You might very well be right, Brent! That’s why I’m not leaving Substack as dramatically as some people have done in the past. The network effect is undeniable. I can still take advantage of that through Notes, comments, recommendations, collaborations, etc. I can write previews on my Substack to lead people to Ghost. One could say that goes against Substack’s business model, but I don't think it does. Their model makes most of their money from big names, which brings me to…
1. It’s undeniable that Substack supports celebrities. They pay them to be here and boost them algorithmically. But yes, it's also true that Substack has features and structures in place so that anyone who puts the work into it can grow. But think about how much more work you put into creating an audience here than a big name? You leave comments, engage, support, and do everything you can for your community. It’s great that Substack incentivizes this, but big names rarely need to do any of this.
2. Let’s find out together! Nobody really knows what the discoverability trends will be in a few years. Either way, I think it’s smart not to have all your eggs in one basket, especially a centralized one. On Substack, you may own your audience. But on Ghost, I also have the code. I can collaborate and grow it anywhere.
Let’s see what happens! Either way, Substack helped me find friends like you guys, and the ethically questionable aspects of the platform aren't going to stop me from hanging out here with people who make being on the internet a better experience. It’s just stopping me from being part of the financial structure here. Again, we’ll see how people react to this article, though.
I certainly can't argue with: "No one knows anything." It's been my mantra for years!
(I do think that when dealing with media, the goal of the aspiring writer is to bring value to the table. That's the only way to get media companies to "work" for you. I think that's *always* been true, but it's even more true in 2025.)
Good for you, Nolan! In our digital society, we have to understand how the system works—who pays, who doesn't, who benefits, who doesn't. Among other more personal (and political) reasons, that's why I left Facebook ... personally. But professionally, I cannot find a better way to target my audience. It grieves me that I'm using Facebook the way it's using me. But that's how this world of algorithms is played. As Kenny Rogers famously said, in The Gambler:
On a warm summer's evening
On a train bound for nowhere
I met up with the gambler
We were both too tired to sleep
So we took turns a-starin'
Out the window at the darkness
The boredom overtook us
And he began to speak
He said, "Son, I've made a life
Out of readin' people's faces
Knowin' what the cards were
By the way they held their eyes
So if you don't mind my sayin'
I can see you're out of aces
For a taste of your whiskey
I'll give you some advice"
So I handed him my bottle
And he drank down my last swallow
Then he bummed a cigarette
And asked me for a light
And the night got deathly quiet
And his face lost all expression
Said, "If you're gonna play the game, boy
You gotta learn to play it right
You've got to know when to hold 'em
Know when to fold 'em
Know when to walk away
And know when to run
You never count your money
When you're sittin' at the table
There'll be time enough for countin'
When the dealin's done
Every gambler knows
That the secret to survivin'
Is knowin' what to throw away
And knowin' what to keep
'Cause every hand's a winner
And every hand's a loser
And the best that you can hope for
Is to die in your sleep"
And when he'd finished speakin'
He turned back toward the window
Crushed out his cigarette
Faded off to sleep
And somewhere in the darkness
The gambler he broke even
But in his final words
I found an ace that I could keep
You've got to know when to hold 'em
Know when to fold 'em
Know when to walk away
And know when to run
You never count your money
When you're sittin' at the table
There'll be time enough for countin'
When the dealin's done
You've got to know when to hold 'em (when to hold 'em)
I'm glad you approve, Bruce! You would have been one of the people to sway me to stay here if you didn't approve. And I get the Facebook use. Personally, I don't use it at all. But I did just try out threads..
I've been wondering about this tech issue you've had here, and the lingering hangover--the sheer amount of time it's taken. The tech folks response is very disappointing. I've had an issue with my "Index" pages; I've been creating one for each year here, now on my 5th, and every time I add the links of articles (which I try to keep up monthly), the whole thing burps itself into nonexistence. I wrote to them, they "fixed" it, but not... Small thing, maybe, but very irritating.
