Readers have been tweeting at us for years now to ask when we\u2019d have an app. We\u2019ve long wanted one too, and we suddenly got the manpower to be able to build a good one when we acquired Sachin\u2019s company Cocoon (W19) last year.
Soon after starting Substack, we found it easiest to explain what we do as \u201cWe make it simple to start a paid newsletter.\u201d Even then, a Substack was more than just an email newsletter: it was also a blog, and it could host embedded video and audio, and people could leave comments and participate in discussion threads. But the term \u201cnewsletter\u201d was useful shorthand because everyone kind of got what that meant. All along, though, we\u2019ve been quietly building the tools for what we call \u201cpersonal media empires,\u201d encompassing different media formats (natively) and community discussion (which we intend to make better and better).
By a similar token, right from the start we\u2019ve been intending for the company to do more than just provide subscription publishing tools. We\u2019re excited by the vision of Substack becoming a network, where writers and readers benefit from being part of a larger ecosystem. For writers, it means they can be discovered by readers who might not otherwise have found them. For readers, it means being able to connect directly with writers and other readers and to explore a universe of great work.
The app is a key part of the network vision. Nothing changes in terms of writers and readers being in control. The writers still own their mailing lists, content, and IP and can take it all with them anytime they want. Anyone who signs up to a Substack through the app still goes on to that mailing list. And readers still get to choose what appears in their \u201cinbox,\u201d with the power to subscribe and unsubscribe from whatever they want (you can also add any RSS feed into the app via reader.substack.com). But now we\u2019ll have more and better ways to surface recommendations from writers and readers, to show people\u2019s profiles, and to deliver notifications inside and outside of the app.
This is just a start for the Substack app. We want to keep improving it, so please give us feedback and ask us the hard questions. What do you think we\u2019re doing wrong? What could be better? What could be great? What might we not have thought of?
We\u2019re here for the next couple hours. Ask us anything.
https://on.substack.com/p/substackapp"},"title":{"fullyHighlighted":false,"matchLevel":"full","matchedWords":["substack"],"value":"We\u2019re the founders of Substack, we just launched an iOS app. AUA"}},"_tags":["story","author_internet_jockey","story_30632952","ask_hn"],"author":"internet_jockey","children":[30633208,30633219,30633249,30633256,30633280,30633286,30633321,30633322,30633334,30633361,30633417,30633426,30633434,30633478,30633506,30633515,30633523,30633528,30633535,30633562,30633567,30633580,30633584,30633600,30633607,30633622,30633630,30633633,30633648,30633653,30633696,30633704,30633707,30633725,30633747,30633763,30633792,30633820,30633822,30633863,30633874,30633938,30634004,30634038,30634051,30634062,30634135,30634146,30634164,30634233,30634284,30634322,30634475,30634542,30634589,30634722,30634737,30634838,30634858,30634913,30634920,30635004,30635036,30635045,30635127,30635229,30635237,30635399,30635464,30635509,30635607,30635827,30635873,30635941,30636007,30636439,30636531,30636555,30636576,30636650,30636700,30636741,30637034,30638121,30638627,30638891,30639292,30640815,30641212,30642162,30645622,30761264],"created_at":"2022-03-10T21:51:23Z","created_at_i":1646949083,"num_comments":414,"objectID":"30632952","points":374,"story_id":30632952,"story_text":"Hi! This is Chris Best, Hamish McKenzie, and Jairaj Sethi, the founders of Substack, with Sachin Monga, the head of product. Yesterday, we launched an iOS app for Substack, so you can read all your Substack subscriptions in one place, with no distractions.
Readers have been tweeting at us for years now to ask when we\u2019d have an app. We\u2019ve long wanted one too, and we suddenly got the manpower to be able to build a good one when we acquired Sachin\u2019s company Cocoon (W19) last year.
Soon after starting Substack, we found it easiest to explain what we do as \u201cWe make it simple to start a paid newsletter.\u201d Even then, a Substack was more than just an email newsletter: it was also a blog, and it could host embedded video and audio, and people could leave comments and participate in discussion threads. But the term \u201cnewsletter\u201d was useful shorthand because everyone kind of got what that meant. All along, though, we\u2019ve been quietly building the tools for what we call \u201cpersonal media empires,\u201d encompassing different media formats (natively) and community discussion (which we intend to make better and better).
By a similar token, right from the start we\u2019ve been intending for the company to do more than just provide subscription publishing tools. We\u2019re excited by the vision of Substack becoming a network, where writers and readers benefit from being part of a larger ecosystem. For writers, it means they can be discovered by readers who might not otherwise have found them. For readers, it means being able to connect directly with writers and other readers and to explore a universe of great work.
