Just Call Me The Free Love Hippy
I'm givin' it away, and I ain't picky
Recently I read an opinion here on Substack that made quite a lot of sense to me.
The author opined that someday, probably sooner than we might think, actual writers will become rare. That writers will be carrying out the art of writing as today artisan cheese makers go about their craft in Italy.
Because Artificial Intelligence and its Large Language Models will take over so much of writing, just as big dairy corporations took over the overwhelming majority of cheese making long ago.
But, the cheese artists survived to practice their art. And real writers will survive in much the same way.
The only real trouble with this opinion, to my mind, is that I rather hate cheese.
So I’ll equate the whole argument to hats. Now I can buy a cheap hat made somewhere in Asia. It’s like LLM writing. It’ll keep the sun off my head, but it kind of sucks and will provide me with no lasting value. Or I can buy a much more expensive hat from a well known American factory. It’s like LLM assisted writing, the LLM did the first draft, then a human edited most of the junk out. It’ll look good, and it’ll keep the sun off my head, for awhile. But corners will have been cut in its manufacture, it won’t have been lovingly crafted, rather mass produced, so eventually it will fail, whatever value it may have had will dissipate with time. Or I can buy a hat made by a man who does nothing but lovingly craft hats. A man like Roy Jackson in Idaho. That hat will keep the sun off my head, it’ll look good, and it will still be around after I’m dead. That is real value. And that is the difference between human creation and machine creation.
So the cheese analogy holds, but hats are a lot more fun to think about!
But, the thing is, the cheese maker can’t work for free. Neither can the hatter. Nor the writer. In order for these people to be able to create they must be able to make a living, to earn their bread. Especially when they must compete with machines that do work for free.
I’ve been pondering this quite a lot lately, because I’ve been writing regularly here on Substack for four solid years. And that could not have happened without the very generous support of all those who have purchased a paid subscription from me in those years. Indeed not a day goes by that I am not thankful for each and every one of the people who have supported me in this work.
But, if I’m honest, I also could not have done this without the very generous support of my wife. My efforts here on Substack have resulted in a fairly severe downturn in our household income. She’s had to take on a great deal more of our financial responsibilities as I’ve been able to handle fewer of them. It has worked for these years, but over the long term it is not sustainable.
There is certainly nothing at all unique in this situation. The overwhelming majority of writers here on Substack face the exact same situation. As do newspapers, magazines, novelists, everyone in a writing related field.
So, writers write about it. A lot.
And ponder it. Even more.
And they try to figure it out. They try to figure out a way for their words to become their livelihoods.
We writers here on Substack can, and if we are smart I think we should, look to the experience of newspapers to chart our own course forward.
Newspapers were thrown into a financial death spiral long before Substack was ever a sparkle in
’s and ’s eyes. Most failed in spectacular fashion. But some survived. Those are the examples all of us on Substack are wise to follow.In my mind, success comes down to picking one of two models.
The first, what I think of as the New York Times model, dictates that virtually all content is placed behind a paywall. If a reader wants the New York Times experience, that reader must pay for it. The model is honest and straightforward. It has also been proven, by the Times to work.
The second model is what I think of as the Guardian. That model dictates that no content is placed behind a paywall. The entire Guardian experience is available without cost to everyone. But, the Guardian continually solicits paid subscriptions and donations. This model is also honest, if less straightforward. It relies upon a very small minority of people to pay for writing consumed by a much larger majority of people. It has though, been proven by the Guardian to work.
I have my doubts that something wishy-washy, something in the middle of these two models could work. I’m unaware of any major newspaper that has found financial success paywalling some of its content, leaving other of it free. It’s got to be a strong paywall, or no paywall at all.
Readers can, I think, respect a strong paywall. But reading half an essay before hitting it, or being unable to comment upon completing it does nothing other than make them angry. If they weren’t aware that they would hit that hidden paywall, they will feel as if they were deceived. So we’ve got to jump in with both feet, one way or the other.
I had been contemplating all of this for awhile when I ran across a writer who expressed it much better than I’ve been able to do:
“Write stuff people want to read. Then let them read it and decide they want to support you making more. I call this the 'Be a free love hippy, not a drug dealer' method…
…give it away for free. All of it. Then write more. And as your audience grows, so will the number of people who want to show genuine appreciation for your stories…. Give away that sweet, sweet vice and people will come to the party and help you stock the fridge and set up the keg. Sell the vice and you'll only ever get people who are looking to buy it.”
-reddit commenter
I started here on Substack four years ago giving away all the content for free, but offering a minor bonus for those who purchased a paid subscription. The Guardian method.
And I’ve decided that I’m sticking with it. I’ll keep writing about what interests me, and I’ll keep on writing more of it. Leaning into the Free Love Hippy model.
It is my sincere hope that it continues to work. That it grows. Indeed it must grow for me to continue with it. If it does, that’s about the most wonderful thing I can imagine.
If it doesn’t I’ll move to the New York Times, or Drug Dealer model. I’ll just have to get a black hat and wear it low over my eyes first.
Podcasting professionals have been struggling with this as well, for years. Adam Curry and John C. Dvorak decided over a decade ago to stick with the "value for value" system; which is their way of describing the exact philosophy you're employing. It's working well enough to keep them pumping out 2, 3 hour episodes per week!
With much contemplation I only paywall my Magic videos and instant access to my my radio spots. And of course archives. I am not fond of the big orange Paywall notification offered by sub stack. On my paid publications IEP’s my non-paid readers into the announcements so it’s not such a shock.