Are the writers on Substack just trying to make a quick buck?

Hello!

Before I begin, could someone please tell me why I’ve been sent an Easy Baby this time round? I have two older children who are 9 and 10 and they are wonderful and the centre of my universe. But could I put them down for more than a minute when they were babies? Oh no - they were firmly attached to me at all times, or in pram but needed to be constantly rocked, or in a harness but required relentless jiggling to stay asleep!

We have a basket-type contraption this time round for Baby August, and when we bought it I remember thinking “well that’s another piece of kit which will sit in the corner untouched”. But no! She loves it! My husband refers to it as the “baby briefcase” (!), and she’s happily snuggled up in it right now beside me, as I drink an actual cup of hot coffee which hasn’t been even been reheated three times!

What does all of this mean? Well, I’m still 11 days post-partum, recovering from a c-section. And I’m still not up for the mega reading and analysis required to write my usual pieces yet. But I’ve decided to send things out to my lovely readers when I can, because frankly I miss talking to you lovely bunch! And something happened to me this week which I thought I’d tell you about…

(Baby Augie out for a coffee date, calm as you like!)

I’m not sure if you’ve noticed, but it feels like Substack is taking over the universe all of a sudden. I started writing on here 3 and a half years ago, and I expect that many of my readers have been on the platform for even longer than me, because that’s how we found each other.

When I first started writing here, it felt like an obscure little platform. When my friends asked what I was up to and I told them about my new project, many looked bemused, because they’d never even heard of Substack. But all of that’s changed now. When I go on instagram, I see influencers proclaiming that “everyone needs a substack newsletter”. It seems to have become the hottest ticket in town for those looking to make money on the internet.

But for all of the coverage it’s receiving, and the wild claims about the possibilities on Substack, no one seems to be talking about what it’s actually like to be a writer on here looking to make a living. And something happened this week which has made me… think.

I had an email from someone this week who signed up to my newsletter over 2 years ago, and has presumably received several hundred newsletters from me, and yet seemed incredibly confused about why they were paying for my writing.

It’s not the first time this has happened- we’ve all signed up for things by mistake, and whenever I’ve been alerted to this, I offer to issue a full refund. There’s nothing worse than making an error and being hit with an unhelpful “policy” refusing to pay your money back.

I also cancel peoples’ subscriptions if I think they’re affecting the community negatively- if I see an intolerant remark under a post where someone’s picking a fight with another reader or exhibiting hateful views, I just quietly give them every penny back and block them. I’m not interested in taking money from bigots.

But the email this week was different to all the previous ones; the way it was worded sort of insinuated that I knew they were being hoodwinked, or had been crafty, or had attempted to pull the wool over their eyes to get their money. And this made me feel really really icky. So I wanted to tell you about it.

When you pay a writer on Substack to access their work, you’re paying someone directly. That’s a wonderful thing in many ways- writers here can speak their minds and interact with their readers, and the writers listen to their readers, because they chat to them all the time. This can only be a good thing- it forces us writers to work harder to improve things for our readers.

But we’re also humans. I can’t say this with any certainty (because I haven’t asked), but if you tell a writer you don’t want to pay them, never wanted to pay them, and act like they’ve coerced you into signing up, then I expect many of us will hit the “refund” button immediately. We don’t want to trick anyone! We’re here to write things that people find useful!

And I think this requires a bit of examination. Many people think that anyone with a profile on social media is a major influencer, charging brands hundreds of thousands of pounds to advertise things, or backed by some sort of invisible agency which insulates them from public opinion or financial insecurity. And that’s not the case on Substack.

To be completely frank, if you email me and tell me my work’s rubbish and you want a refund, you’ll get that refund. Even if it’s years out of date, and I’m within my rights to deny the refund, and I can see on my dashboard that you’ve consumed every single piece. And that’s because I don’t want to take advantage of anyone.

I think the world has made us all a bit cynical about the internet and the people who make their livings on it. And I’m not suggesting Substack is perfect (it definitely isn’t), or that everyone on it has good intentions. I suspect we’re going to see an acceleration in slop on here actually, as influencers flock here to make their millions selling online courses and other nonsense.

But that’s not what I’m doing here. I’ve been building a community for over three years who I really care about, and I’m just trying to make a living. And that won’t ever change. If you’d like a refund, by all means ask for one (and you’ll be given it!). But please don’t mistake Substack writers for the scam-artists you see elsewhere on the internet. On the whole, I think we’re just ordinary people trying to do a good job!

I hope you have a lovely day, and that all your cups of coffee are hot and accompanied by biscuits,

Take care and speak soon,

Ju

Dr Julia Patterson