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Came across this right after reading #824763 by @siggy47, and its thoughts about long-form written content on the web (while not about v4v) struck me as really interesting.
The entire piece is good, both introspective and a survey of what's working for others, but this paragraph was the one that seemed to land a ton of really good points (especially as a Gen Xer who doesn't hate watching videos, but who definitely prefers articles).
My standard joke about my job is that I am less a “writer” than I am a “textual YouTuber for Gen Xers and Elder Millennials who hate watching videos.” What I mean by this is that while what I do resembles journalistic writing in the specific, the actual job is in most ways closer to that of a YouTuber or a streamer or even a hang-out-type podcaster than it is to that of most types of working journalist. (The one exception being: Weekly op-ed columnist.) What most successful Substacks offer to subscribers is less a series of discrete and self-supporting pieces of writing--or, for that matter, a specific and tightly delimited subject or concept--and more a particular attitude or perspective, a set of passions and interests, and even an ongoing process of “thinking through,” to which subscribers are invited. This means you have to be pretty comfortable having a strong voice, offering relatively strong opinions, and just generally “being the main character” in your writing. And, indeed, all these qualities are more important than any kind of particular technical writing skill: Many of the world’s best (formal) writers are not comfortable with any of those things, while many of the world’s worst writers are extremely comfortable with them.
Thanks for making this post. Mine was really seeking answers, and this will help. I like the "textual youtuber" description.
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Yeah, that phrase jumped out at me and I think it'll become how I describe newsletters from this point forward (at least a certain kind of newsletter).
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Very good. I appreciate reading this. I've been using Substack for sometime now and I can resonate with what this message conveys.
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i only found out about substack recently and have been wondering if i should start one.
back in the day i used to have quite a popular blog built on blogger and i actually built a second popular blog, in a totally different niche, dedicated to amazon selling.
I've often lamented the shift away from written content to ticktok and youtube etc, not just because of attention spans, but the barrier to entry being so high now , like i honestly don't have the time or interest in becoming a professional video editor etc
but writing costs basically nothing, apart from the time taken to sit and compose an article etc
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I think it's harder to get traction these days than it used to be (you need to sell yourself harder), but I know a bunch of folks who have created substacks (or used Patreon/Wordpress's free newsletter options) just as a way to recreate blogging and keep their friends updated. As you note, it costs nothing.
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yeah, of course the thing these days is people's attention is divided between so many things. 12 years ago it is was basically blogs and that was it, with youtube still being neiche.
still, nice that there is still a place for people that like reading and written blog content
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it's great that you project that way of writing for subscribers, one of the things that as a marketing specialist teaches us is that more than selling a product or service is to make the customer fall in love, making him reflect on the importance of consuming the advertising service for your business or service you offer. excellent post. thanks for sharing.
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