> ## Content Index
> Fetch the complete content index at: https://werd.io/llms.txt
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# Substack's Secret
- URL: https://werd.io/substacks-secret/
- Published: 2025-06-23T14:05:36.000Z
- Updated: 2025-06-23T14:05:36.000Z
- Description: "Substack's One Weird Marketing Trick was leveraging the economic interests of traditional media employees against their publishers to get positive "earned media"."
- Author: Ben Werdmuller
- Tags: Media, Notable links

[*Link: Atoms vs Bits*](https://www.atvbt.com/substacks-secret/)*.*

I enjoyed this dig into Substack's economics in light of it attempting to raise another round:

> "If I were an investor, the first thing I'd ask about is Substack's "enterprise" offering. If an individual publisher is (supposedly) responsible for more than 1% of Substack's nominal revenue, it becomes really important what deal that publisher is actually on. And there are many ways to rebate to a publisher, for a platform that is willing to do so."

Right now the company is telling its potential investors that it's generating $450 in annual recurring revenue for its publisher network, which nets out at $45 million for the company itself because of its default 10% take. But that take is likely to be wildly different for the big names that bring in other publishers. I would be very interesting to learn what the real numbers are.

Of course, it is obligatory for me to mention that [Substack has a Nazi problem](https://www.theguardian.com/media/2024/jan/12/casey-newton-quits-substack-nazi-newsletter).

\[[Link](https://www.atvbt.com/substacks-secret/)\]