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Sep 28·edited Sep 29Pinned

Wow, I have lost three (now four) subscribers since I posted this. I have to wonder why...

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Maybe they misread the title and thought you were going to ask them to become paying subscribers? Makes no sense….

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WTH??? It is odd that when I post a new essay, I will invariably lose some people. I always wonder...was it something I said/wrote? 😂 Likely, it's just too much to absorb. I'll go back and read something a week later...cause I just didnt have time. 🤷🏼‍♀️

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I have a similar approach - I'm a paid subscriber to 6 authors. if authors have enough free content to repeatedly be disappointed that I can't read the subscribers-only posts I may pay. It helps if they put enough of the teaser to get me hooked on a given article. I drop subscriptions as I phase new ones in and I run out of time to read it all.

The algorithm puzzles and annoys me though - I'm a reader and don't care about the writer-specific aspects, yet that dominated my feed for a while, as did TERF and anti-vaxx stuff, when that is the opposite of what a feed targeted for my interests would be.

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I upgrade to paid when I am familiar with the writer and his-her work and consider it valuable.

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author

I do this as well. Alas, sometimes what pulled me in and made me open my wallet dissipates and I don't renew.

Oh, and I always commit to a full year, so no month by month transactions.

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I do a year also.

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I loved reading this Geoff. Thanks immensely for your support. It means a lot.

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Good questions. I also have a wide range of interests and am still finding my way around them in Substack. I’ve recently learned it’s better to Follow someone first, then Subscribe, since my “Inbox” was waaaaaay too full. I currently subscribe to 31 Substacks and pay for 6. The paid ones are mostly smaller authors and I feel strongly about supporting them. I am semi-retired (I work as an “aide” for my special needs adult son who lives on his own) so can’t subscribe to all the ones I would like. I have used the Buy Me A Coffee feature on multiple occasions. I do unsubscribe from time to time, but it’s mostly because I can’t possibly read them all!

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Very very similar, except I don’t have that kind of cash. I’m also looking for the different take on current events, like the historical perspective of douchebaggery through the centuries by Heather Cox Richardson. I also happen to really enjoy your takes. Really!

As I am not a regular poster due to my crazy day job, and don’t want or need my writing to be paywalled, I try not to make it too dry when I post about the intersection of medicine and politics you’ll never hear from the popular medical pundits. Fuck them for never speaking up when it counts.

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Sep 29Liked by Geoff Anderson

Being new here (only 8 months) I have much to learn and am a very willing student. You have been an early advocate for me, and I couldnt be more grateful... I never miss what you write because our musical taste & love of photography are in sync...not to mention our world view. So I'm grateful for you and feel the long distance friendship. There is SO MUCH TO READ HERE! And I cant afford to subscribe to everything I love, but I do want to support the folks who teach and inspire me, motivate me and make me laugh. If you charged, I would pay because you are one of those people. ❤️

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author

Again, I am humbled by the kind words. You are far more inspiring than I am. I am just a curmudgeonly techie who leans center left, and who loves to curse.

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Sep 28Liked by Geoff Anderson

Mostly if I read it I’ll pay for it. I can afford to pay for a number of substacks and figure the folks who write the ones I’ll pay for deserve the cash. Then again, I only read a limited number. Can’t understand people that subscribe to like 200 of them.

I was subscribed to Heather Cox Richardson for awhile and not reading or paying. Now do both and can’t understand why I wasn’t sooner. It’s the very best use of my substack dollar. Rick Wilson, Timothy Snyder and Lucian Truscott are all close behind. Front Page is a local one by two guys who used to work at the GF Post Star. And yes, I still am with Bulwark. Oh yeah, just subscribed to Andy Borowitz too.

Chris Cillizza and Sweary History go whenever they run down. Both have disappointed. ☹️

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author

I got so pissed at Chris Cilizza that I terminated my subscription with 5 months, just to get him completely out of my feed. I am with you on Sweary History, it was great, then it just went blah.

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Just came across this froma friend, and it alludes to that lifestyle where you do your thing. You may share it or you may just live it for itself. All the noise I mention in my comment below, may just be noise, and if in the end its only for yourself and your pleasure alone, why would you ask someone to pay for that good oil.

This is an inspiring life, and kinda like something I wrote about your life being the work of art.

A fun read or comparison to UpGrade as a concept...maybe this is the UpGrade LOL

https://www.stuff.co.nz/nz-news/350425604/man-who-swims-naked-christchurch-beach-every-day

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I am laughing.

One of my staples is when people ask how I am doing (at work), and they are flummoxed when I reply "well, I am not yet ripping off my clothing, running down the hall throwing feces, so it is a good day."

They never have a good response to that.

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I may just borrow that mode of response ……to retirement kinda questions….what are you doing with your time, what are you up to, or what do you do all day……..??? Some similar response could be fun………. Thanks Geoff.

