While I appreciate the new tools, please keep this in mind: The reason Substack felt like safe harbor for writers like me, is that it was only about the writing. It's not just that you don't have to worry about design or that design is easy. It's that you don't have to feel obligated to make your writing prettier, or spend time doing the self-promotional stuff that distracts one from the focus on the work. It is great to be able to chat with people and read notes, but I already feel the need to acquire "likes" and such. It's the pull of that dopamine hit of approval. Please don't become every other social media platform. There are lots of places for visual content, or even snappy banter. This is the only place that's really about the writing. I'm not saying don't add features. Just please be aware of what you risk losing. Thanks.
Sections in Substack have always been a bit confusing to me. Most subscribers don't care enough (for or against) to unsubscribe or resubscribe to a particular niche topic of my writing. I'm glad to see that tags are now an option for people to easily sort or read only about a specific topic without the confusion of what they are or aren't subscribed to.
Can I ask, is there something that determines the order of Recommended Substacks? I have more than the number that are shown, and they seem to randomise, but they also seem to never show several specific Substacks.
will be able to revert back to our old layouts? Mine looks to have automatically changed for this new update but I'm sure many of us prefer the old look
These new features are great, especially tagging! It would also be great to tag specific posts with topics that are searchable across Substack or Notes - I’d love to find new writers who write on topics I’m interested in, rather than just people who are recommended by the people I’m reading. Also hoping tagging will help more people can find those of us with less of a following (like me!) who write on topics of interest. My substack is a mix of things - food allergies, culture + equity, wildlife conservation, and Judaism. The tags will definitely help my existing audience zero in on the topics they care about most, but I’d love a way to find new readers who are curious about any of those areas.
While I appreciate the new tools, please keep this in mind: The reason Substack felt like safe harbor for writers like me, is that it was only about the writing. It's not just that you don't have to worry about design or that design is easy. It's that you don't have to feel obligated to make your writing prettier, or spend time doing the self-promotional stuff that distracts one from the focus on the work. It is great to be able to chat with people and read notes, but I already feel the need to acquire "likes" and such. It's the pull of that dopamine hit of approval. Please don't become every other social media platform. There are lots of places for visual content, or even snappy banter. This is the only place that's really about the writing. I'm not saying don't add features. Just please be aware of what you risk losing. Thanks.
Great advice. If you’re looking for more brilliant wisdom, advice and general, all-round genius, may I suggest a visit to deardante.com
Sections in Substack have always been a bit confusing to me. Most subscribers don't care enough (for or against) to unsubscribe or resubscribe to a particular niche topic of my writing. I'm glad to see that tags are now an option for people to easily sort or read only about a specific topic without the confusion of what they are or aren't subscribed to.
Tags, finally! Awesome.
Love the new layouts. Going to have to do some experimentation.
Can I ask, is there something that determines the order of Recommended Substacks? I have more than the number that are shown, and they seem to randomise, but they also seem to never show several specific Substacks.
Awesome! You are always innovating. Thanks so much. We appreciate you!
I love that you introduced tags, but I wish you'd bring us a way to wrap text around images. Is this something that's in the works?
Amazing, Substack team!
will be able to revert back to our old layouts? Mine looks to have automatically changed for this new update but I'm sure many of us prefer the old look
So, Substack the newsletter company is now a website company.
These new features are great, especially tagging! It would also be great to tag specific posts with topics that are searchable across Substack or Notes - I’d love to find new writers who write on topics I’m interested in, rather than just people who are recommended by the people I’m reading. Also hoping tagging will help more people can find those of us with less of a following (like me!) who write on topics of interest. My substack is a mix of things - food allergies, culture + equity, wildlife conservation, and Judaism. The tags will definitely help my existing audience zero in on the topics they care about most, but I’d love a way to find new readers who are curious about any of those areas.
Love the idea of tags
Nice work. Will have a play over the next couple days. Hope we can search by tags too for discovering more content.
Some other stuff on my wish list
- text alignment options
- coloured and underlined links
- block-level background colour and padding
Who here likes to use orange for their call to action buttons?
Looking forward to playing around with this.
Looks great! I'm hoping we one day can have Tumblr-level customization.