Substack: Vanity Publishing

Get published, get paid?

I’m taking a break from Substack.

There are 2 reasons. First, I have Lyme Disease and both the illness and the long-term treatment are debilitating. Everything from my brain to my toes malfunctions. Lyme, a spiteful little spirochete bacteria, thrives thanks to a trait it shares with successful parasites: It keeps its host alive. This should not be mistaken for altruism.

Second, I have growing doubts about Substack.

This BlueSky post from Charlotte Ivers, a Times columnist, nails it: “I just totted up all the substacks I pay for and found myself thinking “wow wouldn’t it be better if all these writers were in one place and I could just pay a flat fee”, so anyway that’s how today I invented the concept of the ‘newspaper’.”

This is a great idea. And it works well for writers too.

Grown-up, old-fashioned newspapers and the wider print media pay for copy. Sure, they pay a lot less than they used to, but we jobbing writers get money hurrah! and access to huge print/online readerships. Substack works for those with a megaphone, a pulpit and a compulsive weekly habit. But for the majority of writers, me included, it’s a low bar to a tarnished genre: Vanity Publishing.

I’ve given Substack 2 years and can say with certainty that I reach more readers and earn more by writing for the conventional print media and, better still, as a lazy freelance I can do it to the erratic schedule and with the scattergun content that suits me.

I’ve been in and around journalism for 40 years (I started in print and then mostly broadcast) so I know I can deliver the copy. Experience tells me that if I pitch a well-crafted piece to the right publication, they will likely read and maybe accept it. And then pay me. And that’s the point of journalism, isn’t it? Get published, get paid.

So to all my subscribers, I say a big thank you for putting up with me. As said, I’m suspending paid subscriptions and I will continue to post irregular and free missives here on Substack. But my rhythm and agenda will be set with an eye on print. And Lyme.