22 ms·

Writing for Substack isn't uncool. In fact if anything, it is extremely in vogue right now. But I agree with GP that eventually it will go the way of Medium, an

Writing for Substack isn't uncool. In fact if anything, it is extremely in vogue right now. But I agree with GP that eventually it will go the way of Medium, and a new "cooler" platform will take its place.

baby 4y ago
I don’t know any top blogger who used that platform, so I’m not sure I understand your comment.
- ifqwz 4y ago
  Top bloggers aren't stupid enough to put their blogs in someone else's platform.
jokethrowaway 4y ago
It's never been cool. It's the professional equivalent of people writing on blogspot or wordpress.com A real company will have the resources to setup a blog on their own domain.
- blowski 4y ago
  And yet a lot of very wealthy people and companies wrote on Medium.
  - baby 4y ago
    The only reason is SEO
- post-it 4y ago
  The thing with writing is that the smallest distraction can make you not want to write. Like, sure, I could go and set up a blog right now on my domain, but I'd have to find a blogging service (GitHub pages? I don't necessarily want to fiddle with markup though), log into my domain, potentially fiddle with HTTPS, and after all that I won't want to write my blog post anymore. And after I've written my blog post, I'm not going to fiddle with setting up my own blog because I don't have anything to write anymore. And next time I have something to write, I'm not going to want to fiddle with setting up a blog.
  - baby 4y ago
    Sure, that’s why I recommend everyone to just use wordpress
    - post-it 4y ago
      If I'm going to use a free Wordpress host (probably with ads), why not use Substack?
      - baby 4y ago
        To me the question is why use substack? Wordpress has been around forever, is free, doesn't have ads, and allows you to do customize everything you'd want.
        post-it 4y ago
        WordPress.com's free plan has ads.
        baby 4y ago
        Where? Maybe coz I have adblock
  - johntash 4y ago
    It's easier than ever to set up a blog. If you aren't interested in figuring out how to host your own, there are paid solutions like Ghost and Wordpress. You can always use one of those and migrate to a self-hosted one in the future if desired.
    - Kye 4y ago
      Ghost is $300/year just to show up and not have extreme limitations on customization. You can't even increase the size of the tiny fonts on the few available themes to something accessible on the base plan. Wordpress.com recently completely revamped its pricing, pissing everyone off, then walked it back. And it's unclear what motivated it, or what's to come. This is the kind of omen that preceded Patreon's fall from obvious choice to reluctant best option of a bunch of bad or incomplete solutions. Automattic's pricing is more reasonable now, but the single $180/year plan they tried and walked back from hangs over it. It tells me they wanted to shift away from casual bloggers (like someone who doesn't want to worry about maintaining a .org install) to people who are willing and able to pay triple digits for all the features for business or personal PR purposes.
- Thorentis 4y ago
  > A real company Maybe I'm in a different bubble, but most of the writers I see on Substack are individuals, not people writing on behalf of companies. If anything, companies using Medium is still more popular. Substack is also quite popular in the literary and arts circles, not just tech.

baby 4y ago

I don’t know any top blogger who used that platform, so I’m not sure I understand your comment.

ifqwz 4y ago
Top bloggers aren't stupid enough to put their blogs in someone else's platform.

jokethrowaway 4y ago

It's never been cool. It's the professional equivalent of people writing on blogspot or wordpress.com A real company will have the resources to setup a blog on their own domain.

blowski 4y ago
And yet a lot of very wealthy people and companies wrote on Medium.
- baby 4y ago
  The only reason is SEO
post-it 4y ago
The thing with writing is that the smallest distraction can make you not want to write. Like, sure, I could go and set up a blog right now on my domain, but I'd have to find a blogging service (GitHub pages? I don't necessarily want to fiddle with markup though), log into my domain, potentially fiddle with HTTPS, and after all that I won't want to write my blog post anymore. And after I've written my blog post, I'm not going to fiddle with setting up my own blog because I don't have anything to write anymore. And next time I have something to write, I'm not going to want to fiddle with setting up a blog.
- baby 4y ago
  Sure, that’s why I recommend everyone to just use wordpress
  - post-it 4y ago
    If I'm going to use a free Wordpress host (probably with ads), why not use Substack?
    - baby 4y ago
      To me the question is why use substack? Wordpress has been around forever, is free, doesn't have ads, and allows you to do customize everything you'd want.
      - post-it 4y ago
        WordPress.com's free plan has ads.
        baby 4y ago
        Where? Maybe coz I have adblock
- johntash 4y ago
  It's easier than ever to set up a blog. If you aren't interested in figuring out how to host your own, there are paid solutions like Ghost and Wordpress. You can always use one of those and migrate to a self-hosted one in the future if desired.
  - Kye 4y ago
    Ghost is $300/year just to show up and not have extreme limitations on customization. You can't even increase the size of the tiny fonts on the few available themes to something accessible on the base plan. Wordpress.com recently completely revamped its pricing, pissing everyone off, then walked it back. And it's unclear what motivated it, or what's to come. This is the kind of omen that preceded Patreon's fall from obvious choice to reluctant best option of a bunch of bad or incomplete solutions. Automattic's pricing is more reasonable now, but the single $180/year plan they tried and walked back from hangs over it. It tells me they wanted to shift away from casual bloggers (like someone who doesn't want to worry about maintaining a .org install) to people who are willing and able to pay triple digits for all the features for business or personal PR purposes.
Thorentis 4y ago
> A real company Maybe I'm in a different bubble, but most of the writers I see on Substack are individuals, not people writing on behalf of companies. If anything, companies using Medium is still more popular. Substack is also quite popular in the literary and arts circles, not just tech.