1) I have a website - I use SquareSpace which isn't outrageously expensive and I have control of the look w/out needing Word Press. I used it originally to upload my blogs - I no longer blog, but post on Medium and link the Medium pieces to the website using Medium's 'friend links' I found SquareSpace's email operation is a whole lot less complicated than Mail Chimp for organizing email addresses. DO NOT USE GO DADDY FOR YOUR WEBSITE. EVER, EVER, EVER.
2) I've been on Medium for 5 years. I've been boosted and yes, finding the best publication for that has been hit or miss. I make it a habit to comment on the articles I'm reading - if I can't say something halfway politely, I'll skip commenting. I've had great conversations with other writers - and have met people who I'd never have met otherwise.
Writing on Medium has improved what I publish - that and reading other folks' posts. When something feels cringe worthy in someone else's stuff, I take a lesson from that.
3) I am playing around with Substack - mainly reading Allison's stuff and two others. My biggest complaint is that I miss the commenting that's on Medium. It feels very one-way, but I'm willing to be persuaded.
Some excellent and useful points here! My sites are Wordpress, so good to hear about an alternative.
If you want to create some bit of purchasing capacity on Square Space, is that easy to do? I know that I have the wrong version of Wordpress to do that... (If I wanted to sell the books I've released as e-books, for example.)
Quite right about the community on Medium--yes, that, and the knowledge gained from working on the platform. Lots to be learned by writing and connecting.
It takes time, on Substack, to build that connecting. Glad you're willing to be persuaded! Sometimes, that's what it takes. And time.
I believe you can add a payment button to any WordPress site, even with a free plan. WordPress just takes a higher percentage of the purchase price with the free/cheap plans. Money transfer is handled via Stripe, like with Substack, where Stripe also takes a cut.
With the Premium plan (US$99/year), you can add PayPal support. And with the Business plan (US$300/year), you can add a full storefront experience. Any credit from your existing plan can be applied to upgrading to a higher plan.
For e-goods like a book, the payment button might be fine? An advantage of PayPal support is that buyers just log into their PayPal account and don’t have to enter credit card info. Advantages of a full storefront are shopping cart, checkout, etc.
I should re-visit this. I don't have a free plan, and I recall asking my website person about this and was told I needed to have a different type of Wordpress. But that was some years ago, when I first e-published an OOP book. Things change!
I suppose one question is who your plan is with. The WordPress software is open source and free for anyone to use, and countless individuals, consultants, companies and organizations use it. But there’s also a turnkey option from the .com side of WordPress, which I linked to above. This is similar to Substack, where the necessary software is already installed, etc. and it looks like your own site, but it’s actually on their servers. If you log into wordpress.com, then that’s what you have.
Enjoying this q&a. I’m thinking of doing one myself maybe as a paid only regular q&a surgery type thing. We’ll see.
Relating to the point of which platform etc, maybe this might help?
In what I opine about (change) 9 times out of 10, one of the main aspects I seem to focus back on is “why”. Why do you want to change? Why does your organisation need to change? People often get into a mess as they forget or never knew why they were trying to do so something. Knowing why, might assist in where to publish etc.
But, as you say, it’s also very important to clock the difference between the short and long term. You might well think you have a great why, but it isn’t currently in alignment with your now. So your longer term is… longer term.
And conversely people also often mix up things that are important versus seemingly urgent.
On a separate theme, I always write my content outside of Substack and keep a log of what I’ve written. That way I don’t need to periodically export it back. It also makes it much easier (I think?) to re-use / purpose that content differently, thus making the most of what one has written?
PS - if anyone reading this has any feedback on my potential q&a theme (help with change) or questions theyd like an answer for or opinion on… please do let me know.
A good question about asking the "why" of wanting to change, whether it's change platform, change where you live, etc. I think the partner question is "what do I hope to accomplish by changing, and is it feasible."
