The home of creator-owned independent media. Follow for a curated selection of the best writing, podcasts, and video from the Substack app

San Francisco
Joined June 2017
📢 NEW on Substack: Podcast Sponsorships On Substack, podcasts like Split Zone Duo, The Fifth Column, and The Dwarkesh Podcast are building communities that extend beyond the podcast feed, and using paid subscriptions to support their work. Now, we're building sponsorships as another way podcasters on Substack can support their ambitious work. Today we're sharing a preview of that vision, and inviting podcasters to sign up for early access.
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Foursquare was acquired last month. The outcome was disappointing. It's taken me a while to write this, but I think I'm finally done grieving it. Here are some thoughts on our final years, an effort to honor the team who helped build & maintain FSQ's legacy, and my attempt to finally get some closure. teendrama.substack.com/p/som…
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Seems crazy, but I do agree that making money from writing is a good thing.
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If it isn’t already obvious that Substack is the best possible home for a podcast—monetization, distribution, community—then it will be very soon. Now we start telling people.
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“We are a species driven to create, compete, collaborate, and contribute.” Existential psychologist @clayroutledge on what creates meaning at work (link in replies)
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Read Clay's post on his Substack, Flourishing Friday, a weekly newsletter on the psychology of human potential: flourishingfriday.blog/p/the…
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I’ve had my arm twisted to join @Substack - do join me over at open.substack.com/pub/alexho… where I’ll talk more about life on the railways and adventures in transport. Happy to hear any (polite and reasonable!) suggestions on topics too.
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📢 NEW on Substack: Metered Paywalls Sometimes the best way to encourage a free subscriber to go paid is to give them a taste of what they're missing. Now, you can give your free Substack subscribers access to a set number of paid posts each month. You control how many paid posts free subscribers can access, and which posts are included. It's one more way Substack makes it easier to turn your podcasting, writing, and video into an independent income.
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Learn how to turn on Metered Paywalls: support.substack.com/hc/en-u…
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Well this was a surprise @Substack
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White bread might seem like the most boring food on the British breakfast table. But behind the humble loaf is the story of “a productivity miracle” in the early 1960s that reshaped the UK’s food chain. @EdConwaySky shares the story from his latest book, Trade World: edconway.substack.com/p/the-…
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✅ An ad-free community for your biggest fans The most enduring podcasts are built on community. Substack Chat lets you bring your listeners into conversation, in multi-threaded conversations with rules defined by you. You decide what's free to everybody, and what's paywalled exclusively for your paying subscribers.
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Rather than piecing together a hosting platform, advertising marketplace, independent website, and community platform, podcasters can get the full package on Substack. Reach more listeners, make more money, and help us shape what comes next. Request early access here: on.substack.com/p/introducin…
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Substack retweeted
An app nobody opens is worthless. An app people use daily is gold Chris Best, Substack cofounder and CEO, on building a daily habit From our interview with @chrisbest on @substack, together with @guilleflorvs xitter.cf/rdominguezibar/status/…
Replying to @guilleflorvs
@guilleflorvs and I asked @chrisbest how @substack got started. His answer: one writer, and a lot of manual work. In the early days, every new publication was created by hand. In Chris's words: "I had to go type it into the database to make the second one and the third one. It was very manual." Their first writer was China expert Bill Bishop (@niubi), and that single writer proved the idea. While they were in @ycombinator, they opened it up so anybody could get started. By the time we spoke, the platform had crossed five million paid subscriptions. ▫️ Paying customers can come before a polished product ▫️ Doing things by hand is a fast way to learn what people want Founders, what are you still doing by hand? Tell us in the replies. xitter.cf/guilleflorvs/status/21…
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Spooky season
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