Last week, in links of interest, I reported that New York magazine is using Substack to send out some of their free email newsletter content to gain greater visibility, and I asked, “How long can this be sustainable?” More often these days, individuals and businesses are starting a Substack on the side to push discoverability of their offerings outside of the Substack ecosystem.
Guy LeCharles Gonzalez, 30-year media veteran, wrote back to say both sides are probably happy with the current arrangement because the presence of New York magazine helps legitimize the Substack platform. He added, “Free subscribers help build up Substack’s audience pool to engage and monetize through other newsletters, so it fits perfectly with their expanding into social platform territory. I hate it, but from a cold business perspective, I get it.” He also speculated a deal may be happening behind the scenes with Vox Media, the owner of New York magazine.
I have to wonder, if Substack continues to expand in the direction of social media platform, does that create pressure to change its stance on advertising? Since day one, Substack has said it will not run ads, even though its creators profit considerably from selling ads within their own publications, without Substack’s assistance. Substack doesn’t see any of that money.
For a big-picture view on paid newsletters and Substack, this older article by Benedict Evans is still relevant and worth reading.
Jane Friedman has spent her entire career working in the publishing industry, with a focus on business reporting and author education. Established in 2015, her newsletter The Bottom Line provides nuanced market intelligence to thousands of authors and industry professionals; in 2023, she was named Publishing Commentator of the Year by Digital Book World.
Jane’s expertise regularly features in major media outlets such as The New York Times, The Atlantic, NPR, The Today Show, Wired, The Guardian, Fox News, and BBC. Her book, The Business of Being a Writer, Second Edition (The University of Chicago Press), is used as a classroom text by many writing and publishing degree programs. She reaches thousands through speaking engagements and workshops at diverse venues worldwide, including NYU’s Advanced Publishing Institute, Frankfurt Book Fair, and numerous MFA programs.
