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State of the Newsletter #10
A life beyond Substack and reasons to migrate
UPDATE: Please visit www.whatscuration.com and sign up there to receive emails starting January 2, 2023 via Ghost. If you have signed up via Substack during Christmas break, you will be migrated automatically. No need to unsubscribe.
Hey folks,
I’ll be on winter break till Jan 3, so we’re having an advance State of the Newsletter. This is a long, yet important one: to other writers and readers, so I hope you take the time to read it. Writers, read on, while readers can skip down to their section afterward.
The broad theme is that I’m becoming unhappy with Substack and I am *considering* migrating to another platform sometime in 2023.
Why should writers consider leaving Substack?
The steady introduction of a walled garden.1 People are encouraged to call a publication a ‘Stack’ instead of a newsletter (distancing between the actual product and the brand name).
They meant to say “create a newsletter on Substack”. But of course, you knew that, didn’t you? Source The proprietary Substack app for iOS and Android app is essentially Google Reader or a glorified RSS reader. The introduction of Chat, a social discussion thread that necessitates the —you guessed it— Substack app in order to have a social media-styled conversation with the author and other readers.
Chat will eventually come to the browser as well, but at that point, is it any longer a newsletter or a social media clone?
The system forces writers to adapt or suffer from fear of missing out (FOMO). If people wanted to connect with me, do so on LinkedIn or just use the comments section or reply to the email.
Posts can now be authored from the app, meaning an additional layer of friction for people who want to leave (but seriously, if you live on your phone all the time that you write drafts for your newsletter on it, that may require some honest introspection about your device usage).
The payment system is all-or-nothing: Substack uses a revenue-sharing model: 10% of all your paid subs go to Substack to develop their platform (and another 3% to Stripe for processing your payment). Some say that’s quite steep, and if you are unhappy with Substack (for reasons2), the dynamic is flipped on its head—you are now on a platform that you are becoming increasingly disillusioned with and you are taking a cut to keep them alive. The way it works is simple:
Pay Nikhil monthly (needs a monthly commitment of X dollars)
Pay Nikhil annually (needs a yearly commitment upfront)
There is no option for a reader to pay as they go. If someone REALLY dug one of my essays, or track selections, there is no native subscription tier/tip system to enable them to do so. I have to use Ko-fi or another system to capitalize on those few dollars.
If you read 20 newsletters, you can’t possibly do monthly or annual subscriptions for all of them. Therein lies the rub.
Introduction of what I view as cash grabs: Every unpaid writer on this platform is a freeloader in Substack’s eyes. You ain’t charging, and so Substack ain’t getting that 10% platform fee. Worse still? If you have 1000s of free subscribers and haven’t turned on paid subs. That’s potentially thousands of dollars that’s on the table that Substack is losing out on. So they introduce another “helpful” feature: Boost. Are you a shy writer with paid subs enabled who can’t straight up ask the reader to pay or to take a hike? No worries—Boost will use some proprietary AI voodoo to segment your most engaged audience and email them periodic discounted subscription offers. Of course, authors have the chance to have that disabled (I have), but it shows signs of a deeper issue.
All the necessary details are omitted. What is the periodicity of these emails sent on our behalf? How steep is the discount? Can we review the copy on those emails? Nope, nope, and nope. Just trust Substack.
The big players are put on pedestals; the smaller ones languish in obscurity:
I’ve been getting the feeling recently that Substack is blurring the lines between the roles of being a platform and becoming a publication. I think the top-paid publications on Substack are bandied about at every possible opportunity to ram home the point that these folks “quit their jobs and founded their media empires on Substack3”. Forgive my frustration here, but I’ve had strategy calls with a few clients, and “getting more paid subs” was the pain point every👏🏽 single👏🏽 time 👏🏽.
If the discovery functionality is reduced, there’s a lesser incentive in the in-built Recommendations feature. Plus, the recommendations page is awkwardly placed, so it’s not like your newsletter is blasted to a reader on the recommender’s newsletter. In this case, it makes more sense for you to adopt a different platform and figure out the advertising part yourself.