I'm not very tech. When you write about the tech side, the backroom, I realize how little I understand. BUT the fact that I now make less here than I did two years ago, putting in the same and more effort is very discouraging. I appreciate your idea of the top "tiers" contributing in a form of some sort... if the company doesn't want to do it, wouldn't it be nice if a couple of big ones decided to do it... just because. Who needs 5 million a year? Who needs 2? I'm proof you can live on 40k and even own a house if you never buy anything, see anything, go anywhere, and try not to breathe too loudly.
So you've built on Ghost, put your material together there, duplicated what's here to some degree, and are now doing both... maybe with the hope to just switch over if fully supported?? I'm happy to move my paid membership to you there, Nolan. I'll commit to that. With the higher $25 month fee, does that change according to how you are earning, or is it a flat fee? And how are you paid? Via stripe, which also takes its cut?
Hey Alison! I just found out Ghost makes you upgrade to the $50/month plan if you have over 1000 subscribers. Once you have over 10 000, you need the $250/month. It caps out there. So, it put me in a bad position, actually. Hopefully, good will come from it. Of course, if you have enough paid subscribers, Ghost's monthly fee is less than the 10% cut. I just wanted to let you know because I mentioned that you're considering the switch.
No, that's the thing that pissed me off. This is all subscribers! So, right now, I'm making half of what I would on Substack by switching to Ghost. However, if I had over 100 paid Subscribers, Ghost would be the better choice financially as well.
Yikes. I have over 3k and half that again in followers. I can't take any sort of loss right now. (I'm at about 120 paid folks--some who have discounts.) Though I suppose--to stay under the 10k--one can cut the freebies who never read!
This--what you're sharing--is not obvious at a quick glance through their info!
Yes, my advice would be to cut the freebies that never get read, but I started doing that and then noticed Substack’s star rating doesn’t make sense. I received 0 stars from people who commented on and shared my work.
I've noticed that, too. Also suspect if you cut, then the numbers don't push at the algorithm. Ugh. I used to scrutinize these things, try to understand, but would rather be writing. As I age, I write so much more slowly. Or at least, it feels that way. So the time becomes more precious.
I'm happy everything I looked into helps you as well! I'll answer everything here.
1. My plan is to switch over my best articles. I'm updating them to make sure they work better for LLM discoverability with clear headlines, etc., I'm also going to improve some old articles so my subscribers who were with me from the very start enjoy re-reading some of my articles. For example, the humour one you read on Ghost was originally three articles a year, and I updated it into one article based on some feedback I got last time.
2. I might switch over fully, but for now, I still plan to network on Substack. However, as you likely saw when you subscribed, Ghost also has a recommendation feature. I'm recommending some Substacks for now. I'll add you to the recommendations as well! But if you plan to switch to Ghost, let me know, and I'll recommend your Ghost Site instead.
3. No! It's a flat fee. Since they don’t chase outside investment, they’re not bound to deliver returns to shareholders. Instead, they set pricing that’s enough to maintain operations and development and stay consistent regardless of creator earnings. Obviously, it's way better in the long run for creators as well then.
4. If you want to switch yourself, let me know. I'll help you in whatever way I can. Send me questions whenever. I'd also hop on a video call and share my screen to help out.
Also, it means you're a lot you're willing to support me on Ghost as well! Don't pay just yet. I want to make sure you don't end up paying twice. I'm going to import all my subscribers in a week or so. I want to make sure this article reaches people first. I might send out another email before switching people over. The import process seems really straightforward.
Very interesting analysis that confirms what I have recently been feeling under my skin about Substack - not that I do anything other than read about half a dozen writers and accounts along with a bit of commenting. Good luck with the switch. Hope it goes great for you.
Thank you for sharing so generously. I am also considering moving to Ghost because it aligns more with my values- and like you, think it makes sense to use this more as a social media platform.
Make sure to keep me posted and share your Ghost site! Just a heads up—I have lost money by moving to Ghost. With over 1000 subscribers, you need the $50/month plan, which cut my income from paid subscribers in half. However, so far, I still think it’s worth it.
I use Ghost for my main (German) website, while using Substack for my English posts. Best of both worlds. Also the social/network aspect of Substack is undeniable a big plus - especially when you are selling products and courses and not subscriptions.
