‘What is a Substack?’ I’ve heard people suspiciously ask, in recent months, as if it’s an infectious disease, something they should be wary of.
No need to be wary. Although it is another form of social media, which may make your heart sink. But it’s a nice form of social media, a gentler and kinder space than certain other platforms.
Substack is a site which was founded in 2017 by three Americans who realised that the internet was good at getting attention, but bad at supporting writers. So, the trio decided to create a platform which allows writers to talk directly to people who might be interested, rather than relying on established media conglomerates to publish their work. The result is a site where people — not just writers, literally anybody — can sign up and write whatever they like in their own personal newsletter, or record a video or podcast, and send it directly to anyone who signed up to their mailing list.
It now has over 35 million subscribers and practically as many categories. Gardening, politics, food, make-up, fashion, interiors, film and so on. You name it, it’s got it. And some pretty niche newsletters within those categories. Into salads? The Department of Salad (69,000 followers) is the place for you. Into film? Writer Emma Hughes is on a mission to watch and review every single Christopher Lee film within a year. Farming your thing? Well, this is Country Life, after all. A Substack called Me, My Pigs and I might be your speed, a weekly discussion of matters affecting the British farm and food industry by self-taught farmer and writer Helen Freeman.
It also has increasingly big names. Lily Allen, Dolly Parton and, er, Andrew Tate are among those who’ve joined in the past year. The latter has been particularly controversial among some users who threatened to leave as a result, contending that Substack should take more care with moderating what they publish, but at the time of writing Tate was still on Substack, with more than a million subscribers.
You have to pay for most Substack subscriptions, anywhere from around £5 upwards a month. India Knight’s brilliant Home (85,000 followers) is £12 a month, for instance, but she posts immensely informative and researched newsletters about interiors, food, books and culture in general several times a week. Some of her content will be free, but if you want full access you need to stump up the monthly fee. Dominic Cummings’ eponymous political musings (72,000 followers) will set you back a tenner a month. Tom Sykes’s The Royalist (66,0000 followers), which is — as you may imagine — all about the Royals, is £6 a month. Sometimes, he and his sister Plum, who focuses on fashion and the Cotswolds (PS by Plum Sykes; 15,000 followers), team up and do live broadcasts on the platform. If you’re interested, my Substack is called Onwards and Sideways (8000 followers) and I do, admittedly, mostly talk about my dog, but I’ve kept mine free because I like the freedom of posting whenever I want, and I don’t want anyone to feel pressurised to pay for something else that’s simply going to pile up in their inbox and make them feel as if they’re behind on their homework.
I’ve heard some complain about this — that Substack is simply another form of media to try and keep up with. Help! Aren’t we all drowning under the weight of TV shows to watch, books to read, podcasts to listen to and opinions to hold? Don’t panic. Think of Substack like a magazine you can flick through whenever you choose. If you like the look of something and want to pay for it, go right ahead for a few quid a month, and then cancel it whenever you like. You’re not held to a yearly subscription.
I’m always picking up new recipe ideas on there, or book suggestions, or crowdsourcing ideas for how to solve the problem of parakeets besieging my bird table. It’s a very convivial and helpful place to hang out, although I remember when they said that about Twitter.
