The Sunday Digest

Happy Sunday!

Did you read something about Substack this week? This Columbia Journalism Review piece, perhaps? Maybe you found yourself in some of the ensuing Twitter conversation? (Here’s a nice, balanced thread from their co-founder, if you’re wondering how it was received over there.) Or maybe, like us, you caught wind that they’re beta testing an Inbox feature.

Beyond Substack, there was plenty of motion in the subscribable-writing sphere this week—including the launches of newsletter curation app Listory, Morning Brew’s recommendation-based letter Sidekick, and Gumroad Memberships.

If you weren’t reading about newsletters, were you simmering a hot take on Fleets?

For Fleet-followup analysis from Dan, Talk Therapy has you covered. We’ve also got the latest on acquisitions and apps, and a soothing podcast on why writing should be about more than just a finished product. And speaking of writing: Want to do some for us—and get paid? We’re announcing the inaugural Every Fellowship below.

For all that and much more—including monetization strategy, writing advice, and Li Jin’s royally-inspired high school haircut—keep reading.

What We Published — Week of November 22nd

Articles — 4

Podcasts — 2

Live Conversations — 2

Amazing Average — 54%

What’s popular:

1. 🔮 Three Shorts: Instagram, Spotify, Substack 🔒 by Nathan Baschez in Divinations (1,586 words)
2. 💝 News Roundup #9: Parler Rises To The Top of App Store 🔒 in Means of Creation (944 words)
3. ⚡️ Action Item: The Quest to be Good at Everything 🔒 by Dan Shipper in Superorganizers (882 words)
4. 💞 #45 - Fleets, Reels, and Shop usher us into a period of turbulence 🎧 by Dan Shipper and Nathan Baschez on Talk Therapy (16 min)
5. ⚡️ Hunting Knowledge with Eric Jorgenson by Dan Shipper in Superorganizers (3,257 words)
6. 🗣 Episode Five: Writing As a Way of Being Part II, with Robert Yagelski 🎧 with Rachel Jepsen on The Long Conversation (32 min)
7. 💝 Indie Hackers founder Courtland Allen on How to Build a Profitable Online Business 🎥 on Means of Creation (54 min)

Two weekly series you should know about:

🔮 Three Shorts — Our new Divinations series unpacks strategy in as few bullet points as possible. In the latest installment, Nathan unpacks the strategy behind Substack Inbox, fresh Instagram features, and Spotify’s latest acquisition. Read now.

⚡️ Action Items — In this Superorganizers series we turn each of our interviews into actionable bullet points. This week, Dan’s interview with Bark founder Henrik Werdelin becomes a 4-minute read centered on Henrik’s system for balancing all of the responsibilities in his life. Read now.

What We’re Reading

Playing on Hard Mode

This week, Ben Thompson looked at the Door Dash and AirBnB IPOs and compared the challenges they faced—digitizing two inherently non-digital industries—with tech darlings of the past like Facebook and Google who did something comparatively easier.

Good Writing on Everything Else

• How I wrote 200 articles in 200 days
• Simon Sarris on Familiarity and Belonging
• The Limits of the Viral Book Review
• David Fincher profiled by the NYT
• Walter Mosley’s speech from the National Book Awards

What’s Going On

News

• BuzzFeed acquires HuffPo
• ‘Follow Me on Parler’ Is New Mantra for Users Aggrieved by Facebook
• Apple announces App Store Small Business Program
• Doordash plots an IPO
• Ezra Klein, Lauren Williams leave Vox

Culture Bite

What Bundle members are consuming and loving.

Li Jin: I've been obsessed with The Crown and its amazing costumes, colors, and characters since season one. The new season (which debuted last Sunday) and its depictions of the young Princess Diana re-sparked my teenage obsession with her. In high school, I marched into the salon with a picture of Diana so that I could get my hair (which was down to my waist) cut like hers.

Tweets of the Week

https://twitter.com/imbadatlife/status/1328333257235161088

https://twitter.com/MrBeastYT/status/1328716481404788736

https://twitter.com/shweta_xyz/status/1329126255808036867

https://twitter.com/benyt/status/1329585456221220864?s=21

https://twitter.com/nikillinit/status/1328150101462835202

Write for us!

Today we’re launching the Everything Fellowship, an open contest to find the next great piece of practitioner-focused business writing. The prize? $1,000, and your essay published here. Put simply: We want you to write for us. Here’s how you can do that:

• Submit a pitch (150-200 words) for an essay – anything that communicates your own experience or opinion about a specific part of the business and/or productivity world. If that feels broad, it’s on purpose. We want you to bring as much of your own perspective to the pitch as possible. Teach us something.
• We’ll also want a writing sample. Something you’ve had published, something you haven’t – anything you’re proud of that you think we should read. The closer it is in subject matter to our general output, the better, but we’ll read anything.
• We’ll pick a pitch! If it’s yours, you’ll write a first draft. When we get it, we’ll pay you $200. The other $800 will go out when we publish your essay.

So get pitching – we can’t wait to read what you write. If you have any questions, send them to [email protected].

Winner’s Circle

A few weeks back, we asked you to fill out a survey about the Bundle, with the promise that we’d send a randomly selected participant three books of their choosing.

So congrats to Ani F. from Munich, and thanks for giving us some very useful feedback! Enjoy the books — here’s what Ani chose, if you’d like to read along:

• The Effective Executive: The Definitive Guide to Getting the Right Things Done by Peter Drucker
• The Almanack of Naval Ravikant: A Guide to Wealth and Happiness by Eric Jorgenson
• Vagabonding: An Uncommon Guide to the Art of Long-Term World Travel by Rolf Potts

An Invitation to Everything

Not a subscriber? Intrigued by the bundle? Now would be a good time to subscribe — it’s just $20 a month for Everything we offer.

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This post was written by Babe Howard and edited by Dan Shipper.