The app is a key part of the network vision. Nothing changes in terms of writers and readers being in control. The writers still own their mailing lists, content, and IP and can take it all with them anytime they want. Anyone who signs up to a Substack through the app still goes on to that mailing list. And readers still get to choose what appears in their \u201cinbox,\u201d with the power to subscribe and unsubscribe from whatever they want (you can also add any RSS feed into the app via reader.substack.com). But now we\u2019ll have more and better ways to surface recommendations from writers and readers, to show people\u2019s profiles, and to deliver notifications inside and outside of the app.
This is just a start for the Substack app. We want to keep improving it, so please give us feedback and ask us the hard questions. What do you think we\u2019re doing wrong? What could be better? What could be great? What might we not have thought of?
We\u2019re here for the next couple hours. Ask us anything.
https://on.substack.com/p/substackapp","title":"We\u2019re the founders of Substack, we just launched an iOS app. AUA","updated_at":"2026-01-03T00:36:30Z"},{"_highlightResult":{"author":{"matchLevel":"none","matchedWords":[],"value":"agd"},"title":{"fullyHighlighted":false,"matchLevel":"full","matchedWords":["substack"],"value":"Substack is (not) now powered by Ghost"},"url":{"matchLevel":"none","matchedWords":[],"value":"https://twitter.com/johnonolan/status/1602330377812643850"}},"_tags":["story","author_agd","story_33956300"],"author":"agd","children":[33956437,33956483,33956500,33956531,33956536,33956664,33956697,33956733,33956763,33956831,33956955,33957054,33957319,33957378,33957388,33957576,33957588,33957728,33957746,33957856,33957927,33958071,33958345,33958355,33958363,33958448,33958462,33958898,33958906,33959011,33959127,33959622,33960199,33961014,33961661],"created_at":"2022-12-12T16:12:46Z","created_at_i":1670861566,"num_comments":193,"objectID":"33956300","points":348,"story_id":33956300,"title":"Substack is (not) now powered by Ghost","updated_at":"2024-09-20T12:50:44Z","url":"https://twitter.com/johnonolan/status/1602330377812643850"},{"_highlightResult":{"author":{"matchLevel":"none","matchedWords":[],"value":"vitabenes"},"title":{"fullyHighlighted":false,"matchLevel":"full","matchedWords":["substack"],"value":"I grew my Substack from 439 to 451 free subscribers in just 11 months"},"url":{"fullyHighlighted":false,"matchLevel":"full","matchedWords":["substack"],"value":"https://shadesofgreaves.substack.com/p/how-i-grew-my-substack-from-439-to"}},"_tags":["story","author_vitabenes","story_39368370"],"author":"vitabenes","children":[39368376,39368478,39369152,39369160,39369168,39369173,39369209,39369240,39369253,39369284,39369307,39369312,39369324,39369367,39369461,39369512,39369539,39369642,39369717,39370123,39381104,39404735],"created_at":"2024-02-14T10:27:40Z","created_at_i":1707906460,"num_comments":70,"objectID":"39368370","points":228,"story_id":39368370,"title":"I grew my Substack from 439 to 451 free subscribers in just 11 months","updated_at":"2026-07-28T18:06:37Z","url":"https://shadesofgreaves.substack.com/p/how-i-grew-my-substack-from-439-to"},{"_highlightResult":{"author":{"matchLevel":"none","matchedWords":[],"value":"codechicago277"},"title":{"fullyHighlighted":false,"matchLevel":"full","matchedWords":["substack"],"value":"Twitter Is Blocking Likes and Retweets that Mention Substack"},"url":{"matchLevel":"none","matchedWords":[],"value":"https://flipboard.social/@Flipboard/110161362001035875"}},"_tags":["story","author_codechicago277","story_35502684"],"author":"codechicago277","children":[35502821,35502830,35502839,35502906,35502920,35502931,35502935,35502974,35502975,35503001,35503006,35503030,35503051,35503111,35503129,35503162,35503213,35503243,35503249,35503314,35503324,35503350,35503356,35503396,35503400,35503413,35503460,35503682,35507723],"created_at":"2023-04-09T13:46:55Z","created_at_i":1681048015,"num_comments":133,"objectID":"35502684","points":223,"story_id":35502684,"title":"Twitter Is Blocking Likes and Retweets that Mention Substack","updated_at":"2025-10-06T20:42:28Z","url":"https://flipboard.social/@Flipboard/110161362001035875"},{"_highlightResult":{"author":{"matchLevel":"none","matchedWords":[],"value":"chatterhead"},"story_text":{"fullyHighlighted":false,"matchLevel":"full","matchedWords":["substack"],"value":"Seeing a lot more Substack and fewer and fewer Medium articles. Anyone else notice this seemingly happened slowly but consistently over the last year?"