Podcasts are hard on Substack. There are of course successful ones, but for whatever reason, and maybe more people are like me here, I'm just almost never interested in listening to them when I'm on the website or app, because I'm in reading mode. Then I forget about it when I'm actually in a podcast listening mood later. This is all very ironic since I regularly record podcasts with other people, but I personally just have such a hard time listening to them!
100%. I listen to podcasts on my commute, I read substacks when I'm slacking off at work (like now!). And just logistically, if I want to listen to a substack podcast, I need to figure out the feed for it and import that into my podcast player, which I'm only going to do if it's a primarily podcast oriented thing (e.g. Blocked and Reported).
Ha, that's funny because Blocked and Reported is also the one podcast hosted here that I regularly listen to. I had been since the Patreon days so they've been a mainstay in my actual podcast app, which I also never actually remember to connect with my favorite writers who also have podcasts here.
It's weird, because in my mind B&R is firmly categorized as a podcast -- I often find myself momentarily confused when I see them listed as a Substack I subscribe to.
It's weird, because in my mind B&R is firmly categorized as a podcast -- I often find myself momentarily confused when I see them listed as a Substack I subscribe to.
I fully agree with this. I recently subscribed to someone that wrote a couple of articles I found interesting, but when half of the posts hitting my inbox turned out to be audio interviews I ended up unsubscribing. I'm here to read, not listen.
If people posted a transcript then I might read those, not sure.
Yes, about the transcripts! It's only at particular times I can play or pay attention to audio or video, but if I'm interested in the topic, I'd love to read a transcript of it.
Yup, exact same experience here. I’m here because I enjoy your writing. I’ve also had that experience of subscribing to a Substack author because I enjoy their writing and then finding they want me to listen to podcasts or video interviews. I read much much faster than I listen so I find those kinds of things tedious in general, and I’m trying to get away from passively consuming video - so a strong shift towards video formats or podcast formats would cause me to unsubscribe.
FWIW CHH, I pretty much only consume your essays and “chapters”. I ignore all podcasts, videos, many such takes, impressions etc.
I voted “no” on the podcast, but to be clear: that isn’t because I disliked your podcast. It’s because I’ve got a backlog of podcasts that I really want to listen to - on history, art, and even a smidgen of politics. I will never even make it through all the history ones.
I feel like podcasts are an enormous amount of effort to produce and I don’t see how anyone could really break into that space these days. I mean I’ve been going through the archive of the History of Byzantium podcast, which is started in 2012 and ended this past July, and it is amazing. I’m on episode 177. That’s About halfway through and I’ve been listening to it almost exclusively for months and months. I’m 51.
I feel like someone could use these numbers to get a good approximation of the number of podcasts I’ll get through in the remainder of my life, and it’s going to be like “12” or something. Everyone has got to be in a similar spot, right? Like pretty much all your podcast-listening time for the rest of your life is already spoken for?
I think it makes sense to ascribe the gain of paid subscribers to specific articles, but you're right to be cautious about relating people who cancel paid subscriptions to any specific post, unless the post in question was particularly controversial. I know that for me cancelling a paid subscription is usually an afterthought, but deciding to become a paid subscriber is not.
There's an element of randomness that also has to be taken into account. I published a short story in three parts, and parts 1 and 3 got noticably more viewers than part 2. That doesn't make sense. Why would people skip the middle of the story? In other words, don't read too much into the numbers.
Maybe I'm weird, but I've subscribed to a lot of patreons and a few sub stacks and for me the #1 reason I unsubscribe for reasons other than money is because the creator narrows their focus so much that they only produce one type of video/article/podcast and it becomes very predictable. Even if their main thing is still well done, it's easy to get bored without a little variety.
I understand there's an ROI element to all this, but even if certain ventures don't pan out, I think the same creative element that leads to trying new things does transfer to the long-standing successful things and keeps it fresh.
I will say this is an area that has worked out very well for me because I cover so many different topics. Sometimes I cover something new and people bail but most of the time I think they like the variety.
Ha, I feel like the exact opposite way. Takes all kinds though. I don’t like any of CHH’s other formats besides the personal essays, but I realize I’m probably weird given how popular podcasts and especially video podcasts are.
CHH, I might be wrong here as I have no data to back this up, but I think the reason your podcasts and other audio-type products don't do as well as your essays is because most of your fans/followers are probably email-job people like myself who are reading your content at work on our computers.