It's a better WordPress for me, because it's simple and lightweight. I don't have to adjust hundreds of Plugins, settings etc - it just works. The only thing I'm not that happy with is the top navigation bar and that I'm missing some design elements - but that's the downside of simplicity. Overall I'm happy that I don't have to tinker hours over hours with it like I had to with WP over many years. As a website it's great, but if I'd be primarily looking for subscribers and build a business on that, I would definitely go for Substack because of the network effect.
Hey Nolan! Thanks for writing your perspective on this.
As someone who has been in the digital space since 2004, and used almost every platform and built businesses around them, you are always best creating on something you have complete control over -- which is far and few these days.
WordPress. Ghost. SquareSpace. Substack. All of them have their pros and cons.
The thing working for Ghost is that they are a non-profit and open source, and you can save money by downloading their software and self-hosting your website: https://ghost.org/docs/hosting. The caveat is what so many other people said: that it's harder to be discovered, so you have to work harder to build your audience, which we should all be doing anyway, right?
That being said, we've been building our travel website on Ghost for a while. Substack is great for what it is, but we are at the mercy of others, and we've seen how publications can be wiped out or shunned in the blink of an eye. Our strategy is similar to yours, and we will only be posting certain content here in the future.
One other aspect to consider, and it's very important, is that every time you move paid or free members, there's the law of attrition. Having worked with best-selling authors and well-known digital entrepreneurs, I can say that every time you make a change like this, it hurts the income stream and you lose people. There are other considerations too, like content not exporting properly or SEO changes.
Of course, probably know all that, but if I can be of any help, don't hesitate to send me a message.
Hey James! Thanks for the tips. I subscribed to Road Life Adventure, but which is your Ghost website? I would love to follow you and recommend you via Ghost's new features.
And yes, I was aware of the law of attrition. I'm also aware of the SEO changes, but I'm using it my advantage. I am rewriting and restructuring my old articles for Ghost, using the right canonical links, using different titles, updating & cutting my Substack articles to link to Ghost, etc.,
You bet! I've learned a lot over the years about technology (and digital business) and made a LOT of mistakes, so I'm always happy to share those lessons to help others avoid all the painful hardships I experienced.
Our Ghost website is https://www.roadlifemagazine.com. I bought a premium theme, and even though it's not as adaptable as WordPress, it's a great option. My core focus was WP for 15 years, and I designed a lot of themes for the platform, but then the entire foundation started to crack, and I left it behind. That's another story!
SEO is always a challenge these days. I used to own the space on several topics but thanks to all the Google changes and tech updates, that's minimal now. Ghost does offer more in that area.
I've also returned to Squarespace to test the latest updates and platform (https://www.dalmandesigns.com), but it's a lot more work. Hopefully, I can finish that site in the next couple of weeks.
I subscribed to you on Ghost. A friend in Shanghai has also been using ghost for some time now. He is one of the smartest people I know. So good company.
I set up a blog on ghost too now.
Much of what I have achieved in my career has been somehow triggered by my over 20 years of writing. I could see a real connection between me writing and me now writing.
Substack reminds me of the early days of blogging. But this time there is some nice analytics happening and if 5% of my subscribers convert to paying then it’s quite good. I am already earning more from this platform than many much harder working people in the global south (a bit over $1 a day) and I marvel at that. How is this even possible, no?
So thank you for the really good post. I will be watching this space.
Perhaps I will even splurge for that free 20 minutes on a call. A lot could be said in 20 minutes. haha. Thank you
Thanks for subscribing to Ghost, and it’s good to know about your friend. And yes, set up a call whenever. I'm also happy to chat via WhatsApp if you send me a DM.
I don’t understand the subdomain area. You can pay $50 one time and add a custom domain to Substack. I’ve done it on half a dozen publications. You do not have the minute control you do at ghost, but you then control the data, as you connect stripe and have access to all the emails.
You might not be missing anything. You know more about this world than I do. However, from what I read, these are some points to consider in relation to the domain:
- Even with a custom domain, Substack is a "platform-as-a-service." You don't control the underlying architecture or code.
- Ghost allows for granular SEO control, including advanced schema, custom meta tags, redirects, and performance optimization, giving maximum leverage for search rankings.
- Substack’s SEO capabilities are limited to basic features provided by the platform. You cannot implement custom code for advanced optimization.
