出版与作家生涯2021stratechery.com
自主作家与 Substack
Sovereign writers and Substack
导读
这篇文章讨论 Substack 这类订阅平台如何让写作者脱离机构媒体、直接拥有读者和收入，也就是所谓“主权写作者”。对写作者来说，值得关注的是：渠道选择正在变成品牌选择——你是依附平台的名气，还是建立自己的读者关系。评论区还补充了另一面：当收入直接与流量挂钩时，写作动机会被怎样扭曲。
可以直接用的写作要点
- 01
平台的最大意义，是让写作者直接检验自己的真实市场价值，而不是由编辑或机构替你定价。
- 02
尽量把读者关系、署名和订阅入口握在自己手里，让品牌指向你本人，而非你所在的出版物。
- 03
先想清楚读者愿意为什么付费，再决定写什么；靠争议换来的订阅收入往往以长期信任为代价。
- 04
发布前判断平台是“后台工具”还是“前台品牌”，因为这会影响读者如何理解你内容的立场与可信度。
HN 评论精选
平台的核心作用，是让写作者看清自己的市场定价。
关键不在于 Substack 会跟现有媒体抢最好的作者，而在于它让最好的作者更容易发现自己的真实市场价值。
jger15查看英文原文
"...it’s not that Substack will compete with existing publications for their best writers, but rather that Substack makes it easy for the best writers to discover their actual market value." Thompson on point per usual
收入与流量直接挂钩，会奖励制造争议而非扎实写作。
事情没那么简单：Sullivan 和榜单上其他几位，说得客气些，都是有争议的人物。他们来到 Substack，更多是因为“还能去哪里”。Substack 对写作者经济上确实有利，但对整个新闻业未必是好事——它往往意味着最成功的作者是那些最像明星的人：写有争议的东西，因为这样流量更大、收入更高。我不想让卡戴珊式的操作成为未来记者的模板。
ceilingcorner查看英文原文
Of course things aren’t so simple; Sullivan, like several of the other names on that leaderboard, are, to put it gently, controversial. That he along with other lightning-rod writers ended up on Substack is more a matter of where else would they go? While Substack is portrayed as being a good move for writers and journalists (and certainly it is, financially), I don't think this is actually good for journalism as a whole. It often will just mean that successful writers are the most celebrity-like ones: writing controversial things because it gets more traffic and therefore more income. I don't know about you, but I don't want the tactics of Kim Kardashian to be the model of a future journalist.
平台处在“工具”与“出版方”之间的模糊地带，必须选边。
现在的批评有个前提假设：Substack 是出版商，或至少是出版流程中一个可见的品牌——它确实处在中间位置。纽约时报对自己网站上的内容负责很明显：页头写着 NYT，订阅费付给 NYT，理论上还有编辑把关。反过来，Stripe 显然不对 Stratechery 的内容负责，它对客户是不可见的。但 Substack 两者兼有：名字在 URL 里，读者通过 Substack 发现作者，文章上写着“published on Substack”。它想声称自己只是后台，发什么由作者决定，但它至少部分上是面向读者的前台，因此它的任何决定或不决定都是一种道德立场。Substack 得决定：是承担这份责任、以某类内容闻名，还是退到幕后、让作者品牌接管。
danpalmer查看英文原文
I find the current criticism of Substack quite interesting. It seems to be on the assumption that they are a publisher, or at least a visible brand in the publishing process, and they do indeed appear to be in the middle unlike most companies. It's obvious that the NYT are responsible for what's published on their site, after all it says NYT across the top, NYT on the subscription fee, and they (theoretically) have editorial control. On the other hand it's obvious that Stripe (for example) are not responsible for what's published on Stratechery, they are invisible to the customer, and I think most reasonable people would not suggest that Stripe exercise moral judgement on Stratechery and decline the business unless Ben Thompson crossed a line that is very far from acceptable (likely bordering on illegality). But Substack is both. Their name is in the URL, writers are found via Substack, articles say "published on Substack" on them. They are trying to claim that they are just a backend and that it's up to writers what they publish, but they are in fact a frontend at least in part for the customer, and therefore any decision or lack thereof is taking a moral standpoint. I think Substack are going to have to decide whether they want to own that responsibility, and become known for a certain "type" of content, or whether they want to fade into the background and let the writers' brands take over.
读者对绕过守门人的写作有真实需求。
Substack 的出现，是主流媒体精英用力过猛、把不合正统的作者挤出“主流”的结果。事实证明，仍有很多人想读这类写作，而我们并不喜欢那些昔日声誉良好的媒体充当守门人。
mdoms查看英文原文
Substack is what happens when the mainstream media elites overplay their hand and force heterodox writers out of the "mainstream". As it turns out there are still plenty of people who want to read this kind of writing, and we don't appreciate the gatekeeping from formerly reputable sources.
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