That's a serious drawback to using Substack. Also having to pay $50 for a unique domain is BS. I'm starting to believe the main reason they are so successful is because they were 'first' to the market and have name recognition at this point.
I think $50 for a unique domain is reasonable. I suspect they'll move away from this in time and incorporate the unique domain into a plan or something...
I'm 100% guessing, but unique domains was something hotly requested and I don't think it's seamless/100% automatic for them to do this yet. So enabling the feature while slapping a $50 price tag on it lets them control demand and give it to people who want it badly, while they improve their process for this.
I don't think they were first to market. Newsletters have been around for forever. They probably made it easier than ever to create newsletters though.
I hope you don't think it's weird that I'm defending Substack. 😅I just think that each platform has its pros and cons and I'm glad many exist. Combined, they help make newsletters more popular and grow demand for them, which is nice for the entire industry!
The only reason I don't think it's reasonable is because other services (Revue) offers it for free. Also Revue only takes 5% of subscriber revenue as opposed to substack's 10%. Don't get me wrong though, I love a lot of substacks features.
I think I mean 'first to the market' in terms of simplified newsletter platforms, as opposed to like wordpress. But yes I agree with you, It's great substack is growing the market for newsletters!
I want to be clear about something: This isn't a post about how Substack sucks. It doesn't.
Substack is a great platform – It's super easy to get started and super easy to get paid as a writer. I'll continue to happily recommend it to people when it's appropriate.
"When it's appropriate" is key here. You see, there are hundreds of thousands of use cases out there for newsletters. Everyone has slightly different needs, levels of complexity and technological know-how. A full time developer might feel constrained by Substack, but it's a godsend to a 45-year-old lawyer who just wants to wax lyrical about jurisprudence on the weekends.
Substack, WordPress, Ghost all fill different requirements. This isn't a zero sum game. There's room for everyone, and I'm happy all of these options (and more) exist.
Combined, they help grow the newsletter ecosystem and give readers a vibrant and differentiated experience in their inbox.
I for one am happy my inbox is a hodgepodge mix of happy, serious, modern, and sometimes crazy-ass newsletters. I hope this never changes!
I started my newsletter with Revue and don't see why anyone would stick with it for very long. The editor is terrible, it's barely customizable, and the reading experience is subpar. It's great to have something up and running very quickly, but once I'm past a couple hundred subscribers, it seems there's a lot more to be gained from going the route of Wordpress or something similar.
I think Revue has its place in the ecosystem. It's great for someone who has no desire to mess around with technology and just wants to write. Probably hundreds of thousands (if not millions) of people out there who are like this.
I can totally see how, if you're the kind of person who hangs around on indiehackers and is building software, you might think it's not good enough! Where are you planning to move to?
Very good point, it’s strength is ease of setup, it’s just not a best fit for me.
I would love a setup where I can write in Markdown, the browser reading experience is not squished, the content is SEO optimized, and I can design a custom landing page.
I only just started looking into this, because I want to focus on writing and growing a little more before I spend time making a switch, but perhaps Ghost?
That's a serious drawback to using Substack. Also having to pay $50 for a unique domain is BS. I'm starting to believe the main reason they are so successful is because they were 'first' to the market and have name recognition at this point.
I think $50 for a unique domain is reasonable. I suspect they'll move away from this in time and incorporate the unique domain into a plan or something...
I'm 100% guessing, but unique domains was something hotly requested and I don't think it's seamless/100% automatic for them to do this yet. So enabling the feature while slapping a $50 price tag on it lets them control demand and give it to people who want it badly, while they improve their process for this.
I don't think they were first to market. Newsletters have been around for forever. They probably made it easier than ever to create newsletters though.
I hope you don't think it's weird that I'm defending Substack. 😅I just think that each platform has its pros and cons and I'm glad many exist. Combined, they help make newsletters more popular and grow demand for them, which is nice for the entire industry!
The only reason I don't think it's reasonable is because other services (Revue) offers it for free. Also Revue only takes 5% of subscriber revenue as opposed to substack's 10%. Don't get me wrong though, I love a lot of substacks features.
I think I mean 'first to the market' in terms of simplified newsletter platforms, as opposed to like wordpress. But yes I agree with you, It's great substack is growing the market for newsletters!
Thanks for the reply!
I want to be clear about something: This isn't a post about how Substack sucks. It doesn't.
Substack is a great platform – It's super easy to get started and super easy to get paid as a writer. I'll continue to happily recommend it to people when it's appropriate.
"When it's appropriate" is key here. You see, there are hundreds of thousands of use cases out there for newsletters. Everyone has slightly different needs, levels of complexity and technological know-how. A full time developer might feel constrained by Substack, but it's a godsend to a 45-year-old lawyer who just wants to wax lyrical about jurisprudence on the weekends.
Substack, WordPress, Ghost all fill different requirements. This isn't a zero sum game. There's room for everyone, and I'm happy all of these options (and more) exist.
Combined, they help grow the newsletter ecosystem and give readers a vibrant and differentiated experience in their inbox.
I for one am happy my inbox is a hodgepodge mix of happy, serious, modern, and sometimes crazy-ass newsletters. I hope this never changes!
I started my newsletter with Revue and don't see why anyone would stick with it for very long. The editor is terrible, it's barely customizable, and the reading experience is subpar. It's great to have something up and running very quickly, but once I'm past a couple hundred subscribers, it seems there's a lot more to be gained from going the route of Wordpress or something similar.
I think Revue has its place in the ecosystem. It's great for someone who has no desire to mess around with technology and just wants to write. Probably hundreds of thousands (if not millions) of people out there who are like this.
I can totally see how, if you're the kind of person who hangs around on indiehackers and is building software, you might think it's not good enough! Where are you planning to move to?
Very good point, it’s strength is ease of setup, it’s just not a best fit for me.
I would love a setup where I can write in Markdown, the browser reading experience is not squished, the content is SEO optimized, and I can design a custom landing page.
I only just started looking into this, because I want to focus on writing and growing a little more before I spend time making a switch, but perhaps Ghost?
Try Buttondown or Ghost.
There are also WordPress options for this. Try WordPress + Newsletter Glue + Iceberg, which lets you write in markdown + your preferred WP theme.
Here's a post I wrote about my favourite free minimalist WordPress themes for writing newsletters.
Thanks for recommendations, Buttondown looks awesome too :)