Long-form content on Nostr (NIP-23): undeletable blogs

Short posts are most of Nostr's traffic but not all of it. NIP-23 introduces long-form content as a first-class event type. Articles get their own composer, their own reader, and their own permanent address.

For writers, this is the Nostr equivalent of a Substack newsletter, with important differences. This guide covers the differences and the tradeoffs.

TL;DR. NIP-23 defines long-form articles as kind:30023 events with a Markdown body. Dedicated clients (Habla, Yakihonne) specialize in writing and reading them; mainstream clients also render them. Articles have permanent addresses (naddr), support full Markdown formatting, and monetize through zaps. The network is smaller than Substack's, but the ownership model is stronger.

When you are ready, grab your @nostr.blog address →

What NIP-23 actually is

A specification for long-form content events. The defining features:

Kind number: 30023. A parameterized replaceable event, meaning you can edit an article and republish it; clients use the most recent version.

Markdown body. The article content goes in the content field as plain Markdown. Headings, lists, code blocks, links, images, quotes all work.

Tags for metadata. Title, summary, published date, topic hashtags, cover image URL all go in tags so clients can render the article properly.

Identifier tag (d tag). A short string the author chooses. Combined with the author's pubkey, this gives the article its permanent address.

Together: an article is a signed event with Markdown content, author-chosen slug, and metadata for rendering. Any client that implements NIP-23 can read and display it identically.

Why long-form on Nostr is different from Substack

Four practical differences.

No platform dependency. Substack can change its terms, take your audience, delete accounts, or go out of business. Nostr has no platform. The only thing that can take your articles down is all relays simultaneously refusing to serve them, which has never happened.

Portability. Your list of followers (who receive notifications of new articles) lives in your Nostr identity, not in Substack's database. Move to a different client; your audience follows you automatically.

Monetization via zaps. Substack charges subscription fees through a paywall. Nostr articles are free to read; readers who appreciate the work zap the author. No subscription required, no paywall, but also no recurring revenue guarantee. Revenue is direct appreciation, not committed commitment.

Smaller audience. Substack has millions of readers across its platform. Nostr has hundreds of thousands of active users. Reach is a real disadvantage; you trade it for ownership.

Which matters more depends on the writer. A writer who depends on audience size and subscription income should not leave Substack. A writer who cares about ownership and is willing to rebuild an audience should consider Nostr.

Which clients handle long-form well

Not all Nostr clients are equal for reading or writing articles.

Habla (habla.news). Writer-focused, block-style editor, clean typography. The canonical long-form Nostr client. If you publish articles regularly, Habla is likely your editor.

Yakihonne. Similar space. Articles and short posts together. Strong community of writers. Good for cross-format publishing.

Amethyst (Android). Renders long-form articles properly in the feed. Editor is functional but not its primary focus.

Primal (all platforms). Reads long-form articles cleanly, renders Markdown. Composing long-form is workable but less focused than Habla.

nostr.blog web client. Reads articles; short-form focus for composing. Long-form compose is on the roadmap.

For writers, the pattern is: compose in Habla or Yakihonne, have articles read in any client. Because the event format is standard, every NIP-23-aware client shows the same article identically.

The reading experience

When a reader opens a long-form article on Nostr:

1. The client resolves the naddr (permanent address) to find the article event.
2. Fetches the event from whichever relay has it.
3. Parses the Markdown and renders it.
4. Shows author metadata, publish date, tags, and any comments/zaps.

Compared to Substack:

• Navigation is client-specific. No universal reader; your client is the reader.
• Comments come from Nostr replies to the article. Same reply mechanism as short posts.
• Zaps appear at the bottom, similar to how Substack shows subscription stats.
• Sharing is via naddr URLs, which any Nostr client can open.

The experience for a reader is pretty good in late 2026. Two years ago it was rough; the tooling has matured.

