It’s a bummer to read through those repeated rug pull experiences, but I agree with your assessment of substack and the need to keep a metaphorical “go-bag” packed at all times. For those who don’t know, you can download your subscriber list, metric data, and posts in html format with one click from your publication dashboard. I also save nicely formatted PDFs of my best work for my portfolio since the odds of a collapse are non-zero and increasing
Derek Sivers recommends doing the whole thing yourself and not relying on any platforms. I’ve just been too lazy to follow his advice, even while knowing on my heart it’s the best bet. Here is his article about it:
I'm new to Substack, and really enjoying it... but part of the reason I picked Substack is that it makes it easy to pack my bags and go. Planning on setting up my own digital real estate as a backup. Really hoping the open source social media movement makes platforms less consumable, but... we'll see.
I’ve subscribed to at least 5 Substacks accidentally when trying to view the profile of someone on the Notes fee, lol. I then go back to the feed and it refreshes or something and then I have zero clue what I even just subscribed to 🤣.
Oh btw I have a massive soft spot for Cracked. I will never forget the hours of laughter. It definitely made the shitty call center job I had for a few years a lot more manageable and fun.
Well, and have ya heard about what’s going on over in Medium-land?
First newspapers died (I was the editor of a small daily) and now all the things I’ve pivoted to are shaky. Fuck me! I just want to write without starving to death.
Humans are extremely bad at predicting the future, so I hope your reading of the crystal ball all wrong, although I appreciate your expertise and valuable insights.
I've only been reading Substack newsletters for two years, the amount of change by Substack in that time has been huge. It certainly does feel, at times, that something big could happen at any moment. Big good, or good bad, we wait to see.
That is sobering. As a reader (primarily), I have far less need to predict how substack will evolve, and at what time frame. I have the luxury of waiting to see what happens, because I have less invested. But that's a good explanation of why, as someone trying to make a living writing, you need to be able to see a crash coming before it happens, and know which way to jump.
How do you back up your subscriber list and any content you’ve created?
I do more reading than writing, and mostly on my phone, so maybe I’d figure it out easily if I logged into Substack on my computer, but if it isn’t relatively obvious, I’d appreciate the quickie tutorial.
Thanks for the warning. Once I learned that A-H was heavily invested, I knew it was only a matter of time before their exit strategy would ruin Substack, but I don’t pay too much attention because I detest Andreeson & his gang of fucking weirdos that ruined my hometown & everything else in the area.
I'm sticking around here for the time being but I've got my Ghost account set up if I need to move relatively quickly, like if this place really does start to crumble. Keeping my subscriber list backed up.
It’s a bummer to read through those repeated rug pull experiences, but I agree with your assessment of substack and the need to keep a metaphorical “go-bag” packed at all times. For those who don’t know, you can download your subscriber list, metric data, and posts in html format with one click from your publication dashboard. I also save nicely formatted PDFs of my best work for my portfolio since the odds of a collapse are non-zero and increasing
Derek Sivers recommends doing the whole thing yourself and not relying on any platforms. I’ve just been too lazy to follow his advice, even while knowing on my heart it’s the best bet. Here is his article about it:
https://sive.rs/ti
I'm new to Substack, and really enjoying it... but part of the reason I picked Substack is that it makes it easy to pack my bags and go. Planning on setting up my own digital real estate as a backup. Really hoping the open source social media movement makes platforms less consumable, but... we'll see.
I’ve subscribed to at least 5 Substacks accidentally when trying to view the profile of someone on the Notes fee, lol. I then go back to the feed and it refreshes or something and then I have zero clue what I even just subscribed to 🤣.
Oh btw I have a massive soft spot for Cracked. I will never forget the hours of laughter. It definitely made the shitty call center job I had for a few years a lot more manageable and fun.
Well, and have ya heard about what’s going on over in Medium-land?
First newspapers died (I was the editor of a small daily) and now all the things I’ve pivoted to are shaky. Fuck me! I just want to write without starving to death.
Good insight 😌. Can i translate part of this article into Spanish with links to you and a description of your newsletter?
Yes, absolutely!
Here is the translation:
https://humanidades.substack.com/p/ser-escritor-significa-aprender-a
Very cool!
Thanks !!!
A depressing but worthy read.
Humans are extremely bad at predicting the future, so I hope your reading of the crystal ball all wrong, although I appreciate your expertise and valuable insights.
I've only been reading Substack newsletters for two years, the amount of change by Substack in that time has been huge. It certainly does feel, at times, that something big could happen at any moment. Big good, or good bad, we wait to see.
Well, this was depressing.
That is sobering. As a reader (primarily), I have far less need to predict how substack will evolve, and at what time frame. I have the luxury of waiting to see what happens, because I have less invested. But that's a good explanation of why, as someone trying to make a living writing, you need to be able to see a crash coming before it happens, and know which way to jump.
I read the entire piece and enjoyed, though it makes me sad for writers. 🙃 Substack’s alignment with Weiss is concerning.
This was a really good account of what it all looks like at ground level, S. Thanks for writing it.
(And: fellow Australian genre writer here, who winced pre-emptively the moment I read “Shawline”. What a wreck.)
How do you back up your subscriber list and any content you’ve created?
I do more reading than writing, and mostly on my phone, so maybe I’d figure it out easily if I logged into Substack on my computer, but if it isn’t relatively obvious, I’d appreciate the quickie tutorial.
Thanks for the warning. Once I learned that A-H was heavily invested, I knew it was only a matter of time before their exit strategy would ruin Substack, but I don’t pay too much attention because I detest Andreeson & his gang of fucking weirdos that ruined my hometown & everything else in the area.
What new sinking ship/frying pan/platform are you considering jumping to?
I'm sticking around here for the time being but I've got my Ghost account set up if I need to move relatively quickly, like if this place really does start to crumble. Keeping my subscriber list backed up.