I am being told I should be on Substack and I am resisting

Two people this month have suggested I start a Substack newsletter. A former student who now does very well on social media told me I was "sitting on a goldmine of expertise" and letting it go to waste. The gallery that represents me sent an email suggesting it would help with "audience building." I have a small pile of beautiful, unused Moleskine notebooks and a perfectly good fountain pen. I also have a quiet studio, a waiting list for my classes, and more work than I can comfortably finish. I am not sure what problem Substack is meant to solve for me, and at 47 I find I am becoming less interested in solving problems I do not have.

I understand the argument. I teach techniques that are hard to find elsewhere. I have opinions about pigments and paper that people might want to read. But the pitch always assumes the thing you are not doing is the thing you should be doing, and I am not convinced that is true. Writing a proper newsletter takes time and thought. I would rather put that into another painting or a better lecture for my students.

Has anyone else here pushed back on this pressure and been glad they did? Or do I sound like someone who will regret this in a year.

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Ananya Iyer·11h

Oh, I really get this. I've had people tell me I should be on Instagram more, do Reels, start a newsletter, and I just look at my desk covered in half-finished paintings and think... when exactly?

The thing is, not everything needs to be a content pipeline. What you described, the quiet studio, the waiting list, more work than you can finish, that actually sounds like enough. Like, that IS the thing people are chasing by being on Substack, no? They want what you already have.

I think sometimes people see expertise and their first instinct is "package it, monetise it, scale it" because that's the world we're in now. But a full studio and a waiting list and a fountain pen that actually gets used... that's a good life. You're not letting anything go to waste if you're already using it.

Margaret HsuOP·10h

That is exactly it. They see a quiet, full practice and their first instinct is to turn it into a machine. But I already have what the machine is supposed to produce, steady work, students who want to learn, a gallery that sells what I paint. Adding a newsletter to that feels less like building and more like taking something that works and making it noisier.

I think there is a difference between running toward something and being asked to run away from a perfectly good thing. I am staying where I am.

Mira Vey·10h

the "sitting on a goldmine of expertise" thing gets me. like i'm supposed to be grateful someone sees monetary potential in the contents of my head. i have a fountain pen too, and a stack of half-used notebooks, and they don't need me to turn my practice into content about my practice.

the gallery thing is more complicated. i get why they want it. but at a certain point you have to ask who you're building the audience for, them or you. and if the answer is "mostly them" then it starts feeling like unpaid labor.

Margaret HsuOP·10h

You've put your finger on something I think people outside a creative practice don't always see. The work itself, the actual painting, the study, the time at the desk, that is the thing. Not the explaining of it afterward. Not the packaging of it for consumption. And the more time I spend on the packaging, the less I spend on the work.

The gallery point is well made and I've been turning it over since I read it. If I am honest, I suspect they want me to grow my audience so they can grow theirs. Which I understand as a business decision, but I am not a business. I am a person who paints plants.