Today we’re hosting the final Substack Writer Office Hours. We started Office Hours almost three years ago because there was a gap between the knowledge our company had about how to run a Substack and the knowledge a typical writer had access to. We wanted to close that gap, while creating a space for writers to interact and get to know each other in the process. Three years later, we believe we’ve achieved those goals together. Office Hours became a central hub for sharing knowledge and connecting to peers in this writer community. 

As the product and community on Substack evolve, new ways to access the best knowledge about getting started, growing, and going paid also emerge. Plus, writers are independently forging their own vibrant, supportive communities. 

Today, we want to point you to the resources and communities you’ll have on hand going forward.

Communities

We’re dedicating today’s Office Hours thread to help you find or kickstart your own writer community. When we announced we were closing Office Hours, writers told us about a number of online communities that already exist. Others raised their hand to start new ones— is gathering wellness writers and wants to start a community for comedy writers.

If you’d like to bring a writer community into your world, here’s how to participate in today’s thread:

• If you host an existing community, let other writers know who you bring together and how they can join. 

• If you are looking to meet other writers in your category or working towards a similar goal, tell us. Please be specific: 

  • Who do you want to connect with? Substack categories are a great shared thread for connecting with writers and creators. Or you can get even more specific by niche shared interests. Plus, if you can, connect with writers who are at a similar stage or just ahead of you, to share what you are learning.

  • Why do you want to connect? Maybe it’s for accountability, guidance or simply for fun! 

Visit our mini-guide on finding and connecting with the right people to support you on your journey:

When you see someone in the thread you want to continue a conversation with or make plans, now you can simply use our new direct messaging feature to send them a message.

Resources

Have questions about publishing, growing, or going paid? Here’s where you can go to access the best insight and guidance from the Substack team. 

• The Substack chatbot. One challenge with Office Hours was that it only took place one hour a week, which was especially hard for international writers. The Substack chatbot now offers writers an on-demand, 24-hour support hotline. even called the chatbot, “the nicest person on the whole Internet.” Powered by new technologies, the chatbot contains all of the knowledge our team has generated for writers over the past six years—for our blog posts, resource pages, email support, and help center articles. When you ask it a question, you’re tapping all of those resources and lessons to help unblock you. 

• The Help Center. Search the most frequently asked questions by writers and readers on Substack plus, learn how to technically use every nut and bolt of the Subtack product.   

• On Substack. Dig into our archive of resources, news, and stories for and about writers. Read the Grow interviews where writers share how they built an audience and an income, or revisit our strategic guides on Chat, Notes, collaboration, and more. 

Our team will be in the thread today from 10 a.m.–11 a.m. PT / 1 p.m.–2 p.m. ET answering outstanding questions and helping connect you to the right people. Then, we’ll close the curtain on Office Hours! 

Before we do that, one final note. Thursdays have been a special day for us at Substack HQ because we get to connect with you—the writers, many of whom have shown up week in and week out. On occasion, there were thousands of us in this thread together. The insights we gleaned from Office Hours conversations affected our team’s understanding of Substack, and even influenced the products we built. So thank you, and this isn’t goodbye. You can expect to hear more from us on the account. 

Onwards! 

— and

The Substack team, and your fellow writers, are here to help! Our team will answer questions and share insights with you in the comments today from 10 a.m.–11 a.m. PT / 1 p.m.–2 p.m. ET. We encourage writers to stick around after the hour and continue the conversation together. 

Updates from the Substack team:

• Upgrading Substack’s recommendation network. Today, Recommendations, along with the Substack app, powers a network that drives 50% of all new subscriptions and 25% of new paid subscriptions on Substack. In its short life, Recommendations has become an indispensable part of the Substack network, which in recent months has swelled to more than 3 million paid subscriptions to writers and creators. Now we’re taking Recommendations to the next level, expanding its reach and giving writers the ability to curate their own “scenes” on Substack. Learn more.

• Introducing the Subsctack chatbot. Our team is using new technologies and programs to close that gap and offer a first line of support to writers for simple issues. In your dashboard, the new chatbot contains all of the knowledge our team has generated for writers over the past six years—for our blog posts, resource pages, email support, and help center articles. Learn more.

• Office Hours housekeeping. Next week we are going to host the last Office Hours as we know it. But this isn’t goodbye! We’re excited to direct our team’s energy we put into these weekly threads into new spaces for writers to connect and now the chatbot can answer your pressing questions faster than ever before.

