Substack? Beehiiv? LinkedIn? Where To Publish Your Writing If You Want To Post Less Social Media But Still Grow An Audience
Last week, a reader asked me how to start a personal brand blog without relying on social media to grow.
She was weighing Substack, Beehiiv, and LinkedIn.
It’s a timely question.
Platforms like Meta are pouring resources into AI-driven feeds. Within a year, millions of AI “characters” will be posting, engaging, and testing content on Facebook and Instagram. As I laid out in How to Create a Content Strategy That Doesn’t Rely on Social Media , that means an increasing share of what fills our feeds won’t even come from real people.
For small business owners, freelancers, authors, and subject matter experts, it raises a hard truth:
If you’re counting on social media alone to reach your audience, you’re building on rented land that’s becoming more synthetic by the day.
At the same time, I’ve seen in my own business that the counterintuitive move—posting less while leading with storytelling— is more effective and sustainable.
Last year, I cut my posting frequency nearly in half, designed a storytelling-first marketing approach, and ended up with content reaching more than 800,000 people in three months [swipe the storytelling strategy]. Not only did it not negatively impact my business’ bottom line, I feel more energized and connected to the work itself.
To me, this reflects a bigger shift in how audiences want to engage.
Growth used to mean more: more posts, more platforms, more noise. But more isn’t better if it burns you out or buries your voice in a flood of AI filler.
As digital marketing pioneer Ann Handley recently wrote, the real courage now is in choosing differently—saying no to the treadmill and yes to slower, more intentional ways of reaching the right people. For 2026, she lists these points as the new measure of success:
Focus on fewer, more meaningful touch points
Give each content asset a job: A purpose + reason it exists
Go slow strategically to build stronger relationships
Serve deeper needs + aspirations
Speak to one person at a time, helping them do one thing better
Build a distinct, differentiated brand
Tell true stories, well
Show up with heart + humanity + joy
That’s the lens I brought to my answer for my reader—one you can also use if your goal is to focus on writing with substance instead of spending your time trying to outsmart algorithms.
Question: Where Should New Writers Publish Content To Grow An Audience—Without Having to Rely on Social Media in 2026?
Answer:
“The main reason I've shied away from Beehiiv is because it’s designed for newsletters that act like media products. Its strengths are referrals, monetization, and analytics—great if your main goal is scale.
I'd say it's a very transactional space.
If your goal is to tell your story to connect with and build a loyal readership, Substack is more fitting.
Unlike Substack, Beehiiv doesn’t have a strong recommendation ecosystem.
That means you’ll have to drive almost all growth yourself (through ads, collabs, or promotion on social media). That can be extra work when you’re already stretched posting for your companies.
If you want to keep it simple (and not add another “social-first” platform to your plate), Substack is usually the best starting point: it doubles as a blog and newsletter, plus readers want/expect personal, identity-driven storytelling there.
Another upside to Substack is that Substack articles can be recommended in AI searches, which is essentially becoming the next-gen Google search. Funny enough, someone contacted me today because my blog content gets recommended in AI searches when people are looking for advice on storytelling content.
The reason I don't recommend a website blog alone when you don't want to prioritize social media is because there's no strong built in way to reach an interested audience. Substack has a built in discovery network so that's less heavy lifting for you.
With LinkedIn articles/newsletters, you do not own the list of subscribers for a LinkedIn newsletter; rather, LinkedIn controls the subscriber data, and you cannot download or access the list directly.
I personally don't like building that way because you risk losing everything you've built if LinkedIn changes its policies or features.
At least on Substack or Beehiiv, you own the email list and can directly communicate to subscribers without having to battle an algorithm or keep up with algorithm changes.
You can always repurpose snippets later onto LinkedIn for extra reach, but Substack gives you a consistent, owned home base.
I hope this helps with your analysis paralysis!”
How To Grow A Readership Without Posting On Social Media Constantly
For most new writers, Substack is the clearest path to owning your audience without adding another social media burden.
But the bigger point is this: you don’t have to do it all, or do it everywhere, to grow.
If you’re trying to figure out what that looks like for you, email me your question — I’d love to hear from you.
You can reach me at cyndi@cyndizaweski.com
