Module 2: Pick Your Platform
Substack, Ghost, Patreon, Medium — features, fees, and who owns your list. Plus the setup checklist that gets you live in an afternoon.
The platform comparison
Four platforms dominate paid newsletters, and the honest differences are fees, ease, and ownership. Substack is the simplest: free to start, takes 10% of your paid revenue plus payment processing. Built-in discovery helps new writers get found. Ghost charges a flat monthly fee (roughly $9–$25 to start) and takes 0% of your revenue — cheaper the moment you’re earning real money, with more design control.
Patreon takes 8–12% depending on plan and is built for memberships more than newsletters — fine for creators with an existing following, clunky as a writing-first platform. Medium’s partner program pays from a pool, not from your subscribers — you don’t own the audience, and the algorithm decides who sees your work. Weakest ownership of the four.
There’s also the email-first route: dedicated newsletter tools with a flat monthly fee and full list ownership, no revenue share at all. The real trade is always the same three things: ease of setup, fees as you grow, and who owns the list. Rank those three for yourself and the winner is usually obvious.
Side by side
Picking your platform
| Substack | Other platforms | |
|---|---|---|
| Fee | 10% + processing | Varies: check the math |
| Ease | Simplest to start | Varies |
| List export | Required | Required: non-negotiable |
Build brief
Rank what matters most to you: ease of setup, low fees, owning your list, built-in discovery. Which platform wins on your ranking — and why?
Saved
Monthly platform cost at $5,000/mo revenue
Ownership matters
Here’s the golden rule: you must be able to export your email list. Platforms change terms, raise fees, or shut down. Your list is your business — if you can’t take it with you, you don’t own it, you’re renting it. Substack and Ghost both allow full list exports. Any platform that doesn’t is a trap, no matter how easy it looks.
Now run the fee math, because it flips fast. At $10,000 a month in paid revenue, Substack’s 10% is $1,000 a month — every month, forever. Ghost’s flat fee at that scale is a rounding error. Below ~$1,000 a month in revenue, the percentage model is cheaper (10% of little is little). Above it, flat wins by a mile. Start simple. Migrate when the math says so — not before, not long after.
Don’t overthink the first choice. The platform doesn’t grow the newsletter — the writing does. Pick the simplest option that lets you export your list, and spend your energy on issues, not settings pages.
Build brief
Do the fee math: at 500 paying subscribers × $10/month, what would each platform cost you per month? Show your work.
Saved
Setup checklist
You can be live in an afternoon. The checklist: a name (clear over clever — it should say what the newsletter is), a one-line tagline (your promise, shortened), an About page (who it’s for, what they get, why you), a welcome email (more on this in Module 4), free tier switched on, paid tier created and priced, and your first four issue topics outlined.
The custom domain is optional but professional — yournewsletter.com beats yournewsletter.platform.com on every subscribe page. Set it up if you can; skip it if it’s slowing you down. Done beats perfect. A live newsletter with a plain design beats a beautiful one that never launches.
Before you announce: send yourself a test issue and read it on your phone. Half your readers will meet you there. If the subject line, the opening, and the subscribe button all work on a small screen, you’re ready.
Build brief
Draft your About page: who the newsletter is for, what they’ll get, and why you’re the one writing it. Three short paragraphs.
Saved
Jon has 3,000 paying subscribers at $10/month on a platform taking 10%. He could move to a flat-fee platform at $25/month. What’s his monthly saving?
Your turn: Score each platform 1–5 on: ease of setup, fees at scale, list ownership, built-in discovery. Total the scores and circle your winner.
Saved.
Your next 24 hours
Pick your platform with the scoring worksheet. Create the account and claim your newsletter name today — good names get taken.
Steal this template
PLATFORM SCORECARD
Score 1–5 on each:
Substack — Ease __ Fees __ Ownership __ Discovery __ = __
Ghost — Ease __ Fees __ Ownership __ Discovery __ = __
Patreon — Ease __ Fees __ Ownership __ Discovery __ = __
Medium — Ease __ Fees __ Ownership __ Discovery __ = __
Winner: ___
Fee math at 500 × $10/mo: Substack $___ Ghost $___ Patreon $___
Module cheat sheet
- Substack: simplest, 10% of paid revenue, built-in discovery, list export allowed.
- Ghost: flat monthly fee, 0% revenue share — cheaper once you’re earning.
- Patreon: 8–12%, membership-first, clunky for writing-led newsletters.
- Medium: you don’t own the audience — weakest ownership.
- Golden rule: you must be able to export your email list.
- The platform doesn’t grow the newsletter. The writing does.