
Today we’re announcing the next generation of the Substack Fellowship for Independent Writers, which features a $100,000 grant for the top recipient and advances of $25,000 each for four other fellows.
The purpose of the fellowship is to help writers go independent and succeed with the subscription publishing model. We were so encouraged by the success of the first Substack fellowship late last year that we decided to increase our investment in the program. As well as increased financial support, the fellowship includes access to resources and a two-week schedule of coaching and advice.
There are now millions of active readers across Substack, and more than 100,000 paying subscribers to Substack writers. Our top writers make hundreds of thousands of dollars a year by doing the work they care about most and serving their communities of readers. We’re excited about a future where writers of all backgrounds can pursue the work they find most meaningful, free of gatekeepers, and independent of what’s trending, and we’re eager to make it accessible to even more writers.
We’ve designed this fellowship to help accelerate a writer’s journey to independence. The $25,000 advances for the four fellows, plus a no-strings-attached stipend of $3,000, and the $100,000 grant for a senior fellow will be coupled with coaching from a team of star talent with a focus on community building, personal finance, publishing strategies, and editorial development. We’re also supporting the fellows with custom illustrations, access to Getty Images, legal advice, personal mentorship from Substack writers, and ongoing access to the team at Substack.
The fellows will be selected by a committee of three external judges – Emily Oster, Danyel Smith, and Bill Bishop – in collaboration with the Substack team. Applications will be accepted for two weeks from any writer, anywhere in the world, starting today, Tuesday, June 30, through Tuesday, July 14 at 5:00 pm PDT. The program itself will take place through virtual sessions in the first two weeks of August. Please find more details about the program and experts involved below. Apply here and consult our Fact Sheet for more details.
The fellowship remains an opportunity for us to learn what more we can do to support writers. We’ll share everything we learn from experts and the participating writers with the rest of the Substack community, so stay tuned for resources and updates soon.
What you’ll get from the fellowship program

Clockwise from top left: Emily Oster, Bill Bishop, Danyel Smith, Krishna Chavda, Yanely Espinal, Kevin Huynh, Bailey Richardson, and Judd Legum. See bios and details below.
Selection committee
Your applications will be reviewed by our committee of judges:
Emily Oster, who writes ParentData
Danyel Smith, who writes HRDList
Bill Bishop, who writes Sinocism
Each judge has a deep familiarity with the Substack model, a strong publishing background, and deep expertise in their field. They will collaborate with the Substack team to make final selections.
Expert advice on growing your newsletter
We’ve hand-selected a few domain experts to work with our fellows on the following areas:
Editorial development: Danyel Smith, who writes HRDList, will host a 90-minute workshop on editorial development, storytelling, and how she has learned to connect with readers as journalist, editor, producer, and novelist.
Publishing strategy: Judd Legum, who writes Popular Information, will share insights about how to make the most of the Substack model, including subscription and publishing strategies. He will meet individually with each writer to help them develop their Substack publications and strategize on plans to get to the next level.
Community building: Bailey Richardson & Kevin Huynh, who co-authored Get Together, will host a workshop about digital community and audience development with particular focus on what’s possible with Substack's discussion threads and community features.
Personal finance: Yanely Espinal, aka MissBeHelpful on YouTube, is a personal finance expert who will host a financial planning workshop focused on taxes, money management, and subscription revenue.
Access to fellowship alumni network
Last year’s fellows, Emily Atkin, author of Heated, Lindsay Gibbs, author of Power Plays, Amee Vanderpool, author of Shero, Saeed Jones, author of The Intelligence of Honey, and Sarah Bessey, author of Field Notes, will host an alumni session to meet the new fellows, share advice and insights on their own experiences publishing on Substack, and answer questions.

And more!
Each fellow will also receive the following:
Dedicated sessions with, and support from, the Substack team.
Fellows will be assigned a Substack mentor – a writer publishing on Substack who shares a similar audience, editorial model, or writes about a common theme – who will be available for individual calls over the course of the program. Mentors will be paired up with the fellows after the final selection has been announced.
