From Substack to Ghost to Patreon

Previously published 13 May 2025. Updated 22 October 2026. Feature image: Jojo's Lofi avatar — create your own avatar using the generator: lofigirl.com/generator

In 2022 I launched a Substack. Substack proved to be a user-friendly platform with an unfortunate neo-nazi problem that its proprietors still aren't fixing. I guess they can afford to keep hosting harmful content, because, like many other platforms doing the same, they may even benefit or even profit from it.

Me staying on Substack or leaving would not make any difference, since I was using their free hosting only and had disabled paid subscriptions/content, so no money was flowing from my content to them. My move from Substack to Ghost in 2025 was a move on principle. And while Ghost does not appear to have a neo-nazi problem (or, if it does, not to the extent of Substack), it also does not appear to have a free option beyond its free 30-day trial, so, as usual, principles cost and money is something I currently don't have a lot of.

Will I stay here?

Probably not. Ghost is not free and there may come a day that my budget won't stretch far enough to be able keep it. Which is a risk, because I worry about someone else then potentially hijacking the @jojowiththeflow username that I am known for on every platform. (It's for this reason I deleted nearly all of my Twitter/X posts but not my account, and why I have a blank placeholder beehiiv page.)

In anticipation of the budget cuts I may have to make, I've migrated all my Ghost content over to my Patreon. As long as my budget allows, I will hold on to my Ghost username/page for safekeeping, but any new posts will be made only to that Patreon. Subscribers will not be forced over, so if you were a subscriber who automatically got my Ghost posts after subscribing to me on Substack or Ghost, you won't be getting my Patreon updates unless you join me there.

Previous Substack posts that I had migrated to Ghost, have been removed; they, too, will slowly be moved from my Substack to my Patreon over the coming months.

As always and everywhere: Subscriptions to my content, regardless of platform, will remain free. I do not want to commit anyone to a monthly or annual payment (unless and until I become a regular poster), so I'm sticking to the options for readers to make modest, one-off donations provided by Patreon, Ko-Fi, and BuyMeACoffee.

Problematic platforms and the cost of leaving them

Once upon a time I made at least some of my income working in social media, and although I ran Facebook advertising campaigns for clients who wanted me to, I personally wasn't a fan of doing so.

For reasons I cannot explain, Twitter had become an indirect source of paid assignments. Though I'd never sought it out to be, and tried to not rely solely on the contacts I made there for paid work, it became a valuable resource/network for me. So when that platform became problematic, and I effectively abandoned it, that one cost me dearly. Because most people stayed there, and I didn't, and I paid a price for that.

When Meta became too problematic (in my opinion), I did not lose anything by no longer using Facebook, Instagram and Threads (or at least not as much as I used to), but I am as yet struggling to fully abandon WhatsApp in favour of Signal, because that relies on my contacts making the move and I'm not willing to give up on all those contacts. I already did that with Twitter/X and it cost me and I did not want a repeat.

So no, I don't hold a grudge against anyone sticking with Substack or Twitter/X, despite them absolutely being modern-day nazi bars and problematic as heck. And I cannot guarantee I will stick with Patreon over Ghost and Substack because I am not in the financial position that I entirely have free choice to do whatever, whenever, wherever (that's not a complaint against anyone, that's just me being broke).

But we'll see how it goes.