},"title":{"fullyHighlighted":false,"matchLevel":"full","matchedWords":["substack"],"value":"Ask HN: Is Substack the new Medium?"}},"_tags":["story","author_chatterhead","story_33137417","ask_hn"],"author":"chatterhead","children":[33137561,33137567,33137653,33137654,33137655,33137664,33137672,33137680,33137685,33137702,33137734,33137742,33137814,33137826,33137858,33137862,33137877,33138012,33138071,33138190,33138221,33138250,33138277,33138320,33138330,33138368,33138724,33138831,33139510,33139878,33143096,33144309,33145788],"created_at":"2022-10-09T00:51:33Z","created_at_i":1665276693,"num_comments":166,"objectID":"33137417","points":186,"story_id":33137417,"story_text":"Seeing a lot more Substack and fewer and fewer Medium articles. Anyone else notice this seemingly happened slowly but consistently over the last year?","title":"Ask HN: Is Substack the new Medium?","updated_at":"2026-10-05T21:58:45Z"},{"_highlightResult":{"author":{"matchLevel":"none","matchedWords":[],"value":"internet_jockey"},"story_text":{"fullyHighlighted":false,"matchLevel":"full","matchedWords":["substack"],"value":"We\u2019re Chris Best and Hamish McKenzie, the founders of Substack (YC W18), and Matt Taibbi, a journalist and author who has written four best-sellers and is a contributing editor to the Rolling Stone. Substack is a tool that makes it simple for a writer to start a paid newsletter \u2013 but we\u2019re also experimenting with other models for online publishing. For instance, Matt is using Substack to serialize a novel called The Business Secrets of Drug Dealing: Adventures of the Unidentified Black Male, which you can see here: https://taibbi.substack.com.
Matt has so far published six chapters in the book. The serial is an experiment for him, too, but even when it\u2019s done he intends to keep publishing his independent work through Substack. We thought it might be interesting to bring Matt into a Hacker News discussion about this model, other things that might be tried, and the state of online publishing generally.
Last time Substack was involved in a discussion here on HN, we got a ton of great feedback (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16326411). We\u2019d love to hear your thoughts about online publishing and how tech can (or cannot) help journalism!"},"title":{"fullyHighlighted":false,"matchLevel":"full","matchedWords":["substack"],"value":"AMA with Substack and Matt Taibbi about a new business model for journalism"}},"_tags":["story","author_internet_jockey","story_17239602","ask_hn"],"author":"internet_jockey","children":[17239678,17239755,17239782,17239797,17239891,17239928,17239945,17239967,17239983,17239987,17239988,17240012,17240030,17240034,17240045,17240162,17240210,17240290,17240298,17240364,17240402,17240573,17240613,17240815,17240864,17240906,17240919,17240956,17240994,17241000,17241090,17241095,17241099,17241214,17241294,17241385,17241402,17241507,17241685,17241806,17241925,17242505,17242645,17243316,17243536,17244285,17246894,17248150],"created_at":"2018-06-05T16:56:39Z","created_at_i":1528217799,"num_comments":153,"objectID":"17239602","points":180,"story_id":17239602,"story_text":"We\u2019re Chris Best and Hamish McKenzie, the founders of Substack (YC W18), and Matt Taibbi, a journalist and author who has written four best-sellers and is a contributing editor to the Rolling Stone. Substack is a tool that makes it simple for a writer to start a paid newsletter \u2013 but we\u2019re also experimenting with other models for online publishing. For instance, Matt is using Substack to serialize a novel called The Business Secrets of Drug Dealing: Adventures of the Unidentified Black Male, which you can see here: https://taibbi.substack.com.
Matt has so far published six chapters in the book. The serial is an experiment for him, too, but even when it\u2019s done he intends to keep publishing his independent work through Substack. We thought it might be interesting to bring Matt into a Hacker News discussion about this model, other things that might be tried, and the state of online publishing generally.
