It seems like everyone is moving their newsletters and online content to Substack, including some long-time bloggers and online influencers. I’ve considered using Substack, too. I even set up an account and created a logo, but I never followed through and began posting there. As of right now, I have no plans to do so.

I know all the reasons online content creators want to move to Substack. Arguably, they are decent reasons. However, I think my reasons for not moving to Substack make sense and work for me.

If you have been toying with the idea of setting up a Substack account, I’ll share my thinking. Maybe it will help you decide if you want to use this site for your newsletter or some sort of longer-than-social-media posts.

What is Substack?

In case you don’t know what Substack is or haven’t read the columns or work of writers publishing there, let’s begin with a description of this service. Substack is an online publishing platform that allows creators—such as writers, journalists, and podcasters—to publish content there and send newsletters directly to their individual subscribers’ inboxes. This content is hosted on a blog-style website that allows creators to monetize their work through paid and free subscriptions.

You can read Substack posts for free without an account. When a subscription prompt pops up, click “Let me read first” or “No thanks” to bypass it. However, you do need an account to leave comments, “like” posts, or access paid or members-only content.

Substack is an independent, venture-backed company headquartered in San Francisco, CA. Its primary financial backers include Andreessen Horowitz, BOND, and The Chernin Group. It is run by its co-founder and CEO, Chris Best, alongside the other co-founders, Hamish McKenzie (Chief Writer) and Jairaj Sethi (Chief Technology Officer).

If you don’t have an author website or blog, which every aspiring or published author truly needs, a site like Substack can provide a place for you to house your content and show it to potential readers. It can even help you build a mailing list or platform.

That said, it is not your personal website or blog. It is a service provided by someone else that you are using, and a website owned by someone else where you are renting space.

9 Reasons I Choose Not to Use Substack

Here are my top nine reasons for continuing to do what I do—blog on my own website—rather than switch to Substack.

1. Substack is a rented property.

I’ve written about this before, but it’s a subject worth repeating, especially for writers. Substack, like social media sites, is “rented property.” You don’t own this real estate.

Ultimately, you want to own the property that you call your author website, blog, or newsletter.

The companies and people mentioned above own and run Substack. That means you don’t make the rules and have no say in what happens on or to the site. That’s risky business, in my experience.

I’ve been on a few social media sites where the rules continually changed. Additionally, on one site, the audience changed along with the ownership. And then the writers changed, making the environment very, very different. I was even on a site much like Substack (sans the ability to build a mailing list with subscribers) that was sold and then closed down—taking everyone’s content with it.

When you write and publish content on your own website or blog, you own that space. You make the rules, and you decide what happens on and to the site. You are the publisher. You set the mood and attract readers interested in your work.

Additionally, you determine who—if anyone else—publishes content on your site. It has come to my attention that there are writers on Substack with opinions I would not want to be associated with. Of course, there are lots of writers I know and love, and a few whose work I enjoy reading, on Substack. Yet, I choose to own my property in cyberspace and dictate what happens on my site.

2. Blogging achieves my SEO goals.

I recently had an audit done of my three websites (all of which have blogs). I asked my website expert to determine whether I would be better off moving to Substack or, at the very least, adding this site to the many places where I already publish content. His answer was “no.”

Using data, he demonstrated that my blog posts continue to deliver superb Search Engine Optimization (SEO), which has always been the main reason to blog. When you publish frequently on your blog, search engines like Google index that content for keywords. Write often enough on a specific topic, and your content rises in the Search Engine Results Pages (SERP), so it is easily found by potential readers (and buyers). They then click on the link that leads them to your very own website.

While Substack posts show up in Google searches, they drive traffic to Substack, not to your author website. I want traffic to my websites, so people land on a page that offers them all my products and services.

Plus, my sites have history with Google. I’d be starting from scratch in many ways on Substack.

3. I don’t need more work.

Even if I only repurpose posts originally published on my blogs, publishing on Substack still requires more work. It’s another thing to do every week.

And if I want to offer paid subscriptions, I have to add something of value to those posts. That’s even more work.

Those who know me realize I am not work-averse. However, I do so much already that it is hard to find time to write my blog posts, let alone produce book manuscripts, work with coaching clients, or run my group training and coaching programs.

I’m doing enough. Period.

4. Not everyone likes Substack.

While loads of people like Substack, some people don’t. (I suppose it’s possible that some people don’t like blogs on websites, too.) In any case, I don’t want to turn off anyone who has no interest in joining yet another site.

