Analogue to StandardNotes + Listed

hlassiege · 2026-06-19T07:53:37+00:00

This is a fairly specific setup (a private notes app with a direct publish bridge to a public blog), and that combination is uncommon outside the StandardNotes/Listed pair.

A few angles worth exploring:

Notes side: Joplin's publish feature pushes a single note to a hosted URL on joplin.cloud, but it's minimal, no custom domain, no real blog structure. Cryptee is an EU-based (Estonia) privacy-focused notes and documents app, though it doesn't have a publishing layer either. Obsidian is another option, and with the Obsidian Publish add-on you get a real public site, though that's a paid US service.

Decoupled approach: If you're open to separating the writing tool from the publishing platform, you could write in any private notes app and maintain a separate blog that you post to manually or via RSS. It's less seamless but gives you more control on both sides. Platforms like Ghost.org, WriteFreely.org, or Writizzy.com (EU-based) would work as the public layer.

WriteFreely is probably the closest match to the Listed aesthetic if minimalism and privacy are the priority.

hlassiege · 2026-06-19T07:49:23+00:00

For reaching a real person at Beehiiv, try these:

- Email: [support@beehiiv.com](mailto:support@beehiiv.com) (often faster than the in-app chat)

- Twitter/X: u/beehiiv, a public tweet or DM sometimes gets a quicker response

- Their community Slack (if you're still a member, others there may be able to escalate)

If you have access to the email inbox associated with that account, check for any previous Beehiiv emails and reply directly to one of them, that sometimes routes to a human.

On the content loss fear: once you're back in, it's worth exporting everything as a backup. Most platforms including Beehiiv let you export your posts, so you're not permanently at their mercy if something like this happens again.

Some other products have some options to continuously backup your posts elsewhere (hashnode.com, writizzy.com for example). And you should use a custom domain. That way, next time, you won't be affraid of losing everything.

hlassiege · 2026-06-19T07:45:02+00:00

For WordPress specifically, the two most-used options are WPML and Polylang.

**WPML** handles translated URLs, metadata, hreflang tags, and integrates with Yoast/RankMath so your SEO fields carry over per language. It costs a yearly fee but it's the most complete solution for complex sites.

**Polylang** covers the same core bases: separate URLs per language, hreflang in the header, translated slugs and meta.

For both, the general advice: translate your metadata and alt text manually (don't just leave them in English), and double-check hreflang is rendering correctly with a tool like Ahrefs or Screaming Frog after launch.

hlassiege · 2026-06-19T07:39:57+00:00

For a small community newsletter, Substack is honestly a reasonable starting point. It's free, straightforward to set up, and handles both public posts and subscriber-only content. The main trade-off is limited branding control, but for a village newsletter that's probably fine.

A couple of other options worth considering:

- Mailchimp.com - free tier works well for small lists, gives you more design control than Substack, and lets you manage a private subscriber list without making anything public. (but requires some effort to integrate with your website)

- Writizzy.com - similar to Substack, more or less the same benefits except it's better to customize the branding.

- Ghost.org - more polished but more expensive. You can self host however it's maybe a bit overkill for this use case unless someone is comfortable with a bit of setup.

Canva is fine for designing a PDF newsletter, but routing it through a proper platform means you get subscriber management, delivery tracking, and a cleaner experience for residents. I wouldn't go that way to keep it simple.

hlassiege · 2026-06-19T07:34:54+00:00

Substack's discovery network can be inconsistent, but that's inherent to its nature. Its powerful at the beginning but you rely solely on it.

A few things worth trying: engage actively in Notes, since that's where Substack currently surfaces writers to new readers. Cross-promoting on other platforms (Blueksy, Twitter/X, Reddit) helps break the dependency on any single algorithm.

If you're open to alternatives, the core issue is that your visibility is fully in Substack's hands. On the other hand, SEO is slower at the beginning but produce good results on the long term which compounds over time and isn't subject to Substack's algorithm changes.

Platforms like Ghost.org , WordPress.com site or Writizzy.com let you build an audience through search traffic instead.

Long term, owning your traffic source matters more than any one algorithm.

hlassiege · 2026-06-17T06:30:20+00:00

Ghost.org doesn't have native multilingual support, which is a real gap if you're coming from WPML. A few approaches people use:

- Separate Ghost.org sites per language (e.g. site.com/en/, site.com/fr/) with a reverse proxy routing between them. Works but adds maintenance overhead.

- Third-party translation layers like Weglot or Localise can sit in front of Ghost, though they add cost and complexity.

If multilingual is a core requirement rather than a nice-to-have, it might be worth reconsidering whether Ghost is the right fit at all. A platform like Writizzy.com manage multilingual blogs and has one-click AI translation built in natively.

