191 Comments

+1 for wondering if there will be a way to add *existing* substack newsletters and podcasts as sections. I set up three different substacks when that was the only way to do it and just want to be able to make one of them the "main" and add the other two as sections.

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I will share this with our engineers, thank you!

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Is it now possible !?

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Same here! I had to start a second substack and I'm looking for the best way to merge it into my original one. Thanks for passing that on to your engineers!

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How is this going?

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I'm wanting the same thing - and if your engineers enable it - will we be able to port over our other substack URL name?

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Any news on this? I need my podcast in a new section as otherwise my site gets cluttered. Can posts be moved so that I can organise my posts later?

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++1 I would also like a main section for all posts.

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Ditto — I'd like to do the same!

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Yes! This is my issue too. I have two "substacks" and I want to join them into one so that I can at least provide an archive of all posts in the one place.

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+1 for this. I would also like to know how this is going, if it might be possible to add a substack publication as a section in my main publication.

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Interesting! One other related thing that would be great to implement is tags. If you want to keep one newsletter, but be able to link to a certain group of articles. "Here's every newsletter I've written about X in one place"

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Yes, I think tags are such a simple thing to implement — this would be REALLY helpful.

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Yes! How can we make this happen? I do some newsletters and podcasts on one topic and some one another topic, but now its all just jumbled together. If I create a separate section for each, I end up having to import and start over again with both, plus that they'll still be separated by podcasts and newsletters...

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Hopefully this feature proves helpful. Your publication's sections will have their own tab and homepage on the web. Those section homepages can also have their own pinned posts

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Just to point out that there is a subtle but important difference between 'tabs' and 'tags'. The layout you have implemented is 'tabs' and what some of the requests here are asking for is that each issue (from any 'tab' can *also* have a selection of 'tags', which allows subsequent filtering of the topics associated with each tag. Medium currently permits 5 tags per post.

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Can I have different email headers and footers for different sections? I'm afraid to try to change either and have those changes turn up in my main newsletter.

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I have exactly the same question. Has anyone ever answered you? Or is it a feature Substack is planning?

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No. I've never heard anything back.

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this is what i am getting at, I need tabs.... tabs!

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I agree that tabs would be good

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Currently, posts under a separate newsletter still appears on the main page, which is great. But could there also be an option to switch this off?

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Hey Bailey, I am new to substack and landed on this page for adding sections.

I have multiple audiences which I want to target.

For ex:

Audience 1 should receive email 1.

Audience 2 should receive email 2.

And so on...

(An audience is a group of subscribers here)

And this has to be done on both ends, the place which has a form where people can subscribe and my dashboard where I can send emails.

Note: All audiences are paid so I need a payment page as well for all sections.

Can we get this done with Sections or is there any other way I can achieve this?

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What I'd like, and it didn't seem possible, is to be able to link to an anchor later in the newsletter, so that the reader can jump ahead to the second section if they are not interested in the first. Can this be done?

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It sounds like you're asking for "anchor links" (creating sections within a specific post), which we don't currently have. I've shared that feedback with the product team!

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Just adding my voice to this - would love this feature, as my newsletters are long and often require a table of contents!

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Same here. In a long post with multiple sections, I need an anchor link to specific sections.

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I'm here to back this request. It would really help readers navigate my content easier.

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Would like to request this feature as well.

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I'd also really like this feature.

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Hi, first of all, highly appreciate the new feature! I've been in contact with Substack since December about this and it's great that it's now launched.

Some of my questions, including how to merge two Substacks, have already been asked, but I wanted to add the following:

- Are you working on adding descriptions and different logos to each section?

- Will it be possible to charge different subscription fees for different sections? Will we be able to charge for bundled subscriptions?

- I am not able to see the sections that subscribers have signed up for on the backend. I would really appreciate the option to manage section subscriptions as the owner (e.g. grant free trial only in one section, give existing subscribers access to specific sections)

Thanks in advance!

