Have questions about publishing, growing, and going paid on Substack?
The Substack team, and your fellow writers, are here to help!
Each week on Thursdays, we’ll gather the writer community and members of our Community, Product, and Writer Development teams together in a thread like this one to answer writer questions for an hour.
While I'm thinking about it... Can you please stop introducing us as "emerging" writers, as though we only just started writing? What we are is Not Celebrities. When British press Virago began reissuing 19th and early 20th books written by women, they didn't call them "emerging" authors. They told the truth, which is that most women authors had been ignored unless they were wealthy or pretended to be men. The difference today lies in the blue check, whose owners can write whatever pops into their heads and still get accolades. I'm not telling you guys anything you don't know, of course, but I look forward to seeing how (or if) you seriously address it without losing profitability. Seizing the bull by the horns might be the only way.
I launched a Substack with some friends and colleagues in February. We write about the more unknown sides to Japanese culture and our model is totally free. Initially we gained followers from friends and family but have really struggled to attract subscribers outside of our network. We have dabbled with some social media ads but they haven't really worked. How do you promote and grow your community? Any tips of suggestions would be well received please.
Good topic. I publish weekly, devoted to the practical side of kindness. Just started in April and got 100+ subscribers pretty quickly, but am now struggling to get a few each week. I believe in what I'm publishing and am in it for the long haul, but could sure use some ideas to grow subscribers.
It seems to me that newsletter promotion is about finding your niche audience and then just trying to use social media and personal connections to get it in front of people's faces. Are there any other secret tricks?
I've done guest Q&As with other newsletter writers, which they then feature in their newsletters. On FB, I try to keep it organic and not be annoyingly self-promoy if that makes sense. I write a book rec newsletter, so if I see someone looking for a book, I'll say "oh, you might like xyz, here's a post I wrote about it."
I'm wondering what we can do to ensure that our newsletters pop up when people search Substack for our newsletter keywords. I have a parenting newsletter with 1600 subscribers and it still doesn't appear when people search Substack for "parenting." Is it just a matter of getting more subscribers? (I think some of the newsletters that do pop up are smaller, so I'm confused about how this is decided.) Thanks!
Yes, this! I can't ever find my own newsletter (which is about children's books, so fairly specific and niche) and my stats show that almost no one is coming to me via Substack itself.
I understand that you can't disclose your algorithm, but can you give a few practical tips for writers who want to increase their chances of being discovered through the search function?
Echoing Melinda’s comment. SEO seems to be terrible on substack posts. It’s the number one worry I have with the platform going forward. I search for things that absolutely should surface my own posts and it doesn’t.
It's hard to compete with name brands on Substack, so yes, do tell about promotion and targeting specific audiences! I have a good platform, but expanding beyond it is the next frontier, and it's not the cakewalk it sounds. Also, archive is a terrible word for my fast-growing and current collection of posts. Can we change that? Thanks, guys. It's obvious you're overwhelmed, so appreciate this chance to engage.
I include a link in my weekly article to the archives. Thanks to you I am now calling the link my 'collection'. It sounds so much nicer (and less old!!). Hoping Substack makes the change on their end, too. Thanks again, @Annette Laing.
I'm a historian, a former academic, and a missionary for history. Therefore I remain a bit of a schmuck: My advice is free. Hoping it's compatible with your business plan. 😃
You may want to rethink your use of the word “schmuck.” Like “putz,” it literally means “penis,” rather in the way “dick” is used in American English (not sure about elsewhere). And while both can be used to mean a dope/hapless/naive, etc., person, they’re pretty much the height of vulgarity in Yiddish. A schmuck is also nasty person, someone who is cruel to others in order to get ahead. As Leo Rosten wrote, “a son of a bitch.” I’ve heard “putz” used that way, too. From the context, it sounds as though you mean “shlemiel,” which doesn’t carry the same connotations as the other two words. Just a suggestion. PS I love the phrase “missionary for history.”
Words change. Look up the Oxford English Dictionary before trolling. Unless, of course, you know exactly what you're doing, in which case do not, I warn, try to mansplain to me again.
One reason I chose Substack is because of the ability to generate an email list and send out my newsletter at no cost. I've used Mailchimp and SendinBlue before and, while they are terrific, they are harder to use and get costly as your email list grows. So thanks to Substack, both for the simplicity of the format and the email capability.
I'd love the ability to house pdf's on substack, so my readers can get a download from a newsletter, or perhaps when they sign up. Right now the pdf would have to be housed somewhere else, such as on another website. I have another website, but I'm trying to move everything to substack. Any suggestions would be really appreciated.
Hi Charlotte. Know the thread is over for this week, but I just checked out your substack site and noticed that you are linking your articles to your website. (By the way, awesome topic. Wish I sailed - only claim to that is turtling a Hobie Cat) May I ask why you are moving everything? ⛵
I am one of those people writing here to GROW an audience. Somewhere after 30 weekly publications of "The Conscious Politics Sunday Newsletter," which my tiny readership seems to appreciate far more than not, I searched my name and "conscious politics" and got ZERO results. Zero. No idea what to even do with that, not feeling like I'm in a place where I can be seen and grow. Nor would I encourage someone to come here as a reader and search topics because god only knows what they'd be shown/what they'd find. It's hard enough, people. This is demoralizing.
Didn't mean to sound so cranky but saw the email about this and thought it was my only shot. Nice to see I'm not alone on this particular subject. I honestly thought that the BUSINESS of Substack included cultivating writers -- it makes money when we do. Substack owes me nothing, for sure, just expected more in the realm of that cultivation piece.
Hi @rrt. I read thru this info and am not sure that there is anything I can do on Substack to improve my discoverability. This recommends using site maps, which I could do on my own website, but not on Substack. I also see that it mentions using links in an article, but if I start providing links to other sites, I'm thinking that will only help them, and not me. I do have a question about using my own domain (instead of PracticalKindness.substack.com using PracticalKindness.com). Would this make a difference? I have the domain and could set it up (with your $50 payment). I'm hesitant because all of my current url's will be wrong and I have posted those in other places (twitter, LinkedIn). But if that would make a difference, then I should do it now, before I have a ton of articles to change. Can you please provide some advice on this? Thank you.
Hi, just popping in to say hello. I’ve recently started a Substack about baking 100-year-old recipes in my tiny 1927 apartment galley kitchen. Really enjoying it and would love to learn more about building my readership. Thanks!
To grow a publication you need to publish alot of content. This takes hardwork and dedication. What is Substack doing behind the scenes to help us get our content discovered?
Bailey, I will stay tuned! Thanks for the response. I truly appreciate it! I plan to make a top publication in the arts industry. And I plan to use Substack to make this happen! Just waiting for the right little nudge to make it happen! :)
Well, let me take this opportunity to introduce myself, as Mick says... I have a publication about my life as a rock and roll photographer -- one of the first women, mind you! And would love any one of you interested to subscribe. To offset the mundane world of rock 'n roll, I also have a publication about life, death and everything in-between. I don't care how many people subscribe, how much money I might make but what I do care about is expressing myself and I'm loving expressing myself on substack. It just feels wonderful to having complete freedom to just write. People ask me to do a memoir - forget it. this is much easier! Best wishes to everyone for whatever reason you are using substack... and may all your longings come true.
Would it be possible to add a category called "Investing" or "Stocks" in the Discover tab in the Substack Reader? My Substack provides Asian stock ideas, and I find its value proposition to be a bit different from the Substacks listed in either the Business or Finance sections. Increasing the number of Substacks in the Discover tab from 25 to say 50 would also help us small guys get recognition.
