How Much Money Do We Make on Substack?

Side by side comparison of our two substacks.

Mariam Chagelishvili

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We have big plans. Plans need people. People need food. Food costs dollars. Dollars are like pandas. We keep trying to get them to fuck and make more, but they'd rather sit around and go extinct.

In January we had what folks in the finance world call zilch. So we launched a series of cockamamy schemes to fund Chill Subs.

One of those schemes was this, right here. Things We Do While Waiting To Die. This (kinda) startup diary where I shout nonsense at you every Thursday. Fun, right? We think so. it's full of opinion, humor, anecdotes, pictures, and guest essays.

Then, in May of this year, we had the idea to launch a second Substack called The Sub Club Newsletter. It's full of actionable no-bullshit information to help writers get published.

Our "gross annual income" from these Substacks has reached $30,000. That's a lot of happy pandas (with a load of caveats). We have learned a lot about what is more fun to write vs what is useful (i.e. what people engage with vs. what they pay for.)

So today I am going to do a full breakdown of both substacks with screenshots, unexpert analysis, and some shot-in-the-dark conclusions.

Here it goes.