Dispatch #3: What Substack's NYC Summit Means for You
What Substack's amazing summit in New York told me about what's to come and what you should be doing.
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Your weekly behind-the-scenes view into what works and what’s really happening on Substack—with the platform’s leading Growth Strategist, Sarah Fay.
I’m still supercharged (in a great way) by having traveled to the Substack Summit last week in New York City. I made it as efficient as possible: a car picked me up at 4 a.m., I flew out of O’Hare, landed at LaGuardia, a car drove me to the venue, I spent the entire day riveted and not tired at all, a car picked me up, I flew out of LaGuardia, landed at O’Hare, a car picked me up, and I was home with the cats by 11 p.m.
That’s a long way to go and a lot of energy to spend on a one-day summit on the future of media and how Substack and Substack writers now fit into it as media founders on par with, if not The New York Times, then one section of the paper.
But it was important to be in the room to feel what’s happening and where Substack is going. The energy of a platform can be felt in live events based on the energy, or, to use an overused, silly word, the vibe.
Here are some of the words I’d use to describe the summit: fun, warm, committed, ambitious, not-taking-oneself-too-seriously, connected, inspired, inspiring.
On to this week’s dispatch…
Today: why the era of giving your best work away for free may be over; which skills are about to gain and lose value on Substack; why slow, steady growth is the only kind that matters.
In the room…
