🪿 The Migration Begins...
The Clubhouse is Now on Ghost!
Amelia here, poking my head out from my July break to let you know that…
We just migrated to Ghost! 👻
We're set up on this platform, and I moved paid and free subscribers over from Substack today.
You don’t need to do anything to migrate your subscription. I handled everything on the backend, so your free or paid perks and payment plans should all remain seamlessly in tact.
The one exception is that paid subscribers will need to set up a new private podcast feed to get all the Clubhouse episodes in their podcast players of choice. See below for more info on that. (Details will only appear for paid supporters.)
A few FAQs and logistics:
FAQ: Why did you leave Substack?
Well let me tell you a few reasons…
- The values-misalignment between me and the founders was… staggering. This 2023 Atlantic article on their Nazi problem was a starter. Their support of anti-trans bigotry was another strike.
- Then there was the direction they’ve taken the platform. Pumping in video, Polymarket betting embeds, and algorithmic feeds on Notes. Then they about-faced on ads on the platform too (breakdown here).
- That last point gets to the heart of it… Substack was no longer a tool I could neutrally use to host the Clubhouse. It became fully-fledged platform that sucked Clubhouse subscribers into its engine. Listen to my tool vs platform episode to hear more about that.
- Substack felt like social media for at least the past year, and in the spirit of Off the Grid: Leaving Social Media… that meant it was time for me to get outta here.
FAQ: Did everybody on the Clubhouse email list move to Ghost?
Well… no.
- I cleaned the Clubhouse email list as I made this transition.
- All paid subscribers were transitioned with payments and perks in tact.
- But if you’re were free subscriber who hadn’t opened an email from me in 2026… then you were unsubscribed in the transition process. Feel free to resubscribe here on Ghost anytime!
FAQ: Why did you delete email subscribers when you're always talking about growing your list?
- Well Substack told me that 772 of my 1539 subscribers had a 0/5 star activity score! Which explains why my open rates lingered around 30% there (compared to 60% on my list of 2500+ on Flodesk).
- Now the activity score isn’t a perfect metric, but when I dug deeper, it looked like most of those inactive subscribers hadn’t opened an email from me in 4+ months (if ever).
- Plus: you know where most of those inactive subscribers came from? 👉👉👉 The “Substack Network.” Which meant that a lot of the amazing growth Substack was promising me (and bragging about in my stats dashboards)… was mostly resulting in inactive subscribers.
- So I shed inactive free subscribers as I make this move! Which meant I deleted about 50% of my email list… Which should have been scary! But honestly it felt freeing.
FAQ: Will the Clubhouse be any different on Ghost?
Not different, just better!
I moved our existing episodes and emails over to the new site in this transition. A few posts were archived or removed, but everything else remained in tact and available for you to read or listen t o.
Going forward, paid members of the Clubhouse will still get bonus episodes, special workshops, exclusive newsletters and more as thanks for your support of Off the Grid! And free subscribers will get occasional messages and bonuses as well. Just like it was on Substack.
But! Two fun updates:
Now that we've made the move, you’ll stop getting random emails from Substack asking you to upgrade, do gift subscriptions, or subscribe to people I recommend. (I never asked Substack to do that, they just… did?)
I’ve been working on new branding for Off the Grid this summer… and you’re seeing a peek of it here in the Clubhouse on Ghost!
FAQ: OK so do I need to do anything right now?
- PAID SUBSCRIBERS WILL NEED TO SET UP A NEW PRIVATE PODCAST FEED. It has all the existing episodes and is where new ones will post going forward.
- You can use the embed at the top of this post for support with that. Or click the "account" button in the upper right and navigate to Podcasts > View.
