As to the Imposter Syndrome, we all share it. Your writings are worthwhile, Nick, as are many substacks. What I have found with The Allligator Blog is that not many people are interested in paying for content, regardless how insightful or clever. There is simply too much available that is free. (I am a case in point... I rarely pay to subscribe, even to sites I really like.)
Of my subscribers, about 5% are paid, and they all know me. I write a mostly Christian-oriented letter, and they share a similar interest with me in seeing that worldview propagated.
I don't think many will pay us merely for the writing. What drives their payment is what drives everyone: Will it make money? Will it save money? Will it bring me prestige? Is it altruistic?
And you are right about the downsides: Once I started accepting cash, I have the obligation to continue to deliver quality content. However, what keeps Substack (which I love!) in business is their cut of the paid subscriptions.
I also run Your Best Retirement, a no-pay letter. My approach is that the free newsletter is an invitation to pay me real cash for courses, tutoring, consulting, etc. That effort is in its infancy.
Sorry to bore you with my contemplations. (Never ask a writer to write something lol.)
Thanks for the comment, and sorry for the delayed reply (I have been on holiday for two weeks and wrote three newsletters for release while I was away - a handy Sunstack feature).
Interesting idea with the 'You Best Retirement'.
Good point about paid v. free content. You have to offer some value that is worth paying for. I have been trying something similar to you with 'The Retirement Side Hustle', which has been a disaster. No interest. I thought that the paid preview of each video newsletter would lead subscribers to pay for the 'value content' that followed. It hasn't happened.
However, I am about to launch my third newsletter and use a free/paid model and see if that works. So, watch this space. Again, thanks for the comment. Muchly appreciated.
This an excellent question to which there is a long and tedious reply!
My work on Medium pre-dates Substack by some years, and the material I am currently posting on Medium was originally on a WordPress site.
My WordPress site started in 2011, and after being hacked for the umpteenth time, I decided to move to Medium. The move to Medium didn't go well - the import failed, and I was left with a site that was a mess, and I decided to abandon it. (When it was abandoned, I picked up 650 subscribers.)
About two years ago, I decided to sort out that Medium site and started work on rewriting the posts and preparing them for re-publication. It has been a long project, and I still have about two years to go.
So, to answer your question, why not on Substack?
The posts on Medium do not fit in as long-form work on this newsletter, so I would have to start a new one. Maybe I should? And meanwhile, readers of this newsletter might enjoy some stories from my travels.
Maybe I could post the material in a new newsletter on Substack, but there is the problem of 'duplicate' material on the web, and Google doesn't like that.
Thanks for the comment.
Do you think it would be worth spinning out a newsletter on it?
I don't know why you wouldn't want to start a new newsletter on Substack. I wouldn't worry about Google, to be honest. The algorithm is messed up and SEO isn't as big a deal these days as it was when we were younger. Plus, gather enough of a following on Substack and you could monetize it.
I can see your point. My concern is that it is 'old news', that is, the trips were from many years ago. I'll have a think about it. As you say, there is nothing really to lose.
As to the Imposter Syndrome, we all share it. Your writings are worthwhile, Nick, as are many substacks. What I have found with The Allligator Blog is that not many people are interested in paying for content, regardless how insightful or clever. There is simply too much available that is free. (I am a case in point... I rarely pay to subscribe, even to sites I really like.)
Of my subscribers, about 5% are paid, and they all know me. I write a mostly Christian-oriented letter, and they share a similar interest with me in seeing that worldview propagated.
I don't think many will pay us merely for the writing. What drives their payment is what drives everyone: Will it make money? Will it save money? Will it bring me prestige? Is it altruistic?
And you are right about the downsides: Once I started accepting cash, I have the obligation to continue to deliver quality content. However, what keeps Substack (which I love!) in business is their cut of the paid subscriptions.
I also run Your Best Retirement, a no-pay letter. My approach is that the free newsletter is an invitation to pay me real cash for courses, tutoring, consulting, etc. That effort is in its infancy.
Sorry to bore you with my contemplations. (Never ask a writer to write something lol.)
Thanks for the comment, and sorry for the delayed reply (I have been on holiday for two weeks and wrote three newsletters for release while I was away - a handy Sunstack feature).
Interesting idea with the 'You Best Retirement'.
Good point about paid v. free content. You have to offer some value that is worth paying for. I have been trying something similar to you with 'The Retirement Side Hustle', which has been a disaster. No interest. I thought that the paid preview of each video newsletter would lead subscribers to pay for the 'value content' that followed. It hasn't happened.
However, I am about to launch my third newsletter and use a free/paid model and see if that works. So, watch this space. Again, thanks for the comment. Muchly appreciated.
Interesting. Stay in touch.
Mmm, do them as "best of" and perhaps share some contemporary reflections about those trips.
That is an interesting idea.... Thanks.
Question--why are you posting that ski trip content on Medium and not on Substack? At the very least, I would say mirror it to Substack.
This an excellent question to which there is a long and tedious reply!
My work on Medium pre-dates Substack by some years, and the material I am currently posting on Medium was originally on a WordPress site.
My WordPress site started in 2011, and after being hacked for the umpteenth time, I decided to move to Medium. The move to Medium didn't go well - the import failed, and I was left with a site that was a mess, and I decided to abandon it. (When it was abandoned, I picked up 650 subscribers.)
About two years ago, I decided to sort out that Medium site and started work on rewriting the posts and preparing them for re-publication. It has been a long project, and I still have about two years to go.
So, to answer your question, why not on Substack?
The posts on Medium do not fit in as long-form work on this newsletter, so I would have to start a new one. Maybe I should? And meanwhile, readers of this newsletter might enjoy some stories from my travels.
Maybe I could post the material in a new newsletter on Substack, but there is the problem of 'duplicate' material on the web, and Google doesn't like that.
Thanks for the comment.
Do you think it would be worth spinning out a newsletter on it?
I don't know why you wouldn't want to start a new newsletter on Substack. I wouldn't worry about Google, to be honest. The algorithm is messed up and SEO isn't as big a deal these days as it was when we were younger. Plus, gather enough of a following on Substack and you could monetize it.
I can see your point. My concern is that it is 'old news', that is, the trips were from many years ago. I'll have a think about it. As you say, there is nothing really to lose.