James Huang is Heading to Substack

[kiwisimon]

Originally Posted by alexihnen

FWIW - I'm a big fan of EC and really appreciate how it's developed.

same. It's why restaurants have menus I guess, people like different things.

[NHAero]

Did I somehow sigh up for something here that doesn't actually have any free content?

Every email I get announcing a new post has the offer to sign up for a 7 day free trial.

Escape (where I am a paid subscriber) and another substack where I am a free subscriber both have a free section where an article can be read in its entirety. I just unsubscribed to N-1.

[AngryScientist]

Originally Posted by NHAero

Did I somehow sigh up for something here that doesn't actually have any free content?

Every email I get announcing a new post has the offer to sign up for a 7 day free trial.

.

Count me in as annoyed by this.

Today' email was quite click-baity, and bicyclemagazine-esque.

"How to level your levers, the easy way!"

One paragraph and then the "click here to sign up!"

I get that James needs to make money, I get that. But these spammy emails with meh content to get me to sign up for a paid subscription are annoying. Either have an email list with some free content or not.

I'm almost certainly opting out.

[Angryasian]

Can someone post a screenshot of the emails that are going out? I wonder if there's a setting in Substack that I need to change. Currently, my plan is for the weekly tech newsletters to be free for everyone, with the rest of the content behind a paywall.

As for the title of the post that went up a few hours ago, it's not intended to be clickbaity at all. It's a legitimately quick and easy (and cheap) way to even out your levers with no special tools required.

[AngryScientist]

Originally Posted by Angryasian

Can someone post a screenshot of the emails that are going out? I wonder if there's a setting in Substack that I need to change. Currently, my plan is for the weekly tech newsletters to be free for everyone, with the rest of the content behind a paywall.

As for the title of the post that went up a few hours ago, it's not intended to be clickbaity at all. It's a legitimately quick and easy (and cheap) way to even out your levers with no special tools required.

Here you go James. This is what the email for non (paid) subs see...

[Angryasian]

Ok, thanks.

Would you prefer to not get emails at all for paid-only content if you're a free subscriber?

[AngryScientist]

Originally Posted by Angryasian

Ok, thanks.

Would you prefer to not get emails at all for paid-only content if you're a free subscriber?

Yes, that would be my preference. Let people decide for themselves if they want to level up.

[Angryasian]

Ok, good to know. Thanks for the feedback! Still figuring this all out...

[AngryScientist]

Originally Posted by Angryasian

Ok, good to know. Thanks for the feedback! Still figuring this all out...

Happy to help!

[benb]

Heh.. email software seems like it is built in a way to default to sending out really annoying amounts of email, so I can see how it would be tricky to make it not annoying.

I have listened to maybe half of the video with Ben Delaney, that is an interesting topic for sure. Hits home for me, as I have messed with my All City Space Horse enough I basically don't have a gravel bike anymore and I'm treating it as a pavement commuter bike, and I miss that kind of riding a lot.

And here we kind of have a very weird mix that makes it tricky to pick something on the spectrum that James and Ben were discussing. That kind of riding here is polarized.. you're on pavement a bunch but then when you get off it you are likely to be on something quite rough or approaching singletrack, or if it's been worked on it's likely to have some sand or soft stuff. It has really not even entered my thought process at all to think about suspension if/when I do go buy another gravel bike.

[prototoast]

I would also like to add, I am much more likely to convert to a paying subscriber (speaking from experience with other substacks) if there is real content above the paywall, not just a teaser.

This one felt particularly frustrating because the headline promised something, but didn't provide any details on it before it hit the paywall. This is just frustrating, both because it doesn't provide any information, but also because it feels like there's a high probability that if I paid, the answer would be something stupid or something I already knew.

In contrast, where I think pay breaks work well is where there is discrete content before and after the paywall. A format like "here are three new products released this week: A, B, C." Then you provide a summary of A before the paywall, and B and C after the paywall. As a reader, that way if I liked what I read for A, I will expect more of the same if I paid.

[Angryasian]

Originally Posted by prototoast

I would also like to add, I am much more likely to convert to a paying subscriber (speaking from experience with other substacks) if there is real content above the paywall, not just a teaser.

This one felt particularly frustrating because the headline promised something, but didn't provide any details on it before it hit the paywall. This is just frustrating, both because it doesn't provide any information, but also because it feels like there's a high probability that if I paid, the answer would be something stupid or something I already knew.

In contrast, where I think pay breaks work well is where there is discrete content before and after the paywall. A format like "here are three new products released this week: A, B, C." Then you provide a summary of A before the paywall, and B and C after the paywall. As a reader, that way if I liked what I read for A, I will expect more of the same if I paid.

Great suggestion. Thank you for the feedback!

And probably too late now, but I just went in and moved the paywall divider a lot further down on the article.

[gospastic]

I subscribed last week. I've never subscribed to a Substack before, but for today's email that went out, I couldn't tell if it was paywall content or not. Not sure if this is by design but just FYI.

[litcrazy]

Leonard Zinn just launched his substack as well. I’m not sure how tight you are, but it may worth comparing notes if you don’t feel too much like competitors. I think he’s trying to strike the same balance between free and paid content.

[LegendRider]

It's ironic that there are so many good Substacks available - on all sorts of subjects - that I don't pay for any. It's almost analysis-paralysis.

I'd love a MoviePass style monthly subscription that would allow me to read X number of articles across all Substacks for a reasonable fee each month.