A combative case for liberalism and a $4mm investment.
Substack is getting a new “lib media” startup with a stacked masthead.
Good morning everyone.
I finished Madeline Cash’s Lost Lambs on Saturday. Imagine a world in which C. Montgomery Burns, Walter White, and the Lisbon sisters lived in the same neighborhood. Mischief capital of the world, right? I’m sorry for all of you that the book doesn’t come out until January, but I think it will read differently in the winter.
Paid readers got early access last week, but there are still a few more limited-edition Feed Me airbrush t-shirts.
“I was in the cohort that got the free student subscriptions. I’ve talked about Feed Me in every coffee chat I’ve had this summer. It democratizes access that people spend their whole career trying to cultivate. Feed Me is the future of a media industry acting as a white glove service of personality building. I’m in final rounds for a job I found on the Feed Me job board. Also, Emily is funny!" - paid reader
Semafor reported last night that writer
left The Atlantic to launch on Substack. The new publication has a stacked lineup of team members including Jordan Weissmann (a former political editor at Semafor) and Kelsey Piper (a former contributing editor for Vox’s Future Perfect). Plus contributors like , , and .I spoke to Jerusalem last night to find out more about the new left-leaning publication making a “combative case for liberalism through rigorous, persuasive journalism.” She discusses how they’re different from The Times and The Atlantic, the advertising game plan, and breaks some news about their first live event.
First of all, why Substack?
The network effects are a gravitational force pulling us all into Substack's orbit. It's impossible to ignore the growth potential for a small company trying to keep overhead down. But we grappled with this pretty intensely due to the very real downsides around creative flexibility and control. Substack doesn't really have an incentive to give writers brand control and freedom which is why we really leaned into the color wheel for our theme.
The 10 percent fee seems worth it for now, but if we achieve our subscriber goals, I'm sure it'll get harder and harder to stomach.
“ I love The Atlantic but I do have a clique: It's the libs.”