7 Comments

Sam is a natural fit for Substack and has been a gentleman here from my own early days. Nice to have these reminders that Substack should first be for us as writers.

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This honestly couldn’t have come at a better time. I started Substack in 2021 and got to interact with an amazing community of writers, but unfortunately due to health issues I decided to stop posting… I simply didn’t have the mental space for it anymore. Anyway, starting up again now I’m having a hard time finding a footing. I’ve convinced myself it’s important to have a niche, but I enjoy writing short stories and essayistic style pieces in equal part. The “two for you, one for me” mindset is so helpful and I’ll definitely implement it in my own posts! Expression, like Sam says, is infinite so why limit yourself.

Such an insightful interview, and so much to learn, thank you!

P.S. the personal museum analogy at the end is just beautiful

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For some reason these responses made me feel that writers in substack are a wobbling pivot in contrast to Confucius’ unwobbling one. In a good way. Emotional order via creative chaos.

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Haha! People don't quote Confucius nearly enough!

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Love the idea of Substack being a personal museum for each of us, although museum makes me think of old and fusty and dead people (I just visited the Cairo museum and saw Tutankhamun’s sarcophagus and death mask and some 4000+ year old mummies… 🤣) maybe I’ll consider it to be my own personal virtual art gallery!! Interesting read Sam and Eleanor, thank you.

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Love these responses

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Very nicely done. I've felt many of the same "how do I manage this" problems re paywall, virality, to niche or not to niche, etc. For years I just emailed essays to people. Then I was on Medium for a while. Substack is better, because people can search, the platform suggests, recommends, etc.

I'm also very enthusiastic about the Metropolitan Review. I hope you and Ross bring it off!

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