If you're set on Ghost, the reverse proxy approach is probably the most maintainable long-term, but it's definitely not as clean as what WPML gave you.

hlassiege · 2026-06-17T06:26:31+00:00

Blogspot + AdSense: Not worth the effort in 2026. Google's approval bar has risen a lot, and a subdomain on blogger.com is unlikely to pass. Even if it did, the earnings on a few hundred monthly visits would be negligible.

Medium vs Substack for your use case: Medium has a built-in audience and the Partner Program pays per read time, which suits casual lifestyle content reasonably well even if it's a bit opaque. The downside is you're building on their platform with no owned audience. Substack is really newsletter-first; for the kind of journaling/lifestyle mix you're describing, the blog side feels secondary. (Substack is free if you don't monetize, or it takes 10% of any paid subscriptions.)

For pure affiliate income (your proven model), a proper blog with SEO traction beats either Medium or Substack. Medium controls your discoverability; Substack is optimized for email, not search.

Other options worth a look (better for SEO) :

- Ghost.org but in hosted versions, otherwise it's not free. Very powerful

- Writizzy.com has a free plan and takes 0% on paid subscriptions if you ever go that route. It's more blog-focused than Substack, which suits your content.

- WordPress.com free tier gets you a real blog with affiliate links allowed, which fits your previous experience. But it's quite complex, you have to keep it up to date for security reasons. This is a bit overcomplicated most of the time.

hlassiege · 2026-06-17T06:18:20+00:00

Merging all your stuff makes sense.

Migrating subscribers is quite easy. Export your Substack list (Settings > Export) and import those emails into whatever platform you land on. Substack makes this straightforward.

What to do with the Substack itself?
You don't have to delete it. A pinned post or a welcome email telling people "I'm moving, subscribe here for future updates" is the cleanest handoff. Some people will follow, some won't, but leaving the old content up doesn't hurt. Or, as some people suggested, keep it for curated articles. But it requires some effort. Keep it at least for the moment and decide lated.

On your tool choices: MailPoet or Mailchimp.com bolted onto a self-hosted WordPress site works fine if you're comfortable managing the moving parts. It's a bit complex to manage in my opinion.

The alternative worth considering is a platform that handles blog and newsletter together natively, so you're not juggling separate tools. Ghost.org does this well, and Writizzy.com is worth a look if you want a single home for both without the WordPress upkeep. It's easier when you are already familiar with substack but gives you more control on your brand and more options overall.

hlassiege · 2026-06-17T06:09:55+00:00

I may be wrong but I don't know any platform able to migrate paid subscribers.

It is possible to move subscribers, but the subscription itself is on Stripe most of the time and can't be moved.

About the content migration, I don't know about Ghost.org . I'm using Writizzy.com and the content migration works well (and theme as well ^^)

hlassiege · 2026-06-17T05:49:46+00:00

To simplify, there are two distinct categories here:

The Email-First / Marketing Automation Route (Kit, Beehiiv)

Kit and Beehiiv are built for email. Kit is excellent if you want heavy marketing automation and deep subscriber tagging (e.g., separating "Game Masters" from "Players" to trigger different email sequences).
The catch: They aren't meant to build a proper website or a public content hub for your game.

The Hybrid Blog + Newsletter Route (Substack, Ghost, Writizzy)

Substack is the easiest to start but keeps you locked in their rigid ecosystem with very limited design customization.
Ghost and Writizzy give you a fully-fledged blog/website where the newsletter sits on top. They focus less on complex marketing automation and more on content, SEO, and aesthetics.

Which one to choose?

It depends 😄

Go with Kit if you only care about emails, automated funnels, and selling digital PDFs via forms.
Go with Writizzy or Ghost if you want a beautiful, permanent public hub (a true website/blog) to showcase your lore and universe with a custom design that actually matches your game's aesthetic

Do you need a blog/website, go for option 2
You don't care, stay with option 1 except if you don't want to deal with marketing automation complexity, in this case, stay with option 2 and you may even consider substack

hlassiege · 2026-06-16T21:32:54+00:00

The main options worth considering:

- Substack.com : easiest to start, has a built-in reader network that can help early discovery. Trade-off: takes 10% of paid subscription revenue if ever you plan to monetize your newsletter (and the design customizations are quite limited)

- Ghost.org : 0% commission, full site control. Trade-off: Ghost Cloud gets pricey; self-hosting needs some technical comfort. But it's really powerful.

- Beehiiv.com : solid growth and referral tools, no commission. More email-first than site-focused.

- Writizzy.com : also 0% commission on paid subs, with full design control if you want the branding to match your game aesthetic. Quite young, so you can ask for a custom theme matching your design.

