As I’ll mention in Part 2, I pride myself on writing original articles, essays few other mainstream or Substack journalists might consider. By now, I’ve written several articles on Substack trends and used my own Substack numbers to develop my points or theories.
That is, I think the future of Substack is also a worthy topic, one that might be of interest to other Substack authors and to readers of Substack newsletters, who are probably (I think) interested in the same topic. As far as I am aware, few Substack authors write about Substack itself or any trends that might affect Substack now and in the future.
Well you are correct I reckon in your supposition -but check out this article I posted on that very topic Bill - I am one step ahead of you pal - and the Wolfpack is on the hunt!
I admit I quit reading after the first few paragraphs. I've got other things to do tonight.
Why do I read Substack? I started, I think, in 2020. I was, and continue to be, interested in information about COVID. After all, the MSM was silent and I don't watch TV. I now am subscribed (free for the most part) to maybe 20 writers, but some I no longer have any interest in, some I have unsubscribed from. To the extent that articles connect to my interests, I will continue to subscribe and read.
I find that the covid story has been largely revealed - thank God! Now I worry about son-of-covid. We proved we can be manipulated, so the globalists will be sure to press their advantage.
I am willing to learn about medicine and science and history, but detest politics. So my apetite for some subjects is little.
You may find it useful to team up with some other writer. Sasha Latypova and Katherine Watt are a good team.
You may know when I subscribed? I would be curious to know when I found you.
I have been very blessed in life and support many substacks that were dedicated to the truth and an effort at honest journalism. My annual budget got close to $5k per year so I was forced to cut back, especially as there was too much content to keep up with. Congratulations to you as you are one of the ones I have kept! You writing style and topics are what did that, as much as anything. Today I have 4 Founders and 10 other paid annual so you are in an elite position for me. LOL
I fear the legacy media is captured. Big Pharma will likely keep them around a long time, but it is amazing how little many still think we have a "free press".
i think your issue is that many folks do not even realize what substack is. I often have clients ask me what I read (or watch) to stay current or get my current "news", when I say "Substack," more often than not, they have no idea what it even is! The platform needs to help a broader base of consumers to know how easy it is to use.
This is one of the reasons I started my own substack. It gives me a plce to crosspost things I find interesting so I can get the information to others with one link.
Keep up the great work. Don't lose hope - celebrate the success.
Great points, Dennis. I'm flattered I'm one of the Stackers you have kept. The fact you were spending $5K/year on Substack subscriptions is eye-opening. That is too much (probably), but your heart was good to support these independent writers.
I also agree the vast majority of the nation doesn't even know Substack exists. That's a bad thing for the nation, but maybe a good thing for writers like myself ... if and when more people discover this platform, perhaps I'll get my fair share of these new subscribers.
O would subscribe to more writers but the vosts are getting to be to costly. I realized I was spending close to $ 100.00 a month for subscriptions. JoexBidens hikes in cost plus my costs of daily living in LA means I am spending over $ 1000.00 a month to just maintain my overhead but my income has decreased. I would love to support all the writers I afore however I need to mitigate my choices as they are now a luxury item.
I have had to change my net income spending. I understand your frustration. Hopefully November can bring this country back. But don't give up hope! You Rock!
No problem. You need to cut back on your paid subscriptions. Sometimes I have to pause or cancel subs that I enjoy and want to support so I understand. Thanks for the free subscription, for reading and for commenting!
Hey Bill - I have a nuanced statistical bit of inference I'll share with you.
So, a few days after I make a post, I get an email note from the "SubStack" entity telling me "open rate" and "# of views" - and often the open rate (indicated as a percentage - x%) and the number of views are not correlated as one might expect.
For example, and to keep it simple - I might have two articles posted within days of each other having a similar open rate - but the number of views are vastly different?
Can you explain that difference?
Do you know how these parameters are calculated?
I think SubStack ought be a bit more transparent regarding the "algorithms" employed and as a small-scale Angel investor in the enterprise of SubStack - I got standing to know that - plus my small-scale investment of $2000 (that was basically 90% of the limit for somebody not "certified") seems to have gone off into some sort of "black hole" and I haven't heard a thing back regarding the status of said investment and I consider this POOR communication and it gives me pause.
BK, I'm going to explore your point in Part 2 - e.g. the big difference in our subscriber readers and our total readers. I just did an analysis of my last 14 posted articles (over the past 30 days) and discovered that 54 percent of my readers are actually NOT my "subscribers."
My open rate used to be 44 to 51 percent - now it ranges from 28 percent to 35 percent.