Custom illustrations: Krishna Chavda, who is the founder of NANU Studio, will create a custom, digital illustration for each fellow that can be used to promote and brand your publication.
Free access to Getty Images for digital use in your publication.
About our program mentors
Bailey Richardson is the co-author of Get Together and a founding partner at People & Company, an agency that coaches organizations on how to create authentic communities. She has helped shape the early communities around Instagram, IDEO, Pop-Up Magazine, and The California Sunday Magazine. She’s also started a Mola Mola Fan Club and a Queer Pool Club.
Bill Bishop is an entrepreneur and former media executive with more than a decade’s experience living in and decoding China. Since leaving Beijing in 2015, he has lived in Washington DC. He previously wrote the Axios China weekly newsletter and the China Insider column for the New York Times Dealbook.In the late 1990s, he co-founded MarketWatch.com. His views on China are frequently quoted in major media, such as Bloomberg, The Financial Times, The Wall Street Journal, Reuters, New York Times, and The Guardian and CNBC.
Danyel Smith is author of the forthcoming Shine Bright: A Personal History of Black Women in Pop (One World / Random House, February 2021). Most recently, Danyel was a senior editor, writer, and producer at ESPN, and before that, a 2013-14 John S. Knight Journalism Fellow at Stanford University. She has served as editor of Billboard, editor-at-large at Time Inc, and was twice editor-in-chief of VIBE. Danyel is cofounder of HRDCVR, a design-centered hardcover media project created by diverse teams for a diverse world. She has written two novels — More Like Wrestling (Crown, 2003) and Bliss (Crown, 2005). Among other outlets, her work appears in the New York Times Magazine, at NPR, and in the California Sunday Magazine. Danyel lives in Los Angeles.
Emily Oster is a Professor of Economics at Brown University and is the bestselling author of Expecting Better and Cribsheet, a New York Times Bestseller. Oster has been featured on Good Morning America and Morning Joe. Her writing has appeared in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, The Atlantic and Slate among many other outlets.
Judd Legum writes Popular Information on Substack. Before going independent, he was the founder and editor-in-chief of ThinkProgress. In addition to writing about politics, Legum has participated in it – running (unsuccessfully) for state delegate in Maryland in 2010 and serving as Hillary Clinton's research director during her (unsuccessful) 2008 campaign. He is a lawyer and practiced as a trial attorney in Maryland.
Kevin Huynh is a co-author of Get Together and founding partner at People & Company. Before this, he brought Classcraft to new classrooms, helped spread CreativeMornings to 100 cities, produced a worldwide dinner party, and got an M.S. in Mechanical Engineering. Today, he serves on the board of the Edcamp Foundation and volunteers time almost every day to coach grassroots community leaders.
Krishna Chavda is an illustrator and surface designer based in Hoboken, NJ, best known for her humorous drawings and illustrated greeting cards. Inspired by her childhood in Tanzania, nature, and her Indian heritage, Krishna's work is vibrant and playful. Her clients have included the University of Amsterdam, Food Network Magazine, The Village Voice, Time Out New York, Cleveland Magazine, Good Eggs, among many others.
Yanely Espinal was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York, and is one of the first in her family to graduate college. After two decades of school, she still can't believe that she never had a class about making smart money decisions! Now, she's on a mission to help more people learn financial literacy in a fun and engaging way. After completing Teach For America, Yanely paired her love for teaching with her passion for personal finance, creating a unique YouTube channel for people to engage with topics like credit cards, budgeting, debt repayment, and investing. Yanely is also the Director of Educational Outreach at an education non-profit called Next Gen Personal Finance.
Illustration credit: Krishna Chavda
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Do you need a current Substack newsletter to apply?
Any writer on Substack is welcome to apply, including writers who have just signed up and have a plan to get started.
do you have 231,234 fellows because i do
Can you apply as a team or does it have to be individuals?
You're welcome to apply as a group! Thanks for asking and for your interest.
Hi Fiona! We currently run a podcast and have a newsletter with 2000 subscribers. We are thinking about moving our podcast into Substack and ultimately move towards paid subscribers by offering exclusive content. Could we apply to this fellowship with a podcast?
