Behold! We believe that many of the subscription substackers will find a solution in conglomeration. One interesting author for $5/month is a careful consideration, especially given the vast number of interesting authors on Substack. $10/month for a combination of 4 - 8 interesting authors is an easier buy, and we would expect it would significantly increase the number of subscribers, representing significant increase in revenue for all of the authors in the conglomerate.
Substack would be wise to pursue functionality to make such a conglomeration easier.
Reminder, for comparison: a digital subscription to the NYT can be had for ~$4.30/month
This 'conglomeration' approach already exists .... it's called Medium. It's also shown the challenges of making it financially viable for the conglomerator and the authors.
Yeah I think many people are unaware of Medium because I’ve seen this solution being proposed more often here. Many people, including myself, migrated from Medium precisely because of its unsustainable financial model (among other reasons). Unfortunately I don’t think there is a magic solution here
Take that a step further. If 4-8 authors is good for $10, well we can offer you a bundle of 15-20 for only $30! Oh you have to choose by bundle, it’s not ala carte. You want Free Press? You can get that with our heterodox bundle which includes all these others but not that other one you want. If you want RelativelyNicheGuy, that’s only offered with this other package which does not include Free Press, but we’re running a promotion on that package so you can get it for 30% off until August of next year….
Ok, I’m also an interesting author. How do I get in one of those bundles? Nobody is subscribing to me because I’m not part of a bundle. Well, your content doesn’t fit with any of the bundles we’re currently working on. Perhaps you could submit to our bundle creation team if you changed your content to be a little more….
Excellent examination of the media state we’re in, Nick.
I’ve no idea how we manage it going forward, other than by resisting subscription for anything inessential. And for me, most, but not all, online media content, is, essentially, non-essential.
Of course, if I want to make a living out of my scribbling, which I do, but am not delusional about, then managing (monetisation) of that will be very hard, if not impossible.
I don’t pay, for the time being, at any rate, for any subscriptions here; I’m new to the site, and I want to to look around and see how it works, and find whether I would read enough stuff on here to justify payment for it. But that could, and probably will, change in the future. For I, too, have gotten very comfortable with the idea, and previously, the reality, of the free internet. And changing that habit will be painful.
But for me, the acid test always comes down to the quality: if it’s good enough to consume, and provides a nourishment and satisfaction of sorts, then it’s worth the price of payment.
Which, given the ‘free’ internet is awash with absolute dross, and, actually, toxic crap at that, is pretty hard to discern what’s worth paying for and what’s not. But, I suppose, capitalism was ever thus, no?
I've read both of your articles on this topic. Every monetization strategy is probably a reasonable one to leverage at some point on this journey for all aspiring content...what do we call ourselves now? Anyway, it's just a matter of which one is the most effective for encouraging growth and attention in the present stage of the evolution of digital media.
I'm not immune to the subscription creep, and I'm probably around the $200 mark myself. It's terrifying to think that this "frog in the pot" effect is slowly getting us towards being <medium> rare.
I’m old enough to remember life before all these things even existed. It was better.
I don’t have a problem with the offers. I used then while I earned a lot and have tightened my belt since I became unemployed. Now I read books from the library again. And life is better again.
Unrelated but related, I've reverted back to brick and mortar shopping because of the add-on fees for basically everything online. What used to be direct price plus shipping has now become price+shipping+tax+shipping insurance fee+ we're taking your data to sell to a 3rd party. By the time you're done a $43 listed item is now closer to $60. It's absurd
Behold! We believe that many of the subscription substackers will find a solution in conglomeration. One interesting author for $5/month is a careful consideration, especially given the vast number of interesting authors on Substack. $10/month for a combination of 4 - 8 interesting authors is an easier buy, and we would expect it would significantly increase the number of subscribers, representing significant increase in revenue for all of the authors in the conglomerate.
Substack would be wise to pursue functionality to make such a conglomeration easier.
Reminder, for comparison: a digital subscription to the NYT can be had for ~$4.30/month
Agree, +1 for pooled media. Some smart new media outfits are doing that already based on Substack - like manchestermill.co.uk
This 'conglomeration' approach already exists .... it's called Medium. It's also shown the challenges of making it financially viable for the conglomerator and the authors.
Yeah I think many people are unaware of Medium because I’ve seen this solution being proposed more often here. Many people, including myself, migrated from Medium precisely because of its unsustainable financial model (among other reasons). Unfortunately I don’t think there is a magic solution here
Take that a step further. If 4-8 authors is good for $10, well we can offer you a bundle of 15-20 for only $30! Oh you have to choose by bundle, it’s not ala carte. You want Free Press? You can get that with our heterodox bundle which includes all these others but not that other one you want. If you want RelativelyNicheGuy, that’s only offered with this other package which does not include Free Press, but we’re running a promotion on that package so you can get it for 30% off until August of next year….
Ok, I’m also an interesting author. How do I get in one of those bundles? Nobody is subscribing to me because I’m not part of a bundle. Well, your content doesn’t fit with any of the bundles we’re currently working on. Perhaps you could submit to our bundle creation team if you changed your content to be a little more….
oh, god
Excellent examination of the media state we’re in, Nick.
I’ve no idea how we manage it going forward, other than by resisting subscription for anything inessential. And for me, most, but not all, online media content, is, essentially, non-essential.
Of course, if I want to make a living out of my scribbling, which I do, but am not delusional about, then managing (monetisation) of that will be very hard, if not impossible.
I don’t pay, for the time being, at any rate, for any subscriptions here; I’m new to the site, and I want to to look around and see how it works, and find whether I would read enough stuff on here to justify payment for it. But that could, and probably will, change in the future. For I, too, have gotten very comfortable with the idea, and previously, the reality, of the free internet. And changing that habit will be painful.
But for me, the acid test always comes down to the quality: if it’s good enough to consume, and provides a nourishment and satisfaction of sorts, then it’s worth the price of payment.
Which, given the ‘free’ internet is awash with absolute dross, and, actually, toxic crap at that, is pretty hard to discern what’s worth paying for and what’s not. But, I suppose, capitalism was ever thus, no?
I've read both of your articles on this topic. Every monetization strategy is probably a reasonable one to leverage at some point on this journey for all aspiring content...what do we call ourselves now? Anyway, it's just a matter of which one is the most effective for encouraging growth and attention in the present stage of the evolution of digital media.
I'm not immune to the subscription creep, and I'm probably around the $200 mark myself. It's terrifying to think that this "frog in the pot" effect is slowly getting us towards being <medium> rare.
I’m old enough to remember life before all these things even existed. It was better.
I don’t have a problem with the offers. I used then while I earned a lot and have tightened my belt since I became unemployed. Now I read books from the library again. And life is better again.
Unrelated but related, I've reverted back to brick and mortar shopping because of the add-on fees for basically everything online. What used to be direct price plus shipping has now become price+shipping+tax+shipping insurance fee+ we're taking your data to sell to a 3rd party. By the time you're done a $43 listed item is now closer to $60. It's absurd
Very good insight 😌. Can i translate part of this article into Spanish with links to you and a description of your newsletter?