Potential Threat to Platform Independence
I received an e-mail today (see below) that offered to pay me for allowing advertisements on my substack column. I’m not doing it now nor in the future, no matter the dollars involved and the apparent innocuous nature of the sample of ads that would be posted. Nor am I impressed with the assurance that I would be able to select the ads to allow. Once the company has the invitation and receives the secret handshake information, we are all potentially screwed. I have only a bit over 100 subscribers, and my duty is to them, not to making money. I’ve considered paid subscriptions as an option, but I don’t need the money. I do need my self-respect.
Text of the e-mail
Do you accept sponsorship / ads for your Substack newsletter?
We have native email adverts you could put in your newsletter today, on abc.xyz (email ad network) for:
NOOM
Canva
Oculus
+5 others
You're able to pick and choose which ads you want to run, and you can style these ad units into your newsletter to integrate them natively.
We manage all ad tracking, and you'll get paid in real time on your dashboard.
Let me know if you have any questions.
My reply
No. Never. Please go away.
We've talked about it a few times - the structure that incentivizes writers catering to subscribers and not to advertisers is one of the things that makes Substack great.
I didn't get that email, but I'll join you in your stance. Not a chance.
I haven't seen that. Thanks for the heads up!