This was great Charlotte. As life has marched forward, being thoughtful and creating boundaries so we can take chances and be able to handle the uncertainty when we take chances is a good plan. When I started my Substack I tried hard to frame the effort as something that would be an exploration to start. I set out to not get sucked into the vortex. I did not want it to become like a SM addiction. My favorite elements that has stuck with me the whole way was I set up my parting email message for anyone who unsubscribes. "Sorry to see you go! This is NOT the Hotel California. You are allowed to leave :)" I think feeling free to not subscribe to too many Newsletters and embrace that I would outgrow some of the them has been great. I would imagine when the time comes to submit my work to others formally and let them share their feedback will be hard. It is helpful to play it out in your mind before you get around to actually doing it. I think it is a great development that the barrier to entry is being lowered to publishing.
I love your unsubscribe message! I know I have too many newsletter subscriptions and I need to unsubscribe to some of them. I think Substack is so different that regular SM and I'm so grateful for the place being created here. The barrier to entry is indeed being lowered.
Well I hope you don't get to experience my unsubscribe message :) I enjoy Substack ALSO. At least for me, I have tried to keep a limit on my subscriptions. While I read others (I save the links) it is pleasurable that on a given day I have a small handful of TBRs and I can enjoy them. As Substack has rapidly evolved I think it is starting to have some of the characteristics of SM but not such a rough edge. My latest observation is there are a whole bunch of Substack Whisperers -- assuring the masses they will share their secrets for $9.99 plus S&H. It is like maximizing your Social Security. Like everything else there is wisdom out there (like yours IMO) -- there is a burgeoning explosion of do this and you can quit your job. It is unfortunate but unavoidable I suppose. I had a fabulous group of Substacks I genuinely enjoyed. Some of them became serial shouters on Notes. Like the person who has to roll down their windows and play their stereo too loud -- please notice me -- what I am saying is REALLY important. Those were interesting cases. I eventually unsubscribed, muted them on Notes and now read them as time allows. I commend Substack for resisting the lock-in and incessant shouting that typically ruins a SM experience as you just end up in an echo chamber.
I just checked. I have 23 subscriptions. Of those 4 are currently not publishing with any regularity. 4 more are writing inconsistently. I usually make a pass through them about once a month. For me about 15 regular reads are about the high limit. Because it is now a habit, just looking at the list informs me of what I think of them.
I have never experienced your unsubscribe message and I never will!
I am also a bit worried that SS is going to go the way of Medium--for awhile over there it was all about how to make money on Medium. That seems to have lessened some, I think mostly because they've switched the algorithm up so nobody is making anything. I just hope SS doesn't go too far. And I don't think it will. I love that some of the most popular blogs here are, well, quirky.
I should go count up my subscriptions but I'm kid of afraid to!
When i look at an about page and see someone is subscribed to 500 Substacks I realize there is no chance of interaction or at best it will be manic. The algorithms are absurd and it is best to laugh. I deleted Facebook about 12 years ago. Recently when Meta created Threads, I stuck my toe in the water and created an Instagram account. I never followed through and even tried Threads. The funny part was this week I got an email from Meta with a code to reactivate my Facebook -- WTH -- dystopian -- I wonder if I entered the code whether I would have 450,000 messages :)
This was great Charlotte. As life has marched forward, being thoughtful and creating boundaries so we can take chances and be able to handle the uncertainty when we take chances is a good plan. When I started my Substack I tried hard to frame the effort as something that would be an exploration to start. I set out to not get sucked into the vortex. I did not want it to become like a SM addiction. My favorite elements that has stuck with me the whole way was I set up my parting email message for anyone who unsubscribes. "Sorry to see you go! This is NOT the Hotel California. You are allowed to leave :)" I think feeling free to not subscribe to too many Newsletters and embrace that I would outgrow some of the them has been great. I would imagine when the time comes to submit my work to others formally and let them share their feedback will be hard. It is helpful to play it out in your mind before you get around to actually doing it. I think it is a great development that the barrier to entry is being lowered to publishing.
I love your unsubscribe message! I know I have too many newsletter subscriptions and I need to unsubscribe to some of them. I think Substack is so different that regular SM and I'm so grateful for the place being created here. The barrier to entry is indeed being lowered.
Well I hope you don't get to experience my unsubscribe message :) I enjoy Substack ALSO. At least for me, I have tried to keep a limit on my subscriptions. While I read others (I save the links) it is pleasurable that on a given day I have a small handful of TBRs and I can enjoy them. As Substack has rapidly evolved I think it is starting to have some of the characteristics of SM but not such a rough edge. My latest observation is there are a whole bunch of Substack Whisperers -- assuring the masses they will share their secrets for $9.99 plus S&H. It is like maximizing your Social Security. Like everything else there is wisdom out there (like yours IMO) -- there is a burgeoning explosion of do this and you can quit your job. It is unfortunate but unavoidable I suppose. I had a fabulous group of Substacks I genuinely enjoyed. Some of them became serial shouters on Notes. Like the person who has to roll down their windows and play their stereo too loud -- please notice me -- what I am saying is REALLY important. Those were interesting cases. I eventually unsubscribed, muted them on Notes and now read them as time allows. I commend Substack for resisting the lock-in and incessant shouting that typically ruins a SM experience as you just end up in an echo chamber.
I just checked. I have 23 subscriptions. Of those 4 are currently not publishing with any regularity. 4 more are writing inconsistently. I usually make a pass through them about once a month. For me about 15 regular reads are about the high limit. Because it is now a habit, just looking at the list informs me of what I think of them.
I have never experienced your unsubscribe message and I never will!
I am also a bit worried that SS is going to go the way of Medium--for awhile over there it was all about how to make money on Medium. That seems to have lessened some, I think mostly because they've switched the algorithm up so nobody is making anything. I just hope SS doesn't go too far. And I don't think it will. I love that some of the most popular blogs here are, well, quirky.
I should go count up my subscriptions but I'm kid of afraid to!
When i look at an about page and see someone is subscribed to 500 Substacks I realize there is no chance of interaction or at best it will be manic. The algorithms are absurd and it is best to laugh. I deleted Facebook about 12 years ago. Recently when Meta created Threads, I stuck my toe in the water and created an Instagram account. I never followed through and even tried Threads. The funny part was this week I got an email from Meta with a code to reactivate my Facebook -- WTH -- dystopian -- I wonder if I entered the code whether I would have 450,000 messages :)