I think Substack are about to hit a big iceberg called Content Moderation. We share this platform with some truly terrible people, and that has never bothered me personally because I see it as being a communication tool like GMail or WhatsApp. But as the network grows more interconnected, we're all going to have to start thinking about who we share this platform with (and probably deal with angry mobs flooding our comments). There's potential for chaos, which could make lots of people seek the relative calm of Ghost.
As I shared on Discord, I am very pro-Ghost, and am using it as my home base. Still using Substack for newsletters but I can easily migrate if/whenever necessary. For now, the Substack network effect is too good to disregard. But I'll be watching the platform closely.
The good news about all of this: we own our subscriber lists and are beholden to no platform.
All of this makes me feel so exhausted! I don't want to find alternatives or set up an existing platform AGAIN somewhere else - if Substack goes down, very likely I will be too tired to consider moving. I would just use my content that I've been creating on my Substack for a book, which is my eventual plan for it anyway, and forget about the part where I send it out to people first. Then again, I currently don't make any profit from it, and I might feel differently if it built up to being a substantial amount of revenue.
I’m still optimistic that Substack makes it through. You’ve made some great points, and Bernard made another about moderation upthread. If I’m honest that latter point worries me more than anything else.
From my observer’s perch it feels like growing pains, but with hurdles the platform can clear. I’ve only seen “negative revenue” used once, and that was at my company in the depths of COVID when cancellations/refunds outpaced new sales/revenue coming in.
Maybe a career in aviation has made me used to choppy waters & weird accounting. I dunno. I’m not naive, but this doesn’t feel like any of those inflection points did. Time’ll tell, I guess.
Worst case scenario, I go back to using my own website and or something like ConvertKit or Behiiv.
I so resonate with Rhiannon's comment on platform fatigue. We moved 5 times before I was 15 and this thread is hitting me the way my parent's moving announcements hit me as a kid. Seriously? We have to move again?? I just went all in on Substack in the last 2 months. Not sure now what I want to do with these reasonable cautions. I probably should have done more research, but really, there seems to be risk with every alternative. Who's to say Ghost, or any other system, doesn't hit a major roadblock of some sort. The rate of change, churn, and volatility of this industry is just going to mean surprises no matter where your house is built. I'm going to have to think on this one. Worse case scenario is letting my fears and cautions cause me to hold back with whatever I'm currently using. Leaning forward with confidence is so necessary for success in this domain. If I fall into a wrong decision, it's always possible to start again. : )
Been having so many private conversations about Ghost as a life raft away from Substack, if it comes to it.
I think that many of us if we are beyond a certain age/a certain number of years spent online have been burned by our platform of choice introducing algorithms/ aggressively pushing ads/ censoring and shadowbanning etc. the Enshittification as Doctorow has dubbed it.
I think many of us were seduced away from running our own sites by the siren song of engagement, attention and audience building that these platforms promised. Talk of Ghost seems to be an admission by many of the error of our ways and the desire for some sort of prelapsarian state. But is this possible.
Great read, Justin! I hope substack makes it through, I really do- but I need to start setting up a life raft too. When I first started writing, I didn’t see beyond the platform. But now, I want people to come to me- not medium, substack, revue, whatever it is .
As soon as I started reading, I thought - Just move to Ghost, damn it! Нарру with the conclusion - I even managed to do some landings and book publishing on ghost
Eek. This is scary for someone who makes very little money from this enterprise but sends A LOT of emails. My news publication sends daily emails to 1100+ people who count on this information. I’m glad you looked into the balance sheet because it’s definitely not something I did. Thanks for the info, Justin.
Great article, Justin! thanks. I wonder if you'd consider writing one comparing Medium with Substack, please. For example, I learned the hard way, that Medium has censorship policies with respect to comments and articles that go counter to mainstream narratives. I've not looked at Substack policies, but understand that they do not have this type of censoring.