My newsletter is devoted to exploring the practical benefits of kindness. The only options I see are 'religion' (doesn't fit) and 'philosophy' (doesn't fit). I'd love to see a category for 'Kindness' or 'Happiness'. There are a few other newsletters that flirt with kindness and they are also in categories that don't really make sense. Thank you @Bailey for being open to possibilities!
My newsletter is what we used to call "hyper - local". I am covering business and construction in downtown Des Moines. Point taken about not wanted to make your categories too slim, but I think touting local news would be a lift for some of us.
There needs to be a crypto category, though. It's taking over like 3 other categories (tech, finance, business), and there's a clear difference between people interesting in crypto and the rest of those categories.
I was writing a weekly blog on Substack of primarily memoirs, that appeal to universal human experiences. After 19 weeks I grew exhausted of the time & energy that I was putting into the work, only to have nominal subscribers (despite diligent social media promotion). What’s the secret to increase subscribers?
Part 2 - When Substack curates your article, are they looking more at content or your following numbers?
I just started a newsletter kind of like this where I write about my direct experiences with different big picture aspects of life, and like publishing memoirs, I think the challenge with growing a newsletter like this is that you are covering a wide range of topics, and each topic might have a completely different audience.
I have been doing generic social media promotion without much success, but next I'm going to try to find conversations or groups online that are talking about topics related to each of my Substack posts, then join the conversation and find a way to link to the post that I think is relevant.
Our approach is very similar. On the first part, I like to believe if they pop on and like your style, they should want to subscribe, to see what’s next. Ahh, in a perfect literary world, not consumed with 7 second Vlogs.
On the latter approach, I share to 40 Facebook groups. HOWEVER, they are not topic specific & that might be an excellent suggestion! Social Media concentration (I’m 52) is, in and of itself, exhausting homework. Thank you and best of luck.
I too am nervous about exhausting myself with the social media homework and 'hustle'. From what I've seen, this can be a finite task just to get a core following who, like you said, subscribe because they like your style and want to see what's next.
Once that following exists, then I think there's a choice to just put your energy into your readers, and make it easy for your readers to share your work with others from there on out.
Having not been successful with this myself, I'm just guessing based on my observations of others.
I write a weekly poetry newsletter and I am up to 6000+ subscribers. When you say approx 5-10% of readers will subscribe and pay for the content, what open rate should we be looking for to get in that range? I am considering putting up a paywall soon by offering two additional posts per week. Is it better to post more content up front, and then "take it away" with the paywall, or to do what I'm thinking which is to offer bonus along with a the paid option?
I shared it with my daughter. She lived in San Fran for 12 years before moving to Atlanta. She works for WebMD, so she'll be checking it out after work. She did tell me that she loves the photo!
This is an accurate description of the pricing structure for Popular Information until March 2020, when I removed the paywall and started sending all my content to everyone. There has not been a negative impact on my paid subscriber growth. YMMV.
That's amazing. So you took down the paywall and people still paid? How do you rationalize that to them? I wish I could take down my paywall but I feel guilty for the people who pay.
In the Editor, I do not find 'undo' button which I suppose is essential for writers. Can you make the Line button a toggle option? While writing a post, accidentally I pressed it but couldn't undo it. Would appreciate that.
I went paid early, because I didn't want to deliver something for free and then ask people to convert. I wanted to give the option straight off the bat to sign up for free or sign up paid with different content options. How can I organically grow my paid subscribers?
These ideas are really helpful. Has substack ever looked into how often we should write for paid subscribers to keep them paying? There must be a drop off point when they see that the free content is all they want. I’m just not sure how much to do for each group.
I dont have any issues with Substack. I am having a problem with posting content. I reread the Resources like Deez Links and others, I rewatch Masterclass and try to post in other communities but they are not active. I would love to join a group of amateur writers, check in, share and hold accountable each other, like Ycombinator.
Hey Meder! I host something called 'Writers' Hour' - free daily writing sessions 4x each weekday with writers around the world. It's a wonderful community, very active. We'd love for you to join us: http://writershour.com/
Interesting thought. I started eight weeks ago without much of a plan and this is the very first time that I join (or even heard of) a thread. I think some kind of community to help each other to get started would have helped me when I started. And as I just admitted that I had never known about threads just proves how much I can still learn from others. And what is "Masterclass" that you referred to?
Yeah, I knew about threads but did not know how to use them. Check out masterclass.com, they have a lot of great writers. Only like $15/month or something.
1. Once a week video call to talk about goals of next week and accomplishments of the past week as a start with a mentor or instructor. It could be paid but not too much. I am personally ready to pay $200/month for some sort of course. I could not find a good one out there.
2. Discuss struggles and things that work. I don't know the topics because I don't know what other people are struggling with.
3. Once 2 weeks a speaker event from an established writer to share her experience and tips.
I joined a substack community on Discord but it's not active. Reddit requires karma but its good for advice not accountability and a sense of belonging.
How would you suggest using the Substack community better to build awareness for individual newsletters? Are there any forums that are accessible beyond "Discover"?
Tip to gain subscribers: I have gained some subscribers through LinkedIn, where I share my work once a week. I also comment on posts and articles that are related to my niche and I share relevant quotes and images, probably 3-4 times a week. It hasn't been a goldmine yet, but I believe there is an opportunity for some consistent (albeit slow) growth. I know this isn't for everyone, but just throwing it out there as a possible opportunity. I must admit, it's a challenge trying to balance my time between writing content and promoting!
How can my publications get in the running to be picked as your weekly pics? This would help other people know they exist. I'm sure others would like this as well.
hi bailey, well, in particular I'm not sure. I thought you published some of the posts we all did as examples of our work? But, I'm happy to write something or refer you to a post that I feel would be valuable for others to read. Such as one I already did on beingahuman.substack.com which is about the birth of my first grandson and the impeding death of my 94 year old mom, with photos.
But, maybe I need to know more from you what you do publish that does get our work out there further.
We have a newsletter in which we write about startups, the economy, history, etc. for startup enthusiasts, techies, PMs, Consultants, etc. A lot of content I post would be better with formatting layout, text, pics, etc. When will substack launch/integrate more tools useful for formatting?
I have used both MailChimp and Constant Contact for newsletter clients, but chose Substack for my own newsletter because it's so clean. If most of your readers are reading on mobile, they really don't benefit from all of the extra formatting -- honestly, the simple lines of a Substack newsletter are far more readable on mobile.
While I agree with you that the minimalist look is more readable, I think editing the layout of the newsletter would definitely make it easier for the writer to customize the newsletter based on the topic and make reading easier for the reader
I have read accounts by Substack authors who, for example, say they have 1,000 subscribers and 10 percent are paid. How do you separate the two? I assume the content is different for the two different groups? Or is it just a matter of those paying are allowed to comment on posts?
I have an Author Adventure Publishing Posse newsletter where I share book publishing secrets and strategies. I try to post 3 times a week 2 (free) and 1 (paid) is a deeper dive into something I have addressed briefly like an expanded version of 15 Questions every author should be asking themselves all along their journey or maybe a short article on the 5 ways most people write then an expanded version for people who paid (serious about learning their craft and becoming a best-selling author). authorlizlawless.substack.com
I have since 8 weeks a daily newsletter. From day one, people could choose between free signups or a paid subscription. I have only twice put an article behind the paywall, but all other 54 are available to all. Everyone can comment, but 90 percent of the comments are from paying subscribers.
