Got this great question from Christy, a fellow writer on Substack; why spend money on something that’s not doing anything for you in the moment?

My thinking is that Substack could go away tomorrow. I’ve seen a lot of people say, “I’ve stopped paying for my website and moved everything to Substack.” But Substack is something you don’t pay for.

For example, I paid $430 a month for Bench to do my bookkeeping and taxes every year, and they just disappeared one Friday. They came back, but it was not a comforting experience. The same could happen with Substack, Medium, or any other platform. What if these sites go away? I’m terrified that my best work on Social Media Escape Club is only on Substack. If Substack shuts down or I leave the platform, where does my body of work go? It’s gone.

I’ve experienced this before. I sent over 1,000 newsletters for Skull Toaster, my metal trivia project, and now they’re all gone. They were in MailChimp or people’s inboxes, but there’s no archive. My music blog, which I started in 2001 and ran through 2008, is all gone too. That’s why I believe in having a website as an archive of your work.

A website can also replace the feeds we use on Substack Notes or social media. Instead of sharing off-the-cuff thoughts on those feeds, post them on your site first. For example, I visit Seth Godin’s blog every day because I know there will always be something there. Imagine people coming to your website to see what you’re up to—because they know that’s where your best work lives.

Ultimately, having a website ensures your work doesn’t vanish when a server shuts down or an account gets deleted. It’s time to rethink how we use websites: put your best work there first, then share it elsewhere. That’s my two cents.