Independent journalism ain't easy!
On the grind.
First, an announcement: Today at 3 pm eastern I am going to do a Substack Live with who just left Puck News to launch a Substack called "The Red Letter” and a YouTube channel too. (You can read about Tara’s decision to leave legacy media in the New York Times.). If you want to check out our conversation live, make sure to download the Substack app!
I’ve been talking to Tara on and off about the possibility of a move to the independent news creator space for a while now. She’s one of a bunch of folks who have spent their whole careers (or most of it) in legacy media, who sees the growth and opportunity that places like Substack and YouTube afford.
I have talked to a whole bunch of those people lately — I’ve had more conversations about making the switch with legacy media type in the last two months than I had in the previous two years combined.
So I thought I would share some insight into what I tell them — because I think it offers a useful picture of where the independent news creator landscape is right now (and why it may be fool’s gold for some).
Before I get to that let me say this: I am committed to this life of independent journalism. But it ONLY can work if you are willing to invest in me and what I am building. You can read my mission statement here. Or you can hear this: I am calling balls and strikes no matter what uniform the batter at the plate is wearing. Independent. Authentic. Transparent. That’s me. If it sounds like the sort of thing you’d like to support, it’s $6 a month or $60 a year to become a paid subscriber. You can also become a founding member for a bit more — but with a whole lot more perks. (Read about my paid subscriber tiers here.)
Ok, let’s start here: The notion that lots of legacy media types have — not Tara to be clear! — is that they will leave a major media company and immediately have a massive audience (and the money that comes with it).
Easy peasy lemon squeezy!
Except, well, no.
There’s no question that there are high profile journalists and pundits who have experienced that rapid success. My former CNN colleague
is an example. But Acosta is a) a very high profile TV personality and b) well known for his opposition to Donald Trump and the policies the president is putting in place.Jim’s massive growth in a very short time is the exception, not the rule, however.
The reality of a life as an independent journalist is a little less, well, sexy.
The most important thing I tell anyone considering the switch from legacy media is this: Your devoted audience is smaller than you think.
As in, the number of people who were closely following me leaving CNN, tracked me to Substack and/or YouTube and immediately became paying subscribers was, well, humbling-ly small.
Because the reality of working at, say CNN, is that the vast majority of the millions of people who come to that site every day come for CNN, not for Chris Cillizza (or almost any individual). And most of them don’t really notice when, say, Chris Cillizza, is no longer there.
Which leads me to the second thing I tell anyone considering making the leap: You are going to have to GRIND.
This independent life is not a sort of career-capper where you dine out on your well known-ness, sit back and count the money as it rolls in.
I have built my audience — almost 30,000 subscribers strong on Substack and more than 60,000 subscribers on YouTube — content brick by content brick.
I post 2-3 times a day here. I make a video every single day on YouTube. I am now making multiple TV appearances a day on NewsNation.
You don’t have to do that much — I know some of you think I do too much — but you absolutely have to be a consistent presence in peoples’ inboxes and their lives.
Every single successful creator — news or otherwise — I have talked to along this journey has emphasized that need to create a habit. You need to make people say “I wonder what Chris thinks about X thing that happened in the news.” And the only way you really do that is by piling content on top of content — day after day after day.
And not just ANY content. Content that’s interesting. Unique. Fun/funny. Content that people can’t get on CNN.com or ABC News or wherever.
Like I said, it’s less sexy than you might think. It’s the daily drumbeat. Every damn day. Be there. Tell people what’s interesting and why they need to follow you. And work like hell to keep them once they walk in the door — by having a long backlog of evergreen content that they can work their way through. You never know when that BIG surge of subscribers is coming, so be ready for it by putting in the daily work that shows people a) who you are b) why your perspective is special/unique and c) why you are a solid investment.
Speaking of investment, one thing I have learned in doing this independent media thing for the last two years is that it is harder than you might think to separate people from their money.
While $6 a month isn’t a huge sum, it’s not nothing! And if people subscribe to multiple Substacks — and most do!— then the costs per month can rise pretty quickly.
(Sidebar: I am begging Substack to roll out a bundling program. And I am raising my hand to be part of the first wave — the guinea pigs if you will.)
In that vein, I still remember a conversation I had with a friend, who is not in media, shortly after leaving CNN. I told him I was planning to start a Substack and a YouTube channel. And he told me this (I am paraphrasing but this is the general gist):
There are buyers and sellers in the world. You have always been a buyer. People came to you with information and you decided whether to write or report on it. People came to you with job offers and you decided whether to take them. People came to you with ideas about what else you could do and you said yea or nay. Now you are a seller. You need to go to people and say ‘This is what I do. I want you to buy it. What can I do to make you buy it?’ Every single day.
His point? I was in for a very rude awakening. I had been handed a whole lot during my years at the Washington Post and CNN. Now I needed to go out and get anything I wanted or needed.
It required a mindset change. At first, it was awkward to ask people to subscribe. And even more awkward to ask them to pay me to do this for a living. I had never had to do ANYTHING like that ever before.
But, necessity is the mother of invention. And I needed to get people to invest in me if I wanted to keep doing this. There was (and is) no other option. So I got more comfortable asking. And asking. And asking.
Because here’s the reality that any independent news creator soon confronts: This ain’t easy. It’s a grind. Building audience — and paying audience — is WAY harder than you might think.
And the only people who are going to make it in this increasingly-crowded independent space are folks who get that you have to go out every day and prove to people why they need to invest in you — amid all their other choices for content. The best way to do that is make quality content day after day.
While that isn’t easy, it is tremendously rewarding. I have never had more fun in a job than in this one. I have had so many cool opportunities come my way — and those opportunities are growing exponentially of late! — that I would never have been able to do in a legacy media job.
My message: If you are a legacy media type, come into this independent world with your eyes wide open. Be ready to work. Be willing and able to sing for your supper. And ask for support and donations.
If you are a news consumer: Know that you are choosing the future of media. What you choose to give your money to (or not) will determine what the media landscape looks like in 5 years. Or sooner.
People are doing this! Substack just hit 5 million paid subscriptions!
That doesn’t mean you have to subscribe to me. (Though I hope you will!) But please subscribe to a variety of independent journalists — some of whom you agree with, some of whom challenge your assumptions. That’s the only way we are going to get back to a semblance of normal in this country.
Chris, this is excellent advice (to both creators AND consumers). Your advice could apply to many many career choices (i.e., it's a grind). My dad is a retired Presbyterian minister. He worked hard to administer the office staff, committees, and congregation. But, many folks think "I love the Bible, I could come up with something to say once a week", picturing the other 6 days as coasting. A successful minister works HARD 6 (or even 7) days a week. How many people have thought "I'll open a restaurant...I know food, I know what people like to eat" (which means what they, themselves, like to eat). But, running a restaurant is HARD. You have to find recipes that more than just you like. You have to find suppliers, hire staff, keep crabby customers happy. Your content creation advice is well worth heading. I believe you, Chris, work very hard for what we consume. And, I for one, am grateful.
Stop buying “corporate coffee”..get a thermos, make it at home, and use the money you save to subscribe to a couple of independent journalists that interest you.