Hey Richard — I'm sorry to say that while Substack allows you to publish in any language, the interface is only available in English for now. This is definitely something top-of-mind as we continue to grow, so thanks for the push!
The option to change the language of the interface would be a big plus. And that has prevented me to adopt Substract since most of my texts are in French.
I read the link from above. and I have two questions about sections. What I would like to do is to take the content from my newsletter and organize it by topic. It does not seem like that is the purpose of the Sections, right? Instead, it looks like a place to have different newsletters, podcasts and such under one umbrella. Am I understanding that correctly? The second question has to do with how people find out about your sections. When I created a local section it looked like they had to subscribe to that separately? Is that true?
Thanks for the forum! On average, what percent of subscribers don't open our emails because our newsletters are automatically filtered as "spam" or put into a "promotions" tab?
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If you can’t find the newsletter, check your spam folder. And please mark this address as ‘not spam.’ If the newsletter isn’t in your spam folder, either, you should look in the Promotions tab.
My challenge is readers don’t like that substack is not mobile friendly so they leave it and fo leave comments on Facebook post of the same story or just don’t engage. The problem is not having an app so only with safari comments on iphone or iPad. Any suggestions?
☝️ Is my readers second most common complaint with the “little boxes” for comments- NO EDIT button ! They do exactly what I’m doing here- add the sorry for typos to the comment.
Thank you! Tell them to try to see comments or leave comments on iphone safari. It’s not possible. The site is designed to be written only on laptop of desktop. I had one reader write that he had a lot to say but didn’t want to get off his couch to go to his desk ;)
I have no insight into how Substack employees think, but part of the concern may be that Apple and Google will want to take a cut of subscription fees if readers use an app to consume content on the site. I don’t begrudge those stores their rent money, but it’s difficult enough to make it as a writer without losing an additional 30%.
I hadn't considered the financing of it. But it's really hard for me to get my readers to even move into this platform because there is so little community engagement compared to the ease of Facebook. And 90% of my subscribers and traffic comes from Facebook, so I don't know how to keep them. When they want to leave a comment, they reply to the email (which I just cant keep up with answering) or they leave the comment on FB. If Substack was at least mobile friendly on iphone to read comments and write on safari, that would help a lot.
The issue about the difficulties in getting people to switch from Facebook to a new platform isn’t unique to you. That’s something that everyone faces. I’m sure it’s even something that concerns people who make video games, movies, and television shows. Facebook is a juggernaught, but they aren’t the real issue (in my opinion).
I believe the real problem that all of us face is the habits of our readers. How many of our readers begin their day (regardless of whether they are logging into a work or personal computer, tablet, or phone) by visiting Facebook? Do they do this because they love seeing FB show them the same 15 posts that they’ve seen multiple times already? Do they do it because they want to read or participate in some armchair analysts latest political screed masquerading as commentary? While it’s true that they’re may be elements of all of these things built into this behavior, I believe that the main component is simply that it’s become a habit to them.
You aren’t going to be able to change their habit. I believe the only way to get users to prioritize our content over their habit is to provide better content than they receive on Facebook. Again, this is my opinion, but I’m basing it off of things I’ve observed in my personal behavior.
I’m like everyone else these days— short attention span looking for the next dopamine fix from social media or whatever. Yet, I pay to subscribe and read Ben Thompson’s Stratechery, Casey Newton’s Platformer, and a host of other newsletters because their content (and those guys write some long posts compared to the average Facebook post) simply because their content is stuff I can’t find on Facebook and it’s actually making me smarter. For that reason, I’m willing to break out of my habits and embrace new behaviors. Well, that’s part of it. The other part is that I’m giving these guys money and I want to get value out of my subscription.
All this isn’t to say that there aren’t things that Substack couldn’t do to improve user experience or make things easier on the writer. If there are issues with Safari they need to be addressed. I wonder if replies to your e-mail couldn’t be set up so that they automatically post as comments on the relevant newsletter. Of course, that brings up a bunch of other issues like spam, hate speech, etc. but there may be technical ways to address even those problems.
I also think it may be worth considering some creative things each of us could do as creators to make our newsletters stand out when compared to the average social media posts. One thing I enjoy about Stratechery is that he offers audio editions of the newsletter via podcast. This is particularly useful when he does a 40k word interview with someone. I only mention this because it’s not something I see a lot of people doing. No doubt that’s because there’s a significant time investment required to create those podcast episodes, but it does make his newsletter unique and provides value to his subscribers. Is there anything like that which you could do that would make you stand out just a bit more? It might be worth thinking about, but again I’m just some random guy on the internet. I haven’t even gone live with my newsletter yet because I’m still trying to figure out my value proposition. So, take my blathering comment with the appropriately sized grain of salt.
I do wish you the best and believe that this is something that can be overcome. Good luck!
Would you consider putting this on your substack with a link (go public now) so I can link to it on mine? This is so important and I want all of us who are here now to think through what habits we need to shift as we move away from the dopamine hit and return to reading long form and learning. This is the future and you've explained it better than anyone else I've read.
PS- I had to open my laptop to reply to this because the comment doesn't show on safari on my iphone. I just got an email with your response so that's how I was able to read it (twice!)
You’re too kind. I’ll work something up tonight and post it tomorrow.
I think many of the difficulties we’re experiencing are simply because Substack is still in the early stages. For example, the difficulties associated with having to wait for an e-mail before you learn about a new comment could be alleviated with an on-site notification system… or ya know, resolving whatever issues you’re experiencing with mobile Safari.
I have faith that they’ll figure things out. It’s just a matter of hanging in there until things are resolved.
You can't hide your talent behind comments. Write about how we are adjusting to a new way of reading and learning and why it's better than the way we've been getting news in the last 10 years. Also tell us why we are ahead of the curve with substack. Deadline Wednesday.
Hello! We have a newsletter covering local government in Alberta and I am wondering how to get more comments? We are straight up asking questions to the paid subs but haven’t received much yet.
@katie, Thanks for recommending Get Together. They have a lot of thoughtful articles on their site (and their Substack) that I’ve found to be quite helpful.
I have a question about finding an editor. I love writing on Substack, but writing without an editor is generally a terrible idea. Do you have suggestions for finding someone who would be interested in editing a Substack newsletter? Thanks so much!
What kind of volume of work do you need? I'm in the process of hiring some freelance proofreaders. It's possible they could do the same kind of work for other sites, too.
Two newsletters per week. Not lengthy. I’m mostly interested in editing for ~500-1000 word essays that are the first section of the newsletter. But the editor needs an understanding of baseball. (It’s a Rockies-centric newsletter, but an understanding of the game and some sabermetrics is what I’m looking for.)
That sounds interesting. The folks I'm working with could handle the workload, but I don't think they have any particular knowledge of or interest in baseball. All the best.
As much as I would like to participate in writing on the site, I am having problems uploading material. I have tried to upload work docs or google docs and have only succeeded in creating a title and 6 different sites. Are there instructions on basic operations available somewhere?
I think you might need to just copy and paste the text from your word or google doc into a new Substack draft. If your material has headings, I think Substack might automatically preserve them when you paste.
But maybe someone from Substack or someone else knows of a way to import documents from other places.
