Don’t Build Your House on Rented Land: Why Writers Should Avoid Platform Dependency and How They Can Do So

Over the past several years, platforms such as Substack have become increasingly attractive to writers seeking to establish themselves as an independent voice. The appeal is obvious. They are easy to use and can turn a writer into a publisher overnight. No web developer is required. Payment systems are integrated, and distribution is built in.

This trend has accelerated as prominent writers have left legacy publishers including the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal, Time Magazine, CBS News, CNN, and NPR in search of stability or independence. Substack markets itself as a refuge for writers who prefer autonomy to corporate hierarchy.

There are good reasons to use Substack and similar businesses, but there are also risks. These platforms are not inherently malign, but they are fragile. This article will focus on Substack, the currently trendy platform, but the key ideas apply to many other platforms, many of which are analyzed in an article entitled Avoiding the Platform Trap: Alternatives to Substack.

There is a seductive simplicity to the modern newsletter platform. It promises to turn a writer into a publisher overnight, without the technical overhead. It is a brilliant bargain, provided one doesn’t look too closely at who owns the title to the land.

The Platform Dependency Problem

Cory Doctorow’s theory of what he colorfully, if crudely describes as “enshittification” describes a recurring lifecycle in digital markets. Platforms begin by serving users generously. As they scale, they increasingly favor commercial partners. Eventually, they optimize primarily for investors, extracting value from both users and advertisers. The pattern has played out across platforms such as X (formerly Twitter), Google, Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn.

Substack is not immune to this dynamic. Some users have raised concerns about the addition of prediction markets, the hosting of controversial or extremist voices, and shifts in governance philosophy. Others have questioned corporate ownership changes and the political activities of certain investors.

In theory, government-imposed portability mandates could substantially mitigate these risks. However, there is no serious political momentum for such reform. Platform owners have powerful economic incentives — often reinforced by political donations — to resist structural constraints.

When you publish on Substack, you may own your words, but you do not control the ecosystem where they are discovered. The algorithm that recommends your work, the subscription interface, the fee structure, the moderation policies, and the branding environment are not yours.

Sabrina I. Pacifici, solo owner, editor, publisher, law/tech writer and researcher – LLRX.com and beSpacific.com, shared with me her perspective, grounded in three decades of experience:

A growing number of writers have migrated to the Substack media publishing platform. Valued at $1 billion it has a suite of operational components that drive user engagement, marketing and revenue for authors. As demonstrated by Meta (owner of Instagram, Facebook, WhatsApp), X (formerly Twitter – primarily owned by Elon Musk through his parent company, X Holding), TikTok (owned by Oracle and ByteDance) and LinkedIn (owned by Microsoft), Substack is subject to market-based decisions that can potentially upend the newest star in the social media publishing ecosystem. Weighing the risks, I chose to keep a 30 year self-hosted model to maintain control of content and branding, and suggest colleagues consider migrating to another platform. Consider GhostPro – open source, independent, and funded 100% by its users. “Ghost is a powerful app for professional publishers to create, share, and grow a business around their content. It comes with modern tools to build a website, publish content, send newsletters & offer paid subscriptions to members.”

Preserving Independence

If you don’t already own a custom domain name, the most important thing you can do after reading this article is obtain one and connect it to your current publishing platform. This single step costs roughly $12 to $15 per year and does more to protect your long-term independence than any other action you can take.

When your work lives at yourname.substack.com, the word “Substack” appears in every link you share, in every search result that indexes your work, and in every reader’s browser bar. You are building brand equity for Substack, not for yourself. More critically, if you ever need to move — whether because of platform changes, content moderation problems, ownership shifts, or simple business evolution — all the Google authority accumulated over years of indexed content belongs to substack.com, not to you.

Search engine optimization is cumulative. Content published on a Substack subdomain strengthens Substack’s authority in Google’s index. Content published on your own domain strengthens yours. The longer you delay domain integration or parallel publishing, the harder it becomes to recapture lost SEO equity.

Attaching a custom domain early and cross-posting selectively can prevent years of compounding authority from flowing to the platform instead of to you.

Once you have obtained a domain name, the next step is regularly exporting and securely storing your subscriber list. If an account were restricted or suspended, that list would be your only direct channel to readers.

These measures will facilitate a move to a self-hosted site when it becomes necessary. In my experience operating multiple websites since 2003 across four platforms, maintaining an independently controlled blog has been the most reliable strategy. WordPress is the market leader, powerful but not always easy to use. If your technical skills leave something to be desired, consider hiring a vendor like LexBlog.com or using one of the multiple other easy options.

Timing a Move

The question of when to move is as important as the question of whether to move. Here are some rough suggested guidelines:

For writers with fewer than 1,000 subscribers and modest or no paid revenue, transition costs are relatively low. At that stage, brand identity is still forming, and subscriber loyalty is often tied more to the author than to the platform. Migrating early lets you establish independent infrastructure before habits solidify.

With 1,000 to 10,000 subscribers, the calculus becomes more nuanced. If paid subscriptions generate meaningful supplemental income, an abrupt departure may be financially disruptive. In this range, a phased approach is often preferable: maintain Substack distribution while building a self-hosted presence. Over time, encourage subscribers to register directly on your own site. The goal is gradual migration, not sudden severance.

For authors with more than 10,000 subscribers or substantial recurring revenue, the platform relationship resembles a business partnership. In such cases, an immediate exit may be impractical. Instead, risk mitigation is paramount: ensure domain ownership, list portability, and independent archiving are in place. Consider launching parallel offerings — such as premium reports or continuing legal education materials — on infrastructure you control. In effect, diversify revenue streams before attempting structural separation.

The most important principle is this: do not wait for a crisis to force action. Migration executed from a position of strength preserves dignity and audience trust. Migration under pressure invites confusion and attrition.

Conclusion

Platforms come and go. Domain names are permanent. Subscriber lists can move.

In the end, Sabrina Pacifici’s three decades of experience offer a sobering lesson: the only platform that won’t eventually betray you is the one you manage yourself. Everything else is just a long-term rental.

Bibliography

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Posted in: Communications, KM, Legal Research, Social Media, Technology Trends
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