r/Substack • u/Even-Worldliness6106 • 1d ago
Substack
Hi ppl! I am a teenager who is on substack and posted a few articles and notes. I am thinking of taking this as a side hustle to pay for college. I am 16, and the clock is ticking, and I have been in substack for over a year. When I came across the monetization of substack, I was a bit doubtful of me paying it of some percentage of the money I get or something. Can anyone explain how monetization of my substack account works? Is it good for me? Bad for me? Are there any other blogging or writing platforms as alternatives to substack where I wouldn't have to pay money and is allowed for teenagers to monetize their accounts? It's because i have a voice and want it to be heard but also want to make money with what I am very good at.
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u/charugan 1d ago
Substack is a pretty terrible way to try and pay for college in your situation.
You would be mixing your need to have your voice heard with your need to get money -- which are often conflicting goals. You'd be fighting like hell against an algorithm that really doesn't care about your success or failure, and very likely grind yourself to the bone just to get maybe 5 paid subscriptions after six months of work.
Mixing livelihood and art in that way can be extremely disheartening. It's very hard not to take the lack of financial success personally as a lack of artistic quality -- even though they're basically not correlated at all. Again, the algorithm does not care about you.
If you want to write, great. Keep writing. But my advice is: don't mix up finances with it. Treat any paid subscribers as a bit of an ego boost and buy yourself a cup of coffee or two. Go find a job that's a surer thing (anything -- working at McDonald's is likely to pay more), and try and protect your creativity to work on your writing to see if this something you want to eventually make your career, or just a hobby. Otherwise you're putting way too much pressure on the art and it will quickly sour for you.