I'm not clear on what you asking about your potential q & a theme is -- are you going to write about that on a continuing basis? Are you asking individuals to seek out your opinion on a particular change? Are you going to write about change from a larger perspective (for example, I have a cousin who has started the process of becoming an ex-pat, in response to the Trump administration. She's answered the why change question, not quite clear whether she's answered fully the what she expects to gain question.)
I would guess a side question you might regularly address is "why not change?" It seems to me that so many people are afraid to change, even when there would be clear advantages.
Thanks Susan. The background here is that “whilst I know, or like to think I know” my subject (stuff to do with change) having spent a lifetime helping people in business with it, I’m 6 months into writing “change is constant” here in Substack. I am doing that to keep my brain going, as I’ve retired, and also to give something back. But i also have an idea that I will “turn on paid” at some point and one of the value adds would be a paid subscription only q&a chat / event etc with me. The idea is basically being worked around atm. I simply piggy backed on this post, as it occurred there and then. Your observations are helpful, thanks a lot.
Susan, Just having read your thoughts again. Just an observation about your friend… I’d say she hasn’t answered the why change question, she has answered what she’s going to do (become an ex pat). The question to ask would be “so what”… ie how does becoming an ex pat meet her why? You’re right in that it’s not obvious what she’ll get from becoming one. Because it’s not clear (only from what is noted) why she wants to change. Is it cos she’s fed up to the gunnels and wasn’t to be happier, as she’s not having to listen to, be aware of what the orange man is doing? Oops, shown what I think! Well I’m a Brit. We’re across the pond. Sadly an American ex pat living here… won’t escape. And your tax lot through FATCA etc have long arms!
Ahh! Wot. King pope himself. Surely not. Well let’s hope not. From our side of the pond he seems to have been remarkably quiet this week. Long may it continue 🤞
I phased out my active use of Medium over the last year. Which makes it sound more organised and planned than it was. It would be more honest to say I simply lost heart, in the face of falling reader numbers – and recognition that quid pro quo is not a sustainable model for building them back up.
Yet an emotional attachment to the platform remains. Medium is in large part to thank for the fact that I write fiction at all. I used to have a community there; now it's full of ghosts. In some cases, literally.
I like to write the occasional discursive piece, developing a thought about the craft or business of writing into a whimsical ramble. That doesn't belong on my Substack, where I only publish my fiction.
It occurs to me that I could experiment with putting those on Medium again. And indeed, on my WordPress website, where the blog has been languishing for over two years.
I'm in the privileged position of not needing to make money from this. My motivations can therefore be entirely about creative satisfaction – but I only find it satisfying to write for a readership.
There's much about the Substack of 2022 that I like a lot more than the Substack of 2025. I'm wary of the social media aspect of Notes. I restack the occasional comment there, where it vanishes without trace. That's about it. I suspect that making it work for me would require more entrepreneurial enthusiasm than I can sustain. Or want to at this stage in my life.
Notes is the 'social media' function within Substack. It's a fairly new thing, but has been given a lot of prominence in the app and is growing fast in functionality and reach. Basically it's a space where Substackers can post notes about … whatever they like. Substack is the platform for delivering our newsletters – the 'actual content' if you will – which you can send out regularly or ad hoc to your subscribers. 'Newsletter' doesn't really cover it. Mine are weekly chapters of my serialised short stories, novellas and novels, with my voice readings and artwork. Other Substacks might be current affairs commentary, philosophical essays, artworks, videos – any form of creative content.
You can make them free, or set a paywall. My Tuesday Tale is free, my Friday Novella is behind a paywall.
So you only get long-form content from Substacks you subscribe to. Following someone on Notes will only get the feed to show you their notes.
It does! I'm going to get myself organized to use both. Thank you. And I'm going to follow you on Tuesday Tales. I also like the idea of one part paywall, one part open. I've been hesitant to publish essays and chapters that are going to be part of a larger whole, eventually. Good to know I can sort accessibility.
