Substack writers, you need a website

Substack 的写作者们，你们需要一个独立网站

Substack writers, you need a website! Jun 10, 2026 “But I already have a website on Substack,” you argue. No, no, Substack is just a distribution tool to amplify your website. It should not be your digital home. Substack 的写作者们，你们需要一个独立网站！2026 年 6 月 10 日。“但我已经在 Substack 上有网站了呀，”你可能会反驳。不，不，Substack 仅仅是一个用来放大你网站影响力的分发工具，它不应该成为你的数字家园。

In the last few years, I’ve noticed a pattern of writers leaving their websites to make Substack their digital home. Now, it’s kinda okay if they have bought a domain and linked it to Substack. (Meaning, it’s better than nothing.) Rachel from Conscious Living is a good example. This way, Substack more or less functions like a content management system (CMS) for you. 过去几年里，我注意到一种趋势：写作者们纷纷放弃自己的网站，转而将 Substack 作为数字家园。如果他们购买了域名并将其链接到 Substack，那还算凑合（意思是，总比什么都没有强）。来自《Conscious Living》的 Rachel 就是一个很好的例子。在这种情况下，Substack 在某种程度上充当了你的内容管理系统（CMS）。

However, compared to other CMS it’s very limited, such as the ability to manage your SEO and customize your pages to add more features, but I digress. If you just want a fuss-free platform, this is one way to get it and Substack’s conditions for domains are very reasonable and cost-efficient. As I will explain later, this could change on a dime without warning. 然而，与其他 CMS 相比，它的功能非常有限，比如在管理 SEO 和自定义页面以添加更多功能方面，但我扯远了。如果你只是想要一个省心的平台，这确实是一种途径，而且 Substack 的域名使用条件非常合理且经济。正如我稍后将解释的那样，这种情况可能会在毫无预警的情况下瞬间改变。

However, there are some writers who are saying: “Hey readers, I’m now writing on Substack, so head on over there (and ignore my website)!” Some writers do have a website, but link to their Substacks, calling them their “blogs”. If your Substack has a domain name they own, it’s okay, but if it’s xx.substack.com, Substack is saying “All your content are belong to us”. 然而，有些写作者却在说：“嘿读者们，我现在在 Substack 上写作了，快去那边吧（别管我的网站了）！”有些写作者确实有网站，但他们却链接到自己的 Substack，并称其为“博客”。如果你的 Substack 使用的是你自己拥有的域名，那还好；但如果是 xx.substack.com，那么 Substack 实际上是在说：“你所有的内容都归我们所有。”

In conclusion: Writers, don’t do this. It’s short-sighted and unwise and can derail your long-term visibility on the Internet. 结论是：写作者们，别这么做。这是短视且不明智的，可能会毁掉你在互联网上的长期可见度。

The siren call of convenience

便利的诱惑

Every few years, the internet convinces writers that a new digital paradise has arrived. First, it was social media like Facebook. Then blogging networks like Tumblr. Then it was Medium. More recently, it’s been Substack. Platforms promise us an eager audience, built-in monetization, a smooth user interface, and a supportive community. 每隔几年，互联网就会让写作者们相信一个新的数字天堂已经降临。起初是像 Facebook 这样的社交媒体，然后是像 Tumblr 这样的博客网络，接着是 Medium，最近则是 Substack。这些平台向我们承诺拥有热情的受众、内置的变现功能、流畅的用户界面以及相互支持的社区。

As a writer who just wants to focus on writing, it’s incredibly tempting to hand over the keys to our creative kingdoms and let these portals handle everything. (Believe me, I gave in at one point. For years, I just stopped blogging altogether and even gave up a domain that had high traffic! But I got back in 2012 and never left.) 作为一个只想专注于写作的作者，把我们创意王国的钥匙交给这些门户网站，让它们处理一切，这种诱惑力是巨大的。（相信我，我曾经也屈服过。我有好几年完全停止了写博客，甚至放弃了一个高流量的域名！但我在 2012 年回归后就再也没有离开过。）

However, this is the truth that has not changed since the dawn of the Internet: When you build your audience entirely on someone else’s platform, you aren’t a homeowner. You are a tenant. Or worse, a digital sharecropper. And corporate landlords always change the rules eventually. It’s not personal, it’s just business. 然而，自互联网诞生以来，有一个真理从未改变：当你完全在别人的平台上建立受众时，你不是房主，你只是个租客。甚至更糟，你只是个数字佃农。而企业房东最终总会改变规则。这无关个人恩怨，纯粹是商业行为。

The illusion of the safe space

安全空间的幻觉

It’s easy to feel secure when a platform is in its golden era. But we’ve watched the downfalls of Twitter, the policy shifts of Reddit, and the changing tides of algorithmic networks. Relying blindly on a centralized portal not owned by you means your life’s work can alter overnight based entirely on a corporate boardroom decision. 当一个平台处于黄金时代时，很容易感到安全。但我们已经目睹了 Twitter 的衰落、Reddit 的政策转向以及算法网络风向的变幻。盲目依赖一个不属于你的中心化门户，意味着你毕生的心血可能会因为企业董事会的一个决定而在一夜之间发生改变。

