Dissecting Substack’s Inverted Revenue Curve

Substack's revenue does not concentrate among its most popular creators the way it does on ad-supported platforms, where a small share of creators earn most of the money. Simon argues that Substack sells access rather than attention, so paying subscribers express individual desire and support smaller writers. He is not fully convinced that direct payment alone explains the difference and suggests something else inside Substack is also at work. He also says he found no convincing numbers for Patreon or OnlyFans that would show a different pattern.