I have been thinking about this a lot! As I come out of period of book promotion where I have 'gifted' so much time to share the book, which also means I haven't been earning much. I'm trying to convince myself that this is all part of a long game - but it's hard at 2am when I can't sleep and the bank balance is front of mind.
I agree with your two points but also want to add a third that as a society we have devalued creativity so it is often free - to ask for money isn't part of the modern creative economy. I have just finished reading Chokepoint Capitalism by Cory Doctorow & Rebecca Giblin and it blew my mind how payment for creative works has been eroded over time, accelerated by technology. While most things have become cheaper & easier to produce over time, painting, writing, composing still takes time and effort - which is no longer rewarded in the free to stream age.
I honestly have no idea. I haven't been in that position--I'm still new to Substack and writing is a hobby that I'm passionate about (would love for it to become serious, but I'm not holding my breath and I'm still grateful for my day job, as much as it doesn't tick the creativity juices that writing does). But I can begin to understand how it might feel, even just the notion of turning on paid subs for a small fee.
However, from the reader perspective, this platform really does feel like it fully supports and rewards the notion of "I love what this author is doing. I'm going to gladly support them."
The only downside is once you have subbed to several, if then you discover a new Substack/writer you find you enjoy, the issue of paying another sub becomes more and more expensive. I'm not sure what the solution is there. I'd gladly sub to you (I'm sorry I don't yet), but I set myself an initial budget when I joined the platform earlier this year.
I swear all the newsletters I follow are somehow reading my mind and speaking directly to me--I've been struggling so much with the idea that it's okay to ask for money for my work. So thank you for this. Yours is one more reminder that it's okay.
This may sound petty or irrational, but what gets me closest to asking for money (I haven't yet), is whenever I read something paywalled and think, If this, then why not mine?
Such a great and timely post! I think an additional difficulty related to your last line about work existing outside of the marketplace is that so much of art and writing centers around asking and exploring questions, rather than coming up with clear-cut answers and solutions. Normally we think of getting paid as the exchange for "value", which we associate with concrete answers and data. How can we more strongly believe in the worth of our work and all the openness that it explores?
Nobody can afford to go paid on every Substack, but most readers can afford to pay for one or two, and should. Those who won't support any writer are sawing off the branch on which they're sitting. I'm especially befuddled by writers who don't apparently support any of the newsletters to which they subscribe, but expect others to pay for theirs.
While I get the premise of art being a gift, and something you should give away, here’s the thing. Gifts aren’t free. And in some cultures giving a gift comes with the express expectation that the receiver repays the giver in kind.
A gift is an exchange and builds relationship.
Whoever said you should simply give gifts away and then be left empty handed?
Man, did you nail it. “The three brains” perfectly describes the struggle. It’s doable to please one of them, but rarely two, and for me, never all three.
You make some great points here. My paid subscriptions are optional, in that every reader gets the same experience, and I want it that way. My blogs are community-based so I don’t want to leave anyone out.
I’m gaining free subscribers but very few paids and that gnaws at me but I really, really suck at marketing myself. For many of the reasons you mention here.
I kind of have to laugh at someone writing an entire book about the satisfaction of giving our work away for free and then putting his book out on the commercial market, where he expects people to pay for it. 🙄
Thank you for writing this. As an author I struggle with these thoughts/actions myself and it's heartening to know that you do too and to read your beautiful articulation of the problems - you're definitely not over-thinking it; or the rest of us do too :)
Mason, thank you for clarifying a dynamic I’ve wrestled with as long as I’ve been writing on the Internet. This conversation brings to mind, Amanda Palmer‘s book, the Art of Asking. She beautifully makes the point that allowing people to help support your creative process invites them into the process in a new way. We all have projects that we feel so good about supporting, we feel invested and connected to that person in the way we wouldn’t if we weren’t chipping something in.
I am grateful and indebted for such a generously thought out piece. Thank you!
