I thought I was going to move on after my most recent post to publish future blog posts at Blogger. But then I discovered that Blogger doesn’t notify readers when a post is published. I’m not actually sure what one gets out of becoming a follower on blogger. I don’t even have access to the emails of those of you who did sign up to let you know this, so I hope you find this post.
When I realized this, I was back to square one to find a way to notify readers when blog posts are published on my new blog About Amish and Beyond. It has taken numerous hours of research to explore what my options are. From what I can tell, the mainstream sending services are not reliable for getting emails into readers’ inboxes because they use algorithms for determining which emails get through, which ones go into spam folders, and which ones are never delivered. What’s more, I need to pay for most of these services.
Then I discovered Substack, which claims not to use algorithms. I’ve spent some time setting up my Substack account, and I do have some misgivings about the program. My main objection is that they ask readers for donations. These are not required, but I’m not liking that readers are approached for donations at all. I’m trying to get away from a system that I have to pay for (and worse yet, it isn’t effective in achieving my goal of getting notification emails into readers’ inboxes), yet I also don’t want my readers to feel obligated to pay for the content I publish.
So I’ve come up with a plan, at least for the time being. I will continue to publish my posts on Blogger for those of you who don’t care whether you receive notification when I publish a post. I will also publish it on Saloma’s Substack where you can sign up to receive email notifications for free after saying “no thank you” to making donations. Substack encourages writers to put some content behind a paywall for contributors only. I won’t do that because I want to make my content available for free. I am not set up for taking payments. If in the future I do, I will let everyone know.
For now I’m asking you to sign up on Substack to receive emails, even though you may already be signed up to this About Amish blog. If all works out well on Substack, I will import my email list from this blog.
I have published a new post on both of these platforms. It’s called When Someone Leaves the Amish. Here is a link to it on Blogger, and here is the one on Substack. I hope you’ll chose a way to read it, and if you have thoughts about which platform you prefer, I’m open to hearing them. I’ll see you in one of the comments sections.
I’ve subscribed for years to a blog in Word Press. Did you look at that platform? I also subscribe to one in Substack but it’s too early to have an opinion. I was able to find the Follow button on your new blog but didn’t pay any attention to what happened after I clicked it. I’ll subscribe to your Substack.
This is WordPress. The plugins one needs on WordPress are what make delivering emails iffy. Which is why I’m looking for another platform.
Thank you for subscribing to my blog, wherever that may be.
I use Feedly Classic to be notified of new blog posts. A newer version of Feedly has been out for a few years, but I am happy with the older version and have never changed over. I have found it reliable, but I don’t know if it is free to the blogger, although I suspect it is.
Thank you for this suggestion. I haven’t heard of Feedly Classic. This is a good thing for readers to know. I may sign up for the blogs I read.
Just to clarify, Feedly is an app, so I have to open it when I want to check the blogs I read; on the left side of the Feedly page is a list of my blogs, and there is a number attached to each blog name of the number of new blog posts, if any. I don’t know if there is an option to receive an email from Feedly for new blog posts, since I just open up the app when I want to read new posts. The older version is Feedly Classic, the newer version is Feedly.
I will check it all out & try and get my e-mail in there!! I am tech challenged / but I love reading your blogs so I’m going to do my best here!!!!
Wish me luck Saloma!!!!!!!
All the best to you, Pamela. Here is a spoiler alert, though. I am building a new blog site of my own. I find Substack functions more like social media, which I’m not at all fond of, and there isn’t a way to notify you via Blogger. So I decided to start even a different site. Wish me luck and stay tuned!
Amish Couple Finds JESUS…then THIS Happens!
Tiny Notes From Home
238K subscribers
Interview with Benuel and Mim Blank – kicked out of their community for wanting to be more spiritual. It is on youtube.
Wanted to share this story with you.
Hope you are well. Thank you for your stories.