I appreciate this post because I did not know who you were or how you came to write all of these very informative posts. I just know that somehow I ended up signing up for your newsletter. Knowing your background and the fact that you were forced out of our job, I am happy to subscribe. I hope this Substack allows you to make a living without having to compromise your health or your values.
Thank you. I'll first off state that I appreciate people honestly just stumbling upon this Substack. It means that someone just happened to think the information was interesting enough to give it a try, which means a lot! I have mentioned it a few times especially when I started, but I didn't want it to obstruct from the overall message or idea of this Substack. Also, I personally know I wouldn't like to constantly be asked for my money or to be nagged in such a manner, and so I've tried to keep it to a minimum.
Hopefully we see what happens in the future. So many people are in the same position as well and so I know it's such a struggle for so many people overall and so I empathize with those people as well.
Thank you. I'd rather try to find a proper balance but if not I end up leaning towards making it open. Moving forward I want to see which way I can commit to both the best, possibly limiting how excessive the Anthology series are in the long run.
I don't think I'm a paid subscriber, but I will pay and when I do, I have no problem with you sharing all the information with everyone. I'm glad I have the means to do so, yet there were many years when I was young, that was not the case. My husband and I have recently talked about how we have what we need (roof over our heads, food, reliable transportation and health insurance) All of these could be "nicer" but not necessary. We decided to start spending money to give back where we can and trust that God will provide.
Thank you for the comment. I would hope that, regardless if people decide to become a paid subscriber, that people decide to engage and ask questions, even if it's because something I posted just went WAY over their heads. I'd also hope that people don't become a paid member out of some feeling to do so more than it is to show an appreciation for the work.
And thank you for your story. I always appreciate hearing from other people and their backgrounds and seeing where people have come from.
Thanks! I sincerely appreciate it! I won't for the time being, but I want people to know my situation and what I am thinking of doing next. I'll say it may not be quitting but more reassessing the situation! Either way I really appreciate it!
Your research, articles and posts are appreciated much more than you realize. Thank you for your time and for the FREEDOM of information that you provide free for many that NEED to know. Yes, we are 'done' with CoViD (I hate that word) but as much as we'd like to forget the last 2 years, we must NEVER FORGET what this corrupt gov't attempted to do, did, and continue to do (CA is still mandating injections for children) with their forced injection mandates. "They" are not done and WE must never want our comfort level to be disrupted to the point of ALLOWING "them" to continue with their agenda. The damage that "they" have done to millions of people is astonishing; and their wealth grew exponentially in relation to the sickness and deaths that THEY are responsible for. We mustn't forget that. Thank you, again...you are wise beyond your years.
Yes, I certainly know where you're coming from. I didn't intend it to mean that we're over and done with it, but more that there are plenty of other things to talk about than just COVID. It certainly doesn't mean we should forget all that's been going on. I've made a comment in one of my posts that I've remained angry at many of the policies going on because being angry has been one of the only ways that I remember everything that's been going on.
At the same time COVID can't take over everything we talk about. So even though we may not forget we should remember that there's plenty of other things that deserve our attention as well.
Feb 26, 2022·edited Feb 26, 2022Liked by Modern Discontent
Hi. I just discovered your substack and signed up. I started my own substack mid-August also.
I have been around the Internet for a very long time and even have a website www.algebra.com that makes me decent money. I was almost elected USENET Troll of the Year 1996, but the election was cancelled due to harassment of the vote counter. Just saying that I have been around.
It has been my experience that trying to be a "content provider", whether a tiktok influencer, substacker, youtube star etc, is extremely difficult and draining if the objective is making money. Competition is enormously brutal with top 20 persons receiving most revenues and the top 20 constantly keeps changing so the top 20 persons are the most stressed.
Therefore, I decided to keep my Substack a part time endeavour and to NOT charge any money. This gets more subscribers and turns off my concerns about revenue. I get exactly $0.00 from my substack posts. While this makes me no money, it also frees me from worrying.
I actually own a realspace business so I do not have much time writing substack posts and just post things when I have some ideas and time.
You are clearly a very smart guy who has the benefit of specialized scientific knowledge, who writes very well thought out posts and I am looking to reading your future posts. But yes, in my opinion substack is best when it is done part time without the money objective.
Look at the decline of a popular substacker who appears on Fox News occasionally, who has a huge substack and is now slacking with low effort cell phone screenshots passing for "articles". Yes he is making money, but what about his readers? Are they getting value?
In addition, I think that your audience would increase if you do a few things such as self promote yourself ethically on twitter, and also from mixing textual with visual information. I would hate it if a thinking and intelligent person like you decided to stop sharing your thoughts.
