338: U.S. vs China's Semiconductors, Deglobalization, Google + Intel DPU, Facebook vs Nvidia, Honda & LG, Tiktok US Logistics, ARM vs Qualcomm, and Tombstone
338: U.S. vs China's Semiconductors, Deglobalization, Google + Intel DPU, Facebook vs Nvidia, Honda & LG, Tiktok US Logistics, ARM vs Qualcomm, and Tombstone
Here is some encouragement from this side of the fiberoptic cable!
Not sure if it would change your view, but maybe instead of looking at ratio of supporters to readers you could look at a time series of new supporters?
I would bet it forms a wave pattern and you may be in a valley now. Means you are likely soon to have another swing upwards on lady fortuna’s wheel! (Confederacy of Dunces reference, if you haven’t read I recommend.)
Always enjoy your content, so hope you are able to continue.
The pattern is basically that things went pretty smoothly until 2022, and then things have mostly been going sideways (slightly up, but slowly).
I suspect it's the market funk that is causing a newsletter subscription funk, but it's still not idea to see total number of subs go up very rapidly but to have long periods when basically nobody becomes a paid supporter, or a few do, but a few churn out, so it kinds of evens out...
I'm hoping that it's indeed a phase and it goes back to how it was, because I like the open model. I could put up a paywall, but that doesn't feel as good to me to spend hours writing things and then press "publish" to send it to a fraction of the audience... ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
If it's any consolation, I've seen exactly the same trend since April and I know that may other Substacks are experiencing similar difficulties. Free subs are going up exponentially but paid flat / down. Some people blame the recommendation feature, but the weak economy must have contributed as well.
Yeah, I suspect the market funk has caused a newsletter subscription funk.. Who knows how long both things will last, though? The change in trajectory for paid subs for me was around February 2022, so about 9 months.
Agree 100% with your China/US observations (and we could expand that to multiple different countries across the globe). The world working together could solve FAR more problems. Instead, we waste that by fighting meaningless battles amongst ourselves.
Hi Liberty! I like your content and have found lots of interesting topics through your newsletter. Personally, I feel the subscription cost is high. For example, I subscribe to ArsTechnica for all my tech related news and their annual subscription is $25. I'm guessing they are able to afford that because they have a large subscriber base?
Is there a way I can make a one-time yearly payment of a similar amount? I don't see that as an option when I try to subscribe.
Ars Technica and others can do it because of scale. If I had tens of thousands of subs, I could also ask for a tiny amount and still do well. But at regular newsletter scale, you simply can't pay your bills if you charge that little. Credit card fees and Substack fees alone would take a huge chunk of it.
So if I ever have thousands and thousands of subs, I'll certainly consider lowering the cost, but the way I see it, it's like buying me a drink at a pub once a month -- not to bad! Cheers 💚 🥃
Here is some encouragement from this side of the fiberoptic cable!
Not sure if it would change your view, but maybe instead of looking at ratio of supporters to readers you could look at a time series of new supporters?
I would bet it forms a wave pattern and you may be in a valley now. Means you are likely soon to have another swing upwards on lady fortuna’s wheel! (Confederacy of Dunces reference, if you haven’t read I recommend.)
Always enjoy your content, so hope you are able to continue.
Thanks GV!
The pattern is basically that things went pretty smoothly until 2022, and then things have mostly been going sideways (slightly up, but slowly).
I suspect it's the market funk that is causing a newsletter subscription funk, but it's still not idea to see total number of subs go up very rapidly but to have long periods when basically nobody becomes a paid supporter, or a few do, but a few churn out, so it kinds of evens out...
I'm hoping that it's indeed a phase and it goes back to how it was, because I like the open model. I could put up a paywall, but that doesn't feel as good to me to spend hours writing things and then press "publish" to send it to a fraction of the audience... ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
If it's any consolation, I've seen exactly the same trend since April and I know that may other Substacks are experiencing similar difficulties. Free subs are going up exponentially but paid flat / down. Some people blame the recommendation feature, but the weak economy must have contributed as well.
Yeah, I suspect the market funk has caused a newsletter subscription funk.. Who knows how long both things will last, though? The change in trajectory for paid subs for me was around February 2022, so about 9 months.
Agree 100% with your China/US observations (and we could expand that to multiple different countries across the globe). The world working together could solve FAR more problems. Instead, we waste that by fighting meaningless battles amongst ourselves.
Good luck with the subscriptions!
Thanks Kevin!
Hi Liberty! I like your content and have found lots of interesting topics through your newsletter. Personally, I feel the subscription cost is high. For example, I subscribe to ArsTechnica for all my tech related news and their annual subscription is $25. I'm guessing they are able to afford that because they have a large subscriber base?
Is there a way I can make a one-time yearly payment of a similar amount? I don't see that as an option when I try to subscribe.
Hi Zireael! Thanks you for the support, you can donate whatever amount you want here:
bit.ly/3P9ZzR0
It's a kind of tip jar.
Ars Technica and others can do it because of scale. If I had tens of thousands of subs, I could also ask for a tiny amount and still do well. But at regular newsletter scale, you simply can't pay your bills if you charge that little. Credit card fees and Substack fees alone would take a huge chunk of it.
So if I ever have thousands and thousands of subs, I'll certainly consider lowering the cost, but the way I see it, it's like buying me a drink at a pub once a month -- not to bad! Cheers 💚 🥃
Yea, I figured that scale might be the reason.
I for one am definitely feeling the burn of inflation and a portfolio that's significantly down.
I hope you continue writing and growing your subs. Good luck and thank you! Made a one-time tip :)
Thank you, much appreciated! 💚 🥃