Anyway, it's interesting to me that the majority of my "readers" are not my subscribers. I also wonder why so few of these readers sign up as subscribers. A lot more of my readers used to become subscribers after discovering my articles or newsletter. This doesn't happen to nearly the extent it did in the first 1 to 7 months of my newsletter.
My "open rate" is usually less than 20%. I reckon I have many "frustrated readers" (ha, ha). But I think you may be suggesting that readers who check out an article who are not actually subscribers get counted in the "# of views", but the open rate is calculated based on subscribers.
I must have a lot of frustrated subscribers - if I could send a message to them I would say this:
If you don't like what I post, then of course tis your prerogative to "unsubscribe", but please Bill, don't get me going down that pathway of the difficulties I've encountered in "unsubscribing" from Substack places I chose to no longer be involved with.....tis a rabbit hole of flux over the top - and SubStack needs to put a pause on things, get more than one financial entity processing payments, and become a reputable and transparent entity that endears trust in performance. Just now that ain't the case.
I count "reads" when gauging the number of people I have reached with an article. The ratio used to show that a lot more of my suscribers were my readers. This is one of the changes I - and other Substack authors - have noted in recent months.
What you think the chance are for the baseball team from NC State to win the World Series of college baseball in Omaha?
If I was a betting man, which I once was, but now I'm not, but being all these betting opportunities are so easy nowadays - I would place a bet upon them cause the odds are going to be in their favor!
(ha, ha)
Thanks Bill - I appreciate your mathematical mind, and you may not know this but when I was taking the graduate class in biostatistics, I think I got on the fine professors nerves cause I think he sort of could tell - I had just as good a sense for statistics as he did!
(that was at UNC-Chapel Thrill - School of Public Health - another team that is also in the World Series - fours teams from the ACC are in the finals - baseball is a game I think merits more attention - sometimes it is boring - but not for a man who studies the data....and loves statistics when applied fairly).
I quit keeping up with College baseball after Alabama was 2-and-done in the regionals. But I'll pull for NC State since you are. That's mighty impressive the ACC has 4 of the 8 World Series teams.
Baseball is a great sport, but I haven't followed it closely since the 1990s when the Braves were winning their division every year.
Oh come on Bill - your son plays baseball does he not?
Well if he keeps his druthers in line maybe one day he can play for the Wolfpack...and I'm not kidding around - a bet upon them being the forums for betting are now totally legal in most states, and while I think that is an idea misguided....if I was a betting man - I'd bet on the Wolfpack - cause their chances are underestimated.
~
I appreciate your kind words and lets comes back here in a week or two and revisit the situation - odds our they won't make it to the finals, but if they do and you have the courage to place a bet upon them - then could be you could score a pretty penny.....but you know bill the better's fallacy don't ya?
~
Let me tell and this is simple cause the "house knows" - even if you win a bet easy odds are you likely will squander the winning on another bet foolish - cause the house always wins.....
~
That is why if you ever intend on beating "the house" you got to make a bet big - so big that when they lose you basically "own them"....ha, ha......
~
Go Wolfpack and know this - I ain't a betting man anymore, but I place my funds where I think they have value and I know what matters long term - it ain't mammon.
I mean why the hell did SubStack solicit financial investment in the enterprise (from authors signed up no less) if they are not going to communicate the status of the investment.
Was it a "trick" to suck out some funds from loser writers got conned?
Don't get me wrong - I really appreciate the forum here and the chance to share my views with supposed "no strings attached", but when I lay down hard earned currency that could have been used to purchase two dual-fired generators instead - tis fair to ponder whether somebody is taking advantage of the small-time investors and I demand an answer on that from SubStack.
Bill, congratulations on 6k. I believe they are warring on us regular people, we can't let the guard down now or ever we must be ever vigilant to prevent being beaten. We must tell the younger generations and get back to talking about the dangers we're all still at risk of. I feel like to keep our country great and continue our rights we can never get complacent again. Keep up the good fight Bill and thank you!
On Twitter/X Catturd had hundreds of thousands of likes precovid era and nowadays has only thousands. He complains that conservatives are being throttled and I believe it. Musk while being outspoken is allowing it. He did hire a left winger to run it.
If you are concerned Bill about being too long to read , you might have read : A MidWestern Doctor- I believe that substack has one of the highest number of readers ; I need to set aside a great deal of time to read that one because of its length . I'll assume, we who read substacks of this nature ,are confronted daily with the ask for donations - something I'd love to give so many but at a geriatric stage in life, and not remotely interested in state sponsored media that I pay for dearly with taxes in just one ever increasing area of taxation here in canada , what I support via donations has to be very carefully assessed. Thank you Bill with all you do .
