I hear you Bill, but I have a reader’s perspective on this: we recently (that is my wife) did our taxes and in the process we encounter an tally our expenses; I think I have been on Substack for a little over a year, maybe longer. At first I was mainly a freeloader, but with time I identified people who I really valued and wanted to support, and often after only an article or two. Then it got to the point that I was subscribed to more than I could reasonably read. Then came tax time & I looked at what I was spending on Substacks and decided I couldn’t afford to keep doing that (I would have to get at least a part time job in my retirement (and then I would not have the time to read all that I had subscribed to).
Bottom line: don’t ascribe to nefarious plots what can be explained by life.
When I compare the cost of Substack (both my free and subscribed) to the traditional subscriptions that we have it is more expensive (albeit with more nutritional meat): you get what you (I) pay for, but one can only pay for so much and one can only eat (read) so much.
Traditional media were able to survive with advertising (which comes at an editorial constraint price).
My guess is Substack is "de-amplifying" substacks that are not mainstream. The "X" CEO, Linda Yaccarino had mentioned doing the same. I'm not surprised. These censors are playing for keeps and they are very determined not to lose. Their power is at stake.
May be not really to be concerned about - I think lots of people are like me and subscribe for a year or 2, and then have so many paid subscriptions that I have to drop some. Usually I drop the longest paid one, but some are too good! Several other substackers write about the fluctuating numbers (Mickey Z being one) so I think that might be the reason. I have now 14 or more paid and will have to drop some or I go broke!
I can't quantify it yet, but I also get the feeling that Substack is subtly betraying its commitment to free speech by limiting the exposure of those who tell too much truth.
I agree with a the decline and here is my estimated guess:
1. General loss of interest in anything related to Covid and Totalitarean take-over 50%. Which means the globalist strategist are winning. Theysimple backed off and wait it out until the masses fall asleep again. They grind down the resistance in the old martial arts way by not offering much resistance at all atm.
2. More and more good writers, lots to choose from, only so much you can read combined with getting tired of the topic 30%
3. Freedom of speech but not freedom of reach - hidden censorship? Hard to say but can't be discounted. 20%
I try to see the silver lining of it. I can rest a little now, do other stuff that got neglected. It will be a war until the end of my life, so it is good to recover, live and enjoy life for a little before the next battle starts. Let fresh people pick up the torch meanwhile.
I believe they first get all the censorship laws into place before they launch the next "catastrophic event". Because the free speech on social media killed their Covid plan. They thought only owning mainstream media is enough but made a mistake.
Meanwhile, we will find new creative ways around their stupid censorship laws....and so it will go on and on ......it's an eternal war for freedom, not just a battle.
As my readers can see, I'm big into metrics (and analysis of same). The simpler the metric the better.
From an economic perspective, I've got a new metric that's going to be my goal going forward. That metric is that I want to average two new paid subscribers per article.
I've been averaging about 15 articles/month, so that would be 30 new paid subscribers/month ... which over 12 months = 360 new paid subscribers!
360 new paid subscribers at an average gross of $50/subscriber = $18,000/year!
I already have 252 paid subscribers, which translates to $15,000 (gross) income a year, so if I make my goal that would put me at $33,000/year gross Substack income. With my wife's teacher's salary, that would end any money stress in my life.
The good news is that two subscribers an article seems very do-able. I now have 5,550 subscribers and 252 are paid. This means the "pool" of current free subscribers who could upgrade to paid with each article is about 5,,300 subscribers.
I only have to convert 1 in 2,650 of my free subscribers to paid with every article to achieve this goal.
I'm going to call this "Project 1-in-2650!"
P.S. My last article generated three new paid subscribers .... so so-far, so-good!
