Over the last year, Substack has been one of my biggest creative outlets. I’ve spent more hours writing, podcasting, and engaging on Substack than anywhere else.
I don’t regret the time I’ve spent there or the connections I’ve made, but it’s time for a pivot.
If you don’t know about Substack yet it’s part blog, part newsletter, part podcast, part YouTube channel, and (most recently) part social media.
Last month they introduced a big change to their business model.
Their app, which was previously a chronological feed of long form blog style content, introduced an algorithm and put their social media style posts up front and center. It becomes increasingly obvious that they are going after the “Twitter market” and / or whatever brings them the most money. It feels like watching Instagram slowly become something other than a photography platform.
I’ve seen this movie and I didn’t like the ending.
My platform is small, but I made about $300 in paid subs last year. The week before Substack introduced an algorithm I had been planning to merge my paid tier with my creative membership program The Companionship. I had spent hours setting up Substack to host my membership program and course portal. And I put it all on pause because it didn’t feel right.
Something I really dislike about Substack’s social media feed is how poorly it handles blocking and muting. There are certain topics that aren’t good for my mental health that I continue to see. Sometimes I even see posts or comments from people I have specifically blocked. With this in mind I did not want to continue using an app that opened a social feed I had very little control over.
I deleted the Substack app.
And I’m loving it.
I’m back to experiencing Substack as a newsletter again.
PRO TIP: I use a special email address just for newsletters I actually want to read. (I actually did this the year before I joined Substack.)
Without the noise of the social feed I’m quite enjoying Substack again. And I’m less overwhelmed so I’m actually reading more posts.
But I am breaking up with Substack as part of my business ecosystem and I’m reframing the paid tier as a tip jar.
Here are the changes I’m making:
No more paywalled content. Instead I’ll send a special thank you card or letter in the mail once a year.
I’m archiving my best Substack posts here on the blog. (Like this one.)
I’m only sending out newsletters once a month instead of weekly.
I’m blogging again. If I want to write something between newsletters I’ll write here and link to it.
My membership program and course portal have moved to Ghost.org. Ghost is a nonprofit that has been around for a decade. I’m not moving my free list because it does not have the discoverability or user base that Substack does. But it is a completely private, algorithm free space that is perfect for a membership and course portal. It costs a flat fee of $9 a month and does not take any percentage of sales. I’m still in the process of setting it all up, but you can see how my Ghost portal looks here.
My free newsletter will remain on Substack so long as engagement remains high and growth feels authentic. (If I see too many spammy follows I’ll move the free list to Ghost as well.)
Right now i’m having slow growth on Substack and seeing new commenters who are engaging with my work. The comment system is strong and facilitates good long term discussions better than any platform I have ever used. So I’m not keen to lose that.
Let’s Discuss.
Are you on Substack? How do you feel about the changes?
Cheers,