As for Medium, since I don't really earn much there, I may just make all of it open to anyone, since I never post "parts" there.
What a wonderful, thoughtful, useful answer! Thank you for taking the time. I feel like you clarified my thoughts and pointed me in a direction where I can focus! I think one thing I'm goijng to do is, as you suggest, post shorter pieces on Medium that point back to substack.
The second thing I'm going to do is to aim to publish at least twice a month (maybe not enough, but it's a start). I'm also gradually transferring my original blog posts to Medium. Downloading all is a good idea, for security!
As I'm semi-retired and have a side-gig checking executive references, I don't have to worry so much about making a living on-line, though I would like to build an audience for what I hope will be a published book.
Mainly, you gave me the push I need to sit down and think about my work, what I want it to accomplish and then plug away at it consistently.
I still can't pull the trigger on Substack. Frankly, I'm finding it hard to keep posting on Medium at the minute, too. Writing has its seasons, and for reasons I don't fully understand, I'm in a quiet season right now. It'll pass.
I have over 400 articles on Medium, so I could start posting them all to Substack. But I don't have much faith that it would do any good. I'm the literary equivalent of leafy greens; I need a Curator-type authority to force eyeballs my way.
OK, so a slightly different take:
1) I have a website - I use SquareSpace which isn't outrageously expensive and I have control of the look w/out needing Word Press. I used it originally to upload my blogs - I no longer blog, but post on Medium and link the Medium pieces to the website using Medium's 'friend links' I found SquareSpace's email operation is a whole lot less complicated than Mail Chimp for organizing email addresses. DO NOT USE GO DADDY FOR YOUR WEBSITE. EVER, EVER, EVER.
2) I've been on Medium for 5 years. I've been boosted and yes, finding the best publication for that has been hit or miss. I make it a habit to comment on the articles I'm reading - if I can't say something halfway politely, I'll skip commenting. I've had great conversations with other writers - and have met people who I'd never have met otherwise.
Writing on Medium has improved what I publish - that and reading other folks' posts. When something feels cringe worthy in someone else's stuff, I take a lesson from that.
3) I am playing around with Substack - mainly reading Allison's stuff and two others. My biggest complaint is that I miss the commenting that's on Medium. It feels very one-way, but I'm willing to be persuaded.
Some excellent and useful points here! My sites are Wordpress, so good to hear about an alternative.
If you want to create some bit of purchasing capacity on Square Space, is that easy to do? I know that I have the wrong version of Wordpress to do that... (If I wanted to sell the books I've released as e-books, for example.)
Quite right about the community on Medium--yes, that, and the knowledge gained from working on the platform. Lots to be learned by writing and connecting.
It takes time, on Substack, to build that connecting. Glad you're willing to be persuaded! Sometimes, that's what it takes. And time.
All of this asks for an investment of Time.
SquareSpace is primarily focused on selling stuff - whatever that 'stuff' may be. The graphics available are what first attracted me to it.
An intern architect found it, and until we sold the business, our architectural firm used it.
I have 3 poetry books on the site presently: www.goposted.com. As if nobody knows, you can't make money on poetry unless you're already in the grave.
Thank you for this added info--useful to know. I didn't realize this piece of Wordpress, and once I did, it was too costly to change.
Ah... about poetry...
I believe you can add a payment button to any WordPress site, even with a free plan. WordPress just takes a higher percentage of the purchase price with the free/cheap plans. Money transfer is handled via Stripe, like with Substack, where Stripe also takes a cut.
With the Premium plan (US$99/year), you can add PayPal support. And with the Business plan (US$300/year), you can add a full storefront experience. Any credit from your existing plan can be applied to upgrading to a higher plan.
For e-goods like a book, the payment button might be fine? An advantage of PayPal support is that buyers just log into their PayPal account and don’t have to enter credit card info. Advantages of a full storefront are shopping cart, checkout, etc.
https://wordpress.com/support/wordpress-editor/blocks/payments/
I should re-visit this. I don't have a free plan, and I recall asking my website person about this and was told I needed to have a different type of Wordpress. But that was some years ago, when I first e-published an OOP book. Things change!
