You state the problem well, Josh. I still have hope though for a small literary community of fiction and memoir writers, but I don't believe one can financially survive on that--as my novel _Who by Fire_ almost complete and up now shows here: https://marytabor.substack.com/s/who-by-fire-a-novel --despite its loyal following.
As a solopreneur myself, I can say transition from a full time paying business of my own to what is a part time writing career, with one book in progress, has been a roller coaster ride.
I loved the college professors I had who taught me how to ask better questions.
Rote memorization was never something that would remain with me over time. I enjoyed Willa Cather, but have never liked Shakespeare (with the exception of his incredible names to call people).
My various jobs as a professional have always been molded to suit what I was innately good at.
I hope that you are able to find a lane in which you blossom Josh. You’ve got so much good within you to be shared.
I don’t know any “solopreneurs.” Could Substack be the App Store for “long-form” digital content? Some commonality there, I suppose. App developers always faced the challenge of how to get users to pay more than a pittance for apps, and so they turned to in-app purchasing (paywalls) and advertising (still to come on Substack).
Another commonality might be that it turned out there were many coders out there capable of writing decent apps, but many fewer really good ideas for apps, so you had a lot of duplication. Same with Substack, where there are quite a few writers capable of writing decent prose about the same subjects.
But I still think anyone who (1) has a really good idea and (2) is semi-unique in their ability to write about it and (3) can divine enough readers who find that idea interesting or essential enough to pay for, that they would do okay. But few Substack newsletters I’ve seen meet all three criteria. That is, there are a lot of newsletters that, say, talk about current-release movies (plenty of readers, but low barrier to entry, so many competitors, not only on Substack but also on YouTube, etc.) on one end, and, say, a Shakespeare newsletter on the other (higher barrier to entry, so fewer competitors outside academia, but also fewer readers).
I suppose anyone trying to build a paid list here is a solopreneur of sorts, but there are many Substacks that explicitly promote businesses. I'm the founder and owner of a coaching LLC that uses the same Stripe account that Substack gave me when I launched. I've resisted turning my series into a purely promotional venture, but I'm comfortable calling myself a solopreneur.
Your app store analogy seems apt. Substack is indeed flooded with duplication. Maybe another more strained analogy is the Gold Rush. Seemingly endless opportunity, but only a few real fortunes made. Some combination of luck and grit and determination involved.
You are making me think about medical humanities as a less-trod lane. There are lots of medical Substacks. Lots of literature Substacks. Not many (any?) that I know of that explicitly link medical history to current medical practice or review literature written by or about physicians. As I wrote about on my main series this week, AI is only intensifying the alienation that already afflicted corporatized medicine. Narrative Medicine and other humanities-based programs launched in the 70s and 80s to combat corporate indifference are in decline like all humanities education, so perhaps that's an area of opportunity.
William Carlos Williams famously said that people die every day for the lack of what can be found in poems. But articulating the specific "need" that literature meets can be pretty challenging. When the lens is focused to the doctor-patient relationship, or to cultural issues in medicine, that need becomes clearer.
Yes, I forgot all about apps that support or promote an existing business. Newsletters do that too sometimes. For example, a successful podcast, not hosted on Substack, with moneys coming in through, say, Patreon, might have a regular newsletter for things that don’t fit into a podcast, its show notes, etc. And the newsletter might be interesting on its own, but its main purpose is to point people to the podcast.
We’re long into the after-the-gold-rush phase with apps, yet apps continue on, a thriving industry was built around them, etc. What happens when Substack’s Gold Rush is over? I sometimes wonder about where the ceiling is for newsletter readers. It might be lower than we think. Maybe not even-the-mice-walked-stoop-shouldered low, but still something to bump the head against.
Thank you for writing the finest concise encapsulation of the "career crisis" I have ever read: yes, humanist skills are required for entry into universities that claim those skills no longer have value; and AI companies require in-person interviews so they can they watch applicants write code without AI help. Clearly modern institutional seats of power and capital don't want to hire (or educate!) someone dumb enough to buy what they're selling.
Hard to "like" such a comment, but you capture the paradox well. I remain fairly ignorant of AI, having never ponied up for the subscriptions that people say perform much better than the free option. The free option is insipid and mostly unhelpful, even for things like grocery shopping or recipes. I appreciate your commitment to real creativity and thought. Your Substack title seems more apt all the time. Thanks for reading!