And some people don’t appreciate certain content on Substack—posts and newsletters that run counter to their beliefs. Therefore, they stay away and might even make assumptions that anyone using Substack shares those counter-beliefs.

I’d rather just stick to my own site. Then no one needs to go somewhere else to read my work or wonder about my values.

5. I’m not interested in fads.

I have always stuck to my guns and continued blogging when others said blogging is dead. (It is alive.) Blogging still works, and people still read blog posts. (Actually, Substack just offers a free place to publish posts.)

Substack is past the hype or shiny-new-thing cycle, but it is still expanding. That said, it is much harder to find your tribe there now than it was in the beginning.

I already have a tribe. Sure, I could go looking for more potential members somewhere they already exist. (That was the draw of Medium, which I also joined but used only briefly.) I’d rather do that on my own site for reasons already explained.

6. Getting paid on Substack is unlikely.

One of the main reasons I wanted to join Substack and publish content there was to make money. Pure and simple.

I don’t make money off my blog posts or my weekly newsletter—unless someone clicks on a link and buys one of my products or services. But I could make money on Substack…or so it would seem. For that to happen, though, you need to get attention on the site. And currently, that is difficult.

In reality, in 2026, getting free Substack subscribers is achievable. Getting enough paid subscribers to generate meaningful income is difficult and unrealistic.

Roughly 5 to 10 percent of free subscribers convert to paid for a healthy Substack. So if you have:

• 1,000 free subscribers, you might get 50–100 paid.
• 10,000 free subscribers, you might get 500–1,000 paid.

If your subscription price is $8 per month:

• 100 paid subscribers = ~$700 per month after fees

You need at least 1,000 paid subscribers for your Substack efforts to amount to a real business or substantial income.

It’s a slow grind on Substack to get even 100 free subscribers. That’s why many creators are disappointed to discover that growing on this site is a slow grind. So is earning income. One analysis of 22,000+ Substack newsletters found that the bottom 25 percent attracted under 200 free subscribers. And those 200 subscribers could have taken them two years to attract. I’m going to focus on increasing revenue from the products and services I already offer. I can do that with greater attention to the calls to action in my blog posts. That takes little extra work and monetizes what I already have.

7. I’d rather have subscribers to my blog or newsletter.

At this point in my career, I value my email list more than ever. It’s my most powerful platform element and way to sell anything to my followers—including a book.

I’d rather have people subscribe to my blog or newsletter or get on my mailing list directly in some other way. Yes, you can collect email addresses on Substack. Then you need to transfer them to your email marketing system, which is another step that requires more work.

My email list grows quite nicely via my promotions, newsletter, social media, and, of course, my blog posts.

By the way, you can subscribe to this blog and all my emails for writers by clicking on the image on the top right side of this site, offering a FREE GUIDE to help start your nonfiction book.

8. I am tired of getting pulled into online FOMO.

As I watch long-time successful bloggers shut down their blogs and move to Substack, I definitely feel the pressure to follow in their footsteps. I had FOMO big time—especially if they said they were making money.

Just this week, I again saw an online influencer and expert share in a video that she was moving to Substack. Well, good for her.

I’m tired of getting pulled into the online FOMO. For instance, I joined Bluesky when everyone was leaving Twitter (X). I’ve not found it to be worth much of my time.

I created an account there, so I feel the need to post there occasionally. (Again, more work for little return.) I mostly keep that automated.

(As an aside, while I don’t like X, I am still there for platform reasons only. I use automated posts, if I post at all.)

9. It’s okay not to be everywhere.

I’ve always told writers and authors that they do not need to be everywhere, as in on every single social media site. That said, I have recommended a multi-pronged social media strategy that involves joining most of them and being active on only a select few.

But not all sites are frequented by your ideal readers. And you may not enjoy using all sites. So pick and choose. Use the social media sites you like and that your readers like, too.

Along the same lines, I am choosing not to be everywhere. I choose not to be on Substack.

Find Me On My Website

I never planned to shut down my blogs and use Substack instead. That’s what most former bloggers who became Substack users have done.

I don’t want to fight for my share of the readership on another site. I prefer to stick with what has worked and continues to work—publishing content on a site I own and manage and sharing it on social media, effectively driving traffic to my website from places where I already have followers.

I’ve been publishing on my sites for a long time. My readers know where to find me.

And if they haven’t found me yet, a quick Google search for information on a topic I write about regularly will send them to one of my sites.

Are you on Substack, or do you plan to join Substack? Tell me in a comment below. Also, please share this post with a writer who would benefit from reading it.

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Image courtesy of mhyimge.