Last time Substack was involved in a discussion here on HN, we got a ton of great feedback (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16326411). We\u2019d love to hear your thoughts about online publishing and how tech can (or cannot) help journalism!","title":"AMA with Substack and Matt Taibbi about a new business model for journalism","updated_at":"2025-09-01T00:21:29Z"},{"_highlightResult":{"author":{"matchLevel":"none","matchedWords":[],"value":"mfiguiere"},"title":{"fullyHighlighted":false,"matchLevel":"full","matchedWords":["substack"],"value":"Now live for all: Substack Notes"},"url":{"fullyHighlighted":false,"matchLevel":"full","matchedWords":["substack"],"value":"https://on.substack.com/p/notes"}},"_tags":["story","author_mfiguiere","story_35528315"],"author":"mfiguiere","children":[35529929,35529945,35530119],"created_at":"2023-04-11T17:30:21Z","created_at_i":1681234221,"num_comments":3,"objectID":"35528315","points":143,"story_id":35528315,"title":"Now live for all: Substack Notes","updated_at":"2024-09-20T13:47:55Z","url":"https://on.substack.com/p/notes"},{"_highlightResult":{"author":{"matchLevel":"none","matchedWords":[],"value":"feross"},"title":{"fullyHighlighted":false,"matchLevel":"full","matchedWords":["substack"],"value":"Sovereign writers and Substack"},"url":{"fullyHighlighted":false,"matchLevel":"full","matchedWords":["substack"],"value":"https://stratechery.com/2021/sovereign-writers-and-substack/"}},"_tags":["story","author_feross","story_26541582"],"author":"feross","children":[26542039,26542127,26542130,26542260,26542483,26542722,26542781,26542961,26543040,26546667,26547756,26548108,26548273,26548304,26548754,26549853,26549892,26550610,26550690,26555308],"created_at":"2021-03-22T14:48:10Z","created_at_i":1616424490,"num_comments":156,"objectID":"26541582","points":142,"story_id":26541582,"title":"Sovereign writers and Substack","updated_at":"2025-10-06T21:03:26Z","url":"https://stratechery.com/2021/sovereign-writers-and-substack/"},{"_highlightResult":{"author":{"matchLevel":"none","matchedWords":[],"value":"skilled"},"story_text":{"fullyHighlighted":false,"matchLevel":"full","matchedWords":["substack"],"value":"So, let me preface this by saying that I think it's possible to have a healthy discussion on this topic, and I am not trying to be overly judgmental of Substack.
But, I am genuinely curious why is it getting so popular and particularly here on Hacker News. Does it have some kind of a hidden feature that makes it very appealing?
My number one assumption would be that it uses a global userbase, so people who write on Substack can collect subscribers/readers much faster. Is that all there is to it?
I also know that Substack prefetches an email address (once you enter it on any Substack-based site) and then plasters it on all their other customer sites, which I _really_ hate about their platform.
But I can see the appeal in that, I guess."},"title":{"fullyHighlighted":false,"matchLevel":"full","matchedWords":["substack"],"value":"Ask HN: Why is Substack so popular?"}},"_tags":["story","author_skilled","story_31083165","ask_hn"],"author":"skilled","children":[31083319,31083387,31083451,31083484,31083493,31083511,31083573,31083599,31083629,31083644,31083647,31083683,31083684,31083685,31083689,31083727,31083736,31083741,31083786,31083815,31083832,31083897,31083940,31084031,31084041,31084145,31084165,31084189,31084196,31084220,31084236,31084308,31084363,31084395,31084526,31084609,31084684,31084946,31084950,31084958,31084965,31085016,31085044,31085104,31085264,31085274,31085285,31085436,31085550,31085645,31086243,31086720,31089241],"created_at":"2022-04-19T13:57:42Z","created_at_i":1650376662,"num_comments":171,"objectID":"31083165","points":139,"story_id":31083165,"story_text":"So, let me preface this by saying that I think it's possible to have a healthy discussion on this topic, and I am not trying to be overly judgmental of Substack.
But, I am genuinely curious why is it getting so popular and particularly here on Hacker News. Does it have some kind of a hidden feature that makes it very appealing?
My number one assumption would be that it uses a global userbase, so people who write on Substack can collect subscribers/readers much faster. Is that all there is to it?
I also know that Substack prefetches an email address (once you enter it on any Substack-based site) and then plasters it on all their other customer sites, which I _really_ hate about their platform.
