Moving On
I’ve been sending my newsletter via Substack for 7 months now, and there are lots of things I LOVE about the platform. It’s very ‘clean’ and intuitive to write in and it genuinely does work as a discovery platform as well as for distribution (whereas traditional newsletter services, such as Mailchimp or Mailerlite usually only cover the distribution angle). There’s a great sense of community here, which is something to be cherished.
However, after much thought, I’m moving on, for five main reasons.
I miss some of the functionality and analytics of traditional newsletter providers - I want to be able to send more than one welcome email and to have the ability to set up other automations.
I miss the privacy of emails that are just emails, not posts as well. I like the sense of writing solely to a group of people who have opted in to hear from me, rather than writing posts that are visible to anyone who searches for them.
Substack is primarily built for people who want to monetise their newsletter. If, like me, you have a different business model (in my case, selling my services), this leaves you sending sales emails in what feels like the wrong space for doing that.
Notes is effectively another social media platform. It overwhelms me. I can see it’s a great tool for connecting with other writers and for growing your newsletter - but for me, it’s feeling like too much. Possibly, if the focus of most notes ever moves on from discussions about how to grow on Substack, it might feel more engaging.
The focus of my business is changing, and my ideal clients are therefore different. When my ideal clients were individuals who loved writing, Substack was a great home for me. Now that my client base is shifting to working with organisations as well as with individuals, this is no longer the obvious platform for me.
If you’d like to stay on my newsletter list, you don’t need to do anything. You’ll continue to get my emails (which will continue to talk about storytelling and entrepreneurship, but will have less of a focus than before on attention and mindfulness). The main difference is that, after this one, my emails will be sent out via ConvertKit rather than Substack. And of course, if you don’t like the sound of the upcoming changes, you are always free to unsubscribe.
And if you’d like to hear the other side of the story, have a look at these pieces by
and - they both share some of my reservations, but are happily staying with Substack :In summary, I think Substack is a great platform, if it is the right fit for your ideal readers and has the functionality to meet your business goals - and when it comes to actually writing emails, I think I’m going to miss its uncluttered UI.
If you use Substack yourself, do you love it? Are you thinking of moving to Substack or off it? Hit reply and let me know, or share in the comments.
Join me at the last free Expand Your Ecosystem Roundtable Call
My last Roundtable session before a break over the summer (and maybe forever) is on Thursday 9th May at 2pm UK time (9am Eastern | 3pm Central European Time | 6am (!) Pacific). As of this writing, there is one place available - you can sign up for it here:
That’s it for this month. I’ll be back in your inbox at the beginning of June. Have a beautiful blossomy month of May.
Sophy xo
Thank you Sophie! I've been grappling with this as well and have decided not to move my newsletter over. You and Kerstin Martin have pinpointed clearly my need for intimacy with my newsletter as well. I look forward to receiving your newsletters in my inbox! I just missed the last spot in your Roundtable session for May - perhaps another time!
As you may remember I considered moving my business newsletter to Substack but decided it against it, much for the same reasons you cite here. There is a lot I love about Substack, too, like the ease of use, or the clever functionality that encourages engagement and discovery. From a technical standpoint it's a brilliantly designed platform.
When I polled thousands of my subscribers the overwhelming consensus was that they are glad I didn't make the move. They appreciated the intimicacy of having emails only, without a public online platform. Interestingly, they also liked how I styled my newsletter in a way that sets it apart from the generic look of Substack newsletters.
I'll be your happy subscriber, not matter where you send your newsletter from. xo