Welcome to the new Bat Cats Central!

The switch from Substack to Ghost.org is now live. I sent out an email to subscribers on Thursday evening discussing the change. If you missed that post, here is an FAQ about the switch:

1. All subscribers have already been migrated to Ghost. Whether you’re a paid subscriber or on the free list, you won’t have to do anything to continue receiving emails. Existing subscribers do not need to create a new profile.
2. I’ll elaborate more later, but one of the reasons I wanted to switch is to have more customization options for the website. You’ll need to log in to the new account, but it’s simple. In the top right-hand corner, click log in and type in the email that you use for your Bat Cats Central account. You’ll then receive an email from ‘Bat Cats Central’ with a link to securely sign in to your account. After that, click the person icon in the upper right-hand corner to view details about your subscription, manage your email preferences, contact support, etc.

3. The tiers are still the same: there are free accounts, monthly subscribers ($6) and yearly subscribers ($60). This only affects a few people, but if you are a Founding Member who pays more than the cost of an annual subscription, I will reach out to you directly to discuss details about your account. This is something I need to speak with the Ghost concierge team about to get squared away. Expect an email from me within the next week with more information. Thank you greatly for your support!
4. I’ll be working to change the domain after this newsletter goes out. We’ll see if I can do it without breaking anything. Use this link to view the new site for now. I’ve transferred over the content I had at Substack, but there will be more pages on the site in the future. I’m still getting adjusted to the new content management system. Those of you who read stories through the website will notice some cosmetic changes over the next few weeks.
5. I’m planning to send out a newsletter in the morning. If you don’t see it in your inbox, check your promotions or spam folder. There’s a chance the first email could end up there, but hopefully not. The email will still be from Bat Cats Central, it’ll just be powered by Ghost now instead of Substack. I’ve tested this out, and like I said, I don’t think the emails will look much different.
6. If you have any issues, please email me at derekterry17@gmail.com. You can also send me a DM on X/Twitter. I’ve had a few people test things out on the new site and it’s gone as expected, so I’m hoping that’s the case for everyone. I appreciate your patience if you encounter any issues. I’ll promptly work to resolve it.

So why make the change now?

It boiled down to three reasons:

1. The simplicity of Substack is great. It’s straightforward and easy to navigate, which made it attractive when I was looking for a spot to launch Bat Cats Central. However, one area it lacks is search engine optimization (SEO). I’m the only person who writes about Kentucky baseball year round, and yet my stories almost never show up in search. This is an issue for many people who use Substack for their newsletter. Hopefully, more people will come across the website as a result of this change.
2. Additionally, Substack takes 10% of every transaction. It’s nice that Substack doesn’t get paid unless you get paid — especially starting out when you aren’t sure how many subscribers to expect — but it’s started to feel like not such a good deal as time goes on. I think I can meet more of my objectives with Bat Cats Central on a different platform.
3. I mentioned it a bit earlier, but I really want to have more options for website customization without sacrificing the email component. I know many people read the stories through their email, so I wanted to keep it as similar to Substack as I could. But over time, I want to create a website that is essentially a Kentucky baseball hub. It’s not there yet, but it’s my goal to make it that in the future.