Thanks for your insight Igor. I know I disagree with a few of your posts recently, but so much of the Substack community that I have appreciated was the ability to have that open discourse where we can disagree and explain why in a candid, good faith manner.
I will say that this was also done to kind of test the waters for the time being, and gauging how everything would turn out. I started knowing full well that I would be doing it at a financial cost for several months. Of course, we see now that it's not until may Spring that we may finally turn down all of these measures, or even possibly Summer. I didn't expect it would take this long and even so many concerns over vaccine mandates still lingering over so much of our society even now.
Also, I'm not sure how much of a decline he is experiencing. From a few things that I've heard many people may pay to subscribe in order to engage with the community in the comments more than they are doing it to actually support the posts.
For now, I am thinking of at most finding ways to make the information more approachable along with the more robust posts. I do have a Twitter account that I tend to post my articles to, but I've tried to avoid Twitter for the issues that all social media has for essentially devolving into a yelling match over politics.
Thanks for providing your perspective and insight. I'll not stop for the time being!
I think for many it is both an appreciation for what you do, and a desire to do more to help you be successful in your transition to a developing a new business. Few businesses become a success without the help and support of others that care either about the person or contribution the business is making to the community. Please continue to let us know of your successes and failures. Both serve to encourage others. I have shared your articles with others and they are always well received.
Thank you, that means a lot to hear that. I think I need to find a good middle ground where I don't inundate readers with excessively long posts but include some critiques and social commentary as well. I've started to avoid doing so because so many other Substacks are already doing so and so it didn't feel appropriate to keep reiterating the same points. It felt like my time would be better spent researching and figuring out the topics that I worked on. I'll definitely take into account how to both educate but also have some fun or not always come off as some sort of lecturer.
One thing that's really great about Substack is that there is a lot of cross-breeding occurring. There's many people who have linked my posts, or who will direct people to other posts. I've included posts from people here and would never mind doing it where appropriate, so in that sense it is like small businesses helping one another which is encouraging on its own.
Wish I’d subscribed sooner. I really respect your posts, and more so as I learn “your story.” I hope many others step up and show their appreciation. Best wishes for your continuing Substack writings. They matter.
Honestly, I don't mind encouraging people but I also don't want people to feel some sort of imperative, and so writing this was kind of difficult cause I didn't want it to come off coercive. I guess continuously writing these anthology series and moving away from the smaller posts I made originally did not give me a chance to do so. At the same time I don't want it to end up coming off obnoxious and so I try not make it seem obtrusive. Moving forward, and possibly as we start to have more fun and not be riddled with only COVID posts I can add a little more personal touches!
Dear Modern Discontent, I started replying in appreciation to Brian's Mowrey's recent article on a report of mRNA quasi-vaccine RNA having its information copied into human DNA: https://unglossed.substack.com/p/shaky-dna-integration-study . However, what I wrote rambled on into an appreciation of Substack's excellent ability to support the rapid, timely, pertinent, detailed scientific discussion you and Brian write.
If I have a paid subscription to someone's Substack, as I do for yours, I do so to support the author in general, and in particular their efforts to provide useful information for all those who want to read it, irrespective of whether they are paid subscribers or not.
The "exclusive extras for paid subscribers" surely works for many Substacks, but I _imagine_ that most people who have the curiosity and time to read your the extensive, timely, detailed, analyses would think the way I do.
I also guess it would be difficult to turn this work into a business which generates a reliable and substantial enough income to live from, or with which to to support a family. At some large scale it would work. In time, maybe enough researchophiles will find you to make this possible.
I have no paid subscription option. This is in part because I can't be sure I will be writing regularly or substantially. I think that if you present the subscription option as a way of showing appreciation and supporting your efforts, rather than a fee for service, many people will support you as best they can, without expecting you to keep up the recent extraordinary pace of research and writing.
I think you do this already, so I don't think you need to fuss over marketing your paid subscription option. I don't know to what extent Substack supports reader chosen payments, but if it doesn't, some kind of Patreon like account might be useful if you can find one that is not fussy about "disinformation". Brian uses ko-fi.comhttps://unglossed.substack.com/p/february-donation-drive and has occasional drives, so this is not a constant part of his writing.
Please do write about other matters. Mathew Crawford https://roundingtheearth.substack.com sometimes pursues what might seem like tangents to his COVID-19 analysis, including musical tangents. But who am I, or anyone else, to characterize these as "tangents"? If it is central or linked to Mathew's passions, there's a reasonable chance it will be of interest to his readers, even though they tuned in initially for something else.
