I appreciate your efforts. I believe your goals are noble and, as someone who started blogging in late 2005, I share this thought from experience and with nothing but respect: I believe you are stopping too soon. Please keep it up.
There comes a point in any conversation where one has made one's point repeatedly every way one knows how, and to keep on making the same point over and over to those who are clearly not interested doesn't advance the cause, but builds resistance. That's where I find myself. But I don't doubt that there are others on the network that can make the case better than I can, and I see no reason for them not to.
The tricky thing about selling the "charity fund raising machine" concept is that the concept combines two activities, charity and business, that people typically of as being different things. So as soon as you say the word "charity" many readers will immediately assume you're talking about something other than Substack, which is about making money. The idea that giving money away can help us make more money can be counterintuitive for some readers, including I believe, Substack leadership.
Given that Substack is indeed a business, anyone who wished to learn from my mistakes should probably focus almost exclusively on making the business case for a charity funding raising machine.
Please recall friends, this is not my idea. I didn't invent it, and I don't own it. Anyone is free to pick up this ball and run with it.
I feel you, and you're not wrong (if I gave you the impression you were wrong, that was my bad!). And you gotta know when to hang up the cape. You're the only person who can make that call.
I follow Tim Denning. He's an acquired taste. I get his free stuff here, and I almost canceled the free newsletter because I found him irritating. I gave him one more chance and I'm glad I did. I see increasing value in his (often brusque) advice about sticking with writing. I'm debating paying for one of his seminars, perhaps next month.
Regardless of whether you stay or go, I want to make sure you know I believe what you are doing is needed and hard to do. I left a partnership in 2015 that attempted to blend Christianity and technical consulting. My short answer about why I left is: I failed to lead. I get the difficulty inherent in attempting to earn a profit while accomplishing a noble goal; something to which I referred as "Doing good while doing well." I don't think I made that up.
No worries, I had no problem with anything you said, and your interest and reply are appreciated.
I've been in and around the web/email publishing world for 30 years and one of the hardest things for me has been knowing when to double down on a project and when to let it go. I've never mastered that, and so won't be selling any courses on the subject. :-).
One of the things that appealed to me about the Writers As Heroes project was that you can look at it through either a moral or business lens, and it works either way. Or you can put the two together and see it that way too. An artistic lens also works in the sense of "making our noble words REAL by connecting them to noble actions".
I'm increasingly experiencing Substack, and social media more generally, as sort of a case of "fiddling while Rome burns". That perspective is undermining my faith this network, including my own Substacks, which I've also largely abandoned. Writers As Heroes was probably this compulsive writer's attempt to escape an inconvenient insight of my own making so that I could remain in the happy dream that my ranting matters. :-)
You fought the good fight, my friend. Thank you taking this on & making the case. And while you're absolutely right that doing good & doing well are not mutually exclusive, trying to convince a VC-backed venture of that fact was and is a tall order. The other fact is you didn't let the long odds stop you from giving it a shot. You are one of Nature's noble men.
If I had been asking Substack to donate it's own money, I would have understood their lack of interest. But I was asking them to donate your and my money, the money that would have been willingly donated by Substack users, so their complete lack of interest in that did surprise me somewhat. They weren't willing to even discuss the idea, so I have no idea what the real obstacle is, and so can't address it.
And by the way, I did come around to your suggestion that a donation system would be better than a tax. You were right about that.
Anyway, I thought about taking the concept to another network, but have decided against that for now. In investigating similar networks I was reminded that the folks who run these systems are almost always thirty something tech bro guys, and while they're good at that, they may be too young to get how a charity fund raising machine could enhance their business. Maybe they see the word "charity" and immediately assume that's not related to their project?
My mind hasn't quite caught up with the reality that I'm now as much as 50 years older than many people in social media. I suppose it's about time for me to get a clue about that. :-0
Ah, @Phil Tanny, I’m sad to hear this. You know I haven’t been a fan of this idea since you first introduced it to me, but I do agree with one of the commenters below that it’s too early to quit.
My criticism of your movement isn’t the idea itself, but rather that you seem focused on getting Substack to adopt it as corporate policy. I do think that’s a waste of time because they just aren’t going to do it.
That being said, I agree with the idea that there are people out there who want something like this. Many of them have commented right here on your post. This is your group. These are the founders of this movement. Organize them. Help them. Figure out some collective action that all of you can take together to support a charity that you believe in. That’s the opportunity for this type of movement. It’s at the individual level— not the faceless corporation level.
Whether it’s with this particular movement or some other, I do hope you keep advocating for your ideals and chasing the really big dreams that Substack can be better and that it can improve. Those are all good things.
Huge Bummer. I appreciate your efforts.
I appreciate your efforts as well, and I truly value the idea. Keep the idea and the value of it alive.
I admire your efforts, you tried to do something worthwhile. Kudos!