1. The Wolfpack from NC State has made it to Omaha - consider that both the men and women's teams in basketball made it to the Final Four. If I was an athlete up and coming, I would for sure consider NC State - the Wolfpack is for real!
2. Did you see the recent Ms. Alabama? My wife tells me that wasn't the "real" pageant, but damn I seen her - she blocked traffic at the intersection when I was going to visit a fine gal in Louisiana...(ha, ha). By the way - my wife is NOT a fan of these pageants - neither am I.
3. You should pat yourself on the back I reckon for increasing your subscriber numbers - and I got another fake message from the "fake Bill" just a few days ago, but I could tell it was fake in heartbeat - so can others I suspect as folks commence to wiping the fog off their glasses of perspective.
4. Let me say congratulations to you again and I intend on remaining a founding contributor.
Congrats, Bill. You generally write an excellent publication. Hopefully, you'll celebrate and then get back to writing about "capture" rather than about Substack itself.
Hang in there, Bill. Crazy times are coming with unique and desperate actions under cover of misinformation from the Gestapos. You just need some fresh controversy or lies leading to attempted lockdowns or coups to give you a jolt!
Congratulations Bill! You raise some good questions about throttling, and nefarious forces attempting to thwart the reach of substack writers. Hard to get answers there. It's easy to speculate about more mundane reasons. The COVID hysteria drove many to seek out alternative sources early on. Interest in the COVID response shouldn't wane, but it has waned simply because of COVID fatigue, etc. Also, initially there was a small pool avidly seeking alternative information, that was fairly quickly tapped. It's not easy keeping things hopping. Of the topics you've focused on lately, the embalmers' clots interest me the most. If additional morticians, or even better, medical professionals seeing them in live patients, can be coaxed to come forward, that could drive a lot of interest. Of course it would be quickly jumped on by other writers too. Early spread is an important topic, but doesn't resonant as viscerally to get attention, IMO. I wish it were easier to grow readership since the work is so important.
As I’ll mention in Part 2, I pride myself on writing original articles, essays few other mainstream or Substack journalists might consider. By now, I’ve written several articles on Substack trends and used my own Substack numbers to develop my points or theories.
That is, I think the future of Substack is also a worthy topic, one that might be of interest to other Substack authors and to readers of Substack newsletters, who are probably (I think) interested in the same topic. As far as I am aware, few Substack authors write about Substack itself or any trends that might affect Substack now and in the future.
Well you are correct I reckon in your supposition -but check out this article I posted on that very topic Bill - I am one step ahead of you pal - and the Wolfpack is on the hunt!
(ha, ha, ....
https://buffaloken.substack.com/p/banking-on-substack-algorithms
I admit I quit reading after the first few paragraphs. I've got other things to do tonight.
Why do I read Substack? I started, I think, in 2020. I was, and continue to be, interested in information about COVID. After all, the MSM was silent and I don't watch TV. I now am subscribed (free for the most part) to maybe 20 writers, but some I no longer have any interest in, some I have unsubscribed from. To the extent that articles connect to my interests, I will continue to subscribe and read.
I find that the covid story has been largely revealed - thank God! Now I worry about son-of-covid. We proved we can be manipulated, so the globalists will be sure to press their advantage.
I am willing to learn about medicine and science and history, but detest politics. So my apetite for some subjects is little.
You may find it useful to team up with some other writer. Sasha Latypova and Katherine Watt are a good team.
Good luck Bill!
Bill,
You may know when I subscribed? I would be curious to know when I found you.
I have been very blessed in life and support many substacks that were dedicated to the truth and an effort at honest journalism. My annual budget got close to $5k per year so I was forced to cut back, especially as there was too much content to keep up with. Congratulations to you as you are one of the ones I have kept! You writing style and topics are what did that, as much as anything. Today I have 4 Founders and 10 other paid annual so you are in an elite position for me. LOL
I fear the legacy media is captured. Big Pharma will likely keep them around a long time, but it is amazing how little many still think we have a "free press".
i think your issue is that many folks do not even realize what substack is. I often have clients ask me what I read (or watch) to stay current or get my current "news", when I say "Substack," more often than not, they have no idea what it even is! The platform needs to help a broader base of consumers to know how easy it is to use.
This is one of the reasons I started my own substack. It gives me a plce to crosspost things I find interesting so I can get the information to others with one link.
Keep up the great work. Don't lose hope - celebrate the success.
DDD
Great points, Dennis. I'm flattered I'm one of the Stackers you have kept. The fact you were spending $5K/year on Substack subscriptions is eye-opening. That is too much (probably), but your heart was good to support these independent writers.