- Ghost help you make an independent, well-optimized site offering cleaner code and structure, making it easier for LLMs and search engine crawlers to discover, index, and understand your content.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts here. I did briefly consider Ghost, but I do enjoy the ecosystem here.
As for SEO, I am from the SEO world, and I left it for a reason—Google is no longer what it was. They kept changing their algorithm, too, and most recently, to the worst. We couldn't get decent search results anymore, and now everyone is on the AI bandwagon. I don't know how it works yet with SEO, but it has shown that it relies on search results, which means back to bad SEO.
I can imagine, though, that once I have amassed enough readers and gained enough of a following, switching to Ghost or alternatives may make sense.
It's so difficult nowadays to stay neutral and ethical; what was once good inevitably turned questionable once they grew to a specific size.
I will keep you posted on everything since you might also make the switch one day. You can learn from my mistakes! So far, it has cost me more than it has made me financially, but I think it might motivate me to push more the old-fashioned way—just talking instead of posting on news feeds. Hopefully, my more memorable domain name helps with that, too. I want to think of more ways to advertise my website in the physical world, and not get locked into where everything is online.
And yes, I'm not leaving the ecosystem here. I don't even think I'm leaving the business model. Substack makes its money from big names. The rest of us are such a small percentage of their income, so we aren't prioritized. At Ghost, a big name or a small name pays them the same amount, so we’re all treated the same by their support team.
Certainly we see how the algorithm here skews big names and celebrities, some writers with extreme views, I do see the goods here as I found people like yourself and many more I might not discover otherwise, at least not in other platforms. I also read some other views that predict the only path for substack will be like medium to lose control and values once private equity overpowers the founders. let's keep a close eye here then. all the best, and love your work!
Thank you, Franco! We still stay in touch here and hopefully on Ghost as well. Feel free to reach out to me whenever privately via a DM or email as well.
I respect whatever you decide (and I feel your pain on the "support" issue -- I really really do), but I think you're making a mistake. Here's why:
(1) I think you're (kinda) wrong on the whole "they only support celebrity authors" thing. I know we all generalize from our personal experience, but that really hasn't been our experience at all. I do the system rewards very clear branding, and also "easy" user-friendly content, but that's the whole internet and 100% of all social media too.
(2) I think the (short-term) future is very very VERY much against SEO and outside-platform discoverability. We syndicate our content to a number of different sites, and it's the same thing everyone: traffic isn't just "crashing" -- it's CRAAAASSSSHHHINNNG. And yes, it's all AI-driven and AI-related. But related to the AI disaster, there's also the "closed-system" disaster wherein most (all?) social media platforms are now making it even more difficult (if not outright impossible) to get traffic to your lone wolf individual platform: they're completely burying links to outside entities. We see this everywhere too, and our friends in social media relate the same trend.
In other words, in the short term at least, I think the intra-platform discoverability (which Substack provides IN SPADES) is more important than ever. I worry that your own little "independent" site will be shut out of growth for the immediate future. M and I talk about this all the time, and short of live-person events (!!!), we wonder where platforms that aren't part of some existing platform will get any discoverability at all.
Anyway, just my take. Feel free to prove me wrong!
Very interesting food for thought, Nolan. Agree in particular about the lack of language support. Also, I’ve been suggesting to the Substack powers for the past two years that we need a yen option. No luck. But Ghost doesn’t have one either. Agree with many of the other points you raise. Double bind, but maybe seeking a different platform is the only way to move forward. Good luck with whatever path you choose!
You might very well be right, Brent! That’s why I’m not leaving Substack as dramatically as some people have done in the past. The network effect is undeniable. I can still take advantage of that through Notes, comments, recommendations, collaborations, etc. I can write previews on my Substack to lead people to Ghost. One could say that goes against Substack’s business model, but I don't think it does. Their model makes most of their money from big names, which brings me to…
1. It’s undeniable that Substack supports celebrities. They pay them to be here and boost them algorithmically. But yes, it's also true that Substack has features and structures in place so that anyone who puts the work into it can grow. But think about how much more work you put into creating an audience here than a big name? You leave comments, engage, support, and do everything you can for your community. It’s great that Substack incentivizes this, but big names rarely need to do any of this.