Yes, absolutely! Thanks for your interest.
Fantastic! Have sent our application.
This is really exciting. I've had an idea that I've been toying with that's perfect I think for the newsletter format but I haven't been sure where to best get funding. Thanks!
Hi! Not to be THAT person, and with the internet so taxed these days, I need to ask: once we submit our application via Docs, is there a way we can be 100% it was received? I did see "Thank you for applying", I'm sorry to ask, and thank you!
Agreed! I wish we received a confirmation email, or something.
Applied!
Can you apply If your newsletter is in spanish? If so, should I provide English translations of the texts submitted in the application?
This is a good step certainly but really the headlines mentioning 25k are misleading. An advance on a successful newsletter will quickly recoup Substack’s investment. So it’s really just $3k (which is great) but if Substack really wants to help authors why not offer more than 4? Since Substack is collecting such high fees + there is a good chance of getting their full $25k advance, why not use this to include more authors?
Great to see this amazing idea come to fruition!
Great initiative
Wow! I'm excited already!
EL FRACASO NO TE SOBRECOGERA. SIEMBRE QUE TU DETERMINACIÓN POR. ALCANZAR EL EXITO SEA LO SUFICIENTEMENTE PODEEROSA . EL QUE NO ESTUDIA EN SU. JUVENTUD SE LAMENTARA EN LAS OCASIONES EN QUE DEVA HASER EN EL HUSO DEL CONOCIMIENTO . LOS HIJOS SE CONVIERTEN EN UM CASTIGO O EN. UNA RECOMPENSA PARA LOS PADRES , SEGUN LA EDUCACIÓN QUE AYAN. RECIBIDO . EL QUE NO LUCHA POR ACABAR CON LA CORRUPCIÓN Y LA POBREZA, ACABARA SIENDO PARTE DE HELLA " NO ES POBRE. EL HOMBRE QUE NO TIENE UN CENTIMO SI AQUEL QUE NO POSEE UN SUEÑO ." EL HOMBRE QUE HASE ALGO PUEDE EQUIVOCARSE, PERO AQUEL QUE NO HASE NADA YA ESTA EQUIVOCADO." EL PADRE ES EL MEJOR ARQUITECTO DE LA TIERRA , PORQUE POR QUE CONSTRUYE ASUS. HIJOS Y LES DA LA FORMA QUE ÉL QUIERE." NO ES HUÉRFANO QUIEN. HA CRECIDO CON LOS PADRES MUERTOS , SINO AQUEL NO A RECIBIDO EDUCACIÓN AÚN TENIENDO ALOS PADRES VIVOS ." PADRE NO ES EL QUE. CRIA Y ENGENDRA , PADRE ES AQUEL QUE EDUCA Y ORIENTA POR QUE SÓLO EDUCADO AL. NIÑO. DE HOY, PODRAS EXIGIR AL HOMBRE DEMAÑANA." EL CULTIVO EN DEDEREZA ALAS PLANTAS. LA EDUCACIÓN ENDEREZA A LOS HOMBRES." MUJER, EL DIA QUE CRIES A TUS HIJOS, RECIÉN TEDARAS CUENTA CUÁNTO LO DEBES ATU MADRE.
I just found out and missed the deadline at the same time.
Thank you for providing this opportunity!
Does the submission need to be a newsletter or can it be a blog? I know the deadline was yesterday, just asking in case you do this again in 2021. Thanks!
Such an amazing opportunity! Unfortunate that I couldn’t get time off during this busy work period - I hope there will be more fellowships later down the line. Good luck to all of the applicants :)
Is the fellowship program valid for Hindi language too?
What a great opportunity to grow as a writer!
Amazing stuff! What an exciting initiative, and of course, we've applied.
As a matter of fact, all NON ENGLISH writers can't apply, as the judges can't read the related newsletter. Right?
Is it possible to apply if the newsletter is in Spanish? Thanks!
You all are wonderful!
Exciting announcement. Very happy to see this happening again!