Substack For Good

I'm moving to Substack with a twist--to use its paid subscription model for good.

NEWSFLASH: I'm moving my blog, Techno Sapien, to Substack with a twist. After evaluating the social-blogging platform for a few months, I love it. It makes it fun to write and easy to read. And I appreciate its mission to help writers make a better living. But for me, something was missing, so I'm bending Substack's business model for good.

Your time is valuable, so I'll cut to the chase: I'm sharing my writing on Substack for free AND with the option to subscribe for $30 (or more if you want), which I'll donate to charity forever. (Net of Substack's fees, about 12%).

To learn why, how, and more, read on.

The Problem with Publishing and the Substack Mission

Making a living from writing is hard. Elle Griffin writes that only 2% of the books published in 2020 sold more than 5,000 copies. The author's royalties on a book that sells 5,000 copies are about $20,000. If an average writer works 40 hours a week to produce a book for a year, then 98% of writers earn less than $10 an hour. 

Boo!

Substack helps writers disintermediate publishers and go directly to the consumer. If you gain 1,000 subscribers at $10 a month, that's about $100,000 a year. 

Pretty good! 

I admire Substack's mission to encourage writing meritocracy. Writers set their own price, or publish for free, or choose a combination of both. Readers support writers directly and cut out the middleman.

Substack provides an excellent platform in exchange and takes about 12% of paid subscription fees (10% plus a payment processing fee for Stripe). To me, that's fair. 

Why Substack is Great for Readers

The other reason I’m moving to Substack is to encourage other readers to check it out. In Don’t start a year. Start a Substack,

Sophia Efthimiatou

the Head of Publisher Relations at Substack explains why Substack is a great community for readers:

“

Margaret Atwood

started a Substack; so did

Chris Hedges

,

Mary Gaitskill

,

Busy Philipps

, and

Bess Kalb

;

Joyce Vance

writes about politics and chickens,

Ralph Nader

broadcasts radio on his;

Erik Hoel

quit his job at Tufts to write his Substack full-time, while

Jessica Reed Kraus

is now able to support her family of four thanks to hers.”

Come explore in 2023!

Bending the Substack Model for Good

So why does the Substack business model need tweaking? First, I don't charge for my writing. I write because I love to write, and it's how I learn. As Issac Asimov said, "writing is thinking with my fingers." I'm fortunate to be paid to trip over great ideas, and I love to share them.

Also, I care about making the world a better place through the organizations I believe in (more on that below).

And Substack should make money to host my writing. I think it's a business model flaw that they would allow me to use their platform entirely for free.

So here's my "Substack for Good" plan:

1. I post articles on Substack for free AND turn on the paid option (Substack's minimum is $5/month, but you can contribute what you want),

2. I donate 100% of the fees to charity forever (net of the ~12% for Substack).

That's a win/win/win: I leverage my writing to help a cause I love, Substack gets paid, and we grow the community on a great collaboration platform. I'm unsure if this is a unique Substack requirement, but maybe someday they'll add a "donate" button.

But for now, I'll be the button. 

Writing to Support Hospice

So, although I'm publishing all my stuff for free, you can also choose to subscribe to Techno Sapien for $5 a month to help support Hospice. I'll donate everything I get after Substack's fees to hospice. Why hospice? 

Fifteen years ago, hospice supported my family when my wife died from cancer at 43. My kids were 6 and 4. 

The North Shore Hospice in Massachusetts (now called Care Dimensions) was incredible. They provided art therapy to my kids, a free camp for kids and adults who had lost a family member, and numerous other generous services. 

We have volunteered to help their programs since, and after I moved to Long Island years later, to a similar local program, Bob Sweeney's Camp Hope of Long Island, which provides a free 2-day camp for kids who have lost a family member. 

Here's the essay I wrote about our experience called Cancer is Love about the lessons we learned during our hospice experience. 

Writing About Where Technology Meets Humanity

The name "Techno Sapien" is inspired by Homo Sapien, which means "wise human." I write about how technology makes being human better. I write about leadership, design thinking, data, analytics, data science, and AI. 

I'm a programmer, CEO, board advisor, and mentor. 

My writing goal is to make complicated technology ideas easy to understand and fun to read. This year, I'm adding some new topics. But more on that later. 

Substack Already Feels Better!

So, for now, thanks for following, and thanks to the folks who already signed up for a "paid" subscription. It feels good to use Substack for good!

Resources / For More Reading

• Read this post on LinkedIn. I cross-post short summaries of my articles there.

• Don’t start a year. Start a Substack. By

  Sophia Efthimiatou
  , Head of Publisher Relations at Substack.

• Writing books is not really a good idea by

  Elle Griffin
  . I referenced her article about the math of writing a book.

• North Shore Hospice in Massachusetts (now called Care Dimensions) provided art therapy to my kids, a free camp for kids and adults who had lost a family member, and numerous other generous services. 

• Bob Sweeney’s Camp Hope of Long Island, provides a free 2-day camp for kids who have lost a family member. 

• Cancer is Love The essay I wrote about our experience called about the lessons we learned during our hospice experience.