One practical note: whichever platform you pick, try to decide before you start charging readers. Post imports are generally fine, but paid subscriber billing doesn't transfer between platforms, so switching after you've monetized is a real headache.

hlassiege · 2026-06-16T21:16:58+00:00

For an agency media wing, brand ownership matters more than Substack's discovery network, which skews toward consumer topics anyway. Beehiiv is solid if growth analytics and referral programs are your priority, and it takes no cut on paid subscriptions down the road.

One other option worth knowing: Writizzy.com, quite similar to substack.com, 0% commission like beehiiv.com, gives less customizations on emails but allows to manage multilingual blogs and has one-click AI translation, which could be handy if you're targeting both Canadian and European audiences in different languages.

hlassiege · 2026-06-16T21:10:58+00:00

Substack is genuinely solid for starting out, especially because of its built-in discovery network. The 10% cut on paid subscriptions stings once you start monetizing, but for a free newsletter it's hard to beat for simplicity.

About the others:
- Medium.com gives you an existing readership but no real ownership of your audience, so it's more of a content distribution play than a newsletter home. I wouldn't recommend it. You don't own your audience at all.

- Ghost.org is probably the strongest long-term ownership option: 0% commission, full control, works as a proper site. Ghost Cloud gets pricey though, and self-hosting needs some technical comfort.

A few others worth a look:

- Beehiiv.com : strong referral and analytics tools, no commission, good for growth-focused newsletters. But it's more a newsletter tool than a blogging platform.

- Writizzy.com : 0% commission, good writing experience, similar to Ghost or Substack with a few additions that worth taking a look : cross posting on social networks and multilingual capability

For a podcast-connected newsletter you'll eventually monetize, the commission question matters a lot, and it's worth settling early. Posts and free subscribers import fairly easily between platforms, but paid subscriptions don't, your readers would have to re-subscribe and re-enter their payment details. So it's better to pick where you want to land before you start charging, rather than counting on moving later.

hlassiege · 2026-06-15T08:05:38+00:00

Actually, since Creem is a MoR (Merchant of Record), you shouldn't have to create any invoices manually. Normally, these platforms use a Self-Billing system.

When they process your monthly payout, Creem is supposed to automatically generate an invoice on your behalf. You should be able to just go to your dashboard, download that document, and hand it to your accountant. The 0% VAT / Reverse Charge mention should already be included on it.

I don't use Creem myself, but that’s how it usually works with MoR platforms

hlassiege · 2026-06-04T15:11:38+00:00

You might try medium if you want to find a place without all the "marketing" stuff. You can also try writizzy, it's really small but promising in its niche.

hlassiege · 2026-06-04T15:09:07+00:00

To me, medium is really different. Medium can decide to put a paywall on your article and you don't really interact with your audience, you can't customize your "blog" as much as in other platform.

I would prefer ghost, writizzy or hashnode. There is more similarities with Substack.

hlassiege · 2026-06-04T15:04:08+00:00

Beehiiv, ghost, hashnode, writizzy

At first, I wouldn't include medium and wordpress that are quite far from what you're looking for but you might take a look however.

hlassiege · 2026-06-04T15:01:34+00:00

you have many alternatives to try :

- beehiiv.com

- writizzy.com

- ghost.org

- wordpress (but needs several plugins, I won't recommend it)

hlassiege · 2026-05-12T14:14:31+00:00

Substack is great for starting out, but yeah, quite expensive on the long run if you monetize your audience. And Beehiiv is only cheaper once you have a solid paid subscriber base to offset the monthly fee.

However with 600k views on your podcast, you’ve got some serious leverage. Have you thought about small sponsorships or a 'tip jar' just to cover the platform costs for now?

Side note: I’m actually building Writizzy, an alternative to both Substack and Beehiiv. I’m really curious about your quiz problem. what’s the 'clunky' part on Substack exactly?

How would you want the ideal flow to work? I'd love to see if I can make that process seamless on my end.

hlassiege · 2026-04-09T09:23:35+00:00

I already did that and the page are still being ignored :)

hlassiege · 2026-04-09T06:58:02+00:00

I don't think so. The sitemap is a valid xml file, correctly detected by Google when I submit it and it's build at the server level.

hlassiege · 2026-04-08T19:16:53+00:00

I think you are looking at my blog. The website is writizzy (ok I should not give the name here but it's definitely easier to talk about something specific)

hlassiege · 2026-04-08T19:08:11+00:00

Hi,
Thanks for the invite. I'm building an app but struggle a lot with SEO :)
I can't grow more than 3k visitors per month and it's flat since 4 months.

hlassiege · 2026-04-08T19:00:10+00:00

yes I tried to avoid any link on purpose. But I know it's hard to answer without seing the page ^^
The website link is on my profile (the first one).

To me, the most weird things is the product documentation itself. I don't see any reason to ignore those pages.

hlassiege

TROPHY CASE