Why I’m Not on Substack as a Writer

Okay, real talk, I’m lowkey writing this to remind myself not to get caught up in the allure and move over to writing on Substack. I did write on Substack for a while and there were benefits, like hitting publish and it sends out to your newsletter without needing to format an actual newsletter!

I won’t lie. It is tempting. It is hot right now. And it might continue being hot, but here’s why I’m sticking to this website.

Writing platforms like Medium and Substack come and go, but your website is forever

I know Substack is hot right now, but will it always be? Probably not. I used to cross-publish my articles to Medium and now consider that a waste of time.

Substack is just social media now

Substack likes to act as an alternative to social media where many influences pull their audiences to get an email address; however, have you noticed it’s turning increasingly into a social media platform?

I deliberately do not have likes or comments on my blogs. You could say I’m limiting conversation. But think about your favorite hardcopy books. Do they have little hearts on them? Do they have comments on them? Would you like a book more or less if it had fewer hearts? Or fewer positive comments? Nope. You have an individual relationship with that book and form your own opinions. I’d actually go so far as to say that public commentary on writing actually detracts and distracts from the writing. I want you to connect with me, my voice, and the ideas on the page. I don’t want you to simply wonder how many other people are liking it. Does that even matter?

The isolation on your own domain: A curse? Or a blessing?

As a writer, I’d say it’s actually much healthier to write in a vacuum or void. It can be hard at times, and I do love when readers email me to say they love my articles (you can email me here), but I don’t want to hit publish and wonder how many likes it will get. And maybe this blog is for me to play with my own ideas and not necessarily need to invite social conversations into everything. Maybe this is a very introverted and introspective viewpoint but it’s true for me and I’m guessing for many writers who need a break from everything being so “social media” in nature.

That being said, sometimes I feel very isolated on my website. Like I said, I don’t have likes or comments! I publish into a void! I think this can be a little scary. It brings up questions like “Is my work resonating? Is it important? Is it validated?” But I think confronting those questions internally about your writing is more empowering than chasing validation on other more socially visible platforms. Similarly, you can use your website’s analytics to understand if you’re resonating with people.

Ultimately, I don’t need someone to see how many likes are on this article to be validated. I want you to read this and form your own opinion. That’s all. I probably won’t even ever hear your opinion. And that’s okay. Do novelists know what every reader thinks of their work? Nope. Books are published in a vacuum, too.

Another blessing of this “isolation” is that on your own website you’re not competing with other writers or vying for attention. I prefer for readers to enter this peaceful universe I’ve created and hopefully click through many articles and enjoy themselves.

Digital noise & information overload

Being on the Substack app stresses me out. Notes! Comments! Recommendations! It’s too much. Like I said above, it feels like social media all over again.

My website is ad-free, no likes, no comments, just a clean background and clear font. I do have a subscribe pop-up, but other than that, I try to keep things as easy as possible for your eyes, heart, and brain. This page should feel like the page of a book: pure. Substack doesn’t offer me that level of purity and silence on the page.

SEO and domain history

I’ve been writing on this domain since 2016 and get thousands of new readers each month and a dozen or so new email subscribers. People are starting to say SEO is dying because of AI but it hasn’t yet so I’m going to keep rolling with it. My articles rank for good keywords. I want to keep riding that and publishing here, no matter how alluring Substack’s “recommendation” feature is. PS: I tried that out once and it didn’t refer as many readers to me as SEO/Google does in a month over here. Maybe it would over time with a great strategy but I like what’s going well for me here.

Ownership

I own this domain and no one can change it but me. I like having control and ownership. I also like the originality of making a site authentically “me” and not like every other Substack on the planet. Is anyone else getting Substack fatigue? And doesn’t want to subscribe to another one? Maybe just me, not sure.

Having your own website as a writer can be a unique statement in a world swirling with Substacks.

Making sales

I can link to my shop and people will checkout directly on my Squarespace site. Substack doesn’t have a way to checkout so I’d need to combine tools and I already have a pretty good system here.

The Substack wobbles

It probably doesn’t matter where you write, as long as you write consistently. I could be successful on Substack, or I could be successful here. I don’t think either choice is inherently wrong or bad. I’ve found writing here to be working for me since 2016, so despite trends, I still see many upsides to sticking to it. But don’t get me wrong, you can ask a lot of my writer friends (Stef Caldwell and Taylor Morrison to name two) that I have had many wobbles where I wonder if I should move over there. Interestingly, these are two friends who have both told me: “Kasia, don’t!” They are two fellow writers who are also publishing on their own websites. So if you ever feel alone in it, just know there are other writers who are not on Substack. James Clear only publishes his articles on his site and for good reason. He’s James fuckin’ Clear.

And last, a lesson learned about having a website in your control (design and all!)

I can get really caught up in how my website looks. And I’m honestly not a very good designer. I used to spend money on having the website redesigned and now I just have this one template that I play around with myself. Sometimes I get really, really sick of the way it looks. It feels boring after a while and I want a refresh. My friend Stef recently reminded me that my readers don’t feel that way, only I do. And this is ultimately about my readers and them having a good experience. Sure, I get bored of the site sometimes, but it gets the job done. And spending time on a new design isn’t my zone of genius. And you know what Stef told me? She said, “I fuckin love your website. It’s beautiful and perfect and I love reading on it.” And just like that my qualms about being bored of it or wanting to make it “cooler” were over. Your website or Substack is just a vessel for the writing. Focus on the writing and you can’t go wrong.