Since I’m encouraging writers to post their original content on this territory, I wanted to explore whether or not Stacker News is actually a good environment for writers to post their work. Three areas I looked at were:
- Financial remuneration
- Publicity
- Control over content
Financial remuneration
I have some familiarity with self publishing. I have friends who have tried various ways to make a name for themselves as writers and earn some income. By and large, these efforts have failed. After taking out fees for marketing, administration, binding, and other assorted necessary and useless services, the aspiring writer usually winds up losing money. There are occasional stories of someone hitting it big with Amazon sales, but big is a relative term. Even if there is some traction, Amazon is notorious for sucking up the lion’s share of any profits that may be made.
I know that many writers who blog or write articles use Substack, so I looked into their earnings rules. The vast majority of writers on Substack do not earn much money. There are of course exceptions. There are stories of people who make a million dollars a year on Substack. There are also many writers who never earn much. Even if you do hit it big, the actual (fiat) dollars you wind up putting in your pocket might be less than you expect:
After the Substack fees (10%), Stripe fees (2-4%), and taxes, you're lucky to see half of what you think you will make (1,000 subs at $10 is closer to $5,000/month after fees and taxes).
The above quote was a tweet by Lenny Rachitsky.
As bitcoiners, of course, it also matters that in the above examples you are earning in ever devaluing fiat dollars.
On Stacker News, you earn bitcoin. The amount you earn is directly correlated to the perceived value your content provides to the reader. You will be paid accordingly. The feedback is immediate. Posts tend to lose visibility after a day or so, but I’m looking to change this by providing resources where writers can have their content showcased beyond that short time period.
Posting is not free. Fees vary by territory. Right now this territory costs 10 sats to post.
I shouldn’t have to explain this to anyone here, but being paid in bitcoin is a huge bonus. I started posting some long form content on Stacker News around a year or so ago. I saved some of those sats. The earnings from some of those posts are almost three times the value than if I had earned them today, if you measure these things by fiat standards.
It’s your decision, but given the choice, I would always prefer to be paid in bitcoin.
Publicity
There is no doubt that my territory cannot compete with Amazon, Substack, Medium and other platforms when it comes to reach and exposure. Stacker News is still young. Things will improve. Even now, though, you have the “big fish in the little pond” advantage. There is not a lot of competition yet.
Control Over Content
I know content control is a big issue with many writers. Lots of people will only post their content on their self hosted sites for complete control. There are obviously trade offs when you use a platform. However, I think this idea of ownership and control often is beside the point f you are posting online. Regardless of your method, anyone can copy and paste your work once you put it out on the web. The way I see it, you might as well earn sats for it. To each his own.
Footnotes