After 12 years of making videos, writing, and sharing on social media I was disillusioned and ready to quit. My like minded friends were banned outright or shadow banned. This took the wind out of my sails.
Thanks to Glen Greenwald, I found Substack. His fearless reporting over the years made me a fan of his. I am happy here and glad to see it grow with more writers, commenters, and idea makers.
I wrote thousands of posts in Blogger and Wordpress for over a decade. In a few months here on Substack I’m finding the supportive community aspect of the platform an unexpected gem!
This is excellent background to the Substack story I didn’t know. This is an incredible platform built on the quality of life improvements that writers have always desired but which traditional publishers have never cared to listen to and committed to solving. But Substack listened and then solved. 🙏
The nice thing about having Bill as the first creator on Substack. Is that now 5 years later , Chinese news is one of the best categories on Substack for unique and independent perspectives.
Some of the best creators manage to be pioneers and create a cascade of category insight that helps the platform earn credibility and pursue a higher level of information.
Substack has thus evolved historically, with some categories very strong and others entirely missing. This suggests that for new writers there's pioneering ground to work with. Some of you might be surprised at the niche creators that become successful on this platform.
Substack is this one of the best places online for writers to scale the readership. What does this mean for the future of writing? It means we can create on more than algorithmic time sinks and eyeball machines.
It turns out without those constraints much more interesting writing can take place. Even something you might wait a few days to read each week with enthusiastic commitment.
On Substack's there's constantly new Newsletters coming into being thus creating a canvas for readers that's overall a highly engaging reading experience.
first-ever Substack post, however, he had brought in more than a hundred thousand dollars.
That sums up this sub'stance' landscape. What people do is count money and just about one or two people. There is no regard for what is being written or what consequence (real impact) it may have. Social media is not even equipped for that. There is no value system for that. We know very well, that 99% of the rest do not earn, not even hundreds of dollars. Hence, congratulation Sino_Type_Content Success.
Money is how our economy keeps track of things. If a project does not make money, it withers and dies. There is no way around this, that I can see. A good friend of mine had an excellent specialty (DIY) Audio magazine, Sound Practices in the 1990s, and the internet killed it, because nobody bought subscriptions any more. Substack may be threading this needle as well as anybody can.
I keep my blog free as a public service, as do many of us who have been blogging about COVID and gene-therapy "vaccine products". Some enter a paid-subscriber option, because it's hard being fired-for-principle, while still keeping the information completely open to all.
Hi and thanks for the comment. That economy (which you are trying to justify) itself is faulty, unfair and rather outdated. And there are ways not just around it, also beyond - and perhaps better. Just that folks don't care to learn or go beyond the conventional means and mindsets. I am glad all the information (or value) that you put out is free (public access). I too have a music background and putting out a free blog and newsletter is fun, sustainable and worth it - when there is something interesting to present, or learn and share. "The Internet" did not kill anything or anyone. What 'kills' is the vicious dog-eat-dog ethics of any market capitalism based work. Hence, the Uber driver is the same as a writer or Substack or some hipster philosopher / graphic designer on Patreon. Hope based Labour. We all hope to win. A few do, the rest are deemed losers?
You see, substack or xyz - eventually is valued for the profits it may make (growth) - however we are not. Rather not. Adios!
I mean to observe about "our" economy, not to "try to justify" it.
We're dead without it, and none of us can blog unless somebody is making profits.
To afford to put out a print publication now, a person must serve a payer, which is not subscribers, but might be the CIA or another entity with an interest in access to the eyes of a vast public, to influence that readership ... for some reason which ultimately provides money.
We are all caught up in a hierarchy of eating and being eaten.
How do we look to a dirt-farmer in South Sudan?
Somebody profits from our human urges to communicate socially through the internet, which seems to be peer-to-peer, but is connected through a network which is owned, controlled and intimately monitored by AI, so that it can be subtly directed, influenced and censored, in the interests of the powerful, which makes it subservient to those same interests ...
Hi John Day MD. Since you have pointed out several things (some true and some not) which necessarily do not add to an objective conclusion.
