As a Hartford fan, I truly appreciate you tying this song in with your work. I think it's ok for us to not know why we've arrived here. Figuring it out, even in small ways, I think is the point. We'll always have Hartford to guide!
I enjoyed this and the related posts. I held back from commenting earlier because I needed a bit more time to read and reflect and then I struggled to formulate a productive response. I decided against my initial impulase to comment with a 'why I do Substack the way I do' reply because that seemed too reductive or solipsistic. As I've yet to come up with something that I think would be insightful about how others use the platform, I'll just say that your own reflections *are* insightful and thought-provoking, and that the kind of things you've been talking about are ones I think about quite often, but without reaching any clear answers. I haven't read *The Gift* but am tempted to do so now. Thank you for these posts.
Thank you for this, and for sharing Tom's excellent words. But I think Rachel misses the point of Substack, respectfully. It is not meant to be a social media platform, where a host company uses algorithms to share the content it feels will most keep people on the platform. It's a place for writers, primarily though other creatives too, to speak directly to their readers as often as they want. It's up to those writers to attract more subscribers - should they want to - by writing well. Coming on Substack a year ago as a writer, I only ever imagined that I would draw more readers via Substack if other writers linked to my columns in their own columns (it has happened). I did not realize they were going to invent a 'Notes' section that has us all scrambling around hoping Substack will promote it. I like that Substack occasionally sends out its own recommended reads via thematic round-ups but that's all I need from them. Also, you make art for art's sake, you promote it because that's always been the way of the world, and if your art has merit, the money will follow. If you're on Substack purely for commerce, it's the wrong place to be. But that is all meant with kindness and enthusiasm for the conversation. Cheers!
Thank you for reading. I am worried that the paragraph that I excerpted from Rachel's piece may have given the wrong impression. I think her position in that that far from yours -- If I had to summarize with a slight editorial judgement, I would say that the piece describes her as tempted by the dark side but recognizing that it is a dark side.
With less editorializing I'd say that she's caught between "playing the game" which offers predictable rewards but is less satisfying to her ("I can predict with scary accuracy how popular an essay will be before I publish it. And that makes me sad." and "I think that anyone who reads a lot of Substacks can see that there is a Substack style, and that certain things work on the platform and others don't. I tend to naturally write in a way that is pretty close to what does well on Substack, so it's relatively easy for me to just shimmy left a little and fit right in. I'm certainly not saying that with any pride.")
Part of why I thought that essay matched closely with what I'm thinking about is that I've been arguing that Substack as a platform is not purely neutral. In the interest of helping writers make money it privileges some approaches, and those may or may not be what we, as users of the platform want, and Rachel highlights that precise issue.
Part of what I am trying to analyze is that the creators of Substack, the platform, have choses to add a social media element (which I've benefited from, in that I've encountered or been alerted to several interesting writers through Notes which I wouldn't have followed otherwise).
I don't think you can just say that people who use those tools are missing the point but I am saying that we as readers and writers can maintain a sense of value which will be somewhat independent of what the platform itself values.
As a Hartford fan, I truly appreciate you tying this song in with your work. I think it's ok for us to not know why we've arrived here. Figuring it out, even in small ways, I think is the point. We'll always have Hartford to guide!
Thanks.
Hartford does seem like a good guide for, "find what you're interested in, and figure out the rest as you go along. "
I just bought a copy of Mark Twang at the record store this morning.
As if by magic...
I enjoyed this and the related posts. I held back from commenting earlier because I needed a bit more time to read and reflect and then I struggled to formulate a productive response. I decided against my initial impulase to comment with a 'why I do Substack the way I do' reply because that seemed too reductive or solipsistic. As I've yet to come up with something that I think would be insightful about how others use the platform, I'll just say that your own reflections *are* insightful and thought-provoking, and that the kind of things you've been talking about are ones I think about quite often, but without reaching any clear answers. I haven't read *The Gift* but am tempted to do so now. Thank you for these posts.
Thank you that is a kind and generous response.
I am happy that you found my posts worth mulling over, and that's exactly the response I would hope for.
Thank you for this, and for sharing Tom's excellent words. But I think Rachel misses the point of Substack, respectfully. It is not meant to be a social media platform, where a host company uses algorithms to share the content it feels will most keep people on the platform. It's a place for writers, primarily though other creatives too, to speak directly to their readers as often as they want. It's up to those writers to attract more subscribers - should they want to - by writing well. Coming on Substack a year ago as a writer, I only ever imagined that I would draw more readers via Substack if other writers linked to my columns in their own columns (it has happened). I did not realize they were going to invent a 'Notes' section that has us all scrambling around hoping Substack will promote it. I like that Substack occasionally sends out its own recommended reads via thematic round-ups but that's all I need from them. Also, you make art for art's sake, you promote it because that's always been the way of the world, and if your art has merit, the money will follow. If you're on Substack purely for commerce, it's the wrong place to be. But that is all meant with kindness and enthusiasm for the conversation. Cheers!
Thank you for reading. I am worried that the paragraph that I excerpted from Rachel's piece may have given the wrong impression. I think her position in that that far from yours -- If I had to summarize with a slight editorial judgement, I would say that the piece describes her as tempted by the dark side but recognizing that it is a dark side.
With less editorializing I'd say that she's caught between "playing the game" which offers predictable rewards but is less satisfying to her ("I can predict with scary accuracy how popular an essay will be before I publish it. And that makes me sad." and "I think that anyone who reads a lot of Substacks can see that there is a Substack style, and that certain things work on the platform and others don't. I tend to naturally write in a way that is pretty close to what does well on Substack, so it's relatively easy for me to just shimmy left a little and fit right in. I'm certainly not saying that with any pride.")
Part of why I thought that essay matched closely with what I'm thinking about is that I've been arguing that Substack as a platform is not purely neutral. In the interest of helping writers make money it privileges some approaches, and those may or may not be what we, as users of the platform want, and Rachel highlights that precise issue.
Part of what I am trying to analyze is that the creators of Substack, the platform, have choses to add a social media element (which I've benefited from, in that I've encountered or been alerted to several interesting writers through Notes which I wouldn't have followed otherwise).
I don't think you can just say that people who use those tools are missing the point but I am saying that we as readers and writers can maintain a sense of value which will be somewhat independent of what the platform itself values.
See my previous posts:
https://earnestnessisunderrated.substack.com/p/marketplace-of-what
https://earnestnessisunderrated.substack.com/p/arts-gifts-and-community