Re:Why the Substack hype is much ado about very little
by yorwba on Tuesday July 27, 2021 @05:57AM
(#27970584)
That's if you assume a static set of readers and writers and fixed prices.
If every reader gets to choose which writers get their money, the least popular writers will get nothing and the most popular ones will get much more than they expected.
Then the writers who got nothing will presumably give up, thus increasing the average attractiveness of content on the platform. Meanwhile, the most popular writers can adjust their expected compensation upward but still lower the price per reader, thus increasing their readership even more.
On the other hand, if you're paying a flat fee to read anything you want, you'll be subsidizing a whole lot of crap you don't want, without a feedback channel to correct that.
If every reader gets to choose which writers get their money, the least popular writers will get nothing and the most popular ones will get much more than they expected.
Then the writers who got nothing will presumably give up, thus increasing the average attractiveness of content on the platform. Meanwhile, the most popular writers can adjust their expected compensation upward but still lower the price per reader, thus increasing their readership even more.
On the other hand, if you're paying a flat fee to read anything you want, you'll be subsidizing a whole lot of crap you don't want, without a feedback channel to correct that.