Got questions about Substack or feedback about a feature or tool? You’re in the right place! Leave a comment in this thread.

The Substack team, and your fellow writers, are here to help! Our team will answer questions and share insights with you in the comments today from 10 a.m.–11 a.m. PT / 1 p.m.–2 p.m. ET. We encourage writers to stick around after the hour and continue the conversation together. 

Updates from the Substack team:

• Introducing reader surveys. Easily create and embed surveys directly into any post to ask your readers questions and collect insights. To get started, we encourage you to add a survey to your welcome email to get to know new subscribers. Learn more.

• The power of audio. Days after launching the audio version of Letters from an American, where reads her daily letters to subscribers, it climbed to the #2 podcast in the U.S. Reading your posts as voiceovers is a simple way to dip your toe into audio and reap the benefits of publishing on Substack while distributing to podcast players everywhere. Learn more.

• Office Hours housekeeping. At the end of the month, we’re closing Office Hours as we know it. But this isn’t goodbye! You can expect us to direct the energy we put into these weekly threads into other spaces for writers to connect. Learn more.

Got questions about Substack or feedback about a feature or tool? You’re in the right place! Leave a comment in this thread.

This week, we hit the 100th Office Hour milestone! And we believe we’ve achieved those goals together. The expertise level of the Substack writer community is awe-inspiring, with many writers now wielding and sharing advanced knowledge of the product and publishing strategies. A spirit of generosity grew, one that favors collaboration over competition. When we talk to writers and creators making their homes on Substack about what they value most here, many share how much they value their peers. “Generous” has become synonymous with the Substack community. 

Office Hours was the first consistent place all Substack writers could come together and exchange ideas, but Substack has changed a lot since we started. Today, we have Notes, recommendations, cross-posts, Chat and more to come that will help writers connect directly, without us as a bottleneck. Thus, we sense it’s time we transform Office Hours. 

In the next month, we’ll begin to wind down Office Hours as we know it. But this isn’t goodbye! You can expect us to direct the energy we put into these weekly threads into other spaces for writers to connect. 

Today, we want to hear from you. Tell us in today’s thread: 

• What has been a meaningful moment for you at Office Hours?

• What do you wish was different about Office Hours? 

• How do you imagine the Substack community might best support you in this next chapter?

Thank you for showing up and helping us build the Substack community.

- &

The Substack team, and your fellow writers, are here to help! Our team will answer questions and share insights with you in the comments today from 10 a.m.–11 a.m. PT / 1 p.m.–2 p.m. ET. We encourage writers to stick around after the hour and continue the conversation together. 

Some reminders from the Substack team:

• New tools for international writers and readers. Local currency, local payment methods, and Spanish, French, Italian, German, and Portuguese language translations unlock international growth, while enabling new readers to find and support publications they love. Learn more.

• Thinking about collaborations? Some of the most powerful ways to grow your Substack are the human-powered tools we’ve built that help writers and creators suggest other Substackers to their readers via the subscribe flow, on their home pages and profiles, and in their emails. Get inspired.

• To those affected by media layoffs. Hardly a week passes that there isn’t grim news about the media industry—downsizings and mass layoffs, bankruptcies and closures. If you’re a writer who has been laid off or have had enough of the turbulence of ad-supported media, and you’re sorting through your options for what’s next, we’re here to help you explore independence.

Got questions about Substack or feedback about a feature or tool? You’re in the right place! Leave a comment in this thread.

The Substack team, and your fellow writers, are here to help! Our team will answer questions and share insights with you in the comments today from 10 a.m.–11 a.m. PT / 1 p.m.–2 p.m. ET. We encourage writers to stick around after the hour and continue the conversation together. 

This week, we wanted to share some inspiring examples from across Substack:

• shares her process to set up a virtual book tour on Substack, through collaborations with over ten writers and creators. The model can be used to promote not only a book but a podcast, course, art project, or your Substack.

• Welcome to the new writers and writers who recently launched their Substacks: , , , , , , , , , , , , and . Are you new to Substack? Introduce yourself in today’s thread.

• Congratulations to all those celebrating milestones on Substack! looks back on his first two years on Substack. What did you celebrate this week? Let us know.

If you are brand new to Substack, welcome! Our getting started resources are here for you.

Got questions about Substack or feedback about a feature or tool? You’re in the right place! Leave a comment in this thread.