Thank you for this, Frank!
I suppose one question is who your plan is with. The WordPress software is open source and free for anyone to use, and countless individuals, consultants, companies and organizations use it. But there’s also a turnkey option from the .com side of WordPress, which I linked to above. This is similar to Substack, where the necessary software is already installed, etc. and it looks like your own site, but it’s actually on their servers. If you log into wordpress.com, then that’s what you have.
Enjoying this q&a. I’m thinking of doing one myself maybe as a paid only regular q&a surgery type thing. We’ll see.
Relating to the point of which platform etc, maybe this might help?
In what I opine about (change) 9 times out of 10, one of the main aspects I seem to focus back on is “why”. Why do you want to change? Why does your organisation need to change? People often get into a mess as they forget or never knew why they were trying to do so something. Knowing why, might assist in where to publish etc.
But, as you say, it’s also very important to clock the difference between the short and long term. You might well think you have a great why, but it isn’t currently in alignment with your now. So your longer term is… longer term.
And conversely people also often mix up things that are important versus seemingly urgent.
On a separate theme, I always write my content outside of Substack and keep a log of what I’ve written. That way I don’t need to periodically export it back. It also makes it much easier (I think?) to re-use / purpose that content differently, thus making the most of what one has written?
PS - if anyone reading this has any feedback on my potential q&a theme (help with change) or questions theyd like an answer for or opinion on… please do let me know.
A good question about asking the "why" of wanting to change, whether it's change platform, change where you live, etc. I think the partner question is "what do I hope to accomplish by changing, and is it feasible."
I'm not clear on what you asking about your potential q & a theme is -- are you going to write about that on a continuing basis? Are you asking individuals to seek out your opinion on a particular change? Are you going to write about change from a larger perspective (for example, I have a cousin who has started the process of becoming an ex-pat, in response to the Trump administration. She's answered the why change question, not quite clear whether she's answered fully the what she expects to gain question.)
I would guess a side question you might regularly address is "why not change?" It seems to me that so many people are afraid to change, even when there would be clear advantages.
Good luck
Thanks Susan. The background here is that “whilst I know, or like to think I know” my subject (stuff to do with change) having spent a lifetime helping people in business with it, I’m 6 months into writing “change is constant” here in Substack. I am doing that to keep my brain going, as I’ve retired, and also to give something back. But i also have an idea that I will “turn on paid” at some point and one of the value adds would be a paid subscription only q&a chat / event etc with me. The idea is basically being worked around atm. I simply piggy backed on this post, as it occurred there and then. Your observations are helpful, thanks a lot.
Susan, Just having read your thoughts again. Just an observation about your friend… I’d say she hasn’t answered the why change question, she has answered what she’s going to do (become an ex pat). The question to ask would be “so what”… ie how does becoming an ex pat meet her why? You’re right in that it’s not obvious what she’ll get from becoming one. Because it’s not clear (only from what is noted) why she wants to change. Is it cos she’s fed up to the gunnels and wasn’t to be happier, as she’s not having to listen to, be aware of what the orange man is doing? Oops, shown what I think! Well I’m a Brit. We’re across the pond. Sadly an American ex pat living here… won’t escape. And your tax lot through FATCA etc have long arms!
She's afraid Trump will activate martial law. And she's able to e-commute from anywhere, so I guess her thought is why not.
Ahh! Wot. King pope himself. Surely not. Well let’s hope not. From our side of the pond he seems to have been remarkably quiet this week. Long may it continue 🤞
Remarkable... how we now define quiet!
Change is constant, yes.
I can't even read the headlines anymore. Too painful.
A good distinction: important vs urgent.
I thought I needed a new dishwasher. Until my range gave up the digital panel. And effectively died.