Discovering new folks to collaborate with has become nigh impossible. Before, visiting the Discover page and selecting the Free list would allow you to check up to 150 newsletters on the leaderboard. That’s why I’d advertise What’s Curation? as a top 100 music newsletter—because I counted! Now, it’s limited to 25. These 25 must have hundreds, if not 1000s of subs. They’re not going to waste their time on me. I’ve lost access to the little folks, those who would love to add a few more eyeballs to their lovely writing. If it were not for that leaderboard, I would have never stumbled across some of my most loyal subscribers, who are my dear friends now. It’s a damn shame and I have no idea how we’re going to be discoverable now.
Those official tick-mark badges now signal how many paid subscribers a writer has (100s, 1000s, 10K+) and are displayed next to their byline.
In the defense of writers, there was an overwhelming backlash in the comments saying that this system creates an “us” vs “them” dichotomy, reducing people with no paid subs or very few subs as creating content not worth reading or acknowledging. Even the folks with the orange tick marks said they were appalled with the idea and didn’t want it. Substack said they’ve taken the feedback but they rolled out the feature anyway.
It took 2 or 3 persistent stinker comments in the December 2022 Office Hours thread from the same writer that finally someone on the Substack team responded. The verdict: they aren’t backing down, but they’ll make sure all writers with any number of paid subs can soon earn a badge. Gee, thanks for listening I guess.
Every Substack newsletter looks…the same, with some minor color differences. There aren’t any customization tools and audience segmentation isn’t an option. Give us some themes and better integrations. Have you seen some of the websites hosted on Ghost? They’re jaw-dropping. At the end of the day, your publication is YOUR brand; you use it for interviews, as a resume stop-gap, as a conversation starter, and as part of your grander internet legacy. If you have run a newsletter for close to a year (or more), and you can convince or inspire 3 subscribers to pay a minimum of USD 5/month, it’s possibly worth considering a shift if any of these arguments are valid for you.
It’s not a Substack, it’s What’s Curation?
The formation of cliques and mutual understandings: This might ruffle feathers, but I’ll say it. On Office Hours and other places, the same people show up, the same kind of comments are repeated in boring, faux-enthusiasm (“keep writing even if you have 5 total subscribers!”/ “Stay motivated and never give up!”), a decent amount of self-promotion occurs, and the same newsletters are recommended over and over. Some folks demand a recommendation back when they recommend you, ala Medium style (not to be confused with the polite expectation of reciprocation).
I will say, 99.99% of these asynchronous connections (i.e., they’re subscribed to me but I’m not to them) have been very blessed for me, and we’ve been understanding of this one-way street.
Similarly, I am subscribed to & recommending someone and they don’t reciprocate. (and that’s okay!)
Arguments for my readers to support writers outside Substack
With a Substack model, you’re forced to choose between monthly and annual. If a tip jar were available, you could support us as and when you can; maybe more when you can afford it and maybe a few dollars when you can’t but still want to show solidarity for the hours we put into the endeavor. More choices for you means more incentive for me and my buddies to write.
Other platforms, like Ghost, for example, expect an upfront payment (monthly or annual) from the creator, and then the creator keeps 100% of all the paid subs earned.4 The caveat is that the upfront fee is proportional to the number of subscribers— Charged annually, Ghost asks for 9 USD/month for up to 500 readers, and then for 500-1000 readers, it asks for 15 USD/month. So, if I charge a $5/month subscription tier, I need 3-4 paid subs to break even (after Stripe fees). Coupled with tiered subscription options and a tip jar, there is a viable option for readers from across the financial spectrum to pitch in with even a couple of dollars every month.
You will experience a richer browsing and reading experience!
Your emails will be migrated, so no need to re-sign up. Your Stripe payment info will be migrated across, so you won’t experience any issues with your existing subscription.
I haven’t decided anything yet, but I believe I’ve clearly stated the issues at hand. Writers and readers alike, please feel free to reply to this email in your inbox with your thoughts (privately) or post a comment (publicly).
That’s month 10.
—Nikhil.
Footnotes
1
As an iPhone user and Apple Music subscriber, I fully understand that some of you might label me a hypocrite for criticizing the walled garden argument. With Apple, you full well know that you’re entering the garden and staying there. But Substack projects itself as a product that allows people to leave on a moment’s notice. The dissonance between that vision and recent developments makes me wonder where the line is drawn.
