It seems like every week — sometimes multiple times a week — a journalist leaves their media outlet to start their own publication, usually on Substack. Terry Moran, Karen Attiah, Jennifer Rubin and Norm Eisen. The list goes on. Some, like Attiah, joined Substack after being fired from their outlets. Others, like Rubin, left legacy media, citing concerns about the priorities of corporate and billionaire-owned publications. But a bigger question lingers beneath the headlines and high-profile exits: Is independent journalism on Substack actually a viable career for someone without a large following? Can the early or mid-career reporter build a newsletter that attracts an audience and generates enough income to replace a newsroom salary? The movement from newsroom to independent platforms isn’t new. There were the blogging days of the early aughts, followed by the launch of Medium in 2012, which felt like a promising outlet for creative writers and journalists alike.…