How to Fail on Substack

Giving up the Ghost of Infinite Capitalist Production and Sharing my Truth

I started my Substack almost five years ago, after quitting all forms of social media. I think I had about 15 subscribers. Now I have a little bit more than 3k, but that number has remained nearly steady over the past six months. In the past four months, since navigating health issues and burnout, I’ve lost about 25% of my paid subscribers. Although my name has that orange check mark next to it, I no longer meet the requirements for a “bestseller.”

I’m going to tell you a secret: my Substack’s success really started last autumn, when an essay of mine went viral on Substack via

Jessica DeFino

’s amazing newsletter. I was in the mist of my second year of a grueling PhD program and working on deadlined book revisions. The response to my essay was both exciting and semi-overwhelming. I gained a ton of subscribers and supporters. It was wonderful to experience my words resonating with so many readers and writers.

This essay is paywalled for privacy reasons.

The Man of Confusion // Paul Klee