This week’s first story comes at an opportune moment for me as Substack expands its offerings. I know I need a newsletter. I love writing long-form pieces that tie in with the topics I write my books about. But somehow, I have never gotten the hang of putting together a great—or even regular—newsletter. So I was very interested to read about a new development from one of the most popular newsletter platforms out there.
ALLi News Editor, Dan Holloway
In recent times, Substack has sought to be more than just a way for journalists to stay in touch with readers who used to follow their bylines. A few months ago, they moved lanes slightly, as many platforms are doing, to have a slightly more social feel to what they do by allowing creators to recommend other writers to their new followers.
Now, they have taken a step outside the subscription newsletter model altogether. Anyone can publish through Substack by creating an account, without having to go the full newsletter and subscriber route.
The difference between this and, say, a blog is that even if you have no subscribers and no desire when you start to turn your blog into a full-on newsletter, the site will allow people to subscribe to your posts, even to pay for them. And if you then convert to a more advanced newsletter, you will bring your subscribers and your posts with you.
They explain their rationale as democratization of the creative process and claim that this new expansion doubles down on their creator-first approach. They say:
“Making Substack as accessible as possible is essential to our mission of creating a new economic engine for culture.”
That culture is a “model that prioritizes ownership for creators and agency for subscribers.”
At the same time, they have rolled out more mobile features to make it easier to post from anywhere.