We really can't listen to podcasts or watch videos while working (because we either we are not allowed to or because we perceive this to be bad for our work image), but a way we are allowed to low key goof off is to read articles silently.
Right now I've got the following windows open on my work computer: Outlook, Microsoft Teams, two Excel workbooks, my company's GL system, this article and a Slow Boring article. If my boss or one of my employees comes in my office, I hear them coming and just click on one of the Excel workbooks. And no one is the wiser. I've been doing this for 20+ years. I read articles at work every day - unless I'm like crazy busy.
But a podcast? Never in a million years. Wouldn't want my boss to catch me doing that.
This is my theory as to why some mediums do not work as well.
Your Trump impressions are completely priceless and I'm so so glad you won't stop doing them - you have to treat it as your life's calling! My partner and I still say 'hot chocolate and Posie the lamb!' to one another all the time. The Fair Play one is another classic. I would seriously pay another subscription just for the Trump impressions because I love them that much and frankly I think people are being very unfair to you and not noticing, frankly, your tremendous genius and it's very very nasty.
Other than a handful of outliers, I feel like podcasting and blogging are either/or mediums. Unless you’ve got something like The Ringer producing and editing, it seems like way too much work to be good at both. The top podcasts have an army of support and are full-time productions, so unless you’ve want to give up writing, I would say do not bring back the podcast.
I recently stumbled on some of the old CHH book chapters and they were really good! No offense intended, but they seemed more polished than the usual ones. (Which would make sense for something going through the publishing process).
But I also kinda discovered them by mistake. I wish sub stack had a feature like a table of contents to make finding earlier work easier
The Taylor Swift satire article was one of your best and I stand by that. It is truly one of your best work up there with men like mean girls. But I do think people enjoy your funny social commentary more when it’s in a personal essay style. You are a victim of your own success. Larry David or Jerry Seinfeld were similar. Jerry never did anything as great as Seinfeld and Larry had to again mine his personal life for content in Curb Your Enthusiasm.
It would genuinely suck to see that the net impact of a particular piece of creative output was losing money. I can’t imagine that feeling. When you’re sacrificing time with your family to put it together. Eesh. Maybe try not to look at that data so much! Outsource that to a kind friend who can give you general feedback or something. The raw numbers will make you insane and insecure.
You should probably also keep in mind that the posts have value insofar as they retain existing subscribers, too. If you put out a post and the net result is 0 new paid subscribers, that doesn’t make it a waste of time. It helped retain existing subscribers, just in a less detectable way. If you didn’t have such consistent good content, the paid people would steadily drop off. So a net zero isn’t a nullity, it’s more like “staying afloat”. Think positively!
1. I almost never “like” Substack pieces that I do in fact like. Just never got in the habit.
2. “Victimized by MAGA Taylor Swift” was hilarious.
3. I’ve never listened to your podcasts, because I can get most of your work in written form and I save my podcast time for people who are solely podcasters - as in, I can’t read any of their work.
My side gig is podcasting (not through Substack) and I have a unique niche I focus on and all, but I'm keenly aware that there's "podcast fatigue" in the listening public. My podcast is about my regional metal scene but most of my potential audience would rather spend their free time listening to metal instead of someone talking about metal. Including me lol! It's too bad though because the high of getting a really good guest is unbeatable even when the stats don't reflect it.
Also I enjoy the satire articles but I reflexively hate any defense of Taylor Swift (even in the roundabout "satire about her haters" way)
Bingo! I like the idea of podcasts, but they interfere with my music listening time. I would probably listen to a CHH episode if she put out a new one, but I have yet to listen to any of the old ones, all of which were from before I subscribed.
Podcasts are hard on Substack. There are of course successful ones, but for whatever reason, and maybe more people are like me here, I'm just almost never interested in listening to them when I'm on the website or app, because I'm in reading mode. Then I forget about it when I'm actually in a podcast listening mood later. This is all very ironic since I regularly record podcasts with other people, but I personally just have such a hard time listening to them!
100%. I listen to podcasts on my commute, I read substacks when I'm slacking off at work (like now!). And just logistically, if I want to listen to a substack podcast, I need to figure out the feed for it and import that into my podcast player, which I'm only going to do if it's a primarily podcast oriented thing (e.g. Blocked and Reported).
