@mattsheffield@mastodon.social Important to disentangle the parts that Substack has all in one:
- the publishing platform (alternatives include Ghost and Beehiv)
- the recommendation algo (can be done other ways, including social media)
- the money collector (Patreon yes, but also Stripe etc)

Various combinations add up to 'earning a living' for numerous creators who are NOT using Substack, right now. Just because Substack makes it easy doesn't make it the only game in town.