The Stack Changed... Again...

And it's genuis and a masterclass in marketing

Substack found a new way to love writers without ads.

Native Sponsorships.

Today we’re introducing the next phase of Substack’s native sponsorships program, with an inaugural cohort of flagship partners who are collectively investing millions of dollars into creators on Substack.

And it’s genuis Substack . GENUIS.

This might be the smartest thing you can do for writers and I’m going to break this down Barney Stylle as we say in the Marines and show you why.

First. You can’t ignore ads and everybody hates them because they interrupt your day even when you didn’t ask for them. We all know this. Meta, TikTok, YouTube…and yes even Substack.

So instead of directly flooding your feed like all the other platforms that drain your brain, they built a Creator Kit.

These are not arbitrarily inserted ads.

Ahhh yes…the classic why we are different pitch because Substack is built on the idea that people pay for the work they value. ( Their words not mine)

And then they prove it with well, you know proof.

The top 10 collectively make more than $100 million a year, while tens of millions of subscribers across the network give creators the opportunity to build both audience and business in one place.

You can’t argue with a hundred million dollars.

But watch what they do next. They don’t celebrate. They agitate.

We’ll give you reach if you give us your audience. Perform for the algorithm.

There’s the villain. Every pitch needs one, and they just cast every other platform on earth and you’ll notice how they never sold a thing yet. They make you feel the thing you hate and fear.

The Algorithms.
The performing.
The begging.

Winnner. Winner. Chicken. Dinner.

But wait…

Most creators accept this deal because they feel like they have no choice.

Because everyone feels this today.

The formula?

Name the pain. Make readers feel seen. Agitate before you offer a pain killer.

THEN the BIG DIFFRENTIATOR:

Substack is built on a different theory.

Notice the choice of words.

Different. Not better. Just different.

How is it different?

Oh, I’m so glad you asked.

They lead with the cool kids. Emily Sundberg. I subscribe to her and admit she runs a fucking hell of a publication. Then list a few others in different topics which is basically a social proof bomb because they show you how all these writers handled all the outreach and the logistics themselves.

Marketing Speak? It’s the wound that makes you feel exactly like them. It provides hope. It makes you keep writing on Substack.

And right on brand…

We want to help make the rest easy.

Easy huh? The most expensive word in marketing. You just spent a few paragraphs reading about how hard it is to write and make money, and now they’re offering to carry it for you.

But notice why this goes here? After the vilain, the wound, and the cool kids?

Because they softened you up for it and immediately pre-handled your objection:

These are not arbitrarily inserted ads.

Customer journey 101. Answer the questions before you can ask them because we both know you’re thinking…so ads? And they’re coming back with no…YOU, yes you dear writer who spends all their creative power time and money get to choose.

You keep control. You own your work.

YOU
YOU
YOU

Which brings us to this genuis tagline worth stealing:

Other platforms reward performance. We reward trust.

Trust huh? So they position you as the cure while you become the thing we all hate. I’ve read sales pages that took ten pages to do less.

Well done Substack Team

But wait…they aren’t done…

The system should serve the people who use it.

A values statement because you can’t end on the product. You end on belief so you feel like you’re part of something instead of just buying something.

That my friends is a masterclass in marketing and writing.

And it’s so good I’m going to do the opposite because when I started Subtack this is what I used to do…

The villain

It isn’t Substack or the algorithms. It’s the word FREE.

The hope built on exposure. On building an audience. On colloboration.

Hate to break it to you. It doesn’t. I know this because I’ve done it for other people.

Every pitch needs controversy or an enemy or obstacle. I just handed you one the word FREE because it’s harder to argue with. I haven’t sold you a thing yet. I just made you feel it. Substacks villain was every other platform. THIS one is…FREE.

The wound

Writing. The only thing that any of REALLY care about in this world. So I did what every damn aspiring writter does, wrote a novel and pitched. Then refreshed my inbox for the twelfth agent who loved the voice and didn’t know how to position it.

You read free. I wrote free.

We both get played, and platforms call it building relationships and audiences.

