I’ve decided to move all my newsletters to Substack and use it much more heavily going forward. I expected a cleaner publishing workflow. What I didn’t expect was how different the platform feels—how quickly it changes the way you think, write, and build a community.
Substack is cool for one simple reason: it’s slower.
That “slowness” is not a weakness. It’s the product. Most social networks are engineered to compress your thoughts into short bursts, reward speed over clarity, and keep you reacting. Substack does the opposite. People subscribe because they want what you write. They expect depth. They give you the time—and the space—to say what you actually mean.
That changes everything.
From algorithm-fed attention to intentional reading
On social networks, the algorithm decides what you see. Sometimes it shows you what you want. Often it shows you what keeps you scrolling. And there’s a deeper problem hidden inside that design: if you ever want to change your focus, to learn something new, to explore a different topic, algorithms can trap you inside your past behavior. They keep feeding you “more of the same.”
Substack is built on a different assumption: people want to learn. They want to choose. They want to opt in.
You don’t “follow content” on Substack the way you do on feeds. You subscribe. That act is small, but psychologically it’s powerful. It’s a decision: I want this in my life.
Depth is coming back—because noise is rising
We are entering the era of content inflation. With AI, the internet is being flooded with fast, shallow output. More posts, more clips, more takes. But not more meaning.
And that’s why long-form will win again.
The more “AI slop” we get, short-form content without substance, the more people will look for writing that feels human: clear thinking, real experience, honest nuance, and useful conclusions. Substack is built for that kind of work. It doesn’t punish you for being long. It rewards you for being worth reading.
The blog + newsletter combination is still the most powerful machine
Seth Godin once said he’s not really active on social networks, he has his blog. I used to think that sounded like a nice personal preference. Now I understand the strategy behind it.
A blog and a newsletter are still the most powerful publishing machine you can control. You write, you publish, you send. No gatekeeper. No begging an algorithm for reach. No dependency on whether you posted “enough” this week to stay visible.
On Substack, you can build that machine in one place.
The audience is smaller but more serious
Substack audiences are more niche, more focused, and more willing to think. The communication is not constantly in the foreground the way it is on social platforms, where everything becomes performance. The center of gravity is knowledge and clarity.
That fits my direction perfectly.
I want to focus more on compliance and retail technology, and from time to time, include personal notes when they add context or a practical lesson. Substack is one of the few places where that combination feels natural: professional depth without losing humanity.
Ownership matters more than ever
This is the part that every CEO eventually learns: if you don’t own the relationship, you don’t own the audience.
On most platforms, you’re renting your community. You can’t take it with you. You can’t export it cleanly. You can lose reach overnight. A small algorithm change can wipe out years of work.
With Substack, you own your mailing list. That list is an asset. It’s portable. It’s a direct relationship. And distribution is predictable: if someone subscribes, they receive your work, unless they unsubscribe or the email bounces.
That predictability is not just convenient. It changes how you plan, how you write, and how you build trust.
No punishment for not performing
Social networks create pressure. If you slow down, you disappear. If you don’t post, the algorithm punishes you. That turns content into a treadmill.
Substack doesn’t work like that. You decide the cadence. If you publish less for a period, you’re not “shadow-banned” by design. Your relationship with readers is not mediated by constant performance.
That makes it sustainable.
Monetization without the awkwardness
Even if you stay free, Substack gives you an optional upgrade path. Paid subscriptions are built in. You can monetize later without rebuilding your entire platform. And if you choose to remain free, you still benefit from the structure of a subscription model: the psychology of commitment, the habit of reading, the feel of membership.
Growth without needing to go viral
One of the most misunderstood facts about Substack is that it’s not only “email.” It’s also a network. Recommendations, Notes, and in-app discovery create growth loops that don’t require virality. You can grow through trust, consistency, and collaborations, rather than chasing spikes.
Substack doesn’t replace social networks. It completes them.
The best strategy is not “Substack vs. LinkedIn.” It’s a system.
Use LinkedIn and X for discovery, short posts, opinions, signals, conversations. Then use Substack for retention, depth, clarity, consistency, and a relationship you own.
Social brings people in. Substack keeps them.
That’s why I’m moving everything there.
Not because I’m leaving social networks, but because I want a home base that I control, where the work can be deeper, calmer, and more useful. And where the community isn’t rented.
If you want to follow what I publish next, compliance, retail tech, and the occasional personal note when it matters, you’ll find it on Substack.
It would be my great pleasure to have you in my community https://darkopavic.substack.com