Hello Steve. I appreciate your honesty here. You're a good writer and when you started 1P5 you gave voice to a lot of people with similar concerns and intellectual struggles. That's why you found such an audience so quickly, in my opinion. You happened upon a voiceless, struggling group and gave them an outlet.
To achieve similar success, you'll need to find a similar vein. Disaffected religious people, as you noted, generate the most eyeballs, because that is also, currently, a fairly voiceless group looking for someone to give them an outlet. Probably, that's your best bet monetarily.
The other stuff maybe too broad to build a "brand" out of. On UFOs, you can make that work also if you are willing to take up the "woo" side of aliens. The Nuts and Bolts, "is there a craft is there not a craft in the sky" thing can get dull very quickly. You might find some purchase in the vein of connecting the UFO experience to the religious one, look into abduction stories and contact experiences for that if you desire. Lots of overlap with the religious there.
For example, the guy who invented the PCR test, used widely during covid, Kary Mullis, had a UFO encounter with, what he called, "an electric racoon." It seemed his inventions were, in some sense, "Channeled". At least he felt that way.
This isn’t really an option on the survey, so I’m just going to post it as a comment.
And please take all of this with a huge grain of salt, since we don’t know each other in real life. I’m only commenting because your loss of faith sounds EXACTLY like my own and you specifically asked for opinions.
I think you should write about the stuff you like to write about a couple of times per month (or whatever feels best for you) and have maybe one free post per month about the religious stuff and one paid post per month that’s more personal. Anything more than that on those two topics is probably too much personal exposure (and I say this as someone who has found your writing about your loss of faith deeply helpful, since it made me feel so much less alone), but it seems like that’s something that is important enough to you that you probably shouldn’t stop writing about it completely. But it seems to me that it’s wise to start shifting away from religion being such a large part of your public identity. Otherwise you’re just going to end up as the “anti-Trad” guy permanently.
And if it seems like it’s gonna be a lot to manage two substacks, don’t. Just have one, but give people the option to subscribe to the specific “series” they are interested in.
1) you really like the second group of stuff. Like, a LOT. For you, that's the stuff. It's fun, it's fascinating, it's got a lot going on in the world about it that's worth your attention. It cheers you up and energises you. it draws you out of yourself and gets your imagination (fiction!) revving. And there's never going to be a ceiling. There's no end to that stuff. It's always going to interest you (because it always has) and will always draw a crowd of others like you.
2) you have a totally different emotional/spiritual reaction to the other stuff. It's way less fun, way more painful. It's difficult and fraught and tends to drive you into yourself. Now, if Substack were therapy, that might be a price worth paying for spiritual growth/psychological and emotional healing. But it's not. It's a blog full of 2000 strangers.
The thing Substack has shown us is that there really is an audience out there for absolutely anything, and it can be a living if you're applying yourself to it with reasonable diligence. And putting extra work in really brings a lot of rewards because really there isn't a ceiling in terms of the size of audience if it's a niche/interest that's out there in the world.
So, in fact, you don't need to take a poll; you need to decide what you actually want to get out of this thing. Do you want the (in my opinion dubious) benefits of a self-revelatory business of talking about stuff that, frankly, brings you down? And I think the selfie blogs have a way lower ceiling for audience growth; there's only so much of that stuff anyone is interested in. Eventually it gets old. Unless you're the one offering the therapy, I think the range is too limited.
Also, when you've actually finished healing, all that stuff gets to be a lot less interesting. I was having a conversation with a friend the other night over dinner, and she said to her daughter who was with us, "Hilary's the world's biggest Beatles fan." (It's not true. I'm very rational about them...) And I immediately and without hesitation said, "That's only because I'm not mad at my mother anymore." She was the one who brought the Beatles into my life, and I was raised with them as the soundtrack of my earliest life. Unfortunately that meant that my rage at my mother was kind of transferred onto their music, so I couldn't like it. It was at exactly the moment I said it to my friend that I realised it was true: a lifetime of anger had somehow evaporated. And that was exactly why the Beatles' music no longer generated those ancient negative feelings. And I think it's why I'm able to be so laser focused on what I'm doing, and put so much energy into it. Why it is interesting enough for me now that I have to force myself to stop working every day at 8pm and take one day off a week. When my mental energy was taken up with dealing with all that guddawful childhood/teenage years stuff there wasn't very much juice left for anything else. And it was more appealing to talk about myself, my brain and my personal difficulties. Now all that stuff is just ... well... kind of old news. And other stuff is WAY more fun and engaging.
