Publishing app Substack joins $1bn club

The newsletter platform has shifted its focus from content creation to user retention, writes James Ball

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Around 50,000 publishers make some form of income from Substack.

More than 50 Substack publications make more than $1m (£740,000) a year, and the top ten publishers on Substack bring in revenues of around $40m a year, the platform says.

Hamish McKenzie, Substack’s co-founder and chief writing officer, says: “Substack’s mission has not changed. We are building a new economic engine for culture.

“We started by making it simple for writers to start paid email newsletters, but have expanded to support all media formats... Now we've networked the people, publications and communities together to help people find great voices and work, and to give publishers a chance to grow their reach and revenue.”