Have questions about publishing, growing, or going paid on Substack?ย
The Substack team, and your fellow writers, are here to help!ย
Today weโre gathering the writer community and members of our Community, Product, and Writer Development teams together in a thread to answer writer questions for an hour.ย
Seeking inspiring ways to commemorate milestones? Anne Helen Peterson celebrated one year on Substack earlier this week and shared a reflection with her readers.
Wondering when to turn on paid subscriptions? Last week we shared the latest free-to-paid conversion rate benchmarks with writers to help you plan when to launch (see below). Jasmine from our team also walked writers through how to improve their earning potential. You can read the full recap or watch it here.
Drop your questions in the thread and weโll do our best to supercharge each other.
Our team will be in the thread today from 9 am - 10 am PDT / 12 pm - 1 pm EDT answering questions with you.
I'm excited about Substack's potential for a constellation of small, niche dialogues (that are not inherently thrown in other people's face).
That way, hopefully people will generate more really intense discussions about the topics that captivate them / which they decided to specialize in... without the temptation of needing to "perform" for an audience to which they have only fragile connections.
Very much agree with this. When I'm on substack, I feel like I'm acting and reading deliberately, not just being fed content; a family of independent publications and not yet another social media site
Hey Chris, I'm not sure if you're familiar with it or not, but I subscribe to Ben Thompson's Stratechery newsletter. One of his big topics is what he calls Aggregation Theory. It's the idea that certain types of platforms (Facebook, Amazon, Google, etc.) like to aggregate content which has the result of making them a destination for whatever that content might be. They do this by creating network effects and building moats that discourage competition and make it difficult to leave the platform.
Many times, I find myself frustrated by the lack of features that are pretty much standard everywhere else. For example: the ability to tag a user in comments, getting platform based notifications for different types of activity, and other things like that which are very common on all platforms.
My question is how much is the lack of these features a reflection of your reluctance to turn Substack into an aggegator (because every creator owns their own content and is largely responsible for bringing their own audience compared to being dependent on Substack to bring the audience to them and thus becoming reliant on Substack) versus 'the engineers simply haven't gotten around to it'? More to the point am I correct in my guess that you don't want Substack to become an aggregator? And I apologize that I'm making assumptions about your familiarity with Thompson's writing on this topic, but since you're here I wanted to ask.
I think my answer to this is: our goal is to help great writing flourish, and we think that writer independence is a key for that. That's why the direct connection with your audience is so important.
On the other hand, there are a bunch of 'aggregator-like things that would obviously be great for writers - like helping you get discovered, helping you interact with other folks, etc. etc. So we should do that stuff! But we need to be thoughtful and do it in a way that doesn't break what is special about Substack.
So partly we are trying to do it in a smart way that doesn't just recreate the unfortunate dynamics of other platforms, and partly the engineers just need to get around to this stuff.
Thanks for joining! FWIW: One of your interviews last year where you argued that you "have to be on the home screen" of readers (i.e., in an email app) to be relevant as a "blogger" is what convinced me to join Substack and write an email newsletter instead of my own blog on a website!
Yeah, I half-wish that Substack would slow down on all those big comics creators coming over. I've done annual subscriptions for 3, a monthly for 1, and there's at least 1 more that I want to subscribe to as well. Having said that, don't stop signing them up. Those folks are providing a lot of value (already) and I'm excited for the things they have planned.
I don't expect anyone to be as excited about this as I am, but I finally launched my newsletter (at the worst possible time) late last night right before Substack went offline for scheduled maintenance. Despite my mistake, I woke up to a handful of subscriptions. That by itself is exciting, but the thing that really shocked me is that several were from complete strangers!
Also, just a word of encouragement for anyone who is hesitant to publish. It gets A LOT easier once you press that Publish button for the first time. Don't be like me and delay for months. Just do it and figure out the rest as you go.
One of my first posts actually covered the powerful hesitancy involved with taking a leap or a risk. Ironically, it took me several weeks to gather the confidence to publish it.
That fear is a real thing. And for me it wasn't even about the fear of starting so much as it was the uncertainty around making sure that I was positioning everything correctly. Finally, I decided to just take the jump and fix it if something went wrong.
Hi I'm back after reading your newsletter and subscribing. Your bit about creative work being solitary really spoke to me: it's so hard to resist the pull of distractions when I sit down to write or paint. Loved your comic too!
Hi Annette, I agree. My current workaround is to use Publisher to stick several images toegether into one long one. Then I label them 'L to R' in the caption.
I write Synapse which is a newsletter about neuroscience, psychology, and the human experience. I also recently started an MD/PhD program and announced this at the bottom of one of my recent newsletters. A few readers wrote back congratulating and indicating they'd love for me to write about my journey in medical school and grad school. This is something I'm interested in doing but my question is: new Substack or section of my current Substack?
My experience in med school will undoubtedly affect what I'm interested in writing about and my personal identity as a writer (and now future clinician) so integrating into the same Substack makes sense from a "personal branding" perspective. YET at the same time I don't want annoy people who just want to read about Neuroscience with my musings on Med school and medicine more broadly. Advice?
I think this is a good use case for sections! You can start a section and not tick the 'copy your email list' box, in which case people would have to manually opt in.
Chris, where do people subscribe separately for a section? "Sign up new subscribers by default" and "ะกopy your email list" both unchecked. I want to create a section for English articles and want to have a separate mailing list for it.
As someone who uses sections, I believe that if you leave the box unchecked to automatically enroll people when you set up the section -- that is, you want them to opt-in themselves instead of you signing them -- then you have to tell all your readers that they need to go to account settings and check the box for the section themselves. If you're going to do that, do it repeatedly, and you can use a custom button.
Your options are:
1. You automatically sign them up, then tell readers how to opt out if they don't want it
2. You don't sign them up, then tell readers how to opt in
This Saturday, August 21, will mark one year of publishing daily original fiction on Substack. If anyone else out there is publishing daily fiction, let me know. I don't expect a gold watch, but maybe a bumper sticker or a t shirt? How about it, Substack? At least an "attaboy" or a shout out?
1. Allow new signups to choose to get newsletters 'content drip'-style (for context: I write a serial 'soap opera' which is finishing up the second season - so new signups have 72 'episodes' to catch up on before they're up-to-date - and yet they start receiving new episodes in their inboxes straight away, so they could potentially spoil themselves and get annoyed by emails piling up they don't want to read yet.)
2. Tell the world that Substack is a place to find fiction: you have a huge platform, and most people when they think 'newsletters' aren't thinking 'fiction' (yet!) - you could speak to a few media outlets about it and start planting the idea in people's heads so they come looking for fiction (I'd be happy to talk about my experiences publishing fiction if you went this route ๐) - similarly leverage your large social media following to let people know there's fiction here (I'm at @thelinkssoap on Twitter, I'd be delighted for any of my tweets to be retweeted)
3. Like Geoffrey says, a 'Fiction' category on the homepage!
Hi Chris! Thanks for dropping by. I've been publishing fiction on Substack for two years. On thing that'd be rad is a "Fiction" category on the homepage for easier discovery. I'd also love to see investments in fiction authors similar to the ones you're making in nonfiction and comics creators.
I like the sound of a fiction category too. I've been sharing fiction via a link in my Substack newsletter -only monthly, not as impressive as Jimmy Doom or yourself. That way I can use it as a reader magnet to collect emails, and I can take it down again, if for example I want to submit a story to a competition.
One thing I am struggling with is keeping my (paid) fiction stream and my (free) nonfiction stream separate. I have different sections and utilize the links on the side, but when you go to my newsletter's home page everything shows up - both fiction and nonfiction - in a jumbled mess. So you see content as follows:
Free - title
Paid - chapters 13-15
Free - title
Paid - ch 10-12
Paid - ch 7-9
Free
etc.
I would love to be able to display JUST my free content on my homepage feed and segregate the paid, which is a different product in a sense (but ties back to my free content and vice versa). As I continue to publish serial chapters, it's going to get worse over time.
Feature me on Twitter? Pick any post and you'll see I'm doing high quality work. I don't mail them in, ever. Even though my " day job " sometimes requires really long hours ( I'm a character actor ) I still manage to publish engaging stories. It seems like the serialized novel is catching on on the platform, but I'm not sure people realize they can get daily standalone stories.
We have a place where you can recommend great Substacks to be featured!
We aim to feature undiscovered writers who are going deep into a clear topic and exemplify best practices, like posting regularly and engaging with readers. If you know of a great publication, we're always looking for more great folks to feature! Tell us about them here: https://bitly.com/substackstowatch
Daily anything creative is cool with me. Most of my stories fall into the 300 to 800 word range, with some outliers over 12,000,so a few syllables more than a haiku.
I think you are doing a great job at Substack, it feels free on this platform to write well, freely. I post fiction, poetry and a podcast, my goal is to start serializing my novella and poetry collection once I go paid. But for now, I offer for free, to entice and build an audience :) I think promoting us through the weekly recommendations you run via twitter more would be a simple push, maybe doing a weekly run on fiction writers be good. You have some great ways to expose writers at Substack, we just don't see many fiction writers outside of one or two who seem to get shouted out a lot. Emerging writers would appreciate the push :)
Sometimes the daily grind takes a bit of a toll. If I make it a second year, 365 days straight I'll be utterly amazed. But I know that even if I stumble my subscribers are getting their money's worth.
We all take pride in our work. But when readership and subscribers count is poor, how can one be sure that it is poor because, say one is not spreading the word to the right people and through the best channels rather than because of one's inability to write well enough to capture the reader's attention?
When I started my Substack I set a goal that I would reach 250 subs in 25 issues and I'm never gonna back of until I publish my 25th newsletter. I stuck to that I'm now 120+ subs within 12 editions and I expect to hit my target sooner than I thought. I think it's all about sticking to your goals and just publishing quality content. Even I was bit demotivated in the beginning when I had less than 20 subs. Once you out the effort audience will grow!
