What Not to Do on Substack

…and a few things you should

Photo by Marek Studzinski on

With the decline of Medium payments, it’s a bit like the gold rush days on Substack. Everyone is packing up their stuff and heading off to seek their fortune on a platform that’s free but offers no payments, except those you generate yourself.

I’ve always said that compared to Substack, Medium is easy. Sure Medium payments may have dropped to the level where they aren’t worth it for most people. But at least on Medium people are generous with their claps, follows, highlights, and to a lesser degree, their comments. While there is a large portion of self-interest in this engagement, there’s also a feel-good factor that’s very helpful when you’re starting out.

The Shovel Sellers

During gold rushes a percentage of people gave up on prospecting for gold and created businesses that the prospecters needed.

This is what’s happened on Substack.

But what these shovel sellers tell us to do and what they do themselves are two very different things.

Because they have a vested interest in selling shovels they tell us: -

“find a niche in health, wealth or personal development, engage, be useful and solve problems.”