Writers became a Substack for Bulletins. Why do they run away in search of the ghost?

Last March, The poet and critic Yanyi was very busy. Between teaching at Dartmouth, editing a literary magazine, preparing his next book, and directing a creative advisory bulletin called “Reading,” his schedule was met. However, he decided to add a task: to get rid of “Reading” Subpile at the end of the month. “It was before Trans Visibility Day,” he says, “and I thought it was important for me to make the change that day.”

Yanyi was outraged by the decision to start publishing the newsletter. Substack’s platform was easy to use and gave it a head start within the company’s scholarship program, allowing it to grow a healthy and responsible audience. But he wasn’t too happy to stay with Substack’s moderation. The platform allowed the content of writer Graham Linehan to go against trans Yanyi and violate Substack’s policy. It was not the only misfortune; other top-tier compilers announced decisions to leave for that reason at the same time. Many in Exodus had a similar destination: Ghost, a non-profit publishing platform that bills itself as an “independent alternative to Substack”.

Honestly, this designation is weird. Even if Ghost openly judges deserters (the company has a concierge service to attract writers who want to change), it’s not a sudden substitute for Substack. Newsletters are the main product of Substack. Not for Ghost, which was initially raised as a more elegant version of WordPress in 2013 when it was funded through a Kickstarter campaign. Unlike the VC-powered Substack, Ghost is a bootstrapped affair with a meager two dozen employees worldwide. .

The business models of Substack and Ghost are also completely different. Instead of reducing subscriber revenue like Substack, Ghost’s paid hosting service, Ghost Pro, takes a fee, starting at $ 9 a month. (The figure varies depending on the reader of a publication.) CEO and co-founder John O’Nolan, who uploaded videos of his nomadic lifestyle to YouTube for many years, is camped in Florida. Since he has no investors, he has no pressure to rise quickly. The ghost has definitely grown since 2013, among other paying customers Tinder and OkCupidso there’s a chance you can flesh out dating apps that use Ghost and the software has been installed more than 2.5 million times, but the nonprofit isn’t trying to work the same way never stop! A mindset that aligns with Silicon Valley money that launches various digital media.

In addition, Ghost is an open source, which means that anyone and anywhere can use it as they see fit if they know how to organize their website. Although Ghost Pro has guidelines for moderating content (the basics – no pornography or phishing schemes are supported), most Ghost users go the free route, leaving it completely unchanged. Basically, Ghost can have the same content to get people out of Substack. Or worse. “We don’t have the ability to control how Ghost is used,” O’Nolan says.

Why did it become so Ghost Substack for people who wanted to leave it out? When asked, the writers who made the change had some answers as to why the unmoderated Ghost is more virtuous than the light-moderated Substack. For starters, Ghost’s nonprofit situation shines brightly on his reputation. But more importantly, the Ghost knows what it is and what it isn’t — and it’s not a publication.

One of the main reasons why Substack receives so many blows is because it’s Substack Pro, a program that pays well-known sums for well-known writers to create newsletters. To be clear, Linehan is not one of those writers. However, many critics of the existence of this program suggest that Substack, whether accepted or not, is a publisher and a platform. Paying writers is ultimately an editorial option. “Substack has taken the measure,” says progressive political adviser Aaron Huertas, who recently moved his writing from Medium to Ghost. “If you have a policy, you really have to comply.” (Asked for comments, a spokesman for Substack said: “Progress has nothing to do with certain points of view or moderation decisions. We are in favor of free press and open exchange of ideas, so we have no influence on anyone’s writing and light touch with moderation.”)