Hey Vikki! I did few cross-promotions, shared it on social media and just the normal hustling. I write a blog separately and one of the posts about Curator Economy had some traction. So that kinda helped!
I recommend you find a handful of people whose opinions you really care about, and show them your work... I myself am QUITE SHY about "spreading the word" about my own writing, so I have sometimes shared just one post without asking a friend to subscribe! (Once I just shared the post via a Google Doc before I published it!!)
In these ways, I've gotten some exciting feedback from two friends. (I can tell you the specific stories if you like!!)
This is a very powerful question. I'm curious what other writers may say, but I think it's important to look for "where the energy is" by, however you can, talking to readers you do have. If you can get a signal for where the spark is, internalize that. If you don't hear or pick up on a spark, perhaps that's also a signal.
I hear you - I have the same problem. One thing to do is look at your open rate - how many of your subscribers are opening your emails? That's one thing that encourages me, my rate is consistently in the 40-60% range, which is supposed to be good.
For the past few weeks I have been sharing other writers in my Substack and it seems to be helping them with new subscribers. In return, they have been sharing mine and I am seeing a little uptick. So feel free to reach out, happy to grow together.
This is variable based on your readership. For example, if you're a finance writer, you might post right before or right after the market closes for the day. If you're a fiction writer, Saturday mornings might be best when people are leisurely reading and spending some downtime. It's worth experimenting and talking with your readers to understand what might be best for them.
I'm at the point where I'm not sure if it's better to move the publication time around, or stick to the schedule. in other words, if I start publishing on tuesdays instead of thursdays, will my regular readers be confused?
Oh, I'm not sure what would happen. But if you decide to move the date of the publication, be sure to let the readers know at least a couple of weeks before the change.
Stick to the schedule. That way, people will make time in their lives for your newsletter, instead if it piling up in their inbox becoming yet another task to cross of their to-do list
Hi Geoffrey! This is a good and interesting question... I'm talking to the team. I see that when you put quotes around your post titles they do show up first on Google. When you don't search specifically for your posts, I think the reason they are getting buried is because there are a lot of titles with common keywords - you're competing with a lot of other people. Also - each page has its own ranking in the algorithm, so your posts may have less status than your publication page. Regarding SEO in general, we do the basic SEO set up and optimization, but ranking is determined by factors outside of our control including Google's concept of writer credibility and the number of links that direct to your website. Your ranking on Google will grow as your publication gets more prominence on the internet.
Thanks for the reply, Bailey! Honestly, I don't think Adventure Snack is going to get a ton of search traffic, but I think it's worth bringing up for the non-fiction authors who might benefit from SEO.
So, when I search for "Beat Up a Warehouse Full of Goons", with quotes, only three posts show up:
1. The Adventure Snack main page.
2. The Adventure Snack archive page.
3. A weird site whose IP address is all numbers.
Not the post itself.
Same thing for all my other posts since April. I agree that my titles, which use common keywords, won't often show up at the top of regular search without quotes. But it's odd that of the three results I get, none of them are the post itself.
Thanks Bailey. Helpful. Still struggling with Google verification.... Anything that can help clarify that in the instructions on our Settings page would be gratefully received.
This is a very good example of the question I asked. I know how Google works and how keywords work, but when you search with an exact combination of words, especially unique ones like this, Google should surface that content on the first page in most cases ESPECIALLY when the content is on a large platform like Substack versus a personal blog. The fact that this isn't happening leads me to believe that Google is not properly indexing and/or ranking Substack content highly enough, and that is something that the Substack team may wish to raise with Google directly.
This is a great tip but... it should not be necessary on a platform like Substack. Google should already be indexing every Substack page by default. When I worked for another platform this was automatic and happened constantly - and when it stopped for someone technical reason, people noticed, and our rep got in touch with Google and got it sorted.
For Substack, Google should be indexing all free content AT LEAST once a day, ideally once an hour or so. This should be automatic and invisible to the writers. I 100% guarantee that if it isn't happening, there is something wrong. From previous experience there was content on the platform I worked at that "tripped a switch" at Google and it caused the entire platform to stop getting indexed. Once our rep talked to Google, it was fixed quickly and the results were immediate and visible to the users.
Interestingly, Google IS listing my Tweets (I am a total Twitter amateur), my FB posts of my Substack posts, my old and seldom used blog, and my Substack account (the newsletter front page, in other words) but NOT my Substack posts. This is clearly a job for Substack. I don't know how we're supposed to expand reach without it.
Can you actually index your substack page this way? The description on the site makes it seem like it's something back-end that I need to add into the code
Geoffrey, I figured it out. Finally. The "Html tag method" to which Substack instructions refer is one of several options when you reach the URL prefix verification page. All Greek to me, but it works.
Thanks so much, Brian. I did exactly that, but nope. I appreciate your kind willingness to share, and now, this is the cue for someone from Substack making the $$$ to chime in . . . :)
@Brian I'm not proud!! I admit I goofed! But, in my own defense, I had to click on a teeny arrow, the purpose of which (more options) was not immediately apparent. That took me to the HTML Tag method. I'm going to go lie down, now. Phew. Seriously, many, many thanks for your time!
I also got it to work! Didn't realize substack actually has this built in under the settings page. For anyone who didn't know, that's also where the facebook pixel goes
What's the value in asking my readers to like and/or comment on my Substack posts? What's to gain from that engagement outside of the engagement itself? Does my newsletter have a better chance of reaching a wider audience if my readers do this?
I cannot prove this, but this is my theory: encouraging likes and comments not only gets current readers more engaged and more likely to stay, but (with a paid newsletter), seeing the likes and comments on a paywalled post may entice prospective readers to sign up, seeing that a post is popular.
It's like seeing a crowded restaurant (well... not right now, in the Before Times) and thinking it must be good.
I'm trying this today on my new post: trying to ask questions at the end of my letter that encourage people to comment and subscribe. I actually got a really long, well thought out, and interesting one almost immediately from a subscriber who always reads, but has never commented before. fingers crossed this DOES work
My understanding is that anytime a reader interacts with your newsletter (replies, comments, etc.), it makes Gmail and other email providers less likely to flag it as spam or promotion for other inboxes, which keeps your open rates higher.
Also, I think Scott Hines is right about the psychological effect of a newsletter seeming more popular being more likely to get paid subscribers. People are attracted to crowds!
I believe the value of this is that it allows your readers to form a community around your work. The interactions that take place there allow them to form relationships both with you and one another, but the benefit to you is that everyone is gathering together to talk about your work. What's better than that?
It also provides a hedge against people dropping their subscriptions. It's much easier to click unsubscribe to a faceless report that you read for information than it is to let down my buddy Michael who is going to notice that I dropped him.
There are also some great stories about people who have used their community features to monetize their Substack. I can't remember the woman's name, but there is a historian who has made her entire newsletter free, but only paid subscribers can comment... and she has an enormous amount of subscribers who show up each post to talk to one another and to discuss the social relevance of her post through the prism of what happened in the past.
It's also something you really want to think about though. Some people are set up or able to interact and moderate conversations with style. Other people struggle with various aspects of that. If you don't have the time or the inclination to do the work to be a host, leaving comments off might be a better choice. That's not a judgement either. I know great writers on both sides of that divide. You just have to know yourself (or be willing to learn about yourself) enough to figure out which approach works best for you.
All good insights here. I appreciate the long form reply, for real. I think for me, I know I can get some of this interaction if I push for it, but right now it's all coming in the form of personal messages, in-person feedback, or email replies. I'm hoping to move that conversation to the comments section and allow it to be more of a collective thing. Create community, etc.
Yeah, I have seen other Substack authors talk about how difficult it is to get people to leave comments on the post versus replying to the e-mail. I think a big part of that is simply the fact that they are reading it within their e-mail client. The natural action is to hit reply rather than clicking the link, going out to the Substack site, and leaving a comment.
The key to getting that conversion-- in my very inexperienced opinion-- is to offer them something within the conversation that's taking place on the site that they can't get in the e-mail. This could be something as simple as ending your post on a mild cliffhanger and telling people that you'll finish the thought in the first comment on the post. Or interview someone through the comments section. Doing it that way allows your other readers to leave questions as well. It's stuff like that which motivates people to go to the comments section.
To that end-- comments started going up for me once I started actively encouraging them (often with some kind of prompt), and when I would include the "comment on this post" button with it. As John said, people reading in an email client often don't even thinking about the option to comment.
To play devil's advocate, though - I am very turned off by newsletters that are free to read but require a paid subscription to comment. I mean, if I just want to say, "this piece was really insightful and I got XYZ from it, thanks" why should I have to pay? And blocking someone from making a comment on something they've read is confusing from a user interface standpoint (I know I was confused at first, thinking I was doing something wrong.)
And that's certainly a valid point. It's a great point actually-- especially when you look at it as a new user trying to comment on something for the first time.
The main reason we have likes is to offer some signals so writers - we want you to be able to have some sense of what people enjoy beyond reading the "open rate tea leaves" as Chris Best (in this thread) describes it. Comments are a tool for building a community - engaging and discussing topics. It doesn't affect your growth. Encouraging readers to "share" your articles is the best way to grow!
This is a great question, I've been wondering the same. So far, I don't think it has much of an impact, but it's difficult to say for certain. I'd love to hear from Substack on this issue.
I'm also curious to the answer of this. I'm currently experimenting with encouraging comments as much as possible, to get a metric of who is fully reading through my posts... but I'm not sure how valuable that information will be
It may depend on your readers. I've tried this and it has zero effect. A few of my readers will reply to their emails, but even though there is a comment button at the end of the article, very few do. For me, I think it's my demographic - mostly retired people, for whom replying to an email is familiar enough, but leaving a comment on a website is not.
