Substack
Substack is a publishing and subscription platform for creators: writers publish articles, newsletters, podcasts, and video, and readers subscribe for free or for a fee. The company was founded in 2017, is headquartered in San Francisco, and was started by Chris Best, Hamish McKenzie, and Jairaj Sethi.
Features and how it works
Creators start a publication on substack.com, and the platform handles publishing, email distribution, payments, and subscriber management. The official pitch stresses two points: writers “own every word and every direct relationship” (the content and the subscriber list belong to the author), and it is free to start and free to leave. Beyond text, the platform offers native podcast recording (the Recording Studio), live video, and video, with podcasts published automatically to Substack, Apple, Spotify, and YouTube. Network features such as recommendations and Notes bring cross-publication subscriber growth.
Subscriptions and fees
Starting a publication and publishing free content costs nothing. Creators set their own paid-subscription prices; the official framing is that “writers keep 90% of their revenue minus credit card fees” — the platform takes roughly 10% of paid subscriptions and earns no revenue from advertising.
RSS support
Every Substack publication has an RSS feed (at publication-url/feed). The feed carries public content; whether paid posts appear in it is up to the creator. The show’s remark that “RSS makes money there” refers to exactly this model: free content reaches readers through RSS while paid subscriptions monetize.
Discussion in the show
In Weekly #005’s chapter “RSS、独立博客与内容开放” (RSS, independent blogs, and open content), discussing the decline of RSS and open content on the Chinese internet, Orange says “look at Substack and the like abroad — their RSS actually makes money, right? Newsletters” (paragraph in the Chinese transcript), citing Substack’s paid-subscription model as evidence that open content can be monetized. The hosts use Substack to talk about the content ecosystem; the remark is not a description of the platform’s operations.
Frequently asked questions
What is Substack?
Substack is a publishing and subscription platform where creators publish articles, newsletters, podcasts, and video, and readers subscribe free or paid, per the official About page.
Is Substack free? How does it make money?
Publishing on Substack is free. Creators set paid-subscription prices and keep 90% of subscription revenue minus credit card fees; the platform takes roughly 10% of paid subscriptions, per the official About page.
Does Substack have RSS?
Yes. Every Substack publication offers an RSS feed (append /feed to the publication URL) that can be used to follow posts and podcasts; whether paid content is included depends on the creator’s settings.
Who founded Substack?
Substack was founded in 2017 by Chris Best, Hamish McKenzie, and Jairaj Sethi, and is headquartered in San Francisco.
Sources
- Substack website
- Substack About page
- Wikipedia: Substack (accessed 2026-10-08)