💡

Key Points

Key Takeaways

  • 1

    The Only Asset

  • 2

    Substack: Strongest network effect. Just by writing, readers flow in from other newsletters (Recommendation Network). Ideal for early phase.

  • 3

    Ghost: Open source and zero fees. Direct integration with Stripe, you get 100% of sales. Pro-oriented with high design freedom.

  • 4

    beehiiv: Specialized for Growth. Referral programs and ad networks are built-in. If you run a newsletter as 'Media', this is it.

  • 5

    Strategy: SNS is a place for 'flyer distribution'. Newsletter is a 'Store'. The iron rule is to distribute flyers and bring them to your store (mailing list).

Introduction: Don’t Be a Slave to Algorithms

“I worked hard and increased my followers by 10,000.” Wonderful. But what if the algorithm changes and your posts are not shown to anyone? What if your account gets suspended?

Your followers belong to the platform, not you. The only thing you can own. That is the “Email List”.

Search

Content Inc.

'Don't sell products first, gather an audience'. Masterpiece by Joe Pulizzi, father of content marketing. Find a specific niche, become an authority there, and collect lists. Products can come later.

Amazon

1. The Network Effect: Substack

It has become the de facto standard for blogs by engineers and thinkers.

  • Pros: Recommendation function is powerful. Just by the network effect of “People who read this newsletter also read this”, subscribers increase even while you sleep.
  • Cons: High fees (10%). When sales grow, this “Substack Tax” becomes heavy.

2. The Sovereign Choice: Ghost

Modern version of WordPress, but much faster and beautiful.

  • Pros: 0% fees. Only Stripe fees (about 3.6%). If hosted on self-server (DigitalOcean or StartOS), cost is only server fee.
  • Cons: You have to do traffic acquisition yourself. There is no network effect like Substack.

3. The Growth Machine: beehiiv

Tool made by alumni of giant newsletters like Morning Brew.

  • Pros: “Referral Program” is built-in. Measures like “Introduce 3 people and get a limited article” can be implemented with a few clicks.
  • Ad Network: Function to place ads from other companies in articles and monetize is equipped as standard.

4. Comparison: Where to Set Up Shop

項目 Substack Ghost
Fees 10% 0% (Pro is fixed monthly)
Acquisition Support Best (Recommendation) None (SEO only)
Customization Low (Everyone same design) Infinite (Theme editable)
Ownership Exportable Full Ownership (Self-Host)

5. Migration Strategy

The strategy of smart creators is this.

  1. Start: Start with Substack. Gather the first 1,000 people with network effects.
  2. Scale: When sales exceed 100,000 yen/month, migrate (Import) to Ghost.
  3. Optimize: Save fees and polish design to match branding.

As long as you have email addresses, you can switch platforms anytime. This is the strength of “Ownership”.

Conclusion: Build Your Castle

It’s fun to make noise in the rental apartment of X (Twitter), but you get kicked out by the landlord’s (Elon Musk) mood. Build your own castle (domain and list) in the wilderness.

The people who gathered there are your true assets (Equity).

# newsletter # substack # ghost # marketing # creator-economy # 2026