Thank you for your perspective and insight Robin. I'll make sure to read your post! It does mean a lot that people find my work fruitful enough to become a paid member.
I must admit that even though I knew it would be a struggle for the first few months, I imagined that at some point that maybe it could become a decent endeavor. Seeing many popular Substacks having thousands of paid subscribers, and punching some quick numbers it's easy to see that many people are making tens of thousands of dollars a month. I never wanted anywhere near that, but I guess I also let my expectations get away from me as well, which has added a bit to the disillusionment if I'm frank.
I have considered other options, but I guess I also saw it as maybe being unnecessary as it may be more accessible for people to pay through Substack since they are already here, especially if they subscribe to other Substacks as well. However, I think it may be something worth looking into. I think Brian's method is almost like those restaurants that are "pay what you want", so you may give based on what you think the work would cost.
There's so many other science or medicine topics I would like to write about, or even just little cultural things as well. I found the COVID information to be really pertinent and wanted to focus on those but as things (hopefully) wind down I can start writing about other topics that won't appear as dry and dense.
Thank you so much for your insights Robin and all the best to you!
Thank you for this post - I am more than grateful for the opportunity to support your work. I would highly suggest that Substack readers consider supporting the "little" guys over the big guys - I know I am in the process of changing around my subscriptions!
Thank you also for being candid with your readers. I am quite sympathetic to anyone who lost or faces losing their jobs due to mandates (I seem to have evaded that fate, but am not 100% out of the woods over the required booster - I did cave on the original vax). It is absolute BS to treat employees this way - firing people who have dedicated their whole lives to a career, not to mention the time, energy and cost of schooling (but let's face it, logic hasn't prevailed over the past 2 years). I also work in the science field and am absolutely dumb-founded at the garbage my colleagues believe and espouse. I can not blame you AT ALL for feeling jaded by science.
Finally, thank you for opening my eyes to the absolute need to understand what is happening in your body when you take these medications. I had never considered this much and would probably have totally blindly listened to my doctor's advice in the past. I cannot even imagine how much work you have put into these posts - many of them take me a long time to read through! I really hope you find your niche because, like another reader commented, what you are doing matters!
Thank you Clarisse. I was concerned if bringing up such a topic may be met with heavy scrutiny, but I appreciate that so many people find the entire idea of mandating vaccinations unethical. At the same time the hands were played by many of these employers, and it makes it really hard to see many of them in a different light than the one they presented by forcing employees out.
I think many people need a better understanding of what it means to know what happens when you put something in your body. So many drugs are being prescribed to people who trust their medical professionals without having an understanding of how drugs interact with their body. I think more people should be aware of the medications they take, but they should also feel empowered to know they can approach their physicians with information and ask pertinent questions about their own health.
Many of us in my generation lack an understanding of how paywalls work or how monetization works. Most of us do value quality craft no matter the substance and know it to be of monetary worth. The honor system is in play here as it is in roadside fruit stands as these posts are the fruits of your labor. Find a way to promote that.
Thank you Patty. From your comment do you mean that it may be more fruitful to comment that paid memberships help to keep most of the posts free? I think I may have done a bit of that originally but I may have changed my approaches. I'll evaluate how I want to approach this information moving forward and hopefully find a way of promoting paid memberships that aren't so intrusive.
After two years, it remains unclear whether substack is essentially another content generation pyramid scheme like youtube. I am sorry to hear that you are nearing the end of your grace period and sorry I only found your page so late!
Aside from celebrity accounts (ie those who had large followings elsewhere) substack seems to incentivize growth via regurgitation of successful content - that's what makes up all the big non-celebrity accounts even in the Covid vaccine skepticism space, and this is a dead-end because attrition will win out in the end. But the middle ground of "grow-with-diverse-content" is still there, though it seems to lack any magic formula besides being someone the bigger accounts like to promote or not, because again the user base is very recruit-biased over retention-biased and users end up with their attention and financial budgets both maxxed out quickly, so it all goes to whoever they find first, which biases "big>linked by big" over "published a post offering great analysis in an area no one was even paying attention to yet" as with your essay yesterday... It's a tough biz
Man, you've said so much of what I've been thinking!
It's quite disheartening to see. Maybe it's because of the arena that we entered in, but it's quite obvious that this space is made up mostly of people who have had well-known status beforehand, and so being a "nobody" trying to find their niche and space in this area really is difficult to do. And as you stated, even if they are not well-known from another space there is a nature to Substack that incentivizes the behaviors of other social media platforms. It makes me wonder if Alex Berenson using his Substack like a Twitter account gave entryway for others to try to do the same. That's not to say that this is a criticism of Alex, but it does feel like in many spaces more engagement happens when people post an image with one paragraph instead of a more thorough analysis. But again, it's not a criticism of them more than an analysis of how the dynamics of Substack are playing out.
