Exactly. No matter what any writer tells you, no one is doing this for free. Whether it’s promotion or marketing or this is your only platform (✋), you’re doing this for a release and because you love writing, but you’re also not working for free.
I understand where you’re coming from, the problem is no one really deserves anything. To essentially demand something because you want it is, in my opinion, misguided. You didn’t deserve more pay just because another person—yes person, not man, as it could just as easily be a woman that gets paid more at the same job (I’m sure no one is on the lookout for that and their cognitive dissonance may blind them to that possibility). I speak from experience, I have various people that are paid more than me for the “same job” (I’ve had a job where the person next to me was earning double what I was, for literally the exact same job—imagine how that feels working every day doing the same, often times more work for half the pay). It’s not about what you “deserve” in this world, no one deserves anything. It’s about what people are willing to give you or what you’re able to convince them you’re worth. People with silver tongues will get more in this life, whether we like it or not.
I don’t paywall my content and I would love to get paid for it here, at the same time is it reasonable for me to expect it just because I want it? I’ve seen people post their stats, one person had thousands of free subscribers and a tiny fraction of those were paid.
Instead of us thinking me, me, me, why don’t we take a moment to consider it from the other person’s perspective, after all they’re the ones forking over the cash, right? If you were in their shoes, objectively speaking, would you pay for your content? Do you pay subscriptions to other Substack newsletters? Why? Why not?
That’s why I only paywall my personal travel stories and day trips posts, and charge the lowest amount Substack will allow. I look at it from the value proposition of what I would pay to read someone else’s travel stories. My version is going to be unique and different than others, and there’s value in that. I offer a ton of free material so it’s worthwhile on both ends
Your question about whether I would pay to read my own writing is a good one that I had not considered but it helps me know if I'm going in the right direction or not. I know for sure I'd pay for my content if it were written by another writer, which I guess means I'm doing what I should be doing even though I don't currently have many subscribers of any kind.
When I get x amount of income per month on Substack, I take on another paid subscription as a way to support the writers I love. I desperately need income but I also want to give back. I am not the writer of this article or note, these are just thoughts in response to your comment because it made me think.
Exactly. No matter what any writer tells you, no one is doing this for free. Whether it’s promotion or marketing or this is your only platform (✋), you’re doing this for a release and because you love writing, but you’re also not working for free.
exactly! glad this resonated :)
👍👍👍👍
I understand where you’re coming from, the problem is no one really deserves anything. To essentially demand something because you want it is, in my opinion, misguided. You didn’t deserve more pay just because another person—yes person, not man, as it could just as easily be a woman that gets paid more at the same job (I’m sure no one is on the lookout for that and their cognitive dissonance may blind them to that possibility). I speak from experience, I have various people that are paid more than me for the “same job” (I’ve had a job where the person next to me was earning double what I was, for literally the exact same job—imagine how that feels working every day doing the same, often times more work for half the pay). It’s not about what you “deserve” in this world, no one deserves anything. It’s about what people are willing to give you or what you’re able to convince them you’re worth. People with silver tongues will get more in this life, whether we like it or not.
I don’t paywall my content and I would love to get paid for it here, at the same time is it reasonable for me to expect it just because I want it? I’ve seen people post their stats, one person had thousands of free subscribers and a tiny fraction of those were paid.
Instead of us thinking me, me, me, why don’t we take a moment to consider it from the other person’s perspective, after all they’re the ones forking over the cash, right? If you were in their shoes, objectively speaking, would you pay for your content? Do you pay subscriptions to other Substack newsletters? Why? Why not?
That’s why I only paywall my personal travel stories and day trips posts, and charge the lowest amount Substack will allow. I look at it from the value proposition of what I would pay to read someone else’s travel stories. My version is going to be unique and different than others, and there’s value in that. I offer a ton of free material so it’s worthwhile on both ends
Your question about whether I would pay to read my own writing is a good one that I had not considered but it helps me know if I'm going in the right direction or not. I know for sure I'd pay for my content if it were written by another writer, which I guess means I'm doing what I should be doing even though I don't currently have many subscribers of any kind.
When I get x amount of income per month on Substack, I take on another paid subscription as a way to support the writers I love. I desperately need income but I also want to give back. I am not the writer of this article or note, these are just thoughts in response to your comment because it made me think.