- British writers are enjoying significant income in the field away from traditional platforms
Bloggers, including British authors, are turning to self-publishing on the Substack platform and making six-figure sums.
Cultural journalist Emma Gannon and historian Ed West are among those estimated to earn at least £100,000 a year from subscribers.
Pastry chef Nicola Lamb is one of the many people on the platform who was able to quit her full-time job and work full-time on Substack.
The site is also a favorite of former No. 10 adviser Dominic Cummings, and full access to his thoughts and musings costs £10 a month. He has 47,000 subscribers, including those who do not pay and can only read selected parts of his works.
Political figures, experts, and journalists are spearheading a new breed of creators on the platform.
Gannon, 34, said: “I really wanted a community online, and that really aligns with the fact that social media is just not that space for me anymore. And I think a lot of people are moving away from Instagram and Twitter. I know there are,” he said. , for obvious reasons.
“We feel really strongly that writers' words have value, and we're happy to pay £3.50 for a cocktail, an expensive coffee or a birthday card.”
“So I'm really passionate about that value being understood,” she told Press Gazette.
Former Evening Standard journalist Joshi Harman started covering Manchester news for her Substack site, The Mill.
It raised £350,000 from a group of investors including Mark Thompson, the former BBC director-general who now runs CNN.
He told the Times: “I started writing mini-studies in my bedroom, published them to a small audience, and it grew from there.
“We realized that local journalism was suffering from a decline in quality, so instead of spending it all on holidays, we decided to reinvest our profits back into local journalists.
“Instead of trying to compete with local newspapers, my plan is to only run a few articles each week and the really good ones.”
The analysis shows that many of the highest earners are Americans.
The annual subscription fee for Letters From An American is believed to be more than £4 million a year.
Founded in 2017 by Chris Best, Jiraj Sethi, and Hamish McKenzie, Substack allows writers to build their own paid subscription businesses.
Writers receive 90 percent of their revenue from the subscribers they bring in. The remaining 10% of her will go to her Substack.
The way Substack is set up allows writers to make money with their work, even if they have a relatively small following.
Chris Best, co-founder and CEO of Substack, told BuzzFeed News: Individual. '
Some writers make enough money to turn newsletters into a full-time job.