So, I think the idea of talking about The Stuff for a living might end up being a pretty big miscalculation. To recap: You don't really like it. You like the other stuff way more. It doesn't have the high audience ceiling that the other way more fun stuff does, and you'll probably not be able to maintain people's interest long-term. You don't really want a reputation as the guy who talks about his problems in public; you want a reputation for being the guy who's big into and able to make interesting a lot of stuff that really is massively relevant to the general culture. And you won't ever grow out of it and get bored as your mental, emotional and spiritual health improves. In fact, the opposite; the more betterer you feel the more fun it will become.
Thanks. I'm going to chat with you privately about some of this rather than clog up the comments with back and forth.
So far, the results of the poll are heavily skewed towards the stuff I don't like talking about as much. The therapy stuff. But maybe I just haven't built the audience for the other stuff yet.
Well, I think you could do both the personal and the Dale Gribble stuff, as you are such a fluent writer. It's very disappointing to see that so few of your subscribers are paid ones. I noticed when your sub numbers went from 1000 to nearly 2000, and I thought that my attempts to promote your Substack had paid off - but it turns out only a few are willing to part with $5 a month. You have a huge number of followers on X; maybe you are giving away too much for free, material that you could instead put on Substack, and require a tiny payment? I pay to sub to an outstanding Canadian journalist, Terry Glavin , because he would start an article, then just as it got really interesting, put it behind a paywall. So my curiosity made me get a paid sub, and it's very well worth it.
There's an old Archie Bunker joke about warning young women that if they want to get married, they shouldn't be like a cow that gives her milk away for free. That came to mind when Dreher had a shock realizing that he's older than Archie, and I see all your X stuff as falling into that category! If a little strategic marketing could get all those X followers and 2000 Substack subscribers to make a tiny monthly payment - it's certainly a goal worth trying for.
Going to be honest here- I appreciate your writing about your major transition out of faith because it's hard to find a string but subtle voice who can articulate the peculiar excruciating struggle of that experience, but I subjectively just don't find the stuff about tech or UFOs interesting or unique - I tend to just skip that stuff. That being said, if it energizes you and you have something personal to bring to it- as Hillary was saying- maybe that's where your audience is.
I want to add that I’m not only making a paid members only tier for more dedicated followers, but I’m starting a new sub. It’s not ideal, but I have two major subjects that are related, but ultimately work better separately. I kept choking on the process because I was trying to tie two ideas together. There can be crossover, but when you write about one thing at a time, the writing is better and clearer.
You may do things differently, but read my survey for more.
Thanks, I'll check it out. I've been trying to figure this out for a couple months now, and it just seems like I'm running two publications in one. I'm not sure the logistics of separating them would actually work out better, though...
I like the idea of subscribing to Option A because that’s how i first encountered your work and observations. I’m not a big fan of sci-fi or speculative fiction so i’d leave that to other folks. And $5 a month is not much so post when you can. I’m always happy to read what you have to say. But don’t stop, OK!
Hello Steve. I’m a paid subscriber. I followed you on 1P5 for years and I loved your raw honesty about the Catholic Church. I wish you could still be involved with something like it. Years ago my apostolate was deeply impacted by hurtful decisions made by our local bishop, a diocesan priest and a nun. I suffered for about 3 years afterwards. We hired a canon lawyer and appealed our case to the Vatican, which eventually “ruled” our apostolate had a right to exist without diocese interference. It was hard to forgive those who tried to stop us but eventually I did. Life is too short. I refused to leave my faith. I would not give them that satisfaction. I took the lessons learned and started a new apostolate (Marian this time) with the support of new priests who live Our Blessed Mother. The bishop, priest and nun are long gone. I always wanted to share this story with you because you helped me though some of my pain at the time. You kept me strong. Today, I love my new path. You are such a gifted writer. I will read whatever you produce. God bless, Linda
Hello Steve. I appreciate your honesty here. You're a good writer and when you started 1P5 you gave voice to a lot of people with similar concerns and intellectual struggles. That's why you found such an audience so quickly, in my opinion. You happened upon a voiceless, struggling group and gave them an outlet.