1. The internet killed (or replaced or rendered useless) many people and their existing economies and jobs. However it also gave rise to thousands of new jobs - many of them "bullshit jobs" (David Graeber 2012). Some of those bullshit job writers, also thrive on Substack.
2. It's not just the CIA (guess your American). The Chinese, the british, the indian, the philipinos, russians etc are also doing the same (called surveillance states). Also big-tech is doing the same. Harvesting our minds (or trying to desperately). However one can always divest from such systems or states - by divest one has to leave behind an economy or system, to transition towards another. Takes time, but it's way more rewarding than "killing" or getting killed!
Example - What taxi drivers did in Taiwan (Why and how Uber was eventually kicked out of Taiwan) Did people stop taking taxis? Did people go crazy? No. Life goes on.
3. You or anyone has to goto Sudan, to see (or know) a dirt farmer.
You I can connect, over the internet or substack or facecrook or meta-curse or what-have-you. Point being, it's not an economy. nor is it sustainable or equitable. Is the internet (in it's current form) worse for democracy and common people? Maybe. Adios!
I am American, but have lived and traveled in other countries, and in remote areas without utilities. No, not specifically South Sudan. It just came to mind.
I do work the soil with my hands to grow vegetables and pull weeds.
I was fired for COVID-vaccine-refusal, after treating people with multiple antivirals for a year and a half, the only doctor at my clinic to do so.
What kind of audio do you fancy? I started building speakers in Japan in 1974, while I was attending high-school. Lots of audio since then... Here's that magazine my friend Joe wrote until the internet killed his business. Sound Practices: (free-online, but it's dead) https://www.enjoythemusic.com/magazine/sound_practices/
Hi John Day. Agreed we don't see things differently. Also very interesting, the part "fired for COVID-vaccine-refusal, after treating people with multiple antivirals for,,,"
Also glad to hear you work with soil, hands, pull, etc. It's your connection to the living world I suppose.
As for me, Audio is literally Life. Check my blog and you might fancy or dig something. I basically dedicate more time to ecology, electronic music and feminist action. These three focus groups or say fields of interest, form part of the writing (text) and bits of music (sound).
As for full time music, 22years on, I think it's finished! For me, that career needs divestment - in order to invest somewhere else. And I love synthesizers, a bit more than human beings. Pleasure to speak to you!
Congratulations! Great to hear this origin story. Substack has been a unique place to commune with other writers, develop your individual voice, and build a readership. Love how some of the beginning struggles were pivoted into some of the model we see today.
I’m over a year on Substack and enjoying the platform. Hope to be among those big success stories one day.
Incredible. It’s so valuable for other Substack writers like me to read and hear these stories of success: and also how Substack was built. It deepens our trust in the long term commitment, and this vibrant community. Thanks to Bill and Substack, both.
Congratulations on 5 years and a great platform! 🎉
Between this story and the last editorial where you said Substack was really an emailed blog, could we get more integration with Wordpress in the future?
I love the way substack has burst onto the underground media landscape like a breath of fresh air just as we were about to asphyxiate from the noxious fumes of MSM. Thank you and all the publishers for this exciting platform that is set on an exponential growth now for a news and info hungry world. I hope you all are rewarded with the gold you need and deserve and keep what gives you a comfortable and becoming lifestyle and then pour the rest into taking down the Cabal of evil. Happy publishing....Rx
After 12 years of making videos, writing, and sharing on social media I was disillusioned and ready to quit. My like minded friends were banned outright or shadow banned. This took the wind out of my sails.
Thanks to Glen Greenwald, I found Substack. His fearless reporting over the years made me a fan of his. I am happy here and glad to see it grow with more writers, commenters, and idea makers.
Thank you for giving us a voice.
Greenwald also put Substack on my radar.
I wrote thousands of posts in Blogger and Wordpress for over a decade. In a few months here on Substack I’m finding the supportive community aspect of the platform an unexpected gem!
Fantastic yarn Hamish. Congrats to you both. Amazing origin story.
