Newsletter platform Substack targets UK growth

Subscription newsletter platform Substack is best known in the UK as the platform that former political adviser Dominic Cummings uses to publish his views on his time in government.

Yet that could be about to change.

Buoyed by the higher profile the platform has attained via the insight of the former campaign director of Vote Leave, Substack has announced that it is to try and attract more UK writers to its platform. To aid its plan the company has appointed Elle UK editor-in-chief Farrah Storr as head of partnerships in the country.

So far the San Francisco based platform, which was founded in 2017, is valued at about $650 million and has 80 staff. 

Anyone can use the platform, though when professionals charge a fee to access their work, Substack takes a 10 per cent cut.

A spokesperson for the company said Farrah Storr  “will be helping some of the best writers from around the UK to build on the momentum that has started organically on the platform.”

“We’re excited for what’s to come from a region with such a proud history of journalism and literature,” said the group, “and we welcome Farrah to the Substack team.”

In addition to Dominic Cummings, high profile UK Substack users include journalist Dan Hitchens, and authors Salman Rushdie and Jeanette Winterson. Global figures include; aca demic and author George Saunders, historian Heather Cox Richardson, journalist Matt Taibbi, author Daniel M. Lavery, tech journalist Casey Newton and economist Emily Oster.

The company saw a major surge in subscribers during the pandemic which rose from 250,000 in December 2020 to 1m this November.

Its rivals include Facebook’s Bulletin, which launched in June and the Twitter-owned Revue.