To achieve similar success, you'll need to find a similar vein. Disaffected religious people, as you noted, generate the most eyeballs, because that is also, currently, a fairly voiceless group looking for someone to give them an outlet. Probably, that's your best bet monetarily.
The other stuff maybe too broad to build a "brand" out of. On UFOs, you can make that work also if you are willing to take up the "woo" side of aliens. The Nuts and Bolts, "is there a craft is there not a craft in the sky" thing can get dull very quickly. You might find some purchase in the vein of connecting the UFO experience to the religious one, look into abduction stories and contact experiences for that if you desire. Lots of overlap with the religious there.
Good luck!
For example, the guy who invented the PCR test, used widely during covid, Kary Mullis, had a UFO encounter with, what he called, "an electric racoon." It seemed his inventions were, in some sense, "Channeled". At least he felt that way.
This isn’t really an option on the survey, so I’m just going to post it as a comment.
And please take all of this with a huge grain of salt, since we don’t know each other in real life. I’m only commenting because your loss of faith sounds EXACTLY like my own and you specifically asked for opinions.
I think you should write about the stuff you like to write about a couple of times per month (or whatever feels best for you) and have maybe one free post per month about the religious stuff and one paid post per month that’s more personal. Anything more than that on those two topics is probably too much personal exposure (and I say this as someone who has found your writing about your loss of faith deeply helpful, since it made me feel so much less alone), but it seems like that’s something that is important enough to you that you probably shouldn’t stop writing about it completely. But it seems to me that it’s wise to start shifting away from religion being such a large part of your public identity. Otherwise you’re just going to end up as the “anti-Trad” guy permanently.
And if it seems like it’s gonna be a lot to manage two substacks, don’t. Just have one, but give people the option to subscribe to the specific “series” they are interested in.
Here's my take:
1) you really like the second group of stuff. Like, a LOT. For you, that's the stuff. It's fun, it's fascinating, it's got a lot going on in the world about it that's worth your attention. It cheers you up and energises you. it draws you out of yourself and gets your imagination (fiction!) revving. And there's never going to be a ceiling. There's no end to that stuff. It's always going to interest you (because it always has) and will always draw a crowd of others like you.
2) you have a totally different emotional/spiritual reaction to the other stuff. It's way less fun, way more painful. It's difficult and fraught and tends to drive you into yourself. Now, if Substack were therapy, that might be a price worth paying for spiritual growth/psychological and emotional healing. But it's not. It's a blog full of 2000 strangers.
The thing Substack has shown us is that there really is an audience out there for absolutely anything, and it can be a living if you're applying yourself to it with reasonable diligence. And putting extra work in really brings a lot of rewards because really there isn't a ceiling in terms of the size of audience if it's a niche/interest that's out there in the world.
So, in fact, you don't need to take a poll; you need to decide what you actually want to get out of this thing. Do you want the (in my opinion dubious) benefits of a self-revelatory business of talking about stuff that, frankly, brings you down? And I think the selfie blogs have a way lower ceiling for audience growth; there's only so much of that stuff anyone is interested in. Eventually it gets old. Unless you're the one offering the therapy, I think the range is too limited.
Also, when you've actually finished healing, all that stuff gets to be a lot less interesting. I was having a conversation with a friend the other night over dinner, and she said to her daughter who was with us, "Hilary's the world's biggest Beatles fan." (It's not true. I'm very rational about them...) And I immediately and without hesitation said, "That's only because I'm not mad at my mother anymore." She was the one who brought the Beatles into my life, and I was raised with them as the soundtrack of my earliest life. Unfortunately that meant that my rage at my mother was kind of transferred onto their music, so I couldn't like it. It was at exactly the moment I said it to my friend that I realised it was true: a lifetime of anger had somehow evaporated. And that was exactly why the Beatles' music no longer generated those ancient negative feelings. And I think it's why I'm able to be so laser focused on what I'm doing, and put so much energy into it. Why it is interesting enough for me now that I have to force myself to stop working every day at 8pm and take one day off a week. When my mental energy was taken up with dealing with all that guddawful childhood/teenage years stuff there wasn't very much juice left for anything else. And it was more appealing to talk about myself, my brain and my personal difficulties. Now all that stuff is just ... well... kind of old news. And other stuff is WAY more fun and engaging.