This is excellent background to the Substack story I didn’t know. This is an incredible platform built on the quality of life improvements that writers have always desired but which traditional publishers have never cared to listen to and committed to solving. But Substack listened and then solved. 🙏
Hi... as you claim "an incredible platform built "
Can you prove it ? validate it's incredibility.
Substack is traditional by all means - if we see how it makes people compete?
for attention, traffic and the revenues which may happen (or not)
Great story. Pioneers all.
I love Sinocism. It is so helpful to understanding China. Thanks for writing about the origin story, I had no idea.
The nice thing about having Bill as the first creator on Substack. Is that now 5 years later , Chinese news is one of the best categories on Substack for unique and independent perspectives.
Some of the best creators manage to be pioneers and create a cascade of category insight that helps the platform earn credibility and pursue a higher level of information.
Substack has thus evolved historically, with some categories very strong and others entirely missing. This suggests that for new writers there's pioneering ground to work with. Some of you might be surprised at the niche creators that become successful on this platform.
Substack is this one of the best places online for writers to scale the readership. What does this mean for the future of writing? It means we can create on more than algorithmic time sinks and eyeball machines.
It turns out without those constraints much more interesting writing can take place. Even something you might wait a few days to read each week with enthusiastic commitment.
On Substack's there's constantly new Newsletters coming into being thus creating a canvas for readers that's overall a highly engaging reading experience.
Long live Bill and down with the CCP!
Huh. I just checked: My first issue was six months to the day after this! Pretty cool.
Congrats, Bill! Thanks for paving the way. I just celebrated two years. https://teendramawhore.substack.com/p/teendramawhore-anniversary-second
Inspiring origin story. Thanks for writing this and thanks to Bill for believing in Substack, you paved the way for a lot of us😆
Congratulations! Nice work!
Thank you, Kevin!
first-ever Substack post, however, he had brought in more than a hundred thousand dollars.
That sums up this sub'stance' landscape. What people do is count money and just about one or two people. There is no regard for what is being written or what consequence (real impact) it may have. Social media is not even equipped for that. There is no value system for that. We know very well, that 99% of the rest do not earn, not even hundreds of dollars. Hence, congratulation Sino_Type_Content Success.
Money is how our economy keeps track of things. If a project does not make money, it withers and dies. There is no way around this, that I can see. A good friend of mine had an excellent specialty (DIY) Audio magazine, Sound Practices in the 1990s, and the internet killed it, because nobody bought subscriptions any more. Substack may be threading this needle as well as anybody can.
I keep my blog free as a public service, as do many of us who have been blogging about COVID and gene-therapy "vaccine products". Some enter a paid-subscriber option, because it's hard being fired-for-principle, while still keeping the information completely open to all.
Hi and thanks for the comment. That economy (which you are trying to justify) itself is faulty, unfair and rather outdated. And there are ways not just around it, also beyond - and perhaps better. Just that folks don't care to learn or go beyond the conventional means and mindsets. I am glad all the information (or value) that you put out is free (public access). I too have a music background and putting out a free blog and newsletter is fun, sustainable and worth it - when there is something interesting to present, or learn and share. "The Internet" did not kill anything or anyone. What 'kills' is the vicious dog-eat-dog ethics of any market capitalism based work. Hence, the Uber driver is the same as a writer or Substack or some hipster philosopher / graphic designer on Patreon. Hope based Labour. We all hope to win. A few do, the rest are deemed losers?
You see, substack or xyz - eventually is valued for the profits it may make (growth) - however we are not. Rather not. Adios!
The internet did kill pay for print publications.
I mean to observe about "our" economy, not to "try to justify" it.
We're dead without it, and none of us can blog unless somebody is making profits.
To afford to put out a print publication now, a person must serve a payer, which is not subscribers, but might be the CIA or another entity with an interest in access to the eyes of a vast public, to influence that readership ... for some reason which ultimately provides money.
We are all caught up in a hierarchy of eating and being eaten.
