In 2020 we saw a resurgence of blogging, and in particular writing through newsletters. Now some folks would consider blogging and newsletters to be the same thing... they're not.
Its all levels:
- Social media posts (i.e. tweets, fb posts)
- Social Blogs or Newsletters (medium length)
- Blog posts like this one
- Pillar posts or blockbuster (mega posts)
Substack
What does that have to do with Substack?
While I personally think social blogs are technically dead right now, those being the blogs on medium or linkedin articles, the length of writing is thriving. Particularly newsletters, and there are a few different platforms for that.
I compare them all here:
Dustin Miller | PolyInnovator
Substack is the perfect blend of Social Blogs/Networking and Newsletters
The original purpose of Medium was to be a social network for bloggers and their blogs. It was great at it, and then steemit came out, then linkedin pulse. Both also being rather good at it. However over the years they changed, and medium especially got too focused on monetization.
Substack has a network, very much akin to the wordpress network, and has the newsletter features down. I had tried Substack very early on, as I wanted to figure out my next platform and try out tools. Eventually I chose Ghost CMS, which this site and my personal brand site are built on.
However compared to Beehiiv or even Paragraph (which I liked), there was something special about Substack. Maybe it was the videos or podcasts features, maybe it was the network, or perhaps just the right amount of minimalism. Not sure, but I kept coming back.
My Iterations of Substack
I played around with the tool early on, probably like 2019 if it was around, or at least in 2020 for sure. Started out with a personal public journal, which I called the Fireside Codex. Like a fireside chat, but also a lexicon codex too.
Eventually I moved it to my homesite, as it wasn't too frequent anyways, and replaced it with my Swimming background newsletter. I thought that did well, but the stylistic limitations I did not like. Plus it felt weird being divided between platforms, especially since ghost supported multiple newsletters.
At the time THIS newsletter was actually on Beehiiv, as I was trying it out at the time. Though it moved to PolyInnovator.space too like the others.
Finally, I gave my social blogs one last chance, on Substack. Going forward I'm not sure what I'll do, if I would use it at all, but we can talk about that later. Here are the phases or iterations of Substack for me.
The Fireside Codex
I wanted a place that was less formal, and didn't constrain me to having thumbnails or a proper format/grammar.
Just a flow of thought, and freedom to write how I wanted to.
Eventually I realized that I could just put them on my regular site, and I tend to do thumbnails no matter what. More often than not.
Mr. Dustin's Swim Academy
Probably the most successful one, and I partially regret taking my posts off of there. Even if they do work just fine on my Ghost site.
I created this to be a consistent newsletter, up to the release of my How to Swim book (still in progress, ugh). Yet when the book didn't finish in time, and the blog stopped growing after me reaching out to all of my clients.
The idea of having a separate site for it, just didn't seem helpful anymore. They would get more attention on my active site.
PolyInnovator's Social Blogs
A last hurrah for these social blogs I created, something unique, and a bit of a useful content type. However lacked cohesive topics per se.
Since they were good, but just short, they didn't do a whole lot better here. I then took them off (today actually), and I've rewritten them into full length posts on the OmniBlog.
The Future Iterations: Maybe "Dustin Miller PolyInnovator Travels"
In the future, one of my next phases of PolyInnovator, is going to be about traveling I think. I really like the idea of becoming a travel creator. It pays better than some other niches, it would give me an excuse to travel more. An excuse to review travel bags or slings, etc.
I don't know if I'll choose substack for this, but I think it should be off my main site for sure at this point. Unless I can find a way to make sub-sites off of it with different color schemes per brand.
I might quit Substack completely
As I mean I did choose Ghost CMS for both of my main sites after all, and it really is a LOT better. However it does cost a lot more, and has some faults when it comes to setting up. More like wordpress in that way, but its still pretty simple.
Just that network effect still appeals to me, and maybe it has simply been my niches that haven't resonated well or something. Although I guess maybe I'll try it out, or I'll fail trying haha. Perhaps one of the other blogging CMS's would work better.
Its still one of the best, if not 2nd best, Newsletter platforms out there
Hence why I'm making this post today. Too many people see the Beehiiv ads, and flock over there. Don't. Its really not that good, and the writing experience is atrocious. Paragraph has a lot of pros, but the cons are starting to show. I also feel like my stuff doesn't surface in SEO much either.
Decentralized platforms like Paragraph are the future, but its not the future yet I guess!
In the end that leaves Ghost at #1, and Substack at #2. I do think it is helpful to diversify your toolset too, as it gives you a bit more adaptability if something breaks or goes down.
![My Current Tech Stack #4 [Q2 2024]](https://digitalpress.fra1.cdn.digitaloceanspaces.com/aubghd5/2024/06/The-PolyTools-Digest-Thumbnails-PolyInnovator.png)