I won't deny that many times I do feel crestfallen, that if I try to post more "clickbait" posts that I may gain a larger audience and more Subscribers, but I really can't see such an endeavor working for me in the long run. It just feels a bit too vacuous for a time when so many are striving for substance.
I do appreciate coming across your Substack. I think it provides so much rational thought and helps to reel in some of the thoughts that may stray too far off into the tangential areas. I saw you had a post for tips! I hope it works for you as well! I would not mind giving if I didn't have to examine my finances to a more critical level. Just like you said, ironically it does seem like Substack operates under a trickle-down Subscriber approach.
All the best to you Brian! I'll make sure to try to engage in your posts. Hopefully we can reach a middle ground where we can grow because of good ideas and thoughts!
Reading what you have gone through helps getting to know you better and I greatly appreciate all the very informative articles you have written. Thank you for doing that. I have learned a lot about information I have been looking for and I am so glad to have found you. Thank you again.
That's great to hear. Always know that if there are any topics you are curious about feel free to ask! I am always looking for topics to research and look into!
Your work is valuable. I'm a retired RN. I have followed the C-19 story closely from the very beginning. In all my 50 yrs of nursing, the medical/nursing community has always looked for ways to treat problems -the earlier the better. Then we looked for ways to prevent them; medical problems as well as injuries. In Dec 2019, I found the FLCCC.net and two other sources discussing treatment and prevention. Since then, I have worked without pay to help people stay well or get well quickly. I tell you that so to say I know the joy of the accomplishment is payment unto itself; the knowledge that lives/livelihoods/health can be saved; your work and mine. However, it is valuable work that must carry on way into the future. As such you would do well to sustain your work for the rest of us by finding a way to remind your readers of that value. Dr. Been Sayed has found a way to do so in a friendly, kind way. You must, too, if you wish to continue this work. Those of us who are accustomed to a paycheck find it awkward to ask for reimbursement but find your way.
Thank you for providing some personal background. The amount of people who have come out of retirement to help with the pandemic is so admirable and should all do well to thank those who have worked so hard for the past 2 years, even in the face of the medical community as it stands now.
I'll definitely make sure to keep this in mind. I'll try to make small reminders that paid subscriptions help to keep most of this free for the public and helps me to find other topics to write about!
Thank you so much for this honest and open post. You seem like a very honorable person. 💕 It's been obvious to me that many of your posts take days to write. I appreciate your work so much! I lost my job because of the mandate as well, so funds are tight for me too. I hope you get enough subscribers to stay on. 🙏
Wow, I did not know that! Thank you so much for sharing that information! It makes me wonder how many of us scientists have been left out to dry over beliefs that are more in line with actual science than whatever it is they continue to push on us instead. I wish all the best to you! Hopefully things work out on your end as well and many people come to their senses!
Thank you for your good wishes. 😊 I spent my career in healthcare as a physical therapist. I hope more people recognize the difference between real scientific process and junk science, and fight for it. I didn't realize how much it meant to me and my life, as well as the lives of others, until covid. I could have kept my job by turning in a fake religious exemption, the human resource department told me they were not looking into them. But I didn't do that on principle, and wrote a letter outlining the unsettled science and how they were going against the healthcare ethics they held up for their patients, but not for their employees when mandating a medical injection. They lost a 20 year employee who they loved and respected, and they knew it was over the science and basic healthcare ethics. I hope people come to their senses soon as well, I live in California so I'm a little pessimistic to be honest. Good for all of us to have like-minded community as we go through this strange time. Be well.
Hi, just FYI, someone else volunteered to help, I will work with that person for now just to avoid any interpersonal disappoinments, but I am definitely open to future collaboration,
Yes, it is regarding the reverse transcription story. I had a hypothesis that I wanted someone more advanced to consider skeptically before writing about it, so that I do not mislead my subscribers.
Always looking forward to your posts and hopefully we can do something in the future also.
I really appreciate that Geoffrey! I appreciate that people enjoy my posts and find them important. It does mean a lot and so please know I am very grateful!
I appreciate this post because I did not know who you were or how you came to write all of these very informative posts. I just know that somehow I ended up signing up for your newsletter. Knowing your background and the fact that you were forced out of our job, I am happy to subscribe. I hope this Substack allows you to make a living without having to compromise your health or your values.
