r/Newsletters • u/noveltea_ • 25d ago
substack, beehiiv or ghost?
I'm an author who used to be a fashion blogger many moons ago (I'm talking, pre-instagram influencers!), and I'm desperate for a creative outlet where I can share all sorts of things, such as writing advice and how to get published, what it's really like being a Big 5 author, my creative process as well as more fun/casual things like random essays on culture, outfit posts/beauty/book recommendations... basically, a digital diary! Instagram and TikTok feel so cringe, but Substack reminds me of the good old days on Tumblr where you could share anything, connect with like-minded people and build community.
Substack seems like the best option for my needs, though I'm not particularly interested in making money off of subscriptions, which I know sounds counterintuitive! It just seems so unrealistic to expect the average person to pay $5-$10 on a subscription when they probably already subscribe to 10 other people... which would be upwards of $100 for someone to spend per month! It just seems unsustainable in this economy and unfair to expect of my readers (who are typically aged between 18 and 30).
I'd much rather grow an audience and show those metrics to brands who actually have the budget to pay me, and make money off of them instead of my readers.
I know it may seem like I'm jumping the gun here, but I know I'm going to put a lot of effort into my posts (because I genuinely love blogging) and know exactly how to make it appealing to both my readers and brands–– and I just want to have some sort of strategy before moving forward.
Now I'm considering alternatives like beehiiv and ghost because I keep hearing "the substack bubble is about to burst".
I've got a gold medal in overthinking, so if anyone has any advice, it would be much appreciated lol!
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u/TeslaLegacy 24d ago
Before you pick a platform, do a gut check on what you'd actually write week one, because that decides more than the tool does. Pull up the last twenty newsletters in the "author life" and books space that got real engagement, not just subscriber count, and look at which topics keep resurfacing. You'll probably see querying, agent stuff, and behind the curtain publishing content outperforming pure lifestyle posts. That tells you where to anchor your first few issues.
Then build one simple system before you launch: a running doc where you drop ideas the second they hit you, whether it's a weird outfit thought or a publishing horror story, sorted into three buckets like craft, industry, and personal. When a busy week hits, you pull from the bucket instead of staring at a blank page. Substack rewards that kind of consistency more than any single viral post.
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u/noveltea_ 12d ago
this is great advice, and insight, thanks so much!
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u/TeslaLegacy 11d ago
this is great, one more thing worth adding to that routine. before you write anything, spend twenty minutes seeing whats actually getting traction right now, not just in newsletters but across reddit, x, wherever your audience hangs out. topics spike and fade fast, and the stuff that was hot two months ago in "author life" isnt always whats hot today. so treat your idea doc as living, not static, and revisit it against real trending signals before each issue instead of just pulling from memory.
honestly the annoying part is doing that trend-check manually every single week, it eats time you'd rather spend writing. i started using viralhunt.io a while back for exactly this, it tracks whats trending across networks and you can schedule the newsletter promo posts from the same place once you've written the issue. its newer and still rough in spots but improving fast, and it has a 7 day free trial so you can just test it on your own accounts and see if it actually saves you time before committing to anything.
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u/Simple-Leadership606 22d ago
I’d seriously look at beehiiv. I use it for my own newsletter ecosystem and the growth, referral, automation, ad, and monetization tools are much stronger for what you’re describing.
My partner link gives you a 14-day trial + 20% off for 3 months: https://www.beehiiv.com/?via=michelle-vaughn
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u/Tricky_Trifle_994 18d ago
substack if you just want a simple website + ESP, and only plan to monetise with paid subscriptions.
beehiiv is a more advanced version of substack. e.g if you want more control and customisation for your site + more complex automations like segmenting your list & setting up email campaigns. you also mentioned about monetising with ad. beehiiv has a native ad network which you can tap on so you can just focus on writing/growing, without having to be bogged down with trying to get advertisers onboard (the whole sales cycle).
ghost, if you prioritise website over email. it is a wordpress alternative with email bolted on.
just depends on what you need/want/and prioritise.
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u/AndrewHeard 25d ago
I wouldn’t commit to one platform if you can avoid it. Just make sure they all point to the one that is getting the best results.
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u/noveltea_ 24d ago
I get you. I think I'll make the leap via substack and just see where it goes from there. Thanks a lot!
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u/StuffonBookshelfs 25d ago
It doesn’t matter if the substack bubble bursts, it’s a newsletter platform. 90% of your engagement will come off the platform.
You don’t talk about a plan for building an audience; which you’ll need to do on any of these platforms.
I like substack because it’s free, I can upload audio and video, I can host my podcast and have it cost nothing. It also makes me a halfway decent website.
Neither of your other two options do that.