Friday 16th April: Vanity Fair-meets-Substack as the new media business model

April 16, 2021

Good morning, the weekend is almost here! Today's roundup is brought you by Esther.

A new publication (yet to be named) from Vanity Fair veteran Jon Kelly aims to attract writers with a revenue-sharing plan. The project has private equity backing, and is described as 'Vanity Fair meets Substack'.

Writers have been offered equity and a percentage of the subscription revenue they would generate. They would be able to have the best of both worlds; the (relative) security and structure of a traditional publisher but would also be able to reap the direct financial fruits of their work.

If this sounds familiar, that's because Forbes announced something very similar back in January. Their newsletter platform launched with a revenue split deal with the writers, who were also full staff members.

Some publishers are waking up to the reality that their superstar writers will go solo if they don't feel they're being fairly remunerated. We doubt this new publication will be the last of its kind.

This is a really smart example of a publisher who understands what their core audience needs, knows how they go about finding it, and have navigated themselves to be just where they're needed. Simon Owens does his usual intelligent questioning to dig deeper into the business model behind the 'Shutterstock of contracts'.

Substack has announced the launch of Substack Local, a program to support a new group of up to 30 local news writers on the platform. The $1 million grant has the goal of fostering "an effective business model for independent local news that provides ample room for growth."

On the theme of platforms throwing money at good causes, TikTok is financially backing the production of a new series from publisher NowThis. The series will feature interviews with public health experts and a live Q&A session focused on answering questions about the pandemic. Supporting publishers and public health information? That's a thumbs up from us.

Today's throwback:

We spoke to ex-Verge editor Casey Newton about his decision to go solo. Within weeks, he'd got over 1,000 subscribers paying at least $10 a month for his newsletter on tech platforms. It's a case in point of how superstar writers can sometimes be financially much better off on their own.

Talking of the Awards, the big day is approaching! It's free to register for a ticket, so why not sign up and have a peek? Wednesday April 21st, 4.30pm BST. See you there...