Thank you. I'll first off state that I appreciate people honestly just stumbling upon this Substack. It means that someone just happened to think the information was interesting enough to give it a try, which means a lot! I have mentioned it a few times especially when I started, but I didn't want it to obstruct from the overall message or idea of this Substack. Also, I personally know I wouldn't like to constantly be asked for my money or to be nagged in such a manner, and so I've tried to keep it to a minimum.
Hopefully we see what happens in the future. So many people are in the same position as well and so I know it's such a struggle for so many people overall and so I empathize with those people as well.
Anyways, thank you for the kind words!
BTW, I don't care either about the paywall. I understand if you decided to paywall articles to encourage subscriptions, but if you don't, that's fine.
Thank you. I'd rather try to find a proper balance but if not I end up leaning towards making it open. Moving forward I want to see which way I can commit to both the best, possibly limiting how excessive the Anthology series are in the long run.
Yay!
I don't think I'm a paid subscriber, but I will pay and when I do, I have no problem with you sharing all the information with everyone. I'm glad I have the means to do so, yet there were many years when I was young, that was not the case. My husband and I have recently talked about how we have what we need (roof over our heads, food, reliable transportation and health insurance) All of these could be "nicer" but not necessary. We decided to start spending money to give back where we can and trust that God will provide.
Thank you for the comment. I would hope that, regardless if people decide to become a paid subscriber, that people decide to engage and ask questions, even if it's because something I posted just went WAY over their heads. I'd also hope that people don't become a paid member out of some feeling to do so more than it is to show an appreciation for the work.
And thank you for your story. I always appreciate hearing from other people and their backgrounds and seeing where people have come from.
I just sent you $50. You better stop thinking about quitin"! LOL.
Thanks! I sincerely appreciate it! I won't for the time being, but I want people to know my situation and what I am thinking of doing next. I'll say it may not be quitting but more reassessing the situation! Either way I really appreciate it!
Your research, articles and posts are appreciated much more than you realize. Thank you for your time and for the FREEDOM of information that you provide free for many that NEED to know. Yes, we are 'done' with CoViD (I hate that word) but as much as we'd like to forget the last 2 years, we must NEVER FORGET what this corrupt gov't attempted to do, did, and continue to do (CA is still mandating injections for children) with their forced injection mandates. "They" are not done and WE must never want our comfort level to be disrupted to the point of ALLOWING "them" to continue with their agenda. The damage that "they" have done to millions of people is astonishing; and their wealth grew exponentially in relation to the sickness and deaths that THEY are responsible for. We mustn't forget that. Thank you, again...you are wise beyond your years.
Yes, I certainly know where you're coming from. I didn't intend it to mean that we're over and done with it, but more that there are plenty of other things to talk about than just COVID. It certainly doesn't mean we should forget all that's been going on. I've made a comment in one of my posts that I've remained angry at many of the policies going on because being angry has been one of the only ways that I remember everything that's been going on.
At the same time COVID can't take over everything we talk about. So even though we may not forget we should remember that there's plenty of other things that deserve our attention as well.
Hi. I just discovered your substack and signed up. I started my own substack mid-August also.
I have been around the Internet for a very long time and even have a website www.algebra.com that makes me decent money. I was almost elected USENET Troll of the Year 1996, but the election was cancelled due to harassment of the vote counter. Just saying that I have been around.
It has been my experience that trying to be a "content provider", whether a tiktok influencer, substacker, youtube star etc, is extremely difficult and draining if the objective is making money. Competition is enormously brutal with top 20 persons receiving most revenues and the top 20 constantly keeps changing so the top 20 persons are the most stressed.
Therefore, I decided to keep my Substack a part time endeavour and to NOT charge any money. This gets more subscribers and turns off my concerns about revenue. I get exactly $0.00 from my substack posts. While this makes me no money, it also frees me from worrying.
I actually own a realspace business so I do not have much time writing substack posts and just post things when I have some ideas and time.
You are clearly a very smart guy who has the benefit of specialized scientific knowledge, who writes very well thought out posts and I am looking to reading your future posts. But yes, in my opinion substack is best when it is done part time without the money objective.
Look at the decline of a popular substacker who appears on Fox News occasionally, who has a huge substack and is now slacking with low effort cell phone screenshots passing for "articles". Yes he is making money, but what about his readers? Are they getting value?
In addition, I think that your audience would increase if you do a few things such as self promote yourself ethically on twitter, and also from mixing textual with visual information. I would hate it if a thinking and intelligent person like you decided to stop sharing your thoughts.
Please stick around.
Thanks for your insight Igor. I know I disagree with a few of your posts recently, but so much of the Substack community that I have appreciated was the ability to have that open discourse where we can disagree and explain why in a candid, good faith manner.