2. Let’s find out together! Nobody really knows what the discoverability trends will be in a few years. Either way, I think it’s smart not to have all your eggs in one basket, especially a centralized one. On Substack, you may own your audience. But on Ghost, I also have the code. I can collaborate and grow it anywhere.
Let’s see what happens! Either way, Substack helped me find friends like you guys, and the ethically questionable aspects of the platform aren't going to stop me from hanging out here with people who make being on the internet a better experience. It’s just stopping me from being part of the financial structure here. Again, we’ll see how people react to this article, though.
I certainly can't argue with: "No one knows anything." It's been my mantra for years!
(I do think that when dealing with media, the goal of the aspiring writer is to bring value to the table. That's the only way to get media companies to "work" for you. I think that's *always* been true, but it's even more true in 2025.)
Good for you, Nolan! In our digital society, we have to understand how the system works—who pays, who doesn't, who benefits, who doesn't. Among other more personal (and political) reasons, that's why I left Facebook ... personally. But professionally, I cannot find a better way to target my audience. It grieves me that I'm using Facebook the way it's using me. But that's how this world of algorithms is played. As Kenny Rogers famously said, in The Gambler:
On a warm summer's evening
On a train bound for nowhere
I met up with the gambler
We were both too tired to sleep
So we took turns a-starin'
Out the window at the darkness
The boredom overtook us
And he began to speak
He said, "Son, I've made a life
Out of readin' people's faces
Knowin' what the cards were
By the way they held their eyes
So if you don't mind my sayin'
I can see you're out of aces
For a taste of your whiskey
I'll give you some advice"
So I handed him my bottle
And he drank down my last swallow
Then he bummed a cigarette
And asked me for a light
And the night got deathly quiet
And his face lost all expression
Said, "If you're gonna play the game, boy
You gotta learn to play it right
You've got to know when to hold 'em
Know when to fold 'em
Know when to walk away
And know when to run
You never count your money
When you're sittin' at the table
There'll be time enough for countin'
When the dealin's done
Every gambler knows
That the secret to survivin'
Is knowin' what to throw away
And knowin' what to keep
'Cause every hand's a winner
And every hand's a loser
And the best that you can hope for
Is to die in your sleep"
And when he'd finished speakin'
He turned back toward the window
Crushed out his cigarette
Faded off to sleep
And somewhere in the darkness
The gambler he broke even
But in his final words
I found an ace that I could keep
You've got to know when to hold 'em
Know when to fold 'em
Know when to walk away
And know when to run
You never count your money
When you're sittin' at the table
There'll be time enough for countin'
When the dealin's done
You've got to know when to hold 'em (when to hold 'em)
Know when to fold 'em (when to fold 'em)
Know when to walk away
And know when to run
You never count your money
When you're sittin' at the table
There'll be time enough for countin'
When the dealin's done
You've got to know when to hold 'em
Know when to fold 'em
Know when to walk away
And know when to run
You never count your money
When you're sittin' at the table
There'll be time enough for countin'
When the dealin's done
I'm glad you approve, Bruce! You would have been one of the people to sway me to stay here if you didn't approve. And I get the Facebook use. Personally, I don't use it at all. But I did just try out threads..
Just subscribed!! Wow.
I've been wondering about this tech issue you've had here, and the lingering hangover--the sheer amount of time it's taken. The tech folks response is very disappointing. I've had an issue with my "Index" pages; I've been creating one for each year here, now on my 5th, and every time I add the links of articles (which I try to keep up monthly), the whole thing burps itself into nonexistence. I wrote to them, they "fixed" it, but not... Small thing, maybe, but very irritating.
I'm not very tech. When you write about the tech side, the backroom, I realize how little I understand. BUT the fact that I now make less here than I did two years ago, putting in the same and more effort is very discouraging. I appreciate your idea of the top "tiers" contributing in a form of some sort... if the company doesn't want to do it, wouldn't it be nice if a couple of big ones decided to do it... just because. Who needs 5 million a year? Who needs 2? I'm proof you can live on 40k and even own a house if you never buy anything, see anything, go anywhere, and try not to breathe too loudly.
