My Honest Thoughts About Substack After 6 Months

What I like…and what I don’t like about it.

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Image created in Midjourney.

I have no idea when I joined Substack.

I signed up for it but didn’t use it for a long time.

I started my Hustling Housewife Substack on May 14, so that’s the start date I’ll go with.

I’ve given it a solid 6 months.

Here are my updated thoughts on Substack.

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First, let me give you a quick history of my time with Substack.

Here’s an article where I talk about the differences between Substack and Medium.

Here’s the super short version:

• Medium pays you for writing and the platform is easy to use

• But it’s not always easy to make money because Medium changes things regularly

• Substack is pretty easy to use, but they have a lot of bells and whistles which can make things confusing

• It’s harder to make money there, but they have internal tools that make growing your brand easier

Then I had a confession about Substack.

The short of it: it’s overwhelming.

I still feel that way somewhat, but…

I was still 99% sure I was moving my mini-newsletter to Substack.

And I did!

And everything worked well, except…

I decided to close down that newsletter.

Screenshot taken by the author.

That’s not Substack’s fault though.

I needed to shut it down because:

• I wasn’t giving it its proper time to curate unique information

• Too many people were running a similar (but better) newsletter

• It was losing more subscribers than it was gaining

• And, most importantly, I want to focus on growing my Hustling Housewife Substack

I’ve learned (the hard way) that the fewer things I need to do, the better.

I’m about keeping things simple! Sometimes that means letting go of what’s not working anymore.

That leads me to now.

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What I love about Substack

After using it for 6 months, I’ve come to love many things about Substack.

Here are some of them:

• Their Notes system is great for interacting with friends and other people with the same interests as you

• Notes can be a good way to grow if you’re consistent with it

• Notes have a long shelf life. (That’s good or bad depending on whether you want the latest information or not.)

• You can highlight any text from your Substack or another and easily create a Note from it, which is awesome! Here’s an example of a time when I highlighted someone else’s article and turned it into a Note:

Screenshot taken by the author.

• They have “Recommendations” which is fantastic for getting new subscribers

Screenshot taken by the author.

• The writing platform is easy to use and has a lot of formatting options

• You can set up Welcome emails tailored to free subscribers, paid subscribers, and founding members

Screenshot taken by the author.

These are just some of the things that Substack offers. There are also some things I haven’t used much yet, such as chats with your subscribers, videos, and podcasts.

Overall, Substack offers just about everything you need to run a side hustle or even a full-time business.

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What I don’t love about Substack

While I’ve learned to love many things about Substack, there are several things I still don’t love about it.

Here are some:

• It’s not the easiest platform to navigate. I am constantly hitting different buttons trying to get to “home”, my publications, notes, and my profile.

Screenshot taken by the author.

• Notes is very similar to Tweets/Posts on Twitter/X. That’s good because it’s familiar, but it’s bad because everyone is starting to sound the same, just like on Money X.

• Notes don’t get a lot of engagement unless it’s something personal (or you get lucky).

2 Notes that aren’t personal vs the one that is. | Screenshots taken by the author.

• People complain about the marketers taking over Substack because it’s supposed to be for “real” writers. (That argument is seen all over Medium too.)

• It’s not easy to convince people to spend money on your Substack. (You have to give them a reason to pay, and that takes some strategizing.)

• And…when they do spend money? You’re kind of trapped.

Let me expand on that last issue.

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You’re trapped

This is my biggest stressor about Substack.

I change my mind a lot.

A. Lot.

In fact, I decided to put that on my Substack profile. (But it’ll probably change again at some point.)

Screenshot taken by the author.

I like to experiment with new things.

But when people pay for your Substack, they have an expectation.

And if you want to change things, it feels like you’re letting the people down who paid for something specific.

This is so stressful!

I’ll be honest.

I wish I would have kept my Substack free and done things the

Matt Giaro ⚙️

way. Instead of turning paid subscriptions on, he promotes his products to earn an income.

But other people are doing well with paid subscriptions.

Yana G.Y.

just became a Substack bestseller!

Screenshot taken by the author.

Read how she did it.

If you’re thinking of going to Substack, but aren’t sure about the paid subscriptions, see what other people are doing before you make your decision. Think about what you’d like to do at Substack.

There are multiple ways to make money there. Not just through paid subscriptions. (But paid subscriptions are a great way to go if you have a strategy.)

How to get out of the trap

Let’s say you change your mind a lot (like me) and you want to move your paid Substack back to a free Substack.

There is a way to do it.

I’ll be doing it with my Master of Manifesting Substack soon. I’ll be closing that one down so I can fully focus on just three main things:

• My Hustling Housewife Substack

• Medium

• Ebooks

As I mentioned, I love experimenting with new things, but sometimes those things need to go to leave room for something bigger and better.

Back to how to close paid subscriptions…

There’s a section in the settings called “Danger Zone”. This is where you can turn off paid subscriptions. Substack will refund the money back to the people who paid:

Screenshot taken by the author.

Keep some extra money in your bank account in case you ever need to do this.

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Final Thoughts

Substack has huge potential. Even though I don’t love everything about it, I know it’s a great place to be right now.

If you were to ask people who are on both Substack and Medium which one they prefer, they would almost all say Substack.

I’m an outlier because I prefer the simplicity of Medium better.

But…

I’m not abandoning Substack because there are plenty of great things about it.

If you’re on the fence, I recommend giving it a chance. Just have some ideas of what you want to do with it before turning on your paid subscriptions.