I am extremely excited to hear that Substack is building Yem into the platform. I used Yem when it was a separate service (shoutout to Reid, who was always responsive and helpful!) and wished very much that it was better integrated -- I think the ability to send campaigns, welcome or otherwise, from inside the Substack dashboard could be huge for so many of us.
if your actual WRITING was good, why would that be a problem? Why would you be so enthusiastic about Yem? Just trying writing good shit, Sarah! ( p.s. No, I don't know her.... )
Discovery is such a massive problem on any platform devoted to writers. I see authors complain about how difficult it is just making readers aware that their book exists on any platform you care to name, i.e. Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Wattpad... everywhere. Substack may very well be (and probably is) the first company to actually tackle this issue and try to do some of the heavy lifting for the writers.
The engineers who make things like this happen are amazing, but praise is also due to whoever is responsible for such clear thinking about the actual problems writers face and then taking considered steps to improve things. Thank you.
Thank you Substack for all you're doing! I just reached the one-year milestone of my newsletter, "Colorado Mountain Running & Living," and recommendations account for more of my growth now than social media. I wrote about Substack's inspiration and platform in my latest post if you'd like to read: https://sarahrunning.substack.com/p/one-year-in-the-substackverse
I will add one suggestion: I wish on the Settings page there were more than 3 tags allowed to help make others find the publication, and that the Substack categories were more niche-specific.
I agree with you. More than 3 tags would definitely help with others finding writer's publications. I think you should have at least 10 tags to put all of the keywords in.
Wow, wow, wow 🤩 Everytime I think you couldn’t possibly do any better for writers, you completely up the ante. I am so so grateful to be here! And to be part of a new era for reading!!!!!!!!!
Also I love that Substack is doing this automatically on my behalf and I don’t have to become some major marketing whiz to make things happen for myself as a writer. Reading this, I feel a huge sigh of relief knowing that the weight isn’t all on my shoulders and that I am taken care of here!!
I came to Substack so that as a small writer I could grow to a medium-sized writer. How do these features work for us? Most of your writers are small to medium and your features need to work for us equally if Substack is to keep its integrity and ethos.
"Today, the Substack network is driving more than 40 percent of all subscriptions across the platform" I don't know this, but I'd bet the network recommendations drive 80%+ of new subs for writers over 20k subs and 15% for writers with less than 1k subs.
How is the product team taking this into account in how it shapes the algorithms which decide which publications to recommend?
My concern is that Substack will replicate the winner-take-all dynamics of the algorithms of Twitter, Facebook, Mighty Networks, Twitch, Instagram, etc. Those algorithms ensure and enshrine that the biggest fish get all the food. The ecosystems of earth don't work this way. An apex predator such as a lion doesn't eat 95% of the food, it only eats what it needs. Each layer of the ecosystem from grasshopper to lion must get the required nourishment. It's equally true of our technology for it and US to thrive.
If you already have a big audience it's easy to bigger audience on the internet. That's true nearly everywhere. Replicating the Pareto power law in this way is failure, not success.
Love all these features. Would also love some type of referral system for free subscribers... I would love to say for every 10 free subscribers someone refers me, they get 1 year free access to the paid version of my newsletter
Can we expand on that? X number of paid referrals gets you a paid subscription. Y number of paid referrals gets you a salary. I'm joking. Although, if that Y number were high enough and people delivered it might be worth considering... but that number would have to be really high.
If you'd like to try this externally, I'd try checking out the sample. Basically a big newsletter directory. You get people to sign up to them, they send your favorite edition to 100 people to try
I do appreciate the Recos... but am surprised to see that it hasn't resulted in a single one paid sub. What do you suppose that is about? Are these people who read a larger number of newsletters, so are quick to jump onboard, but slow to go paid? I don't mean to be negative! But I think about this.
I have a theory that people have a paid maximum threshold of newsletters they subscribe to. They may be getting referred to you after they're financially tapped out
Got it. But how do you determine what's coming from Recommendations, specifically? I see substack.com, but that could be Recommendations and other in-network features...right?
We are starting to see this work, but we are only getting 5% of our growth from the platform right now. An LGBTQ category in the discovery page would really make it easier for people to find us.
Seconding this. I'd also like to see some better moderation in that area (too many pro conversion therapy blogs / anti trans blogs under the tag for my liking)
boost enabled ✅
Here as well
I am extremely excited to hear that Substack is building Yem into the platform. I used Yem when it was a separate service (shoutout to Reid, who was always responsive and helpful!) and wished very much that it was better integrated -- I think the ability to send campaigns, welcome or otherwise, from inside the Substack dashboard could be huge for so many of us.
if your actual WRITING was good, why would that be a problem? Why would you be so enthusiastic about Yem? Just trying writing good shit, Sarah! ( p.s. No, I don't know her.... )
Recommendations have been huge for me. They really super-charged my growth, and I recently hit 1,000 free subs (and counting). I wrote about that journey and talked about some of the benefits of growing on Substack. https://michaelestrin.substack.com/p/i-hit-1000-subscribers-heres-what?r=1fqhx&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
Congratulations! That’s incredible!
Thanks Elle!
Glad to have contributed 1% through the recommendation engine! I expect my free dividend in the mail.
I'm sending you one of those giant checks they use on game shows. You won't be able to cash it, but you will have to pay shipping and handling.
