[Guest post] How Substack Became Milquetoast

One trouble with blogging is that people subscribe to the blog , rather than each post finding its own audience. This encourages lowest common denominator writing. In particular it creates a context in which depth is penalized

But whether Substack is good for writers is one question; another is whether a world in which subscription newsletters rival magazines and newspapers is a world that people want.

Some people have told me I’m not doing enough—that I should publish more, react to breaking news, tweet every day, start a podcast. But to what end? More subscribers but less pride in my work? Host a podcast but constantly cringe because it’s not really me?

I don’t know if you’ve noticed this, but there seems to be an assumption now that if you don’... See more