I still don't get the Substack model, except for celebs. Or even for them. When I had a curious sniff around the platform's butt in the park a few months back, I signed up to the free version of Chuck Palahniuk's newsletter or whatever it's called. I sometimes even read it, and it seems to appear in my inbox regularly.

Writing insights from a talented, bestselling author across a range of cultural topics. For free.

I have no idea what more I would get if I paid a fiver a month, and haven't even looked. If I got extra content with every one of half a dozen subs, say, I would have no time to read it all and would be 30 bucks out of pocket per month.

Why would I do that, with so much stuff for free? I am genuinely puzzled.