The hottest Creator Economy Substack posts right now

And their main takeaways
Category
Top Technology Topics

A Feral Guide to Marketing

Knowingless • 2552 implied HN points • 19 Mar 26
đź’Ľ Business Creator Economy
  1. Pay attention to where your gaze and tiny desires actually land, even on things you dislike; those subtle attention signals show what will grab other people.
  2. Marketing is mostly selling a story and a self-image, not just a product; make narratives that give people meaning and make the marketing itself enjoyable.
  3. Be brave and experimental: publish lots of things, get feedback, notice what sticks, and lean into those hits instead of trying to perfectly predict viral success.

Understanding Substack's competitive edge

Simon Owens's Media Newsletter • 374 implied HN points • 13 Mar 26
đź’Ľ Business Creator Economy
  1. Substack has transformed from a simple newsletter tool into a full-service publishing platform with built-in recording, video, podcasts, AI clipping, communities, and OTT apps, making its 10% fee reasonable for creators who use many features.
  2. Creator-focused commerce platforms like ShopMy help smaller creators earn meaningful income by offering higher commissions and easier brand partnerships, expanding monetization beyond low-paying affiliate programs.
  3. Legacy publishers are shifting to subscriber-first newsletters because sending paid content directly to inboxes boosts engagement and lowers churn compared with website-only content.

What it takes to join the creator middle class

Simon Owens's Media Newsletter • 399 implied HN points • 12 Mar 26
đź’Ľ Business Creator Economy
  1. Mid-sized creators can earn solid, middle-class incomes by treating their channels like businesses and optimizing every revenue stream—affiliate links, brand deals, and higher-value products can turn one well-made video into serious income.
  2. Platform economics and new business models are widening who can earn: ad revenue sharing, streaming payouts, events, and creator incubators let more artists and journalists make a living, though network deals can trade off growth for ownership.
  3. Tech and AI are reshaping media work—AI boosts productivity and forces organizational change, while cheaper production tools and legacy publishers’ pivots (like events and rehiring reporters) lower barriers and alter how creators build sustainable careers.

360 million views and unable to pay her rent

Simon Owens's Media Newsletter • 274 implied HN points • 10 Mar 26
đź’Ľ Business Creator Economy
  1. Creators can get massive TikTok views but still earn very little, so many move their audiences to platforms like YouTube that offer clearer ways to make money.
  2. Sustainable publishing can come from prioritizing high‑quality, differentiated journalism and building subscription revenue rather than chasing scale with ad tech.
  3. Niche experts can expand a small audience into a diversified media business — podcasts, courses, events, and communities — though some eventually refocus on their core trade.

The case for bundling substacks

Wrong Side of History • 669 implied HN points • 03 Mar 26
đź’Ľ Business Creator Economy
  1. Substack’s paid-subscription model has enabled many talented, quirky writers to earn money and publish longer, independent work outside traditional media.
  2. The current per-writer pay model creates subscription fatigue because many readers can’t afford multiple paid subs, which can limit audience growth for mid-tier writers.
  3. Bundling paid Substack subscriptions into discounted packages with shared revenue and limits on switching could lower costs and grow audiences, but it should be opt-in and may not attract the highest-earning writers.
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Has the internet stopped producing mega stars?

Simon Owens's Media Newsletter • 299 implied HN points • 05 Mar 26
đź’Ľ Business Creator Economy
  1. Major social platforms have tweaked their algorithms to spread attention across more creators, so it’s now much harder for a single person to become a blockbuster star with tens of millions of followers.
  2. AI-generated search answers have gutted organic traffic to many tech publications, forcing outlets to rely on deeper audience relationships, paywalls, and original longform reporting to survive.
  3. The creator economy is shifting toward niche, subscription-driven projects and more journalists launching indie publications, but live niche shows may not scale easily and launching a new mass-media giant feels much harder today.

There's a goldmine hiding in your content archives

Simon Owens's Media Newsletter • 349 implied HN points • 25 Feb 26
đź’Ľ Business Creator Economy
  1. Evergreen content in your archives is a goldmine that’s often overlooked. Regularly resurfacing older articles can boost reader interest and significantly increase subscription conversions.
  2. AI is changing how sourcing works and raising the risk of fake experts and AI-generated commentary. Publishers need stronger verification and access to vetted expert networks to protect trust.
  3. The creator economy and platform monetization are evolving fast, with subscriptions, royalty-tracking tools, and brand deals creating new revenue paths. Creators and startups that capture scale or better revenue tools can reshape how media dollars are distributed.