2
The Observer on trolls using Substack to spam targets, Jude Doyle on trans writers leaving Substack, why no-moderation Ghost seems a better option to light moderation Substack
3
Ah yes, Substack Pro—the program where Substack paid writers to start their newsletter on the platform and stipulated posting frequency among other things in the contract. But at the end of the year-long commitment, the authors have to depend on subscriptions to keep the ride going. Again, the line between platform and publisher is blurred.
4
This could cause short-term discomfort for both parties. In Substack, the big and medium fish support the platform for the fry to the extent possible. Outside Substack, the writer is forced to run a tight ship or spend unnecessary funds out of pocket. In this case, it’s in their best interest to keep their email lists clean. Veteran email marketers might encourage this—anyone who doesn’t open emails/doesn’t participate in the conversation won’t pay up nor help to strengthen the cause through sharing or other means. Why pay money to keep them on?
The best of 'What's Curation?' in 2022
Rediscover some of the year's best articles and tracks
Hello everyone,
Monday’s edition of the newsletter will be an advanced State of the Newsletter and the last one for 2022 before we meet again in January 2023.
The New Year is also a nail-biter for newsletter writers hoping to survive their readers’ new year resolutions.
“I spend way too much time perusing too many newsletters. It’s crashing my inbox, destroying my mind, and giving me more anxiety than the time I went to Lego Land without protective footwear. Time to unsubscribe from the fluff!”
Anyhoooooooo…. let’s check some favorites from the 2022 archive!
Enno Cheng & Chen Xian Jing
Catchy, carefree Mandopop and rap. Read the article here.
A.R. Rahman
For when the motherland calls you home. Please be sure to turn on the English subtitles. And some tissues for the homesickness tears.
María Emilia Mernes
Argentina’s leading reggaeton diva sings about marijuana in a warehouse. Why else is the track named, literally, Four Twenty? Read more here.
I Still Haven't Experienced Vinyl
An essay on how I finally listened to a vinyl record for the first time. In 2022. Shameful, yes.
“I don’t know where the commas go anymore”
The first essay on ‘What’s Curation?’ on how I learned to read and write again in the digital age. Set to the theme of “Blood” by Sweet Pill.
I hope you enjoy revisiting these if you’ve been with us for a while. If you’re new(ish), these are great picks for the type of content you’ll see in your inbox!
See you on the 19th!
—Nikhil.
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Goodbye England
To have loved and lost...
An essay on the importance of letting the heart speak in matters of love.
(All names here are changed to protect identities.)
A June 2008 copy of The National Geographic I found in a friend’s room in Manchester, during the fall of 2009, changed my life. On its cover was the iconic Stonehenge, one of Britain’s most cherished historical monuments and one of the Ancient Wonders of the World. I was on a student visa and realized that I may never have the chance to go back to the UK again, so I decided, rather grandiosely, that I’ll celebrate my birthday standing in front of those historical pillars. And chalk one of my items crossed on my bucket list.
I did some digging and found a tour group operating out of Leeds that did a weekend trip to the town of Bath, and, to Stonehenge the next day. And as luck would have it, it was on my birthday. I whipped out my debit card and booked myself a spot.
On my birthday, I was dressed warmly in my simple brown jacket and carried a backpack and a small tote bag. I stood at the assembly point on Bishopgate Street, a stone’s throw away from the Leeds Railway Station. A large bus pulled up and down came Levin, our tour guide and trip organizer. About 40 other students from the University of Leeds and other nearby colleges joined us on the trip. Our driver was Ernie, an elderly gentleman who’d lived in West Yorkshire for most of his life. As Ernie warmed up the bus, Levin went around checking passes and ID. When it was my turn he saw my passport, realized it was my birthday, and upgraded me from a dorm room to a shared room with a German Erasmus student named Marcus. After he left, a pretty British girl with brown hair and a green hoodie came over and sat next to me.
She introduced herself as Jill and she’d just overheard Levin, so she wished me a happy birthday. We started talking and she told me about the degree she was pursuing and how she moved up to Leeds from a small city in England’s south. After that, Marcus came up to me, introduced himself and we talked about how he was here to study at the Business School. But my mind was preoccupied, somewhere else. I desperately wanted to shoo Marcus away and talk to Jill, who was now with Akiko, the Japanese friend she’d come with. I’d felt the butterflies in my stomach only twice before this and I knew what the feeling was.
