The Third Path
Aemula Media Spotlight - 8.6.26
We need to hold ourselves accountable.
We have discussed whether or not you can make a living by publishing independently on Substack.
We have discussed whether or not you can make a living by pursuing a career in traditional media.
But we have not held ourselves to this same level of scrutiny. It is easy for us to be critical of these other business models. Despite an effort to root our analysis in data and present a realistic interpretation of the current economic environment for both independent and institutional publishers, we recognize the fact that we have an inherent bias. We are incentivized to focus on the flaws of these systems in order to highlight the problems we aim to solve.
As we alluded to in the previous newsletters, Aemula aims to offer journalists a third path. One where they retain the ownership, freedom, and control of independence, while having the resources, support, and stability of a traditional newsroom.
So it is only fair to ask. Can you make a living on Aemula?
No.
At least, not currently.
To date, publishers on Aemula have earned $13,800 for their work. Over the past 12 months, publishers have earned an average of $57.38 each month. Though the earnings are small, it is not a bad deal when you consider that most publishers on Aemula automatically cross-post from Substack, meaning that they earn an additional $57.38 each month with no additional work.
However, with the average publisher earning less than $700/year on Aemula, we are in no place to criticize Substack’s median publication earnings of less than $7,500/year. The expected earnings on Substack are over 10x Aemula’s average.
Yet, the difference in expected earnings is less drastic when you consider the fact that Substack has 100,000x the number of paid subscribers as Aemula. Relatively speaking, we are still in the early stages, but that is no excuse.
If we wish to support an industry transition to independent journalism and fix the broken incentives of the modern attention economy, journalists need to be able to make a living on Aemula.
We designed Aemula so that the average publisher would be able to earn an annual income comparable to the median wage at a traditional publication, which was $62,200/year as of 2025. We are currently 100x short of that target (albeit traditional publications have 1,000,000x as many paid subscribers), so it is our job to continue improving our platform and growing our community to make publishing on Aemula a viable way to make a living.
The emphasis here is that it is our job.
When you decide to go independent, you are left to bear the risk of growing your own business. You have to promote your work, utilize growth mechanics across platforms, build an audience, and convert your readers into paid subscribers. Then you need to continuously publish an adequate volume of content on a regular cadence in order to retain those paid subscribers.
You are competing in the crowded attention economy. The pressure to post to meet your audience’s expectations for their paid subscriptions can get in the way of producing the work you are capable of creating. The financial reliance on meeting these expectations can often result in audience capture, where you begin to alter your work to align more closely with what your audience rewards rather than what you want to share.
Independent publishers spend considerable time, effort, and resources to stand out in an increasingly competitive market. But it is a lot of work for little reward. Subscription fatigue is real, so there is an unreasonably high barrier when trying convince a reader to become a paid subscriber. It is no wonder why independent publications are experiencing high churn rates in paid subscriptions and a drop-off in their earnings.
We view all of this as a distraction.
Independent journalists should be able to focus on their reporting. They should be able to take the time to research and develop an in-depth, long-term investigative piece with the confidence that they will be compensated for their work. They should not have to worry that they will lose subscribers because they aren’t posting frequently enough. Their earnings should correlate with the quality of their work, not their ability to self-market and optimize audience conversion pipelines. These are unrelated skillsets.
Instead, it should be our responsibility to handle paid subscriber conversion for the publishers on Aemula. That way, they can focus on what they do best. But this should not be at the expense of true independence. Publishers should not have to rely on our willingness to divvy up subscriptions to be able to make a living. If they did, we would be no different than a traditional newsroom.
Independent journalists should earn directly from the readers who interact with and support their work. To solve this, readers on Aemula pay into a community-governed subscription pool. As subscribers read articles, portions of their subscription are programmatically sent directly to the journalists that did the work. Subscriptions flow from the readers to the reporters.
Since subscribers on Aemula pay a single subscription to access everything, you might think that your earnings would be lower since you are splitting subscriptions with all other publications on the platform. However, the amount a subscriber is willing to pay is finite, as is the amount of content they are able to consume in a given day. The total pool size of paid subscriptions and engagement doesn’t change, but on Substack, this subscription revenue primarily flows to the publications that are already successful or best optimized to convert paid subscribers.
Take a look at your own engagement numbers on Substack. You probably see that some of your posts get more views than you have free subscribers, and you will likely see that you have many more free subscribers than you have paid subscribers. Substack says they typically see that only 5-10% of a publication’s subscribers are paid.
