A Webworm SOS

I could use your help around here!

An alarmed squirrel I saw on a walk. No, it did not bite me this time.

Hi,

This is going to be a super short one, but important in regards to Webworm's future.

This year has kicked Webworm's ass a little, and so I'm asking for your help.

Alan pleads with you to listen. Listen to Alan!

Two graphs sum up what is going on here in Webworm-land. The first is shows how paid memberships have tracked from Oct 2025 to October 2026:

Boring Graph One:

As you can see, it's a gentle downward slope (with a tiny ping upwards when I last mentioned this trend).

The second graph also shows the last 12 months of Webworm:

Boring Graph Two:

Graph showing more people leaving Webworm each month than staying

Each bar is a month: The green indicates new paying members coming on board; the red shows existing paying members cancelling.

Graph Two basically explains Graph One: Each month, more people are deciding to stop paying $6.99 USD a month for Webworm than deciding to start paying it. And that leads to a downward trend.

Webworm runs zero advertising (and we never will) so those monthly $6.99 payments (or yearly $69.69s!) are it. All gathered up, they let Webworm do its thing – things like:

Go to Minneapolis to cover the ICE shooting of Alex Pretti
Stay on top of the Everlee Wihongi until she got freed
Write long form features on the private autopsy market
Give people a voice by publishing things others would never publish
Push back against all the AI bullshit
Allow me to pay guest writers and cover my ass when I get sued (paying $10,862.66 to a lawyer - only part of the costs - sucks):

Why are people leaving?

Heaps of reasons. Money is tight right now, and you should prioritise approximately a million things above a Webworm subscription. People have newsletter fatigue, too, I think: People signed up for multiple newsletters six years ago, and here in 2026 they have to cull.

I'm probably also starting to see the effects of making the ethical call to leave Substack last year (I left because nazis, and other reasons too) – because I am no longer plugged into their algorithm machine or App.

People get sick of me, too, and that's okay.

Some people I don't mind seeing the back of – anytime I advocate for Palestine at least one person seems shocked and quits.

"Shame on you. Armchair thankfully doesn’t engage in such horrible commentary."

That said, I would like to improve the trajectory of Webworm. So I've got a list of ways that can happen. I think this is Webworm's first.. listicle?

If you already pay for Webworm, just keep your paid Webworm membership going. Don't drop off, and help make those green bars exceed the red ones.
If you are reading for free – and feel you have gotten some value from Webworm – consider becoming a paid member. Only do this if it causes you zero financial hardship. Cancel anytime:

Become a Paid Member

If you are rich, you can change your membership tier to GOD MODE (it's $15 USD a month instead of $6.99):

Change Your Tier

This holiday season, gift a membership to someone:

Gift a Full Webworm Subscription

You can give a one-off donation (on top of your annual sub). I don't mean to be a stuck record, but this is important: Only do this if it causes you zero financial hardship:

One Time Gift Donation

Share a Webworm story! This is a great way for Webworm to find new readers. And it's free to do.

Case and point: I felt really proud of this week's autopsy feature. The experience, the photos, and the essay perfectly encapsulated the weird I want Webworm to be. I worked on the story for a few months, and like to think it offered some unique insight.

It was shared exactly zero times.

With that in mind, I've dropped the paywall on that piece, and would love you to share it. www.webworm.co/myfirstautopsy.

Again: I've dropped the paywall, so non-Webworm readers won't be met with any popups when they click the link. If you do the social media thing, tag me when you share – and I will reshare it!

Share any story that meant something to you. They are all found at www.webworm.co.

I hope those six points all make sense. While this year has kicked Webworm's financial ass, I feel really proud of the journalism we are doing here. It gives me both purpose and joy.

Thanks for listening. Alan thanks you for listening, too. We will return to our regular programming next week.

David.

PS: Any questions, hit me the comments below (the best comments section on the internet, and reason alone for a paid Webworm membership imo!)

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