I like engaging in chats for some of the publications I read but for my own, I see managing a chat as a distraction to my focus on writing. It’s another thing that drives engagement for Substack but detracts from me focusing my creative energies on my writing.
I like having conversations about posts in the comments of the posts. This allows non-app users to participate more easily. That’s just me. I still love using Substack! Don’t come after me!
Very reasonable and understandable comments. I just want to note that "It’s another thing that drives engagement for Substack" doesn't make sense from the perspective of our business. We are not seeking to drive engagement for Substack—we seek to help writers and creators grow their audiences and make money, since that is the only way we make money. Many writers and creators here love going deeper with their communities through Chat and other means; and for many of those people, Chat is an essential part of not only their cultural work but also their businesses.
I certainly don't see many of the writers that I follow use Chat much and in all honestly, just keeping up with all the amazing content that is being written, who has time for Chat as well? I also see the strategies outlined in this piece more applicable to "name" writers than the striving Substack scribe. Fostering an active comments section in one's Substack seems a better strategy as well as using Notes. I also think restarting the Substack Go and Goal workshops would go a long way to connecting writers and fostering community - these are sorely missed.
Good morning. I received a phone call today from an elderly subscriber who has paid me three annual fees without ever receiving one email. By looking at my subscriber dashboard, I could see that he entered his email address with a typo when he signed up as a paid subscriber in April of 2022. This morning, he signed up for a free subscription using his proper email address. To make him whole, I comped his free subscription for the next three years and turned off auto-renew on his paid subscription.
This got me wondering whether my subscriber list features any other email addresses with typos. Is there any way for a Substack author to see a list of addresses that were undeliverable so we can troubleshoot these kinds of things?
Well I believe that seeing undelivered emails is known in the “bounced” category. That means the email was sent but it “bounced back” because no one received it.
It was a feature previously, but I haven’t looked it up in a while.
For those who use chat regularly, do you always notify subscribers via email (by selecting the "Also send as email" option)? I'm curious if readers find this helpful or if it adds to email overload.
I think it's probably not best to do this every time, but worth it every once in a while to tell new subs who may not have tried out chat in the app before! Like Hunter said, that may be helpful to do for live events.
I switched from YouTube to Substack in January of this year, and I've never felt better as a creator on a platform where monetization and the audience are private. I don't have to keep asking for subscribers and crying for views, I'm building something good. In 4 months I've gotten 630 subscribers, which is incredible to me.
I’m in the same boat. After grinding away on YouTube for 3 years, I’ve moved over to Substack less than a month ago. It’s a very different dynamic here which is refreshing. I’ve decided writing is actually much more difficult than creating videos.
I haven’t used Chat a lot aside from direct messaging, but it is a feature I want to dig deeper into. Love this post and giving some great examples of how it can build community!
I asked my subscribers after the chat feature had come out and they didn’t seem to want to engage. So I have mostly ignored it for my own community. So do your subscribers actually want it?
For the DM feature?
I’ve mainly used it to discuss potential guest writers. A few times to get clarification on potential opportunities.
Is there any possibility of making video available in the Chat soon? IG stories are a bust and I would love to be able to share video shorts with my paid subscribers to open up conversations.
I do love the community that I have so far. It’s a lot of fun to know that so many people are subscribed to me. Even if it’s not as big as some other communities.
It’s great to see these updates to the Chat feature. What I love about it is the potential to share pictures and links with subscribers, which you can’t restrict in posts or notes, unless you put them behind a pay wall. I don’t want to paywall some things, but I do want to only share with subscribers. The improved navigation is a great update, it’s been difficult to navigate when clicking through from notifications. I’m looking forward to using subscriber chat more and more!
Maybe someone can help me by describing what they, or their subscribers, like about this chat feature. I've explored it, and I prefer the layout of the comment section. Most of the chats I've seen are not live, so they function more like message boards but with a much narrower and less enjoyable format. I realize that is all subjective, so I am just trying to find out what Chat fans like about it.
I haven't used chat very much, I post sports updates through my notes and/or newsletters that I will write. I've tried doing a weekly Mailbag, but no such luck. Chats just isn't that active.
just wonder, who came up with the name of this platform, which reads backwards: buS- kcatS? The content of this post looks correspondingly....
Suggestions: Please, IMPROVE YOUR GRAPHICS( style of the first picture), which is boring, nothing telling, ugly in fact, all AI generated, there is NO HUMAN MIND OR HAND behind it, in my opinion.. I think a digital computer can still be capable of putting out more nature driven styles.
Who should I contact to get a human response to a question I have? The Chatbot gave me an insufficient answer. Particularly because Hamish gave me a different answer but it was somewhat unclear exactly how it works.
It's so good to take out the middleman, the algorithms, the corporate B.S. and just share wildly with others, to spill over and cross pollinate. I've been loving the thriving community blossoming around reconsidering what education is for, what it means to be human, what it means to be an activist, a parent in a time of uncertainty, someone longing to live in real community with a diverse group of committed people striving to be an elder worthy of descending from, etc. We all are longing for home and we will find it where and when we can. https://substack.com/@gregorypettys
I like engaging in chats for some of the publications I read but for my own, I see managing a chat as a distraction to my focus on writing. It’s another thing that drives engagement for Substack but detracts from me focusing my creative energies on my writing.
I like having conversations about posts in the comments of the posts. This allows non-app users to participate more easily. That’s just me. I still love using Substack! Don’t come after me!
