A Ghost theme studio
Own the shop.
Keep the key.
Substack and Patreon say you own your work, then keep a copy of the key and skim the till on every payment, forever. Gazette cuts you a key to a shop you own outright. Fold, our first theme, is the cut.
Fold is live right now. Every link below opens the real, running theme on a Ghost site. Not a screenshot, not a mockup.
The exodus isn't one direction. Fold is cut for the ownership half.
Writers leaving Substack are splitting two ways. One camp wants a hosted community and a support team to lean on. That's a Patreon move. The other wants the platform itself: no cut stacked on card fees, no ceiling once you outgrow a template. That's the Ghost move, the one Alison Roman made in 2025. Fold is built for that second camp.
The "Substack tax," charged on top of card processing fees, on every payment your readers make, for as long as you stay.
Estimated yearly savings moving a $10k/mo newsletter off Substack to a self-owned Ghost site. The cut you stop paying is yours to keep.
Subscribers Alison Roman carried with her leaving Substack for her own Ghost site in 2025. The list moves with you when you own it.
Sources: reporting on Substack's platform fee, Ghost's own Substack-migration cost comparisons, and public coverage of the 2025 Alison Roman migration. Full citations on request.
Our first theme
Fold
Every newspaper has a fold: the crease where the free headline ends and you'd have to buy the paper to read the rest. Fold takes that literally, a reading experience that turns solid at exactly one moment, the line between free and paid.
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The paywall is the design surfaceStaged as the primary moment on the page, not a bolted-on gate dropped over a generic theme.
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A dispatch-index feedRuled rows of real entries, the way a publication lists its work, not a grid of icon cards standing in for content.
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Runs on what you already ownGhost 5.x and native membership tiers. No plugins, no middleman, no revenue share on top.
Fold installs on Ghost 5.x and up, using Ghost's own native membership tiers. The paywall, free and members-only post types, and subscription pages all come from the platform you already own.
Your key. Your list. Your integrations. Your payments, landing in your account with no platform cut skimmed on the way.
Nobody else holds a spare.
Make sure this key fits before you cut it.
Fold sells to one specific move: owning your platform, not renting a nicer one. We'd rather you self-select honestly than buy the wrong thing.
Cut for you if
- You'd rather own the platform than rent a friendlier version of one.
- You're on Ghost already, or ready to move to it.
- You want the paywall moment to feel designed, not bolted on.
- You'd take paying once over paying a cut on every subscriber, forever.
Not your key if
- You want a hosted community feed and a support team running the platform for you. That's a Patreon or Substack move.
- You're not ready to run your own Ghost site.
- You need a free tier and no upfront cost.
Try every key on the ring.
Nothing here is a screenshot. Each one opens the actual page on the running demo site. Go click around the real thing.
One theme, priced by how far it travels.
Buy once, own it. Every license includes 1 year of updates and direct support. Checkout isn't wired up yet. The pricing below is final, and purchases open within days.
- License for 1 site
- 1 year of updates
- 1 year of direct support
- License for 5 sites
- 1 year of updates
- 1 year of direct support
- Unlimited sites
- 1 year of updates
- 1 year of direct support
After your first year, the theme keeps working; you just stop receiving new updates and support unless you renew. Full terms in our refund policy.
Before you ask
What Ghost version does Fold need?
Ghost 5.x and up, including native membership tiers. No plugins required. Paywall, free and members-only post types, and subscription pages all use Ghost's built-in membership system.
Do I need to know how to code to customize it?
No. Colors, logo, navigation, and the paywall copy are all editable from Ghost Admin. Editing the underlying template files is only needed for deeper structural changes.
What happens after my year of updates and support ends?
The theme keeps running on your site indefinitely; nothing stops working. You just won't get new versions or support responses until you renew.
What's your refund policy?
14 days, no questions asked if the theme doesn't work as documented and we can't fix it. See the full refund policy for exact terms.
Can I move my license between sites?
Yes. A license is tied to a number of active sites, not a specific domain. Swap which sites it's active on as your publication changes.