What did you use to start a paid newsletter?

Question

What did you use to start a paid newsletter?

@alexjmedick

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#Substack #Revue #Stripe #Ghost #Mailchimp

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@optemization

Substack if you don't need API or automations. 2 . Ghost if you need those.

@assaf

Substack.

My blog runs on Ghost, I publish there first (RSS, email) and then republish to Substack. Ghost has an API, so I can automate the content generation. Ghost has paid subscriptions + email, but Substack does it much better, that’s how I get most free/paid subscribers.

Revue was ok but fell out of favor when they branded the links. TinyLetter before it was acquired by MailChimp, but dead product now. MailChimp for a while but they charge and arm and a leg, and their UI is so difficult to use, compared to Substack.

Anyway, Substack.

@maguay (replying to @assaf )

Interesting that you still picked Substack even though your blog is on Ghost. Thanks for sharing!

Curious, from a discussion I saw elsewhere: Can you export your Substack subscribers if you want—and thus move to another email newsletter service if you wanted to?

@assaf (replying to @maguay )

Yes, you can export your email list from Substack. First thing I checked, since at some point I’ll want to consolidate around one tool.

@maguay (replying to @assaf )

Nice, thanks for confirming! That would still leave the challenge of convincing paid subscribers to re-subscribe in a new app, but great to know you can at least move your subscribers if you want to.

@miraiontoast

11d

Substack, 100%. There's a ton of "paid newsletter" type things (Revue, Goodbits, tinyletter), but Substack is the best I've used.

@alexjmedick (replying to @miraiontoast )

11d

Thanks! I had a feeling this was going to be the answer. I was also looking at Revue and Podia, but Substack definitely seems like the easiest choice. I appreciate your help!

@maguay

11d

With the caveat that I haven’t started a paid newsletter with any of these tools, a couple other options include:

Ghost CMS now includes a full subscription system, where you plug in your Stripe account for payments and can lockdown your site to only let in subscribers. And, you can also have Ghost send each blog post as an email newsletter automatically.
Revue is a curation tool for building subscription newsletters, for a different twist on paid newsletters.

Substack then is the giant in the room now for paid subscription newsletters; it was the most recommended option the last time people were discussing best newsletter apps on Capiche.