Why people will pay for your Substack

And why it's more seductive to readers than national newspapers, websites and magazines.

Over the years, I’ve paid for several subscriptions to national newspapers and digital magazines like the i Paper, the Telegraph, the Times and - most recently - the New Yorker. And every single time I’ve subscribed, it’s been for the same reason:

They shared a first-person article in an Instagram ad, I clicked through wanting to read it and found it behind a paywall. The writing, the writer and the subject being written about was so appealing that I ended up subscribing.

But then: I can’t find anything else I want to read. So, I unsubscribe.

Whereas there are a bunch of Substacks that I pay a monthly fee to access - or to support the writer - and as long as the content keeps coming (it doesn’t need to be the same day/time each week but it does need to be regular-ish), I keep paying.

What keeps me there?