Category: WebsitesCategory: Websites

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!

Put something new on your website this weekend, and link it in your next newsletter.

Your newsletter isn’t your permanent address, it’s a delivery truck. Build an archive of work on your website and link to your stuff from your newsletter!

Camilla Wickman has a new album ‘Red Rock, Seal Skin‘ coming out August 22, 2025.

In this interview you’ll hear how Camilla started making frequent social media posts to promote their upcoming album, which felt out of alignment.

“There’s been a long period over the winter and early spring where I was just like, what now? You know, what does it look like to kind of try and play the long game, or just be authentic? And I think there was a minute there where I was like, maybe I just quit music.”

Thankfully there was enough goodness around to keep moving forward.

Life should inform the writing on your website, your newsletter, your creative output.

This from Lyly Dhommar, from a recent Email Guidance exchange.

Uncle Seth aka Lord of Social media escape club, confirmed that yes, connections and actions in the real world are the way I should live now. Then, I’ll write about them if something happens, not the other way around.

Do all the things. Go to the shows. The art openings. The ice cream stands. The hikes. The book shops. Live in the world as much as you can withstand, read, draw, dance, and dream.

Then, when it’s time to write your newsletter, you’ll have a rich life to pull from.

Using comfortable tools is important if we want to make the work we’re destined to make.

Note I didn’t say the “right tools.”

There’s lots of opinions and made up rules about the right tools to use, especially in the marketing of our creative work. The Social Media Escape Club is based upon dismissing the idea that social media is the right way to get our work out into the world.

For many, social media is uncomfortable. Dashboard metrics are uncomfortable. The idea of “creating content” to talk about work is uncomfortable. Using certain software tools, or computer programs – they’re uncomfortable.

We’re allowed to not use social media platforms, or perform at noisy bars.

We’re allowed to turn down opportunities that don’t align with our values.

We’re allowed comfort and ease in how we work, and how we make our art.

Says Kening Zhu in “the joy of missing out on platforms:”

“The more I’m nourished by my work, the more that others have the possibility of being nourished by it too.”

This is why I moved my paid members from Substack to Memberful. I don’t like what I’m seeing on that platform, and right now I wanted to ensure I could protect my member and data by moving somewhere else.

Was their discomfort in the move? Of course. But that’s what platforms do – they make it easy to stay. Untangling ourselves from these platforms is difficult work, but if there is comfort on the other side of that, then it’s worth it.