Writers, don't make Substack your digital home!
Why writers need a website with their own domain name and what to do with Substack instead.
“But I already have a website on Substack,” you argue. No, Substack is just a distribution tool to amplify your website. It should not be your digital home.
It’s okay if you’ve bought a domain and linked it to Substack like Rachel from Conscious Living. This essentially turns Substack into a Content Management System. It’s not my favourite method, to be honest, as Substack as a CMS is drastically limited in what it can do, but for writers who are short of time and just want something simple, it’s better than nothing.
But some writers say, “Hey readers, I’m now on Substack (and ignore my website)!”
I’m here to tell you that’s the worse thing a writer can do for their long-term visibility on the Internet.
The siren call of convenience
Platforms promise an eager audience and built-in monetization. But the truth: When you build your audience on someone else’s platform, you aren’t a homeowner. You are a tenant. Corporate landlords always change the rules.
We’ve watched Twitter, Reddit, and others shift policies. Relying on a portal not owned by you means your work can alter overnight. Your writing needs a domain you own.
But, you say, “My website doesn’t have an audience!” But really, it doesn’t have to be an all or nothing decisions. You don’t have to abandon platforms like Substack. You can use it to promote the content on your website.
And if you’re concerned about losing the freedom to write the way you want, you don’t have to blog like an SEO genius on your website either. You blog the IndieWeb way or create a digital garden.
Substack’s network effects are real, but so is the pressure to conform to its biases and rules. For example, the platform’s algorithms prioritize US-centric narratives, making it tough for localized voices to be seen. So, there’s constant temptation to write to the US audience to get noticed. But is that the right thing for you to do? Write about the United States so that you’ll get noticed?
The antidote is to have an independent website with an RSS, and ruthlessly use Substack for distribution. When one collapses, your home remains.
You can read a longer, more detailed version of this essay on my website. There, I highlight writers like John Scalzi and how his strategy to blog on his website has helped him survive the platform turmoils.
Substack’s algorithms can be tricky, so let’s not rely on it alone. Follow me on my websites and other channels via RSS or email — that way, we won’t lose touch: elizabethtai.com / Mastodon / Drama Tea (where I write about Chinese dramas).
However, as I know a paid subscription can be quite a commitment, you can also give me a tip:
Thanks for mentioning me. ❤️ I used to have a website on the same domain, but I did not have time to maintain it. Pointing my Substack publication to it now may limit what it can do, but for the time being, I am continuing to build domain authority while buying time. If I ever leave Substack, I can republish all the posts there (granted, it'll be painful then, or maybe not with AI nowadays :)).
But if one has the time and capacity, it's a good thing to have one's own site. Nowadays, AI makes it easy to build a site without using a CMS like WordPress, which I've used for decades and still use but never liked for its clunkiness. Or maybe it's not as easy for many—I should share some tips!
I agree with you. Last year I tried to stitch my domain to the substance (and use it as content management system) but substack asked me to pay $50 for this and I am not willing to pay. I used to use WordPress as my content management system (and I paid for it) but in recent years it fell short and very slow responded when issues came up. So I quit WordPress and use this substack for now. Thanks for writing about this.