You can use Substack to write, but did you know you can also use it to speak? Not only do we host and distribute podcasts for free, but you can also record audio directly in the Substack editor and publish it as a post.
Try using audio posts to talk to your subscribers, upload music, or just think out loud. For each post, you can choose if it’s free for everyone or only for paying subscribers.
If you’re looking for inspiration, here are some of our favorite examples of publishers using audio in unexpected ways.
Start a podcast
Get fancy and start a podcast series. You can cross-post your episodes to all the major podcast directories, like Apple Podcasts and Spotify.
Jessica Lahey and KJ Dell'Antonia host the #AmWriting podcast with practical advice for writers, while comic artists and comedians Drew Toothpaste and Natalie Dee publish their Garbage Brain University podcast with weird facts about the world, like things that squirrels eat and the story of the goat who became mayor. Or check out Daniel Levitt’s Inside the Newsroom for interviews with journalists and media figures.
Record your off-the-cuff thoughts
Use Substack like a voice recorder with the direct-record feature. When you go to write, instead of “new post”, choose “new episode,” click “record episode audio” and start talking (make sure audio features are enabled).
Danielle Morrill records her thoughts on a different stock ticker every day, starting from A to Z, while Venkatesh Rao muses out loud about the invention of time. And Kelly Dwyer plays little riffs on his guitar while he talks about the NBA.
Narrate your posts
Your voice can add a surprisingly personal touch for your subscribers, who are used to reading your words. Take one of your favorite written posts and try narrating it out loud.
After Nathan Baschez published a written interview on Divinations with Sahil Lavignia, who founded the online creator platform Gumroad, one of his readers requested an audio version. So Nathan and Sahil teamed up to do a voice narration of their interview.
Publish your music
We’re lucky to host some talented musicians on Substack who use audio posts to upload the music they make, along with a bit of commentary.
Flow State publishes weekly two-hour mixes that are good for working to, while Trevor Exter is a cellist who composes short musical riffs for his subscribers.
Host an AMA
Some writers use discussion threads to host AMAs (“ask me anything”) and answer questions from subscribers. Step up your AMA game by reading your answers out loud. Start by publishing a post or discussion thread to solicit questions from your subscribers, then follow up with an audio post, where you choose a handful to answer.
Erin Moon hosted an audio AMA with her subscribers on her publication, The Swipe Up, where she shared parenting advice (and her favorite snacks). And Derek Davison hosts regular AMAs on his publication, Foreign Exchanges, both in written and audio form, where subscribers can ask questions about history, politics, and US foreign policy.
| 28 | 23 |
Is there a way to add a recorded audio snippet into prior posts? I have a few posts already typed up but would like to add some audio narration and can't figure out how to copy/paste...
We treat audio posts as a different type of post, so you'd have to draft a new post (by choosing "new episode") in order to include audio, though you could backdate the post.
It would be really helpful if audio was treated as audio and not as a "podcast." Meaning, being able to record audio anywhere on any article draft and place it anywhere. This way, having "audio recording" as another feature, next to bold, italics, insert a picture, etc. Any chance of this happening soon? Thank you.
I’d like to embed podcast clips or entire podcast episodes in my post. But even Spotify podcast links don’t work. Any plans for this?
^I'd love to do this, too. I know e.g. Buzzsprout let you produce little "audio clip teasers" for social media; it would be great to be able to embed these into a post/newsletter.
You can embed Spotify songs, but Spotify podcast embeds don't work unfortunately (it's a limitation of Spotify's API).
As far as I can tell - there is no way to embed any podcasts. Apple, overcast, stitcher, castro etc. Any plans to allow us to embed our own code? That'd be an easy way to do this...
I love this so much! I have one question, and one feature request:
QUESTION:
If I want to go back and record audio versions of each of my previous newsletters/essays, what would be the best practice there? All I can think of is creating new, backdated version posts that I don't email, but will then be available in the archives?
FEATURE REQUEST:
I think going forward I'm going to record an audio version of each newsletter -- I super wish there was a way to say "free followers can read the text, but only paying subscribers can read the text AND listen to the file." It'd be an awesome upsell to say "Free followers can read along, but if you want to listen, you'll need to upgrade."
I guess I can do a workaround by sending my monthly free newsletter with just the text version, and then doing a separate subscriber-only email with the audio version... but it'd be an amazing encouragement to subscribe to have the functionality for everyone to get the email, but only subscribers being able to listen.
To do audio versions, you'd have to create new episode posts for each one. But yes, you could then backdate them so they sit in the appropriate place in your archives (and you don't have to email them).
Thanks for the feedback. You could certainly do an audio+text version for paid subscribers and then send out a text-only version to the "only free signups" list. The latter posts don't go up on the web; they're email only and paid subscribers don't see them, so there's no fear of duplication.
Oh hey, that makes sense. I guess the only limitation of doing a text-only/email-only post for free signups would be that future free signups then couldn't read those previous free posts? Then again, maybe that can't as it is? I'm actually not sure about the limitations of the archived posts for unsubscribed folks.
*they can't as is
Really enjoy these posts that have specific examples of how people are using the tools that Substack has to offer. It's so helpful to see them in practice. Thank you!
Is it possible to record audio separately from Substack, such as with Audacity, and then import that (mp3) file into a Substack newsletter/post?
Perfect timing for me with this post - hosting my first AMA thread now --> https://readbyexample.substack.com/p/wednesday-wondering-ama-ask-me-anything/comments
"you can also record audio directly in the Substack editor"
REALLY? I see no controls for that. I do see the ability to link to audio I've uploaded to, say, SoundCloud but I see no record audio buttons in my formatting menubar, only options for text, buttons, code, etc.
That's the feature I'm requesting above. Now, you have to create a "podcast" article/post to record your audio. And you can't paste it as little clips throughout the article. The idea is to have "audio recording" on the menu just like having Bold, Italics, etc
Nevermind. I see now: I have to first enable audio settings in my master settings area for that functionality to then appear in my individual posts.
HOWEVER.... doing so prevents you from being able to have a subtitle to your piece and I can't seem to find a way to UNallow audio to be posted and return to my previous settings.
Great. This is the more reason I love Substack. You're just amazing.
Help ons and other
Nice wihe wil sea hoe of Works