The Substack trap

And how to avoid it

Substack inflation

Oh, the irony of writing about the Substack trap, on Substack. Yes, well, I’m deep in the trap — let’s get my hypocrisy out of the way and move on. What’s the Substack trap, you might wonder. The trap is in the DNA of the platform, as I hope to show below.

Operations like Substack are attractive because they promise a levelled playing field and money, without the annoyance of gatekeepers. “You will get the attention and dosh you deserve, without interference, as long as you are regular and have something interesting to say; just write and we’ll do the rest,” they say. But is it so? If they are even compatible, are regularity and quality all it takes to make this kind of gig work?

I started this Substack almost three years ago, already with several books under my name, and a small but loyal readership. I opened premium subs about two years ago, for reasons that will become clear below. For the past year and a half I’ve been posting a piece a week, between 1,500 and 2,…