This post is a little off-brand for me, and I hope it might be helpful for those of you who blog and have been wondering if you should be writing on Substack. (If you don't know what Substack is, feel free to click on the link above or skip this post entirely.)
In the past few years, I have witnessed more and more newsletters switch over to Substack. I even opened an account. I went through all the steps to move my newsletter to the platform. Something has always held me back, and I thought I would articulate why I have hesitated. Here is why I am not switching.
I don't plan to charge for my newsletter. Ever. I write my newsletter and send it out most weeks to a group who have signed on to read my thoughts on topics from people-pleasing to ageing. It's something I do to connect with my followers. I don't plan to give you half a newsletter and ask you to pay for the rest of the content.
I don't want to learn another platform. I dabbled in Medium several years ago. I've used MailChimp and ConvertKit. I now send my email using Mailerlite, and I'm happy with the platform and how it works for me.
If it isn't broken, don't fix it. What I am doing is working for me. I'm not looking for different results, so why change things?
I like to bring people to my website, not to Substack. I have more than a blog on my website. I have other resources, event registrations and more that I want my readers to discover. While I am sure there is a way to integrate all of this through Substack, refer to #2 on this list.
Substack is noisy. I don't know about you, but I don't need more information. I end up signing out of Substack pretty quickly. I don't have time to process more information. I still get emails from people posting on Substack and wonder how that is any different than what they were doing before they switched.
These are the main reasons. The things I am already doing are working for me. The lure of building an audience on another platform and the dream of making money from a newsletter do not entice me. I'll be sticking around here for the foreseeable future.
If you switched to Substack, I would love to hear what appealed to you.
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