places like TNR and New Yorker are great because they bundle a bunch of interesting writers together (I’m biased). If every writer thinks they can go it alone via subscriptions, that threatens the model a bit

not all writers can go it alone, for sure, and after a year of one-subject newsletters we might feel a little nostalgic for a good feature well or back of the book (or online equivalent)

but if the model for a lot of voicey writers is $50k of annual substack subscriptions and $50k of freelancing, that actually sounds pretty good

also so many of my pieces start as assignments from editors! It’s not stuff I have in mind beforehand. Your newsletter readers can ‘assign’ you an idea but they are not professionals