The ‘critical thinkers’ that comprise most of your subscribers, are not afraid. We haven’t been since Day 1 of this mind control game they’ve played the past 4 years, we can see the truth from the false. With that being said, folks that have recently started reading Substack, most likely have a great deal of other social media experience, and have had their heads in the clouds the past 3-1/2 - 4 years. I’ve seen a shift of people starting to read Substack that have a lot of ‘contempt prior to investigation’ and know what ‘liking and subscribing’ does for an algorithm. They also may have ‘fear’ that they may be found out if they ‘like or subscribe’ and whatever Big Brother or AI may be overseeing Substack may group them into a certain category if they are found to be interacting with controversial content. I don’t care at this point who or what knows that I read certain articles. It is my God given right to read whatever the hell I want and like what I want. I’m sure I’m on some ‘list’ somewhere and could give 2 shits.
‘The truth cannot be told it has to be realized.’~Ralph Smart
I used to be very active & paid on Substack. It becomes a time sink after a while and the hours just disappear. It’s also very expensive. You authors say “It’s only $5,6,7 a month but that adds up to a lot over a year, especially in this environment. What really did it for me is emotional self preservation. I’m not including you in this, however, I have run into entirely too much hate for my people and I have decided to pull back rather than continue to try to convince these haters that they are wrong. It’s like talking to a brick wall. No authors of any substack have made it a point to ask their contributors to be less hateful even when the discussion has gotten really ugly & it has gotten worse since the Hamas-Israeli war. So, my decision is not to participate. Also there are so many good authors that there is just not enough hours in the day to keep up with under normal circumstances.
Looks like a normal 'saturation curve' to me. With the occasional jump due to cross posting or special breaking articles. As with most growth, there is a limit that will be reached. It doesn't climb linearly until then, but starts at a higher rate and declines as you reach your maximum level.
One major aspect of your articles is the coronavirus scandal. It was a hot topic a year or two ago and what you wrote was not found on many authors. Now there are more authors and the topic is less unique. Many are writing about the same things.
Yes there are trolls here now. Both paid and the free ones that don't know that they were manipulated into helping censor speech. They aren't limiting subscribers in fact they may be some of them.
Bill, take heart! There are many people who enjoy your writing and hopefully will subscribe. As othered here have pointed out, it could be subscriber overload.
If I could make a suggestion, I would like some more diversity in the topics you write about, not telling you what to do. I really enjoyed the reprint of your film article, for example.
I buy books. I wish more talented Substack authors would make their work more permanent by publishing their work in book form. The net is controlled and unreliable in my opinion.
My substack slowed down significantly around the same time as you. I wonder though if it's also something to do with substack's model and readers reaching a saturation point with how many stacks they can read and pay for. I'd like to see substack do a 10 for $20 kind of deal (or $30 or $50 etc) where people can bundle their subscriptions to spread a bit further. Writers could opt in or out of being included in these bundles. I also thought the slow down on substack happened around about the time Twitter started suppressing accounts with speech not reach, and Elon started deamplifying substack links on there. My Twitter account is still suppressed so I get less traffic from there to substack than I used to.
I have had a similar experience, I think we are fishing in a relatively small pond so after picking the low hanging fruit it does become more of a trickle than a flood. However you might be right and the censors are here already, only time will tell.
Every social media outlet that reaches major popularity gets targeted (with money - bought out) and thoroughly astrotured. Reddit & YouTube are such transparent examples. Just like in politics. At the end of the day, money rules. And now with all the antitrust and ownership limitations laws no longer existing. we are headed for a truly dystopian nightmare.
YouTube's search is so ridiculous at this point that to find certain content you have to look it up using external search engine! (Google works great for this -that's abt all I use it for. Yandex (which is in Russia) still works a bit like the earlier days in certain areas). These companies not only have the most complex algos developed just to echo chamber and cul-de-dac [censor] information, esp anything deemed controversial, we have states involved in massive propaganda campaigns. From Netflix to the NY Times. What happened during the Covid debacle was a very indicator picture of the direction in which the Davos set are herding society. So, even if it hassnt happened yet, there's no doubt if it it certainly will if it grows large enough.