I raised my prices on my subscription but when old customers renew their subscription they are charged the old price instead of the new price. Why is this? How can I get renewals at the latest price? We are losing extra money!!
Hi there! You're right that at the moment we don't have a way to do thisโbut it's an excellent suggestion and something we'd like to build in the future.
Quite a serious issue. I have encountered it as well. You have to unsubscribe and wait for the subscription to lapse and only then will the new price apply.
It's not just a suggestion - it's a demand. Do you think the NYT or Amazon or Apple would allow people to keep renewing their subscriptions at old rates? Will Substack reimburse me for the lost revenue, which is hundreds of dollars and climbs every time there's a renewal??
Thank you again Substack for another dope thread! If anyone wants to collaborate with shout outs, my Substack is always open to help you and your newsletter grow!
I write Cole's Climb, about the outdoors and how our experiences there bring clarity to the rest of our lives.
Is there any hard data surrounding emailing new subs directly when they sign onto the news letter? Do people like this? do they find it off-putting? Anyone experiment with welcome emails?
In the settings page, you can create a custom welcome email. I use to run a Substack for a small business and I would go through the news subscribers each week and look out for emails that looked interesting and I'd send them an even more personal note, directly from my inbox.
It sparked some good conversation and think it might be good to experiment!
What you shared your readers are already doing is the best way we have found to tackle this as of now.
Continue to ask your readers to drag the emails back to the inbox may help. This helps train Google's algorithm about where the emails should go. And, encourage your readers to add your email address to their contact list or send a message to your @substack.com address may also help.
New to Substack with a niche question: has anyone had success growing a readership without a social media presence? Any strategies? (other than rejoining Facebook & Twitter)
I've also gone down this road. I'm launching a segment where I do fun, quirky profiles of random people I bump into on the trail for my outdoor newsletter. I want to be able to interview someone, hand them a business card, and say "this is so you can share your feature with your friends when it comes out." I will report back when I have more data on the effectiveness of this strategy
I've been using the analytics section of substack and found barely any people click over to me from twitter. I think that's okay, for now. Still a great way to engage with other creators. but Facebook has been far and away my best delivery mechanism
Hi Everyone, great to be here. I write Physician Healer and started just im February of this year and am so grateful for this platform to do storytelling and to give mindfulness advice through my lifeโs traumas, trials and tribulations, in hopes that others know that they are not alone in their journey. It is rare these days, Iโve been told, to find doctors that are actually in the business of healing. Many folks connect with me because I focus on the power of our mind and that if the mind can be recognized and controlled, we can thrive in health, wealth and mindset. I also give tips on what I am doing personally. Happy to see so much creativity here on Substack!!!
Do you have any tips for writing a great "about" section? I've tinkered with mine a bit, but I'm not sure it's as effective as it could be for persuading people to read more.
In some of my editions and I added a portion saying that "if you would like to know how I am curating this content, head over here". This worked and I recieved few positive feedback from people. I think a great about section gives you that extra connection to the audience!
Thank you to the amazing Substack team. The Thursday get together is really helpful. just a tiny request again for having a pdf within Substack....any news on that?
When it comes to posts with, say, two authors... must the other author have their own substack? Or simply be signed up to make comments on Substack?
(Would like to collaborate with people from my life-outside-Substack... and put them as fellow authors ..but feel awkward pressuring them "create you own Substack, even if you won't use it!")
THANK you! It -does- feel like a thing I could have spent five more minutes puzzling over in the help page, but... I was distracted and got frustrated. ;)
1) We don't have a native table format yet. One work around might be to take a screenshot of the table and include it as an image (and optionally you could have that link out to the data somewhere)
2) This is something we are doing a lot of work on! In terms of things you can do, you can keep publishing good content, write clear titles, and encourage your readers to share your stuff.
Thank you for your reply on this, Chris. I've been asking about SEO for a couple of weeks because it doesn't seem like Google is indexing our content properly, and it is good to know that you're on top of it. :)
After five months and close to 50 posts, I've created an index of titles, month pub'd, and each is linked to the piece. I don't really want to have this as my "pinned" opener, as it's not the most colourful post... but I would like it posted right underneath as a permanent piece that makes finding what one is looking for easier.
Ah! I did not know! I will explore this. The Unschool is multi-genre (as is my writing) so it's a bit all over--hence the need for a thorough index. I do believe that writers learn from all genres, even if they write in only one--so this is key for me.
I don't want people choosing not to subscribe because it all looks overwhelming. I do wish there was a way to create the categories I have in my index and place the posts under those... but then I remind myself the format is "newsletter" and I can't really so that.
So this is me going to where you directed...and now left with the question: I will need to publish my index first (I haven't yet), then copy/paste the link into the box for "add link" under "recommended links"...right?
If you can think of a pub with an index... I'd love to go and see what they've done, too!
Love sections! Would love to be able to use long titles on the home page for each (Annette On The Road) and short titles (Road) on home page, so not so crowded. Currently only using short titles.
Oh! I was thinking the sections are rather separate. I will check out both these options. I want it to be as straightforward as possible. For complicated content, the format has to be easy. Thank you for your suggestions, Katie! MUCH appreciated!
Placed it on the homepage, and it looks good! I'll check out "sections" when we are working with the appearance of our pubs on Grow...with "sections"--thanks again!
thanks for asking this - I've been wondering the same thing. I'm in the process of making index posts for my main topics, but it does sound like the homepage links would be useful.
As someone who writes personal essays and reflections on books and culture, about a variety of things how do I reach a wider audience? Should I put certain keywords in my descriptionโsince Iโm only allowed 3, which ones should I use?
I would take a look at the leaderboards to help you determine which tags to use - and choose one connected to that primary leaderboard if you aspire to get there :) https://substack.com/home
Beyond publication tags, I'd also encourage you to get to know your fellow writers! Subscribe to, comment on their writing. Perhaps you'll eventually be embedding each others articles in your posts, pointing to other writers with your homepage links, or guest posting. Those people have readers who are already on substack and interacting, perhaps they'd be interested in your writing as well.
I am currently writing about geek/nerd culture. Anyone else out there writing about the same thing? I would love to get some inspiration. At the moment I'm writing about programming(my career) and doing some video game and movie reviews. I have no end of topics, just wondering how to gain a following. All ideas are welcome!
You're in good company, John! There are people on Substack nerding out on all different topics.
It looks like you're just getting started, something to consider.
- Be consistent. Pick a regular writing schedule and stick to it. Whether daily, weekly, biweekly, monthly, quarterly, or annually, the important part is being consistent. Donโt worry if youโre not sure what to say yet. Getting into a rhythm will help you find your voice and feel more confident sharing your publication. As new visitors come across your publication, theyโre more likely to sign up when they see that youโre active.
- Tell your friends, coworkers, and acquaintances that youโve started a newsletter. Itโs okay to email them from your personal email to let them know. Be sure to include a link for them to subscribe if they choose. Bring it up in conversation, over lunch, and whenever you meet someone new.
- Link to your publication everywhere you can. Make yourself discoverable to increase the chances that a stranger will stumble upon your work. Add your Substack URL to your email signature, personal website, and bio on Twitter, Instagram, etc.
- Post on Twitter (or Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, etc) about starting a newsletter and ask your followers to subscribe. Pin a tweet about it to the top of your Twitter feed. Tell them what itโs about and why you think theyโd like it. As you publish new posts, keep sharing your excerpts and insights.
Hi, Stacey Keith Eskelin, @ Cappuccino here. I'm a big fan of the Wonkette (all that delicious snark), which uses a "throw some money our way if you like our publication" model. Does that actually work? Because I'd like to do the same thing, if possible. I write four times a week, rely on volunteer money, and that feels right to me. But is it economically viable? Does anyone know?
Hi Stacey! A lot of publications use language like that for subscribersโessentially stressing "pay if you value this." In a way, it's stressing the whole core idea of the Substack model, which is readers pay for content they value, rewarding writers directly. So yes, we think that model can definitely work! Another thing publications sometimes do is say, "If you can't afford this, write to me and let me know," and then comp the subscription. My personal opinion is that this kind of language actually makes the people who can afford to pay and do want to show they value the work that way feel even better about paying, and the people who can't afford feel it's still attainable.
Yes, this is good. My "Unschool" will attract people who can't afford an MFA, I'm thinking, as well as those not inclined to go to an institution to learn to write... and a lot of apprenticing writers do not have extra $$. And I want to be clear that I understand that, having lived it.
I hate that you lived anything like that, Alison. I'm afraid we all have, at one point or another. I just hope our idealism doesn't come back to bite us in the ass. It does, sometimes. But this approach feels right to me, too. Let's see where it takes us!
Yes, I absolutely believe that. What interesting times we live in. All issues around money are fraught, though, even this one! Thank you for all that you guys do at Substack. Don't think for one minute it goes unappreciated.
We generally try to encourage writers to charge subscriptions, not ask for donations, because your writing is valuable. That is the fundamental premise of our business - the world de-values the work writers do. Yearly subscriptions also offer writers security. You know that you have reliable income. For donations or micropayments, your income is stochastic and unreliable.
This is awesome, because it goes directly to the issue I'm trying suss out here. And there appears to be a variety of opinions on the subject, which I love because it shows we're thinking non-linearly. Are there statistics on both models? As I mentioned, the Wonkette charges nothing but relies on donations. As a freelancer whose finances go up and down with nauseating regularity, I find myself WANTING to build my Substack this way. But there's a more gimlet-eyed part of me that thinks, no, Stacey, you need to ask for subscription money and to paywall some of your articles.
If we had cold, hard statistics, it would make decisions like this easier, don't you think? Does Substack have anything like that?