The writing experience

Composing a long-form article on Nostr:

1. Open Habla, Yakihonne, or another long-form client.
2. Write in a Markdown editor. Most clients offer block-style or rich-text modes.
3. Add a title, summary, cover image, tags.
4. Publish. The article is signed with your key and sent to relays.
5. Share the naddr URL with your audience.

Common tooling differences from Substack:

• No scheduled publishing natively. Most Nostr clients publish immediately. Third-party tools can schedule.
• No built-in newsletter. Nostr has no email gate. Your audience follows you on Nostr; they see new articles in their feed.
• No paywalls. The protocol does not support gated content. Workarounds (paid-relay-only distribution) exist but are niche.
• Revision history. Because articles are parameterized replaceable events, you can edit and republish. Clients usually show the latest version. Older versions may still be on relays.
• Draft management. Most clients support drafts. Habla has a full draft workflow.

For a writer used to Substack, the transition feels mostly familiar with the caveats above.

Monetization realistically

Zaps are the primary monetization. How it works in practice:

• A reader finds your article, reads it, and zaps if they liked it.
• Typical zap amounts on good long-form: 100 sats ("nice article") to 10,000 sats ("changed my week") to occasionally 100,000+ ("this is brilliant").
• A writer with 5,000 followers and consistent publishing can earn 50,000 to 500,000 sats per month from zaps, depending on article quality and audience.
• In dollar terms (April 2026 prices), that is $30 to $300 per month for a mid-tier writer.

Compare to Substack subscriptions: $5/month paid subscription × 100 subscribers = $500/month. Similar order of magnitude at the mid-tier, slightly different at the top (Substack top earners make much more through subscriptions than Nostr top earners make through zaps, for now).

The tradeoff: Substack income is recurring and predictable; Nostr income is event-driven and variable. A big zap on a great post can beat a month of small Substack subs. A quiet month on Nostr yields less than a Substack with committed subscribers.

Building an audience on Nostr from scratch

A realistic plan for a writer who has no Nostr presence yet:

1. Create an identity. Nostr.blog or any client. Back up the nsec.
2. Follow 50 people. Writers you respect, readers in your topic, commenters whose thinking you like.
3. Post short-form daily for two weeks to build visibility. People find you through your short posts before they find your articles.
4. Publish your first long-form article. Habla or Yakihonne. Include a descriptive title, clean formatting, and a cover image.
5. Announce the article in a short post with the naddr link. Encourage readers to zap if they liked it.
6. Respond to comments and zaps. Early engagement compounds.
7. Publish regularly, at least weekly. Inconsistent posting does not build a Nostr audience any more than it builds any other kind.

Six months of consistent writing typically produces an engaged audience in the low thousands for topics with niche appeal.

Cross-posting from Substack to Nostr

Many writers currently do both. If you already have a Substack and want to add Nostr:

• Publish to Nostr first, usually. You want the Nostr version to be the canonical one; syndicate to Substack afterwards.
• Use the same content. No need to rewrite for different audiences; long-form Nostr readers are similar enough to Substack readers.
• Include a zap link in your Substack articles pointing at your Nostr profile. Some readers will zap from Lightning wallets rather than subscribe.
• Use Nostr for comments even when Substack readers want to engage. Direct Substack comments back to the Nostr post.

Some writers eventually drop Substack entirely. Others keep both. Both are reasonable.

Limits to know about

Three real constraints on long-form Nostr.

Search is weak. No Google of Nostr. If you publish a brilliant article and someone wants to find it later, they need to know who you are or have a direct link. Discovery through search is limited.

Embed support varies. Some clients render images inline; some do not. Video embedding is inconsistent. Tables are often a challenge. Test your article in multiple clients before committing to complex formatting.

Retention is relay-dependent. An article on free relays might get pruned after a year if the relays rotate old content. Publishing to multiple relays (including a paid one for retention) helps.

These are inconveniences, not dealbreakers. The tooling is improving and the ecosystem's maturity is noticeably better in 2026 than it was two years ago.