Awesome podcast. I now make more on Substack than I was making at a hedge fund. The rise has been meteoric. I was recently contacted for a traditional book publishing deal because of Substack.
That's good to hear. Speaking from the fiction community on Substack, we're all looking out for that moment when editors notice what we're doing and start offering us trad book publishing deals.
I have a friend in major publishing. As far as I know, trad publishers are nowadays looking for a minimum of 100k active Twitter subscribers or 10k active email list. That is a very big point they are looking at. Selling the person, not the book. And they want you to do a big part of the marketing. To get that initial 1,000 reviews on Amazon instantly. I am talking about non-fiction, but I can imagine it's similar in fiction. They want to minimize the risk of investment.
It is sad, as it diminishes the quality of what is being put out there.
Reading does matter, as you say--and I think Substack is the new literary magazine and the writing here is now my obsession. I haven't figured out how to monetize it, and I do find it scary, but it has indeed changed my life, Chris. What Dwarfesh that you've done is amazing! xo to you both ...
Dude I need your energy and productivity secrets. Also your eye cream brands. My crow’s feet are insane and you really could be ageless Canadian Elrond.
I felt a tinge in my heart about the startup guy quitting to do his substack full time. That’s awesome courage (which I do not have).
Getting more YouTube Creators to join Substack is certainly the way to go. Would be a fun category to follow too. It's the easiest way to get more young people and GenZ interested in this community.
From the reader-only perspective, I love what is happening on this platform, it is the most refreshing and intellectually delightful writing. But the user experience is rocky. ie. Subscribing to a handful of newsletters curses you email inbox. If there is a way to enable a daily or weekly roll up to your inbox or opt out of emails from your subscriptions, then I have not found it, and I've looked. Checked the help center etc. I think it needs to be creator centered but sometimes the reader experience feels neglected
Hey…I don’t know if people do this, but I want to thank you for putting out a product I like…I hope you can make the text editor richer and more robust…like really go out with all the bells and whistles. I thought to ask since Tosha Silver says in one of her books, “Go to the top. Write the CEO as you would a friend.”
I also want to say, with the Substack features, I’ve saved over $200 in app subscriptions since Substack has connective features like magically making RSS really simple.
Because of Substack, I’ve been able to do 5 podcast episodes instead of 2.
This was a fun conversation to listen to. I've spent a lot of time thinking about the future of AI and I've experimented quite a bit with generative AI in my creative work but also in my day job. Short of the hell-bent race towards singularity and what that could mean, which you guys covered, the thing I fear most in the near-term is simply our inability as slow-evolving biological creatures to wield such a powerful tool. We invented the gun, a far more primitive technology designed for a single purpose and look how much damage it continues to do. Humans are prone to momentary lapses of blind emotion so an instrument that can kill instantly with the pull of a finger is something we've never been able to manage.
The human flaw that will allow AI to wreak havoc is our comparatively primitive pattern recognition. We tend to interrogate something just enough to detect an obvious threat or opportunity and then we accept it blindly and move on. Its the details that will kill us. The fine print that AI can generate so handily at light speed. So the argument that "we made it so we can control it" holds no water.
Awesome podcast. I now make more on Substack than I was making at a hedge fund. The rise has been meteoric. I was recently contacted for a traditional book publishing deal because of Substack.
That's good to hear. Speaking from the fiction community on Substack, we're all looking out for that moment when editors notice what we're doing and start offering us trad book publishing deals.
I have a friend in major publishing. As far as I know, trad publishers are nowadays looking for a minimum of 100k active Twitter subscribers or 10k active email list. That is a very big point they are looking at. Selling the person, not the book. And they want you to do a big part of the marketing. To get that initial 1,000 reviews on Amazon instantly. I am talking about non-fiction, but I can imagine it's similar in fiction. They want to minimize the risk of investment.
It is sad, as it diminishes the quality of what is being put out there.
I’m not surprised to hear those numbers. Maddening, and inevitably quality gets lost.
Reading does matter, as you say--and I think Substack is the new literary magazine and the writing here is now my obsession. I haven't figured out how to monetize it, and I do find it scary, but it has indeed changed my life, Chris. What Dwarfesh that you've done is amazing! xo to you both ...
Dude I need your energy and productivity secrets. Also your eye cream brands. My crow’s feet are insane and you really could be ageless Canadian Elrond.
I felt a tinge in my heart about the startup guy quitting to do his substack full time. That’s awesome courage (which I do not have).
We need a video purely on Chris's skincare routine. LMAO
Regarding the information environment, a useful term for one challenge is "Brandolini's Law," or the bullshit asymmetry principle: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brandolini%27s_law.
Also, pleasure saying hi to you at Manifest!
Getting more YouTube Creators to join Substack is certainly the way to go. Would be a fun category to follow too. It's the easiest way to get more young people and GenZ interested in this community.
From the reader-only perspective, I love what is happening on this platform, it is the most refreshing and intellectually delightful writing. But the user experience is rocky. ie. Subscribing to a handful of newsletters curses you email inbox. If there is a way to enable a daily or weekly roll up to your inbox or opt out of emails from your subscriptions, then I have not found it, and I've looked. Checked the help center etc. I think it needs to be creator centered but sometimes the reader experience feels neglected
Hey…I don’t know if people do this, but I want to thank you for putting out a product I like…I hope you can make the text editor richer and more robust…like really go out with all the bells and whistles. I thought to ask since Tosha Silver says in one of her books, “Go to the top. Write the CEO as you would a friend.”
I also want to say, with the Substack features, I’ve saved over $200 in app subscriptions since Substack has connective features like magically making RSS really simple.
Because of Substack, I’ve been able to do 5 podcast episodes instead of 2.
You might as well just check this out—I’m camera shy. I’m getting used to looking at my face more on camera. Who knew technology could be so affirming? —> https://tessmccarthy.substack.com/p/morningpoems-podcast-s1-e5-girls
This was a fun conversation to listen to. I've spent a lot of time thinking about the future of AI and I've experimented quite a bit with generative AI in my creative work but also in my day job. Short of the hell-bent race towards singularity and what that could mean, which you guys covered, the thing I fear most in the near-term is simply our inability as slow-evolving biological creatures to wield such a powerful tool. We invented the gun, a far more primitive technology designed for a single purpose and look how much damage it continues to do. Humans are prone to momentary lapses of blind emotion so an instrument that can kill instantly with the pull of a finger is something we've never been able to manage.
The human flaw that will allow AI to wreak havoc is our comparatively primitive pattern recognition. We tend to interrogate something just enough to detect an obvious threat or opportunity and then we accept it blindly and move on. Its the details that will kill us. The fine print that AI can generate so handily at light speed. So the argument that "we made it so we can control it" holds no water.