Why I hate Substack
From our US edition
Last month, the online magazine Current announced it will be shuttering in April. A small magazine run by a dedicated team of editors volunteering their time, Current was a lovely diamond in a whole mess of internet rough. I was only able to publish a few short pieces there since discovering it, but many of my favorite writers have appeared in its digital pages, and the outpouring of support it has received since the announcement makes me confident that it will be sorely missed. The economics of online publishing without ugly advertisements dominating the page are dismal, and the magazine’s announcement indicates that financial support through subscriptions was declining, even as “the number of clicks on the site has remained steady.
