Just became a paid subscriber to 's substack and it's making me feel... nostalgic to be writing on substack?
That's where I started and then decided to move everything to ConvertKit, because reasons, but now it seems like I'm missing out on some kind of vibe over there
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dude, i've been the anti substack guy for so long lol, but even i'm feeling like substack could be a good stomping ground for connecting with the homies and reaching new ppl
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What's the appeal of Substack? I like the simplicity of it, but it feels quite insular to me.
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their recommendation and cross promotion features + network effects make it way easier to grow a list
but to be clear, i think substack's a sketchy af place to build a real business or brand. it may seem great now, but the amount of VC money they raised is deeply concerning
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If I were starting out I’d be wary too. But since I’ve been able to keep my mature blog and mailchimp list going as a hedge, I’m comfortable with it.
I’d definitely hedge across at least 2 platforms if at least 1 is open-source, and 3 if all are proprietary platforms
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It's always a deal with the devil, innit?
Every creator has a cold start problem and needs to make some kind of trade-off or exchange to get the wheel turning.
Hedging and spreading risk is the luxury of the mature creator (though everyone should own their emails).
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Yeah I lucked out catching the Wordpress boom early enough
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The early teens were a killer time to ride that wave. It seems to me this might be Substack's time.
If nothing else, Substack's and creators' incentives are heavily aligned for now.
Just gotta make sure we're not the ones left holding the bag when the music stops!
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That was probably too late. I think I caught the tail end of the sweet spot, 2004-07. By the time Wordpress matured in early teens, new media had become voxified.
I guess you're right. I have the foggy memory of the late '00s and early '10s as prime blogging time. RSS was alive and well, people were excited to read and write, FB wasn't heavily paywalled, and Google was still favorable to writers who knew how to put in a modicum of effort.
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Jeez... back in those days I was writing a blog about electronic music on blogspot. Good times.
(I just checked and it's still live! 😵)
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