When I looked at how fragile our digital ecosystems really are, I realized I needed a space that wouldn’t go “poof” because a company needed to please its investors or shareholders. This realization completely changed my approach, pushing me to protect my content by learning to blog the IndieWeb way. Your writing needs a permanent homebase—a domain that you own and control. Full stop. 当我审视我们的数字生态系统究竟有多脆弱时，我意识到我需要一个不会因为公司需要取悦投资者或股东而“凭空消失”的空间。这种认识彻底改变了我的方法，促使我通过学习以“独立网络”（IndieWeb）的方式写博客来保护我的内容。你的写作需要一个永久的大本营——一个你拥有并控制的域名。句号。

Moving from “renting” to syndicating

从“租房”转向“联合发布”

Do you own the land you plant your “content” crops? The biggest pushback I hear from writers is: “But my website doesn’t have an audience! Substack does.” But you don’t have to completely abandon social media or platforms like Substack to protect your autonomy (personally, I prefer the word sovereignty but it does sound a tad dramatic). 你拥有种植“内容”庄稼的土地吗？我从写作者那里听到的最大反驳是：“但我的网站没有受众！Substack 有。”但你不需要完全放弃社交媒体或像 Substack 这样的平台来保护你的自主权（个人而言，我更喜欢“主权”这个词，尽管它听起来有点戏剧化）。

You just need to change the order of operations. Instead of publishing directly to a portal, you can shift your mindset to POSSE: Publish (on your) Own Site, Syndicate Elsewhere. (I explain the POSSE/PESOS method in an older post.) By treating your website as the definitive source of truth and using platforms simply as distribution pipes, you get the best of both worlds. 你只需要改变操作顺序。与其直接发布到门户网站，不如将思维转变为 POSSE：在自己的网站发布，在其他地方联合分发。（我在一篇旧文中解释过 POSSE/PESOS 方法。）通过将你的网站视为唯一的权威来源，并将平台仅仅用作分发管道，你就能两全其美。

I dug deep into this shift when I committed to being an imperfect gardener of my digital garden, exploring how a less market-y way of presenting my content online let me share my wild garden of thoughts without dancing to the algorithm. 当我致力于成为自己数字花园中一名不完美的园丁时，我深入研究了这种转变，探索了一种不那么商业化的在线内容呈现方式，这让我能够在不被算法左右的情况下，分享我那片狂野的思想花园。

A reality check on platform hype

对平台炒作的现实审视

If you are still holding out hope that Substack is “different” from the social platforms that came before it, let’s look at the numbers and behaviors behind the marketing copy. After spending a significant amount of time observing the platform ecosystem firsthand, I wrote a brutally honest takeaway in What I learned from one year of Substack. 如果你还抱着希望，认为 Substack 与之前的社交平台“不同”，那么让我们看看营销文案背后的数据和行为。在亲身观察该平台生态系统相当长一段时间后，我在《我在 Substack 一年学到的东西》中写下了一些极其坦诚的总结。

The network effects are real, but so is the pressure to conform to what the platform’s ecosystem favors. This post, by the way, desperately needs to be updated because things have gotten much, much worse since I wrote it. When you hand your content over to a platform, you have to conform to their rules and their localized biases. 网络效应是真实的，但被迫顺应平台生态系统偏好的压力也是真实的。顺便说一句，那篇文章急需更新，因为自从我写完它之后，情况已经变得糟糕得多了。当你把内容交给一个平台时，你就必须遵守它们的规则和局部的偏见。

For those of us writing from outside the dominant US-centric echo chambers, platform algorithms heavily prioritize specific western narratives, making it incredibly tough for localized or minority voices to be seen unless they conform. I wrote about this exact frustration recently in Linkblog: Dwelling on the Internet, highlighting how algorithmic complacency forces us into homogenized bubbles. 对于我们这些在以美国为中心的占主导地位的“回声室”之外写作的人来说，平台算法严重偏向特定的西方叙事，这使得本土或少数群体的声音除非顺从，否则极难被看见。我最近在《Linkblog：栖居于互联网》中写到了这种挫败感，强调了算法的自满如何迫使我们进入同质化的泡沫中。

The flip side – the writers who refused to leave their websites

另一面——那些拒绝离开自己网站的写作者

Each time there’s a new drama on some platform, and writers are shaking their sabers and declaring that they will leave for yet another social media platform they don’t control, I think about writers like John Scalzi. As of date, John scalzi has been blogging on https://whatever.scalzi.com/ for 28 years! 每当某个平台出现新的闹剧，写作者们挥舞着大刀宣称要离开并转投另一个他们无法控制的社交媒体平台时，我就会想起像 John Scalzi 这样的写作者。截至目前，John Scalzi 已经在 https://whatever.scalzi.com/ 上写了 28 年的博客！

This sci-fi novelist has maintained a single independent website continuously for nearly three decades; this makes him one of the longest-running, most consistent original bloggers on the internet. Imagine the amount of digital footprint on that website! Unbroken by time or platforms. (Specifically, he uses wordpress.) 这位科幻小说家近三十年来一直维护着同一个独立网站；这使他成为互联网上运行时间最长、最稳定的原创博主之一。想象一下那个网站上积累了多少数字足迹！它们没有被时间和平台所打断。（具体来说，他使用的是 WordPress。）