Author Name: BoingBoing
This story was originally published on Boingboing.net. [1]
License: CC-BY-NC-SA 3.0.
Substack, Ghost and the revenge of the bloggers
Date: 2021-04-12 00:00:00
The New York Times' Ben Smith wrote a great article about Substack and Ghost, the newsletter platforms that have attracted many old-time bloggers who found themselves adrift after founding startups, taking traditional media jobs, or losing them. There is some controversy—Substack is financing star authors and many perceive an overly libertarian1 leaning to its incipient A-list—but Smith focuses his article on Danny Lavery, one of my favorite writers, and his wife Grace, a professor at U.C. Berkeley, who have just been contracted by Substack. Substack has competition of its own to contend with, too: Ghost is also taking off, is open-source, and unstressed by the demands of investors.
This new ability of individuals to make a living directly from their audiences isn't just transforming journalism. It's also been the case for adult performers on OnlyFans, musicians on Patreon, B-list celebrities on Cameo. In Hollywood, too, power has migrated toward talent, whether it's marquee showrunners or actors. This power shift is a major headache for big institutions, from The New York Times to record labels. And Silicon Valley investors, eager to disrupt and angry at their portrayal in big media, have been gleefully backing it. Substack embodies this cultural shift, but it's riding the wave, not creating it.And despite a handful of departures over politics, that wave is growing for Substack.
One thing Smith doesn't address, unless I missed it, is that Substack's VC funding means it is for sale. And you can't sell a business without selling its principles. If Twitter buys Substack, God help the Substackers who went to Substack to get away from it. If Verizon buys Substack, God help everyone on it.
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https://boingboing.net/2021/04/12/substack-ghost-and-the-revenge-of-the-bloggers.html