Very reasonable and understandable comments. I just want to note that "It’s another thing that drives engagement for Substack" doesn't make sense from the perspective of our business. We are not seeking to drive engagement for Substack—we seek to help writers and creators grow their audiences and make money, since that is the only way we make money. Many writers and creators here love going deeper with their communities through Chat and other means; and for many of those people, Chat is an essential part of not only their cultural work but also their businesses.
I will not rule out the possibility that this is simple a skill issue and I should maybe consider getting good at this 😉
I certainly don't see many of the writers that I follow use Chat much and in all honestly, just keeping up with all the amazing content that is being written, who has time for Chat as well? I also see the strategies outlined in this piece more applicable to "name" writers than the striving Substack scribe. Fostering an active comments section in one's Substack seems a better strategy as well as using Notes. I also think restarting the Substack Go and Goal workshops would go a long way to connecting writers and fostering community - these are sorely missed.
Good morning. I received a phone call today from an elderly subscriber who has paid me three annual fees without ever receiving one email. By looking at my subscriber dashboard, I could see that he entered his email address with a typo when he signed up as a paid subscriber in April of 2022. This morning, he signed up for a free subscription using his proper email address. To make him whole, I comped his free subscription for the next three years and turned off auto-renew on his paid subscription.
This got me wondering whether my subscriber list features any other email addresses with typos. Is there any way for a Substack author to see a list of addresses that were undeliverable so we can troubleshoot these kinds of things?
Well I believe that seeing undelivered emails is known in the “bounced” category. That means the email was sent but it “bounced back” because no one received it.
It was a feature previously, but I haven’t looked it up in a while.
Something similar has happened to me as well ...
For those who use chat regularly, do you always notify subscribers via email (by selecting the "Also send as email" option)? I'm curious if readers find this helpful or if it adds to email overload.
i've never done but this but now i want to try! would be good for live events
Amazing that you get so much engagement without the email notifications!
I think it's probably not best to do this every time, but worth it every once in a while to tell new subs who may not have tried out chat in the app before! Like Hunter said, that may be helpful to do for live events.
I’m changing my life on Substack
I switched from YouTube to Substack in January of this year, and I've never felt better as a creator on a platform where monetization and the audience are private. I don't have to keep asking for subscribers and crying for views, I'm building something good. In 4 months I've gotten 630 subscribers, which is incredible to me.
I’m in the same boat. After grinding away on YouTube for 3 years, I’ve moved over to Substack less than a month ago. It’s a very different dynamic here which is refreshing. I’ve decided writing is actually much more difficult than creating videos.
How refreshing it is to create content here at Substack. They happen to have created the best model for creators to feel at home
If Substack changes your life, you don’t have one.
I haven’t used Chat a lot aside from direct messaging, but it is a feature I want to dig deeper into. Love this post and giving some great examples of how it can build community!
Yes, the DM feature is much more useful than the general chat feature.
I’m interested to figure out a way to use it to its best functionality, but I really need to start using it first.
The general chat feature?
I asked my subscribers after the chat feature had come out and they didn’t seem to want to engage. So I have mostly ignored it for my own community. So do your subscribers actually want it?
For the DM feature?
I’ve mainly used it to discuss potential guest writers. A few times to get clarification on potential opportunities.
Is there any possibility of making video available in the Chat soon? IG stories are a bust and I would love to be able to share video shorts with my paid subscribers to open up conversations.
Great question 👍
I do love the community that I have so far. It’s a lot of fun to know that so many people are subscribed to me. Even if it’s not as big as some other communities.
It’s great to see these updates to the Chat feature. What I love about it is the potential to share pictures and links with subscribers, which you can’t restrict in posts or notes, unless you put them behind a pay wall. I don’t want to paywall some things, but I do want to only share with subscribers. The improved navigation is a great update, it’s been difficult to navigate when clicking through from notifications. I’m looking forward to using subscriber chat more and more!
Maybe someone can help me by describing what they, or their subscribers, like about this chat feature. I've explored it, and I prefer the layout of the comment section. Most of the chats I've seen are not live, so they function more like message boards but with a much narrower and less enjoyable format. I realize that is all subjective, so I am just trying to find out what Chat fans like about it.
I haven't used chat very much, I post sports updates through my notes and/or newsletters that I will write. I've tried doing a weekly Mailbag, but no such luck. Chats just isn't that active.
just wonder, who came up with the name of this platform, which reads backwards: buS- kcatS? The content of this post looks correspondingly....
Suggestions: Please, IMPROVE YOUR GRAPHICS( style of the first picture), which is boring, nothing telling, ugly in fact, all AI generated, there is NO HUMAN MIND OR HAND behind it, in my opinion.. I think a digital computer can still be capable of putting out more nature driven styles.
Who should I contact to get a human response to a question I have? The Chatbot gave me an insufficient answer. Particularly because Hamish gave me a different answer but it was somewhat unclear exactly how it works.
You can ask the Chatbot to pass your question on to a human (when I did so recently, I received an email from a human the same day).
Hmm, okay. I have thought about attempting to send a DM to someone. Because when I asked the question to Hamish, DMs didn’t exist on the platform.
GRACIAS
Engaging with your community makes people feel closer ti the author, thus they are more likely to buy something
It's so good to take out the middleman, the algorithms, the corporate B.S. and just share wildly with others, to spill over and cross pollinate. I've been loving the thriving community blossoming around reconsidering what education is for, what it means to be human, what it means to be an activist, a parent in a time of uncertainty, someone longing to live in real community with a diverse group of committed people striving to be an elder worthy of descending from, etc. We all are longing for home and we will find it where and when we can. https://substack.com/@gregorypettys