So, I think the idea of talking about The Stuff for a living might end up being a pretty big miscalculation. To recap: You don't really like it. You like the other stuff way more. It doesn't have the high audience ceiling that the other way more fun stuff does, and you'll probably not be able to maintain people's interest long-term. You don't really want a reputation as the guy who talks about his problems in public; you want a reputation for being the guy who's big into and able to make interesting a lot of stuff that really is massively relevant to the general culture. And you won't ever grow out of it and get bored as your mental, emotional and spiritual health improves. In fact, the opposite; the more betterer you feel the more fun it will become.
Thanks. I'm going to chat with you privately about some of this rather than clog up the comments with back and forth.
So far, the results of the poll are heavily skewed towards the stuff I don't like talking about as much. The therapy stuff. But maybe I just haven't built the audience for the other stuff yet.
I second everything Hilary White and PJ Moore just said.
Well, I think you could do both the personal and the Dale Gribble stuff, as you are such a fluent writer. It's very disappointing to see that so few of your subscribers are paid ones. I noticed when your sub numbers went from 1000 to nearly 2000, and I thought that my attempts to promote your Substack had paid off - but it turns out only a few are willing to part with $5 a month. You have a huge number of followers on X; maybe you are giving away too much for free, material that you could instead put on Substack, and require a tiny payment? I pay to sub to an outstanding Canadian journalist, Terry Glavin , because he would start an article, then just as it got really interesting, put it behind a paywall. So my curiosity made me get a paid sub, and it's very well worth it.
There's an old Archie Bunker joke about warning young women that if they want to get married, they shouldn't be like a cow that gives her milk away for free. That came to mind when Dreher had a shock realizing that he's older than Archie, and I see all your X stuff as falling into that category! If a little strategic marketing could get all those X followers and 2000 Substack subscribers to make a tiny monthly payment - it's certainly a goal worth trying for.
Going to be honest here- I appreciate your writing about your major transition out of faith because it's hard to find a string but subtle voice who can articulate the peculiar excruciating struggle of that experience, but I subjectively just don't find the stuff about tech or UFOs interesting or unique - I tend to just skip that stuff. That being said, if it energizes you and you have something personal to bring to it- as Hillary was saying- maybe that's where your audience is.
Submitted survey.
I want to add that I’m not only making a paid members only tier for more dedicated followers, but I’m starting a new sub. It’s not ideal, but I have two major subjects that are related, but ultimately work better separately. I kept choking on the process because I was trying to tie two ideas together. There can be crossover, but when you write about one thing at a time, the writing is better and clearer.
You may do things differently, but read my survey for more.
Thanks, I'll check it out. I've been trying to figure this out for a couple months now, and it just seems like I'm running two publications in one. I'm not sure the logistics of separating them would actually work out better, though...
I like the idea of subscribing to Option A because that’s how i first encountered your work and observations. I’m not a big fan of sci-fi or speculative fiction so i’d leave that to other folks. And $5 a month is not much so post when you can. I’m always happy to read what you have to say. But don’t stop, OK!
Hello Steve. I’m a paid subscriber. I followed you on 1P5 for years and I loved your raw honesty about the Catholic Church. I wish you could still be involved with something like it. Years ago my apostolate was deeply impacted by hurtful decisions made by our local bishop, a diocesan priest and a nun. I suffered for about 3 years afterwards. We hired a canon lawyer and appealed our case to the Vatican, which eventually “ruled” our apostolate had a right to exist without diocese interference. It was hard to forgive those who tried to stop us but eventually I did. Life is too short. I refused to leave my faith. I would not give them that satisfaction. I took the lessons learned and started a new apostolate (Marian this time) with the support of new priests who live Our Blessed Mother. The bishop, priest and nun are long gone. I always wanted to share this story with you because you helped me though some of my pain at the time. You kept me strong. Today, I love my new path. You are such a gifted writer. I will read whatever you produce. God bless, Linda