A really interesting analysis - thanks, Tom - I've really enjoyed both of your posts on this subject. And yes, I'm still subscribed to Caribunkle!
Your post last week encouraged me to gird my loins and curate my own list of Stacks I subscribe to. Your findings under Question 4 were interesting, particularly the frequency of posts being a common reason to unsubscribe. I found that those I unsubscribed to were amongst those posting very long reads, purely because I find I put myself under pressure to read everything that arrives in my inbox and I was finding the very long posts which are the habit of some Stackers to be an increasingly daunting prospect to keep on top of. It's not the frequency of posts that ever bothers me - I'm much more comfortable reading a two-minute post from the same Stacker seven days a week than I am reading a single fourteen-minute weekly one.
Yeah, I’m with you Rebecca, both as a reader and a writer: I worry that my fiction chapters are a bit too much for folks, and I find the same from some that I read. I have an idea about making the fiction a separate subscription, but I’m not quite sure how to manage it honestly. And I also did a little curation last week, but dammit, I need to do more!
This is an interesting insight! I've been wondering if publishing longer posts twice per month instead of shorter posts once per week might be a better balance. After seeing your perspective now I'm not so sure.
Oct 23, 2022·edited Oct 23, 2022Liked by Tom Pendergast
I like reading (and writing!) posts that take 5-10 minutes to read, and I find that (most) longer ones than that are the ones that I choose to skip. But there are certainly plenty of readers out there looking to get their teeth into something longer than my preference. And there are lots of factors to influence this - I mean, the complexity (or not) of the subject matter - or the writer's treatment of it - obviously plays a huge part.
Good stuff, Tom. This is a valuable analysis for readers and writers alike, especially as we try to figure out this newsletter/personal publication/emailed blog economy.
One request I just made to the Substack team: churn rates from subscribers you receive from the recommendation engine. Substack's incentive is to generate as many subscribers as possible and to convert as many free subscribers to paid subscribers as possible. They don't care where the money comes from or which way it flows, as long as the money comes in and flows.
Because of this, I fear some of their mechanisms may create an artificial sense of engagement. For example, I've received 12 subscribers from a Substack way outside my niche. I'm grateful, but I worry that when those readers see my stories they're likely going to be like "WTF?" and quickly unsubscribe. That doesn't tell me much about the quality of my posts/content because many of them weren't target readers anyway.
Really interesting NY Times article! I'm what I'd call a 'naïve' Substacker (I don't know how better to express it) in that I enjoy just knowing that the words in my Stack are being given the opportunity to be read by people who aren't me! It's nice to have that as an impetus to write, and in the process of writing and posting and reading and commenting I am learning a great deal about writing, which is exactly what I'm after.
This line from the article: “The secret sauce of Substack is enabling that sense of ownership and independence for the creator or the writer, and it’s expressed through the direct relationship they have with their audience” is why I'm here. I'm not necessarily looking for a huge volume of subscribers, likes or comments, and my words are free for anyone to read.
Just read it. NYT isn't wrong, but they're also scared to death of companies like Substack, so they're relishing in the cooling off period. Traditional media benefits from economies of scale that no newsletter will ever achieve. So the value prop of an individual Substack is quite limited unless the content is extremely differentiated.
In my case, humor content is a dime a dozen. And fiction is devalued. So the odds of people paying up for my writing, even though I think my voice is legitimately unique, seem long.
That said, I'm happy Substack is offering a platform for me to write and meet other writers and artists. If the model ends up being a few ultra-successful celebrities subsidize the rest of us, well, that's capitalism I guess.
It really makes me wish I had 1) spent more time on my survey to make it better and 2) had been able to include that survey in the post itself, and not bounce people out (which I think reduced the number of respondents). Though hell, you found the same gap between readers and responders, so it’s hard to say.
