Should you build on your own website, Substack, Medium, or somewhere else?
Build where the relationship with your readers stays yours. Their names and email addresses and your archive of blog posts should all go with you if you ever leave.
Litopia Editorial, with Peter CoxUpdated
Beyond that, services differ in who they were designed for and what they charge you or sometimes, your readers. The right choice depends on what you write and how much you want to manage yourself.
What does owning your readers mean?
Owning your readers means that you know your readers’ names and email addresses and you could take them with you tomorrow if the site suddenly disappeared, or changed its policies.
Followers on a social network are not readers you own. The network holds the accounts, and on most large networks it decides how many followers see each post you make. It can change its rules or close your account, and you can’t email your followers. Social networks are still good places to be discovered, so use them to meet readers and invite the keenest to join your list.
How do the main options compare?
Each option trades control against convenience differently. Terms change, so check each service’s current pages before you commit.
| Option | Cost to you | Do readers pay? | Your subscriber list | Your own domain | Design control |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Your own website | Hosting, a domain and an email service, plus your time to run them | Only if you choose to charge | Held by your email service; check its export terms before you sign up | Yes | Full |
| Substack | Free to publish; it keeps a share of paid subscriptions, plus card fees | Free or paid, as you choose | Yours under its terms; email addresses export as a file (names don’t) | Yes, for a one-time fee | Theme settings for layout, colors and fonts |
| Medium | Free to publish; its help center lists a paid membership as a condition of the Partner Program, which pays writers | Members-only stories need a paid membership; others are free to all | Followers stay on Medium; email subscribers who joined after April 2025 can’t be exported | Yes, with an active membership | Limited: profile header, logo and pinned stories |
| Ghost | A monthly hosted plan, or its open-source software on hosting you arrange | Free or paid, as you choose (paid needs a plan that supports it) | Yours; exports as a file along with your posts and themes | Yes, on every hosted plan | Themes, including custom code |
| Social media alone | Free, apart from your time | No | Held by the network; you can’t email your followers | No | Profile and bio only |
| Litopia (publisher of this guide; see its comparison with Substack) | Free membership includes an author page, a blog and public posts; newsletter, podcast and shop come with the paid upgrade | No, and they need no account | Yours; exports as a file at any time while the upgrade is active | No; a personal your-name.litopia.com address comes with the upgrade | Standard theme free; more themes, layouts and colors with the upgrade |
A novelist who wants a quiet home for news and a mailing list needs something different from an essayist hoping to earn from subscriptions. Start with what you’ll actually publish, then pick the simplest option that keeps your list and address in your hands.
Who pays, and how much?
Writers pay in one of three ways: a flat fee, a share of what readers subscriptions pay, or separate bills for hosting and email. Readers pay only where you, or the service, put writing behind a paywall.
Revenue shares
A revenue share, such as Substack’s on paid subscriptions, costs nothing until readers start paying. Then it takes a percentage of each payment, with card processing fees on top. It’s a low-risk way to begin, but the cost rises as your subscriber count does.
Reader paywalls
Some services charge readers directly. Medium’s members pay a subscription that unlocks stories non-members can’t read, and writers in its Partner Program are paid by how members engage with those stories. Anyone can read a story published outside the paywall.
If your main aim is selling books, a free newsletter puts nothing between a curious reader and your next book. A paid tier can come later, if appropriate.
Running your own site
Your own site means separate bills for hosting, a domain and an email service. None takes a share of your income, though payment processors charge fees if you sell anything.
Warning! What happens if the rules change?
When starting out to build a mailing list, every writer needs to carefully think ahead: if your mailing list is held by a third party, then it’s not really yours.
There are several examples of this happening. For instance, in May 2025 the online publishing website Medium quietly changed its rules to prevent writers from seeing or exporting new subscriber emails collected through the in-app “notify me by email” flow (source).
If you can’t download your subscriber list, then they’re not really your readers. So export your list regularly: download your subscribers every few months, as well as before any move.