I write articles and add photos in my Pages doc (Mac) cut and paste but you do have to add the Heading separately. I have it in the document. Paste the whole document then cut and paste the Headline and Subhead into the Heading in the Substack Draft document then publish or schedule the post to go live later. There also is a How To Use The Substack Editor under the DRAFTS on your dashboard which tells you what to do.
A few days ago I uploaded my MailChimp list that I email from my website. I decided to make SubStack my platform to send the newsletters going forward. I received an email asking where did the list come from. I informed them it was my own list. I still cannot send out newsletters to the list.
1. I have a personal blog too. Can I use substack for reposting (in other words, the article would have already been published on my blog before substack) and better reach? And I hope I own the articles even though the platform is substack?
2. If I want to post on two completely separate topics (one computer science related and other one general lifestyle), then do I need to create two different accounts?
Hi there - Was curious if there was a way to create a welcome email for new subscribers or if they only get the next issue that you publish? Also, what is substack doing around helping people with discoverability - for example, backlinks? As of now when you google, nothing comes up.
I have an existing podcast at artinallitsforms.substack.com, and I'd like to use the new Sections feature Substack has. However, I just want to take all the podcast posts I currently have and simply move them to the new "section," not create an entirely new podcast (which is what the Sections feature is asking me to do when I try to set it up). How do I do that? Maybe I'm missing something... All I'm trying to do is split my current podcast and newsletter feed into two sections. Thanks!
I don't think social media is all that helpful and (importantly) Substack's boffins seem to concur. It comes down to tapping everyone you know, I think. I always bear in mind the advertising rule, that someone must see something three times before they are likely to act. Translated: You need to go on and on about your work, and take every chance to show it to people. One problem we are all running into is information overload, and, I would suggest, that "celebrity" voices are taken more seriously than others. That's not an insuperable problem, but getting people's attention long enough to persuade them to pay attention to what you're doing is the key challenge, I suspect. Hope that was in any way helpful! Being a glutton for punishment, I write a newsletter on history aimed at people who don't think they like history! Think for a moment about how tricky it is to market that! :)
For those of you that are still here now that this thread just closed: I started recently to write about climate change, nature, news, and history. I would love it if you could look and tell me what you think and how to improve.
I'm still trying to grow my subscriber list even though my publication is free right now. I write about popular culture and poetry, and I've done a lot of what you've suggested (reaching out to networks, explicitly asking for folks I know to sign up, posting regularly, creating high-quality content) and it's still very slow going. I know this has been asked differently upthread, but I would appreciate continually updating materials on how to grow your list or examples from folks who have rather than just a recap of what's already been said. Overall I'm satisfied with my experience. Just hoping to reach more readers (I know they're out there!)
For those of you using twitter or instagram, @alexander verbeek, for example, about how much time to you spend on social media and how many posts per day? Thanks for the advice!
Hi, I just started a newsletter exploring big picture topics of life at maclain.substack.com, and I'm wondering how to link my newsletter in social media comment threads without coming off as the bad kind of "self-promotional"?
I want to be authentic and engage meaningfully with what people are talking about online, and sometimes I have written about something that is relevant to that conversation. But I often feel uncomfortable throwing a link to my newsletter in there.
Any tips, advice, approaches, or even specific examples?
I do a local daily news podcast. We've built up a pretty good email list that helps promote it. But, with the daily demands of the podcast and being a tiny team, I find it hard to focus on emails. I can vision the product, and when it goes out it does fine, but it's far easier to find help and support for the on-air portion of things and few contributors really want to write they want to talk on the podcast or be on video or do visual art; so writing falls on me. So it's an "occasional" thing and I know I'm leaving at least traffic and brand building on the table, if not more. Any tips for cutting out time in your day? Or what the MVP (Minimum Viable Product) could be just to get more emails out and then ramp up with using as little resources as possible as we're self-funded? -Jer
Hey there — congrats on the success! One thing you could try is also distributing your podcast through Substack (https://on.substack.com/p/how-to-use-substack-for-podcasts). This could be a great way to keep your subscribers engaged when you don't have as much time to write. You can also attach show notes or supporting links to these emails, which can be easier to write than a long post. Good luck!
Hey Ronan! That's not something we support right now, unfortunately. As a workaround, you might try embedding a screenshot of your Donorbox donation module, then linking this image to the donation checkout URL. That way people who want to give will be directed to the right place!
My publishing newsletter only goes to the inbox of subscribers. To get it on social media platforms I have to post something with a link taking people back to the newsletter.
Hi, I would like to be able to give potential customers the option of a 14 day trial, instead of only 7 days. I think it would be very valuable for readers to have a longer trial period before signing up for a paid subscription. Would you please pass that on to the product team? Thank you!
While I'm thinking about it... Can you please stop introducing us as "emerging" writers, as though we only just started writing? What we are is Not Celebrities. When British press Virago began reissuing 19th and early 20th books written by women, they didn't call them "emerging" authors. They told the truth, which is that most women authors had been ignored unless they were wealthy or pretended to be men. The difference today lies in the blue check, whose owners can write whatever pops into their heads and still get accolades. I'm not telling you guys anything you don't know, of course, but I look forward to seeing how (or if) you seriously address it without losing profitability. Seizing the bull by the horns might be the only way.
Thanks for all you guys are doing!
I launched a Substack with some friends and colleagues in February. We write about the more unknown sides to Japanese culture and our model is totally free. Initially we gained followers from friends and family but have really struggled to attract subscribers outside of our network. We have dabbled with some social media ads but they haven't really worked. How do you promote and grow your community? Any tips of suggestions would be well received please.
Good topic. I publish weekly, devoted to the practical side of kindness. Just started in April and got 100+ subscribers pretty quickly, but am now struggling to get a few each week. I believe in what I'm publishing and am in it for the long haul, but could sure use some ideas to grow subscribers.
How about subscribing each other writers for the starters, to gain confidence and enthusiasm?
I joined just yesterday. Planning to subscribe a bunch of writers here tom. ☺️
oh and we publish every week religiously.
yup, I publish every week too and am really struggling with growth.
I subscribed Melinda. Very useful for my fatherly duties!
aww, thanks!!
A very late reply but I think you might both enjoy my newsletter: www.thenewfatherhood.org
It seems to me that newsletter promotion is about finding your niche audience and then just trying to use social media and personal connections to get it in front of people's faces. Are there any other secret tricks?
I've had some luck with facebook groups and reaching out to similar newsletters.
When reaching out, are you asking them to share you? How specifically do you interact with the FB groups/other newsletters?
I've done guest Q&As with other newsletter writers, which they then feature in their newsletters. On FB, I try to keep it organic and not be annoyingly self-promoy if that makes sense. I write a book rec newsletter, so if I see someone looking for a book, I'll say "oh, you might like xyz, here's a post I wrote about it."
I second this completely.
Hi @Eliz. I just posted a tip for using LinkedIn. Not sure what your niche is and if LinkedIn might work for you.
I'm wondering what we can do to ensure that our newsletters pop up when people search Substack for our newsletter keywords. I have a parenting newsletter with 1600 subscribers and it still doesn't appear when people search Substack for "parenting." Is it just a matter of getting more subscribers? (I think some of the newsletters that do pop up are smaller, so I'm confused about how this is decided.) Thanks!
Yes, this! I can't ever find my own newsletter (which is about children's books, so fairly specific and niche) and my stats show that almost no one is coming to me via Substack itself.
I find the same.
Ditto.
I understand that you can't disclose your algorithm, but can you give a few practical tips for writers who want to increase their chances of being discovered through the search function?
