So long, Substack.
I'm switching to Beehiiv. Here's why.
For all the “I’m moving from XYZ platform to Substack” articles I’ve read, it feels weird to be one of the few who’s actually chosen to migrate from a platform I genuinely like to a new one.
Substack is a wonderful place. It’s a haven for in-depth creatives, thinkers, and genuine humans who believe in art and movement. I’ve had wonderful conversations on here. I’ve gone through rebrand after rebrand after rebrand. I’ve moved from one story to the next with reckless aplomb. I’ve written from places of darkness, freedom, and deeply uncomfortable honesty.
Substack helped me learn what I want from a newsletter…
And I realized that this platform doesn’t give me everything I need to make that happen.
While I’m grateful and so delighted that I found a little corner on Substack, it showed me what I’m truly looking for, and it started answering the long-standing itch I’ve felt in my soul for a long time.
So, I’m taking CUT YOUR TEETH (recently renamed, once again) to Beehiiv.
There are a few key reasons for this.
I felt that, for my last Substack article, I’ll tell you clearly and plainly as to why I’m doing this, and be frank about where I am in my journey as an artist/entrepreneur and entrepreneur/artist. (Because those two things were never separate, but their mirroring has certainly switched places, depending on the season and the day and the emotional state).
I’m not going to try and convince you to leave Substack.
I don’t think I’ve followed a single publication on here that feels like it “belongs” anywhere outside of this sphere, to be honest with you.
Personally, though, I’ve felt an uncomfortable disconnect for awhile. This disconnect has been planted in the work itself—as you can probably tell from the many directions I’ve woven for you—and in how Substack operates. It feels less like a true newsletter platform, and more like a growing full ecosystem of social media, content creation, and a publication experience that isn’t truly private.
There was something about this combination that I never really liked.
(We’ll touch on other more concrete things, such as the long-term problem with the 10% paid subscription cut, a little bit later…)
I’ll move through this piece by piece…
It’s just another social media platform (for now). There’s nothing wrong with this—I think the move makes a lot of sense for most creators and writers—but I’m already active on LinkedIn, X, and soon, Instagram, because my pivot in my personal brand requires my presence on there. My daily Notes felt like they were just puff pieces in a vortex of frustrated creators waxing poetic about slow living, but I grew tired of that. I love the hustle, and I love peace. I want both, so I feel the need to create both in an ecosystem completely of my own design, instead of ingraining myself too deeply in yet another social/community hybrid platform like Substack—since, originally, I planned on using Substack as my primary channel. Another problem is I realized my Ideal Readers are no longer on Substack, but are actually spread across other platforms where topics like fast-moving growth, hustle, and entrepreneurship have a more established engine, rather than a begrudgingly accepted afterthought.
My publication doesn’t feel unique and private enough, even with adjustments. I’ve tested many different ways of presenting my newsletter. While the ease of use is impressive, I felt frustrated at the lack of individuality I could give to the branding, experience, and overall discovery engine. Yes, it’s significantly harder to drive traffic outside of Substack to your newsletter, but I would rather drive a smaller, more intentional stream of traffic that fits my Ideal Reader, rather than attracting anyone and everyone who liked a viral Note of mine from a year ago. I then realized a large part of my issues was feeling the pressure to perform, to be someone I wasn’t, because Substack didn’t feel truly private—it felt like the curtain was always open, and I really did not like that feeling.
My focus, identity, goals, and voice has… changed. A lot. I went from trying to run an adjacent diary to my LinkedIn personal branding business, to reinventing my brain through psychology and philosophy, to making it focused just on talking about my book, to ranting about art and classical music in an AI-driven world, to talking about my depressive episodes, to strange mixes of all of these categories, and more exhausting rebrands. I kept treading the waters because I was trying to force my way to an answer that made sense. Obviously, changing platforms doesn’t automatically fix these issues… but it helps to downsize my need to post on yet another social platform, and more conscientiously speak to a reader I can actually see.
Limited features will be frustrating long-term. I’ve been a copywriter and brander for a long time. (Well, not super long, but long enough). I never liked that I couldn’t implement a strong welcome sequence, or create a more advanced series of sales and story-driven experiences for my readers, in case I wanted to add digital products or special offers later down the line. I was forced to work with paid subscriptions, which we’ll get into next.
Losing 10% compounds. Quickly. I have extremely ambitious plans for both of my newsletters—CUT YOUR TEETH, and White Stag—and I plan to make a lot of money with them. I’m thrilled for the storytelling, excited for the self-discovery, and can’t wait how those two letters work in totally different ecosystems to build my reinvention (and the people I can help at a much larger, yet more intimate, scale through them). That being said, I have zero interest giving away 10% of my earnings long-term. If you run a successful publication, those few dollars a month can, in just a couple of years, transform into tens of thousands of dollars that you have rightfully earned, taken from you. (The math just doesn’t work for me)
I have more monetization and branding options with Beehiiv. I’m already a huge fan of Beehive’s advanced segmentation tools—things I really wanted from Substack—but I’m also excited for the deeper customization options, and eventual monetization options. Substack’s paid subscriptions work well for some—and some creators that I admire very deeply have sold high-ticket digital products through here, too, which is great—but I need the experience to be more focused. Something about Substack has turned sour for me, and a lot of it is because the publication features and add-ons has always made it feel less and less like it’s truly “mine.”
This is bittersweet.
I think Substack is a fantastic platform.
I really do.
It just ended up not being for me, long-term.
I could write a separate article convincing people to give Substack a chance, easily. The community features are perfect for people who want more soulful people to subscribe to them on a 24/7 basis. While I do believe Substack readers are, on average, so much more intelligent than people who just hang out on other platforms, I want the hybrid combination: the groups of people who are ambitious, entrepreneurial, creative, are not afraid to hustle, and can acknowledge the beauty of slow living when it’s earned.
I’m not saying those people don’t exist on here. They do. And I’m sure there are publications and communities I’m not even aware of that cover all of those boxes.
But, I’m learning that I’m enjoying the creation process on other platforms. I’m learning more about Instagram’s potential, LinkedIn’s untapped baseline (that’s a great place to find clients), X for its conversational leverage and incredible reach, and the movement power of using those pipelines to flood my newsletter.
I got tired of wrestling with Substack’s limitations (for me) and started feeling so much excitement for what Beehiiv can do for both of my newsletters.
Could not be more grateful to my Substack readers, and for Substack’s role in helping me discover what I want to do with my newsletter, and what I want the experience to be.
I considered deleting my publication and vanishing entirely within a few weeks, but maybe this letter will somehow find its way in the ecosystem and hit someone else who needs this message.
If you’re curious about what I’m building—and you’re not currently subscribed to me—you can find the new letter here.
I don’t expect you to click on that, but wanted to provide it in case you’re wondering where this will go. It’s very much alive… just slithering into its new identity.
If you’ve supported me on Substack in any way, seriously—thank you.
If you’re already subscribed to this letter, you’ll be receiving a new letter next week from Taylor Barnes, under the publication name CUT YOUR TEETH.
Things are changing for the better.
And I hope to see you there.
Thank you, Substack.
It’s been fun.
Sincerely,
Taylor
subbed!!