But I can see the appeal in that, I guess.","title":"Ask HN: Why is Substack so popular?","updated_at":"2026-08-02T09:48:52Z"},{"_highlightResult":{"author":{"matchLevel":"none","matchedWords":[],"value":"indigodaddy"},"title":{"fullyHighlighted":false,"matchLevel":"full","matchedWords":["substack"],"value":"Why the Substack hype is much ado about very little"},"url":{"fullyHighlighted":false,"matchLevel":"full","matchedWords":["substack"],"value":"https://dankennedy.net/2020/12/09/blogging-is-dead-long-live-blogging-or-why-the-substack-hype-is-much-ado-about-very-little/"}},"_tags":["story","author_indigodaddy","story_27968203"],"author":"indigodaddy","children":[27969185,27969250,27969260,27969317,27969334,27969355,27969385,27969414,27969638,27969964,27970231,27970586,27970645,27970803,27970866,27971842,27972158,27972176,27972502,27973773,27978912],"created_at":"2021-07-27T03:08:30Z","created_at_i":1627355310,"num_comments":153,"objectID":"27968203","points":133,"story_id":27968203,"title":"Why the Substack hype is much ado about very little","updated_at":"2026-05-11T05:41:12Z","url":"https://dankennedy.net/2020/12/09/blogging-is-dead-long-live-blogging-or-why-the-substack-hype-is-much-ado-about-very-little/"},{"_highlightResult":{"author":{"matchLevel":"none","matchedWords":[],"value":"jdp23"},"title":{"fullyHighlighted":false,"matchLevel":"full","matchedWords":["substack"],"value":"Substack is laying off 14% of its staff"},"url":{"fullyHighlighted":false,"matchLevel":"full","matchedWords":["substack"],"value":"https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/29/business/media/substack-layoffs.html"}},"_tags":["story","author_jdp23","story_31924622"],"author":"jdp23","children":[31924653,31924696,31924837,31924896,31924987,31925051,31925199,31925252,31925277,31925401,31925444,31925469,31925517,31925521,31925525,31925572,31925711,31925801,31925831,31925836,31925838,31925970,31926073,31926152,31926883,31933858],"created_at":"2022-06-29T19:25:35Z","created_at_i":1656530735,"num_comments":191,"objectID":"31924622","points":131,"story_id":31924622,"title":"Substack is laying off 14% of its staff","updated_at":"2025-09-01T00:28:03Z","url":"https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/29/business/media/substack-layoffs.html"},{"_highlightResult":{"author":{"matchLevel":"none","matchedWords":[],"value":"dnh44"},"title":{"fullyHighlighted":false,"matchLevel":"full","matchedWords":["substack"],"value":"Journalists Start Demanding Substack Censor Its Writers"},"url":{"fullyHighlighted":false,"matchLevel":"full","matchedWords":["substack"],"value":"https://greenwald.substack.com/p/journalists-start-demanding-substack"}},"_tags":["story","author_dnh44","story_26426034"],"author":"dnh44","children":[26426766,26426940,26426965,26426973,26427117,26427174,26427617,26427672,26428214,26430787],"created_at":"2021-03-11T16:46:54Z","created_at_i":1615481214,"num_comments":39,"objectID":"26426034","points":126,"story_id":26426034,"title":"Journalists Start Demanding Substack Censor Its Writers","updated_at":"2024-09-20T08:07:31Z","url":"https://greenwald.substack.com/p/journalists-start-demanding-substack"},{"_highlightResult":{"author":{"matchLevel":"none","matchedWords":[],"value":"kevin_indig"},"title":{"fullyHighlighted":false,"matchLevel":"full","matchedWords":["substack"],"value":"Why I left Substack and the Email Renaissance"},"url":{"fullyHighlighted":false,"matchLevel":"full","matchedWords":["substack"],"value":"https://www.kevin-indig.com/why-i-left-substack-and-the-email-renaissance/"}},"_tags":["story","author_kevin_indig","story_23678140"],"author":"kevin_indig","children":[23678141,23688434,23689030,23689299,23689962,23690405,23690465,23691109,23691779,23696955],"created_at":"2020-06-29T14:54:36Z","created_at_i":1593442476,"num_comments":82,"objectID":"23678140","points":125,"story_id":23678140,"title":"Why I left Substack and the Email Renaissance","updated_at":"2024-09-20T06:29:23Z","url":"https://www.kevin-indig.com/why-i-left-substack-and-the-email-renaissance/"},{"_highlightResult":{"author":{"matchLevel":"none","matchedWords":[],"value":"cjbest"},"story_text":{"fullyHighlighted":false,"matchLevel":"full","matchedWords":["substack"],"value":"Hi HN, we\u2019re Chris Best and Hamish McKenzie, the founders of Substack (https://www.substack.com). We\u2019ve built a tool that makes it simple for a writer to start a paid email newsletter. Sign up, connect to Stripe, and go. Our first publisher, Bill Bishop, writes a newsletter about China (https://nb.sinocism.com) and got to six figures of annual revenue on his first day on Substack. Bill had been publishing Sinocism as a free newsletter for five years and had 30k subscribers. Now he can make a living from it.
