I have written a few times on ZachsThoughts about Substack and the whole “rise of personal newsletters”, but I decided to write about it again because it’s really getting on my nerves.
First of all, the amount of gurus and self-help organizations who claim to help Substack writers get to that next level of being able to monetize their writing. Which is nice, and all, but some of us just want to be able to write in peace. I don’t need James’ 13 Steps to Building a Better Substack Publication. Trust me, I’ve tried, and it’s not worth it.
Why is it not worth it? Well, Substack is essentially just social media now. There’s Notes, and users are expected to use that to interact with each other, and hypothetically get subscribers.
But wait, there’s a followers function. So subscribers are really just for email… and if there’s an option not to give out your email, why wouldn’t you just do that?
That’s not even talking about the fact that Substack feels less like a newsletter/blogging platform and now just trying to fill a gaping hole that TikTok and X (formerly known as Twitter)
In fact, when you look up Substack on the iOS App Store, Substack says it’s a video platform first, THEN writing… then podcasts? Who exactly are they trying to compete with, if not for the social media behemoths?
Of course, I know what you’re thinking: “Zach, you’re probably just grumpy because you have not seen growth like other people”. While that is true to a certain extent, I did not start writing to get famous or to become the next Timothy Sykes, but rather for my own amusement; and it’s much harder to even try to write on a platform that is catering more towards the bigger writers; because let us be frank: the company is catering towards those that will get the six-figure subscriptions, because then Substack can get a decent 10% cut from it.
So now the question is: If you want to write online, where do you go?
Well first of all there’s the option of having your own website (ahem like I’ve been doing for the past 5 years). But for email? I’ve found Beehiiv to be a better replacement for Substack because of its customization, alongside me being able to add my own branding and not be in the massive ecosystem. The only thing that can tell you that I use Beehiiv is the watermark at the bottom of the email. Which, given I’m using the platform for free, is a pretty fair tradeoff.
So on and so on.
-z.a.