The Substack team, and your fellow writers, are here to help! Our team will answer questions and share insights with you in the comments today from 10 a.m.–11 a.m. PT / 1 p.m.–2 p.m. ET. We encourage writers to stick around after the hour and continue the conversation together. 

As you settle into the new year, here are some resources to consider revisiting:

• How to create a consistent writing habit. Set goals for your publication, explore formats, style, and templates plus create a schedule to do the work.

• How to convert subscribers from free to paid. This post will guide you through the tactics available for converting free readers to paid subscriptions, including how to craft your pitch and an overview of how different publications define their free vs. paid tiers.

• Grow interviews. Get inspired by other writers’ stories on getting started and growing their audience and business.

If you are brand new to Substack, welcome! Our getting started resources are here for you.

Got questions about Substack or feedback about a feature or tool? You’re in the right place! Leave a comment in this thread.

We’d especially like to welcome writers and creators who are launching their new Substacks. We can’t wait to see what you publish here.

Next week, we’ll host Writer Office Hours, our weekly discussion thread on publishing, growing, or going paid on Substack, on Thursday from from 10 a.m.–11 a.m. PT / 1 p.m.–2 p.m. ET.

Cheers,
The Substack team

The Substack team, and your fellow writers, are here to help! Our team will answer questions and share insights with you in the comments today from 10 a.m.–11 a.m. PT / 1 p.m.–2 p.m. ET. We encourage writers to stick around after the hour and continue the conversation together. 

Some reminders from the Substack team:

• Last minute gifts. Encourage your readers to buy a paid subscription and save them from last minute shopping. We rounded up the best in gifting this holiday season on Substack. Read more.

• Start a video podcast in the new year. Video on Substack recently got a major upgrade. Writers are using the all in one broadcasting and video tools to launch new shows projects as an extension of their Substack. Get inspired.

Got questions about Substack or feedback about a feature or tool? You’re in the right place! Leave a comment in this thread.

This is the final Office Hours for 2023. Thank you for the generous ways you’ve showed up here to share advice and answer one another’s questions this year. We look forward to growing and learning together in the new year. Until then, happy holidays to you and your families!

The Substack team, and your fellow writers, are here to help! Our team will answer questions and share insights with you in the comments today from 10 a.m.–11 a.m. PT / 1 p.m.–2 p.m. ET. We encourage writers to stick around after the hour and continue the conversation together. 

Some reminders from the Substack team:

• The AI revolution is an opportunity for writers (the human kind). No matter how advanced AI gets, there will be unceasing demand for human connection. We will want to show each other how we feel as people. We’ll tire of getting what we want, and instead yearn to figure out together what we should want. We will share our hearts and compare our scars. We will long for the sound of each other’s voices, and to shape our own and each other’s stories, in wild and wonderful new ways. Read more from in this post.

• Meetups. The last writer meetups of the year take place this week. Want to make getting together with fellow writers, podcasters, and creators part of your new year? Consider hosting a meetup. Learn more.

Got questions about Substack or feedback about a feature or tool? You’re in the right place! Leave a comment in this thread.

The Substack team, and your fellow writers, are here to help! Drop your questions in the discussion thread by leaving a comment, and we’ll do our best to share knowledge and tips.

Our team will be answering questions and sharing insights with you in the thread today from 10 a.m.–11 a.m. PST / 1 p.m.–2 p.m. EST.

Some product updates and reminders from the Substack team:

• Video on Substack gets a major upgrade. Video podcasts, flexible paywalls, and interactive AI-generated transcripts now make it simple to distribute and earn money for the media you produce. Clip sharing offers a way for you and your viewers to generate and share branded clips from videos everywhere on the internet. Plus, publications with video and podcast post have a fresh new look on web, and enhanced media-player experience in the app. Learn more.

  

• Attend a meetup. Writers are getting together in Salt Lake City, San Francisco Bay Area, Boston, Knoxville, Miami, Singapore, and more, including virtual meetups. Find a meetup in your area or host your own.

Got questions about Substack or feedback about a feature or tool? You’re in the right place! Leave a comment in this thread.

The Substack team, and your fellow writers, are here to help! Drop your questions in the discussion thread by leaving a comment, and we’ll do our best to share knowledge and tips.

Our team will be answering questions and sharing insights with you in the thread today from 10 a.m.–11 a.m. PST / 1 p.m.–2 p.m. EST.

