Why I am Migrating from Substack

but don't worry, you're coming with me!

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Why is writing this making me so nervous?

Maybe because I busted my ass building a social media following years and years ago, only to become disillusioned with that platform and come here, thinking this would be the answer to all of my dreams of sharing my work in a calm, uncluttered, and positive place.

Maybe because I’m scared you don’t want to come with me.

Maybe because I’m scared you’re only here because of Substack’s recommendation algorithms.

Maybe because I’m scared you don’t want to read my work in your actual email inbox.

Maybe because I’m scared that those of you paying for my work won’t want to pay any more.

All of those things are actually kind of the reason I’m leaving, though.

As I became more and more nervous about Substack’s philosophical ideology over the past year, more nervous about my paid subscribers financially supporting that ideology, and supremely disillusioned about the fact that Substack is becoming just another fucking social media app, I realized that I was also becoming really scared of leaving.

Despite the strong desire to leave, I was scared. It reminded me of being scared of leaving the community I had built on Instagram, despite desperately wanting to never open the app again.

So I’m leaving now, before the ideological costs are higher, while I have time to do it thoughtfully, and (hopefully) without losing you.

Too many creators have told me they’re scared to leave various platforms because their business depends on it. Because they’re scared to lose money and subscribers and community.

I feel that so strongly. These companies do this on purpose, my friends. They make the exit costs so high, that everyone just … stays.

I am migrating to a service called Buttondown. It is an email newsletter service that I have to pay for, but with that, I get to keep 100% of the paid subscription income. Currently, Substack takes 10% of all payments through their platform.

While philosophically this move is right for me, I honestly don’t know how I am going to come out of this financially. If 100% of my paid subscribers stick with me, I will be fine. If all of my free subscribers stick with me and upgrade for content you find valuable at the same rate free subscribers are converting to paid on Substack, I will be fine.

Maybe I’ll end up losing everyone. Maybe I won’t make enough money to pay my newsletter expenses. Maybe I won’t be able to do this anymore. This migration has been a lot of work and I can only hope and have faith that it will be worth it.

All I know for sure is that I will be able to sleep better at night knowing I am not feeding a company I don’t believe in, won’t have my content offered up alongside content I don’t believe in, and am not contributing to my readers’ social-media-fueled attention issues. I am 100% following my heart.

Please stick with me? Tell your friends?

There will be bumps in the road. Things won’t work exactly the same as they do now. But I really think it’s worth it.

I am proud of myself for doing this. I hope you understand my motivations, but if not, here are some resources that articulate my feelings better than I can write them:

• Buttondown vs. Substack

• Why Platformer is Leaving Substack

• The Great Platform Migration by Kelly Jensen

I’ll see you in your *email* inbox shortly …

Are you new here and want to make sure you don’t miss anything at my new home?
→ Subscribe over at Buttondown!

Take care of yourself out there ~ I’m thinking of you,

Katy