89 Comments

One I would add: first get a job for a well-known publication as a columnist and cultivate a readership.

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Jul 10, 2022Liked by Noah Smith

Excellent advice. I have read your output for several years, and trust your economics expertise and ability to explain what is going on to me as an interested but otherwise non-expert observer. Your explanations are particularly helpful in creating a framework and testing it against the evidence. It's not an easy task, as we all tend to operate from a jumble of pre-conceived notions and expectations.

My problem with Substack subscriptions is being able to afford the several authors that deserve to be read. One NYTimes subscriptionn costs a fraction of what I would have to pay five Substack authors. Perhaps there is a solution I am not aware of.

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Jul 10, 2022Liked by Noah Smith

Your readership would expand, even more, with an updated travel guide to Japan.

Just saying.

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i had two rabbits in the early 2010s. first died in 2013 second died in spring of 2016.

mine is btwn narrow and broad. i would say if you are narrow go more paid. the ppl who want that content will pay for it, and you don't need that many free posts to market yourself (i'm probably 30% free posts). if you are broader, do a higher proportion of free posts since your potential appeal is wider but shallower. ppl need to see why they want to pay for your paid content. in contrast, if you want a genetically informed history of the corded ware you need to pay for my substack.

finally, i do one podcast a week. i could probably do better production, but i have an editor in india who's fine for now. i've had one podcast a week since the fall of 2020, and i manage it by doing mostly evergreen topics so i can sit on a podcast for a year or more and release them whenever.

speaking of evergreen, that makes a paid option more feasible. if you material goes out of date who is going to pay for gated pieces years later? in contrast, with a post on the history of the avars or something, ppl might want to read that a year later.

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Jul 10, 2022Liked by Noah Smith

What are your thoughts on engaging with readers in the comments section? Obviously you do this (and I value it!), but what sort of advice would you give budding substackers?

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I'm delighted you have been successful with your Substack. One thing you perhaps left out was self-discipline. You ought to be writing every day. Not everything needs to be published, but flexing your writing "muscles" is important. Also, subscribers need to see regular content to justify their subscription.

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Jul 10, 2022Liked by Noah Smith

One of the reasons I subscribe is because I know that people need to make a living and if you want this type of information to be available. I have several substack subscriptions though at times I worry about the degree to which I have favored opinion versus what I used to read in the daily newspaper

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Jul 10, 2022Liked by Noah Smith

How do you decide which posts are paywalled and which aren’t?

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Well, at least I have the bunnies thing down.

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This was super informative. Thank you for writing it.

I'm struggling with two things currently regarding to online writing:

I'm studying programming, so I built a mid-2000s style blog from scratch. I thought that would add to my credibility versus using Substack. I write there and send posts via ConvertKit with a link to the online version (like Ben Thompson does).

But I do see the benefit of writing on Substack because of the network effects and the credibility that comes with "I write on Substack."

I'm still not settled with that option and debate moving to Substack ~once/week. My main hesitation is having so much more customization on my own site for how I display my book notes and so on.

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I'd also note that a lot of people use Feedly and other RSS readers. I.e. Feedly shows that you have 1k subscribers there.

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Jul 10, 2022Liked by Noah Smith

Really appreciate this, I am thinking of writing again, I was struck by this: "people don’t really know how they accomplished what they accomplished"

I had a successful blog for about ten years, and when the platform I was on told me my numbers I couldn't believe it--big. I didn't understand it. When I looked back later I realized that I had written on a niche topic to a platform that had a lot of people interested in that particular niche. They didn't have wide reach generally, and I was just writing about something that I was genuinely interested in so I never thought about, like what is the market for this? So when I heard those numbers I was truly befuddled as to how that could happen. Not that I minded :).

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BUNNEH!!!

All right, now that the fuzzbutt squee is over with...son had two rabbits for 4H and I spent several years as a small animals 4H leader and got to know and see many, many rabbits--show rabbits are quite fun.

I have three Substacks. One functions somewhat as a means to distribute my blog across several platforms (Speculations from the Wide Open Spaces). Then there's the political one that I need to blow the dust off of (Speculations on Politics). My most successful one so far is the serialized fiction one (Martiniere Stories), centered around one particular set of characters.

Why is Martiniere Stories doing well while the others aren't? I suspect it's partially because I participate in a Substack fiction writers group, the Fictionistas, and we're currently doing a round robin, exquisite corpse, whatever-you-want-to-call-it story called the Grisly Ghosts of Gruesome Time. The Fictionistas not only have our own Substack, but we have a Discord group and we chat once a month on Zoom while muttering about our nemesis, the Food Writers (obligatory stink-eye in their direction). Seriously, Fictionistas and the Food Writers seem to be the major organized writer groups on Substack. That provides a means for promotion. We usually get new people every Zoom, which leads to a flurry of subs after. Like all fiction writers, some of our best fans are other writers....

Most fiction writers on Substack are using it as a simpler, less demanding form of Patreon. It's not so much the subscription button as it is the donation button that seems to draw in financial support from readers. I haven't set up a paywall yet, for complicated reasons, but probably will in the next month or so. Martiniere Stories is a bit focused as it's an extension of an existing series, but a series where the characters are demanding more stories, across several universes, and, well...not gonna run out of story material soon.

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Jul 10, 2022Liked by Noah Smith

Hi Noah, I have no intention of starting a substack, as I am not a writer. I am a reader though, and one who will be one of your paid subscribers as soon as I get off my duff and pay. I enjoy a few other substack writers, some paid ,some not. I found them, as I found you, through one of them. Is there a place to browse through all of the substack writers?

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Awww Bunny! Great advice, and thank you.

Again awwww Bunny!

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Jul 10, 2022Liked by Noah Smith

I just wish there was somehting like the chip cards used by most public transit agencies that would allow you to pay for what you consume. But I get it that authors prefer a steady income stream.

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