What I learned in the past week …
The good, the bad, the ugly, the inspiring, the hopeful … and one question that still puzzles me.
With my recent Substack subscription drive columns, I was trying to make a point that’s clearly a tough sale. I was trying to demonstrate that at least one contrarian Substack writer could shock the world with an audacious subscription drive.
It now looks like I’m not going to shock the world or make any eye-opening media news. Still, I think this effort’s been worthwhile. Whether I like all the lessons or not, a few key truths have probably been revealed or further confirmed.
My hope was to demonstrate that Substack can play an even larger role in fighting the forces who are committed to destroying liberty and freedom. My logic chain goes something like this:
All the large and important organizations are now either captured, corrupt or led by people who are NOT going to exert brave leadership to fight these trends.
Substack is perhaps the most prominent speech platform that’s given a voice to persuasive writers who are “fighting back.” That is, the readers and authors of Substack have become the most-important resistance to evil or nefarious forces.
My first important take-away:
In more than three years of our New Normal times, it is clear that only 1 to 4 percent of readers of “contrarian” Substack authors seem willing to put skin into the game via financial donations. I now assume, but hope I’m wrong, that this ratio will remain constant going forward.
But this doesn’t mean Substack can’t continue to play a vital role in the future because …
Take-away No. 2 …
I’m confident Substack will continue to grow. I haven’t changed my view that the mainstream media is dying, that more people are beginning to recognize this and will continue to flee in greater numbers to alternative media platforms.
As long as Substack isn’t captured and continues to allow genuine free speech and debates, hope lives.
I’ve also identified what might be the most provocative question:
Why is Substack still allowed to publish free speech that challenges the official narratives?
Asking this question doesn’t mean I’ve answered it. I read “Reader Comments” sections and several readers have taken a stab at answering this question.
One school of thought is that Substack is really a “limited hangout” designed to let wacko conspiracy theorists blow off steam and allow this cohort of the population to feel like they are making a difference, etc. For their part, the Powers that Be know this site doesn’t really matter in the Big Picture … since they know they control all the genuinely-important organizations.
Yesterday, a subscriber sent me an email, opining that one reason people might be afraid to become a paid subscriber is they know this will make them more identifiable to Big Brother. This theory postulates we’re all being monitored and Substack actually serves a valuable role identifying the people who are A) already a threat or B) may become one in the future.
While a sinister take, I’m not willing to automatically dismiss this possibility. I do know millions of Americans now “self censor.” They probably don’t know why they’re hesitant to post what they really think, they just intuitively know this could be dangerous to them in the future.
For now anyway, Substack hasn’t “gone wobbly” and, for whatever reason, is allowing millions of people - and thousands of maverick citizen journalists - to write whatever they want.
FWIW, embracing the principle of genuine free speech is what made America a great nation. It’s worth (again) noting that we now live in a world where many powerful forces seem determined to change this. This makes one ask: What are these people really afraid of?
At least to some of us, the answer is obvious; They fear the truth being exposed and are doing all they can to prevent this from happening.
I’ll hand off here to Jeffrey Tucker …
America’s most-important “adult in the room,” Jeffrey Tucker of the Brownstone Institute, recently wrote a column on this very topic.
Jeffrey simply pointed out that just about every important media voice who is trying to expose the truth is now a target and has faced obvious reprisals for NOT towing the authorized line.
This list includes Tucker Carlson, fired from Fox News, and James O’Keefe, fired from Project Veritas, which he founded!
For all the accolades Elon Musk has received for “freeing up” Twitter (X), Musk himself has noted that his platform is being blackballed by major corporate advertisers because it won’t censor even more.
Jeffrey didn’t cite them, but I note the “treatment” Julian Assange received, Edward Snowden received, Chelsea Manning received, My Pillow’s Mike Lindell received and that all the J-6 “insurrectionists” have received… all constitute examples of “dangerous” people being sent an undeniable message. That message: “If you step too far out of line, this is what’s going to happen to you.”
Which brings me back to the question that’s nagging me: Why hasn’t this same message been sent to Substack yet?
I know the people and organizations my writings are trying to challenge are now beyond brazen. I know they don’t “fight fair.” I know they can do whatever they want and aren’t afraid to do anything that will protect their status or help them advance their unfinished agendas and, I know Substack’s principled contrarians must represent a big fly in the ointment … but still, the world’s “real rulers” haven’t touched Substack … yet.
I simply find this … odd.
