💡 Creator News: Are Podcasts Over? Plus: How to (Actually) Use Substack Notes to Grow

Creator economy news for writers, content creators, and Substackers.

Hey Sutoscientists,

There’s been a lot to feel grateful for lately, and I hope you have a great Thanksgiving tomorrow if you celebrate.

It’s a bit crazy to think we’ve got one last month left in 2025 (!!!) and if you’re looking to get a head start on 2026, I just announced my new 6-week workshop on how to grow your Substack to help you make your writing and creating dreams a reality.

If you’re reading this, you’re still very early to Substack as a platform. It’s like those crucial beginning days of TikTok or YouTube — there’s a ton of organic reach and huge rewards for those who get on Substack and commit to growing now while it’s still so new.

So if you’re looking to quit your corporate job and bet on yourself as a writer and creator, consider joining me for the 6-week workshop series. It includes a 60-minute 1:1 personalized Substack Audit session with me and other perks:

You’re also reading the newest dispatch I’m going to begin sending out 3-5x per week: my Creator News series. It’s going to be replacing my Sunday Founder’s Formula series, and I think it better honors what I do here: help you make money online by sharing what’s going on in the creator economy and beyond.

In other creator economy news, I’ve got some great posts about why hitting “publish” more frequently has been shown to get creators better results.

Let’s get into it:

💬 Links I Sent My Boyfriend

My boyfriend is my co-founder which means DMing him links counts as productive work 💕

• A recent study shows that women experiencing just 1% of dehydration experience a 45% decrease in concentration and a 8% increase in hostility. No wonder Kyle gifted me a smart water bottle when we first started working together.

• Idk about you but I’m not sure why people grind it out in SF to sell their company for $5M which actually turns into just $35k/year when you do the math. Creator Economy > raising money IMO.

• The controversial “cheat at everything” AI startup Cluely is leaving San Francisco for NYC because their employees can’t sleep in the office in SF due to zoning regulations.

• Waymos can go on freeways now in SF. I sold my car when we moved out of LA a few years ago and I love not having to drive.

🌁 Dispatches From the Bay

What to do and where to eat in San Francisco.

• Kyle and I went to a collab dinner at Kitchen Istanbul, which was doing a special Turkish x Mexican cuisine tasting menu with the chef of Metiche. Not only was this a really unique culinary mashup, but we’ve been on the hunt for a Turkish restaurant in SF that reminds us of our time in Istanbul. We’ve been to a few Turkish restaurants, but this was one of our favorites we highly recommend.

• A new coffeeshop called Q Specialty Coffee just opened, and they whip espresso into the cloud foam of their drinks (!!!). As a lover of creamy coffee and espresso, this was a cool find. I recommend their chai latte with the espresso cloud foam.

☕️ Content Trends

• YouTuber Shelby Church just shut down her podcast, and it’s a trend I’m seeing across the board. Podcasters are being forced to add video to their shows if they don’t have that already, and I’ve noticed that more audio-only podcasts are shuttering. I recently had a member of the Substack podcast team reach out to me and ask if I was going to be using their podcast features and I respectfully said no — I don’t think podcasts are the future. Instead, most podcasts as we know them will be moving to platforms like Substack and will have a combo of audio, written, video, and community features rather than just living on platforms like Spotify and Apple Podcasts. But I’m curious what you think — feel free to drop your predictions (and favorite podcasts!) in the comments.

• Politico is ending its print newspaper. Sign of the times :)

• Charli XCX is on Substack now. I’m all for pop stars and creators joining this platform.

💰 What to Watch & Read If You Want to Make Money Online

• How does Substack notes actually work? How can you use it to boost your publication and increase growth? Check out this article + conversation with the person who actually built the algorithm.

• Another great post by

  Paul Millerd
  I want to share — Authors Should Be Entrepreneurs. It covers how at one point publishers thought paperbacks were “sketchy.” His post makes the point that authors are the true innovators — and we suffer when we leave the innovating to publishers.

• “I struggled with my content for 8 months... Here’s what finally fixed it.” This Vanessa Lau video is filled with a really great learning for creators. Vanessa is one of my favorite YouTubers, and she’s always had really polished videos. Lately, she’s been realizing that she’s been having more success by posting more, less perfectly. Less polish = more posts, and more posts = more engagement and success with her audience. It’s also helping her post more authentically. I’ve seen this shift help me in my business, too: I’m posting more content and being less precious with certain aspects of production. That’s actually helping me get more visibility. So don’t let your perfectionism hold you back: data shows you just need to post more! Quantity ends up making the quality of your videos and content better.

• I had a great interview with

  Jonathan Small
  at Small Talk. You can watch it below:

Watch: How to make 7 figures as a writer

• This piece profiling Substacker Emily Sundberg breaks down why she’s been so successful on the platform. She’s built a 7-figure media empire here because she stayed true to her voice and what she finds interesting — and does the legwork required to give her readers fascinating takes on business and culture. Highly recommend checking out.

🛍️ Add to Cart

Things I’ve bought that have made my life better.

• If you missed it, I made a gift guide with all of my favorites gifts to give and receive as a writer (that isn’t just more books!)

• Kyle got me some cute pieces from this clean activewear brand Indigo Luna and I love them. Definitely recommend if you’re looking to get away from some of the activewear made of mostly plastic.

Questions? Thoughts? Would love to hear what you’re thinking, reading, or making in the comments.

Happy creating,

-Amy