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Yes, the ability to see and edit which sections people are subscribed to would be super useful. It would also be great to be able to manually add emails to just one of the sections .

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Hey Laura! Thanks for the thoughtful questions.

I shared the desire to customize the sections more with the engineering and product team, so they are aware.

For now, the subscription is to main publication and, as before, you decide with each post which is paid or free, and now - which section to publish to. I don't expect this to change, but I've been wrong before!

I'll share your backend feedback with the engineers as well. That use case makes a lot of sense. Let's see.

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Thanks for your reply & for passing this on to the engineering & product team!

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I can't see an option to upload a logo for the new section/newsletter?

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We actually haven't shipped that feature just yet! But if/when we do, it'll be on the section > edit page in under Dashboard > Settings

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This is great! Adding sections is a feature I didn't know I wanted, but it has really helped to organize my moviewise site: https://moviewise.substack.com

I now have nice categories to help readers find articles easier, rather than one giant list of articles:

Ready To Laugh: Humor Inspired By Movies

https://moviewise.substack.com/s/ready-to-laugh

Movie Therapy: Watch A Movie And Feel Better Now

https://moviewise.substack.com/s/movie-therapy

Guides To Life: Movies That Inspire And Leave You Wiser

https://moviewise.substack.com/s/guides-to-life

Movie Lists!: Highly Recommended Films To Watch And Learn From

https://moviewise.substack.com/s/movie-lists

Thank you so much Substack!

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Please make it possible for there to be an easy way for readers to subscribe to each individual section, and for writers to then see a list of subscribers for each section. I would like to be able to publish something in a section and have a post only sent out for those who want to read such material, but that doesn't seem possible?

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Thank you Substack. Apparently as I always am asking "Are We Paying Attention Yet People" all of you champions always are answering, "Absolutely, we are". What a breathe of fresh air your interactive ingenuity is to contemporary online platforms for entrepreneurial writers. All of your work is appreciated!

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Brilliant. An absolutely timely release; I was about to start a separate newsletter for my existing one. Thank you.

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Interesting idea. May be useful to split a podcast from the main NL 🤔

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so people will have to sign up to each new section or is it a tabs option - I write poetry, fiction etc and would like a tab option so people can filter on page to their preferred genre, but I don't wish to create a new newsletter or disrupt the homepage posts

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Bailey here from Substack HQ! When writing a post, you can choose which section it goes in, and you can select whether a section is subscribed by default.

Your readers do not get options on sections when signing up, they have to navigate to "My Account" to pick what to receive.

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Hi Bailey, could this please also be on the /About page as “Sections” similar to “Newsletters” for The Dispatch? https://thedispatch.com/about?sort=newsletter

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I write about book publishing and there really are 5 phases: Writing, Publishing, Launching, Ongoing Marketing, and Distribution (Sales). Would the sections be a good way to curate those specific topics so if the subscriber is in the writing phase they get those articles, publishing those, etc. Or am I completely misunderstanding? I also have another newsletter I want to launch but it has a totally different subject and audience. But is that what you mean by sections. Still a little confused but will read through all the comments as I can to get educated. Thanks love the platform even though I am new less than 6 months in. Got my second paid subscriber today so excited to continue growing.

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Hey is there a way to merge subscribers of the two newsletters into one at a later date - once the purpose of the second newsletter is done?

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I've shared this request with the engineers, it's a common one! Stay tuned.

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Hey Bailey! I have a question regarding importing subscribers via CSV. If I use the import feature and, after the list is verified, will these new subscribers get the automated Welcome Email I've set up? Or would I need to manually feed in each new subscriber via my signup link to do that? Thank you so much!

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Hi! At the moment, they won't get a welcome email if they're imported manually in bulk, only if they sign up via the sign up form

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I can not tell you how excited we are to read this, we have been working on planning a network of crypto publications for over 2 years, the idea being that Cryptowriter has blockchain-specific publications EOSwriter, NFTwriter etc living underneath it. Now my question is, is it possible to aggregate the best content from the sections onto the front page of the publication?

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