The Honest Sorcerer At 100
Thank you, thank you, thank you
Before we jump into today’s topic, allow me to express my heartfelt appreciation in a separate post dedicated to you, Dear Subscribers. Thanks to your devotion to this blog, the Honest Sorcerer has become a Substack Bestseller, after reaching 100 paid subscriptions. I’m overwhelmed with gratitude for your kindness.
At the same time, let me thank all my Readers — all 9,614 of you — for your continued support. After two and a half years, this blog is now close to have 10,000 followers!
Let’s not stop there, though. Help us reach 15,000 people by the end of the year. Spread the word: read, like and share these essays far and wide — not just the latest posts, but earlier ones as well. And if you find value in what’s being shared here, become a subscriber—paid or otherwise.
Your support is greatly appreciated in these increasingly turbulent times.
Thank you,
B
Well done. I think you are one of the clearest voices out their and I look forward to your articles
Congrats on the 100 paid subscribers. It's well deserved, as The Honest Sorcerer truly is a very excellent blog. In terms of the ~10,000 subscribers, well, I wouldn't be so sure about that.
Generally speaking, and across most platforms, blogs often have a conversion rate of 10% (that is, 10% of a blog's subscribers are paid readers). The Honest Sorcerer's conversion rate is ~1%, which is extremely low. That's not to say The Honest Sorcerer is doing a bad job converting subscribers to paid readers. What it does say is that, as is customary with Substack, those free subscriber numbers are likely inflated. For starters, Substack doesn't use double opt-in methods, meaning bots and the like can easily sign up to Substack blogs/newsletters without any need for verification. Substack, as might come as a surprise, doesn't exactly dislike this. Why? Because the more subscribers Substack's blogs/newsletters garner, the more its owners can hype up the platform to prospective investors when it goes after its latest round of venture capital funding in order to secure tens of millions of dollars more. That's not to say that The Honest Sorcerer has only ~1,000 free subscribers, but it certainly has much less than ~10,000.
I could go on an on about Substack and its array of dodgy practices, or alternatively leave a link to a long-form post explaining it all. But as I don't want to spam your blog / comment section, I'll refrain from doing so.
Regardless, The Honest Sorcerer is an excellent blog, and although I refrain from becoming a paid subscriber to any publication on Substack, I'll certainly keep reading The Honest Sorcerer for the fantastic insights and perspectives.
Cheers.