Hamish is a journalist who has done everything from writing about indie music in Hong Kong to being lead writer for Tesla. We bonded over our shared love of reading when he worked at Kik, where Chris was the technical co-founder. Last summer, Chris was taking time off and asked Hamish to read an essay he was trying to write about the incentive structures of social media for writers, and how growing outrage and polarization was making it hard to have reasonable conversations. At the same time, we both loved Ben Thompson\u2019s newsletter, Stratechery, which was doing really well off paid subscriptions. We wondered: what if it were easier for writers to start something like that? That felt more like a company than an essay, and so one thing led to another...
An example of a Substack newsletter you might enjoy is Versioning (https://versioning.substack.com), a daily reading list for web developers and designers. We also recommend Mallory Ortberg\u2019s The Shatner Chatner (https://www.shatnerchatner.com) and Helena Fitzgerald\u2019s Griefbacon (https://griefbacon.substack.com).
The product is still in a pretty early phase but we\u2019ve just launched our self-serve beta, where anyone can create a newsletter, free or paid: https://www.substack.com/beta-signup. At this stage, it\u2019s completely free until you start charging, in which case we take a fee: 10% for people who start during the beta.
We know a lot of folks on HN care about this stuff too, so we\u2019re keen to hear your feedback. Also: if you know any writers you\u2019d be happy to pay to read (or if that\u2019s you), we\u2019d love to hear about that too."},"title":{"fullyHighlighted":false,"matchLevel":"full","matchedWords":["substack"],"value":"Launch HN: Substack (YC W18): Paid email newsletters made simple"}},"_tags":["story","author_cjbest","story_16326411","launch_hn"],"author":"cjbest","children":[16326745,16326851,16327093,16327285,16327495,16327668,16327712,16327752,16327777,16327839,16327970,16328190,16328729,16328875,16328879,16328928,16329714,16329937,16330139,16331031,16332875],"created_at":"2018-02-07T17:48:20Z","created_at_i":1518025700,"num_comments":88,"objectID":"16326411","points":124,"story_id":16326411,"story_text":"Hi HN, we\u2019re Chris Best and Hamish McKenzie, the founders of Substack (https://www.substack.com). We\u2019ve built a tool that makes it simple for a writer to start a paid email newsletter. Sign up, connect to Stripe, and go. Our first publisher, Bill Bishop, writes a newsletter about China (https://nb.sinocism.com) and got to six figures of annual revenue on his first day on Substack. Bill had been publishing Sinocism as a free newsletter for five years and had 30k subscribers. Now he can make a living from it.
Hamish is a journalist who has done everything from writing about indie music in Hong Kong to being lead writer for Tesla. We bonded over our shared love of reading when he worked at Kik, where Chris was the technical co-founder. Last summer, Chris was taking time off and asked Hamish to read an essay he was trying to write about the incentive structures of social media for writers, and how growing outrage and polarization was making it hard to have reasonable conversations. At the same time, we both loved Ben Thompson\u2019s newsletter, Stratechery, which was doing really well off paid subscriptions. We wondered: what if it were easier for writers to start something like that? That felt more like a company than an essay, and so one thing led to another...
An example of a Substack newsletter you might enjoy is Versioning (https://versioning.substack.com), a daily reading list for web developers and designers. We also recommend Mallory Ortberg\u2019s The Shatner Chatner (https://www.shatnerchatner.com) and Helena Fitzgerald\u2019s Griefbacon (https://griefbacon.substack.com).
The product is still in a pretty early phase but we\u2019ve just launched our self-serve beta, where anyone can create a newsletter, free or paid: https://www.substack.com/beta-signup. At this stage, it\u2019s completely free until you start charging, in which case we take a fee: 10% for people who start during the beta.
