Category: sethwCategory: sethw

Technically I am violating Substack’s Publisher Agreement because my recurring membership system is done via Memberful.

You may not circumvent your payment obligations to us by soliciting payment from a Reader outside of Substack or by using any alternative method to collect subscription payments. This includes receiving payments for your publication through links to PayPal or a separate Patreon page.

This is why I’m exporting my email list every day.

When I signed up back in 2021 I knew (more or less) what I was signing up for: I’d be able to offer a “paid newsletter” via Substack, and that made total sense.

But I’ve realized I don’t really write a paid newsletter at all! I offer my community via weekly Escape Pod Zoom calls, and using Substack to manage that doesn’t work very well.

While places like Twitter and Instagram may “hide” your posts when you include a link to your Substack, Substack doesn’t just frown upon links to PayPal, Patreon, etc – they might shut down your account because of it.

Substack was great for growth (for a bit), but frowns upon you outgrowing their offering. Then they technically make it difficult to extract yourself from their system.

If we find yourself trying to fit your square membership into Substack’s round hole, tough luck – that’s what we signed up for, I guess. And it seems now that the safest best for Social Media Escape Club is to move my email list elsewhere at some point.

A little catchphrase I came up with: When you hit send, it’s not the end. Maybe I invented it, maybe someone else did—but it’s true either way.

Right now, it’s summertime—open rates are down, comments are down, “likes” are down.

But when you hit send, that doesn’t mean you’re done, especially if you’re on Substack! You have the direct URL for every post you send. Yes, those posts land in inboxes, but that’s just the beginning.

Take that link and bring it somewhere else. And I don’t just mean posting it on Twitter or Facebook and hoping the algorithm does you a favor—because honestly, it probably won’t.

(more…)

Love this from Cassidy Frost, from their interview on this Everybody Else podcast episode:

“I feel like working in a group is so much better — people can learn from each other and gain support from each other. It becomes something bigger: someone can watch another artist’s struggle and gain so much from it, realizing that the blocks in your head are universal, not just special to you. If someone else can overcome that, you can overcome it too. It’s like seeing to believe.”

I feel this in my bones, which is why I added Mini Escape Pod Q&A sessions to my weekly stable of calls with paid members. These smaller gatherings (limited to just me and three members) helps you realize that not every challenge is totally unique.

(more…)

Two things of note from our June 27th Escape Pod Zoom call.

Don’t niche too much. Or rather, don’t make two seperate newsletters, two separate Substacks, two separate websites – especially at the start. Show up fully as you first, before you go chopping yourself up into all these little pieces.

Then also, if you’re starting to move your Substack archive to your own website (just in case, ahhhh), take your time. It’s hard work moving everything over manually, and reformatting images, and cleaning up links. Find a pace that works for you.

◼️ Become a member of Social Media Escape Club to be a part of discussions like this every week!

That’s a little catchphrase I came up with: When you hit send, it’s not the end. Maybe I invented it, maybe someone else did—but it’s true either way.

Right now, it’s summertime—open rates are down, comments are down, “likes” are down. But when you hit send, that doesn’t mean you’re done. Especially if you’re on Substack, you have the direct URL for every post you send. Sure, it lands in inboxes, but that’s just the beginning.

(more…)