Operational update: Sponsorship

Why, what to expect, and ethical compliance

Hey folks,

As the newsletter grows, it’s getting attention from start-ups who want to help me monetize beyond the subscription tiers that Substack comes with. Sponsorships usually demand thousands of subscribers from newsletter authors and authors will often place sponsored links for products that do not resonate with the audience. But there are several that work with writers having fewer numbers.

Why now?

I want to keep content on ‘What’s Curation?’ free and open, without any paywalls or restrictions to the reading experience. At the same time, I want to add another way for you all to support me and the newsletter other than a default monthly or annual subscription (which you’re still welcome to do).¹

What to expect?

I’m still figuring out the details, but once everything’s ironed out, you’ll see your emails/posts from me as usual, with a clearly demarcated section saying “sponsored by”, followed by the sponsorship deal.

You’re in control if you want to check them out or not. If you click and follow through with any sponsored link to a sign-up or purchase, you will have indirectly supported this newsletter for that month.

My ethical obligations to you

As I’m still growing, the choice of sponsors will be way smaller than those available to larger newsletters. Even so, I will:

• Clearly indicate what the sponsored content is via a heading

• Responsibly choose sponsors that educate, enlighten, or satisfy your appetite for cookies

• Not integrate sponsored content into the main copy (i.e. no advertorials)

• Steer clear of anything that is remotely fiscally risky or irresponsible

• Never force/strongly hint to click and follow through any links on posts that have them.

I’m raring to try this experiment, but I wanted to give you a big heads-up beforehand because I value the trust we’ve built here. You might see them starting mid-November.

Thanks again!

Let me know if you have any questions or concerns in the comments or reply to this email.

-Nikhil. 🧡

1. The subscriptions also fund the Substack platform that hosts this newsletter.