I LOVE surveys. Do them all the time. I'm actually part of this weekly Gallup panel and last week did a 30-minute online call with the Financial Times to discuss one of their new products. But, I used to work in market research and as a financial analyst, so I love this stuff.
I have found the recommendations feature to be a double-edge sword for that reason. Fortunately for me, the unsubscribe side of that sword is very dull. However, when recommendations were introduced, I knew there would be unsubscribes more often from people who do the subscribe quick click through. It's like when the "Sign up for our promotional emails" is checked by default on purchase forms or signups, and people gloss it over, then wonder why they're getting these emails. They want to finish the transaction quickly.
Exactly. On the net I'm way ahead from recommendations, which is awesome! Ultimately I just want to expose other people to the nonsense in my brain. :-)
Been meaning to comment on your PU post, Tom, but got destracted reading Amran and Rebecca's 'stacks as I enjoyed their comments here, so thanks for that. I love being on the 'stack, pretending I'm a writer ... past dozen years I've used Wordpress ... Substack is so much easier. Onward!
I just appreciate the opportunity to Unsubscribe. What I'm seeing more of from commercial senders are: 1) I hit Unsubscribe and it does nothing. The emails I don't want keep coming. And 2) Emails I get that don't even have an Unsubscribe option at the bottom. I think the only way to get rid of these is to change one's email address.
I subscribe cause I love your Mom😉
Ha ha, now that’s a new one! I’m happy to have you.
Say hi to your Mom next time you chat!
And now, if I don’t, she can bust me on it ... if she reads the comments!
A really interesting analysis - thanks, Tom - I've really enjoyed both of your posts on this subject. And yes, I'm still subscribed to Caribunkle!
Your post last week encouraged me to gird my loins and curate my own list of Stacks I subscribe to. Your findings under Question 4 were interesting, particularly the frequency of posts being a common reason to unsubscribe. I found that those I unsubscribed to were amongst those posting very long reads, purely because I find I put myself under pressure to read everything that arrives in my inbox and I was finding the very long posts which are the habit of some Stackers to be an increasingly daunting prospect to keep on top of. It's not the frequency of posts that ever bothers me - I'm much more comfortable reading a two-minute post from the same Stacker seven days a week than I am reading a single fourteen-minute weekly one.
Yeah, I’m with you Rebecca, both as a reader and a writer: I worry that my fiction chapters are a bit too much for folks, and I find the same from some that I read. I have an idea about making the fiction a separate subscription, but I’m not quite sure how to manage it honestly. And I also did a little curation last week, but dammit, I need to do more!
This is an interesting insight! I've been wondering if publishing longer posts twice per month instead of shorter posts once per week might be a better balance. After seeing your perspective now I'm not so sure.
I like reading (and writing!) posts that take 5-10 minutes to read, and I find that (most) longer ones than that are the ones that I choose to skip. But there are certainly plenty of readers out there looking to get their teeth into something longer than my preference. And there are lots of factors to influence this - I mean, the complexity (or not) of the subject matter - or the writer's treatment of it - obviously plays a huge part.
Good stuff, Tom. This is a valuable analysis for readers and writers alike, especially as we try to figure out this newsletter/personal publication/emailed blog economy.
One request I just made to the Substack team: churn rates from subscribers you receive from the recommendation engine. Substack's incentive is to generate as many subscribers as possible and to convert as many free subscribers to paid subscribers as possible. They don't care where the money comes from or which way it flows, as long as the money comes in and flows.
Because of this, I fear some of their mechanisms may create an artificial sense of engagement. For example, I've received 12 subscribers from a Substack way outside my niche. I'm grateful, but I worry that when those readers see my stories they're likely going to be like "WTF?" and quickly unsubscribe. That doesn't tell me much about the quality of my posts/content because many of them weren't target readers anyway.
Stuff to keep an eye on.
