Substack is Different Now

I have an announcement.

Substack has grown and changed a lot since I started K108 three and a half years ago.

We don’t have exact figures, but the best estimate is that the number of publications vying for your attention has tripled since 2023.

And the number of publications with at least one paid subscriber has grown from 17,000 to more than 100,000.

Across the Substack landscape, writers such as myself who aren’t terribly well-known, but still solid, used to be able to sustain and grow.

Now, “churning” is the norm. In other words subscribers of all kinds move from one publication to another because there are just so many darn choices!!

I’m here to say thank-you and offer my appreciation to the nearly 800 hundred of you who have subscribed continuously to K108 since the beginning and the hundreds of you who have come on board since then.

Writers all over Substack are talking about it. Even when subscribers increase, paid subscriptions are not being sustained. Readers just don’t have the $$ to contribute to the growing number of worthy publications.

K108 is no exception. More subscribers. Falling donations.

K108 is of course, free. Those who offer paid subscriptions do so because they feel moved to support what I’m offering in a more concrete way.

And no joke, paid subscribers have made a solid contribution to my ability to pay bills and devote more time to writing.

So I’m hoping to entice more of you to contribute and remain as contributors without having to introduce special paid tiers with special perks. (Yuck)

Monthly moves from $7 to $5 per month.
Annual moves from $70 to $50 per year.
Guardian moves from $216 to $108 or whatever higher amount you choose per year.

• To those of you who are already paid subscribers:
  At the time of your next renewal, you will automagically move to the new subscription prices. If you want to move sooner, you can unsubscribe and resubscribe.

• To those who are not yet paid subscribers (or subscribers at all):
  I understand that there are lots of subscriptions “out there”. But if you have found consistent value here, please consider signing up or moving from a free to a paid subscription. Thank you for even giving it a moment’s consideration. 😌

This is an adaptive experiment, and I have no idea what will happen. But I will report back and letcha know.

with infinite love always,

Shambhavi

Please join Shambhavi and the Jaya Kula community for satsang & kirtan every Sunday at 3:00pm Pacific. Come in person to 1215 SE 8th Ave, Portland, OR, or join Jaya Kula’s newsletter to get the Zoom link for satsang. You can also listen to my podcast—Satsang with Shambhavi—wherever podcasts are found.