Inside Substack Writers' Civil War: Glennon Doyle, 'Gentrification' & Stars
I talk to co-founder Hamish McKenzie, who calls some OGs' bubbling outrage over a blitz of big names a 'scarcity mindset'
I write about the business of creators. I reported on how microdramas are minting new six-figure careers and covered the coming talent war between Netflix and YouTube. Send me tips, memes and ideas at natalie@theankler.com
Today I’m celebrating an entirely real and not at all made-up anniversary: It’s been five months since I joined Substack by way of Ankler Media! So it’s fitting that I’m finally diving into every Substacker’s favorite topic: Substack itself.
But first, the countdown to Cannes Lions is on, and my dance card is already getting full. In case you missed it, The Ankler announced this morning its first-ever Cannes Lions programming lineup. We’ve got a great schedule of events, including a live taping of The Ankler podcast with YouTube CEO Neal Mohan in conversation with Ankler CEO Janice Min, and an invite-only lunch with Meta celebrating the creator community. And of course, check out that yacht Janice is hosting a private dinner on…
If you’re also on the Croisette, come check out my conversations with two top creators. First up, on Tuesday, June 17, I’ll be interviewing Jake Shane and UTA chairman Paul Wachter about leveraging your audience to multi-platform success at the DPAA Space at Hotel Martinez. (RSVP here.) And on Wednesday, June 18, I’ll be hosting a live taping of The Ankler podcast from ADWEEK House at Le Majestic Hotel all about building a creator-led media powerhouse with special guests Josh Richards and CrossCheck Studios CEO Chris Sawtelle. (Register for access to ADWEEK House here.)
And, as if Cannes Lions wasn’t keeping me busy enough, I’ll be jetting back to SoCal in time to attend the second-to-last day of VidCon, where I’m set to moderate a conversation about creator-led studios and the future of Hollywood featuring Dhar Mann Studios’ Dhar Mann and Sean Atkins and CAA head of digital media David Freeman. You’ll need a VidCon Industry Track ticket for that one, which you can purchase here.
Now, raise your hand if, like me, your email is inundated with more newsletters than you have time in the day to read? ✋
Since you’re reading this newsletter, I’m guessing many of those missives are coming courtesy of Substack, the 8-year-old publishing platform that’s seen explosive growth since the presidential election last year. Substack’s network currently encompasses more than 50 million active subscriptions, including 5 million paid subscriptions, a number that’s jumped by 2 million in a little more than a year.
Substack has not publicly disclosed how many newsletters it hosts, but one researcher recently pegged the total at around 75,000, 87 percent of which are written in English and 36 percent of which offer paid subscriptions. (Substack has said in the past that 17,000 writers earn money on its platform — and that number surely has grown.)
Many of these newsletters are ones that you, I and most of the Substack audience will never read (no offense to the knitting enthusiasts and philosophers on the platform!), but that’s OK because — maybe you’ve noticed — Substack isn’t just for niche bloggers, public intellectuals and independent journalists anymore. In fact, it’s not just for writing anymore. In the last year, Substack has transformed itself into a new kind of social media network, one where daily newsletters, live video broadcasts and podcasts live side-by-side with a feed for posts — called Notes — that resemble Tweets (remember those?). And it’s now attracting a cadre of very public figures who are bringing big audiences with them. In just the last few months, Katie Couric, Stacey Abrams, Ava DuVernay, Derek Blasberg, Lena Dunham, Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Samin Nosrat have all launched Substacks and quickly amassed thousands of subscribers. Chef Nosrat has only posted twice and already has more than 56,000 subscribers.
Creators like Ballerina Farm’s Hannah Neeleman (10 million Instagram followers) and Aaron Parnas (3.7 million TikTok followers) have also recently been lured to the platform. And amid a precarious time for the media, TV news personalities Joy Reid, Chris Matthews and Jim Acosta have also ported their audiences to the platform with video-first approaches. (Claire Atkinson recently had a deep dive on the Fourth Estate’s Substack strategies over on The Ankler.)
If ever there was a sign that there’s heat around Substack, just look at the corporations jumping onto the platform, from New York Magazine, Billboard, DailyMail and DeuxMoi on the publisher side to Hinge, American Eagle, Rare Beauty and The RealReal on the brand side.
“I think we’ve crossed a turning point,” Substack co-founder and chief writing officer Hamish McKenzie told me recently over a late afternoon tea at the Tower Bar while he was in town for a Substack Bestsellers event celebrating the success of L.A. area writers on the platform. He shares that the Substack app “hit critical mass” just as a number of catalysts — the election of Donald Trump, the continued dismantling of legacy media institutions, and the uncertainty around the future of TikTok in the U.S. — helped push more people onto the platform. “The network effect is really kicking in on Substack.”
But as with all fast-growing startups, there are growing pains. I’ve been watching with fascination as the people who populate the app — McKenzie scoffs at my use of the term “Substack community” during our interview, but let’s call it what it is — come to terms with the changes to the platform where they’re building significant audiences and earning (in some cases) life-changing money. Not everyone who publishes via Substack is happy about the company’s focus on growing its own app, or the surge of famous faces now populating its leaderboards — and at least one prominent figure has decided to walk away.
In this week’s newsletter, let’s explore:
What really happened when Glennon Doyle joined — and swiftly left — the platform, sparking a backlash
Why longtime users are rebelling against “gentrification” as marquee names like Elizabeth Gilbert and Katie Couric climb the charts
Hamish McKenzie’s take on the Doyle fallout, writer insecurity, and the “scarcity mindset” behind it
The new mindset behind paid and free subscribers
Why The Happiness Project’s Gretchen Rubin is betting on Substack with a personal twist — and what she says sets it apart from book publishing
The viral mechanics fueling writer growth, and why more than half of Substack subscriptions originate within the app itself
Rubin’s surprising reason for launching with paid subscriptions
Why brands are embracing Substack as more than just a newsletter tool