I wholeheartedly agree with you. I don't charge for my Substack. If I did, I would feel like I had to post something almost every day, even if I had nothing to say. I try to post when I am inspired to say something valuable to my audience. I think there could be a way, if I am able to help my readers make money, by what I share on Substack, they may want to make a donation to Substack directly.
I really appreciate your thoughtfulness and integrity Jon. Yes, all these subscriptions are burdensome, not only financially but also the time/maintenance issues of keeping up with everything, using it but not getting buried. Especially with news & politics which has rapidly become so fragmented, partly by journalists moving to Substack. Adobe is a pariah, but still feels indispensable. I appreciate what another commentator said about forming discussion groups--that seems a way to go forward. I very much appreciate your work & information sharing Jon.
This is surprising and an engaging turn of events, both philosophically and in the sphere of public actions. Bravo! I applaud your great efforts in sharing models of thought and business. And standing against the subscription model and still finding ways forward. Just yesterday, I shared with a filmmakers group why I opted out of subscription for Adobe products years ago. You're breaking important ground here, Jon.
I want to support you and the great work you're doing: forging new pathways in independent film distribution, community building and simply being human and humane.
Loved this honest personal and economic reflection! U r 💯 % correct in calling paid subscriptions rent. I’m paying rent to about 5 or 6 substack writers to support the writings that reflect on the political and economic realities we r facing. I love the idea of pay what u want. I think more Substack writers would consider that if it was available. Way to lead the way!! Proud of you!!👏🏼 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼
This is super interesting Jon. I've been writing on Substack for about 18 months but only just launched something paid in the last few weeks. I wasn't sure that my posts really offer 'value' that people would necessarily want to pay for (and like Doug I'm planning to crowdfund later this year for a short so was wary of cannibalising the same audience).
Instead I decided to try a more event-based/community thing - an online film club that works like a book group where we watch the films separately then come together to discuss. The idea is to take our time to explore one theme over a bunch of different movies (docs and fiction) across seasons lasting several months. First season is on atomic movies as that's the same topic as my feature doc so a lot of my Substack subs are people who signed up to the mailing list for that film. Have had a fairly modest take up so far (today is actually the last day of a half price early bird discount I've been running if you fancy checking it out).
I LOVE the community here on Substack but am still trying to figure out if monetisation is really possible or if's better just to view it as a superior form of social media where people can get to know the person behind the film as a whole person in a more rounded way. Excited to see more filmmakers joining and to watch how people make use of the possibilities here. I'm gonna jump in on your low cost discount anyway Jon - I think that's a great idea. Hopefully lots of other folk will too eh!
Thanks Vicki - agree that for many who don't have an audience already - montetization is tough - better to build subscribers with a free option and then if people want to contribute - great! Best of luck - I like your film club idea!
Interesting to read, Jon, especially in light of our conversation the other week. I’ve decided that my paywall (once I start one) will be for one thing only: access to me. I plan to host a monthly zoom for paid subscribers only where they can ask me anything and we can give each other feedback on our personal doc projects. Otherwise, everything is free. This is partly because I plan on doing a crowdfunding campaign early next year and I’m hoping my free subscribers will contribute to that more generously than a paid Substack subscription. But also because we both believe in the karma principle of being generous with what we know. Anyhoo, your psychedelic breakthroughs are tempting me, sir. (Hmm, auto spell check at first turned psychedelic to psychotic.)
Thanks Doug - that makes a lot of sense - and I'll probably charge for some of the webinars we do - I think people prefer that - when they are paying for one specific thing. We'll see how it all plays out!
I wholeheartedly agree with you. I don't charge for my Substack. If I did, I would feel like I had to post something almost every day, even if I had nothing to say. I try to post when I am inspired to say something valuable to my audience. I think there could be a way, if I am able to help my readers make money, by what I share on Substack, they may want to make a donation to Substack directly.
Thank you for that - but when people subscribe are they still offered a paid subscription?
I really appreciate your thoughtfulness and integrity Jon. Yes, all these subscriptions are burdensome, not only financially but also the time/maintenance issues of keeping up with everything, using it but not getting buried. Especially with news & politics which has rapidly become so fragmented, partly by journalists moving to Substack. Adobe is a pariah, but still feels indispensable. I appreciate what another commentator said about forming discussion groups--that seems a way to go forward. I very much appreciate your work & information sharing Jon.
Thank you Joanna.
Hi Jon,
Happy Birthday!
This is surprising and an engaging turn of events, both philosophically and in the sphere of public actions. Bravo! I applaud your great efforts in sharing models of thought and business. And standing against the subscription model and still finding ways forward. Just yesterday, I shared with a filmmakers group why I opted out of subscription for Adobe products years ago. You're breaking important ground here, Jon.
I want to support you and the great work you're doing: forging new pathways in independent film distribution, community building and simply being human and humane.
Truly Jon, Bravo.
Looking forward to many more adventures,
Jacqueline Rosen
Thank you so much Jaqueline! Yeah Adobe is pretty onerous - remember when you could buy software - and use it for years!?
Loved this honest personal and economic reflection! U r 💯 % correct in calling paid subscriptions rent. I’m paying rent to about 5 or 6 substack writers to support the writings that reflect on the political and economic realities we r facing. I love the idea of pay what u want. I think more Substack writers would consider that if it was available. Way to lead the way!! Proud of you!!👏🏼 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼
This is super interesting Jon. I've been writing on Substack for about 18 months but only just launched something paid in the last few weeks. I wasn't sure that my posts really offer 'value' that people would necessarily want to pay for (and like Doug I'm planning to crowdfund later this year for a short so was wary of cannibalising the same audience).
Instead I decided to try a more event-based/community thing - an online film club that works like a book group where we watch the films separately then come together to discuss. The idea is to take our time to explore one theme over a bunch of different movies (docs and fiction) across seasons lasting several months. First season is on atomic movies as that's the same topic as my feature doc so a lot of my Substack subs are people who signed up to the mailing list for that film. Have had a fairly modest take up so far (today is actually the last day of a half price early bird discount I've been running if you fancy checking it out).
I LOVE the community here on Substack but am still trying to figure out if monetisation is really possible or if's better just to view it as a superior form of social media where people can get to know the person behind the film as a whole person in a more rounded way. Excited to see more filmmakers joining and to watch how people make use of the possibilities here. I'm gonna jump in on your low cost discount anyway Jon - I think that's a great idea. Hopefully lots of other folk will too eh!
Thanks Vicki - agree that for many who don't have an audience already - montetization is tough - better to build subscribers with a free option and then if people want to contribute - great! Best of luck - I like your film club idea!
Interesting to read, Jon, especially in light of our conversation the other week. I’ve decided that my paywall (once I start one) will be for one thing only: access to me. I plan to host a monthly zoom for paid subscribers only where they can ask me anything and we can give each other feedback on our personal doc projects. Otherwise, everything is free. This is partly because I plan on doing a crowdfunding campaign early next year and I’m hoping my free subscribers will contribute to that more generously than a paid Substack subscription. But also because we both believe in the karma principle of being generous with what we know. Anyhoo, your psychedelic breakthroughs are tempting me, sir. (Hmm, auto spell check at first turned psychedelic to psychotic.)
Thanks Doug - that makes a lot of sense - and I'll probably charge for some of the webinars we do - I think people prefer that - when they are paying for one specific thing. We'll see how it all plays out!
very interesting!! thanks for the share!