Echoing Melinda’s comment. SEO seems to be terrible on substack posts. It’s the number one worry I have with the platform going forward. I search for things that absolutely should surface my own posts and it doesn’t.
Hi @Bailey. Sorry, but I'm confused by your answer. What's the point of using tags if they aren't searchable? Thanks for helping me understand.
It's hard to compete with name brands on Substack, so yes, do tell about promotion and targeting specific audiences! I have a good platform, but expanding beyond it is the next frontier, and it's not the cakewalk it sounds. Also, archive is a terrible word for my fast-growing and current collection of posts. Can we change that? Thanks, guys. It's obvious you're overwhelmed, so appreciate this chance to engage.
Annette, love your idea of changing the name 'archive' to 'collection' or something similar.
Thanks, Heather! I love Collections, which makes it sound all special and curated and not dusty and old. 😃
I include a link in my weekly article to the archives. Thanks to you I am now calling the link my 'collection'. It sounds so much nicer (and less old!!). Hoping Substack makes the change on their end, too. Thanks again, @Annette Laing.
You're welcome! Btw, Heather, can we add a post to more than one section? Just hoping you know before I get going with mine!
I don't know. I'm not using multiple sections. Let me know how it goes for you!
MS Edge has that Collection feature instead of bookmark
I'm a historian, a former academic, and a missionary for history. Therefore I remain a bit of a schmuck: My advice is free. Hoping it's compatible with your business plan. 😃
You may want to rethink your use of the word “schmuck.” Like “putz,” it literally means “penis,” rather in the way “dick” is used in American English (not sure about elsewhere). And while both can be used to mean a dope/hapless/naive, etc., person, they’re pretty much the height of vulgarity in Yiddish. A schmuck is also nasty person, someone who is cruel to others in order to get ahead. As Leo Rosten wrote, “a son of a bitch.” I’ve heard “putz” used that way, too. From the context, it sounds as though you mean “shlemiel,” which doesn’t carry the same connotations as the other two words. Just a suggestion. PS I love the phrase “missionary for history.”
Words change. Look up the Oxford English Dictionary before trolling. Unless, of course, you know exactly what you're doing, in which case do not, I warn, try to mansplain to me again.
One reason I chose Substack is because of the ability to generate an email list and send out my newsletter at no cost. I've used Mailchimp and SendinBlue before and, while they are terrific, they are harder to use and get costly as your email list grows. So thanks to Substack, both for the simplicity of the format and the email capability.
I'd love the ability to house pdf's on substack, so my readers can get a download from a newsletter, or perhaps when they sign up. Right now the pdf would have to be housed somewhere else, such as on another website. I have another website, but I'm trying to move everything to substack. Any suggestions would be really appreciated.
Good news coming soon on this front
Oh, the suspense..... 💜
This! I'm also uploading my PDFs onto Google Drive. I fear readers will share the PDFs with those who aren't paid-up subscribers.
Also trying to move everything to Substack!
Hi Charlotte. Know the thread is over for this week, but I just checked out your substack site and noticed that you are linking your articles to your website. (By the way, awesome topic. Wish I sailed - only claim to that is turtling a Hobie Cat) May I ask why you are moving everything? ⛵
I am one of those people writing here to GROW an audience. Somewhere after 30 weekly publications of "The Conscious Politics Sunday Newsletter," which my tiny readership seems to appreciate far more than not, I searched my name and "conscious politics" and got ZERO results. Zero. No idea what to even do with that, not feeling like I'm in a place where I can be seen and grow. Nor would I encourage someone to come here as a reader and search topics because god only knows what they'd be shown/what they'd find. It's hard enough, people. This is demoralizing.
Didn't mean to sound so cranky but saw the email about this and thought it was my only shot. Nice to see I'm not alone on this particular subject. I honestly thought that the BUSINESS of Substack included cultivating writers -- it makes money when we do. Substack owes me nothing, for sure, just expected more in the realm of that cultivation piece.
Thanks for this, rrt. (As for my readership steadily growing...may that be true for all who desire it.)
Hi @rrt. I read thru this info and am not sure that there is anything I can do on Substack to improve my discoverability. This recommends using site maps, which I could do on my own website, but not on Substack. I also see that it mentions using links in an article, but if I start providing links to other sites, I'm thinking that will only help them, and not me. I do have a question about using my own domain (instead of PracticalKindness.substack.com using PracticalKindness.com). Would this make a difference? I have the domain and could set it up (with your $50 payment). I'm hesitant because all of my current url's will be wrong and I have posted those in other places (twitter, LinkedIn). But if that would make a difference, then I should do it now, before I have a ton of articles to change. Can you please provide some advice on this? Thank you.
Hi, just popping in to say hello. I’ve recently started a Substack about baking 100-year-old recipes in my tiny 1927 apartment galley kitchen. Really enjoying it and would love to learn more about building my readership. Thanks!
Wow! This is fascinating. I've been mildly obsessed with food history for the past year. Subscribed!
Thank you, I’m jumping over to your page right now!
Yum. Just subscribed. Can't wait!
Kindness! Love it! Subscribed!
So fun! Subscribing now!
Aww thank you! I’ll do the same!
What a great topic! Just subscribed.
Thank you! I’m going to your page now!
Hi and thanks! :)
To grow a publication you need to publish alot of content. This takes hardwork and dedication. What is Substack doing behind the scenes to help us get our content discovered?
Bailey, I will stay tuned! Thanks for the response. I truly appreciate it! I plan to make a top publication in the arts industry. And I plan to use Substack to make this happen! Just waiting for the right little nudge to make it happen! :)
Well, let me take this opportunity to introduce myself, as Mick says... I have a publication about my life as a rock and roll photographer -- one of the first women, mind you! And would love any one of you interested to subscribe. To offset the mundane world of rock 'n roll, I also have a publication about life, death and everything in-between. I don't care how many people subscribe, how much money I might make but what I do care about is expressing myself and I'm loving expressing myself on substack. It just feels wonderful to having complete freedom to just write. People ask me to do a memoir - forget it. this is much easier! Best wishes to everyone for whatever reason you are using substack... and may all your longings come true.
Thank you. In my day, we'd say bitchen! I see it and groovy are making a comeback!
PS. If you liked my post, you'll enjoy the whole book about it all... www.cockerpowerbook.com
Would it be possible to add a category called "Investing" or "Stocks" in the Discover tab in the Substack Reader? My Substack provides Asian stock ideas, and I find its value proposition to be a bit different from the Substacks listed in either the Business or Finance sections. Increasing the number of Substacks in the Discover tab from 25 to say 50 would also help us small guys get recognition.
Yes. So agree. My publication doesn't really fit into any of the current categories. Thanks for bringing this up, Michael.
My newsletter is devoted to exploring the practical benefits of kindness. The only options I see are 'religion' (doesn't fit) and 'philosophy' (doesn't fit). I'd love to see a category for 'Kindness' or 'Happiness'. There are a few other newsletters that flirt with kindness and they are also in categories that don't really make sense. Thank you @Bailey for being open to possibilities!
My newsletter is what we used to call "hyper - local". I am covering business and construction in downtown Des Moines. Point taken about not wanted to make your categories too slim, but I think touting local news would be a lift for some of us.
There needs to be a crypto category, though. It's taking over like 3 other categories (tech, finance, business), and there's a clear difference between people interesting in crypto and the rest of those categories.
