Sublime

This is a model I also use for my creative work. Last year:

• I released an essay as a limited edition zip file to express the gravity of the work in my eyes


• The piece generated more than $1,000 from collectors in a week


• More than a hundred collectors wrote long responses that were incredibly meaningful


• The essay continues to have a strong online shelf

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“Breaking Points” is currently supported by around ten thousand paying subscribers spread over the various payment tiers. This is a factor of ten more than in the 1,000 True Fans model proposed by Kelly, but it remains a good case study of his model in action: a strong but modest-sized community, discovered and served by using the Internet,... See more

In this paper, he shows that if something is nonrival (if one person using something doesn’t stop someone else from using it) and nonexcludable (if you can’t prevent people from using it) — then the private sector won’t build enough of it. The classic example is a lighthouse — one ship using a lighthouse doesn’t necessarily prevent others from... See more

In its variety, the Substack corpus resembles the blogosphere. It is produced by a mix of career journalists, bloggers, specialists, novelists, hobbyists, dabblers, and white-collar professionals looking to plump up their personal brands. The company has tried to recruit high-profile writers, offering (to a select few) health-care stipends, design... See more