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> The business only works when I’m working. This is the toughest part of the content treadmill. I’ve been blogging for 10+ years, newslettering for ~7, and inf

by Swizec 5y ago

> The business only works when I’m working. This is the toughest part of the content treadmill. I’ve been blogging for 10+ years, newslettering for ~7, and infoproducting for ~6. It’s a tougher gig than many realize. For the past year or so I’ve been trying to figure out how to get off the treadmill but keep newslettering. Experiments with evergreen sequences are proving very fruitful. People love reading old stuff if it’s good. The part I haven’t figured out yet is how to monetize. That seems easier when you’re running the treadmill because you can always sell new stuff to old fans.

devnull3 5y ago
I have no experience in blogging/newsletter let alone monetizing. If you see the overall trend of content across the board: movies, music, tik-tok videos, learning material/courses, they are increasingly getting commoditized from consumer point of view. The kind of content "its-so-awesome-it-sells-itself" is very rare. Newletters are essentially curated content for specific audience. Even if there is a content profitable for a while then it will be made into a commodity soon because it will attract so many folks. Also, the issue with content from individuals compared to content from companies: Scale. The dynamic of working alone vs making money is hard to pull off if not impossible.
- richardatlarge 5y ago
  Scale affects many things, including resources for investigations or having a whistleblower show up in your inbox. For so many blogs/newsletters it reads like it’s all from the sidelines, all secondary
weird-eye-issue 5y ago
In the publishing space I only do evergreen content
ultimoo 5y ago
Any tips or advice for someone who is newly venturing into writing a fairly niche tech substack newsletter?
- wyclif 5y ago
  As someone who reads exactly those kinds of newsletters, I would say the more niche you can be the better. There's already an abundance of general tech publications that are mediocre, with a small number of stellar ones popping out. What tech nerds really need is something that embraces the niche tech that they use every day. Right now, the example I'm thinking of was a few years ago when Ansible became a thing and a few people started writing about it. It could really be anything from specific languages, frameworks, or methodologies.
wombatpm 5y ago
I’m waiting for sub stack to start grouping writers together with coordinated schedules. They’ll eventually reinvent the magazine
- richardatlarge 5y ago
  Would they though? Magazines live on ads. No ads on Substack. I really hate ads, too
- ALittleLight 5y ago
  I expect it will be like a build-your-own magazine. Maybe you subscribe for 10-15 dollars a month and get to configure a list of 5-10 substackers who would take an equal share.
  - richardatlarge 5y ago
    Or better yet, add a carnival feature where you pay x amount and you can create your own Substack reader, like building your own personal magazine
    - wyclif 5y ago
      Theoretically, they can already do this with Substack Reader, though the feature isn't available yet. But it wouldn't surprise me if they had it coded up and ready to go already.
  - giansegato 5y ago
    It's already happening. It's called Every, it's a writer collective that works exactly as you describe. Its founder was the first Substack employee, that resigned to become a writer full time.
    - richardatlarge 5y ago
      Every is a business oriented collective, just to clarify
Kye 5y ago
Gumroad recently made all features free to use, so I've been experimenting with workflows for just this reason now that I can make as many as I want. I like to make fractal art wallpapers, and people seem to prefer getting them on a steady schedule rather than all at once. I used Patreon's post scheduling, but the problem was new subscribers ended up with a blob and an empty queue if I didn't keep adding to it. Now it's a Gumroad membership product with a workflow that sends out the same series of wallpapers whenever someone subscribes: https://www.foxdelight.com/membership https://www.foxdelight.com/membership I still have to add to the queue, but I could take some months off making new ones and people would still get something.

by Swizec 5y ago

devnull3 5y ago

I have no experience in blogging/newsletter let alone monetizing. If you see the overall trend of content across the board: movies, music, tik-tok videos, learning material/courses, they are increasingly getting commoditized from consumer point of view. The kind of content "its-so-awesome-it-sells-itself" is very rare. Newletters are essentially curated content for specific audience. Even if there is a content profitable for a while then it will be made into a commodity soon because it will attract so many folks. Also, the issue with content from individuals compared to content from companies: Scale. The dynamic of working alone vs making money is hard to pull off if not impossible.

richardatlarge 5y ago
Scale affects many things, including resources for investigations or having a whistleblower show up in your inbox. For so many blogs/newsletters it reads like it’s all from the sidelines, all secondary

weird-eye-issue 5y ago

In the publishing space I only do evergreen content

ultimoo 5y ago

Any tips or advice for someone who is newly venturing into writing a fairly niche tech substack newsletter?

wyclif 5y ago
As someone who reads exactly those kinds of newsletters, I would say the more niche you can be the better. There's already an abundance of general tech publications that are mediocre, with a small number of stellar ones popping out. What tech nerds really need is something that embraces the niche tech that they use every day. Right now, the example I'm thinking of was a few years ago when Ansible became a thing and a few people started writing about it. It could really be anything from specific languages, frameworks, or methodologies.

wombatpm 5y ago

I’m waiting for sub stack to start grouping writers together with coordinated schedules. They’ll eventually reinvent the magazine

richardatlarge 5y ago
Would they though? Magazines live on ads. No ads on Substack. I really hate ads, too
ALittleLight 5y ago
I expect it will be like a build-your-own magazine. Maybe you subscribe for 10-15 dollars a month and get to configure a list of 5-10 substackers who would take an equal share.
- richardatlarge 5y ago
  Or better yet, add a carnival feature where you pay x amount and you can create your own Substack reader, like building your own personal magazine
  - wyclif 5y ago
    Theoretically, they can already do this with Substack Reader, though the feature isn't available yet. But it wouldn't surprise me if they had it coded up and ready to go already.
- giansegato 5y ago
  It's already happening. It's called Every, it's a writer collective that works exactly as you describe. Its founder was the first Substack employee, that resigned to become a writer full time.
  - richardatlarge 5y ago
    Every is a business oriented collective, just to clarify

Kye 5y ago

Gumroad recently made all features free to use, so I've been experimenting with workflows for just this reason now that I can make as many as I want. I like to make fractal art wallpapers, and people seem to prefer getting them on a steady schedule rather than all at once. I used Patreon's post scheduling, but the problem was new subscribers ended up with a blob and an empty queue if I didn't keep adding to it. Now it's a Gumroad membership product with a workflow that sends out the same series of wallpapers whenever someone subscribes: https://www.foxdelight.com/membership https://www.foxdelight.com/membership I still have to add to the queue, but I could take some months off making new ones and people would still get something.