For all of the distasteful rhetoric in the Substackosphere, what this format has taught me is that we people are capable of funding stuff directly. How that translates to the wider Art world, I don’t know, but I think there is a seed here. It’s challenging; for every person willing to throw $50/year at a newsletter written by someone they like,... See more

People need to eat and pay the rent. “An amateur is an artist who supports himself with outside jobs which enable him to paint,” said artist Ben Shahn. “A professional is someone whose wife works to enable him to paint.” Whether an artist makes money off his work or not, money has to come from somewhere, be it a day job, a wealthy spouse, a trust

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Paid content, on the other hand, incentivizes loyalty. If you are paying for access to something—especially on any sort of month-to-month basis—you have very high expectations as a consumer. You expect good quality. You expect a positive experience. You expect the product to be delivered on time, in a professional manner. There is more “at stake.”

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