The positive developments from my Mega Subscription Drive …
While I didn’t demonstrate that one Substacker could net 800 new paid subscribers in one week, thanks to my subscribers, I made headlines in the Rice household. For example,
In approximately one week (with a few hours left), I added at least 45 new paid subscribers. (UPDATE: My final figure was 52 new paid subscribers).
Furthermore, three of these subscribers humbled me by subscribing at the Founders Level of $250/year! (UPDATE: My final figure was five new “Founders Level” subscribers).
In one week, my subscribers gave me a 47-percent pay raise. My gross annual revenue metric increased from $7,050/year to $10,300/year. This doesn’t count my miscellaneous “Ko-Fi” gratuities, which added another $100 to the family checking account.
So, on the micro level, my readers made it possible for me to put aside some of my own financial worries and further inspired me to keep doing what I’ve been doing for a year.
Final take-aways:
One of my iron-clad maxims is that conventional wisdom is almost always … wrong. Conventional wisdom creates the narratives that, in turn, create the policies (and mandates) that are enforced by government officials and ultimately control the population of the world.
More than any organization, I blame the Fourth Estate for abdicating its most-important responsibility and allowing so many bogus or dubious narratives to become “settled science” or incontrovertible truths.
The irony is that great and important journalism is the only antidote to atrocious and captured journalism. This truism explains why I ended up on Substack. It was the only independent writer platform available to me that would allow me to make a little money and try to counter all of these false and harmful narratives.
Due to the generosity of my readers (and plenty of links from Citizen Free Press), my articles have been read by more than one million people in the last 12 months. I’m now one of the very few Substackers with “hundreds” of paid subscribers and someone who is grossing more than $10,000/year from my writing.
In short, I’m extremely grateful I’m still able to do the type of work I always wanted to do.
I also note that my audacious Subscription drive isn’t finished yet.
… It’s fourth down and I’m down by five points; our team has one play left and we’re at the 50-yard line. Our quarterback has a strong arm. If the line protects him, he can heave that ball to the end zone. I’m sending my best five receivers down field. Maybe the ball will bounce off a defensive back’s hands and one of our receivers will catch it and stun this arrogant team’s fanbase.
Here goes … This is my last chance, but I’m going to take it … “Hail Mary, full of grace …”
Cutting room floor text ...
Other Substack authors can probably benefit from some of these lessons, which include these:
- If you’re going to increase your paid subscribers and net income, from time to time, you’re going to have to quarterback a high-profile subscription drive. I know readers might not like being asked for money all the time, but from the perspective of Substack authors, we’ve got to do this if we want to continue to do what we’re doing.
- I now have 205 paid subscribers. However, I can now note that about 90 of these subscribers came from three subscription appeals. In other words, absent these subscription appeals, I might have achieved only 100 or so paid subscribers … in 12 months of full-time work.
_ A few Substack contrarians have broken through and have reached or exceeded the magic number of 1,000 paid subscribers. Thank God they have. However, this is s tiny percentage of Substack authors and most of us are still making far less from our writing job than, say, a teenager taking orders at McDonald’s.
Speaking for this Substack author, if I could increase my gross annual revenue by $3,400 every week, I’d have no worries, mate. But, unless I write the article that gets Fauci locked up for the rest of his life, I don’t think I can sustain this level. I understand I might now go the next 30 days with no paid subscriptions.
Still, nobody forced me to become a Substack author. I have free will and I chose to take the road less traveled. If I’d wanted to make a livable wage as a journalist, I could have written the type of stories that NY Times, Washington Post and Gannet journalists write.
... Of course I’d rather eat a bowl of live cockroaches than do that.
Update I left off a... nd this happy news from my "Hail Mary" pass.
I should have mentioned that I added at least 100 free subscriptions this week. I want to publicly thank Dr. Paul Alexander for, once again, promoting my site as most of these free subscribers came from his cross-post of one of my columns ("The Most Important Articles I've Published so far").
Free subscribers sometimes turn into paid subscribers and even if they don't, you are still reaching important citizens. So I hope people know I appreciate all my subscribers.
... Also, thank you to the subscriber who just upgraded to the Founders' level. That's the fourth upgrade I've had this week to the highest level possible. That's generosity that makes a huge difference to writers like myself, who don't have any other income sources.
I hope we/I get a few more "last-minute" subscribers. I started with a bang last Monday. Maybe I can finish with a bang too.
Also, thanks to everyone for reading all these "Subscriber" columns. This is it for those (for at least six more months). I've already started my next piece - which is on the "flu shot" scam.