# The most ambitious media founders in the world are building on Substack

Launch your media empire

The Free Press  
Bari Weiss started with a Substack and a point of view. Paramount just made her editor-in-chief of CBS News. From a newsletter to a newsroom to the top of a broadcast network — all of it runs on Substack.  
Acquired by Paramount for $150M  
“One journalist’s newsletter slowly grew into a 21st-century newsroom.”  
Bari Weiss

Lenny's Newsletter  
Lenny Rachitsky was one person sharing what he knew about building products. Now he runs the most-read publication in tech — with a podcast, a paid community, and an audience that shows up because they trust him.  
1.2M+ subscribers  
“You own your audience. That was the benefit of Substack.”  
Lenny Rachitsky

Silver Bulletin  
Nate Silver took his election model with him when he left ABC and built it into the most trusted data publication in the country. When everyone else was hedging, his readers had the numbers.  
310K+ subscribers  
“It's very good money, and definitely more than I was making working for a network.”  
Nate Silver

## Everything you need

### Every format

Newsletter, podcast, video, live stream. One subscription.

### Teams and Contributors

Roles, permissions, shared drafts. Run multiple newsletters through sections.

### Design Customization

It’s your brand first — customize your site, font, layout, and colors.

### Churn prevention

Automated recovery flows for lapsed and at-risk subscribers.

### Community

Subscriber-only chats, comment threads, and live discussions. Paid readers who talk to you, and each other stick around longer.

### Flexible pricing

Monthly, annual, founding, group, gift. Choose the plan that fits how you want to subscribe.

### Audience segmentation and automations

Trigger onboarding, win-back, and upgrade flows by behavior, location.

### Publisher API

For custom integrations. Connect Substack with your own tools and workflows.

## We only make money when you do

Substack is free to start and free to run. There are no limits on the number of emails you send. When you turn on paid subscriptions, we take 10% of subscription revenue — and nothing else. Our business only works if yours does.

What’s included:

### Distribution

The Substack network drives roughly 30% of new paid subscribers. On a $10K per month publication, that's about $3K per month in revenue you didn't pay to acquire. Most publications recoup the platform fee in distribution alone by month three.

### Legal defense

[Substack Defender](https://substack.com/defender/) covers defamation claims, IP disputes, and SLAPP suits against your reporting. A standalone media liability retainer can run up to $500K per year — on Substack, you’re covered.

### Infrastructure

Payments clearing in 140 plus countries. Enterprise deliverability. No ESP contract, no payment processor integration, no custom build.

### Dedicated onboarding and growth support

Real people who've worked in media, helping you set up, launch, and grow. We don't disappear after you sign up.

### Getty Images access

Professional photography and no licensing headaches. Worth $7,500+ per year.

### Priority human support

When something breaks or you have a question, you get a real person.

Start a publication on Substack

## Total ownership

Your words, your subscribers, your brand. If you ever want to leave, you take everything with you — export your subscriber list, take your archive, and your payment relationships with readers. That's the whole point.

50+
Publications making over $1M annually on Substack

5M+
Active subscriptions across the network

100,000+
Writers and creators publishing on Substack

## Bring over your audience

Most migrations can happen within a week and we’re here to help.

* * *

Import subscribers. Map paid tiers. Transfer your archive with link redirects. Set up your domain.

* * *

You don’t lose a day. Your readers will not notice the switch.

Move your subscribers over

## Already building on Substack

Letters from an American  
Heather Cox Richardson's nightly history lessons reach more readers than most national newspapers. 2.5M+ subscribers.

The Jim Acosta Show  
The White House correspondent who walked away from CNN and rebuilt his audience with a daily live show.

Feed Me  
Emily Sundberg's downtown dispatch became required reading in media, fashion, and finance.

Drop Site News  
Jeremy Scahill and Ryan Grim left The Intercept and built a nonprofit investigative newsroom. 300K+ readers.

Pirate Wires  
Mike Solana built a media brand from scratch at the intersection of tech and culture.

Diabolical Lies  
Caro Claire Burke and Katie Gatti Tassin's long-form culture and politics podcast is 100% fueled by listener support.

Zeteo  
Mehdi Hasan launched an independent newsroom for fearless, accountable reporting.

Citrini Research  
James van Geelen's AI crash scenario moved the stock market.

Caroline Chambers  
Caroline Chambers turns weeknight-friendly recipes and tight grocery lists into a reliable, paid subscription business.

## Build the next great media company

Start building