Some product updates and reminders from the Substack team:

• Discover writing in your prefered language. Readers can now filter for their language preference when searching for publications and posts. On the web, visit Explore, begin a search, and togel to select your language of choice.

• Attend a meetup! Hosted by writers for writers, there are meetups happening between now and the end of the year around the world in Lisbon, Salt Lake City, Barcelona, Portland, and more. See if there is one in your city or host your own.

• Watch our masterclasses replays.

  • For bloggers and creators. If you are a new creator or blogger on Substack, from Substack’s Partnership team covers all the basics to get set set up for success. Watch.

  • Building a better Substack. , Substack’s Head of Writer Partnerships in the U.K, brought together Emma Gannon, Leyla Kazim, and Poorna Bell to discuss what brought them to Substack and how they’ve grown and built a community here. Watch.

Got questions about Substack or feedback about a feature or tool? You’re in the right place! Leave a comment in this thread.

The Substack team, and your fellow writers, are here to help! Drop your questions in the discussion thread by leaving a comment, and we’ll do our best to share knowledge and tips.

Our team will be answering questions and sharing insights with you in the thread today from 10 a.m.–11 a.m. PST / 1 p.m.–2 p.m. EST.

Some product updates and reminders from the Substack team:

• Customizable, shareable images. Highlight any text within a post and select “share quote” to generate a shareable image. Customize the background and sizing so that it’s ready to use on the social platform of your choice.

  

• Get to know your subscribers. Your subscriber dashboard enables you to filter and view segments of subscribers based on subscription type, email opens, activity, and now bestseller status. This is a powerful tool when identifying writers for collaboration.

  

Got questions about Substack or feedback about a feature or tool? You’re in the right place! Leave a comment in this thread.

The Substack team, and your fellow writers, are here to help! Drop your questions in the discussion thread by leaving a comment, and we’ll do our best to share knowledge and tips.

Our team will be answering questions and sharing insights with you in the thread today from 10 a.m.–11 a.m. PST / 1 p.m.–2 p.m. EST.

Today we want to shine a spotlight on insights shared from the Substack writer community.

• celebrated a year on Substack and 265 paid subscribers with a detailed post of her growth journey.

• breaks down the continuous journey of learning on the road to 50,000 subscribers.

• shares six lessons on how she went from one subscriber (herself) to 6,000 in three years.

Got questions about Substack or feedback about a feature or tool? You’re in the right place! Leave a comment in this thread.

The Substack team, and your fellow writers, are here to help! Drop your questions in the discussion thread by leaving a comment, and we’ll do our best to share knowledge and tips.

Our team will be answering questions and sharing insights with you in the thread today from 10 a.m.–11 a.m. PST / 1 p.m.–2 p.m. EST.

Some product updates and reminders from the Substack team:

• Bringing followers from Instagram to Substack: We spoke to , , , and more writers on how they’ve successfully converted Instagram followers to Substack subscribers. Read more.

• Ways to share: Today, it’s easier than ever to share new posts with your audience, wherever they are. After you publish a new post you will land in the share center. You can return to it at anytime from the three dot menu of your post and then selecting “view shareable images.”

  

  • Shareable images: You can download an image which makes use of the post’s social preview image, title, and subtitle, as well as your publication’s branding. Images are sized for social media including Instagram’s feed and stories, Facebook, X, and more.

  • Shareable videos: In just a few clicks, create a video from a favorite quote in your post. Simply highlight the text in your post, select AI voiceover, or record your own voice, choose a style, and then share.

Got questions about Substack or feedback about a feature or tool? You’re in the right place! Leave a comment in this thread.

The Substack team, and your fellow writers, are here to help! Our team will answer questions and share insights with you in the comments today from 10 a.m.–11 a.m. PT / 1 p.m.–2 p.m. ET. We encourage writers to stick around after the hour and continue the conversation together. 

Got questions about Substack or feedback about a feature or tool? You’re in the right place! Leave a comment in this thread.

Next week we are taking a break from Office Hours for our monthly Shoutout Thread. Keep your eyes .

The Substack team, and your fellow writers, are here to help! Today, the Substack app team will be here to help answer any questions about the new Home experience in the app. Drop your questions in the discussion thread by leaving a comment, and we’ll do our best to share knowledge and tips.

Our team will be answering questions and sharing insights with you in the thread today from 10 a.m.–11 a.m. PST / 1 p.m.–2 p.m. EST.

