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Tom Pendergast's avatar

I’ll be interested to watch your experiment. Elle’s article has nudged another writer this way, I believe, and I’ve suggested to him that I’m reluctant (read: unable, unwilling) to pay for every Substack writer I enjoy reading. I worry that there’s a zero sum game we’re playing as we “all” try to go paid. I think we’ll see a real test of how elastic budgets are for content.

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Reina Cruz's avatar

I have been struggling with paid subscriptions as well. I've been offering my newsletter and writing for free since joining this year (still very much a newbie), but I also believe that artists should be paid for their work and there is a precedent to set (by staying free you will only attract people who wish to continue getting your work for free), but, like you had said, asking for people to pay for each short story or episode I launch feels like too big of an ask. Thank you for sharing your journey with this experiment. I follow Elle as well and your insights are so helpful! I feel like we are all walking an unpaved path and every bit of cut back brush is helpful.

Good luck! I hope to hear more about your experiments.

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