What’s a band that someone ruined for you? For me it’s The Strokes

Someone asked me to make a video about the future of Substack aka when and how I think it’s all gonna fall apart. Substack’s not making enough money. Their founders are incompetent. Their newest VCs are private equity path to bankruptcy clowns. It’s Twitter all over again

I'm super pleased to have a short new essay live on @assignedmedia.org this morning. It's about surviving the holidays while estranged. Huge thanks as always to my wonderful editor @evanurquhart.bsky.social ... www.assignedmedia.org/breaking-new... Grateful to all who read and share this one.

Alright, y'all. I'm (@lyneka.bsky.social) on dinner duty tonight. I wish you all happy holidays! I’ll be back after Christmas to update folks on our goal. If you’d like to help us reach it, please consider making a one-time or monthly donation. I believe we're at 250+ donors and at 60% of our goal.

Merry Christmas to me! Here’s an excellent takedown of one of Substack’s lead investors by @markstenberg.bsky.social www.tiktok.com/t/ZP8y5d5SF/

I haven’t spent Christmas at home in years. Here’s where I spent the last 4 2021: Palm Springs 2022: Key West with Uncle Mark 2023: Savannah 2024: Athens

Moved the youtube editing to a cafe TO BE MORE FESTIVE IS THIS FESTIVE

1 MORE LEGEND AND WE'LL HIT OUR MILESTONE OF 200 WOWWWWWWWEEEEEE I'm building the directory already and you'll have it in the new year 🏆

Autonomy News is two people (me and @garnethenderson.com) working without a salary or benefits. Support our end-of-year campaign with a tax-deductible gift so we can bring you even more accountability reporting in 2026: autonomy-news.monkeypod.io/give/support...

Freelancing for the first time can feel a lot like working at a start-up with a staff of one – it’s easy to get overwhelmed! That’s why the IIJ has created the Freelance Quick Start Guide, a free resource to get you launched: bit.ly/iijquickstart

welcome to the Second Annual Bluesky Christmas Eve Snowball Fight! please drop a take in the replies and I or someone else will be along to belligerently interpret whatever you said in the worst possible light

Allison Boaz just became a Legend! If you want to be part of my creative network, you can become one too.

*me side eyeing all the holiday hustle messaging while also editing my Year in Review video* My 2025 Year in Review goes live for paid subscribers on Friday along with a BTS video on YouTube.

We are 2 away from 200 Legends. When we hit that milestone, we unlock a perk for ALL LEGENDS. A directory of our creative network. Legends are always asking me “who does web design” or “who else lives in Portland” and now you’ll know! Become a Legend: www.revenuerulebreaker.com/why-become-a...

I could not run my paid Ghost blog without Outpost. Here's everything I set up before I launched. youtu.be/rSqn67-iwfk?...

You are not thinking big enough about your brand partnerships. Signed this Christmas tree made out of Stella Artois glasses

Happy holidays, dear readers! Our gift to you: big ‘ol .csv files, a public records request guide and behind-the-scenes info from our investigative series on Flock cameras, all available to download at the link below. We've also included a guide on how you can request your own Flock docs:

Subscriptions are both the procrastinator's delight and maybe the best gifts? Got my brother a subscription to the Baffler and the London Review of Books for Christmas last year. We spent all year texting about the nerdiest LRB reviews we read. This year he just wants us to renew them both.

“Leaving behind over 3 million followers” is a crazy thing to write lol

Want to grow your newsletter BUT don’t wanna pay Facebook? Pay other creators to grow your list Here’s newsletter ads you can book for less than $500 www.paidnewsletterplaybook.com/newsletter-a...

404 Media is about to enter energy saver mode. We're still publishing throughout the week, however, so watch your inbox / RSS / the @404media.co feed and you won't miss us too badly. Before we all slip into the ether, I wanted to highlight a few stories I published this year that stuck out. 🧵🪡

GUYS WE ARE 2 LEGENDS AWAY FROM 200! When we hit 200, we unlock a new perk for all paid subscribers. Learn about these perks and JOIN US 🤩🤩🤩 www.revenuerulebreaker.com/the-perks-of...

