I’ve been seeing a lot of people talking about how Substack should offer batch subscriptions so that readers can more affordably subscribe to multiple authors.

For example, instead of subscribing to one person for $100/year, you can use that money to read any author’s work, up to a certain number of posts.

Ultimately, I believe that this payment model hurts the Authors.

There’s a difference between having a $1 bill (.85 cents after fees) thrown a you from some rando to access your valuable content, vs. someone who actually signs up for a recurring subscription based on the price you set.

Yes, it allows readers to have easier access, but it also cheapens the Artists’ work and reduces earning potential. It would degrade the environment of Substack overall.

One thing I think people often forget is that Substack Writers are not employees. Every payment option for Writers is something we can opt out of at any time-they are just options.

So this push to make the Netflix-style version of payments available here is also really weird because it assumes everyone is going to offer it. I wouldn’t.