This Is It: My Last Post, Goodbye Substack
I’m sure most of you saw this coming: I’m quitting Substack.
I’ve been talking about building my own email newsletter tool, Kal, and I’m super excited to announce that it’s coming along really well.
Don’t worry, I’m not disappearing from Substack completely. I’ll still be reading and engaging here, but I’m moving this newsletter to Kal.
The Transition to Kal
Last week, I made some solid progress with Kal. It’s getting to the point where it has everything I need, making other newsletter platforms (like Substack or ConvertKit) unnecessary for me.
Kal now features automatic SSL, so installing it is as easy as pointing your domain to an EC2 or droplet and running a single command. I tweeted a demo about this.
Kal can send emails, has email templates, subscription forms, and sends confirmation and welcome emails.
Upcoming Features
This week, I’ll be wrapping up some finishing touches on Kal, including:
Tracking link clicks and email open rates: These features were in the old Kal, but I’m rewriting them for the new version.
Analytics UI: Before I switch, I want detailed email-wise analytics and aggregated stats, similar to what Substack and other platforms offer.
Bulk subscriber import: Since I’ll be moving this Substack newsletter and all its subscribers to Kal, I’ll build a feature to make the import process seamless.
Landing page and docs: While I know Kal inside out, I want to make it easy for everyone to install and use Kal so that I can do a launch.
Why Kal Doesn’t Support Publishing Issues
One thing I’m leaving out with Kal is publishing newsletter issues.
With Substack, every email ends up in an archive, like a blog. But I think emails are more personal, and anything meant to be archived will also go on my blog instead.
Email Lists
Previously, my newsletters combined various components or “modules” into a single issue: project updates, interesting reads, random topics.
But not everyone is interested in everything. So with Kal, you can choose what you’re interested in and only get those emails.
Kal supports email lists, so you can opt out of updates that don’t interest you.
Currently, I’m planning three lists: a main list with infrequent updates and announcements, a JavaScript-focused list, and a general tech list. You can easily update your preferences at any time to pick the lists you want.
Next Friday, you’ll get a sweet, handwritten email in your inbox—not from Substack, but from Kal. Stay tuned.
See you soon,
Tanay