I too am slowly gravitating to using substack more often, but I have to say part of the reason for this is it’s ever increasing video focus, which is one of the main buttons to push in the app and they even put it right in the middle.
So, it feels like the goal is to turn Substack into a a smart person’s visual Facebook or X. yes to essays, but even more yes to video.
and a big yes to subtitles too… part of that is the evermore desirous idea to create and mix drama with mumbling dialogue and ever louder effects. Bonus points : distant dialogue gets mentioned in subtitles, as well as song lyrics. i hv them on 100% of the time.
Thanks Ron. I think this writing thing is gonna catch on, and the Substack is just getting started. Lots of directions it can go and lots of ways to make it better still.
for some reason, I feel like people have complained about the economics of Substack and I wonder what you feel about it eg if it’s fair to writers or is it popular in spite of being less fair than it could be like so many of these platforms are. frankly, it has kept me from being more interested in it that I might be otherwise, and I only have a vague sense of the reasoning
Well, as you know there are people will find fault with anything. I got interested in sub stack because my acquaintance Ted Goliath had done the math and identified this platform as the best of all possibilities, bouncing, discoverability and revenue sharing. I just want to use this comment as a shout out for Ted and Ted‘s work there’s nobody smarter and more insightful writing about Music and the way the world works today if you’re not following him in reading his work, I know that this is just a great day for you because you will be very happy to see what he’s doing on sub stack and everywhere.
Regrettably, I could not navigate SubStack or social media if my life depended upon it. I only became a proper subscriber to The Bee with the assistance of my 30 Something colleague in the office whose job increasingly is to guide me through life.
However, in my defence, I do recognize and value the incredible benefit of reading, and ultimately the benefit of writing. Almost nothing is more important ...they open a brand new world.
As the author of a five year old weekly lobster report, we recognize the merit of crisp narrative, engaging visuals, and perhaps most of all: honest feedback from a respected audience.
There is a thrill to receiving advice from individuals whom you respect, whether you have done well or perhaps not with your message of that moment.
The Bee is so welcome in my world.
I will share this piece today and enthusiastically spread the word.
It was your Lobster Report that inspired and continues to inform what I'd like THE BEE to be.
In the heyday of letters, correspondents wrote to one another—not just to inform, but to think in public. The writing was direct but meandering, purposeful but personal. The form made space for doubt, for dialogue, for discovery. It was a place where the reader wasn’t an algorithm, a customer, or a target. They were a fellow traveler.
Social media never managed this. Too frantic. Too shallow. Too transactional. But on Substack, I’ve seen true correspondence return—exchanges between writers and readers, yes, but also between minds across time. Comments that become essays. Replies that become friendships. Ideas that mature not in outrage, but in observation.
I don’t think Substack set out to bring back the correspondent. But somehow, by opening a space that values attention over interruption, it did just that. And it’s something worth celebrating.
I too am slowly gravitating to using substack more often, but I have to say part of the reason for this is it’s ever increasing video focus, which is one of the main buttons to push in the app and they even put it right in the middle.
So, it feels like the goal is to turn Substack into a a smart person’s visual Facebook or X. yes to essays, but even more yes to video.
and a big yes to subtitles too… part of that is the evermore desirous idea to create and mix drama with mumbling dialogue and ever louder effects. Bonus points : distant dialogue gets mentioned in subtitles, as well as song lyrics. i hv them on 100% of the time.
pps i enjoy your writings.
ppps you write well. :)
Thanks Ron. I think this writing thing is gonna catch on, and the Substack is just getting started. Lots of directions it can go and lots of ways to make it better still.
for some reason, I feel like people have complained about the economics of Substack and I wonder what you feel about it eg if it’s fair to writers or is it popular in spite of being less fair than it could be like so many of these platforms are. frankly, it has kept me from being more interested in it that I might be otherwise, and I only have a vague sense of the reasoning
Well, as you know there are people will find fault with anything. I got interested in sub stack because my acquaintance Ted Goliath had done the math and identified this platform as the best of all possibilities, bouncing, discoverability and revenue sharing. I just want to use this comment as a shout out for Ted and Ted‘s work there’s nobody smarter and more insightful writing about Music and the way the world works today if you’re not following him in reading his work, I know that this is just a great day for you because you will be very happy to see what he’s doing on sub stack and everywhere.
who doesn’t love a good Typo
i think you mean Ted Gioia
yes!
Oh my goodness. Autocorrect in the hot sun. But, for sure, Ted is a giant!
Regrettably, I could not navigate SubStack or social media if my life depended upon it. I only became a proper subscriber to The Bee with the assistance of my 30 Something colleague in the office whose job increasingly is to guide me through life.
However, in my defence, I do recognize and value the incredible benefit of reading, and ultimately the benefit of writing. Almost nothing is more important ...they open a brand new world.
As the author of a five year old weekly lobster report, we recognize the merit of crisp narrative, engaging visuals, and perhaps most of all: honest feedback from a respected audience.
There is a thrill to receiving advice from individuals whom you respect, whether you have done well or perhaps not with your message of that moment.
The Bee is so welcome in my world.
I will share this piece today and enthusiastically spread the word.
Thank you kindly, Stewart.
It was your Lobster Report that inspired and continues to inform what I'd like THE BEE to be.
In the heyday of letters, correspondents wrote to one another—not just to inform, but to think in public. The writing was direct but meandering, purposeful but personal. The form made space for doubt, for dialogue, for discovery. It was a place where the reader wasn’t an algorithm, a customer, or a target. They were a fellow traveler.
Social media never managed this. Too frantic. Too shallow. Too transactional. But on Substack, I’ve seen true correspondence return—exchanges between writers and readers, yes, but also between minds across time. Comments that become essays. Replies that become friendships. Ideas that mature not in outrage, but in observation.
I don’t think Substack set out to bring back the correspondent. But somehow, by opening a space that values attention over interruption, it did just that. And it’s something worth celebrating.