When I use the Substack search box (the one on the Substack website) and enter my name, nothing shows up. The same when I google my name along with "substack." Is that to be expected for lesser known writers on Substack, or is something amiss? Is it nothing to be concerned about, or is it something to be concerned about and as a consequence I'm in "the orbiting ecstasy of a true paranoia"? (Kidding, sort of.)
Hi Ken! For Substack search, it's typical for recently created publications to be absent from search results until they gain a handful of subscribers. Your publication should start showing up in our search results once you have a few active signups.
Your question about Google search results is more complex but I'll do my best to summarize a good answer. There are many factors go into search engine optimization, but generally the more subscribers who visit your publication, click through from your emails, or actively search for or link to your publication name or posts, the higher your publication will be ranked in the results.
In general, keep publishing good content consistently and Google should eventually catch up to realizing your Substack is an authoritative and relevant source.
There seem to be so many newsletter indexes, and I don't really understand their purpose. Do people use them to find newsletters to try? How do I know which ones I should list on? Are their fees for doing so? I obviously need a lot of help to understand this part of the business.
I'm listed on most of them and I've gotten a few new signups - not lots. I've only paid for one so far (it was $20/year) and I don't plan to renew it. They're useful, but not massively so, I would say - but might get more useful in time as people become more aware of them. The main ones that have led to signups for me are Inbox Reads and EmailLove, I think
Hi Anna! In general, we want to do even more on Substack itself to help writers find, discover, share, and cross promote their work across all categories. In the meantime, we're pleased to see people building ways to help with that. But there are many things you can do to help promote yourself across Substack without paying for index services, like: subscribe to other Substacks you like so they show up in your profile; comment in other people's discussion threads and publications (when you do, your Substack publication will show up in your profile); reach out to other Substack writers for content collaboration, like this: https://walkitoff.substack.com/p/anand-s-teenage-dream-of-nyc. Also, remember to make sure your publication has topic tags assigned (in your Settings)!
Thanks Hanne, I do all of those things already. I just don't really understand the benefit of newsletter indexes. I get occasional requests from different indexes and am not sure if it will be helpful.
Could the "sections" navigation bar, which are links to a newsletter's sections that show up on the top left corner of the newsletter's "home" page (https://moviewise.substack.com) also be added to the newsletter's "Archive" page on the top left corner as well (https://moviewise.substack.com/archive)?
Hi Katie, yes it's a feature request to have the navigation bar for the "sections" show up on *both* the "home" page and the "Archive" page. Currently, the "Archive" page is just a long list of all the articles. If the navigation bar was on the top left corner of this page, as it is on the "home" page, it would be easier for readers to find what most interests them.
It would be great if the "Archive" had these sections/categories to help readers narrow down/find what they are most interested in reading since the "Archive" page is otherwise just one long unorganized list. Thank you so much for any help! ๐ค
What is Substack doing to help our newsletters/articles do better in search, and have there been any discussions with Google as to why our content isn't performing well in search results? Right now when I search for my newsletter name or individual articles, most of the results are on the 3rd or 4th page of Google, with things that aren't exact matches ranking higher. Other newsletters are performing the same.
This is very different from my experience writing on Medium, which tended to rank quite well when doing a search on a title, and in one case for my content ranked even higher than the Washington Post for the topic.
It would help A LOT if our content could rank more highly as it would drive a lot more traffic to our content and then hopefully convert to subscribers.
Hi Jackie, we do the basic SEO set up and optimization, but ranking is determined by factors outside of our control including Google's concept of writer credibility and the number of links that direct to your website.
Your ranking on Google will grow as your publication gets more prominence on the internet. We don't have a major discovery mechanism within our own platform *yet.*
There is a lot of chatter in today's thread especially about this and we are taking note.
I understand, but there is a markedly different performance in SEO on Substack than for very similar content on Medium. Although Google results appear to be organic, they really aren't. Google *should* be prioritizing content on a major platform like Substack higher than random content on the internet. Being on Medium gives you a boost because the domain itself is ranked higher, and I would expect that on Substack as well but it doesn't seem to happen.
I am currently in a battle to overtake an athlete with an almost identical name in search results, having a greater volume of work does seem to be helping
question, if you're starting out and have amassed a few hundred readers... better to focus on getting a big hit that will go viral or keep to your established format and publishing schedule?
I think this is right. I hear from folks all the time that the stuff they think is going to be a home run doesn't get much uptake, and then some random thing they wrote that they didn't think anyone would like becomes huge.
So: keep hitting singles and some of them will unexpectedly land in the parking lot :)
that's been my experience with twitter as well so that absolutely makes sense. My tweets that have gotten 10k likes often feel like they're decent as best when I hit send.
I send out a bunch of newsletters. Most of them are long form written content, and have no deliverability issues. One of them is an assorted links list with links to interesting articles and commentary. The deliverability on that message is a good 15-20% lower than the rest. It is more likely to end up in the spam folder. I'm assuming that more links = more chances of including links to domains that spam filters don't like. Any tips for avoiding this?
How would one grow or reach out to more people when writing about a very niche topic?
Iโm a final year medical student and I write about mainly medical student / university student life, as well as general lifestyle advice, concepts in life and anything else that inspires me or is interesting.
Iโve been writing for almost a year now with a newsletter being sent out every week and I seem to be stuck at the 50-70 subscriber region.
I plug myself under my YouTube videos, I have posted on subreddits for new substack writers, word of mouth is a big one, I send out emails to my university colleagues every few months (as new students always role in every semester), I also share the links to the new editions on Facebook, LinkedIn etc whenever I send a new edition out.
I wonder how you can zero in more and more on the target audience you have, as you know exactly who they are ... and they are so dispersed! One thing to consider is guest posts and interviews with members of the medical community. That will help you naturally get in front of more clusters of readers who are in your target audience. Some people who do this well include https://embedded.substack.com/, who interviews people in their target audience (folks who are closely following social media influencers) and Intercalation Station, who does a great job of getting in front of other audiences (like this one https://climatetechvc.substack.com/p/staying-current-with-the-battery) through guest posts.
hmm, I had never really thought about that but it seems like a great way to reach my audience in an interesting way as well. I will certainly do more research with this in mind and see what I can do with it! Thanks a bunch Bailey!
Are there any places within your niche where you can promote your topic? For example, I write about domestic abuse, but I have a unique angle -- I write from a Catholic perspective, something that hasn't yet been done. I use this angle to promote my newsletter not just through the usual social media venues, but by contacting prominent people and non-profit organizations within the Catholic Church and telling them about my newsletter and web site. I hone in on the audience who will best respond to grab their attention to let them know that I'm doing something unique within the broader field of DV awareness. Perhaps you can find organizations and people in your field and do something similar?
First of all, it's really great seeing you raise awareness on such an important topic and I hope you reach the targets you have set for yourself. Secondly, that is good advice. I need to find groups and organisations of medical students and reach out to them, outside of my university and see if that would work. Thanks Jenny!
I remember that back when blogs were the way people did this sort of thing, the way to go was: commenting on others' blogs who are doing something similar to you!! ...and getting into interesting dialogues with them!
I think this approach takes a good bit of investment, but has potential for rich results.
Hey, Vikki. Thank you for commenting. This is a very interesting Idea and one that I SHOULD do more of. I agree that it takes a good bit of investment, however, with the dialogue as you said, there will be very rich results. Such as readers who will probably be engaging with your content. Great suggestion, I will definitely look into doing more of it! Thank you once again.
When I participate in the comments in one particular Substack... I often engage in good thinking... and I even "raise" my level of effort in how I construct my sentences!
I think this is a combination of factors: I have high regard for the person who writes that Substack (Leah Libresco), I expect that the average fellow-participant is well-read and highly-trained in writing, (moreso than myself) and I love thinking about the particular questions Leah puts before us. (It helps that it's an explicitly discussion-focused Substack!)
So the very act of participation often improves both my thinking and writing! (If I could find 2 or 3 more like that--maybe engaging different topics I like--it might be good for me.)
Hey, Josh. No need to apologise! Yes, I mentioned it in one of my replies but I do the basics of literally just pasting my newsletter link on my 'status'. Is there something you do in particular or something you had in mind that is different?
I asked a question last week that didn't appear to get answered concerning going paid: I will finally be launching my newsletter shortly, probably right after Labor
Day if not a week before. I already set up my stripe account so people have the option of supporting me if they choose, but I plan to keep everything free for awhile...I also went with six instead of five dollars a month and sixty dollars/year. This seems to be outside the norm...but I would at least like to give people the option to support my work right away, if they choose...but there will be no paywall for awhile. Is this way off so that I might turn people off from subscribing? Thanks,
I think the way you're planning sounds exactly right. Let people pay if they want, but set the expectation that everything will be free for at least a while. Then, down the line, you can do a big official paid launch and get everyone off the fence then.
The other benefit of that is that it gives you a bit of flexibility while you're figuring out the format / what works.
Just tried Google Site Verification, and I am stumped... I downloaded the code choosing URL prefix property, and it failed. I tried deleting the phrase google-site-verification from the code, and that failed too. Should I wait after entering the code before verifying? Or am I missing something?
Do people find things like a weekly "link drop," in addition to their usual posts, helpful? Do people engage with those or do they mostly look for the main content?
Hi Samuel! A lot of writers experiment with this as a paid subscriber benefit. That's because often it's not the "flagship," most broadly appealing material that free readers will come for, but a nice way of going the extra mile on additional reading for the superfans (ie, paying subscribers).
I don't. It creates a confusing mix between article and curated list. You can create a separate section and send links on a different schedule or dedicate a special issue of your newsletter to links.
My readers come for the content, but they may stay for a link drop. So far, only other links I have featured is for other substack writers, which has been gaining some traction for them.
