Patreon has 2 million paid subscriptions, more than 35 million active monthly subscriptions. So bad publishers are making 25 million bucks a year between them. Between them, the top 10 publishers,. And then it goes down from there. For a piece of mind, we can confirm that each year of self-stack has been financially better than the last.
Last week, Elon kicked off a feud with both Substack and his very own former Twitter Files ingénue (and Substack star), Matt Taibbi. Kara and Nayeema break down the battle of the bros before turning to an interview with those at the center of the storm: Substack co-founders Chris Best and Hamish McKenzie.
The two address questions about Substack Notes (which Elon dubbed, and they deny, is a “Twitter clone”), the challenging business model of newsletters and their stance on free expression. Somehow, they manage to avoid uttering the name “Elon.” Kara doesn’t shy away though.
Questions? Comments? Email us at on@voxmedia.com or find us on Twitter @karaswisher and @nayeema
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