Yeah, so... Substack, I'm out.

The Future, Now and Then • 615 implied HN points • 20 Feb 26
đź•ą Technology Creator Economy
  1. The Polymarket integration turns parts of the platform into a gambling venue and creates incentives for writers to promote outcomes that could profit them, opening the door to conflicts of interest and market manipulation.
  2. Substack’s VC-driven business model pushes gimmicks and risky partnerships over improving the core product, which fuels a slide toward worse content moderation and the amplification of toxic or extremist voices.
  3. Many writers will look to migrate to alternatives like Ghost, Beehiiv, or Buttondown, but moving means losing Substack discovery, paying higher hosting fees, and likely asking readers to help fund the newsletter.

Why I'll be putting out more paid content

Philosophy bear • 50 implied HN points • 15 Mar 26
đź’Ľ Business Creator Economy
  1. I used to keep everything free because charging felt tawdry and I wanted my writing to reach as many people as possible.
  2. I learned Substack's algorithm rewards having paid subscribers, so I'll put some articles behind a paywall to boost visibility even though that means excluding non-paying readers.
  3. If someone is truly broke they can ask and I'll give them a free subscription so they won't be shut out by the paywall.

Why influencers are creating fake sponsored content

Simon Owens's Media Newsletter • 174 implied HN points • 18 Feb 26
đź’Ľ Business Creator Economy
  1. Some influencers post fake “sponsored” content to make it look like they work with big brands and boost their credibility when pitching paid deals, and that strategy often goes unpunished.
  2. New platform features like creator subscriptions make it easier to monetize fans, but when the platform controls payments and data creators can lose direct access to their audience, so many still prefer channels where they own email lists and relationships.
  3. Scammers are using deepfakes and AI avatars to impersonate real creators and push affiliate or product scams, which can earn real money while evading platform moderation.

This Week in Marketing: Meta’s Ad Business Upgrade, AI Copyright, and the Unexpected Economy

The Social Juice • 66 implied HN points • 08 Mar 26
đź’Ľ Business Creator Economy
  1. Big platforms are racing to upgrade ad, measurement, and creator tools — from richer targeting and new measurement systems to unskippable TV ads and revamped creator subscriptions.
  2. AI is reshaping rules, privacy, and industry risk: copyright and legal standards are still unsettled, models can unmask users, and firms face lawsuits, regulatory scrutiny, and new defense/contracting questions.
  3. The market is volatile — unexpected job losses and large tech layoffs sit alongside big mergers and shifting ad spend, while platform policy changes are moving attention and revenue around the media ecosystem.

The Future Now and Then, now on Beehiiv

The Future, Now and Then • 79 implied HN points • 03 Mar 26
đź•ą Technology Creator Economy
  1. The newsletter has moved to a new Beehiiv web address (davekarpf.beehiiv.com).
  2. The subscriber list was ported to Beehiiv and you should have received an email from the new account — check your inbox and spam to confirm you’re still subscribed.
  3. Nothing else will change in terms of posts, topics, or cadence; the move was made because Substack’s company trajectory no longer aligns with the goals for this writing.

Who's spending $80 a month on microdramas?

Simon Owens's Media Newsletter • 349 implied HN points • 30 Jan 26
đź’Ľ Business Creator Economy
  1. TikTok-like microdramas are making lots of money by using game-like, addictive monetization where viewers buy tokens or pay monthly to unlock short, low-budget episodes.
  2. The Washington Post’s relevance dropped sharply after its current publisher took control, and the data suggest much of that decline is self-inflicted.
  3. Paramount+ plans to add short-form video and user-generated content to its platform, but it’s unclear if it will share revenue with creators or rely on exposure to attract them.

New Ferality

Breaking Smart • 198 implied HN points • 10 Feb 26
🎭️ Culture Creator Economy
  1. The indie free-agent world that once rewarded weird risks and serendipity has been domesticated into a grind where visible, benchmarkable hard work replaces wildness and variety.
  2. Preserving true independence now requires deliberately engineering new forms of ferality and designing environments that resist redomestication, not just avoiding paywalls or following platform norms.
  3. Past success leaned on cheap distribution, timing, and network effects, but those ZIRP-era advantages are fading, so old luck-based strategies won’t reliably generate leads or opportunities today.