I was writing a weekly blog on Substack of primarily memoirs, that appeal to universal human experiences. After 19 weeks I grew exhausted of the time & energy that I was putting into the work, only to have nominal subscribers (despite diligent social media promotion). What’s the secret to increase subscribers?
Part 2 - When Substack curates your article, are they looking more at content or your following numbers?
I just started a newsletter kind of like this where I write about my direct experiences with different big picture aspects of life, and like publishing memoirs, I think the challenge with growing a newsletter like this is that you are covering a wide range of topics, and each topic might have a completely different audience.
I have been doing generic social media promotion without much success, but next I'm going to try to find conversations or groups online that are talking about topics related to each of my Substack posts, then join the conversation and find a way to link to the post that I think is relevant.
Our approach is very similar. On the first part, I like to believe if they pop on and like your style, they should want to subscribe, to see what’s next. Ahh, in a perfect literary world, not consumed with 7 second Vlogs.
On the latter approach, I share to 40 Facebook groups. HOWEVER, they are not topic specific & that might be an excellent suggestion! Social Media concentration (I’m 52) is, in and of itself, exhausting homework. Thank you and best of luck.
I too am nervous about exhausting myself with the social media homework and 'hustle'. From what I've seen, this can be a finite task just to get a core following who, like you said, subscribe because they like your style and want to see what's next.
Once that following exists, then I think there's a choice to just put your energy into your readers, and make it easy for your readers to share your work with others from there on out.
Having not been successful with this myself, I'm just guessing based on my observations of others.
Thanks and best of luck to you too!
I write a weekly poetry newsletter and I am up to 6000+ subscribers. When you say approx 5-10% of readers will subscribe and pay for the content, what open rate should we be looking for to get in that range? I am considering putting up a paywall soon by offering two additional posts per week. Is it better to post more content up front, and then "take it away" with the paywall, or to do what I'm thinking which is to offer bonus along with a the paid option?
Love your poetry. Just signed up. Thank you!
Thanks Heather!
I shared it with my daughter. She lived in San Fran for 12 years before moving to Atlanta. She works for WebMD, so she'll be checking it out after work. She did tell me that she loves the photo!
Well, that’s a start!
This is an accurate description of the pricing structure for Popular Information until March 2020, when I removed the paywall and started sending all my content to everyone. There has not been a negative impact on my paid subscriber growth. YMMV.
That's amazing. So you took down the paywall and people still paid? How do you rationalize that to them? I wish I could take down my paywall but I feel guilty for the people who pay.
Very helpful, thank you!
I wanna not worry about money. Which means not having a lot or having other people worry about it for me.
In the Editor, I do not find 'undo' button which I suppose is essential for writers. Can you make the Line button a toggle option? While writing a post, accidentally I pressed it but couldn't undo it. Would appreciate that.
One more thing! To delete a "line" you can try these steps:
1. Click somewhere below the line
2. Type a little bit of text
3. Hit the "up" arrow, which should then select the line
4. Press delete
We can definitely make this easier!
Would appreciate an easier thing!
Thanks Katie!
I went paid early, because I didn't want to deliver something for free and then ask people to convert. I wanted to give the option straight off the bat to sign up for free or sign up paid with different content options. How can I organically grow my paid subscribers?
These ideas are really helpful. Has substack ever looked into how often we should write for paid subscribers to keep them paying? There must be a drop off point when they see that the free content is all they want. I’m just not sure how much to do for each group.
I dont have any issues with Substack. I am having a problem with posting content. I reread the Resources like Deez Links and others, I rewatch Masterclass and try to post in other communities but they are not active. I would love to join a group of amateur writers, check in, share and hold accountable each other, like Ycombinator.
I just joined a Substack Community on Discord and its active. Its helped me a lot already! https://discord.gg/afa6vRuF
I like the name of it. Just joined it. Thank you for sharing!
Hey Meder! I host something called 'Writers' Hour' - free daily writing sessions 4x each weekday with writers around the world. It's a wonderful community, very active. We'd love for you to join us: http://writershour.com/
I did and had the first session today! :) i liked it, wrote more than usual. Thanks for sharing!
I saw, Meder! I'll look out for you again and would love to call on you next time you're with us
Interesting thought. I started eight weeks ago without much of a plan and this is the very first time that I join (or even heard of) a thread. I think some kind of community to help each other to get started would have helped me when I started. And as I just admitted that I had never known about threads just proves how much I can still learn from others. And what is "Masterclass" that you referred to?
https://discord.gg/afa6vRuF
Yeah, I knew about threads but did not know how to use them. Check out masterclass.com, they have a lot of great writers. Only like $15/month or something.
Hi Meder - Check out Foster. https://www.foster.to
Thanks Sara! I just signed up!
1. Once a week video call to talk about goals of next week and accomplishments of the past week as a start with a mentor or instructor. It could be paid but not too much. I am personally ready to pay $200/month for some sort of course. I could not find a good one out there.
2. Discuss struggles and things that work. I don't know the topics because I don't know what other people are struggling with.
3. Once 2 weeks a speaker event from an established writer to share her experience and tips.
I joined a substack community on Discord but it's not active. Reddit requires karma but its good for advice not accountability and a sense of belonging.
Hi! You may also be curious to check out Newsletter Crew! https://www.newslettercrew.com/
How would you suggest using the Substack community better to build awareness for individual newsletters? Are there any forums that are accessible beyond "Discover"?
Tip to gain subscribers: I have gained some subscribers through LinkedIn, where I share my work once a week. I also comment on posts and articles that are related to my niche and I share relevant quotes and images, probably 3-4 times a week. It hasn't been a goldmine yet, but I believe there is an opportunity for some consistent (albeit slow) growth. I know this isn't for everyone, but just throwing it out there as a possible opportunity. I must admit, it's a challenge trying to balance my time between writing content and promoting!
Thanks for sharing these tips—appreciated!
How can my publications get in the running to be picked as your weekly pics? This would help other people know they exist. I'm sure others would like this as well.
hi bailey, well, in particular I'm not sure. I thought you published some of the posts we all did as examples of our work? But, I'm happy to write something or refer you to a post that I feel would be valuable for others to read. Such as one I already did on beingahuman.substack.com which is about the birth of my first grandson and the impeding death of my 94 year old mom, with photos.
But, maybe I need to know more from you what you do publish that does get our work out there further.
Hello! Can you move an already published post to a newly created Section?
Wonderful. Thank you!
We have a newsletter in which we write about startups, the economy, history, etc. for startup enthusiasts, techies, PMs, Consultants, etc. A lot of content I post would be better with formatting layout, text, pics, etc. When will substack launch/integrate more tools useful for formatting?
I have used both MailChimp and Constant Contact for newsletter clients, but chose Substack for my own newsletter because it's so clean. If most of your readers are reading on mobile, they really don't benefit from all of the extra formatting -- honestly, the simple lines of a Substack newsletter are far more readable on mobile.
While I agree with you that the minimalist look is more readable, I think editing the layout of the newsletter would definitely make it easier for the writer to customize the newsletter based on the topic and make reading easier for the reader
I concur.
I have read accounts by Substack authors who, for example, say they have 1,000 subscribers and 10 percent are paid. How do you separate the two? I assume the content is different for the two different groups? Or is it just a matter of those paying are allowed to comment on posts?