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There is so much good content I don't have time to read it all. Therefore I do not pay for any of it.

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Indeed. I *could* just consume for free and ignore those who feel that their utterings must be paid for, but I can and do pay for many. And I will pay for many more.

Regardless, I am glad you are here, and I am grateful for your comment and attention!

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A good read and I appreciate the reasons outlined. I hate the push the peeps to pay from SubStack, and then as you mention……a tempting paragraph of the good oil to draw you in then it all behind the paywall.

I delete mails when they are like that now, there is a tendency for me to feel a bit f you about it, no matter how big or famous they are.

I get that writing deserves $$$$, well mostly.

I am here for tribe, and not to be a cash cow. I am a pensioner, there is only a limit to subscriptions I can afford in reality despite my tastes being wide.

On my own stack, (which thanks for the insights re regularity) I struugle with the SubStack subscribe button and money. I edited it early on but can’t re edit it. I nefariously state that I will always be free. I write to write, am as poor as a church mouse (but richer than most of the world comparatively)BUT I will always be free.

I hate the whole lure into becoming paid thing.

I want to write when and how I feel like it, because it is about expression for me, not pressure.

I have to confess to my keen following of people leading to an inbox where I don’t read them all and just hit delete, delete…………SubStack is becoming a bit like why I left FaceBook……..there is a lot of people screaming sometimes, or throwing good thoughts and noise into what has become like an abyss.

Passionate peeps keep making noise, and where is it going. Often it seems to me a huge circle. The people who really need to hear the noise or get the message don’t, or won’t, and in the end its making noise with the converted, like all singing the same song in the same choir.

Nothing changes, and if there is change it may be minimal.

How do we get outside the choir/tribe/fans? I do know there is value in building up the team for change. We so need change, the abyss is terrifying.

So thanks for your honesty here. I love SubStack, but have become jaded, and maybe I am in a new phase of the social media revolution as an old fart…..off all SM but this.

The new phase is realising that analogue lifestyles of me doing off screen stuff, being the best me and the best creative me is whats called for. Maybe my tribe will be small, writing is a pleasure and an expressive tool. My writing is like sounding horn in the forest, seeing if there is anything out there. I appreciate the diversity here, I appreciate the tool of SubStack………..I like to pick and choose and keep lookn for my tribe, and writing about my brushstrokes on my pathetic and privileged existence. (by virtue of comparison)

Writing when I have something to say, or about something I have done or doing…………..that is free, is freedom and like you……will always be free.

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author

"I get that writing deserves $$$$, well mostly."

100% agree.

But I think you need to earn that $$$$, and trying to force it will limit your audience.

My belief is that if your content and writing are worth paying for, people will pay for. Alas, a lot of people are not willing to pay, and the Napster/internet experience is that everything should be free forever, and that has led to the current ad-funded hellscape.

If Substack started running ads, I would move to something self-hosted.

I write because I like writing. It has never been my avocation, but in a way it is therapy (and in many ways, it has helped me not go completely bonkers to have an outlet).

Again, I am humbled and appreciative of your spending time here, reading and tolerating my often over-the-top profanity, and I hope you stick around!

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Sep 28Liked by Geoff Anderson

I just restacked with a note...

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Sep 28Liked by Geoff Anderson

Agree. Too tired to add today as I manage Authors' Substacks and have deadlines for tomorrow.

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Sep 28Liked by Geoff Anderson

I am on a pretty much set income and I have to set my priorities. There are 3 I want to be a paid subscriber and can’t right now. Not to flatter but one is you and the other to are Jo Jo and Jesse. I will find a way eventually.

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IDK which stacks you’re specifically referring to, but as someone on a fixed income myself, I’ve had a few stacks offer me free subs because of a comment or emailed response that mentioned this (not specifically in reference to wanting a freebie, but from me saying something about being disabled and living on SS). E. Jean Carol, TPM and The Bulwark have kindly donated me a subscription. I wish Substack had a thing like Patreon does where a person can buy an extra sub for a random person that needs one instead of the way Substack does it where you’ve gotta buy one for a specific person.

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Since I am never going to go "paid" here, no need to "flatter" me, but I am appreciative of the kind words

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Completely agree with all of your points here Sweaty. I only have one paid Subscription to one Substack and am considering paid subscriptions to a few more, but I doubt I will ever "go paid" myself. One particular Substack caught my eye on the Explore page that was entirely a whoa is me pitch to get people to provide her with paid subscriptions. I checked out her page before blocking and it was post after post of the same thing. I can't pay my rent, I am going to have to move into my car, my dog died. My cat needs surgery. My budgie won't budge anymore, and my big toe is swollen. And the thing is, it works! She has a lot more subscribers than I do, and many of them are PAID subscribers!

Anyways, keep doing what you're doing and if you change your mind about the payment thing, I may just upgrade my subscription.

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author

To me, this is a lot cheaper than therapy. I would write even if I had no subscribers.

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