Founded in 2017, Substack is an online platform based out of San Francisco that supports subscription newsletters. Readers pay directly for writers they care about. According to Substack their top writers make hundreds of thousands per year.
Writers are allowed to publish a mix of paid and free content. You can add multiple authors to your publication. The minimum one can charge is $5 per month, the maximum seems to be $75 per month. Substack takes 10% plus credit card processing fees, the platform only makes money when the writer makes money.
You can import your email list via a CSV file and you can import your archives from Mailchimp, Wordpress, TinyLetter, Revue, Medium, Tumblr, or any website with an RSS feed. Payments usually arrive in your bank account within 48 hours of each transaction.
The platform is showing a healthy growth. In 2018 they had 11,000 paid subscribers, it went up to 50, 000 in 2019 and 100,000 in 2020.
Are there Creative Writers on Substack?
There are all types of writers on Substack, including authors. There are writers, bloggers, thinkers and creatives of every background. A few hundred subscribers can support a livelihood, and a few thousand can make it lucrative.
Let’s go through the sign up process
Press the desired button, either ‘Start reading’, or ‘Write on Substack’.
Just fill in your email, accept the Publisher Agreement, and press continue. In reference to ownership, the agreement states:
First and foremost, you own what you create. Any original content you post, upload, share, store, or otherwise provide to Substack remains yours and is protected by copyright and any other applicable intellectual property laws. However, please note that you agree to grant us a limited license to your content in order to enable us to operate Substack. This license allows us to promote your content and help you succeed on Substack.
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