I have an Author Adventure Publishing Posse newsletter where I share book publishing secrets and strategies. I try to post 3 times a week 2 (free) and 1 (paid) is a deeper dive into something I have addressed briefly like an expanded version of 15 Questions every author should be asking themselves all along their journey or maybe a short article on the 5 ways most people write then an expanded version for people who paid (serious about learning their craft and becoming a best-selling author). authorlizlawless.substack.com
Paid subscribers are allowed to comment, get discounts on other programs, and have access to a monthly zoom and a monthly prize give-away.
I have since 8 weeks a daily newsletter. From day one, people could choose between free signups or a paid subscription. I have only twice put an article behind the paywall, but all other 54 are available to all. Everyone can comment, but 90 percent of the comments are from paying subscribers.
I suppose it is the former having seen few writers do that.
Substrack doesn't seem to be available in other languages, like French.
Hey Richard — I'm sorry to say that while Substack allows you to publish in any language, the interface is only available in English for now. This is definitely something top-of-mind as we continue to grow, so thanks for the push!
The option to change the language of the interface would be a big plus. And that has prevented me to adopt Substract since most of my texts are in French.
I read the link from above. and I have two questions about sections. What I would like to do is to take the content from my newsletter and organize it by topic. It does not seem like that is the purpose of the Sections, right? Instead, it looks like a place to have different newsletters, podcasts and such under one umbrella. Am I understanding that correctly? The second question has to do with how people find out about your sections. When I created a local section it looked like they had to subscribe to that separately? Is that true?
Thanks for the forum! On average, what percent of subscribers don't open our emails because our newsletters are automatically filtered as "spam" or put into a "promotions" tab?
What helps is to add to your automatic email to new signups/subscribers to add a paragraph to tell them how to avoid this.
feel free to copy the text that I use:
Follow these simple tips to make sure you don’t miss one.
Gmail users, just add this email to your Primary inbox
For mobile: On the top right of the app, tap the three dots and “Move to” > “Primary”
For desktop: Drop this email into your “Primary” folder in your inbox feed
Apple Mail users, at the top of this email, tap our address and “Add to VIP’s.”
If you can’t find the newsletter, check your spam folder. And please mark this address as ‘not spam.’ If the newsletter isn’t in your spam folder, either, you should look in the Promotions tab.
Thanks, Alexander! I appreciate the tip and copy.
(I'd still love to get a sense of how many subscribers, on average, we lose to spam filtering.)
My challenge is readers don’t like that substack is not mobile friendly so they leave it and fo leave comments on Facebook post of the same story or just don’t engage. The problem is not having an app so only with safari comments on iphone or iPad. Any suggestions?
☝️ Is my readers second most common complaint with the “little boxes” for comments- NO EDIT button ! They do exactly what I’m doing here- add the sorry for typos to the comment.
Thank you! Tell them to try to see comments or leave comments on iphone safari. It’s not possible. The site is designed to be written only on laptop of desktop. I had one reader write that he had a lot to say but didn’t want to get off his couch to go to his desk ;)
I have no insight into how Substack employees think, but part of the concern may be that Apple and Google will want to take a cut of subscription fees if readers use an app to consume content on the site. I don’t begrudge those stores their rent money, but it’s difficult enough to make it as a writer without losing an additional 30%.
I hadn't considered the financing of it. But it's really hard for me to get my readers to even move into this platform because there is so little community engagement compared to the ease of Facebook. And 90% of my subscribers and traffic comes from Facebook, so I don't know how to keep them. When they want to leave a comment, they reply to the email (which I just cant keep up with answering) or they leave the comment on FB. If Substack was at least mobile friendly on iphone to read comments and write on safari, that would help a lot.
The issue about the difficulties in getting people to switch from Facebook to a new platform isn’t unique to you. That’s something that everyone faces. I’m sure it’s even something that concerns people who make video games, movies, and television shows. Facebook is a juggernaught, but they aren’t the real issue (in my opinion).
I believe the real problem that all of us face is the habits of our readers. How many of our readers begin their day (regardless of whether they are logging into a work or personal computer, tablet, or phone) by visiting Facebook? Do they do this because they love seeing FB show them the same 15 posts that they’ve seen multiple times already? Do they do it because they want to read or participate in some armchair analysts latest political screed masquerading as commentary? While it’s true that they’re may be elements of all of these things built into this behavior, I believe that the main component is simply that it’s become a habit to them.
You aren’t going to be able to change their habit. I believe the only way to get users to prioritize our content over their habit is to provide better content than they receive on Facebook. Again, this is my opinion, but I’m basing it off of things I’ve observed in my personal behavior.
I’m like everyone else these days— short attention span looking for the next dopamine fix from social media or whatever. Yet, I pay to subscribe and read Ben Thompson’s Stratechery, Casey Newton’s Platformer, and a host of other newsletters because their content (and those guys write some long posts compared to the average Facebook post) simply because their content is stuff I can’t find on Facebook and it’s actually making me smarter. For that reason, I’m willing to break out of my habits and embrace new behaviors. Well, that’s part of it. The other part is that I’m giving these guys money and I want to get value out of my subscription.
All this isn’t to say that there aren’t things that Substack couldn’t do to improve user experience or make things easier on the writer. If there are issues with Safari they need to be addressed. I wonder if replies to your e-mail couldn’t be set up so that they automatically post as comments on the relevant newsletter. Of course, that brings up a bunch of other issues like spam, hate speech, etc. but there may be technical ways to address even those problems.
I also think it may be worth considering some creative things each of us could do as creators to make our newsletters stand out when compared to the average social media posts. One thing I enjoy about Stratechery is that he offers audio editions of the newsletter via podcast. This is particularly useful when he does a 40k word interview with someone. I only mention this because it’s not something I see a lot of people doing. No doubt that’s because there’s a significant time investment required to create those podcast episodes, but it does make his newsletter unique and provides value to his subscribers. Is there anything like that which you could do that would make you stand out just a bit more? It might be worth thinking about, but again I’m just some random guy on the internet. I haven’t even gone live with my newsletter yet because I’m still trying to figure out my value proposition. So, take my blathering comment with the appropriately sized grain of salt.
I do wish you the best and believe that this is something that can be overcome. Good luck!
Would you consider putting this on your substack with a link (go public now) so I can link to it on mine? This is so important and I want all of us who are here now to think through what habits we need to shift as we move away from the dopamine hit and return to reading long form and learning. This is the future and you've explained it better than anyone else I've read.
PS- I had to open my laptop to reply to this because the comment doesn't show on safari on my iphone. I just got an email with your response so that's how I was able to read it (twice!)
You’re too kind. I’ll work something up tonight and post it tomorrow.
I think many of the difficulties we’re experiencing are simply because Substack is still in the early stages. For example, the difficulties associated with having to wait for an e-mail before you learn about a new comment could be alleviated with an on-site notification system… or ya know, resolving whatever issues you’re experiencing with mobile Safari.
I have faith that they’ll figure things out. It’s just a matter of hanging in there until things are resolved.
You can't hide your talent behind comments. Write about how we are adjusting to a new way of reading and learning and why it's better than the way we've been getting news in the last 10 years. Also tell us why we are ahead of the curve with substack. Deadline Wednesday.
Hello! We have a newsletter covering local government in Alberta and I am wondering how to get more comments? We are straight up asking questions to the paid subs but haven’t received much yet.
I second the Get Together resources, just found them through a Substack post and so far finding lots of value around community development/engagement.
@katie, Thanks for recommending Get Together. They have a lot of thoughtful articles on their site (and their Substack) that I’ve found to be quite helpful.