How do we look to a dirt-farmer in South Sudan?
Somebody profits from our human urges to communicate socially through the internet, which seems to be peer-to-peer, but is connected through a network which is owned, controlled and intimately monitored by AI, so that it can be subtly directed, influenced and censored, in the interests of the powerful, which makes it subservient to those same interests ...
Hi John Day MD. Since you have pointed out several things (some true and some not) which necessarily do not add to an objective conclusion.
1. The internet killed (or replaced or rendered useless) many people and their existing economies and jobs. However it also gave rise to thousands of new jobs - many of them "bullshit jobs" (David Graeber 2012). Some of those bullshit job writers, also thrive on Substack.
2. It's not just the CIA (guess your American). The Chinese, the british, the indian, the philipinos, russians etc are also doing the same (called surveillance states). Also big-tech is doing the same. Harvesting our minds (or trying to desperately). However one can always divest from such systems or states - by divest one has to leave behind an economy or system, to transition towards another. Takes time, but it's way more rewarding than "killing" or getting killed!
Example - What taxi drivers did in Taiwan (Why and how Uber was eventually kicked out of Taiwan) Did people stop taking taxis? Did people go crazy? No. Life goes on.
3. You or anyone has to goto Sudan, to see (or know) a dirt farmer.
You I can connect, over the internet or substack or facecrook or meta-curse or what-have-you. Point being, it's not an economy. nor is it sustainable or equitable. Is the internet (in it's current form) worse for democracy and common people? Maybe. Adios!
I don't think that we see things so differently.
I am American, but have lived and traveled in other countries, and in remote areas without utilities. No, not specifically South Sudan. It just came to mind.
I do work the soil with my hands to grow vegetables and pull weeds.
I was fired for COVID-vaccine-refusal, after treating people with multiple antivirals for a year and a half, the only doctor at my clinic to do so.
What kind of audio do you fancy? I started building speakers in Japan in 1974, while I was attending high-school. Lots of audio since then... Here's that magazine my friend Joe wrote until the internet killed his business. Sound Practices: (free-online, but it's dead) https://www.enjoythemusic.com/magazine/sound_practices/
Hi John Day. Agreed we don't see things differently. Also very interesting, the part "fired for COVID-vaccine-refusal, after treating people with multiple antivirals for,,,"
Also glad to hear you work with soil, hands, pull, etc. It's your connection to the living world I suppose.
As for me, Audio is literally Life. Check my blog and you might fancy or dig something. I basically dedicate more time to ecology, electronic music and feminist action. These three focus groups or say fields of interest, form part of the writing (text) and bits of music (sound).
As for full time music, 22years on, I think it's finished! For me, that career needs divestment - in order to invest somewhere else. And I love synthesizers, a bit more than human beings. Pleasure to speak to you!
Also
Will check your enjoythemusic.com
thanks!
Some of us were on blogger all alone and saved by you.
Wish we could footnote block quotes!
Congratulations! Great to hear this origin story. Substack has been a unique place to commune with other writers, develop your individual voice, and build a readership. Love how some of the beginning struggles were pivoted into some of the model we see today.
I’m over a year on Substack and enjoying the platform. Hope to be among those big success stories one day.
Incredible. It’s so valuable for other Substack writers like me to read and hear these stories of success: and also how Substack was built. It deepens our trust in the long term commitment, and this vibrant community. Thanks to Bill and Substack, both.
Congratulations on 5 years and a great platform! 🎉
Between this story and the last editorial where you said Substack was really an emailed blog, could we get more integration with Wordpress in the future?
Great read indeed! This changed the whole model of writing for advertisers to writing for subscribers
I love the way substack has burst onto the underground media landscape like a breath of fresh air just as we were about to asphyxiate from the noxious fumes of MSM. Thank you and all the publishers for this exciting platform that is set on an exponential growth now for a news and info hungry world. I hope you all are rewarded with the gold you need and deserve and keep what gives you a comfortable and becoming lifestyle and then pour the rest into taking down the Cabal of evil. Happy publishing....Rx