Ha, that's funny because Blocked and Reported is also the one podcast hosted here that I regularly listen to. I had been since the Patreon days so they've been a mainstay in my actual podcast app, which I also never actually remember to connect with my favorite writers who also have podcasts here.
It's weird, because in my mind B&R is firmly categorized as a podcast -- I often find myself momentarily confused when I see them listed as a Substack I subscribe to.
It's weird, because in my mind B&R is firmly categorized as a podcast -- I often find myself momentarily confused when I see them listed as a Substack I subscribe to.
I fully agree with this. I recently subscribed to someone that wrote a couple of articles I found interesting, but when half of the posts hitting my inbox turned out to be audio interviews I ended up unsubscribing. I'm here to read, not listen.
If people posted a transcript then I might read those, not sure.
Yes, about the transcripts! It's only at particular times I can play or pay attention to audio or video, but if I'm interested in the topic, I'd love to read a transcript of it.
Yup, exact same experience here. I’m here because I enjoy your writing. I’ve also had that experience of subscribing to a Substack author because I enjoy their writing and then finding they want me to listen to podcasts or video interviews. I read much much faster than I listen so I find those kinds of things tedious in general, and I’m trying to get away from passively consuming video - so a strong shift towards video formats or podcast formats would cause me to unsubscribe.
FWIW CHH, I pretty much only consume your essays and “chapters”. I ignore all podcasts, videos, many such takes, impressions etc.
I voted “no” on the podcast, but to be clear: that isn’t because I disliked your podcast. It’s because I’ve got a backlog of podcasts that I really want to listen to - on history, art, and even a smidgen of politics. I will never even make it through all the history ones.
I feel like podcasts are an enormous amount of effort to produce and I don’t see how anyone could really break into that space these days. I mean I’ve been going through the archive of the History of Byzantium podcast, which is started in 2012 and ended this past July, and it is amazing. I’m on episode 177. That’s About halfway through and I’ve been listening to it almost exclusively for months and months. I’m 51.
I feel like someone could use these numbers to get a good approximation of the number of podcasts I’ll get through in the remainder of my life, and it’s going to be like “12” or something. Everyone has got to be in a similar spot, right? Like pretty much all your podcast-listening time for the rest of your life is already spoken for?
I think it makes sense to ascribe the gain of paid subscribers to specific articles, but you're right to be cautious about relating people who cancel paid subscriptions to any specific post, unless the post in question was particularly controversial. I know that for me cancelling a paid subscription is usually an afterthought, but deciding to become a paid subscriber is not.
There's an element of randomness that also has to be taken into account. I published a short story in three parts, and parts 1 and 3 got noticably more viewers than part 2. That doesn't make sense. Why would people skip the middle of the story? In other words, don't read too much into the numbers.
Maybe I'm weird, but I've subscribed to a lot of patreons and a few sub stacks and for me the #1 reason I unsubscribe for reasons other than money is because the creator narrows their focus so much that they only produce one type of video/article/podcast and it becomes very predictable. Even if their main thing is still well done, it's easy to get bored without a little variety.
I understand there's an ROI element to all this, but even if certain ventures don't pan out, I think the same creative element that leads to trying new things does transfer to the long-standing successful things and keeps it fresh.
I will say this is an area that has worked out very well for me because I cover so many different topics. Sometimes I cover something new and people bail but most of the time I think they like the variety.
This was going to be my comment, too. Variety is a key attraction. I hope you keep trying new things.
Ha, I feel like the exact opposite way. Takes all kinds though. I don’t like any of CHH’s other formats besides the personal essays, but I realize I’m probably weird given how popular podcasts and especially video podcasts are.
I agree! I think it’s important to strike a balance of chasing the best hits while trying new stuffs in general
CHH, I might be wrong here as I have no data to back this up, but I think the reason your podcasts and other audio-type products don't do as well as your essays is because most of your fans/followers are probably email-job people like myself who are reading your content at work on our computers.
We really can't listen to podcasts or watch videos while working (because we either we are not allowed to or because we perceive this to be bad for our work image), but a way we are allowed to low key goof off is to read articles silently.
