Perhaps you're conflating too many things? Ask first, what value do I add to the world? (Arguably loads.) Then ask: How do I (best) distribute this value? To this perhaps one of your answers is Substack, which may or may not be one of many tools you use for this purpose. Then the follow on question is what value do you get back from it?
Given HCR's numbers (especially in comparison with Twitter) and her time on the platform, I suspect she may have (or at this point had) some sort of special platform deal with Substack which isn't publicly known beyond the basics of what the typical person could get. It's probably the modern digital equivalent of the sort of deal a highly visible academic might get from a magazine like The Atlantic. The pay scale may be different but we can obviously see that the daily output is wildly different too. If you're not aware, when Substack started they reached out to a wide variety of famous/semi-famous people and helped them to build a quick audience that would have taken them far more time and effort than they would otherwise have ever invested. Part of this was providing initial payment/seed money which was really their early investment for getting lots of quality content on the platform as a means of drawing the masses to come to the platform to both read and create as well. Unless you're a massive name working with them directly, you're unlikely to get this sort of deal today, and this means a tougher up hill slog for the "rest of us" as the platform doesn't need to pay for this sort of scaling/network effect now. If nothing else, knowing these early economies of Substack (and really lots of other social platforms, Medium certainly followed this script as an example) will help you to have a broader perspective and better compare your apples to others' oranges.
Thanks, Chris. Those are good points. HCR was a very well-known, bestselling author who made a very deft transition from academic to trade publishing. She was also the president of the now-defunct The Historical Society (est. at Boston University) and biggest contributor to its blog, "Historically Speaking". Heather posted 124 times in the four or five years it ran. I was second, with 46 posts (https://histsociety.blogspot.com/search/label/Dan%20Allosso%27s%20posts) -- although my name was removed from the list of contributors you'll see on the sidebar when we stopped being friends.
I can certainly imagine a scenario in which Heather's blog's exposure was enhanced by support from curators at Substack. It would have been in Substack's best interest at a time when she added a sense of credibility and gravitas. I imagine, though, that a lot of her current readership is based on writing what a particular audience wishes to read. Both in terms of topics and perspective. I'm not hoping to compete, nor am I willing to pursue topics and interpretations that aren't actually interesting to me and reflective of my perspective.
Before Heather and I stopped being friends, we actually discussed doing something together to keep the ball rolling when The Historical Society began to fail. Then things fell apart, which was partly my fault. In any case, my goal is not to challenge Heather's success with her blog but to look at some successful blogs and see what elements I might emulate while still following my own interests.
I see that she's using both Amazon and Bookshop affiliate accounts and links in her stream. Have you delved into this for supplementation (albeit probably small)? I've done it for years and it never nets enough to even cover my hosting costs, though it makes the hobbyist portion of the outlay a bit more comfortable.
Beyond this, you might appreciate her particular Substack on note books and note taking or her new book:
Hess, Jillian M. How Romantics and Victorians Organized Information: Commonplace Books, Scrapbooks, and Albums. 1st ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2022. https://amzn.to/3VY4RU7
Thanks again, Chris. I noticed Hess in your recommendations the other day and subscribed (free so far, but will probably upgrade at some point if her posts are as useful as they promise). She makes some good points about the work involved in teaching and keeping up a blog. I'm hoping I can set things up so the process will be somewhat organic and adjacent enough to my day-to-day work that it isn't too much.
Perhaps you're conflating too many things? Ask first, what value do I add to the world? (Arguably loads.) Then ask: How do I (best) distribute this value? To this perhaps one of your answers is Substack, which may or may not be one of many tools you use for this purpose. Then the follow on question is what value do you get back from it?
Given HCR's numbers (especially in comparison with Twitter) and her time on the platform, I suspect she may have (or at this point had) some sort of special platform deal with Substack which isn't publicly known beyond the basics of what the typical person could get. It's probably the modern digital equivalent of the sort of deal a highly visible academic might get from a magazine like The Atlantic. The pay scale may be different but we can obviously see that the daily output is wildly different too. If you're not aware, when Substack started they reached out to a wide variety of famous/semi-famous people and helped them to build a quick audience that would have taken them far more time and effort than they would otherwise have ever invested. Part of this was providing initial payment/seed money which was really their early investment for getting lots of quality content on the platform as a means of drawing the masses to come to the platform to both read and create as well. Unless you're a massive name working with them directly, you're unlikely to get this sort of deal today, and this means a tougher up hill slog for the "rest of us" as the platform doesn't need to pay for this sort of scaling/network effect now. If nothing else, knowing these early economies of Substack (and really lots of other social platforms, Medium certainly followed this script as an example) will help you to have a broader perspective and better compare your apples to others' oranges.
Thanks, Chris. Those are good points. HCR was a very well-known, bestselling author who made a very deft transition from academic to trade publishing. She was also the president of the now-defunct The Historical Society (est. at Boston University) and biggest contributor to its blog, "Historically Speaking". Heather posted 124 times in the four or five years it ran. I was second, with 46 posts (https://histsociety.blogspot.com/search/label/Dan%20Allosso%27s%20posts) -- although my name was removed from the list of contributors you'll see on the sidebar when we stopped being friends.
I can certainly imagine a scenario in which Heather's blog's exposure was enhanced by support from curators at Substack. It would have been in Substack's best interest at a time when she added a sense of credibility and gravitas. I imagine, though, that a lot of her current readership is based on writing what a particular audience wishes to read. Both in terms of topics and perspective. I'm not hoping to compete, nor am I willing to pursue topics and interpretations that aren't actually interesting to me and reflective of my perspective.
Before Heather and I stopped being friends, we actually discussed doing something together to keep the ball rolling when The Historical Society began to fail. Then things fell apart, which was partly my fault. In any case, my goal is not to challenge Heather's success with her blog but to look at some successful blogs and see what elements I might emulate while still following my own interests.
I just saw this morning that Jillian Hess, a professor/researcher/writer at a community college in New York, is also contemplating some of the same territory and trying to balance out the necessaries: https://jillianhess.substack.com/p/introducing-ps-a-new-paid-subscriber
I see that she's using both Amazon and Bookshop affiliate accounts and links in her stream. Have you delved into this for supplementation (albeit probably small)? I've done it for years and it never nets enough to even cover my hosting costs, though it makes the hobbyist portion of the outlay a bit more comfortable.
Beyond this, you might appreciate her particular Substack on note books and note taking or her new book:
Hess, Jillian M. How Romantics and Victorians Organized Information: Commonplace Books, Scrapbooks, and Albums. 1st ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2022. https://amzn.to/3VY4RU7
You're probably beyond needing them, but Substack has been building their writer resources and tips for helping to build paid audience. Details at https://on.substack.com/s/resources and https://on.substack.com/s/office-hours
Thanks again, Chris. I noticed Hess in your recommendations the other day and subscribed (free so far, but will probably upgrade at some point if her posts are as useful as they promise). She makes some good points about the work involved in teaching and keeping up a blog. I'm hoping I can set things up so the process will be somewhat organic and adjacent enough to my day-to-day work that it isn't too much.