So you've built on Ghost, put your material together there, duplicated what's here to some degree, and are now doing both... maybe with the hope to just switch over if fully supported?? I'm happy to move my paid membership to you there, Nolan. I'll commit to that. With the higher $25 month fee, does that change according to how you are earning, or is it a flat fee? And how are you paid? Via stripe, which also takes its cut?
I may have to think about this, too.
THANK YOU for sharing all of this!
Hey Alison! I just found out Ghost makes you upgrade to the $50/month plan if you have over 1000 subscribers. Once you have over 10 000, you need the $250/month. It caps out there. So, it put me in a bad position, actually. Hopefully, good will come from it. Of course, if you have enough paid subscribers, Ghost's monthly fee is less than the 10% cut. I just wanted to let you know because I mentioned that you're considering the switch.
So this is PAID subscribers... is that right? I so appreciate you letting me know all!
No, that's the thing that pissed me off. This is all subscribers! So, right now, I'm making half of what I would on Substack by switching to Ghost. However, if I had over 100 paid Subscribers, Ghost would be the better choice financially as well.
Yikes. I have over 3k and half that again in followers. I can't take any sort of loss right now. (I'm at about 120 paid folks--some who have discounts.) Though I suppose--to stay under the 10k--one can cut the freebies who never read!
This--what you're sharing--is not obvious at a quick glance through their info!
Yes, my advice would be to cut the freebies that never get read, but I started doing that and then noticed Substack’s star rating doesn’t make sense. I received 0 stars from people who commented on and shared my work.
I've noticed that, too. Also suspect if you cut, then the numbers don't push at the algorithm. Ugh. I used to scrutinize these things, try to understand, but would rather be writing. As I age, I write so much more slowly. Or at least, it feels that way. So the time becomes more precious.
I'm happy everything I looked into helps you as well! I'll answer everything here.
1. My plan is to switch over my best articles. I'm updating them to make sure they work better for LLM discoverability with clear headlines, etc., I'm also going to improve some old articles so my subscribers who were with me from the very start enjoy re-reading some of my articles. For example, the humour one you read on Ghost was originally three articles a year, and I updated it into one article based on some feedback I got last time.
2. I might switch over fully, but for now, I still plan to network on Substack. However, as you likely saw when you subscribed, Ghost also has a recommendation feature. I'm recommending some Substacks for now. I'll add you to the recommendations as well! But if you plan to switch to Ghost, let me know, and I'll recommend your Ghost Site instead.
3. No! It's a flat fee. Since they don’t chase outside investment, they’re not bound to deliver returns to shareholders. Instead, they set pricing that’s enough to maintain operations and development and stay consistent regardless of creator earnings. Obviously, it's way better in the long run for creators as well then.
4. If you want to switch yourself, let me know. I'll help you in whatever way I can. Send me questions whenever. I'd also hop on a video call and share my screen to help out.
Also, it means you're a lot you're willing to support me on Ghost as well! Don't pay just yet. I want to make sure you don't end up paying twice. I'm going to import all my subscribers in a week or so. I want to make sure this article reaches people first. I might send out another email before switching people over. The import process seems really straightforward.
Very interesting analysis that confirms what I have recently been feeling under my skin about Substack - not that I do anything other than read about half a dozen writers and accounts along with a bit of commenting. Good luck with the switch. Hope it goes great for you.
Thank you!
Thank you for sharing so generously. I am also considering moving to Ghost because it aligns more with my values- and like you, think it makes sense to use this more as a social media platform.
Make sure to keep me posted and share your Ghost site! Just a heads up—I have lost money by moving to Ghost. With over 1000 subscribers, you need the $50/month plan, which cut my income from paid subscribers in half. However, so far, I still think it’s worth it.
Thank you for the insight - I will keep you updated 😊
I use Ghost for my main (German) website, while using Substack for my English posts. Best of both worlds. Also the social/network aspect of Substack is undeniable a big plus - especially when you are selling products and courses and not subscriptions.
How is Ghost going for you?
