All about Substack: competitors, features, and audience

Do you write for free? Or are you passionate about writing? I know it takes some time to be a professional writer. What if I give you an option to be a practicing writer and earn simultaneously. It is possible through Substack.

What is Substack?

Substack is an independent platform that allows writers and content creators to send their newsletters. People subscribe to their content, and they turn into paying customers. Many writers write for free to build their portfolios, but Substack can pay you even without followers. It is up to the writers; they can post their content for free or behind a paywall. Substack started in 2017 for people passionate about writing. It is dedicated to writers, journalists, and bloggers. It allows them to create email marketing lists, blogs, or content for your following. The platform is high on creativity. You can add images, gifs, and hyperlinks. It’s 2021, and the Substack has advanced. It now entertains comic writing and podcasts as well. 

Substack features

Substack is a hardcore email marketing platform. The soul of the Substack is subscribing to the newsletters, the writers, and the readers. Therefore, it offers four types of features,

• Free newsletter
• Paid newsletter
• Podcast
• Comics 

Free newsletters

Many of the Substack writers write because they are passionate about it and not for money. Another reason could be because they are aspiring writers and they just want to write to gain a sufficient audience. The free newsletter is an excellent way to practice writing and build your reputation. 

Moreover, you only need to write. It is your sole concern on Substack. You don’t have to pay for anything. Substack is welcoming you to write for them.

Paid newsletters

When you feel confident about your writing, you can use a paywall for your readers. You can charge your readers per month according to your demand. However, you must stay consistent with your work when you are charging people money. If they are paying for it, this means they want to see your content regularly, or else you will lose a chunk of your regular followers.

Podcasts

Substack is now offering podcasts on their platform. As I said, the core of the Substack is email marketing. Substack podcasts are also through emails. You record your voice, and your listeners listen to it. They are proven very effective for your business strategy. 

Comic books

Comic books is another new edition to the Substack family of features. You can create your comics or subscribe to others. It can be your guide to become a comic book artist. There are many series of comics on Substack, and you can be the new addition. 

Who is your audience?

Moving on to our next part, who is your audience? Audiences play a significant role in writing. A writer writes for his readers, and it will be useless if the audience cannot understand your work. The audience on Substack is usually curious fellows who appreciate reading, information, and journalism. The audience is diverse, and they look for a variety of topics, not just one. In case you want more followers, you must write on different topics.

Substack competitors

There are many Substack alternatives which you can choose. I will discuss here,

1. Substack vs Patreon
2. Substack vs Medium

Substack vs medium

 Medium is an alternative to Substack. It hosts a larger number of readers and writers. This makes it a worthy alternative for Substack. Medium articles rate well on search engine optimization. It is a benefit over Substack. Medium has a different criterion for payment. It calculates the reading time, that is, how much time people spend reading your content? It pays accordingly. You can also get money if you refer other people to use the medium. 

Substack vs Patreon 

Patreon is an excellent platform for writers and creative people. It resembles social media in a way that you can scroll through your feed. Your newsletters will appear one by one. This makes it convenient for usage. Moreover, it has different payment options. For example, you can charge your readers according to money. For $1, they get one article per week and so on. It is up to you. 

This is all about Substack!