This is a great example of creative destruction. Back before the internet took over distribution, it took a small army of typesetters, graphic designers, printers, delivery services, etc. to publish and distribute magazines. There was simply no way an individual, or even a small group, could scale production and distribution. The logical extension of the old model would be for Google or Meta (who now own distribution) to hire staff writers in order to improve ad revenue. So far, they don't think they need it - turns out they can sell ads just fine with the low-cost garbage spewed by your crazy uncle. We will see if the direct-pay model of Substack has staying power before enshittification takes over. I haven't found anything on Substack compelling enough justify spending sometimes ~$10/month on a single writer.