Notes
Substack is a phenomenal platform for extending your reach slowly and geometrically over time and for monetizing an existing large following built elsewhere (in top media outlets).
Helping new, talented authors generate exponential growth from zero remains something the leadership can still work on.
It’s clear that recommendations drive exponentiality…this is not a platform built for or desirous of silly post virality (great!).
However, by not screening who can become a writer, there is tons of noise in the 1,000 and below subscriber tier of publications. There are thousands of people learning how to write through their pubs.
One seasoned NY Times editor put it to me like this “90% of it is garbage.” Not my words, but I can’t say I violently disagree.
This ‘noise’ makes it infeasible for more successful authors to help emerging authors generously by recommending down the chain. And this is how functional communities operate (through Master-Apprentice baptism).
I know from experience selling my consulting services in the startup world that top talent in any hierarchical exchange ecosystem will not waste time trying to find the diamond in the rough at the bottom, so they can help out. This requires the machinery of a venture capital firm willing to pay associates to filter thousands of companies. And this is why I also do not work with startups (90% can’t benefit from my services or won’t pay), so I have to write the whole bottom tier off due to the infeasibility of hunting for business there.
So, on Substack, naturally, the top authors can not possibly be expected to waste their time ‘hunting’ for the next among the sub-1000s.
It’s a simple issue of probability math and the fact that these folks are super busy.
So, the top writers who are trying to be generous generally focus on those authors they already know (long before Substack), or who are recommended by close friends in the author community they built off the platform.
is one of the rare, generous spirits here who seems to dive into the moshpit of sub-1,000s out of curiosity.
Again, screening who can become a writer is in the best interest of those trying to get ‘baptized’ and the entire network of writers.
The monetization on Substack comes from readers anyways, not having tons of writers.
I no longer see a benefit to letting anyone sign up and start writing.
Strong communities are hierarchical, gatekeep entry, enforce rules, and create vertical obligation (master-apprentice).
No single digital network has ever really understood this basic anthropological truth in my experience, which is why they eventually fail.
Let the contrarians sing…