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Substack has become a popular platform for users who want to create freestanding blogs and portfolios separate from their existing …
Overview
What is Substack?
Substack is a subscription-based newsletter publishing platform.
Recent Reviews
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What is Substack?
Substack is a subscription-based newsletter publishing platform.
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- No setup fee
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- Free Trial
- Free/Freemium Version
- Premium Consulting/Integration Services
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Product Demos
Newsletters on Substack Review
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Newsletters On Substack Review + Bonuses
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Best Practices - Fiction on Substack
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Product Details
- About
- Tech Details
What is Substack?
Substack is a newsletter publishing platform that makes it simple for a writer to start an email newsletter that makes money from subscriptions.
Their tools include:
- web and newsletter publishing tools that are purpose-built for paid subscriptions,
- an all-in-one solution to help a writer get paid for their writing,
- easy-to-use editing software that can handle simultaneous publication of stories and newsletter
- a payment solution that makes subscriptions intuitive and manageable for both publisher and reader
- features that allow stories to find large audiences outside the paywalls and design templates so that publishers can focus on creating beautiful reading experiences.
Substack was founded in 2017 by Jairaj Sethi, Christopher Best, and Hamish McKenzie and is headquartered in San Francisco, California, USA.
Substack Technical Details
| Operating Systems | Unspecified |
|---|---|
| Mobile Application | No |
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(8)
Community Insights
TrustRadius Insights are summaries of user sentiment data from TrustRadius reviews and, when necessary, 3rd-party data sources. Have feedback on this content? Let us know!
- Business Problems Solved
- Pros
- Cons
Substack has become a popular platform for users who want to create freestanding blogs and portfolios separate from their existing accounts on platforms like Medium. This allows them to have more control over their content and customize their own brand. For example, in the CBD industry, Substack is used to create promotional and educational content in a mini-blog format. This helps businesses address branding and improve their store's searchability. Users have found that by utilizing Substack, they can significantly change their workflows, making content distribution more efficient while also enabling monetization and integrated financial support.
One of the key benefits that readers appreciate about Substack is its ability to collate subscriptions in one place. This makes it easier for them to stay on top of their favorite writers without getting lost in the noise of social media. Companies also find value in using Substack to write blogs and newsletters for interested parties such as investors or donors. In the AI domain, for example, companies leverage Substack to cover topics like data collection and principles of good codebase for Machine Learning. Similarly, researchers and community leaders utilize Substack to share newsletters on the latest happenings in the world of technology, allowing them to reach a large community with new breakthroughs and technologies.
With its large user base, Substack increases the chances of newsletters reaching a wider audience, whether distributed for free or as paid content. However, some users feel that Substack could improve its integration with other platforms and provide more guidance on marketing strategies to help them stand out in a crowded niche. Overall, Substack offers valuable solutions for users looking to create independent content channels, connect with readers, and gain financial support through subscriptions or sponsorships.
Easy to use and user-friendly interface: Many users have praised Substack for its easy-to-use and clean interface, making it convenient for writers to navigate and manage their subscriptions effectively. The platform provides a user-friendly interface that simplifies the process of managing subscriptions.
Seamless integration of content with operations: Several reviewers have highlighted Substack's seamless integration between content creation, subscription management, and payment design. This feature allows writers to monetize their work efficiently and effortlessly by providing them with an integrated system that streamlines the process of managing subscriptions and payments.
Ability to own content: Users appreciate that Substack allows them to maintain full control and ownership over their published content. This valuable feature provides a sense of security for writers who want to protect their intellectual property, ensuring that they retain complete ownership of their work without any restrictions or limitations imposed by the platform.
Clunky and Confusing UI/UX: Some users have found the visual UI/UX of Substack to be clunky, particularly when it comes to displaying stories and utilizing image previews. They have expressed confusion about the way stories are presented and feel that image previews are not effectively utilized.
Difficulties with Subscription and Donation Options: Several reviewers have mentioned difficulties with subscribing or donating while reading an article on Substack. They have pointed out that the option to subscribe or donate only appears after finishing the article, which most readers don't do. This has made it challenging for users who wish to support writers immediately.