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about."},"title":{"fullyHighlighted":false,"matchLevel":"full","matchedWords":["substack"],"value":"Ask HN: Which substacks do you read as soon as it hits your inbox?"}},"_tags":["story","author_sharps_xp","story_36356476","ask_hn"],"author":"sharps_xp","children":[36356602,36356642,36356669,36356696,36356753,36356771,36356796,36356804,36356812,36356845,36356861,36356863,36356885,36356903,36356915,36356930,36356934,36356966,36356979,36356986,36357004,36357094,36357111,36357114,36357194,36357322,36357323,36357419,36357435,36357484,36357536,36357541,36357581,36357728,36360802,36364872,36370095,36380830],"created_at":"2023-06-16T13:43:23Z","created_at_i":1686923003,"num_comments":58,"objectID":"36356476","points":50,"story_id":36356476,"story_text":"just curious for some good insightful reading on whatever you\u2019re passionate about.","title":"Ask HN: Which substacks do you read as soon as it hits your inbox?","updated_at":"2025-11-09T21:57:49Z"},{"_highlightResult":{"author":{"matchLevel":"none","matchedWords":[],"value":"lobbly"},"title":{"fullyHighlighted":false,"matchLevel":"full","matchedWords":["substack"],"value":"Ben Smith on the rise of Substack and independent journalists [video]"},"url":{"matchLevel":"none","matchedWords":[],"value":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3xgLOHW42Nw#t=12"}},"_tags":["story","author_lobbly","story_23654843"],"author":"lobbly","children":[23656194,23656225,23656615,23662739],"created_at":"2020-06-26T17:50:53Z","created_at_i":1593193853,"num_comments":38,"objectID":"23654843","points":50,"story_id":23654843,"title":"Ben Smith on the rise of Substack and independent journalists [video]","updated_at":"2025-10-07T06:50:20Z","url":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3xgLOHW42Nw#t=12"},{"_highlightResult":{"author":{"matchLevel":"none","matchedWords":[],"value":"pulisse"},"title":{"fullyHighlighted":false,"matchLevel":"full","matchedWords":["substack"],"value":"Substack just killed the creator economy"},"url":{"fullyHighlighted":false,"matchLevel":"full","matchedWords":["substack"],"value":"https://mail.bigdeskenergy.com/p/substack-just-killed-creator-economy"}},"_tags":["story","author_pulisse","story_45088977"],"author":"pulisse","children":[45089097,45089190,45089196,45089204,45089212,45089217,45089221,45089224,45089230,45089254,45089260,45089263,45089283,45089287,45089290,45089752,45089850,45090635,45090912,45092896,45097434],"created_at":"2025-09-01T02:47:09Z","created_at_i":1756694829,"num_comments":54,"objectID":"45088977","points":48,"story_id":45088977,"title":"Substack just killed the creator economy","updated_at":"2026-03-05T22:35:43Z","url":"https://mail.bigdeskenergy.com/p/substack-just-killed-creator-economy"},{"_highlightResult":{"author":{"matchLevel":"none","matchedWords":[],"value":"johntiger1"},"title":{"fullyHighlighted":false,"matchLevel":"full","matchedWords":["substack"],"value":"Dark Patterns in Substack"},"url":{"fullyHighlighted":false,"matchLevel":"full","matchedWords":["substack"],"value":"https://hermitian.substack.com/p/dark-patterns-in-substack"}},"_tags":["story","author_johntiger1","story_35455965"],"author":"johntiger1","children":[35456693,35456725,35456839,35457024,35457155,35457239,35457434,35457532,35457874,35457987,35458028,35458198,35458259,35458787],"created_at":"2023-04-05T15:38:07Z","created_at_i":1680709087,"num_comments":45,"objectID":"35455965","points":44,"story_id":35455965,"title":"Dark Patterns in Substack","updated_at":"2024-09-20T13:49:11Z","url":"https://hermitian.substack.com/p/dark-patterns-in-substack"},{"_highlightResult":{"author":{"matchLevel":"none","matchedWords":[],"value":"bookofjoe"},"title":{"fullyHighlighted":false,"matchLevel":"full","matchedWords":["substack"],"value":"Don't Call It a Substack."},"url":{"fullyHighlighted":false,"matchLevel":"full","matchedWords":["substack"],"value":"https://www.anildash.com//2024/11/19/dont-call-it-a-substack/"}},"_tags":["story","author_bookofjoe","story_42209936"],"author":"bookofjoe","children":[42209977,42210032,42210052,42210119,42210122,42210125,42210158],"created_at":"2024-11-21T23:59:51Z","created_at_i":1732233591,"num_comments":26,"objectID":"42209936","points":43,"story_id":42209936,"title":"Don't Call It a Substack.","updated_at":"2025-10-10T22:22:02Z","url":"https://www.anildash.com//2024/11/19/dont-call-it-a-substack/"},{"_highlightResult":{"author":{"matchLevel":"none","matchedWords":[],"value":"troydavis"},"story_text":{"fullyHighlighted":false,"matchLevel":"full","matchedWords":["substack"],"value":"I posted this comment to https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40162930, but it deserves a standalone submission.