I mostly write in-depth researched articles, but often follow up with a collection of links with commentary related to that article. For me readers, they are less interested in the links - lower open rate, fewer hits. However I still do it because it's obviously of interest to some of my readers and it gives me a bit of a break, since I find it a lot easier than writing the full articles.
I write The Sharpenerโthinking through poetry. I have 22% conversion rate, 35-40% open rate for my free, daily newsletter, and 50-60% open rate for my paid weekly newsletter. I'm looking for ideas to increase both free and paid subscribers, and to convert free subscribers to paid ones. Thoughts?
To grow your *free* list, the highest leverage things you can do are publishing good content consistently and making your work easy for potential readers to find.
Here, we list some tactics for doing that:
Make Substack your primary landing page: Linking to your Substack from your social media bios and including Substack's subscribe embed on your website (https://support.substack.com/hc/en-us/articles/360041759232-Can-I-embed-a-signup-form-for-my-publication-) will drive more potential readers to your page. This improves your Substackโs SEO (which is largely based on number of links) and helps ensure that your fans can subscribe to your work directly rather than having to remember to visit your website or see your social media posts.
Write a strong one-line description: Your one-line description should demonstrate the concrete value of reading your newsletter. Ideally, it should imply both the intended audience and intended purpose, so someone can quickly identify themselves as a target reader. Two great examples of one-liners are Technically and Kosmic Cooking Club. Read more tips for your one-liner in our guide here https://on.substack.com/p/how-to-polish-your-publications-about.
Use calls to action in your posts: In every post, you should use buttons and email headers and footers to ask readers to sign up, become a paying subscriber, comment, or forward your emails to their friends. Ted Gioia does a great job of highlighting his subscribe button and publication description here https://tedgioia.substack.com/p/notes-on-my-pandemic-reading.
Celebrate and share testimonials: Collect and re-share quotes when your readers celebrate your newsletter. This might mean asking for permission to use quotes from readers who email you a compliment directly or it may be re-sharing (and saving) public tweets from people talking about your newsletter on Twitter. These testimonials can be shared with readers in the writer's About page and can be highlighted at launch moments, ahead of special offers, and at key milestones in the publication's journey.
Conduct targeted outreach to the press and community leaders. Whether in advance of your publication launch, breaking news, or a big story, you can create your own โpress listโ of journalists and influencers (in your industry, locality, or community) to reach out to for promotion. This can include both people you know personally and cold outreach. This encourages other influential writers and leaders to share and/or cite your work, as Edwin Dorsey explains here https://on.substack.com/p/going-paid-the-bear-cave. You can even offer to give these people comped paid subscriptions to your newsletter.
Publish interviews or community spotlights to โborrowโ other peopleโs audiences. For example, Delia Cai writes about growing her list by interviewing media figures like Ann Friedman, and Chinese Storytellers published a spotlight interview with reporter Karen Hao. These can be effective because your interviewee is likely to reshare your newsletter post to their audience as well.
Improve your publication tags: For Substackโs current discovery features, broader tags are more useful than specific ones - especially if they fit in our featured categories list on Reader. I might try changing your tags to INSERT TAGS to increase the chance your publication is found.
Comment on other writersโ publications: Substack includes a link to your publication when you comment elsewhere. When you engage with and discuss with other writers (e.g. comments, threads), more of their readers will find your own work as well.
Include two sentences about the publication at the top of posts: You might consider publishing a few sentences about your publication at the top of free posts. It can be short and include a subscribe button. This way, new readers who find and love one post will know that your newsletter publishes more content. Here are examples: Byrne Hobart, The Diff example https://diff.substack.com/p/surfing-the-right-s-curve; Isaac Saul, Tangle example https://www.readtangle.com/p/new-rules-for-the-debate.
Pointing to it from other places you spend time online. For example, Bari Weiss puts her Substack publication as her website in her bio on Twitter - https://twitter.com/bariweiss
In terms of converting free to paid subscribers, the non-specific and abstract but most true answer is: it depends on your topic and audience.
Beyond that, I'm going to give you the full list of tactics we have on file at Substack HQ. Prepare thyself! And feel free to try what sounds like a good fit for your publication and readership:
*Highlight subscriber benefits*
Tell readers about the paid subscription - Readers need to understand that the writer is running a publication with paid subscriptions involved, so tell them that somewhere โ on your About page, at least, but perhaps also in a note at the bottom of every post (and pair it with a subscribe button). Make sure to include a personal note as well, just like you do in your announcement post. TrueHoop does a good job of explaining why paid subscriptions matter, and The Isolation Journals clearly list subscriber benefits.
Experiment with new language in preambles: Edit your email header and footer from your Settings page to encourage your current free readers to subscribe. You can explain subscriber benefits, write a personal note, or link them to previews of old paid posts. It can be useful to change these up semi-regularly so readers donโt just gloss over the message.
Interview one of your paid subscribers (maybe someone whoโs reached out to you before to say thanks?) about how your newsletter has helped them. Send the edited interview to your free subscribers, and encourage the interviewee to share it through their networks.
Even if you donโt do a whole interview feature, testimonial quotes/clips can also be added to your about page, preambles, etc.
This is even more effective if you interview a subscriber who has a large and/or overlapping audience themselves (see Delia Caiโs strategy for โBorrowing other peopleโs audiencesโ).
*Target high-potential free readers*
Use the subscriber dashboard to send your most active free readers (e.g. most opens over the past 30 days) a personal email asking to become a paid subscriber. I recommend making the ask in your authentic voice - be honest about the costs that go into the production of your free content, and how much itโd mean to have them as donors. Video example here.
*Offer free trials or free previews*
Unlock old paid content: You may also want to โunlockโ some of your old-but-good paid posts via editing the post settings. This allows you to share them as examples of paid subscriber benefits in your about page, targeted emails to subscribers, welcome emails, etc. (Example.)
Give your free audience a free 2 weeks of paid posts, either resharing old posts or as a โtrial periodโ for the new paid posts. Since you publish your paid posts more frequently, this will demonstrate value to them, and allow you to launch a new conversion campaign for your large free audience. You can also do this via emails in the subscriber dashboard if you donโt want to share them to your Substack site.
Provide an instant free trial for new subscribers: You can edit the welcome email that goes out to new free readers to offer them a link to a credit card free trial. This might get a lot more free readers to test out the paid subscription faster, and they can still cancel in order to avoid being charged. This strategy is an alternative to just unlocking old paid posts.
Remind readers what theyโve missed. Send an email to your free list highlighting and teasing some of your best paid posts that they can unlock with a subscription. Example: Noahpinion.
*Re-launch to readers*
There's no reason a writer shouldn't re-introduce themselves to their readers by sharing who they are and what they care about, and get into the mission of the publication, from time to time.
This can be a dedicated post, perhaps positioned as a "welcome" to new readers. It could also be at junctures like the six-month mark of publishing the newsletter, the year mark, before the holidays/new year, etc; or if you plan on introducing a new content line for paid subscribers. It can also be framed as "what this community has accomplished" together, and paired with a discount code.
*Offer discounts*
Some writers haven't experimented with discounts, and these can be a huge driver of subscriptions. It's worth trying and pointing to people who have done it successfully.
Pomp sends discounts to his free-only list, which is a popular and successful way to get in front of would-be subscribers.
You can use the subscriber dashboard to target your most active/engaged free readers with a special offer.
This here is a treasure trove of information.. I strongly suggest converting this into a post or a twitter thread to make it kore accessible (it's a bit lost right now in this comment tree structure)
Hi I am new to "substack" I am here to read other's comments. I have been looking for such a platform all my writing life. Facebook censors the posts especially if they are carefully researched facts. I have to ask, how many posts are too much?
I keep hearing good things about Substack (redunderline? - doesnโt consider itself a legitimate word - or Apple doesnโt it Google doesnโt - hmm? Tech unsavvy me.. too.. two more underlines) from media personalities. I set up my spot here and am slowly easing into what I see as something Iโve long really much wanted - to perhaps butcher the queen's English a bit - and pretty much didnโt even know it most of my writing career โฆ now at three score and four
I would like to have a way of polling readers eg on future content they would be interested in. I've thought that a simple way of doing this would be to have a 'like' button. So I could offer three options, say, and people like/click/or comment on the one they prefer.
Hello, I have more of a structural question I was hoping to get your opinion on for my newsletter For the Love of Nature. My newsletter is monthly and is comprised of 4-5 segments which look at different, though related, things. I was wondering if monthly is too infrequent to realistically build an audience despite its length. I've also toyed with the idea of breaking up the newsletter into two pieces and send it biweekly, though the two newsletters would be different, then. Let me know what your thoughts are!
Sorry I wasn't able to participate at the scheduled time - 4am in New Zealand. I have one small question - is it possible to do subscript and superscript in the text? I can't find a way. Since climate change is one of my topics, it looks a bit funny when I write CO2 or 1.5oC. I usually write them out as words anyway, as my readers are generally non-scientists, but it would be good to be able to do.
I have imported my email list from Constant Contact. However, I have not figured out how to complete the process so that they show up on Substack. I am missing something, but I on't know what! Can someone help?
A fellow writer had a good tip to ask you readers to to drag the Substack emails from Promotions to their Primary Inbox!
This helps train Google's algorithm about where the emails should go. And, encourage your readers to add your email address to their contact list or send a message to your @substack.com address may also help.
Hi! One of the founders of Substack here. Excited to be hanging out here!
I'm excited about Substack's potential for a constellation of small, niche dialogues (that are not inherently thrown in other people's face).
