A little insight into the challenges of earning a buck on Substack

PLEASE don't become a paid subscriber if you're going to turn around and claim "fraud" and demand your money back. This is a hardship for us writers.

“Don’t be a writer. Be writing.” ~ William Faulkner

So, I have never done this before, but I am going to vent for a minute.

I don’t put up a paywall. Anyone can access ALL my essays, articles and interviews. I do this because the algorithms already put us into prisons of likeminded people, and I want my work to be available to as wide an audience as possible.

If my writing was behind a paywall, only people who absolutely agree with what I say would subscribe and I don’t want that. We are losing that connection to one another, and I am passionate about doing all I can to keep that window of communication open.

My paid subscribers understand that this is part of my mission, and they are onboard with contributing to it.

That’s why I don’t understand why people become paid subscribers, paying $60 for the year, read a bunch of my essays, even commenting positively on them sometimes, and then turn around and dispute the charge, claiming it’s “fraud” when clearly it isn’t, just so they can get their money back.

It’s really simple. Don’t become a paid subscriber in the first place! You can still read EVERYTHING for free!

It’s hard enough to make ends meet on Substack. Substack takes 10% of every subscription and Stripe charges 2.9% plus $0.30 for every successful card transaction.

When a paid subscriber claims “fraud”, not only does that money immediately come out of my bank account, but Stripe charges me ANOTHER fee on top of that!

Sure, I can dispute it, but it takes months to resolve the dispute, if in fact it is ever resolved in my favor. This is discouraging to say the least, not to mention that it is a hardship.

I now have over 100,000 views of my writing every month. I monitor hundreds of comments, emails and queries a day. I don’t have an assistant or a team of lawyers, editors or researchers. I am only one person. So, if you could spare me this extra effort and anxiety, I’d appreciate it.

Again, sorry for the venting. But please, it’s really simple. Just stay a free subscriber, I will be happy to have you here.

Thanks!