I have a question about finding an editor. I love writing on Substack, but writing without an editor is generally a terrible idea. Do you have suggestions for finding someone who would be interested in editing a Substack newsletter? Thanks so much!
Grammarly might help with any obvious grammatical mistake
Grammarly is always great, but I need someone who can work with me on organizational issues and ideas.
What kind of volume of work do you need? I'm in the process of hiring some freelance proofreaders. It's possible they could do the same kind of work for other sites, too.
Two newsletters per week. Not lengthy. I’m mostly interested in editing for ~500-1000 word essays that are the first section of the newsletter. But the editor needs an understanding of baseball. (It’s a Rockies-centric newsletter, but an understanding of the game and some sabermetrics is what I’m looking for.)
That sounds interesting. The folks I'm working with could handle the workload, but I don't think they have any particular knowledge of or interest in baseball. All the best.
Yes to this ! Copy editor !
Thank you. I’ll look into this. I’d thought about trying UpWorks, but I just don’t know enough about it yet.
As much as I would like to participate in writing on the site, I am having problems uploading material. I have tried to upload work docs or google docs and have only succeeded in creating a title and 6 different sites. Are there instructions on basic operations available somewhere?
I think you might need to just copy and paste the text from your word or google doc into a new Substack draft. If your material has headings, I think Substack might automatically preserve them when you paste.
But maybe someone from Substack or someone else knows of a way to import documents from other places.
Which is awesome. Thanks so much.
I write articles and add photos in my Pages doc (Mac) cut and paste but you do have to add the Heading separately. I have it in the document. Paste the whole document then cut and paste the Headline and Subhead into the Heading in the Substack Draft document then publish or schedule the post to go live later. There also is a How To Use The Substack Editor under the DRAFTS on your dashboard which tells you what to do.
Thanks for your help.
A few days ago I uploaded my MailChimp list that I email from my website. I decided to make SubStack my platform to send the newsletters going forward. I received an email asking where did the list come from. I informed them it was my own list. I still cannot send out newsletters to the list.
Hi. I have a few questions actually:
1. I have a personal blog too. Can I use substack for reposting (in other words, the article would have already been published on my blog before substack) and better reach? And I hope I own the articles even though the platform is substack?
2. If I want to post on two completely separate topics (one computer science related and other one general lifestyle), then do I need to create two different accounts?
Thanks,
Dippy
Perhaps a category/folder option will be a welcome feature, right?
How do I feel better about monetizing my newsletter? What’s a good way to promote my newsletter other than Facebook?
Forgive the repetition if this was addressed beforehand:
Are subscribers we bring the only way to monetize on Substack?
Hi there - Was curious if there was a way to create a welcome email for new subscribers or if they only get the next issue that you publish? Also, what is substack doing around helping people with discoverability - for example, backlinks? As of now when you google, nothing comes up.
I am using substack with full heart :)
Just waiting substack add more fiture like as sosial media logo on footer email and also acceptable html JavaScript on the posting
Visit my Room alquran.substack.com
I have an existing podcast at artinallitsforms.substack.com, and I'd like to use the new Sections feature Substack has. However, I just want to take all the podcast posts I currently have and simply move them to the new "section," not create an entirely new podcast (which is what the Sections feature is asking me to do when I try to set it up). How do I do that? Maybe I'm missing something... All I'm trying to do is split my current podcast and newsletter feed into two sections. Thanks!
Glad to hear this and thank you for taking the time. Will be tuned in next week.
Sorry I’m late, I’m in Australia so can’t make the hour time slot.
I don’t use social media so it’s taking a while to get traction on my poor lonely newsletter :( any other tips on how I can get the word out there?
I don't think social media is all that helpful and (importantly) Substack's boffins seem to concur. It comes down to tapping everyone you know, I think. I always bear in mind the advertising rule, that someone must see something three times before they are likely to act. Translated: You need to go on and on about your work, and take every chance to show it to people. One problem we are all running into is information overload, and, I would suggest, that "celebrity" voices are taken more seriously than others. That's not an insuperable problem, but getting people's attention long enough to persuade them to pay attention to what you're doing is the key challenge, I suspect. Hope that was in any way helpful! Being a glutton for punishment, I write a newsletter on history aimed at people who don't think they like history! Think for a moment about how tricky it is to market that! :)
For those of you that are still here now that this thread just closed: I started recently to write about climate change, nature, news, and history. I would love it if you could look and tell me what you think and how to improve.
I'm still trying to grow my subscriber list even though my publication is free right now. I write about popular culture and poetry, and I've done a lot of what you've suggested (reaching out to networks, explicitly asking for folks I know to sign up, posting regularly, creating high-quality content) and it's still very slow going. I know this has been asked differently upthread, but I would appreciate continually updating materials on how to grow your list or examples from folks who have rather than just a recap of what's already been said. Overall I'm satisfied with my experience. Just hoping to reach more readers (I know they're out there!)
Are there any tools that I could use to conduct a short survey or poll in the newsletter itself without a hyperlink?
This might be a good tool for me to engage with my readers. Please suggest!
I like this idea too!
For those of you using twitter or instagram, @alexander verbeek, for example, about how much time to you spend on social media and how many posts per day? Thanks for the advice!
Hi, I just started a newsletter exploring big picture topics of life at maclain.substack.com, and I'm wondering how to link my newsletter in social media comment threads without coming off as the bad kind of "self-promotional"?
I want to be authentic and engage meaningfully with what people are talking about online, and sometimes I have written about something that is relevant to that conversation. But I often feel uncomfortable throwing a link to my newsletter in there.
Any tips, advice, approaches, or even specific examples?
Awesome, this is great, thank you!
I do a local daily news podcast. We've built up a pretty good email list that helps promote it. But, with the daily demands of the podcast and being a tiny team, I find it hard to focus on emails. I can vision the product, and when it goes out it does fine, but it's far easier to find help and support for the on-air portion of things and few contributors really want to write they want to talk on the podcast or be on video or do visual art; so writing falls on me. So it's an "occasional" thing and I know I'm leaving at least traffic and brand building on the table, if not more. Any tips for cutting out time in your day? Or what the MVP (Minimum Viable Product) could be just to get more emails out and then ramp up with using as little resources as possible as we're self-funded? -Jer
Hey there — congrats on the success! One thing you could try is also distributing your podcast through Substack (https://on.substack.com/p/how-to-use-substack-for-podcasts). This could be a great way to keep your subscribers engaged when you don't have as much time to write. You can also attach show notes or supporting links to these emails, which can be easier to write than a long post. Good luck!
How do I embed a donation functionality into Substack? I've set one up on Donorbox but can't figure out how to attach it...
Hey Ronan! That's not something we support right now, unfortunately. As a workaround, you might try embedding a screenshot of your Donorbox donation module, then linking this image to the donation checkout URL. That way people who want to give will be directed to the right place!
Why does newsletters from substack goes to socials? I need it on inbox of subscribers.
My publishing newsletter only goes to the inbox of subscribers. To get it on social media platforms I have to post something with a link taking people back to the newsletter.
Would like to learn more about getting renumeration, but accidentally created 2 separate Substack accounts. Can you merge them ?
Hi Daniel! Please write into support@substack.com, we're happy to help you out with this.
Hi, I would like to be able to give potential customers the option of a 14 day trial, instead of only 7 days. I think it would be very valuable for readers to have a longer trial period before signing up for a paid subscription. Would you please pass that on to the product team? Thank you!
I am having a problem with getting my emails out. Suggestions? Jim