Some product updates and reminders from the Substack team:

A new front page for Substack: This week we unveiled a new Home experience for the Substack app that puts new posts in an elegant reading queue at the top of the screen and pairs it with a feed that showcases the vitality of the Substack network.

If you’re enjoying the new app, invite your subscribers to read with you in the app by including the “Get the app” button in your next post.

• In case you missed it: Over the past month, we’ve shared a series of posts that dive into our philosophy for building a great home for reading and how, ultimately, we believe this will help writers grow their audiences. We hope these posts make our intentions clear to both you and your readers.

  • How the Substack app helps writers grow

  • Making the internet work for writers

  • An algorithm for quality

  • A better internet for readers

• Join us on our AMA tour: To celebrate this universe of great minds writing on Substack, we’re gathering a lineup of experts including Hunter Harris, Emily Oster, Joe Posnanski and more to host ask-me-anything sessions on a variety of topics ranging from parenting to pop culture, coming directly to the Explore feed in the Substack app. The first AMA is happening immediately following Office Hours today with Erik Hoel. Join us.

Got questions about Substack or feedback about a feature or tool? You’re in the right place! Leave a comment in this thread.

The Substack team, and your fellow writers, are here to help! Drop your questions in the discussion thread by leaving a comment, and we’ll do our best to share knowledge and tips.

Our team will be answering questions and sharing insights with you in the thread today from 10 a.m.–11 a.m. PST / 1 p.m.–2 p.m. EST.

Some product updates and reminders from the Substack team:

• A better internet for writers: In a new essay, shares Substack’s vision to build a discovery systems that serves writers. Read on.

• New post stats: We’re introducing new post stats that give you insight into the reach, engagement, and growth performance of each post you publish. These additional stats let you go deep on distinct metrics. Visit a recent post from your post page to see for yourself and visit the Help Center to learn more.

• Editorial strategy: In case you missed it, this week we shared a three-part series giving writers tools to build an editorial strategy and a steady publishing drumbeat. We covered:

  • Why you’re publishing: Setting goals for your publication

  • What you’re publishing: Formats, style, and templates

  • When to publish: Setting your schedule and building a habit to do the work

Got questions about Substack or feedback about a feature or tool? You’re in the right place! Leave a comment in this thread.

The Substack team, and your fellow writers, are here to help! Our team will answer questions and share insights with you in the comments today from 10 a.m.–11 a.m. PST / 1 p.m.–2 p.m. EST. We encourage writers to stick around after the hour and continue the conversation together. 

How to join today’s Office Hours:

• General Thread

  Do you have questions about a Substack feature or want help strategizing how to best set up your publication? Drop any general questions in the discussion thread by commenting on this post, and we’ll do our best to share knowledge and tips.

  Leave a comment

• Podcasting
  Podcasting on Substack is unique: it creates a two-way conversation that lends itself to publishers who favor cultivating loyal and dedicated audiences. To make podcasting even easier, we’ve just added transcripts and audiogram clip sharing to the podcasting toolkit. Today we’ll answer questions on how to get started if you are tinkering with podcasts or how to bring over a podcast you distribute elsewhere, plus anything else on your mind. Join the conversation.

Today we’ll answer questions on how to get started if you are tinkering with podcasts or how to bring over a podcast you distribute elsewhere, plus anything else on your mind.

Leave a comment

Quick podcasting tips

• Getting started: If you already have a Substack publication, you can start a podcast in minutes and start publishing directly to your existing subscribers plus distribute to Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, TuneIn, and more. Your podcast will have it’s own page with an about section and showcases all of your episodes in one place. Learn more.

  

• Growing: We’ve just added transcripts and audiogram clip sharing to the podcasting toolkit making your podcast more accessible and easier to promote. Create an audiogram, download and share the video clip on socials.

  

• For monetizing: The flexible paywall makes it simple to share a free preview of your podcast with anyone and without extra production work. From the podcast post editor, you can simply choose the section you’d like to send to free subscribers. Learn more.

Not ready to start a podcast but want to test the waters with audio? Record voiceovers of your texts posts. records a voiceover of all his posts in one take and offers voiceovers as a paid perk. You can reap the benefits of publishing on Substack, but distributing wherever people listen to podcasts by submitting voiceovers to RSS feeds so your posts travel further. Learn more.

Our team will answer questions and share insights with you in the threads today from 10 a.m.–11 a.m. PDT / 1 p.m.–2 p.m. EDT. Go back to today’s Office Hours hub to explore other threads.