I also agree the vast majority of the nation doesn't even know Substack exists. That's a bad thing for the nation, but maybe a good thing for writers like myself ... if and when more people discover this platform, perhaps I'll get my fair share of these new subscribers.
I'll mention this point in Part 2.
O would subscribe to more writers but the vosts are getting to be to costly. I realized I was spending close to $ 100.00 a month for subscriptions. JoexBidens hikes in cost plus my costs of daily living in LA means I am spending over $ 1000.00 a month to just maintain my overhead but my income has decreased. I would love to support all the writers I afore however I need to mitigate my choices as they are now a luxury item.
I have had to change my net income spending. I understand your frustration. Hopefully November can bring this country back. But don't give up hope! You Rock!
No problem. You need to cut back on your paid subscriptions. Sometimes I have to pause or cancel subs that I enjoy and want to support so I understand. Thanks for the free subscription, for reading and for commenting!
Hey Bill - I have a nuanced statistical bit of inference I'll share with you.
So, a few days after I make a post, I get an email note from the "SubStack" entity telling me "open rate" and "# of views" - and often the open rate (indicated as a percentage - x%) and the number of views are not correlated as one might expect.
For example, and to keep it simple - I might have two articles posted within days of each other having a similar open rate - but the number of views are vastly different?
Can you explain that difference?
Do you know how these parameters are calculated?
I think SubStack ought be a bit more transparent regarding the "algorithms" employed and as a small-scale Angel investor in the enterprise of SubStack - I got standing to know that - plus my small-scale investment of $2000 (that was basically 90% of the limit for somebody not "certified") seems to have gone off into some sort of "black hole" and I haven't heard a thing back regarding the status of said investment and I consider this POOR communication and it gives me pause.
I got standing to request said info.
I'm not kidding around.
BK, I'm going to explore your point in Part 2 - e.g. the big difference in our subscriber readers and our total readers. I just did an analysis of my last 14 posted articles (over the past 30 days) and discovered that 54 percent of my readers are actually NOT my "subscribers."
My open rate used to be 44 to 51 percent - now it ranges from 28 percent to 35 percent.
Anyway, it's interesting to me that the majority of my "readers" are not my subscribers. I also wonder why so few of these readers sign up as subscribers. A lot more of my readers used to become subscribers after discovering my articles or newsletter. This doesn't happen to nearly the extent it did in the first 1 to 7 months of my newsletter.
My "open rate" is usually less than 20%. I reckon I have many "frustrated readers" (ha, ha). But I think you may be suggesting that readers who check out an article who are not actually subscribers get counted in the "# of views", but the open rate is calculated based on subscribers.
I must have a lot of frustrated subscribers - if I could send a message to them I would say this:
If you don't like what I post, then of course tis your prerogative to "unsubscribe", but please Bill, don't get me going down that pathway of the difficulties I've encountered in "unsubscribing" from Substack places I chose to no longer be involved with.....tis a rabbit hole of flux over the top - and SubStack needs to put a pause on things, get more than one financial entity processing payments, and become a reputable and transparent entity that endears trust in performance. Just now that ain't the case.
Best to you and Go Wolfpack!
Ken
I count "reads" when gauging the number of people I have reached with an article. The ratio used to show that a lot more of my suscribers were my readers. This is one of the changes I - and other Substack authors - have noted in recent months.
What you think the chance are for the baseball team from NC State to win the World Series of college baseball in Omaha?
If I was a betting man, which I once was, but now I'm not, but being all these betting opportunities are so easy nowadays - I would place a bet upon them cause the odds are going to be in their favor!
(ha, ha)
Thanks Bill - I appreciate your mathematical mind, and you may not know this but when I was taking the graduate class in biostatistics, I think I got on the fine professors nerves cause I think he sort of could tell - I had just as good a sense for statistics as he did!
(that was at UNC-Chapel Thrill - School of Public Health - another team that is also in the World Series - fours teams from the ACC are in the finals - baseball is a game I think merits more attention - sometimes it is boring - but not for a man who studies the data....and loves statistics when applied fairly).
Ken
I quit keeping up with College baseball after Alabama was 2-and-done in the regionals. But I'll pull for NC State since you are. That's mighty impressive the ACC has 4 of the 8 World Series teams.
Baseball is a great sport, but I haven't followed it closely since the 1990s when the Braves were winning their division every year.
Oh come on Bill - your son plays baseball does he not?