Discovery is such a massive problem on any platform devoted to writers. I see authors complain about how difficult it is just making readers aware that their book exists on any platform you care to name, i.e. Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Wattpad... everywhere. Substack may very well be (and probably is) the first company to actually tackle this issue and try to do some of the heavy lifting for the writers.
The engineers who make things like this happen are amazing, but praise is also due to whoever is responsible for such clear thinking about the actual problems writers face and then taking considered steps to improve things. Thank you.
Love the focus on continuous iterative improvement. Just turned boost 🔛
Forever grateful for this community, that brings writing back without the gimmicky marketing, and attention grabbing tactics <3
Thank you Substack for all you're doing! I just reached the one-year milestone of my newsletter, "Colorado Mountain Running & Living," and recommendations account for more of my growth now than social media. I wrote about Substack's inspiration and platform in my latest post if you'd like to read: https://sarahrunning.substack.com/p/one-year-in-the-substackverse
I will add one suggestion: I wish on the Settings page there were more than 3 tags allowed to help make others find the publication, and that the Substack categories were more niche-specific.
I've been asking for an outdoors tag forever. We have climate... and travel. But not outdoors
I agree with you. More than 3 tags would definitely help with others finding writer's publications. I think you should have at least 10 tags to put all of the keywords in.
I agree - I think I get a lot of traffic because I write Travel but I’d love to add more.
Congrats on the first year ! 🎉
Wow, wow, wow 🤩 Everytime I think you couldn’t possibly do any better for writers, you completely up the ante. I am so so grateful to be here! And to be part of a new era for reading!!!!!!!!!
Also I love that Substack is doing this automatically on my behalf and I don’t have to become some major marketing whiz to make things happen for myself as a writer. Reading this, I feel a huge sigh of relief knowing that the weight isn’t all on my shoulders and that I am taken care of here!!
Substack makes me feel like I’m on trend without having to put in much effort. It’s nice to just focus on my writing without being overwhelmed!
I came to Substack so that as a small writer I could grow to a medium-sized writer. How do these features work for us? Most of your writers are small to medium and your features need to work for us equally if Substack is to keep its integrity and ethos.
"Today, the Substack network is driving more than 40 percent of all subscriptions across the platform" I don't know this, but I'd bet the network recommendations drive 80%+ of new subs for writers over 20k subs and 15% for writers with less than 1k subs.
How is the product team taking this into account in how it shapes the algorithms which decide which publications to recommend?
My concern is that Substack will replicate the winner-take-all dynamics of the algorithms of Twitter, Facebook, Mighty Networks, Twitch, Instagram, etc. Those algorithms ensure and enshrine that the biggest fish get all the food. The ecosystems of earth don't work this way. An apex predator such as a lion doesn't eat 95% of the food, it only eats what it needs. Each layer of the ecosystem from grasshopper to lion must get the required nourishment. It's equally true of our technology for it and US to thrive.
If you already have a big audience it's easy to bigger audience on the internet. That's true nearly everywhere. Replicating the Pareto power law in this way is failure, not success.
Substack can and must be different.
Great comment. The focus on larger writers is a revenue situation, I'm sure. Interested to see how this plays out.
Love all these features. Would also love some type of referral system for free subscribers... I would love to say for every 10 free subscribers someone refers me, they get 1 year free access to the paid version of my newsletter
I know, I love the idea of subscribers being able to earn a paid subscription through referrals!
Can we expand on that? X number of paid referrals gets you a paid subscription. Y number of paid referrals gets you a salary. I'm joking. Although, if that Y number were high enough and people delivered it might be worth considering... but that number would have to be really high.
If you'd like to try this externally, I'd try checking out the sample. Basically a big newsletter directory. You get people to sign up to them, they send your favorite edition to 100 people to try
Just when a girl needs a boost.......
Magic is the word. We're feelin' it. :) :)
I’m not putting up Lenny-type numbers, but can confirm the power of recommendations. Easily 15% of my readers have come from them.
I second this. 18% of my readers come from Recommendations. It's one of the best tools Substack has come up with, imo.
I do appreciate the Recos... but am surprised to see that it hasn't resulted in a single one paid sub. What do you suppose that is about? Are these people who read a larger number of newsletters, so are quick to jump onboard, but slow to go paid? I don't mean to be negative! But I think about this.
I have a theory that people have a paid maximum threshold of newsletters they subscribe to. They may be getting referred to you after they're financially tapped out
Alison, how can you tell who has gone paid from Recommendations and who remains a free sub?
It's on the stats page, and "traffic." There's a column for "paid subs," and you can see the source.
Got it. But how do you determine what's coming from Recommendations, specifically? I see substack.com, but that could be Recommendations and other in-network features...right?
Farther down the page it lists all the recommenders...
I have noticed in my two weeks of existence 6 of my subs have come from recommendations! Great feature.
We are starting to see this work, but we are only getting 5% of our growth from the platform right now. An LGBTQ category in the discovery page would really make it easier for people to find us.
Seconding this. I'd also like to see some better moderation in that area (too many pro conversion therapy blogs / anti trans blogs under the tag for my liking)
And bringing Yem on board is great, been using them for a while and have seen a very positive to growth
Excellent - keep rolling out these updates. Product gets better and better.