How is the pivot to newsletters playing out?

Is Substack the savior of journalism it claims to be?

My guest for this issue of Multiplier is Athina Mallis. Mallis is the current editor of CRN Australia. Prior to that, she was the managing editor of Gizmodo Australia. For the less B2B-inclined, she also runs a pop culture newsletter called So, Apparently. Otherwise, you can find and follow her work over on the CRN website.

Fergus: The last few years have seen plenty in the media space spin-off and start their own outlets via Substack and other such newsletter platforms. Multiplier is just one of many. Having gone through a similar journey with your own newsletter – So, Apparently – I felt like there was no better person to chat about the era of newsletters in new media and, having now run this newsletter for a full year, no better time to touch base and chat about your effort to strike out solo. 

Have Substack’s various controversies changed how you feel about the platform? How has building an audience on your own compared to inheriting the one attached to a larger outlet? Are newsletters back for good or are we already approaching the limits of what they can achieve when it comes to producing sustainable, original and impactful journalism?

Athina: Substack to me has always been a hidden gem, the next tumblr or Twitter. It’s a writer's paradise, where we go to expel the thoughts plaguing our mind and testing out ideas that our editors wouldn’t approve of. The controversies are more disappointing because the last thing we need is another platform to spread hate. 

Building an audience is hard with a capital H. It’s rough and I’m still struggling TBH. I don’t want to gain my audience through nefarious ways, I want to do it organically but that means you have to commit to the bit and post often, which is hard because as I say to my readers I have a “big girl job”. 

I’ve been working in media for more than ten years and the one thing that has stuck around is newsletters. I am still surprised that some of my followers are in their early 20s devouring email, it makes me quite optimistic about the future of newsletter-based content. I don’t think newsletters are going anywhere. If anything I think they’re on the up and up. 

Fergus: Yeah, it’s tricky. Going into Multiplier, I think I had a lot of assumptions about the resurgence of newsletters.

It’s long been the case that audiences are spending less time seeking the homepage of their favorite blogs and more time on social media. Fortunately, getting your work in front of them via a notification from their email app of choice is a half-decent way of circumventing that problem.

That said, it does highlight the larger problem that newsletters have when it comes to discoverability. While Substack’s recommendation system has definitely brought in a not insignificant number of subscribers, the strategy I’ve found the most success with when it comes to finding new subscribers is just to attend events like SXSW Sydney and introduce people to the project directly. How about you? Are you putting much thought into how you promote the newsletter or are you more content to let the platform do its thing while you focus on the content?

Athina: I've found the recommendation feature quite helpful in getting an audience that I might not have considered or might not have considered me. But what I would love to know is if they're sticking around and reading the content or unsubscribing after a while.

I also am curious why people unsubscribe purely because if it's about the content, then I can work out a way to ensure they're getting what they signed up for. You can't please everyone, but because my content is so niche, I can still tailor it in a way that it has something for everyone. I promote So, Apparently on my Instagram with a link and I do get an average of 3 percent of traffic coming through that, which is better than a slap in the face!

Word-of-mouth is a great way to get subscribers and has helped me, but are they committed readers? I'm highly doubtful. I would love to start doing Reels/Tiktoks to get people to sign up to my newsletter but also I don't know how I could manage that sustainably.

I'm also thinking about the content itself. I do a weekly Wednesday wrap up on the latest pop culture news and musings and used to do "Ath-dditional Notes" which was a deeper dive on topics/issues but once again, my full time job is really intense so I don't have time to write or research, which honestly sucks. 

I think I'm in the trough of disillusionment (IYKYK) with my content where I'm like "What's the point? Does anyone care?" And obviously they do, but I'm just a bit burnt out so I may need to rejig a few things. What they are though, is still a mystery to me.