why Starbright is on Patreon (and my website) and not Substack

My Starbright newsletter — on the intersection of astronomy and disability, or “musings of a disabled stargazer,” if you will — would have launched almost a full year earlier if I hadn’t wrestled so long with which publication platform to choose.

Everyone is on Substack, and the gravitational pull of that platform is strong. Some of the writers I admire most and whose work I respect are exclusive to Substack, though the platform’s “Nazi problem” hasn’t gone away. There are also concerns about Substack’s financial stability. I didn’t want to choose obscurity when Substack offers so much more discoverability, but I spent months trying to find a way to be okay with setting up shop over there.

In that time, I investigated other options. I looked at Buttondown. I considered Ghost. Patreon was always in the mix, too. But there was always some complication. With my limited time and energy, I was looking for a solution that would make things easier on me, not harder.

In December 2025, I resigned myself to using Substack. There was a small measure of relief — at having finally made a decision — but I still couldn’t make myself complete the process. I was dragging my feet on every step. I was trying not to dwell on how the idea of publishing via Substack made me feel vaguely queasy. And so Starbright continued to sit on my computer desktop, accessible to no one but me.

Then one evening in January I had a funny thought: What if I just published Starbright material to my own website instead? I would retain full control over the content, and maybe I could set up paid subscriptions via Patreon? Lo and behold, when I rushed back to my desk, I discovered rather quickly that other creatives rely on this same system for bringing their content to the world.

My Starbright posts will always be free for everyone to read — that’s my intention for as long as I can maintain it. Because the stars belong to everyone, and because disabled folks like myself don’t always have large amounts of disposable income, I didn’t want to rope off Starbright content behind a paywall.

The current setup — with Starbright publishing to its own space on my website, and with paid Patreon tiers and a one-off Ko-Fi option for anyone who wants to help support me and my work — does require a couple extra steps from me, not only with the underlying framework but also with each new post. I hope this won’t prove to be an obstacle, but I’m aware I might need to reassess down the line. I also know that I might have, in essence, chosen obscurity — or significant challenges to visibility.

But.

The weight that lifted at the idea of this structure was immediate and palpable. I felt lighter. The dread that had started to color the very thought of Starbright evaporated. I was excited about my project again! I knew I’d made the right choice, or at least I’d found a better path than what I’d assumed was inevitable. I have to do a little bit more work, but this system allows me to share deeper thoughts on astronomy and stargazing while also remaining true to my values.

I’m a little embarrassed it took me a year to strike upon a solution that others have been putting into practice all along. What’s important is that I got there in the end. And now, we’ll see how it goes.

Image: 
Wide-angle view of Aldebaran, the Hyades, and the Pleiades (barely, at the top). Imaged at Camp Hancock, Oregon, on 20 September 2026 by Jennifer Willis.