Journalists create their brands in growing 'direct' sales model

Prize-winning journalist Glenn Greenwald is among the writers moving to the Substack platform where they charge readers directly for content

Substack has some 500,000 subscribers who pay an average of $5 to $10 per month for popular newsletters

Anna Codrea-Rado built a name for herself as a freelance journalist, building an audience of 2,500 for her email newsletter, "Lance," aimed at helping other independent writers.

Then in 2019 she joined a wave of writers charging a subscription fee for her weekly newsletter using the Substack platform, moving to the direct-to-consumer model.

But being a freelance writer, this has become "a game changer in terms of actually getting paid on time, and like your cash flow," she said.

"It was a good revenue stream," even though she suspended the pay model during the coronavirus pandemic.

Independent writers may have their own online web page, newsletter, podcast, or even connect by text message via the Subtext platform.

"People have just become more accustomed to the idea of small-scale microsubscriptions," Caplan said.

- Small fees add up -

The 10 most popular newsletters generated some $15 million in revenue last year, according to the platform.

Some say the trend is driven by the deepening crisis in the media sector which has made life difficult for many salaried journalists.

The market is growing more competitive with new entrants such as Ghost, which offers low-priced newsletters, TinyLetter, ButtonDown and Patreon, a long-running platform for creators and performers.

In January, Twitter bought the writers platform Revue, and Facebook in March unveiled plans for its own platform

But there are challenges, Sirota said.

"Journalism is time- and labor intensive... I don't particularly like asking people to pitch in, but it's the only way to launch a truly independent media outlet."

"For me, the best part is that I'm not associated with any other brands or institutions, so my readers can make a judgment about my work based solely on my writing," Saul said. 

Tangle "is about exposing people to a wide range of political views," he said.

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