How to run an independent newsletter

Edition no 6. Date: 20 April 2026
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Here’s the thing: 20 years ago, the time to start a newsletter was yesterday. Today, the right moment to start a newsletter is still yesterday. Despite all the shifts in digital trends, online platforms, cloud, mobile, AI, and whatnot, the simple act of writing something and getting it in a person’s inbox is still the most reliable way of getting their attention.

Today, like 20 years ago, starting a newsletter is extremely easy. We have a variety of options: from nearly from almost one-click setups with WordPress, to simple publishing platforms like Medium, or publishing platforms that promise growth and come with several in-built features, like discovery, subscriptions, automations, or custom website builders.

The problem starts when a platform that acts as an aggregator publishing tool, like Substack, starts blurring the lines between platform effects, brand, and email tool.

It’s when you get a weird feeling, because you’ve got thousands of independent writers who have built a business out of their regular writing. You get some street cred when you make it on Substack, because the brand value projects from one party to another (“A lot of cool people made it here, and I made it here, so aren’t I cool too?”)

On the other hand, wherever people publish, you hit the question of what’s ok to write about. Some people write about x on Substack; are you ok with that? Other people write about y; are you ok with that? That weird feeling? It comes from you navigating where you are ok with drawing the line. If, like me, you come from an EU upbringing where education against hate speech was part of your life, it’s a bit absurd to see people yell free speech while funnelling an audience towards conspiracy theory communities.

You’ll have situations where Andrew Tate’s Substack is promoted to the first position in the category of “New Bestsellers”.

Creating a newsletter is a personal thing. It should reflect your values and your ideas. Yes, a free plan is attractive, and the promise of growth is like a digital gold rush, but you should not dilute your brand or your message. Not with the people you share a publishing platform with (did you choose them personally?) and not with the platform itself either. It’s your newsletter, not Substack’s.

Think about it this way. The phrase “wherever you get your podcasts” is very powerful. Most podcasters use it in their Call to Action to get listeners. It’s a radical statement because it shifts the focus from platforms (Substack, Beehiiv, Spotify, Apple) to the content, to your voice.
And what is more powerful than ‘See you next time in your inbox’, rather than ‘a third-party app, which none of us owns’.

The Miscellanea will stay independent because, at the end of the day, I want it to be a conversation between you and me as the reader. And I want to have control over data and privacy for both sides of the newsletter.

How to start an independent newsletter?

After you’ve gotten the story behind why an independent newsletter is my way to go, let’s have a look at what it means to set one up technically.

We have two parts: the blog and the newsletter. The blog can be a simple list of articles, or it can be part of a larger website, with different pages like contact, services, shop, etc. Behind a blog, you’ll have a CMS- content management system. WordPress, for example, is a CMS.

The newsletter is the email engine that sends and receives your emails. Mailchimp or Brevo is a newsletter engine. They can create an archive of past emails, but that’s not easily searchable or indexed by search engines. Other newsletter tools have more options, like Buttondown. Some blogging platforms offer newsletter capabilities, like Ghost.

The all-inclusive choices

WordPress powers around 40% of the internet websites and is still a reliable go-to solution. The code is open-source and maintained by the community under the WordPress Foundation. WordPress.com is a hosting service offered by Automattic, the company of the co-creator of WordPress, Matthew Mullenweg.

With WordPress, you can create blogs, send newsletters, and have subscriptions. Its ecosystem of plugins and themes is complex and has a lot of integrations. The most important part is not to get intimidated by the multiple options, and not start throwing money at shiny things (or problems) too early. WordPress, as an ecosystem, has advanced well enough that you can build a great solution with almost free tools. You can host it wherever you want.

Ghost is similar to WordPress, but focused more on the integration of blog and newsletter. They offer a hosted version on their servers, and their pricing model is dependent on the number of subscribers you have. They have a self-hosted version, but you’ll need more technical knowledge to set it up and run.

The feel-like-a-hacker option

Kirby is a file-based CMS, meaning the files are organised hierarchically in folders, and not in a database like WordPress. It is more modular and can be easily modified without breaking links, fields and whatnots. It is created by a European team, with the company registered in Germany. Kirby is best for creating blogs and websites, but it doesn’t have a built-in newsletter solution. For that, you can use something like Brevo, MailChoach or EmailOctopus.

Kirby licensing is built around the release of new versions of the software, and not a monthly subscription. A version license brings you three years of feature updates. They also have an active community with a lot of great plugins. You can host it wherever you want.

This is my setup: Kirby as CMS, hosted on Swiss servers, and Email Octopus as newsletter engine, hosted in the UK.

The indie option

 If you just want to write and send newsletters, Write.as is the simple way. They have unlimited emails, unlimited posts, cross-posting options and more. Hosted and created in New York City.

In the end, choosing how to run a newsletter is your choice. You’ll need to decide how much time, money, and energy you can invest in it. But, ask yourself, are the short-term gains of platforms worth it? Or is it better to build something where you have flexibility, independence, and personality?

Recommendations

• Last year, a Proton survey revealed that over “74% of publicly listed European companies depend on US infrastructure for their basic tech services”. Link

• Anil Dash, a tech entrepreneur and writer, explained in 2024 how Substack locks you in their app. From his article: “I know you think you have control over your subscribers on Substack. But understand this: every single new feature Substack releases, from their social sharing to their mobile apps, is proprietary and locks you into their network. They don't let your writing live on your own website or domain under your control unless you pay them for the privilege.”  Link

   

• JSTOR, the nonprofit library, has a nice history of newsletters. The media scholar Rachael Scarborough King writes that newsletters began in mid-fifteenth-century Venice. They were handwritten and sent twice per week, collecting interesting events. In England, they grew in popularity with the first postal service around 1660. Link

• In a recent article, I’ve written about walled gardens and Publish (on your) Own Site, Syndicate Elsewhere (POSSE). This principle pairs well with the idea of digital independence. Link

PS: If you want to start an independent newsletter, you don’t have to do it alone. I can help. Just reach out, here.