I will say that this was also done to kind of test the waters for the time being, and gauging how everything would turn out. I started knowing full well that I would be doing it at a financial cost for several months. Of course, we see now that it's not until may Spring that we may finally turn down all of these measures, or even possibly Summer. I didn't expect it would take this long and even so many concerns over vaccine mandates still lingering over so much of our society even now.
Also, I'm not sure how much of a decline he is experiencing. From a few things that I've heard many people may pay to subscribe in order to engage with the community in the comments more than they are doing it to actually support the posts.
For now, I am thinking of at most finding ways to make the information more approachable along with the more robust posts. I do have a Twitter account that I tend to post my articles to, but I've tried to avoid Twitter for the issues that all social media has for essentially devolving into a yelling match over politics.
Thanks for providing your perspective and insight. I'll not stop for the time being!
I think for many it is both an appreciation for what you do, and a desire to do more to help you be successful in your transition to a developing a new business. Few businesses become a success without the help and support of others that care either about the person or contribution the business is making to the community. Please continue to let us know of your successes and failures. Both serve to encourage others. I have shared your articles with others and they are always well received.
Thank you, that means a lot to hear that. I think I need to find a good middle ground where I don't inundate readers with excessively long posts but include some critiques and social commentary as well. I've started to avoid doing so because so many other Substacks are already doing so and so it didn't feel appropriate to keep reiterating the same points. It felt like my time would be better spent researching and figuring out the topics that I worked on. I'll definitely take into account how to both educate but also have some fun or not always come off as some sort of lecturer.
One thing that's really great about Substack is that there is a lot of cross-breeding occurring. There's many people who have linked my posts, or who will direct people to other posts. I've included posts from people here and would never mind doing it where appropriate, so in that sense it is like small businesses helping one another which is encouraging on its own.
Wish I’d subscribed sooner. I really respect your posts, and more so as I learn “your story.” I hope many others step up and show their appreciation. Best wishes for your continuing Substack writings. They matter.
Honestly, I don't mind encouraging people but I also don't want people to feel some sort of imperative, and so writing this was kind of difficult cause I didn't want it to come off coercive. I guess continuously writing these anthology series and moving away from the smaller posts I made originally did not give me a chance to do so. At the same time I don't want it to end up coming off obnoxious and so I try not make it seem obtrusive. Moving forward, and possibly as we start to have more fun and not be riddled with only COVID posts I can add a little more personal touches!
Dear Modern Discontent, I started replying in appreciation to Brian's Mowrey's recent article on a report of mRNA quasi-vaccine RNA having its information copied into human DNA: https://unglossed.substack.com/p/shaky-dna-integration-study . However, what I wrote rambled on into an appreciation of Substack's excellent ability to support the rapid, timely, pertinent, detailed scientific discussion you and Brian write.
My reply was excessive for the context, so I turned it into an article: https://nutritionmatters.substack.com/p/substack-supports-extraordinarily .
If I have a paid subscription to someone's Substack, as I do for yours, I do so to support the author in general, and in particular their efforts to provide useful information for all those who want to read it, irrespective of whether they are paid subscribers or not.
The "exclusive extras for paid subscribers" surely works for many Substacks, but I _imagine_ that most people who have the curiosity and time to read your the extensive, timely, detailed, analyses would think the way I do.
I also guess it would be difficult to turn this work into a business which generates a reliable and substantial enough income to live from, or with which to to support a family. At some large scale it would work. In time, maybe enough researchophiles will find you to make this possible.
I have no paid subscription option. This is in part because I can't be sure I will be writing regularly or substantially. I think that if you present the subscription option as a way of showing appreciation and supporting your efforts, rather than a fee for service, many people will support you as best they can, without expecting you to keep up the recent extraordinary pace of research and writing.
I think you do this already, so I don't think you need to fuss over marketing your paid subscription option. I don't know to what extent Substack supports reader chosen payments, but if it doesn't, some kind of Patreon like account might be useful if you can find one that is not fussy about "disinformation". Brian uses ko-fi.com https://unglossed.substack.com/p/february-donation-drive and has occasional drives, so this is not a constant part of his writing.
Please do write about other matters. Mathew Crawford https://roundingtheearth.substack.com sometimes pursues what might seem like tangents to his COVID-19 analysis, including musical tangents. But who am I, or anyone else, to characterize these as "tangents"? If it is central or linked to Mathew's passions, there's a reasonable chance it will be of interest to his readers, even though they tuned in initially for something else.
