Why I am moving to Substack
Different people write for different reasons. Some of us write because we forget. Some of us write because we enjoy the process (more than the result). Some of us write because there is so much to write. Some of us write because we always wanted to do so (not really knowing what it portends). Some of us write because we aren’t good at expressing ourselves with speech. Some of us write because being a writer adds colour to our canvas of being. Some of us write because that’s the only way we can think. Some of us write because we don’t know what else to do with ourselves.
I write for all the above reasons.
Unlike writers who find their niche within a few months or years, I haven’t been able to pinpoint one area of expertise. My words are all over the place. I am as comfortable typing about history as I am about human behaviour and cultural nuances; my paragraphs can be steeped in sports and can flux out of lingual commonalities and philosophical diarrhea. I muse about everything and I drop my observations all around on these white screens.
This didn’t happen overnight. I’ve been actively writing — blogging to speak the tongue of the internet — since 2007 without a penny to show for it. I did it for a very simple reason: I preferred it that way.
However, going forward, with 2021 almost upon us, I am keen on testing uncharted waters — a metaphor I get to use given my proximity to beaches in Mangalore — and see how great is my content, indeed. As a matter of lazy principle, I don’t check my readers’ feedback, be it on Medium or Twitter or LinkedIn. This attitude is a direct result of my utter lack of dependence on readership. All these years, I felt that I am writing for myself so it doesn’t matter who reads what or when or why. So, it was a natural reaction on my part to have no reaction at all.
But, in the coming days, things are bound to change.
I am leaving Medium for Substack.
I moved to Medium from Blogger in the first month of 2017 and over the past four years now, I’ve gathered over 6,200 readers (‘followers’ is best left to Twitter) here, and I am very grateful to each one of them for tolerating me. Yes, Medium has been a fabulous platform for me. There have been so many highs and few lows for me. Oh, for the record, a post on my interview of Shah Rukh Khan is still my most read blog post of all time.
Insofar, no matter how lousy a writer you are, with time, if you keep writing, you will get better. That’s the single-most important lesson blank pages teach you. They create something out of you without you even realizing it. In that respect, the 2017 move was a brilliant decision.
In the same vein, I wish that my move to Substack proves well in the near future. Why? Because in the past, I consciously didn’t care about others. I always felt that I can’t allow my readers that sort of control over me. If they like my work, well and good. If they don’t, not a big deal. In all sincerity, I actually followed the I-write-for-myself tripe.
At Substack, I wish to tweak this perception a bit. Given the subscription nature prevalent there, as readers can pay to read, I will have to be more involved. Can’t stick with my long-held privilege of distance.
Yes, the core of my writing won’t change: continue to expect random blog posts filled with random observations about random topics. But if people bother to subscribe by paying a definite monthly/annual amount, then I’ll be obliged to deliver. And I truly want to test myself there. It’s time to see how I perform with the sword of expectation dangling over my typing fingers. It’s one thing to churn out 3-5 free blog posts per week on Medium and quite another to do the same on a paid-for platform.
Besides, I’ve been on social media long enough to acknowledge the fact that castles made of words don’t last in the wind. All these years, I’ve garnered more than enough adulation from my readers belonging to varied geographies and time zones. The tragic beauty of free content. But until and unless, I put my content in the market, I won’t know where I stand. After all, my ultimate goal is to write for a living — I do write for a living in the startup world — without a boss. My voice might sound young but I am less than 6 months away from turning 35; better late than never. And Substack is going to be my first move towards that long-term destination of independent writing gainfully.
Let’s see what happens.
PS. I’d request you to subscribe here so that you don’t miss out on the free blog posts.
PPS. I’ll put up the paywall when the time is right.
PPPS. The time is always right.
PPPPS. See you all on the other side.
