Quitting Flodesk for my Newsletter +Substack income

From Flodesk back to Substack

Hello dear Creatives!

It’s been over 2 years since using Flodesk as my newsletter platform, and to be very honest, it has been a very good experience overall. So why quit it after such a long time, after setting up all my forms, website pop-ups and email workflows?

From one creative entrepreneur to another, in this article I would like to summarize all the pluses for myself personally of making the decision to move my entire newsletter… here! To Substack :)

Why have a newsletter?

Just like I believe that every creative professional should have a website, I also strongly believe that having a newsletter in absolutely worth looking into. And having said that, in my humble opinion, it doesn’t matter whether you are writing your newsletter to 4 people or to 4000 people - if those subscribers really gave you their email address to you because they’re genuinely interested in what you have to say!

A newsletter allows illustrators to communicate directly with their audience without depending on third-party platforms like social media. This direct connection helps in building a loyal community of followers who are genuinely interested in your work. Through my newsletter, I can share any personal insights, behind-the-scenes content, and stories about my creative process, both via text and photos - so already much more real estate than on Instagram for example.

Regular newsletters help strengthen your brand identity, that is so so important. By consistently sharing your style, voice, and values, you strengthen your brand recognition and position yourself as an authority in your field, which hopefully I achieved by positioning myself for example as an Affinity Designer expert :)))))

Above: A snippet view from my Flodesk account, before it gets completely deactivated: each form I set up gave me nice subscriber stats.

Where to host your newsletter?

So what platforms do we have out there? Let me give you a summary below of what I tested out and also what I considered as I was doing my research:

• Mailchimp: this is what I started with, for my yoga newsletter waaaaay back. Up to 2000 subscribers used to be for free and it was completely fine to start with, but now I saw that they dropped this to 500. It actually is quite professional, even for beginners and I think it is easy to learn, so if you are only starting out, then why not Mailchimp?

• Squarespace Email Campaigns: I was really considering it now because I am hosting my website on Squarespace. Personally, I found it very hard to see the pricing tiers, it is not that easy to find, which is strange. So I am already paying around 17€ for the website business tier and Email Campaigns would cost me around 10€ more per month. That is the thing, I wish they were more transparent and showed me the prices right away. I think you can access it when you have a Squarespace account. In any case, right after Substack, it would be my number 1 choice, so currently it is number 2 :)

• Flodesk: I had it for around 2 years now and the first year comes at a discount, 19€/month. From the next year on it costs you 35€/month ouchhh, which I did for a year now (before canceling it this week). So yeah, it would be over 400€ per year, which I could use to support fellow writers here on Substack instead, or pay for any other creative business subscriptions, such as Epidemic Sound for YouTube etc.

• Substack: Since you are here, you already know it :) It is for free but it also allows you to set up a paid tier for your followers, quite amazing.

Let me tell you why I chose Substack in the end, share my Substack income and give the final reasons why I am moving away from Flodesk.

Why is Substack the best choice for me right now?

I will try to keep this section as concise as I can, and I hope you will find this information useful. You can also leave a comment and share your thoughts!

1. It is for free :)

The most obvious advantage! We as artists, we have so many costs and our projects are very unpredictable. Last month I managed to score a book project but the contract was quite strict and it looks like I will be paid in full only after I submit my final files, around November, and I signed the contract in May.

Luckily, Skillshare income saves me a bit, but still, freelancers in general face a bit more uncertainty compared with the employed creatives. I usually evaluate my profit for the entire year and I need to input all my fixed costs - and the Flodesk cost of over 400€ was really bothering me for a while now.

So, you can start a newsletter on Substack for free. There are no upfront costs, and you only pay a fee when you start earning revenue through paid subscriptions. This makes it a low-risk platform for creators looking to build their audience.

2. It is simple

I got used to Substack very very fast, I personally find it very intuitive. On top of that, I really enjoy using their app!

Most importantly, for my newsletter, I found it SUPER liberating when I simplified my workflows… Flodesk allowed my all those fancy forms, personalized email workflows for each segment. AT some point I just found it redundant and I really had no time to analyze the segment stats, so it turned out not very useful for me.

Substack is designed with simplicity in mind, making it easy for anyone to start and manage a newsletter. I am not sponsored btw :)))) The platform handles everything from writing and formatting to distribution, so you can focus on creating content rather than dealing with technical details or workflows, injecting code into your websites…

3. You can get paid too! My Substack income:

Substack allows you to monetize your newsletter by offering paid subscriptions. Wow… so you pay nothing to have your newsletter and you can still earn some “coffee money”, as I call it. You can choose to give some content for free while keeping premium content behind a paywall, which gives you flexibility in how you generate this potential income.

Let me be super transparent with you and share my Substack income. Bear in mind, this is just an annual prediction but subscribers can cancel their subscriptions at any point in time:

The 700-ish€ that you see above may actually go up or down - every time a new paid subscriber joins, this number is adjusted right away. Back to Flodesk - it would cost me over 400€ per year, so by shifting everything to Substack I am saving 400 and I have the potential to earn 700, which is already saving me more than 1000€. I don’t really treat Substack as a considerable income source, but more importantly - it is not a cost driver to me!

4. It starts a conversation

Your subscribers can leave comments and engage in a discussion not only with you but also with other subscribers under your post. Try it out, say hello :)

In traditional newsletters, it is often a one-way street. You send out your newsletter, the message gets (hopefully) through, and that’s it… Soooometimes, I get occasional replies to my newsletter, but I don’t even think that subscribers realize that this is even an option - to be able to hit the “reply” button to my newsletter. Maybe some of them don’t feel it is even welcome?

Through Substack, everyone is welcome to leave a comment and engage in a discussion, and I do my best to remember to leave a sentence or two with a call to action so that people leave their comments and share their thoughts. Remember - having a newsletter is community building at its finest.

5. It has a potential to LAST

Substack is search-engine-friendly :) Their newsletters are optimized for search engines like Google, meaning your content can be discovered through organic search, expanding your reach beyond just your email list. So you are writing your email once, you send it once, and then it is done. Your work is a bit futile. In Substack, your content lives forever.

On top of that, the platform includes a directory of newsletters, making it easier for new readers to find and subscribe to your work. People can find your publication in this vast Substack environment, both in the Web as in the app.

6. It can get better-quality connections

I was tired of managing my Flodesk and I felt more like a marketer rather than an artist. I needed to set up workflows, reminders, downloadable free goodies. And people subscriber and after a while… they were gone. They maybe came for the goodies, or they were sick of my workflows, who knows. How can I even blame them? :)

Even I am quite sensitive to classical newsletters and if I feel that someone shows up in my inbox a little bit too often for my liking, and on top of that has nothing valuable to say, I unsubscribe with no regrets.

Through Substack, subscribers can have a chance to read first, subscribe later, which in my eyes is a sign of bigger commitment, or maybe I should rather say engagement or genuine interest in my content. And as creatives, we just don’t want to drive sales or traffic to our other platforms - we want to connect, build relationships, exchange opinions, also get some advice back. Or maybe also above all - give value.

So this initial non-commitment model, that people can first just read a bit, look around - this model sits better with me as a creative.

What do you think?

Do you guys have a newsletter? Would you maybe like to share your own websites, newsletters or Substack publications? Give it a go and leave a comment below! :)

I will see you in my next blog-letter :)

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Hi! I’m Weronika Salach, a freelance illustrator specializing in children’s books, toy design and surface pattern design. Over 40,000 happy students have taken my digital illustration courses and watched my YouTube videos. Let’s connect :)

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👉 FB group for illustrators and FB group for pattern designers

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👉 Books on Amazon.com and Amazon.de