It’s a curious game we’re trying to figure out, isn’t it? I like your line of thinking on hearing from Substack, so let me know what you learn. Did you see the recent NYT piece on Substack? Here it is: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/20/business/media/newsletters-bubble.html?unlocked_article_code=AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACEIPuonUktbfqYhlSFUZAybfQMMmqBCdnr_KzbA9jzj4ITeOTTte0-kPGM2K5k3HYaclZ8c2237TYu59B4IVZa44yP5DbQsqQhO0o5CAldMJc3lu9I7tByY8gM2UGO1or26vPmW3cKIhnLGy5kzeOWO8D_DPwDZ2clYe1Jhid1Gs2HMOxb6UUbImn4kjgopyQ8xyVjwCZyKVv_D3CB4YOd2ObRHU6gVeSPgOEHiI3obas-RcBV0UXVHWT3p_4nI_6MdePL4VPKX_Jx0jfKnukJH3Dh_V-y5iDBmI9bgm9kE&smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare
Really interesting NY Times article! I'm what I'd call a 'naïve' Substacker (I don't know how better to express it) in that I enjoy just knowing that the words in my Stack are being given the opportunity to be read by people who aren't me! It's nice to have that as an impetus to write, and in the process of writing and posting and reading and commenting I am learning a great deal about writing, which is exactly what I'm after.
This line from the article: “The secret sauce of Substack is enabling that sense of ownership and independence for the creator or the writer, and it’s expressed through the direct relationship they have with their audience” is why I'm here. I'm not necessarily looking for a huge volume of subscribers, likes or comments, and my words are free for anyone to read.
you and Amran both expressed my feelings about why I’m here pretty well. Some days (like today) I feel like I’m just here for the conversations!
Just read it. NYT isn't wrong, but they're also scared to death of companies like Substack, so they're relishing in the cooling off period. Traditional media benefits from economies of scale that no newsletter will ever achieve. So the value prop of an individual Substack is quite limited unless the content is extremely differentiated.
In my case, humor content is a dime a dozen. And fiction is devalued. So the odds of people paying up for my writing, even though I think my voice is legitimately unique, seem long.
That said, I'm happy Substack is offering a platform for me to write and meet other writers and artists. If the model ends up being a few ultra-successful celebrities subsidize the rest of us, well, that's capitalism I guess.
It really makes me wish I had 1) spent more time on my survey to make it better and 2) had been able to include that survey in the post itself, and not bounce people out (which I think reduced the number of respondents). Though hell, you found the same gap between readers and responders, so it’s hard to say.
People hate surveys.
Ooooh, I love a survey! Mind you, I do sometimes worry that I'm rather too keen on giving my opinion on things... 🤣
I LOVE surveys. Do them all the time. I'm actually part of this weekly Gallup panel and last week did a 30-minute online call with the Financial Times to discuss one of their new products. But, I used to work in market research and as a financial analyst, so I love this stuff.
I have found the recommendations feature to be a double-edge sword for that reason. Fortunately for me, the unsubscribe side of that sword is very dull. However, when recommendations were introduced, I knew there would be unsubscribes more often from people who do the subscribe quick click through. It's like when the "Sign up for our promotional emails" is checked by default on purchase forms or signups, and people gloss it over, then wonder why they're getting these emails. They want to finish the transaction quickly.
Exactly. On the net I'm way ahead from recommendations, which is awesome! Ultimately I just want to expose other people to the nonsense in my brain. :-)
Been meaning to comment on your PU post, Tom, but got destracted reading Amran and Rebecca's 'stacks as I enjoyed their comments here, so thanks for that. I love being on the 'stack, pretending I'm a writer ... past dozen years I've used Wordpress ... Substack is so much easier. Onward!
I just appreciate the opportunity to Unsubscribe. What I'm seeing more of from commercial senders are: 1) I hit Unsubscribe and it does nothing. The emails I don't want keep coming. And 2) Emails I get that don't even have an Unsubscribe option at the bottom. I think the only way to get rid of these is to change one's email address.
Good point well made!