A log of pieces written is useful for more-than-one-platform. I've caught myself almost re-posting something already posted.
So much nutritious food for thought here, Alison!
I phased out my active use of Medium over the last year. Which makes it sound more organised and planned than it was. It would be more honest to say I simply lost heart, in the face of falling reader numbers – and recognition that quid pro quo is not a sustainable model for building them back up.
Yet an emotional attachment to the platform remains. Medium is in large part to thank for the fact that I write fiction at all. I used to have a community there; now it's full of ghosts. In some cases, literally.
I like to write the occasional discursive piece, developing a thought about the craft or business of writing into a whimsical ramble. That doesn't belong on my Substack, where I only publish my fiction.
It occurs to me that I could experiment with putting those on Medium again. And indeed, on my WordPress website, where the blog has been languishing for over two years.
I'm in the privileged position of not needing to make money from this. My motivations can therefore be entirely about creative satisfaction – but I only find it satisfying to write for a readership.
There's much about the Substack of 2022 that I like a lot more than the Substack of 2025. I'm wary of the social media aspect of Notes. I restack the occasional comment there, where it vanishes without trace. That's about it. I suspect that making it work for me would require more entrepreneurial enthusiasm than I can sustain. Or want to at this stage in my life.
I'm new to Substack -- what's the difference between Substack and Notes? Are they two different things, or linked?
Notes is the 'social media' function within Substack. It's a fairly new thing, but has been given a lot of prominence in the app and is growing fast in functionality and reach. Basically it's a space where Substackers can post notes about … whatever they like. Substack is the platform for delivering our newsletters – the 'actual content' if you will – which you can send out regularly or ad hoc to your subscribers. 'Newsletter' doesn't really cover it. Mine are weekly chapters of my serialised short stories, novellas and novels, with my voice readings and artwork. Other Substacks might be current affairs commentary, philosophical essays, artworks, videos – any form of creative content.
You can make them free, or set a paywall. My Tuesday Tale is free, my Friday Novella is behind a paywall.
So you only get long-form content from Substacks you subscribe to. Following someone on Notes will only get the feed to show you their notes.
Does that help?
It does! I'm going to get myself organized to use both. Thank you. And I'm going to follow you on Tuesday Tales. I also like the idea of one part paywall, one part open. I've been hesitant to publish essays and chapters that are going to be part of a larger whole, eventually. Good to know I can sort accessibility.
As for Medium, since I don't really earn much there, I may just make all of it open to anyone, since I never post "parts" there.
I'm also going to alert a friend of mine from Australian (now living in U.S.), who has an interest in all things Australian, to your Substack.
Thanks 😊
Alison,
What a wonderful, thoughtful, useful answer! Thank you for taking the time. I feel like you clarified my thoughts and pointed me in a direction where I can focus! I think one thing I'm goijng to do is, as you suggest, post shorter pieces on Medium that point back to substack.
The second thing I'm going to do is to aim to publish at least twice a month (maybe not enough, but it's a start). I'm also gradually transferring my original blog posts to Medium. Downloading all is a good idea, for security!
As I'm semi-retired and have a side-gig checking executive references, I don't have to worry so much about making a living on-line, though I would like to build an audience for what I hope will be a published book.
Mainly, you gave me the push I need to sit down and think about my work, what I want it to accomplish and then plug away at it consistently.
Thank you so, so much for the effort!
Susan
Thanks for the mention Alison!
I still can't pull the trigger on Substack. Frankly, I'm finding it hard to keep posting on Medium at the minute, too. Writing has its seasons, and for reasons I don't fully understand, I'm in a quiet season right now. It'll pass.
I have over 400 articles on Medium, so I could start posting them all to Substack. But I don't have much faith that it would do any good. I'm the literary equivalent of leafy greens; I need a Curator-type authority to force eyeballs my way.
Good to accept these seasons. That's the truth.
If I owned a publishing company, I'd be knocking on your door.