Thank you for your perspective and insight Robin. I'll make sure to read your post! It does mean a lot that people find my work fruitful enough to become a paid member.
I must admit that even though I knew it would be a struggle for the first few months, I imagined that at some point that maybe it could become a decent endeavor. Seeing many popular Substacks having thousands of paid subscribers, and punching some quick numbers it's easy to see that many people are making tens of thousands of dollars a month. I never wanted anywhere near that, but I guess I also let my expectations get away from me as well, which has added a bit to the disillusionment if I'm frank.
I have considered other options, but I guess I also saw it as maybe being unnecessary as it may be more accessible for people to pay through Substack since they are already here, especially if they subscribe to other Substacks as well. However, I think it may be something worth looking into. I think Brian's method is almost like those restaurants that are "pay what you want", so you may give based on what you think the work would cost.
There's so many other science or medicine topics I would like to write about, or even just little cultural things as well. I found the COVID information to be really pertinent and wanted to focus on those but as things (hopefully) wind down I can start writing about other topics that won't appear as dry and dense.
Thank you so much for your insights Robin and all the best to you!
Thank you for this post - I am more than grateful for the opportunity to support your work. I would highly suggest that Substack readers consider supporting the "little" guys over the big guys - I know I am in the process of changing around my subscriptions!
Thank you also for being candid with your readers. I am quite sympathetic to anyone who lost or faces losing their jobs due to mandates (I seem to have evaded that fate, but am not 100% out of the woods over the required booster - I did cave on the original vax). It is absolute BS to treat employees this way - firing people who have dedicated their whole lives to a career, not to mention the time, energy and cost of schooling (but let's face it, logic hasn't prevailed over the past 2 years). I also work in the science field and am absolutely dumb-founded at the garbage my colleagues believe and espouse. I can not blame you AT ALL for feeling jaded by science.
Finally, thank you for opening my eyes to the absolute need to understand what is happening in your body when you take these medications. I had never considered this much and would probably have totally blindly listened to my doctor's advice in the past. I cannot even imagine how much work you have put into these posts - many of them take me a long time to read through! I really hope you find your niche because, like another reader commented, what you are doing matters!
Thank you Clarisse. I was concerned if bringing up such a topic may be met with heavy scrutiny, but I appreciate that so many people find the entire idea of mandating vaccinations unethical. At the same time the hands were played by many of these employers, and it makes it really hard to see many of them in a different light than the one they presented by forcing employees out.
I think many people need a better understanding of what it means to know what happens when you put something in your body. So many drugs are being prescribed to people who trust their medical professionals without having an understanding of how drugs interact with their body. I think more people should be aware of the medications they take, but they should also feel empowered to know they can approach their physicians with information and ask pertinent questions about their own health.
Many of us in my generation lack an understanding of how paywalls work or how monetization works. Most of us do value quality craft no matter the substance and know it to be of monetary worth. The honor system is in play here as it is in roadside fruit stands as these posts are the fruits of your labor. Find a way to promote that.
Thank you Patty. From your comment do you mean that it may be more fruitful to comment that paid memberships help to keep most of the posts free? I think I may have done a bit of that originally but I may have changed my approaches. I'll evaluate how I want to approach this information moving forward and hopefully find a way of promoting paid memberships that aren't so intrusive.
After two years, it remains unclear whether substack is essentially another content generation pyramid scheme like youtube. I am sorry to hear that you are nearing the end of your grace period and sorry I only found your page so late!
Aside from celebrity accounts (ie those who had large followings elsewhere) substack seems to incentivize growth via regurgitation of successful content - that's what makes up all the big non-celebrity accounts even in the Covid vaccine skepticism space, and this is a dead-end because attrition will win out in the end. But the middle ground of "grow-with-diverse-content" is still there, though it seems to lack any magic formula besides being someone the bigger accounts like to promote or not, because again the user base is very recruit-biased over retention-biased and users end up with their attention and financial budgets both maxxed out quickly, so it all goes to whoever they find first, which biases "big>linked by big" over "published a post offering great analysis in an area no one was even paying attention to yet" as with your essay yesterday... It's a tough biz
Man, you've said so much of what I've been thinking!
It's quite disheartening to see. Maybe it's because of the arena that we entered in, but it's quite obvious that this space is made up mostly of people who have had well-known status beforehand, and so being a "nobody" trying to find their niche and space in this area really is difficult to do. And as you stated, even if they are not well-known from another space there is a nature to Substack that incentivizes the behaviors of other social media platforms. It makes me wonder if Alex Berenson using his Substack like a Twitter account gave entryway for others to try to do the same. That's not to say that this is a criticism of Alex, but it does feel like in many spaces more engagement happens when people post an image with one paragraph instead of a more thorough analysis. But again, it's not a criticism of them more than an analysis of how the dynamics of Substack are playing out.
