Substack’s paid subscribers are the 0.1 percent!

This column includes a fair amount of extrapolations, but I think these points are original … and important.

If it feels like our side is outnumbered, that’s because we are. By my calculations, 100 fairly well-known Covid writers are taking on 40,000 MSM journalists.

“Ive been reading you for awhile. My yearly Substack bill is huge already but you deserve to be added to it. Without Substack, it would be very hard to stay abreast of the truth.” - New paid subscriber to Bill Rice Jr’s Newsletter.

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This subscriber makes a point I’d like to address in this article, which might be of interest to readers who care about the future of Substack or independent journalism.

Namely, this subscriber points out she’s already supporting many Substack authors. Per my research, I’ve concluded that as few as 1 to 4 percent of Substack readers are supporting their favorite “freedom” writers with financial donations.

Let the extrapolations begin …

I know that Substack boasts more than 35 million readers world-wide with only 2 million of these readers labeled as “paid subscribers.”

However, I think this two-million figure is misleading as it might make one think 1-in-17.5 readers are paying for Substack content (35 million readers divided by 2 million paid readers).

From my research, I know most Substack authors have only about 1 to 4 percent “paid” support from their total subscribers.

For example, in late August Dr. Meryl Nass reported that she’d reached 1,000 paid subscribers and now had more than 27,000 total subscribers. This means Dr. Nass had about 3.7 percent “paid” subscribers.

(Aside: I happen to think Dr. Nass is not only one of our most important Substack writers, she is actually one of the most important citizens in the world as she’s almost single-handedly trying to nix the effort of the World Health Organization to ratify a “treaty” that might be the death of real freedom).

Ceilia Farber has previously reported her subscription numbers, which are also about 4 percent paid.

One of my favorite Substackers is ExcessDeathsAU in Australia. He recently reported that he has 2,502 total subscribers of which only 31 are paid - which is a paid ratio of just 1.24 percent.

Assuming the most-successful Substack authors have reached “3 to 4 percent paid,” this would mean only 1-in-33 to 1-in-25 of these authors’ total subscribers are providing income for these authors.

So the real key figure is probably not “1-in-17.5 paid.” Yes, there are two million paid subscriptions on Substack, but these aren’t being paid by two million different people.

This leads me to conclude most people who pay for subscriptions pay for several (or many) subscriptions, just like my subscriber above is doing.

If one (generously) assumes that a typical Substack “creator” is generating, on average, 3 percent paid subscriptions, this figure might equate to only 1.05 million paid subscribers in the world (Math: multiply Substack’s 35 million total readers by the 3 percent who pay for a subscription).

Whether my logic is sound or not, one assumes the cohort of Substack’s paying subscribers are supporting from one to 10 (or more) newsletter authors.

Most Substack readers do NOT think like us …

Furthermore, everyone reading this probably associates Substack with the writer platform that made “Covid contrarians” semi-famous. Substack IS the writers’ platform that gave a voice to skeptics of the official narratives.

However, we should also remember that the vast majority of Substack newsletter authors don’t think like we do … and the vast majority of Substack authors are NOT writing about the topics that engage us.

From more research, I learned that approximately 17,000 Substack newsletter authors have generated revenue from paid subscriptions.

Of this number, it would be interesting to learn how many of these writers are in the “freedom” camp that’s trying to debunk bogus Covid narratives (or bogus narratives about any topic).

Basically, there’s a whole other Substack world out there. 

For example, I recently learned that Dan Rather, liberal champion Robert Reich and “Your Local  Epidemiologist” (who definitely doesn’t think like my readers) have “hundreds of thousands” of total subscribers.

If 5 percent of Substack’s authors possess a perspective similar to my own, this would represent only 850 “Covid contrarian” writers (17,000 “paid” writers x 5 percent).

One question I’ve pondered …

Of the approximately 1+ million world citizens who are paying for Substack content, how many of this number are what we might label “Covid skeptics?” 

My guess would be that a disproportionate percentage of Substack’s paid subscribers do think like us. However, this figure is definitely not eye-opening when compared to the world population of 8 billion people.

If one-third of Substack’s approximately one million paid subscribers are Covid skeptics, this would equate to 330,000 people in the world. (Again, I’m focussing only on paid subscribers).

From these assumptions and extrapolations, I can now make this statement with confidence:

A tiny slither of the world population is subsidizing the labors of a tiny number of writers who are battling all the faux Covid (and non-Covid) narratives.

To provide more context, there are approximately 250 million adults in America.

If 75 percent of Substack’s paid subscribers come from America and there are only 330,000 “Covid skeptics” who are paying for subscriptions to support their favorite authors, this would equate to 247,500 adult Americans who are basically subsidizing the efforts of contrarian writers. This figure represents 0.1 percent of the U.S. adult population.

The above is paragraphs of extrapolations just so I can  make this statement. The people I am celebrating with today’s article are not the “1 percent” (1-in-100) … they are the 0.1 percent (1-in-1,000!)

If you are you are one of these 1-in-1,000 “freedom fighters,” please take a much-deserved bow.

As noted, my guesstimate is that approximately only 850 Substack Newsletter authors in the world are “Covid skeptics.”  However, most of these writers have yet to break through to, say, at least 2,500 total subscribers.

If we focus only on those writers who have at least 2,500 subscribers, this number might be as small as only 100 writers in the world.  Indeed, my readers could probably name only 10 to 20 “Covid skeptic” writers they are familiar with. (Thanks to my subscribers, it’s possible I am now a member of this tiny group.)

So, basically, only 100 or so writers are leading the charge to attack all the faux Covid narratives.

For even more context, there are at least 40,000 “mainstream journalists” in America. So what we have is a battle of 100 people (who are hoping they can get some donations from subscribers) vs. 40,000 journalists who are being paid salaries to protect the Establishment.

I’m in a very select group …

For even more context, 100 fairly-prominent “Covid skeptic” writers equates to only two such writers in each U.S. state.

This sounds about right as I would bet that I am the only “Covid skeptic” Substack author  in Alabama, or at least who has a minimum of 2,500 total subscribers and at least 100 paid subscribers. (I actually derive psychological gratification from the thought I’m the only person in my state doing what I’m doing.)

My highly-intelligent readers can no doubt tell where I’m going with all this.

It’s amazing that such a small number of contrarian writers and so few readers and paid subscribers have accomplished what we’ve already achieved. Basically, this small group has (pun intended) significantly “moved the needle” on dozens of dubious and harmful narratives.

This proves that a tiny, principled minority can make a difference.

However, if “our side” is going to really detonate any meaningful “truth bombs,” all Substack’s key metrics are going to have to increase.

Substack needs to grow to more than 35 million readers (which will happen as the world is fleeing the captured MSM, which is dying). Our side also needs to recruit (and support) far more than 850 “Covid skeptic” writers … and the standard paid ratio of “1 to 4 percent” needs to become, say, 10 percent.

In the Big Picture, a tiny number of Substack subscribers have made important things happen. If we could persuade more reinforcements to join the ranks of these generous subscribers, our side will have a better chance to win the battle for our country’s future.

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For those who want to send a message via my (admittedly) very bold “demonstration project,” you can read this article for more details.