I hear you Bill, but I have a reader’s perspective on this: we recently (that is my wife) did our taxes and in the process we encounter an tally our expenses; I think I have been on Substack for a little over a year, maybe longer. At first I was mainly a freeloader, but with time I identified people who I really valued and wanted to support, and often after only an article or two. Then it got to the point that I was subscribed to more than I could reasonably read. Then came tax time & I looked at what I was spending on Substacks and decided I couldn’t afford to keep doing that (I would have to get at least a part time job in my retirement (and then I would not have the time to read all that I had subscribed to).
Bottom line: don’t ascribe to nefarious plots what can be explained by life.
When I compare the cost of Substack (both my free and subscribed) to the traditional subscriptions that we have it is more expensive (albeit with more nutritional meat): you get what you (I) pay for, but one can only pay for so much and one can only eat (read) so much.
Traditional media were able to survive with advertising (which comes at an editorial constraint price).
Sorry, no solutions, just observations.
My guess is Substack is "de-amplifying" substacks that are not mainstream. The "X" CEO, Linda Yaccarino had mentioned doing the same. I'm not surprised. These censors are playing for keeps and they are very determined not to lose. Their power is at stake.
May be not really to be concerned about - I think lots of people are like me and subscribe for a year or 2, and then have so many paid subscriptions that I have to drop some. Usually I drop the longest paid one, but some are too good! Several other substackers write about the fluctuating numbers (Mickey Z being one) so I think that might be the reason. I have now 14 or more paid and will have to drop some or I go broke!
I can't quantify it yet, but I also get the feeling that Substack is subtly betraying its commitment to free speech by limiting the exposure of those who tell too much truth.
I agree with a the decline and here is my estimated guess:
1. General loss of interest in anything related to Covid and Totalitarean take-over 50%. Which means the globalist strategist are winning. Theysimple backed off and wait it out until the masses fall asleep again. They grind down the resistance in the old martial arts way by not offering much resistance at all atm.
2. More and more good writers, lots to choose from, only so much you can read combined with getting tired of the topic 30%
3. Freedom of speech but not freedom of reach - hidden censorship? Hard to say but can't be discounted. 20%
I try to see the silver lining of it. I can rest a little now, do other stuff that got neglected. It will be a war until the end of my life, so it is good to recover, live and enjoy life for a little before the next battle starts. Let fresh people pick up the torch meanwhile.
I believe they first get all the censorship laws into place before they launch the next "catastrophic event". Because the free speech on social media killed their Covid plan. They thought only owning mainstream media is enough but made a mistake.
Meanwhile, we will find new creative ways around their stupid censorship laws....and so it will go on and on ......it's an eternal war for freedom, not just a battle.
As my readers can see, I'm big into metrics (and analysis of same). The simpler the metric the better.
From an economic perspective, I've got a new metric that's going to be my goal going forward. That metric is that I want to average two new paid subscribers per article.
I've been averaging about 15 articles/month, so that would be 30 new paid subscribers/month ... which over 12 months = 360 new paid subscribers!
360 new paid subscribers at an average gross of $50/subscriber = $18,000/year!
I already have 252 paid subscribers, which translates to $15,000 (gross) income a year, so if I make my goal that would put me at $33,000/year gross Substack income. With my wife's teacher's salary, that would end any money stress in my life.
The good news is that two subscribers an article seems very do-able. I now have 5,550 subscribers and 252 are paid. This means the "pool" of current free subscribers who could upgrade to paid with each article is about 5,,300 subscribers.
I only have to convert 1 in 2,650 of my free subscribers to paid with every article to achieve this goal.
I'm going to call this "Project 1-in-2650!"
P.S. My last article generated three new paid subscribers .... so so-far, so-good!
