The Reason I Write — Time to Reassess?
Reconsidering Substack
The nicest part of being an individual and independent writer is that as a writer, writing for myself, is that I can reassess and change directions as many times as it is necessary to do so. This is especially true when the writing environment is no longer meeting the needs of the writer.
My goal of becoming a writer was to be able to write about what I choose to write about. Unfortunately, that is much easier said than done. Why is that?
Writing communities like Medium and Substack are very much like oceans. They seem to have tides, waves, times of calm, and times of upheaval as in when the bottom of a body of water goes through an upheaval. Yes, it is possible on a Medium or a Substack to find a corner and write, but large platforms like these undergo change. In fact, there have been quite a few articles of late on Substack of the way that Substack is proceeding through the various steps of evolution of an online writing platform.
Now, Substack is going through an upheaval. Whether the upheaval is temporary or represents a change to the flow or contours of the bottom, that change is in progress. Personally, I see it in the huge appearance of writers that are solely concerned with the current political climate. It is not that the writers who are writing about politics are a constant and constrained population. That population is growing.
This is in addition to the contingent of writers that are primarily using Substack as a money making vehicle. All the features of late, the various modes of writing that are not writing, like podcasts and videos, on top of subscriptions, all indicate an attempt by the platform to be everything to all people. As I see it, this trend creates a refocusing of the intent of Substack. Writers can necessarily be swept into these changes. Of course, being swept along changes a writer's focus. The platform becomes more for its own benefit and less for its writers. Please remember that as an inhabitant of the platform known as Substack, it is a matter of survival to come along for the ride as the ride changes or not come for the ride if the ride does not support what the writer is trying to achieve. This characteristic of platform change is one that often necessitates a change of writer's focus.
Given my feelings about the current wave of Substack’s culture and focus, I have decided to reassess. To tell you the truth, I’d rather be in total control of my publishing space, whether it be in the form of movement to a different publishing site or my own private corner of the web universe.
You might be thinking that I will never be in control, as it is the nature of the Internet for the various controlling bodies to introduce changes to the network as it suits them. I will agree with that particular assessment. Nevertheless, the remarkable thing about the Internet is that it is a huge place with lots of opportunity to find a corner.
Regarding the former, I think that there are still some options. I particularly like Vocal because the competition pressure there is still “light” and I believe the quality of the writing is better than the wide-ranging quality that exists in Substack. I think some research is to ascertain other sites that are, how it shall, I say, not as subject to the vagaries of the moment, i.e.; politics.
On the other hand, having my own corner of the online publishing universe seems attractive. No one else will be in control other than me. There is no pressure to be part of contrived coalitions, and I can focus on the one thing that is most important to me. No one will be using my dits (digital bits (bit = binary digits)) as advertising space to market to me (which I resent). I will be able to return to the reason I began to write — because that is what I wanted to do. After all, isn’t that the purpose of writing — to write?
As I write this, I feel that I am reinforcing the direction that I want to take. We shall see. FWIW. Thanks for reading. Dr. Randy Kaplan.
Closing Comments
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