I would hate to see anything happen to Substack as it is my life raft coming over from Medium. My only regret is that I did not switch over earlier as Substack is a much better platform in many ways. Medium has a certain dated quality in my opinion and needs an overhaul. Substack gets very high marks for innovation.
I just started investing more time and work into Substack. I was also perplexed on Substack’s revenue model but really hope they figure it out for all our sakes. Twitter has been such a crap show and Medium hasn’t been productive towards my goals.
I just found out about Ghost last week and while I haven’t done anything with it yet, I find it incredibly promising. Just debating what to do with it as I just started going hard on Substack and I don’t want to confuse my readers as I’m sure, other writers don’t too.
Im not sure if I should publish the same thing on Ghost and Substack to the same email list. I read that you simultaneously publish everything on Ghost and the other platforms, so that brings me some comfort.
Still, I’m struggling to figure out what to make on the strategy between these platforms. I feel I should treat ghost more like you said, Wordpress equivalent instead of substack equivalent.
Thank you. I never encountered this point of view so far.
Ghost still has a limitation compared to Convertkit or Mailerlite: there's no email automation. If you want to launch a product or a book, for example, you have to rely on the newsletters alone.
At the same time, email marketing software doesn't include a blog feature.
There's an additional problem for people without a substantial presence on a social platform or without a well ranked blog: they still need discovery. Some people are bullish about Substack recommendations or the new Twitter copycat. But there's no clear sign it will work.
Fantastic overview for a complete newbie. Question: Ghost sounds great, but don't you then have to pay 90/mo for Mailgun to distribute newsletters? I love the idea of getting off my WordPress. I used to be able to modify, revise, edit, add to easily, but now find it impossibly confusing and ended up having to pay a consultant for a light revision.
I appreciate your perspectives and insights. I'm so new to this, it is all I can do at this stage to get my newsletter out on a regular basis. However, you've given me a lot to think about that I hadn't even been on my radar, yet, but probably should be. Thank you!
I think Substack are about to hit a big iceberg called Content Moderation. We share this platform with some truly terrible people, and that has never bothered me personally because I see it as being a communication tool like GMail or WhatsApp. But as the network grows more interconnected, we're all going to have to start thinking about who we share this platform with (and probably deal with angry mobs flooding our comments). There's potential for chaos, which could make lots of people seek the relative calm of Ghost.
As I shared on Discord, I am very pro-Ghost, and am using it as my home base. Still using Substack for newsletters but I can easily migrate if/whenever necessary. For now, the Substack network effect is too good to disregard. But I'll be watching the platform closely.
The good news about all of this: we own our subscriber lists and are beholden to no platform.
All of this makes me feel so exhausted! I don't want to find alternatives or set up an existing platform AGAIN somewhere else - if Substack goes down, very likely I will be too tired to consider moving. I would just use my content that I've been creating on my Substack for a book, which is my eventual plan for it anyway, and forget about the part where I send it out to people first. Then again, I currently don't make any profit from it, and I might feel differently if it built up to being a substantial amount of revenue.
I’m still optimistic that Substack makes it through. You’ve made some great points, and Bernard made another about moderation upthread. If I’m honest that latter point worries me more than anything else.
From my observer’s perch it feels like growing pains, but with hurdles the platform can clear. I’ve only seen “negative revenue” used once, and that was at my company in the depths of COVID when cancellations/refunds outpaced new sales/revenue coming in.
Maybe a career in aviation has made me used to choppy waters & weird accounting. I dunno. I’m not naive, but this doesn’t feel like any of those inflection points did. Time’ll tell, I guess.
Worst case scenario, I go back to using my own website and or something like ConvertKit or Behiiv.
