(2020-11-25) Hardy The Case Against Substack

Rob Hardy: The Case Against Substack. In a media ecosystem increasingly dominated by the loudest, most outrage-driven voices, Substack’s carved out a space where thoughtfulness reigns, and individual creators are rewarded for the depth of their contribution. It’s refreshing, and it gives me a glimmer of hope for the future of indie media. As a creator and entrepreneur, I’m perplexed and concerned by Substack’s seemingly endless list of shortcomings.

it’s the obvious choice for hobbyists

I’d also recommend it for creators who value simplicity and ease above all else.

Lastly, I’d recommend it for serious entrepreneurs who are looking to rapidly deploy an MVP for a paid newsletter

Substack, of course, is free to start. Only once you monetize do they take a flat 10% out of your earnings. (And hey, if you never charge, you’ve essentially got a forever-free newsletter/blog hybrid.)

*When I first started planning Ungated, I briefly considered building on Substack. After all, that’s where all the cool kids were writing. Then I started doing the math.

The plan was (and still is) to build a $10/month publication, and within a year, have 1000 happy customers. Yep, a year from now, I plan to be living the Kevin Kelly dream.

That’s $120,000/year in top line revenue. Of that, Substack’s take would be $12,000 annually, or $1,000 a month. (Keep in mind, this is simplified math that doesn’t take into account the additional 2.9% + 30¢ from Stripe.)

That hypothetical $12K annual fee—how does it strike you? Does it feel like a fair exchange of value with Substack? Are you getting your money’s worth?*

Anyone can now piece together an email, membership, and website tech stack that is far more capable than Substack, and only pay $15-200/month.

One of the core principles of succeeding in the modern creator economy is that your work needs to be genuinely worthy of people’s attention. We live in a world of media abundance, and if you want to be seen as signal in the noise, you need to be different or better in some way.

it’s about having a unique, discernible brand.

Substack gives you so little control over your design and brand that it’s actually a bit comical. You get the option to upload a logo, and choose from one of, like, two dozen accent colors. That’s it.

the moment you opt-in, the very next screen asks you to commit to a paid subscription.

It’s off-putting. It’s presumptuous

Building a creator business is a long game.

With Substack, it’s impossible to create that kind of user experience. It makes an offer by blunt force far, far too early in the relationship

There’s no segmenting. There’s no sequencing. There’s no meaningful automation of any kind. You get your welcome email, and then you live in broadcast city for the rest of eternity.

You can’t even send targeted messages to different segments of your list. For instance, if you wanted to run a campaign to urge monthly members to upgrade to annual, you’d have no way of doing that. Nor can you send messages to just annual members, if you wanted to invite just them to a community Zoom call.

A grab bag of additional shortcomings

there’s no way to tag or categorize your content. It all just blends into one never-ending reverse chronological feed.

Everything has to be sent as an email. You can’t post some things to the web, and send others as a newsletter. Again, this is a frustration resulting from the newsletter first approach.

I don’t trust VC-funded companies that step between creators and their audiences

VC money, by definition, comes with a set of expectations around growth and returns. Substack can no longer be a nice lifestyle company that stays aligned with and fights for creators, growth be damned. They have a new set of stakeholders to consider now, whose priorities might well differ from creators.

*what do I recommend instead?

Well, dear reader, I’ve spent the bulk of 2020 trying to find the perfect tech stack for both Ungated, and for another media business I’m building. And I’ve landed on two distinct solutions for each one.*

I’ll share that journey, along with my various recommendations, in the next article.