You state the problem well, Josh. I still have hope though for a small literary community of fiction and memoir writers, but I don't believe one can financially survive on that--as my novel _Who by Fire_ almost complete and up now shows here: https://marytabor.substack.com/s/who-by-fire-a-novel --despite its loyal following.
As a solopreneur myself, I can say transition from a full time paying business of my own to what is a part time writing career, with one book in progress, has been a roller coaster ride.
I loved the college professors I had who taught me how to ask better questions.
Rote memorization was never something that would remain with me over time. I enjoyed Willa Cather, but have never liked Shakespeare (with the exception of his incredible names to call people).
My various jobs as a professional have always been molded to suit what I was innately good at.
I hope that you are able to find a lane in which you blossom Josh. You’ve got so much good within you to be shared.
Cheers, Tey. I’m feeling good about my lane. It allows me to prioritize kids and self care while building private practice slowly.
This is SO wonderful!
I don’t know any “solopreneurs.” Could Substack be the App Store for “long-form” digital content? Some commonality there, I suppose. App developers always faced the challenge of how to get users to pay more than a pittance for apps, and so they turned to in-app purchasing (paywalls) and advertising (still to come on Substack).
Another commonality might be that it turned out there were many coders out there capable of writing decent apps, but many fewer really good ideas for apps, so you had a lot of duplication. Same with Substack, where there are quite a few writers capable of writing decent prose about the same subjects.
But I still think anyone who (1) has a really good idea and (2) is semi-unique in their ability to write about it and (3) can divine enough readers who find that idea interesting or essential enough to pay for, that they would do okay. But few Substack newsletters I’ve seen meet all three criteria. That is, there are a lot of newsletters that, say, talk about current-release movies (plenty of readers, but low barrier to entry, so many competitors, not only on Substack but also on YouTube, etc.) on one end, and, say, a Shakespeare newsletter on the other (higher barrier to entry, so fewer competitors outside academia, but also fewer readers).
I suppose anyone trying to build a paid list here is a solopreneur of sorts, but there are many Substacks that explicitly promote businesses. I'm the founder and owner of a coaching LLC that uses the same Stripe account that Substack gave me when I launched. I've resisted turning my series into a purely promotional venture, but I'm comfortable calling myself a solopreneur.
Your app store analogy seems apt. Substack is indeed flooded with duplication. Maybe another more strained analogy is the Gold Rush. Seemingly endless opportunity, but only a few real fortunes made. Some combination of luck and grit and determination involved.
You are making me think about medical humanities as a less-trod lane. There are lots of medical Substacks. Lots of literature Substacks. Not many (any?) that I know of that explicitly link medical history to current medical practice or review literature written by or about physicians. As I wrote about on my main series this week, AI is only intensifying the alienation that already afflicted corporatized medicine. Narrative Medicine and other humanities-based programs launched in the 70s and 80s to combat corporate indifference are in decline like all humanities education, so perhaps that's an area of opportunity.
William Carlos Williams famously said that people die every day for the lack of what can be found in poems. But articulating the specific "need" that literature meets can be pretty challenging. When the lens is focused to the doctor-patient relationship, or to cultural issues in medicine, that need becomes clearer.
Thanks for the brainstorming prompt!
Yes, I forgot all about apps that support or promote an existing business. Newsletters do that too sometimes. For example, a successful podcast, not hosted on Substack, with moneys coming in through, say, Patreon, might have a regular newsletter for things that don’t fit into a podcast, its show notes, etc. And the newsletter might be interesting on its own, but its main purpose is to point people to the podcast.
We’re long into the after-the-gold-rush phase with apps, yet apps continue on, a thriving industry was built around them, etc. What happens when Substack’s Gold Rush is over? I sometimes wonder about where the ceiling is for newsletter readers. It might be lower than we think. Maybe not even-the-mice-walked-stoop-shouldered low, but still something to bump the head against.
Thank you for writing the finest concise encapsulation of the "career crisis" I have ever read: yes, humanist skills are required for entry into universities that claim those skills no longer have value; and AI companies require in-person interviews so they can they watch applicants write code without AI help. Clearly modern institutional seats of power and capital don't want to hire (or educate!) someone dumb enough to buy what they're selling.
Hard to "like" such a comment, but you capture the paradox well. I remain fairly ignorant of AI, having never ponied up for the subscriptions that people say perform much better than the free option. The free option is insipid and mostly unhelpful, even for things like grocery shopping or recipes. I appreciate your commitment to real creativity and thought. Your Substack title seems more apt all the time. Thanks for reading!