I so resonate with Rhiannon's comment on platform fatigue. We moved 5 times before I was 15 and this thread is hitting me the way my parent's moving announcements hit me as a kid. Seriously? We have to move again?? I just went all in on Substack in the last 2 months. Not sure now what I want to do with these reasonable cautions. I probably should have done more research, but really, there seems to be risk with every alternative. Who's to say Ghost, or any other system, doesn't hit a major roadblock of some sort. The rate of change, churn, and volatility of this industry is just going to mean surprises no matter where your house is built. I'm going to have to think on this one. Worse case scenario is letting my fears and cautions cause me to hold back with whatever I'm currently using. Leaning forward with confidence is so necessary for success in this domain. If I fall into a wrong decision, it's always possible to start again. : )
Been having so many private conversations about Ghost as a life raft away from Substack, if it comes to it.
I think that many of us if we are beyond a certain age/a certain number of years spent online have been burned by our platform of choice introducing algorithms/ aggressively pushing ads/ censoring and shadowbanning etc. the Enshittification as Doctorow has dubbed it.
I think many of us were seduced away from running our own sites by the siren song of engagement, attention and audience building that these platforms promised. Talk of Ghost seems to be an admission by many of the error of our ways and the desire for some sort of prelapsarian state. But is this possible.
Great piece, Justin.
Great read, Justin! I hope substack makes it through, I really do- but I need to start setting up a life raft too. When I first started writing, I didn’t see beyond the platform. But now, I want people to come to me- not medium, substack, revue, whatever it is .
As soon as I started reading, I thought - Just move to Ghost, damn it! Нарру with the conclusion - I even managed to do some landings and book publishing on ghost
Eek. This is scary for someone who makes very little money from this enterprise but sends A LOT of emails. My news publication sends daily emails to 1100+ people who count on this information. I’m glad you looked into the balance sheet because it’s definitely not something I did. Thanks for the info, Justin.
Great article, Justin! thanks. I wonder if you'd consider writing one comparing Medium with Substack, please. For example, I learned the hard way, that Medium has censorship policies with respect to comments and articles that go counter to mainstream narratives. I've not looked at Substack policies, but understand that they do not have this type of censoring.
I would hate to see anything happen to Substack as it is my life raft coming over from Medium. My only regret is that I did not switch over earlier as Substack is a much better platform in many ways. Medium has a certain dated quality in my opinion and needs an overhaul. Substack gets very high marks for innovation.
I just started investing more time and work into Substack. I was also perplexed on Substack’s revenue model but really hope they figure it out for all our sakes. Twitter has been such a crap show and Medium hasn’t been productive towards my goals.
I just found out about Ghost last week and while I haven’t done anything with it yet, I find it incredibly promising. Just debating what to do with it as I just started going hard on Substack and I don’t want to confuse my readers as I’m sure, other writers don’t too.
Im not sure if I should publish the same thing on Ghost and Substack to the same email list. I read that you simultaneously publish everything on Ghost and the other platforms, so that brings me some comfort.
Still, I’m struggling to figure out what to make on the strategy between these platforms. I feel I should treat ghost more like you said, Wordpress equivalent instead of substack equivalent.
Thank you. I never encountered this point of view so far.
Ghost still has a limitation compared to Convertkit or Mailerlite: there's no email automation. If you want to launch a product or a book, for example, you have to rely on the newsletters alone.
At the same time, email marketing software doesn't include a blog feature.
There's an additional problem for people without a substantial presence on a social platform or without a well ranked blog: they still need discovery. Some people are bullish about Substack recommendations or the new Twitter copycat. But there's no clear sign it will work.
What do you think of it?
Fantastic overview for a complete newbie. Question: Ghost sounds great, but don't you then have to pay 90/mo for Mailgun to distribute newsletters? I love the idea of getting off my WordPress. I used to be able to modify, revise, edit, add to easily, but now find it impossibly confusing and ended up having to pay a consultant for a light revision.
I appreciate your perspectives and insights. I'm so new to this, it is all I can do at this stage to get my newsletter out on a regular basis. However, you've given me a lot to think about that I hadn't even been on my radar, yet, but probably should be. Thank you!
How can our readers ever feel at home, when I feel like I am jumping from platform to platform?