rufuspollock commented 2 weeks ago

We have created a substack for Life Itself to test out its capabilities to host our newsletter and blog moving forward.

Acceptance

[x] Test out Substacks capabilities ✅ Video walk-through here https://drive.google.com/file/d/17U5X9iDrEEnMv4R7UYOxgeV9sj31oe37/view
[ ] Complete a shaped pitch 🚧 https://github.com/life-itself/comms/blob/main/pitch/2420%20moving%20lifeitself%20blog%20to%20substack.md

Video walkthrough most useful sections

[ ] Start - 2:52 - Intro of front page
[ ] 4:56 - 6:57 - Writing a post
[ ] 11:00 - 11:41 - Subscriber settings

Tasks

[x] Compare Substack vs Ghost vs Medium see below
[x] Test out Substack for our needs see pitch for extensive testing notes
[x] Write up longer analysis of why substack see below
[ ] update the subscribe button on the life itself website to the new substack link/button on
- [ ] main front page https://lifeitself.org/
- [ ] footer
- [ ] Remove or sync with substack the Blog section featured towards the bottom of the LI home page as the posts won't update anymore

Substack Summary

Substack meets our current needs quite comprehensively.

Ease of Use: a user-friendly interface without much technical expertise required.
Newsletter-centric Platform: which focuses on building a subscriber base and fostering a direct connection between writers and readers, facilitating engagement and loyalty.
Flexibility: Prescheduling posts, multiple authors per post, and the option to segment subscribers, can provide flexibility in content delivery and audience management.
Podcast Integration: is available with automatically generating transcripts from uploaded files and allowing import/sync of episodes from platforms like Spotify.
Automated Features: of social sharing after publishing, makes it more convenient (we still need to write the copy for the posts).
Subsections: Division of the newsletter is possible if we wanted to do this
Customization: Not as extensive as self-hosted platforms like Ghost, there are still some (albeit minimal) customization and branding options.
Cost Structure: Substack offers a free-paid subscription tier should we ever need it (although paid % taken is higher than Ghost), a monthly, yearly, or founding basis. If we don't charge, it doesn't cost us anything to use.

Main win: Simplicity, with a focus on publishing newsletters/posts, (and the option of integrated monetization features later if wanted).

Substack vs Ghost vs Medium Notes

This was partly done in https://github.com/life-itself/community/issues/1063.

Platform	Uses	Notes	Monetization
Substack	newsletter-based platform that allows writers to build a subscriber base and monetize their content	user-friendly interface = easy for writers to set up and manage their newsletters	Subscription based model
Medium	publishing platform that focuses on creating a community of readers and writers	complex system that requires users to navigate through tags, publications, and social features	Subscription based model
Ghost	self-hosted platform that offers complete control and customization over the website.	technical knowledge to set up, but it offers complete control over the website’s design and functionality	Set up own payment system

Appendix Screenshots

You an create subsections! Yay

asimong commented 2 weeks ago

Why Substack?

rufuspollock commented 1 week ago

Why Substack?

We narrowed choice to ghost vs substack and in our testing substack was easier, quicker etc and somewhat cheaper. It also seemed easy to switch from if we didn't like it.

We'll also post a longer analysis in the above issue soon. But basically we want blog/news, we wanted simplicity, we want newsletter integration if we could get it (but don't need charging etc).

asimong commented 1 week ago

My interest might be expressed in the question: "which services are (or are not) fully paid up subscribers to modernity?" (And how do you tell? How do you discern? How much are people aware of this dimension? How much of modernity just comes down to convenience?)