Why I Like Substack

7 Reasons I like Substack

After making huge changes in my personal life in 2019 and then having huge changes forced upon my professional and social life in 2020, I needed a fresh start with my writing.  Substack feels like a place where I’m free to experiment, play, and explore what I’m passionate about.

  1. Substack is an environment created for writers and people who enjoy reading good writing. It’s a refreshing parallel universe to the corporate shopping mall the worldwide web has devolved into over time. No ads. No corporate fact-checkers. No Facebook-style algorithms driving everything to the lowest common denominator.
  2. Long form. Short bursts. Essays. Never having to wade through six paragraphs of SEO garble to get to the point. No hashtags.
  3. There’s a cool social aspect to it. You can comment on posts and (at least with the writers I’ve followed thus far) people actually engage in civil discussion in the comment threads.*
  4. You get an email whenever a writer you subscribe to posts something new. BUT, each writer has a post archive on their Substack web page. Which means I can read the latest Matt Taibbi post in my email client. But if I don’t have time or I’m not interested, I can delete the email and know the article will be waiting for me on Matt’s Substack page if I decide I want to read it. Guilt free email deletion – what a concept!
  5. It’s a good way to discover and support independent journalists and people who write about what they love or what fascinates them because they’re so obsessed they can’t not write about it.
  6. For writers, it’s a great way to publish a free newsletter with archived content.
  7. It’s super easy to sign up for. Just type your email in the box and click the Subscribe button. It’s also super easy to unsubscribe.