I only read (and love) you on the Substack App so haven't received emailed newsletters for some time. I believe I have successfully logged into your new website, think I have subscribed to emailed newsletters, and my annual paid subscription and renewal date looks to be correct ... fingers crossed. I'm no technology whizz, but if that's all it took, then the transition was seamless!
Good luck with the move to the new platform Nadine - I shall come and have a look. I'm positive the high quality of your writing will carry you well wherever you go.
Now that you point it out I feel the Substack push for paid subscribers is a tad in the face too. Reading around Ghost myself I can see why. the paid subscription vs the take a % of your earnings thang. That in itself would create a platform where there is benefit from sales. Hence the push. I wish you well and will most likely follow...........may as well learn from the wise now.........and people whose kaupapa and ahua I respect and believe. Thanks again for the honesty and heart. While the money is something we all need, it's not about the money in the end....or the fibber around making a living.....I long for an honest space. I know there is so much honesty and transparency on Substack from writers and creatives..........I like the idea of becoming a Ghost. :-)
An honest space!! That's totally what I crave too. And not to have to be too self-conscious or overthinking. I think it's probably ideal for the likes of you and me, who kind of used the FB status page in that type of way.... which is really *unsafe*. I feel like a newsletter is quieter, like a gathering of likeminded weirdos (in a good way!). But yeah, Substack feels a little bit more like selling a service, which some people have genuinely marketable skills and content for, but I'm realistic. If it was lucrative to write knit all day and then write about knitting, we'd all be doing it!! Re: the Substack taking a percentage thing, yes, that's the big difference and the one that they just can't get around ethically. It makes them like a bank, when businesses profit, they profit. I think it's underhanded that they don't make it easy for people to downgrade their subs on their own terms. It means that a person has to email the writer personally and ASK, and that's shitty and no-one wants to do it. I've had people do that and they are *so* apologetic and it has made me feel stink, no end. Substack could take much more responsibility to ALSO look out for readers that they don't get scammed. I have a hard time believing they're in it for any other reason than to make money...
Tēnā koe, I love reading your reasoning! So much integrity! The pyramid scheme factor seems an apt diagnosis 🥲 I don’t know how this happened but my Substack Notes area of the app is filled with commentary from writers on the ins and outs of their own and others marketing approaches on the platform. It could be that I am too squeamish, but there seems to be almost a culture of gurus and paranoia going on that doesn’t feel necessary to me. Love the way Ghost has had such an open dialogue with you, congrats on the shift 💛
Urggh! I knoooow.... it's really bizarre; newsletters have always existed, even before blogs, what's new is asking readers to *pay* for them. It's never far from my mind that *I* am the one who should be grateful to have readers at all! I also feel like we're on the verge of evolving again, in terms of social media platforms, journalism, magazines, storytelling etc. I really wanted to think about what I want to do in this space rather than performing or selling something - and I can only hope that there's overlap with what some readers out there might actually want. like your letters! There's a slowing down rather than speeding up, a bespoke kind of approach. And just... the idea that people will keep paying you forever is not realistic. So while I did move for ethical reasons, there were also practical and creative reasons motivating me. I don't want to be on a treadmill!
I only read (and love) you on the Substack App so haven't received emailed newsletters for some time. I believe I have successfully logged into your new website, think I have subscribed to emailed newsletters, and my annual paid subscription and renewal date looks to be correct ... fingers crossed. I'm no technology whizz, but if that's all it took, then the transition was seamless!
Good luck with the move to the new platform Nadine - I shall come and have a look. I'm positive the high quality of your writing will carry you well wherever you go.
Thanks, Alex! I have missed your musings! Hope we'll hear an update from you soon.
Now that you point it out I feel the Substack push for paid subscribers is a tad in the face too. Reading around Ghost myself I can see why. the paid subscription vs the take a % of your earnings thang. That in itself would create a platform where there is benefit from sales. Hence the push. I wish you well and will most likely follow...........may as well learn from the wise now.........and people whose kaupapa and ahua I respect and believe. Thanks again for the honesty and heart. While the money is something we all need, it's not about the money in the end....or the fibber around making a living.....I long for an honest space. I know there is so much honesty and transparency on Substack from writers and creatives..........I like the idea of becoming a Ghost. :-)
An honest space!! That's totally what I crave too. And not to have to be too self-conscious or overthinking. I think it's probably ideal for the likes of you and me, who kind of used the FB status page in that type of way.... which is really *unsafe*. I feel like a newsletter is quieter, like a gathering of likeminded weirdos (in a good way!). But yeah, Substack feels a little bit more like selling a service, which some people have genuinely marketable skills and content for, but I'm realistic. If it was lucrative to write knit all day and then write about knitting, we'd all be doing it!! Re: the Substack taking a percentage thing, yes, that's the big difference and the one that they just can't get around ethically. It makes them like a bank, when businesses profit, they profit. I think it's underhanded that they don't make it easy for people to downgrade their subs on their own terms. It means that a person has to email the writer personally and ASK, and that's shitty and no-one wants to do it. I've had people do that and they are *so* apologetic and it has made me feel stink, no end. Substack could take much more responsibility to ALSO look out for readers that they don't get scammed. I have a hard time believing they're in it for any other reason than to make money...
tautoko all that.....see you on that other side!
So … we’re being Ghosted
Got it
Ghost Chips
Ha ha ha
See you in Te Ao Kehua
Ha!!! Plenty of Ghost chips over there!
Tēnā koe, I love reading your reasoning! So much integrity! The pyramid scheme factor seems an apt diagnosis 🥲 I don’t know how this happened but my Substack Notes area of the app is filled with commentary from writers on the ins and outs of their own and others marketing approaches on the platform. It could be that I am too squeamish, but there seems to be almost a culture of gurus and paranoia going on that doesn’t feel necessary to me. Love the way Ghost has had such an open dialogue with you, congrats on the shift 💛
Urggh! I knoooow.... it's really bizarre; newsletters have always existed, even before blogs, what's new is asking readers to *pay* for them. It's never far from my mind that *I* am the one who should be grateful to have readers at all! I also feel like we're on the verge of evolving again, in terms of social media platforms, journalism, magazines, storytelling etc. I really wanted to think about what I want to do in this space rather than performing or selling something - and I can only hope that there's overlap with what some readers out there might actually want. like your letters! There's a slowing down rather than speeding up, a bespoke kind of approach. And just... the idea that people will keep paying you forever is not realistic. So while I did move for ethical reasons, there were also practical and creative reasons motivating me. I don't want to be on a treadmill!
We will follow where you lead.
Kia ora Graham! Really appreciate your enthusiastic support :)
Done - a very simple process to swap 😊 See you on Ghost!
Yay! Choc fish for you! Thanks so much x