Right now I've got the following windows open on my work computer: Outlook, Microsoft Teams, two Excel workbooks, my company's GL system, this article and a Slow Boring article. If my boss or one of my employees comes in my office, I hear them coming and just click on one of the Excel workbooks. And no one is the wiser. I've been doing this for 20+ years. I read articles at work every day - unless I'm like crazy busy.
But a podcast? Never in a million years. Wouldn't want my boss to catch me doing that.
This is my theory as to why some mediums do not work as well.
CHH, re-reading my own comment above made me want to say - Thank you for making my boring "email" job a little more fun!
Your Trump impressions are completely priceless and I'm so so glad you won't stop doing them - you have to treat it as your life's calling! My partner and I still say 'hot chocolate and Posie the lamb!' to one another all the time. The Fair Play one is another classic. I would seriously pay another subscription just for the Trump impressions because I love them that much and frankly I think people are being very unfair to you and not noticing, frankly, your tremendous genius and it's very very nasty.
Other than a handful of outliers, I feel like podcasting and blogging are either/or mediums. Unless you’ve got something like The Ringer producing and editing, it seems like way too much work to be good at both. The top podcasts have an army of support and are full-time productions, so unless you’ve want to give up writing, I would say do not bring back the podcast.
I recently stumbled on some of the old CHH book chapters and they were really good! No offense intended, but they seemed more polished than the usual ones. (Which would make sense for something going through the publishing process).
But I also kinda discovered them by mistake. I wish sub stack had a feature like a table of contents to make finding earlier work easier
You can find them on the main page under personal essays!
The Taylor Swift satire article was one of your best and I stand by that. It is truly one of your best work up there with men like mean girls. But I do think people enjoy your funny social commentary more when it’s in a personal essay style. You are a victim of your own success. Larry David or Jerry Seinfeld were similar. Jerry never did anything as great as Seinfeld and Larry had to again mine his personal life for content in Curb Your Enthusiasm.
I, for one, loved the podcast! I remember listening to the episode with your brother while walking around a museum and having a blast.
I hate to agree with the haters but the satire articles are not my cup of tea. Not sure why, really.
I’m afraid to ask, but… what is LinkedIn-style posting? Is it like “I’m a successful productive go-getter, me” kinda stuff?
Yes
Honest question: how do you know people who cancel their subscription are reacting to the most recent post?
You can see in your stats how many people unsubscribed in the interface of that particular post
Got it, thanks. It's sad that people don't recognize your very obvious satire!
It would genuinely suck to see that the net impact of a particular piece of creative output was losing money. I can’t imagine that feeling. When you’re sacrificing time with your family to put it together. Eesh. Maybe try not to look at that data so much! Outsource that to a kind friend who can give you general feedback or something. The raw numbers will make you insane and insecure.
You should probably also keep in mind that the posts have value insofar as they retain existing subscribers, too. If you put out a post and the net result is 0 new paid subscribers, that doesn’t make it a waste of time. It helped retain existing subscribers, just in a less detectable way. If you didn’t have such consistent good content, the paid people would steadily drop off. So a net zero isn’t a nullity, it’s more like “staying afloat”. Think positively!
Only got three things to say:
1. I almost never “like” Substack pieces that I do in fact like. Just never got in the habit.
2. “Victimized by MAGA Taylor Swift” was hilarious.
3. I’ve never listened to your podcasts, because I can get most of your work in written form and I save my podcast time for people who are solely podcasters - as in, I can’t read any of their work.
I quit my podcast cuz momma's got to have it is a banger article title
I really enjoyed all of them so it’s a bit of bummer that it didn’t go well but I understand your decision!
Especially podcast, I was baited LIKE A (Pavlov’s) DOG lolll
Hahahahahahaha
My side gig is podcasting (not through Substack) and I have a unique niche I focus on and all, but I'm keenly aware that there's "podcast fatigue" in the listening public. My podcast is about my regional metal scene but most of my potential audience would rather spend their free time listening to metal instead of someone talking about metal. Including me lol! It's too bad though because the high of getting a really good guest is unbeatable even when the stats don't reflect it.
Also I enjoy the satire articles but I reflexively hate any defense of Taylor Swift (even in the roundabout "satire about her haters" way)
Bingo! I like the idea of podcasts, but they interfere with my music listening time. I would probably listen to a CHH episode if she put out a new one, but I have yet to listen to any of the old ones, all of which were from before I subscribed.