How to Leave Substack

My favorite tech blogger John Gruber has been on a tear over the weekend summarizing and gathering the latest Substack news on his site Daring Fireball. Here’s everything that went down, for anyone wanting to follow along:

• Substack sends notification promoting an actual nazi Substack.
• Why Substack’s business isn’t looking so hot.
• The issue with the Substack branding and calling writer’s newsletters or websites “Substacks”.
• Where Substack’s $100 million VC money probably went.
• Practical tips on how to leave Substack to an actual newsletter tool.

I am sharing more criticism on Substack not (just) to gloat. When the trail and outdoor athlete and influencers last year all soured on Instagram many flocked to Substack, hoping this would be the “new social media home” for everyone. It was free and easy to setup, and it had instant response gratification built-in. And it was different to the photo-sharing turned Tik-Tok competitor that is Instagram. But as the months tick on fewer and fewer posts appear on Substack – writing is harder than sharing a quick photo dumb. Building a newsletter audience (or community as they call this these days) is hard and doing it on such shaky ground as Substack is very much an endeavor bound to lead to disappointment. Even if you say that you don’t care about there being nazis on the same platform as yours, the business decisions the company will eventually have to make will not be in your best interest. It will suck and maybe you can jump ship then to the next best thing. Just hope that somehow you’ll be able to transfer your efforts to whatever comes next.