Lack of Clarity as a Podcasting Platform: A number of users have expressed a need for more clarity regarding Substack's capabilities as a podcasting platform. They would like to see more hard technical information before making the switch and understanding why they should use Substack specifically for podcasting.
Reviews
(1-6 of 6)Companies can't remove reviews or game the system. Here's why
July 20, 2022
Substack - Perfect platform to create newsletter
In our company, we use Substack to write blogs and newletters to our investors / donors / other people interested in AI domain. We talk about how we collect data, principles of making a good codebase for Machine Learning etc.
I use Substack to write newsletter on the latest happenings in the world of technology. I'm a researcher who loves to research about new breakthroughs, new technologies, learn them. I run a community of people who want to learn about new techs and things happening in startup space.
- Newsletter
- Analytics
- Integration with Twitter
- Recommendation
- It's really difficult when multiple people are editing the blog at same time. Some things change or get overwritten due to which have to reload the page multiple times. Would like to see an experience just like in Google docs.
It's been an awful ordeal in previous years to try and keep up with all the content I want to push out to my followers. Forget trying to monetize anything or accept financial support in an integrated way. It has changed my workflow so much and made it much more efficient to use Substack for content distribution. Also, as a reader who likes to keep up with the latest in my industry, Substack collates my subscriptions for me, all in one place, so I can stay on top of my favorite writers without going down the social media rabbit hole.
- integration of content with operations, like subscriptions & payment
- design! clean and simple
- curation of subscriptions I read
- editor is on the primitive side - it's wysiwyg, but missing some embed options
- integrate with google analytics
- percentage cut that Substack takes can become a burden as your revenue grows. Problems scaling.
July 13, 2022
Substack a must have newsletter platform...!
Substack is a great platform if you want to write and distribute newsletters with a large community so basically, content sharing things can be done so easily. Since it has a large number of users or readers so there are good chances that your newsletters will reach out to most of the folks. You may distribute either free or paying.
- Quick and easy signup
- User friendly UI
- You can own your contents
- No limit on free subscribers
- Fee is nominal
- Customisation
- Can add more features
- Add custom urls
July 12, 2022
Wish I could make a success of it
I think that it is a great idea but I don’t think that they offer enough integration with other platforms, or provide enough ideas about how to market your substack or make it stand out in a crowded niche
- Self publishing
- Database management
- Good interface
- It can feel like you’re shouting in to the mist
- Would be good if there was more integration with blog CMS
- Needs more support helping people getting a paying database
I use Substack personally to run a blog. I switched from Medium over a year ago and wanted to explore the ways I could monetize on the platform. The primary business problem it addresses was my inability to publish my Medium articles as part of a freestanding blog/portfolio separate from my account and the scope of my use was fairly simple (personal publishing and subscribing to a few newsletters here and there).
- Content organization/discovery - really easy to search.
- Newsletter/email integration - by far better at previewing and delivering content than any other site.
- Visual UI/UX - stories are displayed very clunky, image previews aren't used well.
- Promotion in-article - makes it hard to subscribe or donate while reading a piece. You have to finish it to see the option to, which most readers don't.
July 11, 2022
Robb Auspitz Review of Substack
I use Substack to create promotional and educational content. I use a mini-blog format to write infomercials that explain various topics relating to the Hemp/CBD industry and Groovy Hemp Company. The problems addressed include branding and improving my store's searchability. The scope is very broad. A distinct brand identity sets my store apart from a very crowded field. A successful SEO campaign has been proven to drive a lot more sales than social media that is not 100% focused on video.
- Because it has a very high Domain Authority ranking relevant backlinks in a published article will help make my store more searchable.
- Substack is very easy to work in. The toolset they provide may not be as extensive as other platforms but it is certainly enough to create a meaningful, interesting post.
- Substack is very focused on creating a community of writers that support each other. They run an ongoing email campaign that reinforces their focus on building a community of writers.
- More clarity on why I would use Substack as a podcasting platform. I understand that it's a new thing for them but I'm not sure about making the switch until I see more hard, technical information. And yes, I am being picky about it.
- They could provide a few more formatting tools for the writer even though what they currently provide does a good job.
- Support for more extensive video tools. I understand that YouTube and TikTok dominate that arena but there's always room for more competition.