[StevePerkins]

Substack is "Medium + OnlyFans". It attracts content creators because there's not yet alternatives that offer such turnkey monetization (e.g. Patreon is all a bit more DIY). It works for readers because Substack pulled in some real heavy hitters as early adopters (maybe through enhanced financial incentives?), and so the Substack brand has been linked to those prestigious content creators.

Once they start promoting and monetizing the PLATFORM itself too much (aka "doing a fantastic job of surfacing all the content"), then the brand will lose its prestigious shine. It will become associated with "Twitter randos", rather than "former columnists at Rolling Stone and The Atlantic", etc. It will become more like Medium.

That in and of itself isn't the death knell. But that nail in the coffin will come as soon as competing turnkey-monetization alternatives emerge with fresher brand reputation. And I'm sure those competitors will emerge once Substack opens up the door by dialing down its prestige to promote itself more broadly.

Honestly, I don't know why people invest so much in online content. The early "hot new brand" stage has the shelf life of milk. Some of these brands stick around forever (Slate, Salon, etc), but it seems like they're slashed to skeleton staff after the first 5 or so years when the hotness cools. I guess the long tail of that white dwarf remnant stage trickles in enough revenue to justify keeping them around after people have moved onto the next thing?

[throw_m239339]

Substack gives a voice the the people that have been shun from far left and state sanctioned circles, like Twitter or Medium. This is certainly neither Medium (which bans people that do not follow progressive morals or ideals) nor OnlyFans (which is a porn website).

Paid news letters aren't new and didn't wait either Onlyfan or Medium to be a thing.