Keep your Substack. Add a journal that pays you 75%.
Substack gives you a bigger cut of an audience you have to build alone. We put your reporting in front of the journal’s readers, pay you 75% of what they pay for as long as they stay, split AI licensing income 50/50, and show you every payment. This is extra income for independent journalists, not a replacement for your own publication.
Side by side
| Topic | Black Executive Journal | Substack |
|---|---|---|
| Where readers come from | The journal’s readership. A reader who becomes a paying member on your article is credited to you. | Your own list. You find each subscriber yourself. |
| What you keep | 75% of each payment after Stripe’s card fee, for as long as the reader stays. | What’s left after Substack’s 10% platform fee, Stripe’s 2.9% + 30¢ card fee and a 0.5% recurring billing fee. |
| AI licensing income | Split 50/50 with contributors who opt in, weighted by use of their work. | A setting to block AI training. We have not found a published share of AI licensing income for writers. |
| Seeing the money | Every payment listed with the card fee, the net, your share and its Stripe reference. | A dashboard of your own subscribers and revenue. |
| Your personal data | We keep your name, your email and a Stripe account reference. Sign-in is an email link: no password and no phone number. Bank and tax details go to Stripe only. | In February 2026 Substack disclosed that an intruder had accessed users’ email addresses and phone numbers the previous October. |
| Reader data | Readers are the journal’s members. You see each one as a number and never handle their personal data. | You hold your subscribers’ email addresses and can export them. That list is yours, and so is the duty to look after it. |
| Finding sources | The BEJ Source Desk: verified executives, investors and economists answer your requests. | Your own contacts. |
| Running the business | The journal handles pricing, checkout, renewals, refunds and member support. | You set pricing and run the publication yourself. |
Where Substack is the better tool
If you want to own a mailing list, set your own price and take your subscribers with you, Substack does that and we don’t. Readers who subscribe here are members of the journal. You earn on them for as long as they pay, but you can’t email or export them.
Why do both
A newsletter pays you for the audience you already have. The journal pays you for readers you would never have reached, and keeps paying after the article has left the front page. One piece of reporting can earn in both places: a share of memberships, a share of AI licensing, and your own list on the side.
The numbers behind the comparison
- Substack’s fees are from its own help page, How do paid subscriptions on Substack work?
- The February 2026 disclosure is as reported by The Register. Substack said passwords and card details were not accessed.
- Our own terms are in the payout policy. Checked November 2026.
Add a second income to your reporting
Apply with three pieces of your work. Your newsletter stays yours.