On Aemula, every view is monetized from a paid subscriber, with the same payout rate as Substack. Additionally, the reach of an article on Aemula is based on its own merits. We have designed our incentives in a way that correlates earnings with the quality and effort of your work. On Substack and other social platforms, reach and earnings are correlated with unpredictable virality mechanics. You should be paid for the work you produce, not based on luck or ability to growth-hack an audience.
This is not to mention the communal newsroom support resources we offer to journalists free of charge, including data feeds, premium research tools, and grant opportunities. We aim to ensure independent journalists have access to the same resources they would have in a traditional newsroom so they can produce their best work. Independence should not be at the expense of support and stability.
Of course, we still have a long way to go with all of this. You cannot currently make a living on Aemula. You cannot access to the same resources you would find in a traditional newsroom. It is still easier to make a living on Substack or in traditional media.
But the third path has to start somewhere, and it is our job to make it a viable option.
Media in the Media
Theme: Newsrooms pushing back against ownership control of editorial direction
Washington Post’s opinion editor resigns after just one year in role — The Guardian
WaPo opinion editor Adam O’Neal announced his resignation after spending roughly 1 year in the role, with his last day set for August 31st
O’Neal came into the role following “the controversial decision last year by owner Jeff Bezos to reorient the paper’s opinion section to focus on championing free markets and personal liberties, a move that served to alienate many subscribers.”
“Still, it’s extremely unusual for a top Post leader to depart so quickly, particularly one who served as the face of a dramatic reorientation of the section. O’Neal’s predecessor, the veteran journalist David Shipley, resigned after failing to convince Bezos to not move forward with his new mandate for the section, which made the work of many of its longtime writers no longer relevant. Many such writers were encouraged to take a buyout in the summer of 2025 and leave the publication.”
Trend: Institutional newsrooms focusing on independent journalism to capture demand for independent reporting
The New York Times Company Reports Second-Quarter 2026 Results — The New York Times
The Times gained 280,000 digital-only subscribers on net in Q2 and now has 13.35m subscribers
“By continuing to invest in independent, high-quality journalism and market-leading lifestyle products— and leaning into our opportunity in video—we’re becoming even more essential to even more people. In a rapidly changing media landscape, we believe we are well positioned to continue building a larger, more profitable company.” — Meredith Kopit Levien, president and CEO
Notable $4.6m in litigation-related costs during Q2 associated with the Times defending against the unauthorized use of reporting to train LLMs ($8.8m in the first 6 months of 2026)
Spotlight
This week, we highlight writers discussing and sharing resources to help you find work as a freelancer, find roles in media, and make a living from your work. We encourage you to explore their work and consider subscribing directly.
The Freelance Writing Network
Written by George, founder of the Freelance Writing Network, whose team curates freelance writing, journalism, editing, and content opportunities, helping writers discover high-quality commissions, pitch calls, and career resources from across the publishing industry.
“The Freelance Writing Network has always been built around one idea: giving you everything you need to build and grow your writing career in one place.”
Inside the Newsroom
Written by Daniel Levitt, founder of Inside The Newsroom, an independent publication that curates journalism jobs, freelance opportunities, fellowships, and industry resources to help reporters, editors, and media professionals build sustainable careers in journalism.
Read on Ghost
“This week I've been listening to Rick Rubin's The Creative Act: The Way of Being, not as a how-to for producers, but as a reminder of something I keep forgetting in the scramble of inboxes and deadlines: the best work often arrives when you stop forcing it, and make room for what's trying to come through.”
Velvet Noise
Written by Maja, a writer and interdisciplinary thinker whose work explores the intersection of technology, creativity, culture, and the inner life, examining how attention, beauty, and human connection can help people live more intentionally in an increasingly digital world.
“Early in my career, I understood jobs solely through the front door. A job was a thing that appeared on a job board. You sent your resume into the void and hoped someone on the other side noticed you.
But I do think many people, especially students, are taught the front door so thoroughly that they do not realise the building has other entrances. It can be easy to miss that careers are often houses you learn to enter through side gates, half-open windows, winding garden paths, basement doors, conversations at parties, public artifacts, warm introductions, cold emails, mutual fascination, visible proof of work, and one person willing to take a bet on another person.
In other words, the job market is a search problem.”
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Increase your earnings
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Verifiably own your work
Plus, you gain access community resources and grants to support the content you want to create.
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