That way, hopefully people will generate more really intense discussions about the topics that captivate them / which they decided to specialize in... without the temptation of needing to "perform" for an audience to which they have only fragile connections.
yess
Very much agree with this. When I'm on substack, I feel like I'm acting and reading deliberately, not just being fed content; a family of independent publications and not yet another social media site
Hey Chris, I'm not sure if you're familiar with it or not, but I subscribe to Ben Thompson's Stratechery newsletter. One of his big topics is what he calls Aggregation Theory. It's the idea that certain types of platforms (Facebook, Amazon, Google, etc.) like to aggregate content which has the result of making them a destination for whatever that content might be. They do this by creating network effects and building moats that discourage competition and make it difficult to leave the platform.
Many times, I find myself frustrated by the lack of features that are pretty much standard everywhere else. For example: the ability to tag a user in comments, getting platform based notifications for different types of activity, and other things like that which are very common on all platforms.
My question is how much is the lack of these features a reflection of your reluctance to turn Substack into an aggegator (because every creator owns their own content and is largely responsible for bringing their own audience compared to being dependent on Substack to bring the audience to them and thus becoming reliant on Substack) versus 'the engineers simply haven't gotten around to it'? More to the point am I correct in my guess that you don't want Substack to become an aggregator? And I apologize that I'm making assumptions about your familiarity with Thompson's writing on this topic, but since you're here I wanted to ask.
Love Ben Thompson.
I think my answer to this is: our goal is to help great writing flourish, and we think that writer independence is a key for that. That's why the direct connection with your audience is so important.
On the other hand, there are a bunch of 'aggregator-like things that would obviously be great for writers - like helping you get discovered, helping you interact with other folks, etc. etc. So we should do that stuff! But we need to be thoughtful and do it in a way that doesn't break what is special about Substack.
So partly we are trying to do it in a smart way that doesn't just recreate the unfortunate dynamics of other platforms, and partly the engineers just need to get around to this stuff.
Great answer. Thanks.
Thanks for joining! FWIW: One of your interviews last year where you argued that you "have to be on the home screen" of readers (i.e., in an email app) to be relevant as a "blogger" is what convinced me to join Substack and write an email newsletter instead of my own blog on a website!
Thank you for working to create a platform that truly supports independent writers
Thank you for using Substack!!
I was interviewed about my Substack and I said your platform is the future of the comic book. You are very welcome. https://bleedingfool.com/news/is-substack-the-new-utopia-for-independent-comic-creators/
๐
Yeah, I half-wish that Substack would slow down on all those big comics creators coming over. I've done annual subscriptions for 3, a monthly for 1, and there's at least 1 more that I want to subscribe to as well. Having said that, don't stop signing them up. Those folks are providing a lot of value (already) and I'm excited for the things they have planned.
I read this. It was awesome!
Yooooooooooo!
yooooooo
Substack is dope, this is great!
Thank you all for coming to this week's Office Hours! We'll be back same time, same place next week.
In the meantime, our resources are here for you: https://substack.com/resources
Happy writing,
Katie + Bailey + Chris + Andrew + Hanne + Joyce + Jamil
Thank you everyone!! This was fun
Thanks a lot team! Appreciate the effort!
Thank you for hosting this workshop!
Thanks team!
I don't expect anyone to be as excited about this as I am, but I finally launched my newsletter (at the worst possible time) late last night right before Substack went offline for scheduled maintenance. Despite my mistake, I woke up to a handful of subscriptions. That by itself is exciting, but the thing that really shocked me is that several were from complete strangers!
Also, just a word of encouragement for anyone who is hesitant to publish. It gets A LOT easier once you press that Publish button for the first time. Don't be like me and delay for months. Just do it and figure out the rest as you go.
One of my first posts actually covered the powerful hesitancy involved with taking a leap or a risk. Ironically, it took me several weeks to gather the confidence to publish it.
That fear is a real thing. And for me it wasn't even about the fear of starting so much as it was the uncertainty around making sure that I was positioning everything correctly. Finally, I decided to just take the jump and fix it if something went wrong.
This!!!
I wish I could bottle this comment and put it in our writer onboarding somehow. The most important trick to starting is.... starting!
I have โhit publishโ anxiety every single post. It never gets easier.
Dare to begin!
Hi I'm back after reading your newsletter and subscribing. Your bit about creative work being solitary really spoke to me: it's so hard to resist the pull of distractions when I sit down to write or paint. Loved your comic too!
Oh! Thanks, man. I appreciate the fact that you're willing to give me a shot.
And a huge congrats on your launchโyou have inspired me.
Thank you.
Kudos!!
Thank you.
Congratulations, John!
Thanks, Geoffrey!
Thanks for this recommendation
Side by side pictures would be awesome. Thanks.
We've heard this request! Our team working on publishing tools is definitely considering building to support this.
And buttons! I'd love to be able to put share/subscribe/comment next to each other instead of making pancake stacks :-)
Cole: Yes!!! The agony of having to choose...
Hi Annette, I agree. My current workaround is to use Publisher to stick several images toegether into one long one. Then I label them 'L to R' in the caption.
Thanks so much, Alison! Great workaround.
Glad to help :)
Yes, I do the same thing on Canva
This a thousand times! We do a travel substack, so this would be great. Ditto, being able to insert smaller pictures the way you can on Mailchimp.
I write Synapse which is a newsletter about neuroscience, psychology, and the human experience. I also recently started an MD/PhD program and announced this at the bottom of one of my recent newsletters. A few readers wrote back congratulating and indicating they'd love for me to write about my journey in medical school and grad school. This is something I'm interested in doing but my question is: new Substack or section of my current Substack?
My experience in med school will undoubtedly affect what I'm interested in writing about and my personal identity as a writer (and now future clinician) so integrating into the same Substack makes sense from a "personal branding" perspective. YET at the same time I don't want annoy people who just want to read about Neuroscience with my musings on Med school and medicine more broadly. Advice?
I think this is a good use case for sections! You can start a section and not tick the 'copy your email list' box, in which case people would have to manually opt in.
https://on.substack.com/p/a-guide-to-publication-sections
Chris, where do people subscribe separately for a section? "Sign up new subscribers by default" and "ะกopy your email list" both unchecked. I want to create a section for English articles and want to have a separate mailing list for it.
People can do this on their account settings, i.e. https://krepost.substack.com/account
Great publication Clayton! Would love to connect and may be do a collab!!
Congratulations
Follow up: is there an easy way to provide an "opt-in" to the section feature of Substack? This might make this decision easier
As someone who uses sections, I believe that if you leave the box unchecked to automatically enroll people when you set up the section -- that is, you want them to opt-in themselves instead of you signing them -- then you have to tell all your readers that they need to go to account settings and check the box for the section themselves. If you're going to do that, do it repeatedly, and you can use a custom button.
Your options are:
1. You automatically sign them up, then tell readers how to opt out if they don't want it
2. You don't sign them up, then tell readers how to opt in
Dope, congrats!
This Saturday, August 21, will mark one year of publishing daily original fiction on Substack. If anyone else out there is publishing daily fiction, let me know. I don't expect a gold watch, but maybe a bumper sticker or a t shirt? How about it, Substack? At least an "attaboy" or a shout out?
attaboy!!!!
I'm very excited about fiction on Substack... is there anything we could be doing to make it easier or better for you?
Thank you for asking! I have some thoughts:
1. Allow new signups to choose to get newsletters 'content drip'-style (for context: I write a serial 'soap opera' which is finishing up the second season - so new signups have 72 'episodes' to catch up on before they're up-to-date - and yet they start receiving new episodes in their inboxes straight away, so they could potentially spoil themselves and get annoyed by emails piling up they don't want to read yet.)
2. Tell the world that Substack is a place to find fiction: you have a huge platform, and most people when they think 'newsletters' aren't thinking 'fiction' (yet!) - you could speak to a few media outlets about it and start planting the idea in people's heads so they come looking for fiction (I'd be happy to talk about my experiences publishing fiction if you went this route ๐) - similarly leverage your large social media following to let people know there's fiction here (I'm at @thelinkssoap on Twitter, I'd be delighted for any of my tweets to be retweeted)
3. Like Geoffrey says, a 'Fiction' category on the homepage!
Hi Chris! Thanks for dropping by. I've been publishing fiction on Substack for two years. On thing that'd be rad is a "Fiction" category on the homepage for easier discovery. I'd also love to see investments in fiction authors similar to the ones you're making in nonfiction and comics creators.
I like the sound of a fiction category too. I've been sharing fiction via a link in my Substack newsletter -only monthly, not as impressive as Jimmy Doom or yourself. That way I can use it as a reader magnet to collect emails, and I can take it down again, if for example I want to submit a story to a competition.
One thing I am struggling with is keeping my (paid) fiction stream and my (free) nonfiction stream separate. I have different sections and utilize the links on the side, but when you go to my newsletter's home page everything shows up - both fiction and nonfiction - in a jumbled mess. So you see content as follows:
Free - title
Paid - chapters 13-15
Free - title
Paid - ch 10-12
Paid - ch 7-9
Free
etc.
I would love to be able to display JUST my free content on my homepage feed and segregate the paid, which is a different product in a sense (but ties back to my free content and vice versa). As I continue to publish serial chapters, it's going to get worse over time.
Feature me on Twitter? Pick any post and you'll see I'm doing high quality work. I don't mail them in, ever. Even though my " day job " sometimes requires really long hours ( I'm a character actor ) I still manage to publish engaging stories. It seems like the serialized novel is catching on on the platform, but I'm not sure people realize they can get daily standalone stories.
We have a place where you can recommend great Substacks to be featured!
We aim to feature undiscovered writers who are going deep into a clear topic and exemplify best practices, like posting regularly and engaging with readers. If you know of a great publication, we're always looking for more great folks to feature! Tell us about them here: https://bitly.com/substackstowatch
love the idea of daily standalone.. or maybe daily haiku... or... Yes!
Daily anything creative is cool with me. Most of my stories fall into the 300 to 800 word range, with some outliers over 12,000,so a few syllables more than a haiku.