Why sports leagues are going all in on the Creator Economy

Simon Owens's Media Newsletter • 124 implied HN points • 12 Feb 26
đź’Ľ Business Creator Economy
  1. Sports leagues are using social creators as low‑risk content partners, giving VIP access so creators produce lots of promotional material without threatening broadcast rights or big ad spends.
  2. The creator economy is maturing into real business power: creators are launching companies, attracting investment, and being funneled into TV, retail, and sponsorship deals that turn audiences into revenue streams.
  3. Journalism faces a new credibility risk from AI‑generated fake experts and quotes, so newsrooms must adopt fast vetting practices and trusted expert networks to protect accuracy and trust.

Is it time for YouTube to invest in prestige TV?

Simon Owens's Media Newsletter • 124 implied HN points • 11 Feb 26
đź’Ľ Business Creator Economy
  1. YouTube should revive big-budget Originals now that it’s the top TV platform, because prestige shows can win premium advertisers and help keep top creators from fleeing to higher-paying rivals.
  2. The creator economy is consolidating — the biggest creators dominate, so newcomers need to niche down and build small, paid communities to succeed, as shown by huge Twitch subscription numbers and athlete creators.
  3. Media companies are reshaping strategies: Netflix is tightening and optimizing content spend, legacy players are buying into podcasts and subscription tools, and social-native firms are scaling massive audiences by mastering platform virality.

A prediction market for shortform content

Taylor Lorenz's Newsletter • 955 implied HN points • 09 Dec 25
đź•ą Technology Creator Economy
  1. Social media users often leave informal predictions on short-form videos, like betting a clip will reach a certain number of likes or views.
  2. Two college students built Spike, an app that turns those predictions into a formal prediction market where people can bet on whether TikToks will hit specific milestones.
  3. Spike was created at a Harvard hackathon and specifically targets short-form platforms like TikTok and Instagram Reels by letting users wager on likes and view-count milestones.

Are VCs investing in media companies again?

Simon Owens's Media Newsletter • 349 implied HN points • 09 Jan 26
đź’Ľ Business Creator Economy
  1. VCs are still funding media startups, but high valuations for ad‑dependent outlets are hard to justify because ad models rarely scale the way investors expect.
  2. Google stumbled early in chatbots but leveraged its massive reach and deep pockets to catch up and regain an edge over OpenAI.
  3. Spotify is paying creators more than YouTube for video podcasts in some markets and is aggressively competing on video, though CPM claims can be misleading about total revenue.

This company wants to fix the broken economics of standup comedy

Simon Owens's Media Newsletter • 174 implied HN points • 28 Jan 26
đź’Ľ Business Creator Economy
  1. Comedians can get huge viral reach but still struggle to make money because algorithms throttle who actually sees their posts and it's hard to notify local fans when a comic is touring.
  2. Punchup is building tools so comedians can own their audiences, sell tickets directly, and rely less on platform algorithms to monetize shows.
  3. The founders' experience running ads and data products at Meta, plus a longtime passion for comedy, shaped Punchup's mission to repair the fragile economics of standup.

How a Kidfluencer Became an OnlyFans Star

Common Sense with Bari Weiss • 264 implied HN points • 21 Jan 26
🎭️ Culture Creator Economy
  1. A former child social-media star moved to OnlyFans soon after turning 18, posting sexualized photos and offering nudes behind paywalls.
  2. She was raised and promoted by a hands-on, controversial mother, which has fueled public concern that her childhood career involved exploitation.
  3. She frames the move as her choice and a way to stay relevant, and she uses VIP tiers and tipping to monetize erotic content.

Legacy publishers embrace the Creator Economy

Simon Owens's Media Newsletter • 249 implied HN points • 07 Jan 26
đź’Ľ Business Creator Economy
  1. Big publishers are building creator networks and paying individual creators to make content on their channels, acknowledging that individual personalities now hold more audience power than brands alone.
  2. Creators are choosing platforms based on audience ownership and monetization control, with some moving platforms over fears of lock‑in even though email lists are generally portable.
  3. Newsletter and creator monetization is shifting: sponsorship tracking is becoming important as ad formats fragment, market forces like GLP‑1 drugs are changing affiliate and brand-deal dynamics, and some partisan outlets are losing traffic as audiences splinter.