I won't deny that many times I do feel crestfallen, that if I try to post more "clickbait" posts that I may gain a larger audience and more Subscribers, but I really can't see such an endeavor working for me in the long run. It just feels a bit too vacuous for a time when so many are striving for substance.
I do appreciate coming across your Substack. I think it provides so much rational thought and helps to reel in some of the thoughts that may stray too far off into the tangential areas. I saw you had a post for tips! I hope it works for you as well! I would not mind giving if I didn't have to examine my finances to a more critical level. Just like you said, ironically it does seem like Substack operates under a trickle-down Subscriber approach.
All the best to you Brian! I'll make sure to try to engage in your posts. Hopefully we can reach a middle ground where we can grow because of good ideas and thoughts!
Reading what you have gone through helps getting to know you better and I greatly appreciate all the very informative articles you have written. Thank you for doing that. I have learned a lot about information I have been looking for and I am so glad to have found you. Thank you again.
That's great to hear. Always know that if there are any topics you are curious about feel free to ask! I am always looking for topics to research and look into!
Your work is valuable. I'm a retired RN. I have followed the C-19 story closely from the very beginning. In all my 50 yrs of nursing, the medical/nursing community has always looked for ways to treat problems -the earlier the better. Then we looked for ways to prevent them; medical problems as well as injuries. In Dec 2019, I found the FLCCC.net and two other sources discussing treatment and prevention. Since then, I have worked without pay to help people stay well or get well quickly. I tell you that so to say I know the joy of the accomplishment is payment unto itself; the knowledge that lives/livelihoods/health can be saved; your work and mine. However, it is valuable work that must carry on way into the future. As such you would do well to sustain your work for the rest of us by finding a way to remind your readers of that value. Dr. Been Sayed has found a way to do so in a friendly, kind way. You must, too, if you wish to continue this work. Those of us who are accustomed to a paycheck find it awkward to ask for reimbursement but find your way.
Thank you for providing some personal background. The amount of people who have come out of retirement to help with the pandemic is so admirable and should all do well to thank those who have worked so hard for the past 2 years, even in the face of the medical community as it stands now.
I'll definitely make sure to keep this in mind. I'll try to make small reminders that paid subscriptions help to keep most of this free for the public and helps me to find other topics to write about!
Thank you so much for this honest and open post. You seem like a very honorable person. 💕 It's been obvious to me that many of your posts take days to write. I appreciate your work so much! I lost my job because of the mandate as well, so funds are tight for me too. I hope you get enough subscribers to stay on. 🙏
Wow, I did not know that! Thank you so much for sharing that information! It makes me wonder how many of us scientists have been left out to dry over beliefs that are more in line with actual science than whatever it is they continue to push on us instead. I wish all the best to you! Hopefully things work out on your end as well and many people come to their senses!
Thank you for your good wishes. 😊 I spent my career in healthcare as a physical therapist. I hope more people recognize the difference between real scientific process and junk science, and fight for it. I didn't realize how much it meant to me and my life, as well as the lives of others, until covid. I could have kept my job by turning in a fake religious exemption, the human resource department told me they were not looking into them. But I didn't do that on principle, and wrote a letter outlining the unsettled science and how they were going against the healthcare ethics they held up for their patients, but not for their employees when mandating a medical injection. They lost a 20 year employee who they loved and respected, and they knew it was over the science and basic healthcare ethics. I hope people come to their senses soon as well, I live in California so I'm a little pessimistic to be honest. Good for all of us to have like-minded community as we go through this strange time. Be well.
Hi. Do you want to help me with genetic analysis for an article I want to write? My offer is here
https://twitter.com/ichudov/status/1497767825896878083
Interesting, is it in regards to the reverse transcription post? If you provide the information I can see how much help I can offer. Thanks!
Hi, just FYI, someone else volunteered to help, I will work with that person for now just to avoid any interpersonal disappoinments, but I am definitely open to future collaboration,
No worries, regardless it's good to get input from many different people. No issues here!
Yes, it is regarding the reverse transcription story. I had a hypothesis that I wanted someone more advanced to consider skeptically before writing about it, so that I do not mislead my subscribers.
Always looking forward to your posts and hopefully we can do something in the future also.
Wow! Just updated my subscription to paid. Your work and research are appreciated and valued.
I really appreciate that Geoffrey! I appreciate that people enjoy my posts and find them important. It does mean a lot and so please know I am very grateful!