What Is Substack?

How Does Substack Help Readers and Writers?

Five months ago I began writing on Substack, and I’ve since had a number of friends and online readers ask me:

• What is Substack?

• How does it help readers?

• Should more writers migrate to Substack?

These are good questions, so I’m pressing pause momentarily on the themes I normally write about to discuss Substack. If Substack is something you’re interested in, this is for you. If not, no worries at all. Continue about your day, and I will have a regular newsletter for you in a few days. :-)

What is Substack?

Substack is two things.

1.  Substack offers a free website for writers who are interested.

In the early 2000s, writers could create free websites through online services like Blogger and WordPress. These were simple websites with certain design limitations.

Very quickly, however, anyone who was serious about writing online felt the necessity of upgrading their free website to a customized website. The upside was a wider range of design options, which helped writers establish a personal online brand.

The downside was the cost. One needed to purchase a domain, pay for monthly hosting, and hire a website designer. This could cost anywhere from several hundred to several thousand dollars, depending on the level of customization desired. Additionally, a learning curve was involved to know how to navigate the technical side (the dashboard) of a custom-built website.

Within two or three years, though, a customized website would become somewhat outdated because technology continues to grow at such a rapid pace. Then most writers would feel pressured to cough up more money to begin the process all over again for a newer, more updated website.

Like the early days of Blogger and WordPress, Substack offers a free website for writers, only the experience is much improved. At Substack, the simplicity of the website design is the feature, not the bug. Instead of expensive customized graphics and logos, writers are free to focus on the content — the actual writing — rather than the technological bells and whistles of a fancy website.

2. Substack offers a free email delivery service for the newsletters (articles) a person writes.

Even after a writer would dole out the dollars for a customized website, the costs would continue. In order for subscribers to receive new blog posts or articles in their email inbox, writers (who were now website owners) would also need to pay a third party like MailChimp or Constant Contact to collect the email addresses and send out the new articles via email.

The more subscribers a writer had, the more these third-party entities would charge to offer the email delivery service. Writers would then need to pay more fees every month just to sustain the blog on their website.

Domain fees. Hosting fees. Design fees. Email delivery fees.

The costs would add up.

At Substack, there are no costs. Substack allows writers 1) to create a free website and 2) to deliver new articles via email for free.

How can Substack do this for free?

If a writer chooses to put their writing behind a paywall and charge their readers for access to their writing, then Substack provides the technical mechanism for this kind of patronage. Substack then receives 10% of a writer’s subscriber fees. (There may also be a 3% credit card fee.)

Most Substack writers who go the route of charging readers typically have a $5 per month reading fee. When you consider the price of a cup of coffee or chai at Starbucks, this is a reasonable fee, especially if the writer is producing content weekly.

Obviously, I do not charge readers for access to my writing — mostly because, in my opinion, I am not publishing on Substack often enough to warrant a fee. I think it’s understandable why some writers do charge a small monthly fee. It is definitely work to write well and publish consistently.

For now, I am refraining from charging readers. If a reader wants to support me in a more tangible way, the best way to do that is to purchase a copy of my latest book, Sanctuary, and share it with a friend.

How does Substack help readers?

I was a Substack reader long before I became a Substack writer, and as a reader, I appreciate these three things:

1. Substack is free of advertisements.

This is huge. Substack’s network of writers is different than the algorithms on social media, because the owners of social media make their money through advertisements; thus, the entire goal of an algorithm (and the entire goal of social media) is to keep our eyes on our screens as much as possible so we can see more advertisements.

But Substack doesn’t make its money through advertisements. As I previously mentioned, Substack makes its money by receiving 10% of a writer’s subscriber fees.

The ability to read articles without the nuisance of advertisements is a welcome change.

2. Substack creates consistency in the reading experience.

As a reader, after I subscribe to a writer I enjoy, I receive their articles (sometimes called newsletters) in my inbox. I can either read these articles as an email or I can click on the title and read them in a web browser.

For each Substack newsletter I subscribe to, I don’t have to search the email for the like button or the comment button or the share button, because Substack places these elements in the same place every time.

This makes it easy for a reader to show the writer they appreciate what they have read by clicking the like button or clicking the share button to share the article with their friends.

3. Substack creates a network where readers can find more writers they enjoy.

I have found some great writers through other writers’ recommendations on Substack. As a reader, this helps me discover more writers who are discussing the topics I find interesting.

Should more writers migrate to Substack?

If someone is thinking of writing online, Substack is a great place to get started. It’s easy to use and it’s free.

Substack isn’t just for beginning writers though. Some of the world’s best writers and journalists have set up shop at Substack because the interface is so simple and its ecosystem of writers is so amazing. Substack allows writers to focus on the writing and not worry about the technical side of online websites. Substack also makes it possible for writers to earn an income for their work!

Many longtime bloggers have moved to Substack and shut down their personal websites. I still have my own website, but I have turned it into a static site, mostly because I have 15 years of articles archived there. But all the new material I write is now going up at Substack.

On social media sites like Facebook, Instagram, X (formerly Twitter), and TikTok, the billionaire owners of those platforms own your content. But Substack is clear that writers own their own content, and they can take it with them if they choose to leave Substack’s platform.

The services that social media offers only appear to be free as the billionaire owners sell every users’ personal information to the highest bidder. What’s more, the user’s content is also monitored, and an algorithm decides which content will appear in other people’s feeds, if at all.

For Christians, it is becoming increasingly common for social media platforms to diminish, and in some cases completely remove, any content they deem “inappropriate.” At Substack this is not a factor. There may come a time when Christian content will not be allowed here either, but for now, it is (in my opinion) the best place for online writing.

I hope this answers some of the questions some of you have had about Substack. If you want to read more about Substack, I think this article by Thomas Umstattd Jr. is also very informative.

If you have any other questions, feel free to leave them in the comments, and I will answer them the best I know how.

Shalom.

~ Denise