Can Substack lure creators with its new $20 million program? Here's how it plans to do it

Substack, a newsletter platform widely known for housing independent writers, journalists, and even up-and-coming individuals seeking to enter the media landscape, just launched a $20 million “Creator Accelerator Fund” to attract TikTok creators and influencers from other social networking platforms.

How Substack’s creator fund works

According to a statement provided by the company on Thursday, the “Creator Accelerator Fund” aims to “help creators expand their reach and business by taking advantage of Substack’s growth network and full suite of publishing, community, and discovery tools.”

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Substack also detailed that the fund will pay content creators to move their paid subscription audiences exclusively to Substack. To avoid any loss of revenue creators may accrue as a result of the migration, the program will cover 100% of the revenue creators were making on their previous platform for the first year.

Moreover, the company is explicitly looking to invest in US-based individual creators or small groups “who have a monthly recurring revenue (MRR) of at least $2,000” on subscription-based platforms such as Patreon, Memberful, or Circle. The platform is even pairing creators with a member of Substack’s Partnerships team, who will assist creators in moving their paid subscription audience to Substack by providing “advice and support” as well as “guiding [creators] through key launch moments and setting up your publication for maximum success,” according to a Substack blog post.

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Over the last few years, Substack has attracted thousands of independent writers, journalists, and creators by allowing them to monetize their content through paid newsletters. Recently, the platform has become a unique destination for alternative media publications like Mehdi Hasan’s Zeteo, the leftist outlet Drop Site News, former WashPo journalist Taylor Lorenz’s User Mag, and culture critic Hunter Harris’ Hung Up.

Capitalizing on TikTok’s legal uncertainty

However, Substack’s overarching goal has been to pivot to a Patreon-like model with social networking features such as expanded video-stream capabilities, the ability to create a profile not tied to a publication, and posts that look like tweets. Like other tech giants, Substack is rolling out these incentives to capitalize on the legal uncertainty surrounding the TikTok ban.  

As Substack states, “The recent tumult of social platforms — facing bans, backlash, and policies that change with the political winds — has highlighted the challenges creators face: They cannot rely on social media alone to build their audience or their business.”

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Substack is unique compared to most social media platforms because it is writing-focused and doesn’t rely on trend-based short-form video content or posts. Like many others, I use Substack to escape the hellscape that is X and the mind-numbingness of TikTok. It’s become a space where I can read up on breaking news, culture, tech, and even recipe newsletters from different perspectives and engage with insightful people looking for alternative online communities.

For many social media creators who depend on brand deals or content monetization programs on YouTube or TikTok for income — a platform like Substack could be life-changing because it means more regular and steady income. But Substack has also been a place for jumpstarting journalism careers or escaping the constraints of traditional legacy media, and a creator fund that further invests in that mission could ultimately revolutionize the media landscape.