge and whether to let people read for free or not. Some assholes engage you and at the halfway point pop up a paywall! While that can really set me off, even they don’t ask much: Six or ten bucks, no big deal. Unless you are on a very limited budget and there are 20 writers you really like. In that case your looking at $120 to $200 a month? Dang. That’s getting pretty steep!
Dr. Naomi Wolf is one of my favorites. Her subscription rate is just $7.00 per month and her work is, honest to God, real journalism. She is very active and strictly adheres to old school journalism’s rules. No one could possibly accuse her of gouging anyone. Some people however, just can’t swing it, they’ve been out of work or working below their skill level and pay grade for some time now. There must be an inclusive way to cover a reasonable reward for Dr Wolf’s effort and professionalism as well as other serious contributors and maybe even a few of us who are just getting our feet wet?
Here is an article she recently published regarding subscriptions and below are my ‘Keeper Comments’.
“Here I go (again):
Dear Dr. Sheep-Eater,
on other contributor’s subscriber sign ups, I’ve seen tiered levels of membership. Please mull this idea about for a sleep or two?
With 70,000 subscribers, if you were to have a subscription rate of just $1.00 per month and even ran a special at $11.11 per year, making the monthly income 93¢ per subscriber AND just half of your subscribers began paying at that base level (it would have wiped out my $11.00 and some change I had last month! 😁) your income would be $32,550.00 per month or $325,550.00 per year. (Where currently around 9/10’s of those 35,000 subscribers bring in $0.00.)
Clearly, your current subscriber base can and does afford the standing $7.00 per month. So, you would then add $6.07 for each of them, a total of $14,628.70 + $32,550.00 = $48,178.70 per month, figure times 10 due to discounts or just my sheer laziness and your free subscribers are still happy (if not slightly ashamed, I mean, I’m talking less than a freaking dollar here!) and unless I’m really confused, you’d be tap dancing all over a half a Million, right?
There would, I imagine be some people more than happy to provide more support. In fact one subscriber has written just that in these comments to whom I absolutely shamelessly (and graciously, of course) suggested they might gift a subscription to me. (Sorry, not really, sorry.) Therefore, I think you should keep the $7.00 tier as shown above but don’t bother with the bait and hook - it’s tacky in my opinion and the mindset which brought us where we are today.
Then, offer a premium tier at $22.00 per month or some such number (these by the way, are magical numbers which I have selected for you) or $250.00 per year and commit to a monthly live broadcast for those top tier subscribers with private notification 24 hours prior to. You could do a massive crazy zoom call even! Or offer selections of your books in eBook form? Something special but which doesn’t rub your good old Eleven-Elevens noses in the mud.
Of course you have the option of trying a limited time offer, or one time only to test the theory… I’ll help you with a pitch if you like? I mean how much is Dr. Fauci taking in, hand over fist? Ya feel me? (Math is not my strong point. Do count behind me!) After all, at $7 and up, per month, per writer, this mass of people can only afford to support a few. At $11.11 per year, even I could support a new writer every other month or so for a year each! I’m getting a kind of fishes and loaves vibe here… or my math could be really off - but 35,000 people is that many dollars per month is $35,000.00/mo. Next, we should try turning graphene to gold - water to wine, right? Wanna?”
Please consider sharing this edition of my newsletter? People with lots of subscribers just might find my idea promising? And as always, it tickles me to no end when people subscribe to me! Why not?
*Post Note: She saw the comment, liked the comment, and commented on the comment. (She’s generally pretty good about staying engaged with her readers, which is fairly amazing in itself!) Wanna know what she said? Check out the comments on her stack of words!
Bonus!! She’s reading the Bible aloud - a really, really old version with the most likable, lovable God you’ve never heard of before! AND she freaking reads the ancient text in Hebrew and translates it THEN compares it to what we grew up reading and studying and memorizing!
Don’t be surprised to see an option to pay on my subscribe button in the near future. I’m thinking something along the price of those old Louis L’amore paperback novels? Does anyone remember what we shelled out for comic books in the early 70’s?