Meta and YouTube are not the only platforms looking for profit TikTok is potentially disappearing – Substack wants in on the action too.
The company announced its launch on Thursday A $20 million “Maker Accelerator Fund,” Content creators have been promised that they will not lose revenue by moving to Substack. Creators in the program also get “strategic and business support” from Substack and early access to new features.
“We established this fund because we have seen creators who specialize in video, audio, and text expand their audience, revenue, and influence on Substack, where the platform's network effects are powerful for the work they are doing. enhance quality and impact,” the company said in a blog post.
This pivot on Substack's part has been in the works for some time — for months, the company has been marketing itself not as a newsletter delivery service but as a As a manufacturer Platform similar to Patreon,
“On Substack, [creators] “Can make a home on the Internet: where creators, not platform executives or advertisers, own their work and their audiences,” the blog post reads. The post also cites “changing policies with restrictions, backlash, and political winds” as reasons why creators can no longer rely on traditional social media services.
It's all right (we're here The Verge have been saying this for some timeBut creators focused on Substack are also subject to fluctuations depending on what the company is prioritizing: first, it was newsletters, then it was Tweet-like micro blogAfter full websites And live streaming, for someSubstack's initially stated mission of giving independent writers more freedom is fading. And TikTok creators looking to move to Substack will need to recreate their following — you can't export your TikTok followers, apparently.
The $20 million fund is not the first time Substack has offered money to lure creators. Under a program called Substack Pro, the company attracted top media talent from traditional newsrooms with higher salaries, health insurance and other perks. That program ended in 2022 with Substack co-founder Hamish McKenzie Saying These deals were not employment arrangements but “seed funding deals to offset the financial risk a writer may take in starting their own business.” In other words, welcome to Substack. Now that you're here, you're on your own – which is more or less the deal offered by other platforms.