I think you are doing a great job at Substack, it feels free on this platform to write well, freely. I post fiction, poetry and a podcast, my goal is to start serializing my novella and poetry collection once I go paid. But for now, I offer for free, to entice and build an audience :) I think promoting us through the weekly recommendations you run via twitter more would be a simple push, maybe doing a weekly run on fiction writers be good. You have some great ways to expose writers at Substack, we just don't see many fiction writers outside of one or two who seem to get shouted out a lot. Emerging writers would appreciate the push :)
Thrice-weekly is the best I can do! Congratulations on your anniversary!
Daily can be a real challenge. Sometimes I question my own sanity for offering it.
Well done! I write fiction too one year is a great achievement :)
Sometimes the daily grind takes a bit of a toll. If I make it a second year, 365 days straight I'll be utterly amazed. But I know that even if I stumble my subscribers are getting their money's worth.
Just remember my fellow writers, without promotion something terrible happens, nothing!
We all take pride in our work. But when readership and subscribers count is poor, how can one be sure that it is poor because, say one is not spreading the word to the right people and through the best channels rather than because of one's inability to write well enough to capture the reader's attention?
Yes, keep writing! To help with spreading the word, we have some tips here: https://substack.com/resources#growing-your-list
Will do!
When I started my Substack I set a goal that I would reach 250 subs in 25 issues and I'm never gonna back of until I publish my 25th newsletter. I stuck to that I'm now 120+ subs within 12 editions and I expect to hit my target sooner than I thought. I think it's all about sticking to your goals and just publishing quality content. Even I was bit demotivated in the beginning when I had less than 20 subs. Once you out the effort audience will grow!
Rishikesh--Did you do a combination of promotion here-and-there alongside "just-keep-writing/just-keep-writing"?
Hey Vikki! I did few cross-promotions, shared it on social media and just the normal hustling. I write a blog separately and one of the posts about Curator Economy had some traction. So that kinda helped!
Awesome stuff! Thank you
Interested to hear this too! This sounds like an awesome goal.
A recommendation from a reader or listener is impactful. If you like what you read, click here to let Substack know. And thank you if you choose my newsletter! https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScs-yyToUvWUXIUuIfxz17dmZfzpNp5g7Gw7JUgzbFEhSxsvw/viewform
I recommend you find a handful of people whose opinions you really care about, and show them your work... I myself am QUITE SHY about "spreading the word" about my own writing, so I have sometimes shared just one post without asking a friend to subscribe! (Once I just shared the post via a Google Doc before I published it!!)
In these ways, I've gotten some exciting feedback from two friends. (I can tell you the specific stories if you like!!)
Haha. Thank you. I'll actively seek out people's opinions on my pieces. Hopefully it'd yield some results
A recommendation from a reader or listener is impactful. If you like what you read, click here to let Substack know. And thank you if you choose my newsletter! https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScs-yyToUvWUXIUuIfxz17dmZfzpNp5g7Gw7JUgzbFEhSxsvw/viewform
This is a very powerful question. I'm curious what other writers may say, but I think it's important to look for "where the energy is" by, however you can, talking to readers you do have. If you can get a signal for where the spark is, internalize that. If you don't hear or pick up on a spark, perhaps that's also a signal.
Frightened by that last bit to be honest. But yeah, I'm going to try to look. Thank you
I hear you - I have the same problem. One thing to do is look at your open rate - how many of your subscribers are opening your emails? That's one thing that encourages me, my rate is consistently in the 40-60% range, which is supposed to be good.
Ours as well which is super encouraging.
I'll keep a better eye on that. Merci !
Keep writing!
I suppose I just have to
A recommendation from a reader or listener is impactful. If you like what you read, click here to let Substack know. And thank you if you choose my newsletter! https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScs-yyToUvWUXIUuIfxz17dmZfzpNp5g7Gw7JUgzbFEhSxsvw/viewform
A recommendation from a reader or listener is impactful. If you like what you read, click here to let Substack know. And thank you if you choose my newsletter! https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScs-yyToUvWUXIUuIfxz17dmZfzpNp5g7Gw7JUgzbFEhSxsvw/viewform xx
For the past few weeks I have been sharing other writers in my Substack and it seems to be helping them with new subscribers. In return, they have been sharing mine and I am seeing a little uptick. So feel free to reach out, happy to grow together.
Oh cool, I've never tried this. I'd like to
Has anyone observed any relationship between the time one sends a new newsletter and the open rate? Are mornings better than evenings?
This is variable based on your readership. For example, if you're a finance writer, you might post right before or right after the market closes for the day. If you're a fiction writer, Saturday mornings might be best when people are leisurely reading and spending some downtime. It's worth experimenting and talking with your readers to understand what might be best for them.
Oh okaay. Thank you
I'm at the point where I'm not sure if it's better to move the publication time around, or stick to the schedule. in other words, if I start publishing on tuesdays instead of thursdays, will my regular readers be confused?
Oh, I'm not sure what would happen. But if you decide to move the date of the publication, be sure to let the readers know at least a couple of weeks before the change.
These are good points. I think I may try to expand a bit with some "bonus posts" on different days. See how they perform.
Stick to the schedule. That way, people will make time in their lives for your newsletter, instead if it piling up in their inbox becoming yet another task to cross of their to-do list
I am wondering this as well.
Thanks again for hosting these office hours! Something was brought to my attention by fellow Substacker Jackie Dana and it's a bit strange.
When I search for my recent posts individually on Google, I can't get them to show up. For example, I have a post called Beat Up a Warehouse Full of Goons (https://adventuresnack.substack.com/p/beat-up-a-warehouse-full-of-goons) from June. No matter what I search...
> Beat Up a Warehouse Full of Goons
> Beat Up a Warehouse Full of Goons Adventure Snack
> "Beat Up a Warehouse Full of Goons"
...I can't get the individual post page to show up, only my main site and about page, which references it.
My older posts do show up when I search, but not the ones from April of this year to today. I thought Google took a month at most to index a new site?
Hi Geoffrey! This is a good and interesting question... I'm talking to the team. I see that when you put quotes around your post titles they do show up first on Google. When you don't search specifically for your posts, I think the reason they are getting buried is because there are a lot of titles with common keywords - you're competing with a lot of other people. Also - each page has its own ranking in the algorithm, so your posts may have less status than your publication page. Regarding SEO in general, we do the basic SEO set up and optimization, but ranking is determined by factors outside of our control including Google's concept of writer credibility and the number of links that direct to your website. Your ranking on Google will grow as your publication gets more prominence on the internet.
Thanks for the reply, Bailey! Honestly, I don't think Adventure Snack is going to get a ton of search traffic, but I think it's worth bringing up for the non-fiction authors who might benefit from SEO.
So, when I search for "Beat Up a Warehouse Full of Goons", with quotes, only three posts show up:
1. The Adventure Snack main page.
2. The Adventure Snack archive page.
3. A weird site whose IP address is all numbers.
Not the post itself.
Same thing for all my other posts since April. I agree that my titles, which use common keywords, won't often show up at the top of regular search without quotes. But it's odd that of the three results I get, none of them are the post itself.
I appreciate you looking into this!
Thanks Bailey. Helpful. Still struggling with Google verification.... Anything that can help clarify that in the instructions on our Settings page would be gratefully received.
This is a very good example of the question I asked. I know how Google works and how keywords work, but when you search with an exact combination of words, especially unique ones like this, Google should surface that content on the first page in most cases ESPECIALLY when the content is on a large platform like Substack versus a personal blog. The fact that this isn't happening leads me to believe that Google is not properly indexing and/or ranking Substack content highly enough, and that is something that the Substack team may wish to raise with Google directly.
This is a great tip but... it should not be necessary on a platform like Substack. Google should already be indexing every Substack page by default. When I worked for another platform this was automatic and happened constantly - and when it stopped for someone technical reason, people noticed, and our rep got in touch with Google and got it sorted.
^
For Substack, Google should be indexing all free content AT LEAST once a day, ideally once an hour or so. This should be automatic and invisible to the writers. I 100% guarantee that if it isn't happening, there is something wrong. From previous experience there was content on the platform I worked at that "tripped a switch" at Google and it caused the entire platform to stop getting indexed. Once our rep talked to Google, it was fixed quickly and the results were immediate and visible to the users.
Interestingly, Google IS listing my Tweets (I am a total Twitter amateur), my FB posts of my Substack posts, my old and seldom used blog, and my Substack account (the newsletter front page, in other words) but NOT my Substack posts. This is clearly a job for Substack. I don't know how we're supposed to expand reach without it.
It's like you're living *inside* the computer! Thanks for the tip, I'll give this a shot.
A recommendation from a reader or listener is impactful. If you like what you read, click here to let Substack know. And thank you if you choose my newsletter! https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScs-yyToUvWUXIUuIfxz17dmZfzpNp5g7Gw7JUgzbFEhSxsvw/viewform
Brian, thanks, will definitely give this a try.
This is wonderful information Brian! Thank you for sharing!!
Can you actually index your substack page this way? The description on the site makes it seem like it's something back-end that I need to add into the code
Yeah, I just tried it and got the same message about adding code.
Geoffrey, I figured it out. Finally. The "Html tag method" to which Substack instructions refer is one of several options when you reach the URL prefix verification page. All Greek to me, but it works.
Thanks so much, Brian. I did exactly that, but nope. I appreciate your kind willingness to share, and now, this is the cue for someone from Substack making the $$$ to chime in . . . :)
@Brian I'm not proud!! I admit I goofed! But, in my own defense, I had to click on a teeny arrow, the purpose of which (more options) was not immediately apparent. That took me to the HTML Tag method. I'm going to go lie down, now. Phew. Seriously, many, many thanks for your time!
