The Brief.

The business of content.

Tag: Newsletters

  • What Creators Can Learn from OnlyFans

    What Creators Can Learn from OnlyFans

    How a platform often dismissed for its adult content quietly perfected the direct-to-audience model.

    For years, tech companies have been trying to build the perfect creator platform. Subscription buttons, tipping systems, new algorithms, endless talk about “empowerment.” Meanwhile, one company quietly got it right — not through innovation theatre, but through a blunt, workable model.

    OnlyFans didn’t reinvent the internet. It removed the noise. It gave creators a way to build direct relationships, set their own price, and get paid without having to beg an algorithm for scraps. That’s the part most of the tech world still doesn’t want to admit.

    Visibility isn’t a lottery

    Most platforms keep creators on a leash. Reach depends on engagement spikes, algorithm shifts, and whether your content fits the current flavour of the week. OnlyFans works on a simpler premise: if someone pays to follow you, they see what you post. Every time.

    No games. No disappearing reach. No paid boosts. That kind of predictability is rare online, and it gives creators actual control over their audience.

    Small numbers can pay the bills

    The traditional internet economy fetishises reach. OnlyFans rewards loyalty. A creator with a few hundred subscribers can out-earn someone with a massive following elsewhere.

    Five hundred subscribers at $10 a month is $5,000 in predictable income — without chasing viral moments, brand deals, or platform bonuses. That’s a steady business, not a gamble on attention.

    Access is the hook

    The product isn’t just the content. It’s the closeness. Subscribers pay because they get direct contact — messages answered, attention returned. That kind of proximity is rare on the big ad-driven networks, and it’s what turns casual followers into paying supporters.

    It’s not romantic or sentimental; it’s structural. Intimacy, when managed well, scales better than reach.

    Niche beats noise

    Creators are often told to go broad — reach more people, post everywhere, get bigger. OnlyFans proves that narrow works. A well-defined niche with a loyal base can outperform a massive but passive audience.

    This is the part most “creator tools” miss: focus is an asset, not a limitation. The sharper the niche, the more direct the connection, the stronger the revenue.

    Power stays with the creator

    The platform doesn’t own the pricing. It doesn’t decide who sees what. It doesn’t shuffle creators through an opaque feed designed to keep them on a hamster wheel. OnlyFans hands over the controls and gets out of the way.

    For creators burned out by the churn of attention-based platforms, that control isn’t a perk — it’s the entire point.

    Lessons worth taking

    You don’t need to be on OnlyFans to borrow its playbook. The structure — not the content — is what works. Substack proved the model with newsletters; OnlyFans applied it to everything else.

    • Build a direct line to your audience.
    • Prioritise recurring revenue.
    • Keep control of pricing and delivery.
    • Focus on loyal niches, not big numbers.
    • Offer real access, not algorithmic crumbs.

    The rest of the industry is still over-engineering solutions to problems OnlyFans quietly solved years ago. Creators looking to build sustainable work don’t need another platform chasing buzzwords. They need a model that works. This one already does.

  • How Substack Writers Can Build Audiences Without Paying for Visibility

    How Substack Writers Can Build Audiences Without Paying for Visibility

    When Substack first gained traction, it was hailed as a lifeline for independent writers: a platform where newsletters could bypass algorithmic feeds, connect directly with readers, and generate revenue through subscriptions. But as the platform has grown — now hosting hundreds of thousands of publications — discovery has become one of its most persistent challenges. Substack offers paid promotion tools, but not every writer wants (or can afford) to invest in ads to reach readers. Growth without a budget remains both necessary and possible.

    Start with the writing, not the platform

    Readers don’t subscribe because of the mechanics of Substack. They subscribe because the writing offers clarity, perspective, or utility they can’t find elsewhere. Growth begins with sharpening the voice: a distinct angle, a rhythm of publishing, and an ability to frame ideas in ways that matter to a specific audience. Consistency matters less than predictability. Weekly is fine, monthly is fine — so long as the cadence is steady enough to build trust.

    Borrow audiences strategically

    Most successful newsletters don’t grow in isolation. Writers leverage overlapping communities — Twitter threads linking back to essays, guest posts on other newsletters, podcast appearances, even traditional op-eds. Cross-pollination works because it taps into audiences already primed to read. An early-stage Substack benefits more from being recommended by three peers in its niche than from paying for anonymous clicks.

    Make the archive work for you

    One overlooked advantage of Substack is the permanent archive. Each post has a URL that can circulate far beyond its send date. Treat the archive as evergreen publishing: update older posts with context, resurface them on social media, and link internally within your own essays. Search visibility may not be as powerful as a dedicated blog on WordPress, but Substack posts do index in Google, and long-tail discovery remains a real source of organic growth.

    Lean on recommendations and networks

    Substack’s own recommendation feature, while imperfect, still provides value. Writers with even modest subscriber lists can generate meaningful referrals, especially within tightly defined niches. Beyond the platform, independent networks of newsletter writers (informal Slack groups, Discord servers, co-promotion collectives) are quietly effective. The key is reciprocity: the best growth often comes from communities where writers actively support each other rather than chasing one-way promotion.

    Don’t ignore design and accessibility

    While content rules, presentation helps. Clear subject lines, accessible formatting, and thoughtful design reduce friction. Readers who enjoy receiving your work are more likely to forward it to others — one of the oldest and most reliable forms of organic growth. Substack offers limited customisation, but small details — images, typography, readability on mobile — make an outsized difference in shareability.

    Growth without shortcuts

    The temptation with any platform is to search for hacks. Substack is no exception. But the newsletters that endure, and the ones that generate revenue, tend to grow steadily rather than virally. They are built on a compound model: one reader forwarding to another, one post being cited by a larger outlet, one collaboration leading to a new audience. None of these require an ad budget, but they do require persistence and clarity of intent.

    The Brief will continue to track how discovery evolves on Substack and other newsletter platforms. For now, the message is straightforward: growth without payment is slower, but it builds an audience that is more loyal, more invested, and more likely to stay.