Substack Is Making a Serious Play for France, But Can Writers There Really Make It Pay?

Substack is no longer just a Silicon Valley export quietly used by a few French media insiders. The newsletter platform says it now has 5 million paid subscriptions worldwide, and it’s putting new muscle behind its push into France by hiring a dedicated lead to grow the market.

The move signals ambition: Substack wants to turn scattered success stories into a real business in a country where people already juggle subscriptions to newspapers, podcasts, and bundled digital services. The pitch is familiar, build a loyal audience, then convert some of them into paying subscribers, but the French media economy isn’t the U.S., and the math can be tougher.

Substack staffs up in France to turn buzz into a business

By naming a point person for France, Substack is effectively saying it wants more than organic word-of-mouth growth. It’s trying to compete in a crowded subscription landscape where legacy outlets, independent podcasts, and homegrown newsletter tools are all fighting for the same limited pool of paying readers.

Substack’s bet is simplicity: email. Writers publish a free newsletter to build habit and trust, then put some content behind a paywall. Entry-level subscriptions often start at 5 euros a month, about $6, low enough to feel like an impulse buy, but high enough that creators need real scale to make it meaningful income.

Substack also leans on its global numbers as proof it works: 5 million paid subscriptions across the platform. For creators, that’s reassurance there’s a functioning marketplace. For traditional newsrooms, it’s a warning shot, individual writers can now sell subscriptions without a big media brand behind them, if they have a clear voice and a consistent beat.

Still, France isn’t the United States. The audience is smaller, the habit of paying for newsletters is less entrenched, and competition includes “invisible” options like self-hosted newsletters that don’t require Substack at all. Hiring locally looks like an execution play: tailor the message, support creators, and make Substack feel less like an American app and more like a familiar part of the French media ecosystem.

Novelists are using newsletters to stay close to readers between books

One frequently cited example is French novelist Julia Kerninon, who launched a newsletter in 2025 called “Sur le fil.” The appeal is straightforward: instead of disappearing between book releases and relying on occasional media appearances, authors can create a steady, direct relationship with readers.

For subscribers, newsletters can feel more intimate than traditional publishing, less polished, more immediate, and often more personal. For writers, it’s a way to test ideas, share drafts or reflections, and keep momentum without waiting on the long timelines of the book world.

Substack sells that direct connection as an alternative to the classic cycle: publish, promote, vanish, repeat. The implicit deal is simple, if readers want the work to continue, they pay. The $6-a-month floor is a psychological entry point, but the real question is whether the content feels essential enough to justify yet another monthly charge.

The downside is structural: this model tends to reward people who already have name recognition and an existing fan base. For newer writers, the pressure to publish constantly, while watching subscriber counts and engagement, can turn “independence” into a different kind of grind.

French journalists eye the $6-a-month model, but the hustle is real

For journalists, the attraction is obvious: fewer gatekeepers, more control, and recurring revenue. Substack’s standard playbook, free posts to attract readers, paid tiers starting around $6 a month, can look like a one-person newsroom.

But it also demands skills many reporters didn’t sign up for. To succeed, writers need a niche, a distinctive tone, and the willingness to market themselves. The platform can handle payments and distribution; it can’t magically deliver an audience.

Some independent writers point to rare breakout cases where Substack income rivals what Americans would associate with Big Law paychecks. Those stories travel fast because they puncture the stereotype of the struggling freelancer. They’re also outliers, typically built on a large following, scarce expertise, or a product that’s easy to define, deep reporting, sharp analysis, or highly useful industry intelligence.

In France, the equation is tighter: fewer potential subscribers, more competition from established outlets, and a culture where free news remains deeply ingrained. One freelance journalist quoted in the French discussion summed it up bluntly: you gain freedom, but you end up obsessing over churn and open rates. You trade a boss for a dashboard.

There’s also an editorial risk. Journalism depends on reporting, sourcing, and verification. If the business model rewards speed and constant output to keep subscribers happy, writers can drift toward hot takes. Paying readers want something extra, not a rewritten news feed.

Substack’s “Notes” feature is trying to become a mini social network for writers

Substack is also pushing beyond email with “Notes,” a microblog-style feed where writers post short updates, recommend other newsletters, and try to get discovered without relying on X, Instagram, or LinkedIn.

Users describe it as reminiscent of early Twitter: text-first, relatively calm, and less dominated by video. For creators, the value is discoverability, newsletters land in inboxes, but first someone has to subscribe. Notes is designed to be that on-ramp.

Strategically, it keeps people inside Substack’s walls: read, interact, subscribe, repeat. That reduces dependence on outside platforms that can change algorithms overnight.

But turning Substack into a social network risks importing the same problems writers are trying to escape: attention chasing, cliques, pile-ons, and the exhausting feeling that you have to post constantly just to stay visible. The question for journalists is practical: does Notes help fund reporting, or does it just add another layer of audience maintenance?

The real Substack wave isn’t just journalists, it’s everyone with expertise

Focusing only on reporters “crossing over” to Substack misses the bigger story. A huge share of newsletter writers aren’t journalists at all, and many aren’t trying to make a living from it. They’re analysts, hobbyists, consultants, and subject-matter obsessives using newsletters to organize ideas, share research, or build a reputation.

That long tail matters because it builds a reading culture. The more good newsletters exist, the more readers get used to following individual voices, and occasionally paying for them. For Substack, it’s also good business: not everyone needs to earn a full-time income, as long as the ecosystem stays active and a handful of stars pull in big subscription revenue.

For creators, the goal is often community more than “starting a media company.” Some will turn on paid subscriptions; others won’t. In France, going paid can raise practical questions Americans may not think about, tax treatment, employment status, and what counts as original work versus curated links.

The hardest part is durability. A newsletter is a recurring promise, and charging money raises the stakes. Many people launch strong, then burn out or switch off paid tiers after testing the waters. Substack can provide the infrastructure, but it can’t supply the strategy, the discipline, or the differentiation. In France, the platform’s future may hinge less on viral success stories and more on whether writers can build sustainable habits, and whether readers decide a newsletter is worth paying for month after month.