Ed note: I posted the following as a Note, but thought I’d share it here in case it’s useful to the post’s readers:
I’ve seen some people express disappointment that the new Wine & Spirits leaderboards only feature accounts with a paid tier. The disappointment is understandable, and I would love if there were a better way to discover wine expertise across the platform without regard to monetization.
But Substack’s choice to include only those with paying subs in their leaderboards is based on their business model, which takes a cut of revenue received. A contributor with paying subscribers pays the platform 10% of all monies collected (as well as ecommerce transaction fees). Those are the funds that power the publishing infrastructure for everyone: readers, subscribers, paid publishers, unpaid publishers.
Since category leaderboards reward revenue growth and velocity, it’s conceivable a publisher who hates paywalls could offer paid tiers but keep all of their posts free. If they got a handful of generous donors they would certainly rise up the lists.
The Substack wine club mostly consists of discussing, buying, and sharing deals from Last Bottle (https://lastbottlewines.com). We've been hooked by their "marathon" weeks
It's great to have a list of names all in one place! I just found a couple of new lists to subscribe to. And to all the paid subs out there, keep up the great work, but also, keep providing great work...
While there are many terrific websites and writers on these lists, it's discouraging and disheartening that BTYH doesn't show up on either one. I've been writing about wine longer than some of these people have been alive. Ah, the unattractive note of bitterness creeps in ....
I’m sorry, Fredric. You do have to switch your category in your Substack website editor to Wine & Spirits. After that, when you get a paid subscriber or two in a brief period you are likely to show up in Rising. Substack rewards paid subs much more aggressively than free ones.
Congrats on making the list! It’s a great way to find more wine nerds but I am a bit disappointed it is for paid tiers only. I hope there can be a distinction in the future that incorporates writers and experts without paywalls. There’s more than a handful of MS and MW folks with wonderful articles and followings that are missing from the list solely because they do not have any type of paid tiers.
I hear you and agree it would be great to have an easy way to find all wine experts regardless of their chosen subscription model. A more robust tagging and classification scheme for profiles, coupled with enhanced search, would go a long way toward improving discoverability.
Ed note: I posted the following as a Note, but thought I’d share it here in case it’s useful to the post’s readers:
I’ve seen some people express disappointment that the new Wine & Spirits leaderboards only feature accounts with a paid tier. The disappointment is understandable, and I would love if there were a better way to discover wine expertise across the platform without regard to monetization.
But Substack’s choice to include only those with paying subs in their leaderboards is based on their business model, which takes a cut of revenue received. A contributor with paying subscribers pays the platform 10% of all monies collected (as well as ecommerce transaction fees). Those are the funds that power the publishing infrastructure for everyone: readers, subscribers, paid publishers, unpaid publishers.
Since category leaderboards reward revenue growth and velocity, it’s conceivable a publisher who hates paywalls could offer paid tiers but keep all of their posts free. If they got a handful of generous donors they would certainly rise up the lists.
The Substack wine club mostly consists of discussing, buying, and sharing deals from Last Bottle (https://lastbottlewines.com). We've been hooked by their "marathon" weeks
Cool! So, is it virtual, or in-person, or both?
Both! Those of us in SF will share in person. We’re slowly indoctrinating the rest of the company via our happy hour selections
🥂
It's great to have a list of names all in one place! I just found a couple of new lists to subscribe to. And to all the paid subs out there, keep up the great work, but also, keep providing great work...
Thanks for your support, Dan! 🥂
While there are many terrific websites and writers on these lists, it's discouraging and disheartening that BTYH doesn't show up on either one. I've been writing about wine longer than some of these people have been alive. Ah, the unattractive note of bitterness creeps in ....
I’m sorry, Fredric. You do have to switch your category in your Substack website editor to Wine & Spirits. After that, when you get a paid subscriber or two in a brief period you are likely to show up in Rising. Substack rewards paid subs much more aggressively than free ones.
Whatever you did seemed to work, because now you’re Rising. Cheers to that!
Congrats on making the list! It’s a great way to find more wine nerds but I am a bit disappointed it is for paid tiers only. I hope there can be a distinction in the future that incorporates writers and experts without paywalls. There’s more than a handful of MS and MW folks with wonderful articles and followings that are missing from the list solely because they do not have any type of paid tiers.
I hear you and agree it would be great to have an easy way to find all wine experts regardless of their chosen subscription model. A more robust tagging and classification scheme for profiles, coupled with enhanced search, would go a long way toward improving discoverability.