Journalist Renée Kaplan, who develops Substack in France, shares with the JDN her vision on the strengths and ambitions of the platform, which boasts 100,000 monetized creators around the world and some great headliners in France.
JDN. Where is Substack’s business in the world today?
Renee Kaplan. Substack is currently experiencing a phase of particularly sustained international growth. The platform has more than five million paid creator subscriptions, and the number of monetized creators has doubled in just eighteen months, from 50,000 to 100,000. In Europe alone, creators now generate more than €75 million in revenue.
This global development is also reflected in the composition of our community: one in three paying creators using Substack is now based outside the United States. It is precisely in this context that I was recruited to manage our development in France, as part of a wave of international expansion which led to nine new hires dedicated to foreign markets.
My view of Substack is also shaped by my personal journey. I was responsible for information at Arte, then a journalist for many years at the Financial Times. I approach this mission with particular sensitivity. What Substack represents to me goes way beyond growth metrics. What strikes me deeply is the unique ability of this platform to create a true space for independent thought and the exchange of ideas. In a media ecosystem that is often fragmented and dominated by algorithms, Substack reestablishes something essential: a direct link, chosen and assumed, between a creator and their audience. The subscriber is not experiencing a stream of content — they are actively engaging with a voice they have deliberately chosen to listen to.
It is this quality of relationship that allows an authentic intellectual and cultural community to develop. And it is also what offers creators — whether they are journalists, analysts, musicians, authors, or influencers — not only the conditions for economic independence, but above all the freedom to contribute to a lively, plural debate of ideas free from traditional editorial constraints.
In France, how many authors/journalists/researchers distribute newsletters with Substack?
France today has several thousand active publications on Substack, for tens of thousands of paid subscriptions, and this community is continuously growing.
What is striking is above all the diversity of the profiles and worlds represented. In the field of lifestyle and culture, we find for example Lauren Bastide, former editor-in-chief of ELLE, the designer and fashion entrepreneur Jessica Troisfontaine, or the chef and restaurateur Simon Auscher. The literary scene is also well present, with authors like Julia Kerninon or Frédéric Beigbeder, who recently joined the platform, and Pauline Mauroux, screenwriter whose Substack newsletter contributed to obtaining a publishing contract.
On the journalism and news side, Substack welcomes recognized voices such as Philippe Corbé, director of information at France Télévisions, Guillemette Faure, journalist at Le Monde, or Lauren Collins, correspondent in Paris for The New Yorker. Independent media have also chosen Substack as their main platform, like Le Pavé Numérique, dedicated to tech.
Finally, Substack has become a leading space for intellectual and political debate. With the economist Gabriel Zucman, and the former President of the Republic François Hollande.
This diversity illustrates, I believe, what Substack can offer France: an open, plural space, where a diversity of independent creations and political thoughts coexist.
Can you explain your business model to us?
Substack is a media platform founded in 2017, whose mission is based on a simple but structuring principle: creators must be able to be paid for their work. We have built a model based on direct subscription — without an algorithmic intermediary.
Concretely, our platform provides each creator with all the tools necessary for their production: writing, video, audio, podcasts, as well as community development features. But what fundamentally sets Substack apart from other platforms is the question of data ownership. With us, audience data belongs to the creators themselves and not to the platform. It is a deliberate choice, at the heart of our model, which contrasts with the dominant practices of major social networks.
Our revenue model is also aligned with the success of creators: we only earn money when they themselves earn it, via sharing a portion of paid subscriptions: Substack takes 10%. This commits us to building tools that truly serve their interests. And this also means that we make the deliberate choice to favor depth and fidelity rather than virality. This is not simply an editorial stance — it is an economic bias: we believe that lasting value is created in the relationship of trust between a creator and their audience, and not in the race for a mass audience.
What is your development objective for this first year?
France already benefits from a solid base of creators and subscribers on Substack. The objective of this first year is to accelerate growth on both sides of this ecosystem: on the one hand, increasing the number and diversity of creators who launch their publication, on the other hand, expanding the community of subscribers who discover and support these creators.
A structural advantage of Substack is worth highlighting here: 50% of subscription growth comes from the Substack ecosystem itself. In other words, the platform generates its own discovery dynamic, thanks to an engaged audience, effective recommendation tools, and a culture of sharing and in-depth research. The larger and more active the ecosystem, the more powerful this growth engine is. This is a feature that truly sets Substack apart from any other competing platform.
What is your development strategy for France?
My priority is to build relationships of trust with French creators, journalists, authors, and media — all those who wish to explore what a direct and exclusive relationship with their community can represent.
France has an exceptional pool of journalistic and cultural talents. It is also heir to a long tradition of public debate and intellectual demand, which naturally resonates with the values that characterize Substack: depth, quality, commitment. This cultural affinity is real, and my role is precisely to accelerate its realization.
It’s not just about raising awareness of a platform, but about helping talent transform their editorial independence into a viable and sustainable business model, by giving them access to the tools and infrastructure that make it possible.
