a pangolin wearing archivist glasses and a vest, preserving digital newsletter content on floating computer display

Preserve Your Substack Content: Building a Newsletter Archive

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Table of Contents

The Critical Need for Newsletter Backups

Picture this: You’ve spent two years building a successful Substack newsletter. Thousands of subscribers, hundreds of posts, and countless hours of work. Then one morning, you wake up to find your account temporarily suspended due to a false spam flag. Your heart sinks. Where’s your content? How do you prove your work exists?

This isn’t just a hypothetical nightmare. A writer I know lost access to her Substack for three weeks due to a technical glitch. While the issue was eventually resolved, it highlighted a crucial reality: your newsletter content needs a backup strategy that isn’t dependent on Substack’s platform.

Common Backup Pitfalls

Traditional approaches to backing up newsletter content often fall short:

  • Copy-pasting to Google Docs loses formatting and subscriber data
  • PDF exports don’t preserve links and interactive elements
  • Email archives miss crucial engagement metrics
  • Manual downloads become unwieldy as content grows
  • Local saves don’t capture the full publishing context

Plus, Substack’s rich formatting, embedded content, and subscriber interactions make comprehensive backups particularly challenging.

URLtoText.com: Your Substack Preservation Solution

URLtoText.com provides a specialized solution for archiving Substack newsletters. The platform understands Substack’s unique structure and preserves everything that matters:

import requests
from datetime import datetime

def archive_substack_post(url):
    response = requests.post(
        'https://api.urltotext.com/v1/extract',
        headers={'Authorization': 'Bearer YOUR_API_KEY'},
        json={
            'url': url,
            'platform': 'substack',
            'include_metadata': True
        }
    )

    return response.json()

What sets URLtoText.com apart:

  • Maintains original formatting and styles
  • Preserves images and embedded content
  • Captures subscriber comments and interactions
  • Retains metadata like publish dates and categories
  • Archives both free and premium content
  • Handles audio content from podcast episodes

Building Your Archive System

Let’s create a robust archival system using URLtoText.com:

from pathlib import Path
from typing import Dict, Optional
import json
import hashlib

class SubstackArchiver:
    def __init__(self, api_key: str):
        self.api_key = api_key
        self.base_path = Path('newsletter_archive')
        self.base_path.mkdir(exist_ok=True)

    def archive_newsletter(self, url: str) -> Dict:
        """Archive a single Substack post with all its elements"""
        content = self._fetch_content(url)

        # Create archive structure
        archive_data = {
            'content': content,
            'metadata': {
                'archived_at': datetime.now().isoformat(),
                'source_url': url,
                'checksum': self._generate_checksum(content)
            }
        }

        # Save to structured archive
        self._save_to_archive(archive_data)
        return archive_data

    def _fetch_content(self, url: str) -> Dict:
        """Fetch newsletter content using URLtoText.com"""
        response = requests.post(
            'https://api.urltotext.com/v1/extract',
            headers={'Authorization': f'Bearer {self.api_key}'},
            json={
                'url': url,
                'preserve_formatting': True,
                'include_comments': True,
                'extract_metadata': True
            }
        )

        if response.status_code != 200:
            raise Exception(f'Archive failed: {response.status_code}')

        return response.json()

    def _generate_checksum(self, content: Dict) -> str:
        """Generate checksum for content verification"""
        content_str = json.dumps(content, sort_keys=True)
        return hashlib.sha256(content_str.encode()).hexdigest()

    def _save_to_archive(self, archive_data: Dict):
        """Save archived content with organized structure"""
        timestamp = datetime.now().strftime('%Y%m%d_%H%M%S')
        title_slug = self._slugify(archive_data['content']['title'])

        archive_file = self.base_path / f"{title_slug}_{timestamp}.json"
        with open(archive_file, 'w', encoding='utf-8') as f:
            json.dump(archive_data, f, ensure_ascii=False, indent=2)

Automating the Backup Process

Automation is key to maintaining a reliable archive. Here’s how to set up automatic backups:

from typing import List
import schedule
import time

class AutomatedArchiver(SubstackArchiver):
    def __init__(self, api_key: str, newsletter_url: str):
        super().__init__(api_key)
        self.newsletter_url = newsletter_url
        self.archive_log = self.base_path / 'archive_log.json'

    def backup_all_posts(self):
        """Backup all posts from your Substack"""
        posts = self._get_post_list()
        new_posts = self._filter_unarchived_posts(posts)

        for post in new_posts:
            try:
                print(f"Archiving: {post['title']}")
                self.archive_newsletter(post['url'])
                self._log_archived_post(post)
            except Exception as e:
                print(f"Failed to archive {post['url']}: {str(e)}")

    def schedule_daily_backup(self):
        """Run daily backups at midnight"""
        schedule.every().day.at("00:00").do(self.backup_all_posts)

        while True:
            schedule.run_pending()
            time.sleep(3600)

    def _log_archived_post(self, post: Dict):
        """Track archived posts to avoid duplicates"""
        if self.archive_log.exists():
            with open(self.archive_log, 'r') as f:
                log = json.load(f)
        else:
            log = {'archived_posts': []}

        log['archived_posts'].append({
            'url': post['url'],
            'archived_at': datetime.now().isoformat()
        })

        with open(self.archive_log, 'w') as f:
            json.dump(log, f, indent=2)

Securing Your Content’s Future

Remember these best practices for long-term preservation:

  1. Verification: Regularly validate your archives using checksums
  2. Redundancy: Store backups in multiple locations (local, cloud, etc.)
  3. Organization: Maintain a clear archive structure for easy retrieval
  4. Monitoring: Set up alerts for failed backups
  5. Documentation: Keep records of your archival configuration

Implementation is straightforward:

# Set up your archiver
archiver = AutomatedArchiver(
    api_key='YOUR_API_KEY',
    newsletter_url='https://yournewsletter.substack.com'
)

# Start automated backups
archiver.schedule_daily_backup()

Your newsletter represents countless hours of work and valuable connections with your audience. While Substack is a fantastic platform, having a robust backup solution gives you peace of mind and ownership over your content’s destiny.

Start archiving your Substack content with URLtoText.com today. Because your words matter, and they deserve to be preserved on your terms.

Remember: The best time to start backing up your newsletter was when you published your first post. The second best time is now.