As usual, I get this great idea and then when I look around I see that lots of other people have already had the same idea. I’m either a trendsetter or oblivious.
In this case, my great idea was based on someone else’s great idea—or at least their way of presenting their Substack newsletters, which was to make everything available to everyone—no special content for paid subscribers. Of course, this writer still offered the paid subscription options, but as far as the work she put out there—it’s free. Her subscription caption said something like, free and paid subscribers get the same exact content but there’s still an option to be a paid subscriber to support her work.
So I thought, I should do the same thing. It’s not like I had a ton of “special content” created for my paid subscribers. The main benefit is that the archive was reserved for paid subscribers and, another perk, every few months or so I send out a little note of gratitude for the support.
But I often go back into my “archive” and remove the paywall anyway so I can share it again. (Haha…archive. Like I’m the Library of Congress or something.)
Then, a day or two later, a friend’s newsletter showed up in my inbox with basically the same message—no more paywall. I figured I was onto something. And not only that, I should do something about it. I decided I’d just make all the paid posts free so when I share them or someone asks for one in particular, I can just send the link without going into the settings and update and make sure it worked, etc., etc.
Many of us writers are competing on the same platform with authors like Cheryl Strayed and Heather Cox Richardson and others who are literally making a living from publishing their work here. It’s incredible and overwhelming and crazy trying to play on this open, but not quite level, playing field. But I chose it—and I like it. The bulk of my subscribers are free subscriptions and I’m super happy to have some paid subscribers, too (thank you so much!). When I can, I support a writer or two or three through a paid subscription because I believe good work should be encouraged. Of course, not everyone can do that, but what everyone can do is sign up for a free subscription. Or comment on the posts or share them or click the little heart.
The writers below are a few of the ones who I subscribe to, and from whose accounts I’ve received subscriptions—another way to show support. I’d like to encourage you to check out the following:
Katrina Willis- Surrendering to Sappho
Bill Southern - Rule of Three
Yasmin Chopin – Place Writing
John Bluff – Honesty is the Best Probably
Lindsay Salatka – It’s a Thing
Randye Kaye – Perfectly Imperfect Life
Amy Abbot – The Raven Lunatic
Suzanne Marriott – Suzanne Marriott’s Author Substack
Carole Bumpus – Carole’s Substack
Sarah Towle – Tales of Humanity from the Borderlands
I’ll keep this up—sharing writers that I feel deserve your support. And please feel free to share the writers you like in the comments or message me. I’ll add them to the list.
xo
Cindy
I have teken the same free subscription approach to my new Substack newsletter/blog. I view any kind of subscription or following as supporting my work. I should add that I feel very blessed that after a long career as a physician I do not have to rely on paid subscriptiosn to support my work. Very blessed indeed and feel very fortunate to be writing in an age of scoial media. As frustrating as it might be it does offer a great work around to the bottleneck of traditional publishing. Long term goal is to establish a "platform" on Substack that might translate someday into a published work. (However I am not getting any younger and time's a'wasting!
I'm so honored to be included in this list. I love your words and your heart, Cindy, and I can't wait to check out the other Stacks you've recommended! XO