I appreciate your efforts. I believe your goals are noble and, as someone who started blogging in late 2005, I share this thought from experience and with nothing but respect: I believe you are stopping too soon. Please keep it up.
Hi Andy, thanks for your comment.
There comes a point in any conversation where one has made one's point repeatedly every way one knows how, and to keep on making the same point over and over to those who are clearly not interested doesn't advance the cause, but builds resistance. That's where I find myself. But I don't doubt that there are others on the network that can make the case better than I can, and I see no reason for them not to.
The tricky thing about selling the "charity fund raising machine" concept is that the concept combines two activities, charity and business, that people typically of as being different things. So as soon as you say the word "charity" many readers will immediately assume you're talking about something other than Substack, which is about making money. The idea that giving money away can help us make more money can be counterintuitive for some readers, including I believe, Substack leadership.
Given that Substack is indeed a business, anyone who wished to learn from my mistakes should probably focus almost exclusively on making the business case for a charity funding raising machine.
Please recall friends, this is not my idea. I didn't invent it, and I don't own it. Anyone is free to pick up this ball and run with it.
I feel you, and you're not wrong (if I gave you the impression you were wrong, that was my bad!). And you gotta know when to hang up the cape. You're the only person who can make that call.
I follow Tim Denning. He's an acquired taste. I get his free stuff here, and I almost canceled the free newsletter because I found him irritating. I gave him one more chance and I'm glad I did. I see increasing value in his (often brusque) advice about sticking with writing. I'm debating paying for one of his seminars, perhaps next month.
Regardless of whether you stay or go, I want to make sure you know I believe what you are doing is needed and hard to do. I left a partnership in 2015 that attempted to blend Christianity and technical consulting. My short answer about why I left is: I failed to lead. I get the difficulty inherent in attempting to earn a profit while accomplishing a noble goal; something to which I referred as "Doing good while doing well." I don't think I made that up.
In sum, thank you. :{>
Hi again Andy,
No worries, I had no problem with anything you said, and your interest and reply are appreciated.
I've been in and around the web/email publishing world for 30 years and one of the hardest things for me has been knowing when to double down on a project and when to let it go. I've never mastered that, and so won't be selling any courses on the subject. :-).
One of the things that appealed to me about the Writers As Heroes project was that you can look at it through either a moral or business lens, and it works either way. Or you can put the two together and see it that way too. An artistic lens also works in the sense of "making our noble words REAL by connecting them to noble actions".
I'm increasingly experiencing Substack, and social media more generally, as sort of a case of "fiddling while Rome burns". That perspective is undermining my faith this network, including my own Substacks, which I've also largely abandoned. Writers As Heroes was probably this compulsive writer's attempt to escape an inconvenient insight of my own making so that I could remain in the happy dream that my ranting matters. :-)
Thanks again for your input!
You fought the good fight, my friend. Thank you taking this on & making the case. And while you're absolutely right that doing good & doing well are not mutually exclusive, trying to convince a VC-backed venture of that fact was and is a tall order. The other fact is you didn't let the long odds stop you from giving it a shot. You are one of Nature's noble men.
Hi Alan, thanks for your note and support.
If I had been asking Substack to donate it's own money, I would have understood their lack of interest. But I was asking them to donate your and my money, the money that would have been willingly donated by Substack users, so their complete lack of interest in that did surprise me somewhat. They weren't willing to even discuss the idea, so I have no idea what the real obstacle is, and so can't address it.
And by the way, I did come around to your suggestion that a donation system would be better than a tax. You were right about that.
Anyway, I thought about taking the concept to another network, but have decided against that for now. In investigating similar networks I was reminded that the folks who run these systems are almost always thirty something tech bro guys, and while they're good at that, they may be too young to get how a charity fund raising machine could enhance their business. Maybe they see the word "charity" and immediately assume that's not related to their project?
My mind hasn't quite caught up with the reality that I'm now as much as 50 years older than many people in social media. I suppose it's about time for me to get a clue about that. :-0
Ah, @Phil Tanny, I’m sad to hear this. You know I haven’t been a fan of this idea since you first introduced it to me, but I do agree with one of the commenters below that it’s too early to quit.
My criticism of your movement isn’t the idea itself, but rather that you seem focused on getting Substack to adopt it as corporate policy. I do think that’s a waste of time because they just aren’t going to do it.
That being said, I agree with the idea that there are people out there who want something like this. Many of them have commented right here on your post. This is your group. These are the founders of this movement. Organize them. Help them. Figure out some collective action that all of you can take together to support a charity that you believe in. That’s the opportunity for this type of movement. It’s at the individual level— not the faceless corporation level.
Whether it’s with this particular movement or some other, I do hope you keep advocating for your ideals and chasing the really big dreams that Substack can be better and that it can improve. Those are all good things.