It's a better WordPress for me, because it's simple and lightweight. I don't have to adjust hundreds of Plugins, settings etc - it just works. The only thing I'm not that happy with is the top navigation bar and that I'm missing some design elements - but that's the downside of simplicity. Overall I'm happy that I don't have to tinker hours over hours with it like I had to with WP over many years. As a website it's great, but if I'd be primarily looking for subscribers and build a business on that, I would definitely go for Substack because of the network effect.
Hey Nolan! Thanks for writing your perspective on this.
As someone who has been in the digital space since 2004, and used almost every platform and built businesses around them, you are always best creating on something you have complete control over -- which is far and few these days.
WordPress. Ghost. SquareSpace. Substack. All of them have their pros and cons.
The thing working for Ghost is that they are a non-profit and open source, and you can save money by downloading their software and self-hosting your website: https://ghost.org/docs/hosting. The caveat is what so many other people said: that it's harder to be discovered, so you have to work harder to build your audience, which we should all be doing anyway, right?
That being said, we've been building our travel website on Ghost for a while. Substack is great for what it is, but we are at the mercy of others, and we've seen how publications can be wiped out or shunned in the blink of an eye. Our strategy is similar to yours, and we will only be posting certain content here in the future.
One other aspect to consider, and it's very important, is that every time you move paid or free members, there's the law of attrition. Having worked with best-selling authors and well-known digital entrepreneurs, I can say that every time you make a change like this, it hurts the income stream and you lose people. There are other considerations too, like content not exporting properly or SEO changes.
Of course, probably know all that, but if I can be of any help, don't hesitate to send me a message.
Hey James! Thanks for the tips. I subscribed to Road Life Adventure, but which is your Ghost website? I would love to follow you and recommend you via Ghost's new features.
And yes, I was aware of the law of attrition. I'm also aware of the SEO changes, but I'm using it my advantage. I am rewriting and restructuring my old articles for Ghost, using the right canonical links, using different titles, updating & cutting my Substack articles to link to Ghost, etc.,
You bet! I've learned a lot over the years about technology (and digital business) and made a LOT of mistakes, so I'm always happy to share those lessons to help others avoid all the painful hardships I experienced.
Our Ghost website is https://www.roadlifemagazine.com. I bought a premium theme, and even though it's not as adaptable as WordPress, it's a great option. My core focus was WP for 15 years, and I designed a lot of themes for the platform, but then the entire foundation started to crack, and I left it behind. That's another story!
SEO is always a challenge these days. I used to own the space on several topics but thanks to all the Google changes and tech updates, that's minimal now. Ghost does offer more in that area.
I've also returned to Squarespace to test the latest updates and platform (https://www.dalmandesigns.com), but it's a lot more work. Hopefully, I can finish that site in the next couple of weeks.
I subscribed to you on Ghost. A friend in Shanghai has also been using ghost for some time now. He is one of the smartest people I know. So good company.
I set up a blog on ghost too now.
Much of what I have achieved in my career has been somehow triggered by my over 20 years of writing. I could see a real connection between me writing and me now writing.
Substack reminds me of the early days of blogging. But this time there is some nice analytics happening and if 5% of my subscribers convert to paying then it’s quite good. I am already earning more from this platform than many much harder working people in the global south (a bit over $1 a day) and I marvel at that. How is this even possible, no?
So thank you for the really good post. I will be watching this space.
Perhaps I will even splurge for that free 20 minutes on a call. A lot could be said in 20 minutes. haha. Thank you
Thanks for subscribing to Ghost, and it’s good to know about your friend. And yes, set up a call whenever. I'm also happy to chat via WhatsApp if you send me a DM.
I don’t understand the subdomain area. You can pay $50 one time and add a custom domain to Substack. I’ve done it on half a dozen publications. You do not have the minute control you do at ghost, but you then control the data, as you connect stripe and have access to all the emails.
What am I missing here?
Hey Russell!
You might not be missing anything. You know more about this world than I do. However, from what I read, these are some points to consider in relation to the domain:
- Even with a custom domain, Substack is a "platform-as-a-service." You don't control the underlying architecture or code.
- Ghost allows for granular SEO control, including advanced schema, custom meta tags, redirects, and performance optimization, giving maximum leverage for search rankings.
- Substack’s SEO capabilities are limited to basic features provided by the platform. You cannot implement custom code for advanced optimization.