One of the things I suspect may be a factor for many is that strange sense, for both parties in the equation that this subscription business model as it exists, requires, at some level an oath of fealty (subscription), going forward after only one brief encounter, when really all many of us would like to do is buy the person a drink. We've just met, and even if I have thoroughly enjoyed what you had to say, I'm not sure I'm ready for some sort of commitment after just one interaction. We're talking about a new, ongoing relationship. I have to sign something. I mean, I'd gladly buy you a drink for your troubles and the chance to hear a bit more, but that is not what is offered.
And for the storyteller, there's that disconcerting pressure of knowing each interaction is also, no matter how subtly, a tryout ...in hopes of convincing the listener to consider entering into a committed relationship. In real life most of us would gladly let someone buy us a cup of coffee for the chance to ask a few more questions, no strings attached, but would be horrified at the thought of asking each new reader/listener to enter into some sort of entangled and ongoing relationship. We don't even know each other. It feels like too much, too fast.
Substack has really helped me clarify these different brains! I feel good by making researched essays available for everyone. And I don’t feel weird asking people to pay for access/community privileges/more personal content, because it just makes sense those things should have some barriers to entry. I also have a policy that if people don’t have the funds but think my community would be beneficial, I gift them a subscription, no questions asked. It’s working for me (and I’m making just as much/if not more than I was from traditional publishing!)
This is so interesting, and a particularly timely read for me as I've just today switched on paid subscriptions and sent out my letter today trying to explain my thought process. Even though I feel I am in the right to value my work, and Talib Kweli is right - there's no real risk in asking to be paid - I have still ending up using comedy to deflect from the 'Money, Please' aspect of what I'm saying. It's a difficult line to dance around, but the conclusion I've come to is that no one is going to ask for me, and no one is going to volunteer to pay me for what I'm giving away for free.
I have been thinking about this a lot! As I come out of period of book promotion where I have 'gifted' so much time to share the book, which also means I haven't been earning much. I'm trying to convince myself that this is all part of a long game - but it's hard at 2am when I can't sleep and the bank balance is front of mind.
I agree with your two points but also want to add a third that as a society we have devalued creativity so it is often free - to ask for money isn't part of the modern creative economy. I have just finished reading Chokepoint Capitalism by Cory Doctorow & Rebecca Giblin and it blew my mind how payment for creative works has been eroded over time, accelerated by technology. While most things have become cheaper & easier to produce over time, painting, writing, composing still takes time and effort - which is no longer rewarded in the free to stream age.
In short, it's not you, it's the system!
Great read, thanks Mason.
I honestly have no idea. I haven't been in that position--I'm still new to Substack and writing is a hobby that I'm passionate about (would love for it to become serious, but I'm not holding my breath and I'm still grateful for my day job, as much as it doesn't tick the creativity juices that writing does). But I can begin to understand how it might feel, even just the notion of turning on paid subs for a small fee.
However, from the reader perspective, this platform really does feel like it fully supports and rewards the notion of "I love what this author is doing. I'm going to gladly support them."
The only downside is once you have subbed to several, if then you discover a new Substack/writer you find you enjoy, the issue of paying another sub becomes more and more expensive. I'm not sure what the solution is there. I'd gladly sub to you (I'm sorry I don't yet), but I set myself an initial budget when I joined the platform earlier this year.
I swear all the newsletters I follow are somehow reading my mind and speaking directly to me--I've been struggling so much with the idea that it's okay to ask for money for my work. So thank you for this. Yours is one more reminder that it's okay.
This may sound petty or irrational, but what gets me closest to asking for money (I haven't yet), is whenever I read something paywalled and think, If this, then why not mine?
Such a great and timely post! I think an additional difficulty related to your last line about work existing outside of the marketplace is that so much of art and writing centers around asking and exploring questions, rather than coming up with clear-cut answers and solutions. Normally we think of getting paid as the exchange for "value", which we associate with concrete answers and data. How can we more strongly believe in the worth of our work and all the openness that it explores?