Someone is plagiarizing blog posts at scale, using many of different throwaway HN accounts and fake Substack blogs.
They appear to be going through old Hacker News submissions, finding the source pages that were submitted, and then publishing those posts on new Substack blogs that they created.
The most recent one, https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40162930 , was stolen from https://web.archive.org/web/20110416092916/https://jinfiesto...
Here's when the real post was submitted to HN, back in 2011: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2440364
OP, would you care to share more about your scam? What do you get from it?
Here's other examples where they did the same thing using different Substack blogs and different HN accounts - this is just a subset:
11 years ago: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5337525 (plagiarized and submitted as https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40081175)
12 years ago: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3425331 (plagiarized and submitted as https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40091392)
13 years ago: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3154446 (plagiarized and submitted as https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40150949)"},"title":{"fullyHighlighted":false,"matchLevel":"full","matchedWords":["substack"],"value":"Here's what an organized Substack / HN plagiarism campaign looks like"}},"_tags":["story","author_troydavis","story_40164077","ask_hn"],"author":"troydavis","children":[40164204,40164663,40165318,40168707],"created_at":"2024-04-25T22:55:28Z","created_at_i":1714085728,"num_comments":2,"objectID":"40164077","points":43,"story_id":40164077,"story_text":"I posted this comment to https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40162930, but it deserves a standalone submission.
Someone is plagiarizing blog posts at scale, using many of different throwaway HN accounts and fake Substack blogs.
They appear to be going through old Hacker News submissions, finding the source pages that were submitted, and then publishing those posts on new Substack blogs that they created.
The most recent one, https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40162930 , was stolen from https://web.archive.org/web/20110416092916/https://jinfiesto...
Here's when the real post was submitted to HN, back in 2011: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2440364
OP, would you care to share more about your scam? What do you get from it?
Here's other examples where they did the same thing using different Substack blogs and different HN accounts - this is just a subset:
11 years ago: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5337525 (plagiarized and submitted as https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40081175)
12 years ago: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3425331 (plagiarized and submitted as https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40091392)
13 years ago: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3154446 (plagiarized and submitted as https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40150949)","title":"Here's what an organized Substack / HN plagiarism campaign looks like","updated_at":"2024-09-20T16:54:46Z"},{"_highlightResult":{"author":{"matchLevel":"none","matchedWords":[],"value":"doener"},"title":{"fullyHighlighted":false,"matchLevel":"full","matchedWords":["substack"],"value":"Substack\u2019s CEO says Musk\u2019s claims are false"},"url":{"matchLevel":"none","matchedWords":[],"value":"https://twitter.com/kenklippenstein/status/1644713355242881024"}},"_tags":["story","author_doener","story_35496403"],"author":"doener","children":[35498400,35498403,35501578],"created_at":"2023-04-08T18:54:49Z","created_at_i":1680980089,"num_comments":3,"objectID":"35496403","points":40,"story_id":35496403,"title":"Substack\u2019s CEO says Musk\u2019s claims are false","updated_at":"2024-09-20T13:53:42Z","url":"https://twitter.com/kenklippenstein/status/1644713355242881024"},{"_highlightResult":{"author":{"matchLevel":"none","matchedWords":[],"value":"shortformblog"},"title":{"fullyHighlighted":false,"matchLevel":"full","matchedWords":["substack"],"value":"Dear Substack: Quit Sending Me Your Corporate Propaganda"},"url":{"fullyHighlighted":false,"matchLevel":"full","matchedWords":["substack"],"value":"https://empathynovel.substack.com/p/dear-substack-quit-sending-me-your"}},"_tags":["story","author_shortformblog","story_35980656"],"author":"shortformblog","children":[35980702,35980899,35981260,35981277,35981359,35981382,35981523],"created_at":"2023-05-17T20:13:49Z","created_at_i":1684354429,"num_comments":25,"objectID":"35980656","points":39,"story_id":35980656,"title":"Dear Substack: Quit Sending Me Your Corporate Propaganda","updated_at":"2024-09-20T14:06:10Z","url":"https://empathynovel.substack.com/p/dear-substack-quit-sending-me-your"}],"hitsPerPage":50,"nbHits":435379,"nbPages":20,"page":0,"params":"query=Substack&tags=story&hitsPerPage=50&advancedSyntax=true&analyticsTags=backend","processingTimeMS":13,"processingTimingsMS":{"_request":{"roundTrip":17},"afterFetch":{"format":{"highlighting":1,"total":1}},"fetch":{"query":6,"scanning":5,"total":12},"total":13},"query":"Substack","serverTimeMS":15}