Soon enough Marcus left to go back to his girlfriend who was sitting in the back of the bus. And somehow, the universe heard my silently uttered wish and manifested it: Jill sat next to me for the remainder of the bus ride to the city of Bath and I had a big, dumb smile plastered on my face.
We reached Bath around mid-morning and it was a beautiful, cloudy day. Typical English weather. Levin gave us the lay of the land, a tourist map of Bath, and told us we had the rest of the afternoon to go exploring before convening at a restaurant for a group dinner. Mother Nature, ever watchful for her son, sent a mighty breeze that destroyed Jill’s umbrella. It was a riot—Jill was sandwiched between the umbrellas Akiko and I held, while Marcus and his girlfriend were behind us telling us where we should be going next. And up ahead were the Roman baths. We showed our tickets and went in.
After touring the Roman baths, we adjourned to the pump room to have a quick bite to eat and to taste a complimentary cup of the water from the baths. I remember it was sort of salty and had over 40 minerals!
Jill, Akiko, and I wandered around town, dragging our feet and talking about our travels. It suddenly started drizzling and a few minutes later it started pouring. We still had over two hours before we had to rendezvous with the group at the restaurant, so we ducked into a cafe and sipped on hot cocoa and espresso. As we spoke, my cheeks were blushing red and it wasn’t from the coffee. I was definitely starting to get a crush. Akiko, in all her wingman capacity, sensed this and kept her attention focused on the rain and her beverage, letting us talk.
Levin had made reservations for the group at Sally Lunn’s—one of Bath’s oldest houses turned into a fine-dining restaurant serving up fine English fare. As dessert was served, everyone suddenly turned around in their chairs to face our table. Marcus and Jill gave me cheeky smiles. Somebody awkwardly started singing the first lines of “Happy Birthday” which became more confident as others started chiming in. A waitress brought out a thick slice of chocolate cake with a lit candle in it and placed it on my table just as everyone finished singing my first name (which they miraculously nailed the pronunciation of).
It was the best birthday I’d ever celebrated and it still remains so. We all went to our respective dorm rooms and I fell asleep listening to Marcus snoring in his bunk bed. The next day we went to Stonehenge! Jill and I took pictures of us hugging rocks located a stone’s throw away (pun intended).
The trip ended with a visit to the historic village of Bibury in the Cotswolds. When we came back to Leeds, I wanted to trade numbers with Jill, with the hope of summoning the courage to ask her out on a date. But that’s when my brain pulled off the greatest sabotage of all time: it convinced me that it was a bad idea.
“Listen—mom and dad took out loans to get you here to study. You should focus on that and can’t afford to be distracted by matters of love. Besides, this is probably a silly crush; you know, the hormones talking. You’re here on a student visa; you have to go back home soon.”
And the worst one of all that I’ll never forgive myself for:
“And besides, she’s way outta your league. You don’t stand a chance. Don’t embarrass yourself and her by asking. She’s going to say no.”
And so that was that. I lost a chance at pursuing something meaningful because my brain spoke over my heart. She could have said no. She might have said yes. It might have been something. It could have been nothing.
But a friend of mine says it good to hear
That you believe in love even if set in fear
Well, I'll hold you there brother and set you straight
I only believe true love is frail and willing to break
Every year, on my birthday, I briefly think about the time I went to Stonehenge and hugged rocks with Jill. I imagine she’s still in England somewhere, happily married, watching the snow fall with her family, never to know how she made a young lad’s heart flutter. The first few years after, the memory brought sadness; now, it brings a smile.
—Nikhil.
P.S. It’s not my birthday today, but thank you to anyone who does wish me in the comments.
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Tiger Rag
We just lost that tiger!
Hey folks,
Let’s close the week with a cover of a classic jazz standard called “Tiger Rag”. It was first copyrighted in 1917 by composer Nick LaRocca, who lived in Uptown New Orleans.
But we’re listening to a fantastic cover by The Mills Brothers. At just under 2 minutes, it’s a fun little story of losing a tiger and finding it again. An incredible scat-singing section adds zest to our tiger-locating process.
Here’s that tiger!
Hold that tiger!
Where’s that tiger?
There’s that tiger!
See you all on Monday!
—Nikhil 🐅
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