Should Creators Use Substack?

Why Is Substack so Popular?

Substack is marketed as a creator-friendly solution to the current failing blogging/ writing/ creating marketing channels. For many creators and small businesses, it appears to solve multiple problems at once: publishing, email delivery, and monetization. Who doesn’t need more monetization that doesn’t depend on growing pageviews??

I am going through specific questions that have come up over the last 6 months with my clients – 80% of whom are content creators (AKA Bloggers). The main problem is that traffic is declining from search engines. And will continue to do so- for a lot of reasons. (That research is coming this week to my blog.) So the decisions you make now will determine whether you keep your audiences or they end up being at the whim of someone else’s algorithm.

To use Substack or not – is a very real question with long-reaching impact. Let’s look at that today.

What Substack Actually Is (Not What It’s Marketed As)

Substack is not simply a newsletter tool. It is a publishing platform that combines:

If you’ve tried to add a paywall between your users and your writing, you know how difficult this can be technically so this bundling is, frankly, a great idea! The problem is that it also centralizes control. When publishing, delivery, and discovery (much like supply, distribution, consumer) are managed by the same entity, the creator is primed to lose their access… see my earlier research talking about the importance of the delivery supply chain. This is why social media has become less effective over time.

Substack Is A Great Idea For Whom?

I will outline the benefits of Substack and when this might be a good idea – but please read the downsides before making a decision. These folks will benefit to some degree, at least at first:

• Writers testing demand quickly
• Creators without technical capacity (or budget to hire me!)
• Short-term or experimental projects

In these cases, speed and simplicity might outweigh the loss of audience.

The Downside to Substack: Platform-Mediated Distribution

This is a new concept introduced earlier in my 2026 Audiences research video. The reason so much is failing content creators is the consolidation of audiences INTO distribution channels that are NOT yours – you’ve lost control. Initially, Substack allows you to keep your control to a degree. But herein is the risk: it controls the distribution of your content and access to your audiences.

Specifically Substack controls:

• How emails are sent and prioritized
• How content is discovered within the network
• How monetization options are presented

Once any platform sits between creator(supplier) and audience(consumer), that makes them the delivery mechanism. That means they control the reach and revenue, to varying degrees.

Right now Substack is acting in the best interests of Creators, and I believe, from what I’ve read that they are intentional about this and well meaning. However, what is the trajectory that we have seen happen time and time again from aggregator-consolidation type platforms?

The Likely Future for Substack

Most platforms follow a familiar story, and this is predictable – because it is basic capitalism, following supply & demand. But we’ve never seen anything like this before because…. well… internets!

1. Incentivize creators to fuel growth (you benefit greatly from this stage!)
2. Build network effects and lock-in (you start depending on the delivery they provide)
3. Introduce algorithmic interference (the delivery starts favoring the consumers instead of suppliers – keep consumers happy!)
4. Optimize for platform-level outcomes (now the delivery MUST depend on consumer – keep investors happy!).

Even if their intent is the best in the world, the goal for most business owners, if they are not independently wealthy (and even if they are), is to sell the enterprise and retire. Selling an enterprise will result in investors/public shares/ a board to answer to. And therefore, optimizing must be done to continue to ensure that investors get paid for their investment. Capitalism. Not bad. But not working in your favor here.

What Exactly, does a Supplier / Content Creator Lose in this scenario?

Over time, and we’ve seen lots of examples of this over the last 15 years or so, you are likely to lose:

• Direct access to your audience/customers
• Control over your pricing (and packaging, sales pages)
• Flexibility in product and content delivery (you must provide what the platform allows (applies to social media and shopify and other ecommerce channels)
• Negotiating power as an independent supplier (you lose the power you once had)

The audience will always be there somewhere, but you lose your connection, and thus your ability to monetize any access and influence that you once had.

I know this is bad news… it is depressing. But the thing is that we already know this. I’m pointing out the obvious, in simple terms, I hope. Because you need to make smart decisions moving forward, on access to your own audience and content that you’ve worked for years to earn and create.

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Do Not Confuse Audience Access with Audience Ownership

Access means you can contact, edit and review today – for example, in Substack.

Ownership means you can reach your audience tomorrow regardless of any platform changes (for example, getting bought out by investors).

If delivery, visibility, or monetization can be changed without you, is the audience really owned by you? I would think, no, it isn’t. This is reminiscent of when Facebook changed their pages programs way back when, and bloggers everywhere lost entire audiences and years and years of work. Many lost their entire companies.

Should You Use Substack? (The answer will surprise you)

Yes – for some of you – Substack will work well for awhile or a long term – that is up to you. I think the key is (always) knowing what you are doing. If you are relying on them for a time, great! if you are accidentally giving them your whole audience – that is less good. 🙂 If you use Substack, be sure to do these backups just in case:

• Duplicate / backup your content elsewhere
• Regularly export a copy of your audience/email lists.

Don’t use any delivery mechanism as your sole access to your audience. Use it strategically!

A Creator-Friendly Alternative

If you want to maintain long-term sustainability and own the assets that you’ve worked hard to cultivate (relationships and email lists and content) you’ll need to maintain ownership of:

• Your domain name
• Your content storage (your hosting perhaps)
• Your email delivery (a platform that you control)
• Your sales channels (the checkout page)

Platforms can then work as tools, not the gatekeepers! And you’ll be able to easily exit that one tool if it no longer serves you.

Summary: To Survive Content Creators must Control the Distribution Channels

Substack is definitely easier and cheaper in the present, but there are some draw-backs. So please consider them carefully before committing to it. Or any other platform, too.

Long-term sustainability for creators and small businesses comes from owning your own distribution channels! Make your choices wisely! And let me know what you think – I’ll open comments on this article – I’d like to hear your experiences.

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