For anyone who has this reaction / thought about Substack. Think again.
Margin gets cut by 50%+ for writers who get paying subs via in-app purchases.
This hurts writers, but helps VCs who want to chase growth metrics (in this case, net-new paying users📈regardless of profitability per user).
Calling it now: the platform is a great arbitrage opportunity for reaching readers in the ecosystem, but the beginning of the end for long-term paid newsletters to flourish. Anyone big will eventually move off-platform and just take their readers' email addresses with them.
You have 2-4 years of reach arbitrage here and then it'll be over. Capitalize while you can.
Sep 9, 2025 · 1:10 AM UTC