Sheryl Garratt just became a Legend! If you want to be part of my creative network, you can become one too.

I really hate when people call what's happening at Substack enshittification. I find that term to be a flat way to describe what's actually very different business behavior. Substack's leaders were always clout chasers who couldn't run the business. We're just finally seeing that.

Tara Lassiter just became a Legend! If you want to be part of my creative network, you can become one too.

I get most of my Atlanta news from Hoodanchorye and until I started following him I had no idea how many cars were driving into buildings www.tiktok.com/t/ZP8yDWkwn/

where's eric adams when you need him

whenever I work with the students or interns I feel like everything is going to be okay & the future is very very bright; I wish everyone had access to hope on tap like I do

Tomorrow’s newsletter is about all the authors in our community. Quite a few new releases this year! 📚📚📚 Plus, meet some new Legends 🎉 revenuerulebreaker.com/newsletter

POV you're a youtuber but you travel a lot so you turn whatever's around into gear

We are now only 4 Legends away from my end of year goal of 200 Legends. I'm going to spend my holiday break making our new directory so Legends can refer, boost, collaborate and hire each other in 2026 🎉 Join us here: revenuerulebreaker.com/membership

I launched my independent reporting project mid-year and reported, before local mainstream news outlets, stories about: - Hemet police dept raffling off a gun - LAPD not reporting their use of force against state law - the 10k less lethal rounds used at protests Read them here: www.joeyscott.xyz

2025 was a difficult year for me as a journalist and as a human. I'm three years into taking journalism seriously, and I spent it juggling insecurities and burnout. Add in the wildfires, ICE raids, and the daily march into fascism that fried my nervous system. Despite it all, I am proud of my work:

as always, trade gets in for free -- sports media, email or DM for a free all-time subscription

Read Kelly, and support independent media

Nicole St. Germain just became a Legend! If you want to be part of my creative network, you can become one too.

I completely redid my welcome flow after interviewing Isaac Saul at Tangle. Isaac told me their welcome page + email series was their best converter. I wanted to see if it would work for me. It does.

Lex has a ton of really helpful advice for online professionals of all stripes (marketers, media people, etc). Worth signing up for imho!

I just bought Kari Ginsburg a coffee ☕️ buymeacoffee.com/uproarcoachi...

We are now 5 away from 200 Legends! If you want to grow your business with me and 200+ Legends in 2026, you should join us revenuerulebreaker.com/membership

Douglas E Price just became a Legend! If you want to be part of my creative network, you can become one too.

I published over 100 stories and guides this year. Here are 10 of the most popular.

One of the best things I've done this year is put a welcome form post-sign up for paid subscribers to learn why they joined and who sent them. Nearly everyone puts a name there. A lot of the people referring new subscribers are not paid subscribers themselves.

We are now ONLY 6 LEGENDS AWAY from 200, our next milestone. Welcome to Renga and Scott who joined us today. You'll meet them properly in Tuesday's newsletter. If you're thinking of becoming a Legend, let me tell more about who's part of this creative network.

Next year it’s time to think more about subscription tiers for professionals, organizations and companies. Not just consumers.

Ruwa Romman is the real deal. She’s been in the GA State House where she’s collaborated with important community orgs and she’s now running for Governor 🔥🔥🔥

I’m getting really good feedback on Taiwo Adepetun’s story today. If you’re afraid to charge more, read it. www.revenuerulebreaker.com/the-email-th...

A lot of people who want to outsource “newsletter ad sales” have no idea what it takes to run a successful sponsored product. Learn that first before you minimize this into “I just need someone to sell ads.” That’s how you stay not making money. Following Justin Moore’s work is a good start.

I see a lot of people worried about their newsletter growth, their paid subscription growth and options for monetization. I created my subscription and event series to help. For less than $100, you can become a paid subscriber and get a Q1 season pass to my events.

What’s working to grow your newsletter AND what’s working for everybody else? Come get some new channel ideas on January 8th at this online workshop luma.com/30pvembr