“(Substack) is still another platform hosted elsewhere. It simplifies the process for writers, podcasters, video creators, and others to publish their work for money. But their stuff is still made available at the mercy of software they do not control — and I bet there will be a time when Substack decides to make a controversial platform-wide change some publishers will want to back away from. The pressure is already there.”

Substack was a great place to grow an audience, but I believe those days are coming to an end, and I think that’s okay. We don’t want to rely on any single platform or source to grow and build upon. We should use the tools available to us, yes, but when brands such as Substack become a bigger and bigger story, yes, like Nick Heer says above, the pressure is building and someday it will pop.

Here’s a new video drop I made for Sean King O’Grady from their Substack Note, but figured it might be helpful for other folks.

1. Double check all the links in your profiles

On your profile (Substack, socials, whatever), this person has a website URL listed. On desktop, you can click it and it works — but on mobile, it doesn’t. In this case edit your Substack profile and add that link as an external website so it works everywhere.

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2. Should You Start a Separate Newsletter?

If early on in the process, no, I wouldn’t. Put all your effort into your main newsletter and get as many people on that as possible. Tell people there about whatever else you’re doing and selling. Once you’ve made some sales, you’ll have email addresses of people who bought from you — that can become your second email list.

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3. Should Your Newsletter Have a “Name?”

You’re the artist — trust your gut. If your name works, your name works. The success you see from others doing it differently isn’t your path. You’ve done great work so far — keep doing it your way. People who care about what you’re doing will sign up and stick around, no matter what it’s called.

Inspired by Lindsey Adler’s ​recent Note​, I’m trying something new for our Escape Pod Zoom call this week.

Last night, my friend Zito Madu hosted a party at his apartment that came with one non-negotiable rule: Every person in attendance had to stand up in front of the crowd and read something aloud.

Everyone in the room knew the host, but none of us knew each other. He had us wear name tags and bought a lot of fancy cheese.

There were no further parameters on the “read something “ edict. Some people read book excerpts, some read original poetry or fiction, two people (myself included) read portions of revolutionary manifestos. Someone read a magazine story about the decline of men reading fiction.

Our work grows when we stretch ourselves, which leads to even more growth. Showing up on a Zoom call with a bunch of strangers is stretching ourselves, approaching someone who books shows, reaching out to our heroes. There is tension, there is doubt.

As Seth Godin says:

Along the way, we’ve been pushed to load our decisions with a need for certainty. It’s easier, it seems, to not try than it is to fail. But the question, “is it worth trying?” unlocks possibility.

I’m not certain that asking people who show up on a Zoom call to read something aloud for one minute will work, which is exactly why we’re going to try it.

I’ve hosted over 85 Zoom calls with my Social Media Escape Club community, and it blows me away when people from these Escape Pod Zoom calls meet in real life.

There is tension in hosting a Zoom call, in meeting people in real life, in booking a show, or approaching a gallery. The tension of “this might not work,” of something going wrong, of being told no. But there’s no rewards without risk, no matter how big (or small) of a leap that risk might be.

I just told someone this via my Email Guidance offering, “don’t give your visitors a map, lead them on a path.”

I see so many websites with so many sections and headers and H1 tags, and, and, and… when really you can probably just cut things down to two or three pages.

Chances are you can combine elements from all of these into one or two pages, because making people pick and choose and decide can lead to people closing the tab.

Replace options with clarity.

Think of how an Ikea is laid out vs a grocery store. Think of laying things out in a way that gets your visitors deeper into your story without having to ask for directions.

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.

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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.

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