Substack

Substack takes 10 percent of subscription revenue and gives you distribution in return, through Notes and recommendations from other writers. That trade is good early and expensive later. Exporting your list is easy, which makes it a reasonable place to start.

There is no plan to pick and no monthly fee. Substack takes 10 percent of subscription revenue when you earn, and Stripe's processing comes off on top of that. The arithmetic is the thing to watch: 10 percent of nothing is nothing, which makes it cheap to begin, and 10 percent of a publication earning six figures is a salary paid every year for distribution you may have stopped needing.

Writers who want to publish this week and would rather owe a percentage later than choose a plan now. It suits people who value being recommended by other writers more than they value owning the whole relationship with a reader, which is the trade Substack asks you to make.