Welcome to day one of my 1,000 Word Spring (instead of summer) series! I got enough feedback from my last post, kicking the tires of 1,000 word summer, that I decided this was something I needed to go ahead and do. I need this to jumpstart my writing habits again, and I also need to make good on the interest that at least a few of you have in the less serious ideas running through my head. As a reminder, this is almost nothing but a thinking exercise shard publicly with you. While I’ve taken note of a handful of ideas to get me started, I have no idea where all this will go. I’m just glad you’ve bought a ticket (with your email address) and are willing to take the ride… We’ll start with a thought process piece I’m calling “Platform Existentialism.”
It is likely that I will soon be writing less on Substack and more on my own personal site. It’s in the works now, so there’s nothing to share yet. All you need to know is that nothing will change for you regarding how you can read my work, as long as you’re still a subscriber. When I make the move, I’ll be able to import my email list into the new platform and you will barely tell the difference when I publish my first post. Let me explain why I’m doing this.
Do you ever read or listen to something and think to yourself, “Somehow this person I’ve never met just put my thoughts into words so well?” That’s what happened to me last Thursday when I read this essay. Oddly enough, the way I discovered the essay is one of the reasons factoring into my decision to leave. More on that down below. I thought about it a lot over the weekend, and I’m ready to put my own spin on it.
I’ve wanted my own personal site for a really long time. I started my first “blog” when I was in 10th grade and loved it. As I wrote in my first Substack post this year, I love to think deeply and know that God’s given me that for a reason, so writing publicly is the easiest way to get all that out there. The biggest question, other than what to write, has always been where to write. When I decided late last year to start doing this instead of thinking or talking about doing it, Substack was the natural choice because it has at least three things going for it: it’s free, it’s easy and it’s trendy. There’s virtually no risk involved, so I went for it. The hardest part was being vulnerable enough to share it with someone. Four months in, I haven’t published as consistently as I would have liked or followed the formula I laid out for myself, but the email has grown more than I thought it would. The majority of my readers come from what I would call my circle, my closest friends and family. However, the next step is to do what I can to grow beyond that circle and really start trying to accomplish some of the ministry goals outlined in my essay about online ministry. In order to move forward, have to ask myself how I intend to do that, which brings me to my concerns.
The way I see it, there are three primary ways to grow my Substack.
Word of mouth (please share, if you’re enjoying what I’ve offered so far!)
Social media (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc)
Substack’s ecosystem (Substack Notes, Substack Chat, recommendations feature, etc)
Word of mouth isn’t really something I can control. I can occasionally ask you to share my work, but I loathe self-promotion. I’ve never wanted to be that guy, so I try not to do that often.
I’m not fond of the social media route for many reasons, but mainly because it doesn’t even work like it used to. Instagram is a visually driven platform increasingly beholden to video over and above it’s original purpose, which was photos. Facebook is following suit because they’re all competing with TikTok. On top of that, everything is so algorithmically driven that there’s a good chance what you do won’t even be seen by your followers. Twitter is the least susceptible to these problems because it’s always been intended for microblogging, but it’s not completely immune. None of this is good for writers and that’s part of the reason Substack has been so successful. It’s a platform built by writers for writers that circumvents these factors by empowering writers to communicate directly to their subscribers in the form of newsletters.
Now, however, Substack is expanding their platform with Notes. In short, it’s a Twitter competitor, not completely without merit. The main difference is the business model, which isn’t dependent on ad revenue. I actually really like it, as a writer. But I haven’t sent out their templated email encouraging all of you to download the Substack app and get on Notes yet, and I won’t. It’s worth asking ourselves why. Just because I think Notes is a better form of social media doesn’t mean I encourage it. Just because I think the Church should capitalize on revolutions in communication and treat these platforms as mission fields doesn’t mean you should hop on every new platform. Overall, less social media is better for us. I’m not faulting Substack for seeking to grow their brand and their ecosystem. They’re a for-profit company competing with the tech giants of our day. These aren’t complaints. They’re my observations about where I fit into this with what I want to accomplish and how, which brings me back to the growth discussion.
I’ve picked up a handful of subscribers since I started mildly participating in Notes. All of them have been fellow writers on Substack. Is that bad? No, it’s not. As a reader, Notes is an effective tool for discovering new ideas from people with likeminded interests. But as a writer who would eventually like to reach more than other writers, maybe it’s not as valuable. If I want to expand what I’m doing as part of my ministry, but a primary way to do that is going to be increasingly dependent on using something I don’t even want to recommend to my own readers, does that come across as counterproductive at best and disingenuous at worst? It’s not limiting my potential amongst other writers, but again, I’m going for more than writers.
All of those reasons have to do with Substack itself. But there’s at least one other reason. I’ve already told you how much I love writing and how valuable I think it is for my ministry. Whatever I do has to give me the capability to publish my writing. But there’s also a handful of things that I want to do in the future that will be much easier on a personal website with blog/newsletter functionality than on a platform specifically designed for blogs and newsletters. I won’t say anymore about that now, but just know that’s an extra consideration.
In the end, nothing changes for you, my loyal subscribers. You’ll still receive the emails in your inbox if you’re subscribed. The only thing that changes is the website you find the posts on. I’ll be trying out the alternative platform for the duration of 1,000 Word Spring, so I’ll update you as needed.
In terms of word count, I knocked the first day out of the park. We’re at 1,455 words before editing… If you made it this far, I hope I didn’t bore you. Stay tuned.