Well if he keeps his druthers in line maybe one day he can play for the Wolfpack...and I'm not kidding around - a bet upon them being the forums for betting are now totally legal in most states, and while I think that is an idea misguided....if I was a betting man - I'd bet on the Wolfpack - cause their chances are underestimated.
~
I appreciate your kind words and lets comes back here in a week or two and revisit the situation - odds our they won't make it to the finals, but if they do and you have the courage to place a bet upon them - then could be you could score a pretty penny.....but you know bill the better's fallacy don't ya?
~
Let me tell and this is simple cause the "house knows" - even if you win a bet easy odds are you likely will squander the winning on another bet foolish - cause the house always wins.....
~
That is why if you ever intend on beating "the house" you got to make a bet big - so big that when they lose you basically "own them"....ha, ha......
~
Go Wolfpack and know this - I ain't a betting man anymore, but I place my funds where I think they have value and I know what matters long term - it ain't mammon.
~
Best to you sir.
BK
I mean why the hell did SubStack solicit financial investment in the enterprise (from authors signed up no less) if they are not going to communicate the status of the investment.
Was it a "trick" to suck out some funds from loser writers got conned?
Don't get me wrong - I really appreciate the forum here and the chance to share my views with supposed "no strings attached", but when I lay down hard earned currency that could have been used to purchase two dual-fired generators instead - tis fair to ponder whether somebody is taking advantage of the small-time investors and I demand an answer on that from SubStack.
Irrespective of all the chatter, Bill, it is still a milestone and something of which to be proud. Congratulations!
Bill, congratulations on 6k. I believe they are warring on us regular people, we can't let the guard down now or ever we must be ever vigilant to prevent being beaten. We must tell the younger generations and get back to talking about the dangers we're all still at risk of. I feel like to keep our country great and continue our rights we can never get complacent again. Keep up the good fight Bill and thank you!
On Twitter/X Catturd had hundreds of thousands of likes precovid era and nowadays has only thousands. He complains that conservatives are being throttled and I believe it. Musk while being outspoken is allowing it. He did hire a left winger to run it.
Musk seems to believe in freedom of speech with throttled reach for wrongspeak.
If you are concerned Bill about being too long to read , you might have read : A MidWestern Doctor- I believe that substack has one of the highest number of readers ; I need to set aside a great deal of time to read that one because of its length . I'll assume, we who read substacks of this nature ,are confronted daily with the ask for donations - something I'd love to give so many but at a geriatric stage in life, and not remotely interested in state sponsored media that I pay for dearly with taxes in just one ever increasing area of taxation here in canada , what I support via donations has to be very carefully assessed. Thank you Bill with all you do .
Congratulations!
And a few other thoughts in no particular order:
1. The Wolfpack from NC State has made it to Omaha - consider that both the men and women's teams in basketball made it to the Final Four. If I was an athlete up and coming, I would for sure consider NC State - the Wolfpack is for real!
2. Did you see the recent Ms. Alabama? My wife tells me that wasn't the "real" pageant, but damn I seen her - she blocked traffic at the intersection when I was going to visit a fine gal in Louisiana...(ha, ha). By the way - my wife is NOT a fan of these pageants - neither am I.
3. You should pat yourself on the back I reckon for increasing your subscriber numbers - and I got another fake message from the "fake Bill" just a few days ago, but I could tell it was fake in heartbeat - so can others I suspect as folks commence to wiping the fog off their glasses of perspective.
4. Let me say congratulations to you again and I intend on remaining a founding contributor.
~
Well done Bill!
Ken
Congrats, Bill. You generally write an excellent publication. Hopefully, you'll celebrate and then get back to writing about "capture" rather than about Substack itself.
Hang in there, Bill. Crazy times are coming with unique and desperate actions under cover of misinformation from the Gestapos. You just need some fresh controversy or lies leading to attempted lockdowns or coups to give you a jolt!
Congratulations Bill! You raise some good questions about throttling, and nefarious forces attempting to thwart the reach of substack writers. Hard to get answers there. It's easy to speculate about more mundane reasons. The COVID hysteria drove many to seek out alternative sources early on. Interest in the COVID response shouldn't wane, but it has waned simply because of COVID fatigue, etc. Also, initially there was a small pool avidly seeking alternative information, that was fairly quickly tapped. It's not easy keeping things hopping. Of the topics you've focused on lately, the embalmers' clots interest me the most. If additional morticians, or even better, medical professionals seeing them in live patients, can be coaxed to come forward, that could drive a lot of interest. Of course it would be quickly jumped on by other writers too. Early spread is an important topic, but doesn't resonant as viscerally to get attention, IMO. I wish it were easier to grow readership since the work is so important.