Why my newsletter is moving to Substack

I am leaving Wednesday afternoon for Italy and am deep in the throes of trip preparation, so this week's post is a bit on the lightweight side. I am taking the rest of the month off from blogging, however I will be posting up a storm on Instagram and am planning on sending out my Substack newsletter before I leave. In case you're not already subscribed to the Cheryl Shops newsletter, here's more on why I decided to move it to Substack and what you can expect going forward.


This is a photo from the last time I was in Rome, almost exactly 10 years ago!

In case you haven't heard of Substack, it's a social media platform that's been drawing a bunch of seasoned journalists, fresh voices, and old-school bloggers. I've been spending more and more time there recently (there's an app too, which I highly recommend), and it honestly reminds me of the old days of blogging, when the Internet was friendly and people weren't at each others' throats all the time. Note: I will not be moving 100% to Substack—I will continue to publish Cheryl Shops here once a week as usual. But I am creating brand-new content specifically for my Substack, which is why you should subscribe! Here's why I'm so excited about it. 

All of my content will be archived. I used to write a newsletter weekly, then it would kind of fade into oblivion. This way, you can access everything I've written, whenever you want. 

Substack caters to writers, which is where my strength lies. I've enjoyed blogging more in the past month or two than I have in awhile, chiefly because I haven't felt the pressure to create a lot of new outfit posts (and spend hours editing the photos). The platform feels more casual and personal, less polished. Also, I feel like my newsletters have gotten a little stale, and this seems like a fresh start. 

Substack is more interactive. You can like, comment on, and share posts, and overall, Substack feels like it has a better sense of community, plus hopefully I won't get spammed by bots as I do on Cheryl Shops.

I'll be offering a paid content tier. Regular subscribers will still receive my full weekly newsletter, however paid subscribers will receive a special monthly Real Talk newsletter (where I'll do things like tell you about the products I hated), automatic entry in my monthly swag giveaway, and Ask Me Anything access. It's $5 a month—less than a cup of coffee!—and you will have my eternal gratitude for supporting an independent content creator (that's me). You can read more about it here.

I hope you'll sign up for my newsletter if you haven't already! 

1 comment

Laura B said...

I've never heard of Substrack but you have me curious! I will be checking it out. I miss the old days of blogging!