This is great. First, for the intention for backing up. Second, for giving so much detail which helps people like me that don't have this deep layer of knowledge regarding DB and backups. And finally, for keeping yourself open to comments.
Congrats for this and contributing to our ownership!
Yes to everything but the “back up to Wordpress.” As of 1/1/25, they scrape all text and images, and you can’t opt out. Because of course, they’re working on an AI as well that steals IP.
I'm not sure I see the value in exporting everything only to upload it into WordPress. I have had many Wordpress (self-hosted) sites in my time. I don't write my content directly in SubStack so that information and any graphics or other information are maintained on my computer (with back-ups) or in Google Docs or AWS.
That said, the fact that someone can delete their podcast content and lose their entire Substack newsletter is mind-boggling, especially in today's tech world. What is Substack thinking? I noticed that Lucy is back to her 13K subscribers, so I'm not sure how that happened so fast after her loss.
Back up to a google doc is probably more than sufficient. As a point of clarification, I’m using WordPress locally and then exporting the site to static HTML, CSS, and JavaScript which is saved locally and on GitHub.
I’m not sure how she recovered so fast if she truly deleted everything, but it serve as a cautionary tale nonetheless.
Most of my stuff is in Notion. I say most because I don’t have the images there but they’re all in Canva anyway. Thanks for the tips for downloading ⭐️
I'm such a Luddite and no matter how much I read about sites and hosting and plug-ins, wordpress, themes, etc, it's mind-boggling. Honestly, my brain just doesn't comprehend it at all. I have my own domain bought and use payhip for hosting (I think?) but that's about all I know.
That said, this post is extremely helpful and I will save it and refer to it and try to make it make sense. My old Gen X brain just struggles mightily with this stuff!
I do at least regularly export my subscribers into an Excel file and I write all my posts first in Word, so if anything were to happen, I at least have the written stuff.
Haha, I doubt it, it's the primitive method! I ought to work on figuring this stuff out, if anything just to spruce up my website and do it somewhere proper like Squarespace or get my head round the wordpress stuff.
I'm seeing your post through my home page and wanted to give it some engagement. If you wouldn't mind doing it back to my newsletter post that would be amazing. Just posted it today!
This is great. First, for the intention for backing up. Second, for giving so much detail which helps people like me that don't have this deep layer of knowledge regarding DB and backups. And finally, for keeping yourself open to comments.
Congrats for this and contributing to our ownership!
Thanks for the thoughtful comment Antonio! Hope it helps
Yes to everything but the “back up to Wordpress.” As of 1/1/25, they scrape all text and images, and you can’t opt out. Because of course, they’re working on an AI as well that steals IP.
Is this true with self hosted?
I don’t know. Their 2024 announcement was vague (big shocker there, I know). All I know is: I shut down all WP sites.
I'm not sure I see the value in exporting everything only to upload it into WordPress. I have had many Wordpress (self-hosted) sites in my time. I don't write my content directly in SubStack so that information and any graphics or other information are maintained on my computer (with back-ups) or in Google Docs or AWS.
That said, the fact that someone can delete their podcast content and lose their entire Substack newsletter is mind-boggling, especially in today's tech world. What is Substack thinking? I noticed that Lucy is back to her 13K subscribers, so I'm not sure how that happened so fast after her loss.
Back up to a google doc is probably more than sufficient. As a point of clarification, I’m using WordPress locally and then exporting the site to static HTML, CSS, and JavaScript which is saved locally and on GitHub.
I’m not sure how she recovered so fast if she truly deleted everything, but it serve as a cautionary tale nonetheless.
Most of my stuff is in Notion. I say most because I don’t have the images there but they’re all in Canva anyway. Thanks for the tips for downloading ⭐️
My pleasure.
Hey Michael! First time reading your stuff, really awesome. I’m intending to follow this guide shortly.
Did not realize there was no way of exporting the stylesheets Substack uses.
I’m a developer for my day-job, I’m going to try a few things, see if I can crack it.
If I do, I’ll let you know.
Awesome. I’d like to think there are better ways to backup your substack than how I’m doing it. Would love to see what you come up with.
I’ll let you know! After hearing about that Substacker you mention, definitely top of mind,
I'm such a Luddite and no matter how much I read about sites and hosting and plug-ins, wordpress, themes, etc, it's mind-boggling. Honestly, my brain just doesn't comprehend it at all. I have my own domain bought and use payhip for hosting (I think?) but that's about all I know.
That said, this post is extremely helpful and I will save it and refer to it and try to make it make sense. My old Gen X brain just struggles mightily with this stuff!
I do at least regularly export my subscribers into an Excel file and I write all my posts first in Word, so if anything were to happen, I at least have the written stuff.
Honestly, your system is probably better than mine.
Haha, I doubt it, it's the primitive method! I ought to work on figuring this stuff out, if anything just to spruce up my website and do it somewhere proper like Squarespace or get my head round the wordpress stuff.
If it works, I would stick with it
I'm seeing your post through my home page and wanted to give it some engagement. If you wouldn't mind doing it back to my newsletter post that would be amazing. Just posted it today!