Nobody can afford to go paid on every Substack, but most readers can afford to pay for one or two, and should. Those who won't support any writer are sawing off the branch on which they're sitting. I'm especially befuddled by writers who don't apparently support any of the newsletters to which they subscribe, but expect others to pay for theirs.
While I get the premise of art being a gift, and something you should give away, here’s the thing. Gifts aren’t free. And in some cultures giving a gift comes with the express expectation that the receiver repays the giver in kind.
A gift is an exchange and builds relationship.
Whoever said you should simply give gifts away and then be left empty handed?
Man, did you nail it. “The three brains” perfectly describes the struggle. It’s doable to please one of them, but rarely two, and for me, never all three.
You make some great points here. My paid subscriptions are optional, in that every reader gets the same experience, and I want it that way. My blogs are community-based so I don’t want to leave anyone out.
I’m gaining free subscribers but very few paids and that gnaws at me but I really, really suck at marketing myself. For many of the reasons you mention here.
I kind of have to laugh at someone writing an entire book about the satisfaction of giving our work away for free and then putting his book out on the commercial market, where he expects people to pay for it. 🙄
Thank you for writing this. As an author I struggle with these thoughts/actions myself and it's heartening to know that you do too and to read your beautiful articulation of the problems - you're definitely not over-thinking it; or the rest of us do too :)
Mason, thank you for clarifying a dynamic I’ve wrestled with as long as I’ve been writing on the Internet. This conversation brings to mind, Amanda Palmer‘s book, the Art of Asking. She beautifully makes the point that allowing people to help support your creative process invites them into the process in a new way. We all have projects that we feel so good about supporting, we feel invested and connected to that person in the way we wouldn’t if we weren’t chipping something in.
I am grateful and indebted for such a generously thought out piece. Thank you!
One of the things I suspect may be a factor for many is that strange sense, for both parties in the equation that this subscription business model as it exists, requires, at some level an oath of fealty (subscription), going forward after only one brief encounter, when really all many of us would like to do is buy the person a drink. We've just met, and even if I have thoroughly enjoyed what you had to say, I'm not sure I'm ready for some sort of commitment after just one interaction. We're talking about a new, ongoing relationship. I have to sign something. I mean, I'd gladly buy you a drink for your troubles and the chance to hear a bit more, but that is not what is offered.
And for the storyteller, there's that disconcerting pressure of knowing each interaction is also, no matter how subtly, a tryout ...in hopes of convincing the listener to consider entering into a committed relationship. In real life most of us would gladly let someone buy us a cup of coffee for the chance to ask a few more questions, no strings attached, but would be horrified at the thought of asking each new reader/listener to enter into some sort of entangled and ongoing relationship. We don't even know each other. It feels like too much, too fast.
My struggle is with 'what is fair' to ask of people?
Substack has really helped me clarify these different brains! I feel good by making researched essays available for everyone. And I don’t feel weird asking people to pay for access/community privileges/more personal content, because it just makes sense those things should have some barriers to entry. I also have a policy that if people don’t have the funds but think my community would be beneficial, I gift them a subscription, no questions asked. It’s working for me (and I’m making just as much/if not more than I was from traditional publishing!)
Reminds me very much of the Harlan Ellison quote 'pay the writer'!
https://youtu.be/mj5IV23g-fE
This is so interesting, and a particularly timely read for me as I've just today switched on paid subscriptions and sent out my letter today trying to explain my thought process. Even though I feel I am in the right to value my work, and Talib Kweli is right - there's no real risk in asking to be paid - I have still ending up using comedy to deflect from the 'Money, Please' aspect of what I'm saying. It's a difficult line to dance around, but the conclusion I've come to is that no one is going to ask for me, and no one is going to volunteer to pay me for what I'm giving away for free.