The ‘critical thinkers’ that comprise most of your subscribers, are not afraid. We haven’t been since Day 1 of this mind control game they’ve played the past 4 years, we can see the truth from the false. With that being said, folks that have recently started reading Substack, most likely have a great deal of other social media experience, and have had their heads in the clouds the past 3-1/2 - 4 years. I’ve seen a shift of people starting to read Substack that have a lot of ‘contempt prior to investigation’ and know what ‘liking and subscribing’ does for an algorithm. They also may have ‘fear’ that they may be found out if they ‘like or subscribe’ and whatever Big Brother or AI may be overseeing Substack may group them into a certain category if they are found to be interacting with controversial content. I don’t care at this point who or what knows that I read certain articles. It is my God given right to read whatever the hell I want and like what I want. I’m sure I’m on some ‘list’ somewhere and could give 2 shits.
‘The truth cannot be told it has to be realized.’~Ralph Smart
I used to be very active & paid on Substack. It becomes a time sink after a while and the hours just disappear. It’s also very expensive. You authors say “It’s only $5,6,7 a month but that adds up to a lot over a year, especially in this environment. What really did it for me is emotional self preservation. I’m not including you in this, however, I have run into entirely too much hate for my people and I have decided to pull back rather than continue to try to convince these haters that they are wrong. It’s like talking to a brick wall. No authors of any substack have made it a point to ask their contributors to be less hateful even when the discussion has gotten really ugly & it has gotten worse since the Hamas-Israeli war. So, my decision is not to participate. Also there are so many good authors that there is just not enough hours in the day to keep up with under normal circumstances.
Praying for clear answers, Bill, and soon. 🙏
Looks like a normal 'saturation curve' to me. With the occasional jump due to cross posting or special breaking articles. As with most growth, there is a limit that will be reached. It doesn't climb linearly until then, but starts at a higher rate and declines as you reach your maximum level.
One major aspect of your articles is the coronavirus scandal. It was a hot topic a year or two ago and what you wrote was not found on many authors. Now there are more authors and the topic is less unique. Many are writing about the same things.
Yes there are trolls here now. Both paid and the free ones that don't know that they were manipulated into helping censor speech. They aren't limiting subscribers in fact they may be some of them.
Bill, take heart! There are many people who enjoy your writing and hopefully will subscribe. As othered here have pointed out, it could be subscriber overload.
If I could make a suggestion, I would like some more diversity in the topics you write about, not telling you what to do. I really enjoyed the reprint of your film article, for example.
I think Google has become more aggressive in downranking substack results, too.
I buy books. I wish more talented Substack authors would make their work more permanent by publishing their work in book form. The net is controlled and unreliable in my opinion.
My substack slowed down significantly around the same time as you. I wonder though if it's also something to do with substack's model and readers reaching a saturation point with how many stacks they can read and pay for. I'd like to see substack do a 10 for $20 kind of deal (or $30 or $50 etc) where people can bundle their subscriptions to spread a bit further. Writers could opt in or out of being included in these bundles. I also thought the slow down on substack happened around about the time Twitter started suppressing accounts with speech not reach, and Elon started deamplifying substack links on there. My Twitter account is still suppressed so I get less traffic from there to substack than I used to.
I have had a similar experience, I think we are fishing in a relatively small pond so after picking the low hanging fruit it does become more of a trickle than a flood. However you might be right and the censors are here already, only time will tell.
Every social media outlet that reaches major popularity gets targeted (with money - bought out) and thoroughly astrotured. Reddit & YouTube are such transparent examples. Just like in politics. At the end of the day, money rules. And now with all the antitrust and ownership limitations laws no longer existing. we are headed for a truly dystopian nightmare.
YouTube's search is so ridiculous at this point that to find certain content you have to look it up using external search engine! (Google works great for this -that's abt all I use it for. Yandex (which is in Russia) still works a bit like the earlier days in certain areas). These companies not only have the most complex algos developed just to echo chamber and cul-de-dac [censor] information, esp anything deemed controversial, we have states involved in massive propaganda campaigns. From Netflix to the NY Times. What happened during the Covid debacle was a very indicator picture of the direction in which the Davos set are herding society. So, even if it hassnt happened yet, there's no doubt if it it certainly will if it grows large enough.