The most exciting media companies have non-media business models

Simon Owens's Media Newsletter • 199 implied HN points • 14 Jan 26
đź’Ľ Business Creator Economy
  1. The most successful modern media companies build non-media businesses — like ecommerce, SaaS, or product lines — so audience attention turns into direct revenue. Those commerce arms often outperform ads and subscriptions.
  2. Live events and conferences are a lucrative revenue channel because they generate fast, high-margin income and attract influential audiences. But events carry high overhead, are limited by venue capacity, and are hard to scale indefinitely.
  3. Creators and publishers need diversified monetization — sponsorships, paid newsletters, AI tools, branded content, and partnerships — plus a focused, often affluent audience and active sales effort to make those models pay. Relying on a single revenue stream or on platform-driven distribution leaves businesses exposed.

The successful YouTube channels hiding in plain sight

Simon Owens's Media Newsletter • 299 implied HN points • 19 Dec 25
đź’Ľ Business Creator Economy
  1. White-noise and other long-play YouTube videos can earn outsized revenue through YouTube Premium because they accumulate huge watch time, giving them much higher CPMs than typical videos.
  2. Host-read podcast ads perform better in audio-only environments than on YouTube video, so advertisers should ask for audio vs. video impression breakdowns and value audio impressions more highly.
  3. Platforms are simultaneously cracking down on deceptive AI content and rolling out more aggressive ad features and paywalls, so creators and brands must track changing policies and sponsorship opportunities to adapt monetization strategies.

When ChatGPT Started Sending Me SubStack Subscribers

Olshansky's Newsletter • 91 implied HN points • 29 Jan 26
đź”® Crypto Creator Economy
  1. Micro-tipping lets people send tiny, instant payments (even cents) to creators on platforms like Substack by adding an EVM address or domain to a profile.
  2. These tiny payments create a new economic model and incentives for original human content, enabling micro-attribution, pay-to-play features, leaderboards, agent-facing data signals, and one-off paywalled unlocks.
  3. The system is built for easy adoption with fiat onramps, email-linked embedded wallets, a browser extension, and an upcoming agent SDK so creators and tippers don’t need deep crypto know-how.

Candace Owens and the Internet Brainrot Industry

eugyppius: a plague chronicle • 228 implied HN points • 17 Dec 25
🎭️ Culture Creator Economy
  1. Popular online commentators often reframe high‑profile shootings into conspiratorial, proprietary theories that prioritize attention over accuracy and can shift blame away from the most obvious explanations.
  2. The creator economy and social media reward shocking, original‑seeming takes because they drive views, engagement, and ad money, so creators frequently produce vague or unfalsifiable theories instead of careful, predictive analysis.
  3. This attention‑driven speculation fragments political energy and public understanding, turning serious events into entertainment and making it hard for people to reach clear, collective conclusions or take coherent action.

Now is the time for creators to build on their own land

Substack • 2703 implied HN points • 20 Jan 25
đź’Ľ Business Creator Economy
  1. Creators should have their own space on the internet rather than relying solely on social media. This gives them control over their content and audience.
  2. Platforms like Substack allow creators to own their work and generate direct income from subscribers. This is a more reliable income source than traditional ad revenue.
  3. Using platforms like Substack as a home base doesn't mean abandoning other social media. It allows creators to deepen connections with fans while still reaching new audiences.

Suspended from X

The Other Side of Fear • 8 implied HN points • 09 Mar 26
đź•ą Technology Creator Economy
  1. A suspension from X can happen if a post is flagged under paid-partnership rules even for a coupon link, and appeals may be slow or unreliable.
  2. The creator revenue system is dominated by low-cost content farms and paid influencer campaigns, so independent or original thinkers often earn very little.
  3. Some creators respond by moving to independent platforms like Substack and focusing on publishing as a public service rather than chasing creator-revenue schemes.

We hate brands. We love marketing.

The Social Juice • 127 implied HN points • 27 Dec 25
🎭️ Culture Creator Economy
  1. People mostly passively scroll feeds and don’t come with intent, so every view forces creators and brands to re-earn permission through creative hooks and purposeful content, making social platforms exhausting but hard to leave.
  2. Old media is losing influence while creator-driven new media wins distribution but borrows traditional aesthetics to claim authority, which fuels layoffs, acquisitions, diluted standards, and more competition.
  3. Brands are widely mistrusted even as marketing becomes culturally loved; big agencies are consolidating and selling security with CRMs and AI, driving job churn, and brands often step into public roles without fixing the underlying problems.

