Note: It may seem a little strange to write an introduction to Substack and post it on Substack… but I still regularly encounter people who have never visited this platform. This is my way of helping spread the word. Please feel free to pass this along to anyone who is unfamiliar with what we’re doing here.
What is Substack?
It’s like the greatest newspaper that ever existed.
Completely decentralized.
So many talented writers and artists on one platform. The roster is STACKED.
I first made the plunge for Matt Taibbi. I kept a Rolling Stone subscription for years to support his writing. Everything else in Rolling Stone, to me, was filler.
So when Taibbi left Rolling Stone and started publishing on Substack, I followed.
Substack is similar to other social media platforms, just packed with incredible talent. Some of my favorites: Michael Ian Black, Adam Coleman always gets my attention. Fantastic journalists like Radley Balko, Hamilton Nolan, even living legends like Seymour Hersh and Chris Hedges. Cultural commentators like Jameela Jamil, Holly Solem, Caitlin Johnstone, and Nathan Rabin. Visionaries like David Shing and the Peaceful Revolutionary. Substack has about every possible genre you can imagine.
There is a feed, like Twitter - actually, that’s the reason Matt Taibbi and Elon Musk had a falling out. I like Substack’s feed way better than X.
You can find vertical videos like you see on Instagram Reels or TikTok.
You can scroll through this feed and click the links to find excellent articles, one after the other. News stories, analysis, criticism, fiction, poetry, visual art… it’s all there.
If you are a reader, you should be on Substack.
If you like being informed about what’s happening in the world, without an editorial staff getting in the way, you should be on Substack.
Decentralization is democratic.
Decentralization is the future.
Decentralization means everybody is posting. Everyone who gets a Substack account has the option to start publishing. It’s kind of like having your own blog - but that blog can grow into its own masthead, with paid writers on staff. That’s something Matt Taibbi did.
Centralization is what we see in mass media. Just 6 massive media companies own about 90 percent of the marketplace. Everything that is broadcast from these channels is filtered through the perspective of their billionaire owners. What does Rupert Murdoch want? What does Jeff Bezos think about this editorial page?
Media companies are top down authoritarian organizations. As such they will always reflect the biases of their owners. We can see top-down changes happening at CBS right now. Bari Weiss and Larry Ellison have delivered a fatal one-two knockout to CBS News’s journalistic integrity and hard won reputation.
Substack doesn’t have editorial control or centralization. Substack’s writers have journalistic freedom. It’s like every person on Substack has their own printing press.
That’s decentralization.
My content gets attention on Substack. Subscribing to letsmakethempay.substack.com is the only way to avoid suppression of my content. That’s because every post I make is sent out as an email. This makes it easy to make sure you never miss a post - and allows you to go back and watch or read it again easier.
Every writer on Substack has ownership of their email list and can take it with them.
Substack also makes it super easy to monetize your content. That money is not dependent on some creator fund or algorithm. A subscriber pays, Substack takes a small finder’s fee size cut, you get your money. Easy peasy. Fair too.
Decentralization.
So check out Substack, a really worthwhile platform. Maybe consider publishing a little content of your own? Flex some creative muscle?
Download the app or go to letsmakethempay.substack.com to get started.
Let’s make them pay.
Dear Reader, this is just a quick note to say thank you for taking the time to visit my Substack. I am just an ordinary working stiff like you, hoping to get closer to retirement before my industry dries up and blows away entirely. That’s a colorful way of saying that I write here in my spare time. If you enjoy my writing and would like to see more of it, please sign up for a paid subscription. It would be a blessing to leave the 40 hour grind and do this full time. Every dollar you give me is a thumb in the eye of the powerful. Let’s start gouging their eyeballs good, and as always, let’s make them pay…
