Category: SubstackCategory: Substack

I get this question a lot. The short answer: it depends, but probably yes.

(This text taken from my recent Substack Live, then cleaned and edited for readability.)

You wouldn’t buy concert tickets for a band you’ve never heard. You don’t buy a car without a test drive. So why would someone subscribe to your newsletter if they can’t see what it looks like first? Substack makes that possible. Every newsletter is live on the open web, easy to read before committing. It’s like a magazine stand for your work.

Another big factor is friction. On Substack, if someone already subscribes to other newsletters, their info is already filled in. That means all they have to do is click once to subscribe to yours. It seems small, but every bit of reduced friction matters.

Another advantage is shareability. Every post you publish on Substack has its own URL. That link can travel anywhere—text messages, group chats, Discords, blogs, other newsletters. When someone shares your work, it doesn’t just stop like it does with a closed system like Mailchimp. It keeps moving. Each post becomes its own landing page with a simple subscribe button right there.

Yes, that are limits, of course. If you need automations o tagging, Substack probably ain’t the right fit. But if your goal is to publish consistently, be seen, and make it easy for readers to subscribe, moving your list to Substack is a solid move.

I got this question from Leslie recently:

I recently started on Substack after being inspired by Mad Records’ experiment of releasing music outside Spotify. I have a small following and want to build a community I can keep, even if I eventually move platforms. Connection is important to me, but I’m unsure how to offer value or grow my audience. As I explore Substack through tutorials, I’m seeing a lot of concern about the platform shifting towards social media-style features (ads, algorithms, etc.) that may not be ideal for creatives. I’m feeling discouraged. Do you think Substack is still worth the effort for building a community?

First off, as an artist, you are not offering value or growing an audience, you’re making magic and pulling people into your creative orbit.

Second, yes, Substack is veering into social media territory for sure. But right now it’s an effective tool for letting curious visitors sign up for your email list.

So, all that said, time spent on Substack doing anything to attract any amount of readers is time well spent. Finding fans is one thing, but being able to reach those fans is another. If Substack allows you to build an email list of 10 people, well, you get the email those 10 people for the next several years. Every bit of effort here is worth it because of the foundation you build with an email list.

Readers can now subscribe to your Substack publication on their iOS device. But be careful – if you ever choose to leave Substack, you can’t take that paid member with you.

For IAP subscribers, Apple does not transfer billing relationships between platforms. You will still have access to their email addresses, so you can reach out and invite them to re-subscribe elsewhere.

We’ve also built a process to make this outreach easier for creators who decide to move their business off Substack. Our support team can work with you directly to guide you through your options.

So if you ever move to something like Ghost, Beehiv, Buttondown, or Memberful, it involves a couple more steps now. Yes, you still have their email address – which is very good! But if you have to suddenly tell 100 people who’ve signed up on an iOS device to cancel and sign up somewhere else, you will probably lose a handful in the process.

What percentage of your Substack subscribers have a ★★ or lower activity rating? For me, it’s 65%. Maybe I’m a horrible newsletter writer and that’s why no one reads my publication?

Or maybe Substack greased the wheels to drive subscriptions and give the illusion that they’re a coveted source of enthused readers? This is straight from the social media playbook as detailed by Cory Doctorow’s concept of Enshittification:

First they lure users onto their platforms, then attract businesses who might profit from this newly formed public, and then finally squeeze both for their own profit. Tech giants lure users in with convenience and then degrade their services over time, draining profit at the cost of user experience. In the meantime our public squares have turned somewhere between the mall and a dumpster fire, that is unfit to deal with the problems of our times.

I was looking for a free place to start a newsletter back in 2021. The Recommendations feature rolled out in early 2022. I got lots of subscribers from that! Then Substack Notes came in April of 2023 – like Twitter, but “nicer!”

The subscriptions flowed like water, like a fire hose!

Until it didn’t. I used to get 25+ new sign ups a day, but as you can see above (that 65% of my email audience if dreadfully unengaged), what did that really get me?

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I’m a big fan of one-page websites, and How To Leave Substack is one such site.

We’re discovering more and more that centralized kingdoms of power are not the answer. Especially when such a platform has no back ups of your work when you inadvertently delete something, or when they send a push notification with a fucking swastika, or goes quiet while a known Substack Bestseller is accused of plagiarism.

I understand the “Asking Authors To Move” section of the How To Leave Substack website. But trust me, moving ain’t easy, as Tara McMullin wrote about this back in “Substack Has a Nazi Problem” era (Nov 2023),

“There’s the work that goes directly into making a move—researching the options, exporting and importing old content, learning how to use the platform, designing your profile or site, moving your audience, etc. There’s also the work that goes into establishing yourself within the network of a new platform, answering questions from your audience about the new platform, and figuring out what kind of content is going to work best on this new platform.”

It took me a solid month or two just to export my paid members to Memberful. I was afraid I’d break something, that some setting would be left un-checked and I’d double charge my members. Or have to refund everyone.

Working with Substack, turns out, is precarious.

There’s a lot of people who probably want to move, but many don’t even know what the options are at. But trust me, I’m telling lots of current Substack authors that they can move their paid members to Memberful.

Looking to move your paid subscribers off of Substack? I’ve moved mine to Memberful.
Got questions? Book a 1:1 call here, or start with a free reply via my Email Guidance offering → https://tally.so/r/3N16p0