- Ghost help you make an independent, well-optimized site offering cleaner code and structure, making it easier for LLMs and search engine crawlers to discover, index, and understand your content.
Interested to read how your experience with Ghost goes! I’ve been looking at moving over my WP site but still unsure
I will keep you posted! Message me whenever you have specific questions.
Thanks, Nolan!
Thanks for sharing your thoughts here. I did briefly consider Ghost, but I do enjoy the ecosystem here.
As for SEO, I am from the SEO world, and I left it for a reason—Google is no longer what it was. They kept changing their algorithm, too, and most recently, to the worst. We couldn't get decent search results anymore, and now everyone is on the AI bandwagon. I don't know how it works yet with SEO, but it has shown that it relies on search results, which means back to bad SEO.
I can imagine, though, that once I have amassed enough readers and gained enough of a following, switching to Ghost or alternatives may make sense.
It's so difficult nowadays to stay neutral and ethical; what was once good inevitably turned questionable once they grew to a specific size.
I will keep you posted on everything since you might also make the switch one day. You can learn from my mistakes! So far, it has cost me more than it has made me financially, but I think it might motivate me to push more the old-fashioned way—just talking instead of posting on news feeds. Hopefully, my more memorable domain name helps with that, too. I want to think of more ways to advertise my website in the physical world, and not get locked into where everything is online.
And yes, I'm not leaving the ecosystem here. I don't even think I'm leaving the business model. Substack makes its money from big names. The rest of us are such a small percentage of their income, so we aren't prioritized. At Ghost, a big name or a small name pays them the same amount, so we’re all treated the same by their support team.
Certainly we see how the algorithm here skews big names and celebrities, some writers with extreme views, I do see the goods here as I found people like yourself and many more I might not discover otherwise, at least not in other platforms. I also read some other views that predict the only path for substack will be like medium to lose control and values once private equity overpowers the founders. let's keep a close eye here then. all the best, and love your work!
Thank you, Franco! We still stay in touch here and hopefully on Ghost as well. Feel free to reach out to me whenever privately via a DM or email as well.
I respect whatever you decide (and I feel your pain on the "support" issue -- I really really do), but I think you're making a mistake. Here's why:
(1) I think you're (kinda) wrong on the whole "they only support celebrity authors" thing. I know we all generalize from our personal experience, but that really hasn't been our experience at all. I do the system rewards very clear branding, and also "easy" user-friendly content, but that's the whole internet and 100% of all social media too.
(2) I think the (short-term) future is very very VERY much against SEO and outside-platform discoverability. We syndicate our content to a number of different sites, and it's the same thing everyone: traffic isn't just "crashing" -- it's CRAAAASSSSHHHINNNG. And yes, it's all AI-driven and AI-related. But related to the AI disaster, there's also the "closed-system" disaster wherein most (all?) social media platforms are now making it even more difficult (if not outright impossible) to get traffic to your lone wolf individual platform: they're completely burying links to outside entities. We see this everywhere too, and our friends in social media relate the same trend.
In other words, in the short term at least, I think the intra-platform discoverability (which Substack provides IN SPADES) is more important than ever. I worry that your own little "independent" site will be shut out of growth for the immediate future. M and I talk about this all the time, and short of live-person events (!!!), we wonder where platforms that aren't part of some existing platform will get any discoverability at all.
Anyway, just my take. Feel free to prove me wrong!
Very interesting food for thought, Nolan. Agree in particular about the lack of language support. Also, I’ve been suggesting to the Substack powers for the past two years that we need a yen option. No luck. But Ghost doesn’t have one either. Agree with many of the other points you raise. Double bind, but maybe seeking a different platform is the only way to move forward. Good luck with whatever path you choose!
Thank you, Louise! Let’s see what happens.
Your rationale makes sense, Nolan. wishing you great success with Ghost!
Thank you! We’ll see how it goes. It depends on how everyone responds to this article, to be honest.
All I see on Substack is essays about Substack, and essays about essays.
Here’s something real. Give it a chance. It’s important.
https://substack.com/@masonclarke/note/p-168460125?r=55f56k&utm_medium=ios&utm_source=notes-share-action