Our Iniciatives for the Substack Community

We're putting a lot of effort into the Spanish-language Substack community, but we are not sure if it's reaching those who read in English.

Photo by Felipe Furtado on Unsplash

Our Iniciatives for the Spanish-Speaking Substack Community

We're putting a lot of effort into the Spanish-language Substack community, but we'm not sure if it's reaching those who read in English. For example:

• a Directory of substacks in Spanish (directorio.substack .com)

• a library of the best articles selected by their authors, by year, in Spanish (in Leamos)

• a Substack Journal about Substack and a selection of articles from the previous day (see here for an English introduction)

• Crónicas, a weekly roundup of the best fiction in Spanish published during the week on Substack (there is an explanation here, in English).

Our last inititiative: Joining forces to write for a paid Substack magazine

Who among you would be interested in joining forces to write for a paid Substack magazine? Stripe and starting a cooperative model for authors...

Several authors have told me that they cannot connect to Stripe from their countries (all of South and Central America, for example). Others (e.g., Venezuelans) tell me that even though they live in countries with access to Stripe, the requirements are difficult to meet. It also happens that Stripe's legal conditions are impossible to meet for civil servants (public servants), etc. Or where it is simply not used (such as Germany).

One option in such cases is a tipping system, but too much of it can cause problems with Substack (if you don't follow their rules, they can suspend your account).

Almost two months ago, we reported in the Substack Directory that there was an Anglo-Saxon initiative to create a type of magazine with different authors here on Substack, and that it was quite successful, with tht title:

Who among you would like to join us in writing and contributing short stories to a Substack publication based on and designed in the style of magazines?

Well, I think it's time to take the next step.

My idea is to create a non-fiction magazine (or several) and a fiction magazine, both with the same business model:

• Any author can publish an article in the magazine and decide whether it is paid or free. They can also add a tip button at the end (for their own tip). Podcasts and videos are also accepted.

• The article must be exclusive, or be behind a fairly strict paywall elsewhere.

• As is customary in the publishing world, a financial report is produced every 6 or 12 months, listing all the articles that have brought in one or more subscribers (one of the few useful pieces of data that Subtack provides). There is also a list of the most visited articles.

• If the magazine costs $50 per year, and one article has brought in two annual subscriptions (monthly subscriptions will not exist, given the high price), the writer will be paid $100.

And this is the core of the model: After paying the authors who have brought in subscribers and a fee for the most visited articles, any remaining amount (which can be significant) will be distributed among the other authors, after deducting expenses (if any, other than Stripe's). The idea is that everyone makes money.

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A Letter for Anglo-Saxon Authors

⚙️ One of our key missions is to ensure that the best content on Substack reaches readers who primarily read in Spanish, without the language barrier being an impediment. To that end, we have been translating more than 200 articles and Notes from English to Spanish for several months, with prior permission from their authors.

In a further step, we are launching an initiative on Substack called “Growing Together,” with the aim of benefiting those readers and also the authors who write in English. If you are interested in participating (it's free), we would take care of:

• Make a comment or translate into Spanish 1-3 significant paragraphs from each of your articles (if they do not have a hard paywall, of course), or each of your articles from a only 1 section, which we would restack. In other words, we would restack all your articles with a comment (in Spanish) and a link and image of your articles. This creates a Note about your article.

• We would include the text of that Note (with a link) in a newsletter that we send to our subscribers. One of our team members, Mercedes de Santiago (maybe you know her), was already doing this in English and Spanish, and we are merging her publication with ours. If you like, you can see a sample of our daily we produce with articles in Spanish. We will produce some weekly newsletter by topics.

• We would also embed such notes in an appropriate guide or article from one of our publications (we have more than 20), as a good example of the topic being discussed in that text. This way, if our readers want to know more, they can go to the full article, which is in your newsletter.

🔊 In addition, if we find any of your Notes that we consider particularly valuable, we can translate them into Spanish with a link to your profile, your Note, and a description of what you write, which we would also embed in our publications. We have already done this with dozens of Notes.

📚 By reading your articles and comparing them, we can also offer you a free translation into Spanish of the best article of the year written in English in the Library (more information here). All articles in the Library will be restacked more than once, by some of a long list of writers who agree. By including your article in this library, you can increase your visibility, attract potential partners, supporters, donors, and volunteers, and connect with like-minded people who share your vision. Our simple process ensures that getting listed in the repository is quick, free and easy. And, starting this year, the best articles in each category will receive a cash prize.

🎬 And what should I do? We just ask that you restack the Note commenting on your article, nothing else. The goal is for more people, regardless of their language, to see how we try to overcome the language barrier on Substack. In addition, it is quite common for authors to restack notes that restack their own articles.

If you agree, please reply to this comment, and we'll add you to the list. We'll start commenting on your articles shortly.

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Photo by Vardan Papikyan on Unsplash

Weekly Colaborations in English

I would like to propose a deal (it would be David and me):

-Every week, we translate and publish your newsletter. That's good for your newsletter, as they get more exposure (about 7,000 subscribers and twice as many followers) and links (good for SEO).

- Along with those translations, we put CTAs of your paid product. See an example here: dineros.substack. com/p/de-un-pasatiempo-a-un-newsletter

In addition, we will be sending notes with information about your paid offer, in English. The idea is to get paying subscribers every month (I will be the first one).

Is that OK with you?

- Some people who read my newsletters only speak English, and some Spanish readers use the app's translator to read English. Some notes I write in English get likes and comments. I'm thinking of opening a profile only in English, for my notes in English. My idea is to make the CTAs of the articles in Spanish, and the CTAs of the notes in English.

- I'm thinking of doing it in a new section or a new newsletter.

- I work on Substack and some blogs with a small team that helps me. David was part of that team, a hard worker, and we thought it was better for him to have his own newsletters, so we could complement and help each other. So, when we start a project, we do it together. About him: davidroberto.