I wouldn't market to Gen-Z in 2026 without knowing these stats and insights

The Social Juice • 88 implied HN points • 10 Jan 26
🎭️ Culture Creator Economy
  1. Gen Z builds trust through access and shareability. Brands earn that trust by being transparent, giving real access to spaces or experiences, and making things easy to share with friends.
  2. Gen Z lives on social platforms where clips and "platformers" rule, so creators who package people and moments drive attention. Brands should post ritual content (mornings, bedtime, seasonal) and focus on platforming/clipping strategies while watching the news cycle for brand safety.
  3. Many young people feel a sense of doom and treat spending like gambling, choosing small "little treats" over long-term savings. Marketers need to account for mental‑health and financial anxiety by designing offers, pricing, and loyalty that match short‑term joy and cautious trust.

This Week in Marketing: TikTok changes policy, Meta pauses AI, and Elon opens X’s algorithm

The Social Juice • 56 implied HN points • 25 Jan 26
đź•ą Technology Creator Economy
  1. AI features are exploding across platforms, with creators and companies adopting AI likenesses, tools, and agentic shopping. That growth is sparking safety, privacy, and regulatory concerns, especially around teens and deepfakes.
  2. TikTok’s U.S. joint venture and new tracking tools (precise location pixels and Shop logistics changes) are reshaping how user data and commerce are handled. Those moves are increasing privacy and age‑verification worries for regulators, advertisers, and parents.
  3. Major platforms are changing business models and opening up parts of their tech — for example X’s partial open‑source algorithm and new ad formats from Meta, YouTube, Apple and Google. This shift raises competition and transparency while putting pressure on creators and advertisers to adapt.

Thursday State of the SubStacks: Walking the Tightrope Over the Attention-Economy Abyss

Brad DeLong's Grasping Reality • 138 implied HN points • 19 Nov 25
đź’Ľ Business Creator Economy
  1. The platform is walking a tightrope: it needs discoverability to help writers grow paying audiences without turning into an ad-driven attention machine that just maximizes time on the app.
  2. The new Notes/social feed creates real risks — its algorithmic tuning can push short-form engagement at the expense of longform newsletters and amplify extreme or divisive voices, making moderation and content choices thorny.
  3. Substack (and rivals) need transparent, data-driven experiments with adjustable dials like teaser samples, patronage/tips, and premium perks so writers can sustainably earn while protecting an open public-good core.

The price of payments

Substack • 1191 implied HN points • 12 Aug 24
đź’Ľ Business Creator Economy
  1. Creators using platforms like Patreon are facing new costs because of Apple's requirement for in-app purchase systems and their associated fees. This change might lead creators to either raise prices for subscribers or absorb the costs themselves.
  2. Apple's in-app purchase system is very effective for making payments easy and safe, but it also puts a financial strain on creators who use these platforms for their work.
  3. The rise of the creator economy is shifting the dynamic between creators and platforms, as creators are seeking more control over their relationships and earnings. There's an opportunity for creators and platforms to innovate and work together for better solutions.

Update: I've moved from Substack to beehiiv

Kyle Poyar’s Growth Unhinged • 23 implied HN points • 12 Jan 26
đź’Ľ Business Creator Economy
  1. The newsletter has moved from Substack to beehiiv, and all past and future issues are now hosted on the new site.
  2. Subscribers who signed up on or before December 31, 2025 were automatically migrated, and the newsletter URL did not change.
  3. The Substack archives will remain available for now but won’t get new posts, and you should reach out via email or LinkedIn if you run into any issues.

Why is Spotify held to a different standard than Meta?

Simon Owens's Media Newsletter • 449 implied HN points • 29 Jan 25
đź’Ľ Business Creator Economy
  1. Spotify pays a lot to music rights holders, $10 billion in a single year, helping revive the music industry. Yet, artists still criticize Spotify more than they do other platforms like Meta, which pay much less to creators.
  2. There's a big shift from traditional media to independent outlets, as many journalists are launching their own platforms instead of staying with legacy media. This trend shows a growing frustration with mainstream media's control over narratives.
  3. When platforms share revenue with creators, like Fortnite does, it encourages more content and benefits everyone. But relying on AI for content can lead to low-quality output that doesn't hold much value.

The paywall dilemma

Simon Owens's Media Newsletter • 399 implied HN points • 12 Feb 25
đź’Ľ Business Creator Economy
  1. Hiding articles behind a paywall can lower subscription rates. Many readers feel they've gotten enough info from just the headline and first few lines, so they don’t feel the need to pay.
  2. The creator economy is growing, with many people earning six-figure incomes from smaller audiences. This means that you don’t need a huge following to be successful anymore.
  3. Media companies, like BuzzFeed, are shifting to build their own social networks. This helps them keep audiences engaged on their own platforms and improves their chances of future success.