After a year of building The Rip Current, I’m making a shift in how this newsletter works — and I want to be straight with you about what’s changing and why.
Jacob, I completely understand writers need for compensation and remuneration, AND support you in this endeavor. However, in my view, this Substack pricing model is going to hurt contributors because, taken together, many of us can easily be in the $20/Month, or higher, total monthly subscriptions -- from many of the fine journalists who use this platform. As a comparison, I'm on $8/month for the NYT. Bottom line: If I took paid subscriptions for all the content providers I truly like to follow here, my monthly charge, in total, would be $40-$50 / month subscription costs. So ... in my opinion, you all content providers need to have a $5/month tier for those of us who subscribe to others here.
The strange beast that is Substack puts us in the strange position of feeling responsible for their business model. I agree with you completely that the paid tier gets out of control very quickly across subscriptions, and I think we've all been asking Substack for some time to allow us to put together joint offers between like-minded writers, but nothing has come of it.
I guess my gentle rejoinder to your point is that the great mistake of my business in the 1990s was to condition everyone to believe that news and analysis should be free. A publisher at that time reading that a news-hungry subscriber finds $40-$50 a month in subscription fees too high would probably fall over dead in dismay. For news and analysis to survive in this world, people are going to have to pay for it, but I understand that it's not in everyone's budget, or tolerance, to do so.
I'll have a look at a middle tier of pricing in the meantime. And thanks for coming this far.
Jacob, I just watched your mind-numbing conversation with Ali Velshi today, which was a jarring intro to your work. First, congratulations on the exposure of the terrifying expanse of this soulless, AI-driven global business ecosystem. How the hell it can be controlled: a great mystery on first flush. I hope to upgrade, as they say. And hope Substack accepts quickly some framework and business model that recognizes journalism. National Public Substack?
Jacob, I completely understand writers need for compensation and remuneration, AND support you in this endeavor. However, in my view, this Substack pricing model is going to hurt contributors because, taken together, many of us can easily be in the $20/Month, or higher, total monthly subscriptions -- from many of the fine journalists who use this platform. As a comparison, I'm on $8/month for the NYT. Bottom line: If I took paid subscriptions for all the content providers I truly like to follow here, my monthly charge, in total, would be $40-$50 / month subscription costs. So ... in my opinion, you all content providers need to have a $5/month tier for those of us who subscribe to others here.
Hi Steve!
The strange beast that is Substack puts us in the strange position of feeling responsible for their business model. I agree with you completely that the paid tier gets out of control very quickly across subscriptions, and I think we've all been asking Substack for some time to allow us to put together joint offers between like-minded writers, but nothing has come of it.
I guess my gentle rejoinder to your point is that the great mistake of my business in the 1990s was to condition everyone to believe that news and analysis should be free. A publisher at that time reading that a news-hungry subscriber finds $40-$50 a month in subscription fees too high would probably fall over dead in dismay. For news and analysis to survive in this world, people are going to have to pay for it, but I understand that it's not in everyone's budget, or tolerance, to do so.
I'll have a look at a middle tier of pricing in the meantime. And thanks for coming this far.
Best,
Jake
Jacob, I just watched your mind-numbing conversation with Ali Velshi today, which was a jarring intro to your work. First, congratulations on the exposure of the terrifying expanse of this soulless, AI-driven global business ecosystem. How the hell it can be controlled: a great mystery on first flush. I hope to upgrade, as they say. And hope Substack accepts quickly some framework and business model that recognizes journalism. National Public Substack?