Update on Borderland Talk on Substack.

Lately, I have received multiple accounts of Substack forcing some of my followers to unfollow. I say forcing because these followers have stated to me that in no uncertain terms did they unfollow me. It became clear to me that this is some sort of intentional attack on my work when my wife found she had also somehow suddenly unfollowed me. Additionally, I am being told by some followers that they have not only been automatically removed from my follow list but they have been automatically set to block Borderland Talk.

Photo by Andre Hunter on Unsplash

As we all know, our beloved Substack is promoting right-wing, fascist writers. The platform has become less about writing and more about the money. This latest attack makes me realize that my dual posting on Ghost was a decent idea. But Ghost is not a social media site like Substack. There is no chat feed or notes feed. My understanding is that there is not an algorithm pushing people to writings on Ghost. And perhaps that is why few of you have moved over to Ghost. I get it.

Additionally, my Substack has been down and inaccessible for much of the last two days. No reason has been given, but that amounts to an interruption of services provided none of which Substack will address.

One of the issues I have with Ghost is that you need to know coding for some of the simplest of issues. For example, there is no way to put a share button on my posts in Ghost without knowing how to code. Sure, readers can still go up to the address bar and copy the post’s link. Not a big deal. Ghost is also too expensive for me to put the podcast and other videos on. However, Ghost does get the job done in a much less seamless, less user friendly sort of way. I am able to take donations and subscriptions to my writing through Ghost just as I do on Substack, and I have been crossposting to Ghost for nine months now.

Another issue is that Ghost does not seem to have a way for people to reach me. Reporters are sending messages to my publisher and literary agent to request interviews. This seems odd to me as I have a decent Substack profile. When I search my own name, I see my Substack come up but I guess they do not see it. So, I decided to start a jennbudd.net website so people could contact me. I did this through GoDaddy as I am familiar with their system. My hope was to write from my own site. However, there is no avenue for me to accept subscriptions to my writing without offering a physical or digital product in return. They do not consider newsletters to be commerce.

To get that type of newsletter, I would have to use GoDaddy as a host and sign on to WordPress. Which costs $700 more, but it was for 10 years which is way less than Ghost. Only then I discovered Word Press is even harder to use than Ghost! In my third phone call to GoDaddy yesterday, I finally got someone who explained to me I needed to hire an expert to create it for me…for $4,000. I will not spend that much money on a website. GoDaddy has refunded my money save for the domain and basic website.

So, this leaves me with Ghost and Substack as long as it is viable. I plan to use the GoDaddy website to house a general description of my work. I have two more books coming out this year, and that would be a good place to house that information. Maybe I use that blog as a house for the CITs and rape culture pieces? But there is no way for me to take donations or subscriptions through GoDaddy unless I start selling merch, which I will not do.

Here’s my ask: please consider unsubscribing to Borderland Talk on Substack and subscribing to it on Ghost. I have put a free month on new Ghost subscriptions to cover any overlapping charges from Substack. As always, my work is free for those unable to donate because it is the people’s information. There is also a free subscription button on Ghost. Although I cannot do podcasts on Ghost yet, Borderland Talk videos are also on YouTube for free. Borderland Talk audio only is available for free on Apple podcasts as well.

To review:

Borderland Talk newsletters and podcasts will remain on Substack until no longer viable. Newsletters are also available on Ghost. I encourage you to use Ghost. Podcasts are also on YouTube and Apple podcasts for free.

If you are a reporter and wish to contact me, you can go through here.