Notice the wound? Your time, my work, both spent on nothing. Substack did it too, just in a way you probably couldn’t see. Most creators feel like they have to do the same things over and over. So as you read it again you’ll probably see that you agitate before you offer the cure. Always.

The proof

Over 900 of you subscribed when it cost you nothing but a click. Thirteen pay. Nobody forced you too. You already decided the work was worth something.

I’m just catching up to you.

They flexed a hundred million dollars. I flexed nine hundred of you. Doesn't matter that mine's smaller. It matters that it's real and specific. This is how it works today.

The cool kids

Substack lead with its bestsellers . Creator Kits. Brands in the DMs. Mine are different. Mine are the writers that got passed on. The writers who got tired of all thebullshit marketign gurus. The ones who got the email rejections.

Social proof always wins. They name-dropped winners you think you could be.

I named us. Rejected writers and nobodys. Same move . Look at people like you. Except I aimed it down instead of up because thats real.

Copywriting & Revolting

Substack promised you EASY because that’s the point of a product and sales page.

I won’t because we both know writing and building a platofrm isn’t.

In marketing, when you sell something, you are supposed to make your readers feel like the next step is effortless, but I won’t insult you like that. Easy is the lie because what marketers mean when they say easy is show your readers the steps to take.

Fuck that… I’m selling you the hard thing, on purpose.

Substack and many other creators will bend toward we’ll make it easy. The second I matched that, you probably wouldb’t havemade it this far in my sales page..yes, by now you probably recognize I am in fact pitching you my writing.

The interrupt is what makes everything after it believable.

The reveal

Two doors.

DOOR ONE. You pay for me and subscribe Something To Bury.

The weekly stuff, the flows, the novel because its coming this year since I’ve been rejected nearly seventy five times. About ten responses. Rest all silence.

Door two, the one I actually care about: you pay for Rejects.

The Rejects is back

Five stories an issue, from writers nobody else would touch. Your subscription doesn’t buy a discount code. It cuts a check to a writer the industry threw out.

Substack waited until you felt like you had some sort of control then showed you how big names have control and win.

I didn’t o that. I showed you their model, broke it down, then showed you the rejects and I led with me and closed with the thing I actually want you to fund.

You put the real ask last, after they’ve already said yes in their head.

The objection

Why should I pay…

You shouldn’t…but we all gotta make some money to keep this shit going.

So I’m telling you exactly where it goes, in plain English.

You never REALLY get anything for FREE.

Notice what I did here? I said the doubt out loud before you could, because you want to name it first.

An objection you name is USUALLY the one that wins. Substack did with tthese are not arbitrarily inserted ads.

Answer the question in your prospects head before they have any doubt.

The tagline

Substack rewards trust by renting it out to us for hope to build a name.

I’m spending mine on writers like me who get rejected more times than we can count.

Substack uses trust. I use a rebuttal built from their own word and compress the whole argument into something a person could repeat to a friend or explain to ten year old kid.

Thats marketing.

The belief

Substack is in it for the money. Just look at how much it has changed. So I built my brand off that belief just enough to keep writing and funding this thing because it takes a shit ton of brain power and time.

Notice what i did? I never close on the product. I close on what the product stands for, so the you walk away feeling like you joined something instead of bought something.

Substack? Te system should serve the people who use it.
Mine: build the smaller system that actually does.

The call

Free still gets something. A story, an essay, proof I’m still here and still mean it. Everything else is paid, because I finally know what it’s worth.

Now this is where I show you what the fuck all this means.

Door one or door two.

Pick one. Pick both. Or close the tab and just freeload.

Pick a door. I even handed you permission to leave, because the besy way to get a yes is to always leave an option.

You just watched me revolt on Substack’s playbook, and then I used it on you because I gottta get serious about this shit if I want my novel to go anywhere.

And it probably worked. Or maybe it didn’t and I’ll just stop right now.

But what I just did is called consent because you’re always paying someone or something.

So the question isn’t whether this is marketing, it’s whether you think you think what I’m doing is worth it.

Your call.