What’s frustrating about discovering Substack content is I would have no idea Simon Owens wrote about why Patreon’s business model is under threat if I didn’t see this post on HN. I’m unable to come for the topic, and then stay for the author.
If I search “Patreon” on Substack I get a bunch of people who moved there from Patreon:
From the Substack-related interviews/content I've consumed, it seems like the company is more concerned with tools/support [0] [1] for its creators, before it worries about consumer growth.
The idea is that once you have an excess of supply (writers), who are all bringing in their own readers, it's easier to connect the dots for readers to other publications. Whereas if your reader demand outweighs supply, people will not see any value from sticking around.
As a writer on the platform[2] itself, I think the general tools/support for the non-Top 20 creators leaves a ton to be desired, so would love to see them step it up in a number of ways if they're really trying to get behind the average writer.
If I search “Patreon” on Substack I get a bunch of people who moved there from Patreon:
https://imgur.com/a/L0qYrUQ
What gives? How do I search by topic?