If you subscribe to newsletters, listen to podcasts, or watch videos on YouTube, I've no doubt that you’ve been asked to support the person or people who created them. You can always support with a like or a share, of course. But generally, the support they’re looking for is financial.

And for good reason, life is expensive. Jobs with good pay and decent benefit packages can be hard to find—especially in the culture industry.

But I gotta tell you, I’ve always been a little irked by the word “support.” It’s not inaccurate. Not unethical. Not even gauche. I just think it’s the wrong word. 

Today's episode is in 3 parts: The first examines an article in the New York Times from May 10 about how much money we’re paying for newsletters. The second part considers a manifesto of sorts about the future of media organizations written by Substack co-founder Hamish McKenzie in April. And the third part will draw on a new English translation of Mythocracy by Yves Citton to make sense of it all. 

Whether or not you identify as a “creator,” whether or not you buy from creators, whether or not you even follow creators on Substack, YouTube, TikTok, or Instagram, I promise this will be relevant to you. Because, regardless of your personal or professional relationship with Substack and the so-called creator economy, their very existence and continued growth reveal a great deal about how we all work and consume in the 21st century.

Footnotes:

• Read the essay version of today's episode.
• "How Much Are We Paying For Newsletters? $50, $100... How About $3,000 Per Year." by Logan Sachon in The New York Times (gift link)
• Hope in the Dark by Rebecca Solnit
• "U.S. newsroom employment has fallen by 26% since 2008" from Pew Research Center
• "A Simple Vision for the Future of Media Organizations" by Hamish McKenzie
• Mythocracy by Yves Citton

Let's (re)think systems this summer!

Join me for Summer Seminar, a 7-week program that combines speculative fiction with curiosity about our own lives and work. This year, we're reading Sofia Samatar's The Practice, The Horizon, and The Chain and venturing through 6 explorations of systems thinking. Learn more and register with choose-your-own pricing.