I also got it to work! Didn't realize substack actually has this built in under the settings page. For anyone who didn't know, that's also where the facebook pixel goes
What's the value in asking my readers to like and/or comment on my Substack posts? What's to gain from that engagement outside of the engagement itself? Does my newsletter have a better chance of reaching a wider audience if my readers do this?
I cannot prove this, but this is my theory: encouraging likes and comments not only gets current readers more engaged and more likely to stay, but (with a paid newsletter), seeing the likes and comments on a paywalled post may entice prospective readers to sign up, seeing that a post is popular.
It's like seeing a crowded restaurant (well... not right now, in the Before Times) and thinking it must be good.
Iโve twice asked readers to engage more and the engagement shot up! I always worry about this kind of ask but I think itโs paid off so far!
Always encouraging to hear success stories.
I'm trying this today on my new post: trying to ask questions at the end of my letter that encourage people to comment and subscribe. I actually got a really long, well thought out, and interesting one almost immediately from a subscriber who always reads, but has never commented before. fingers crossed this DOES work
Yes, of course! Love the analogy, and thanks for chiming in.
My understanding is that anytime a reader interacts with your newsletter (replies, comments, etc.), it makes Gmail and other email providers less likely to flag it as spam or promotion for other inboxes, which keeps your open rates higher.
Also, I think Scott Hines is right about the psychological effect of a newsletter seeming more popular being more likely to get paid subscribers. People are attracted to crowds!
Ah interesting tidbit there on the spam + open rate front! Thanks for chiming in.
That's a great question. I'll do more research and find out!
I believe the value of this is that it allows your readers to form a community around your work. The interactions that take place there allow them to form relationships both with you and one another, but the benefit to you is that everyone is gathering together to talk about your work. What's better than that?
It also provides a hedge against people dropping their subscriptions. It's much easier to click unsubscribe to a faceless report that you read for information than it is to let down my buddy Michael who is going to notice that I dropped him.
There are also some great stories about people who have used their community features to monetize their Substack. I can't remember the woman's name, but there is a historian who has made her entire newsletter free, but only paid subscribers can comment... and she has an enormous amount of subscribers who show up each post to talk to one another and to discuss the social relevance of her post through the prism of what happened in the past.
It's also something you really want to think about though. Some people are set up or able to interact and moderate conversations with style. Other people struggle with various aspects of that. If you don't have the time or the inclination to do the work to be a host, leaving comments off might be a better choice. That's not a judgement either. I know great writers on both sides of that divide. You just have to know yourself (or be willing to learn about yourself) enough to figure out which approach works best for you.
All good insights here. I appreciate the long form reply, for real. I think for me, I know I can get some of this interaction if I push for it, but right now it's all coming in the form of personal messages, in-person feedback, or email replies. I'm hoping to move that conversation to the comments section and allow it to be more of a collective thing. Create community, etc.
Yeah, I have seen other Substack authors talk about how difficult it is to get people to leave comments on the post versus replying to the e-mail. I think a big part of that is simply the fact that they are reading it within their e-mail client. The natural action is to hit reply rather than clicking the link, going out to the Substack site, and leaving a comment.
The key to getting that conversion-- in my very inexperienced opinion-- is to offer them something within the conversation that's taking place on the site that they can't get in the e-mail. This could be something as simple as ending your post on a mild cliffhanger and telling people that you'll finish the thought in the first comment on the post. Or interview someone through the comments section. Doing it that way allows your other readers to leave questions as well. It's stuff like that which motivates people to go to the comments section.
To that end-- comments started going up for me once I started actively encouraging them (often with some kind of prompt), and when I would include the "comment on this post" button with it. As John said, people reading in an email client often don't even thinking about the option to comment.
Can confirm the prompt thing seems to work.
To play devil's advocate, though - I am very turned off by newsletters that are free to read but require a paid subscription to comment. I mean, if I just want to say, "this piece was really insightful and I got XYZ from it, thanks" why should I have to pay? And blocking someone from making a comment on something they've read is confusing from a user interface standpoint (I know I was confused at first, thinking I was doing something wrong.)
And that's certainly a valid point. It's a great point actually-- especially when you look at it as a new user trying to comment on something for the first time.
The main reason we have likes is to offer some signals so writers - we want you to be able to have some sense of what people enjoy beyond reading the "open rate tea leaves" as Chris Best (in this thread) describes it. Comments are a tool for building a community - engaging and discussing topics. It doesn't affect your growth. Encouraging readers to "share" your articles is the best way to grow!
Thanks Bailey :)
Hey Bailey! Does the comments or likes add any advantage to algorithm?
This is a great question, I've been wondering the same. So far, I don't think it has much of an impact, but it's difficult to say for certain. I'd love to hear from Substack on this issue.
I'm also curious to the answer of this. I'm currently experimenting with encouraging comments as much as possible, to get a metric of who is fully reading through my posts... but I'm not sure how valuable that information will be
It may depend on your readers. I've tried this and it has zero effect. A few of my readers will reply to their emails, but even though there is a comment button at the end of the article, very few do. For me, I think it's my demographic - mostly retired people, for whom replying to an email is familiar enough, but leaving a comment on a website is not.
I would think that demographic and topic would be very big factors. Great point.
I raised my prices on my subscription but when old customers renew their subscription they are charged the old price instead of the new price. Why is this? How can I get renewals at the latest price? We are losing extra money!!
Hi there! You're right that at the moment we don't have a way to do thisโbut it's an excellent suggestion and something we'd like to build in the future.
Quite a serious issue. I have encountered it as well. You have to unsubscribe and wait for the subscription to lapse and only then will the new price apply.
It's not just a suggestion - it's a demand. Do you think the NYT or Amazon or Apple would allow people to keep renewing their subscriptions at old rates? Will Substack reimburse me for the lost revenue, which is hundreds of dollars and climbs every time there's a renewal??
Thank you again Substack for another dope thread! If anyone wants to collaborate with shout outs, my Substack is always open to help you and your newsletter grow!
I write Cole's Climb, about the outdoors and how our experiences there bring clarity to the rest of our lives.
Is there any hard data surrounding emailing new subs directly when they sign onto the news letter? Do people like this? do they find it off-putting? Anyone experiment with welcome emails?
Hey Cole,
In the settings page, you can create a custom welcome email. I use to run a Substack for a small business and I would go through the news subscribers each week and look out for emails that looked interesting and I'd send them an even more personal note, directly from my inbox.
It sparked some good conversation and think it might be good to experiment!
I like that idea. I already send personal notes to every paid subscriber but will try this as well.
Ah! great info, as per usual! Thanks!
Hello everyone!
Has anyone found a solution to tackle the issue of email reaching promotions tab?
Some of subscribers have moved the email to primary inbox but still the email reaches the promotions tab.
Would love to see this issue to be fixed!
What you shared your readers are already doing is the best way we have found to tackle this as of now.
Continue to ask your readers to drag the emails back to the inbox may help. This helps train Google's algorithm about where the emails should go. And, encourage your readers to add your email address to their contact list or send a message to your @substack.com address may also help.
Thanks for this! I've tried posting quick trouble shoots for this on the about page, I'll add these to the list
I agree.
New to Substack with a niche question: has anyone had success growing a readership without a social media presence? Any strategies? (other than rejoining Facebook & Twitter)
Elle Griffin is a great example of this! Check out the reflection she shared: https://ellegriffin.substack.com/p/full-send-summer
Oh cool - thank you!!
I plan to print card (similar to business cards) about my newsletter and hand them to interested people I meet in life.
I've also gone down this road. I'm launching a segment where I do fun, quirky profiles of random people I bump into on the trail for my outdoor newsletter. I want to be able to interview someone, hand them a business card, and say "this is so you can share your feature with your friends when it comes out." I will report back when I have more data on the effectiveness of this strategy
Ok now that's fantastic.
Word of mouth. I just started a Twitter as a test, will report my findings. So far, a few subscribers. @youtopianJ
I've been using the analytics section of substack and found barely any people click over to me from twitter. I think that's okay, for now. Still a great way to engage with other creators. but Facebook has been far and away my best delivery mechanism
Hi Everyone, great to be here. I write Physician Healer and started just im February of this year and am so grateful for this platform to do storytelling and to give mindfulness advice through my lifeโs traumas, trials and tribulations, in hopes that others know that they are not alone in their journey. It is rare these days, Iโve been told, to find doctors that are actually in the business of healing. Many folks connect with me because I focus on the power of our mind and that if the mind can be recognized and controlled, we can thrive in health, wealth and mindset. I also give tips on what I am doing personally. Happy to see so much creativity here on Substack!!!
Thank you for writing on Substack and jumping into this thread :)
Yoooooooo!
Do you have any tips for writing a great "about" section? I've tinkered with mine a bit, but I'm not sure it's as effective as it could be for persuading people to read more.
The Substack team recently put together a resource for this here that I hope is helpful! https://on.substack.com/p/how-to-polish-your-publications-about
This resource is very helpful.
Awesome, thanks!
Hey Cole!
In some of my editions and I added a portion saying that "if you would like to know how I am curating this content, head over here". This worked and I recieved few positive feedback from people. I think a great about section gives you that extra connection to the audience!
I'm going to go check it out now, thanks for the tip!
I guess I need to share it often! :)
...I already read your 10+1; but I don't think I've ever moseyed over to the about page lol
Your tip for Gmail users is very valuable! Can I use it on my "about" page?
One thing someone suggested to me was the format outlined in this article, for a "manifesto". I have based my "about" page on some of the suggestions here.http://www.alexandrafranzen.com/2015/12/31/manifesto/ I'm not sure whether it's a great "about" page or not, but I like it. https://theturnstone.substack.com/about
Thank you to the amazing Substack team. The Thursday get together is really helpful. just a tiny request again for having a pdf within Substack....any news on that?
We hear you Heather! Thanks for being here
I love Substack! At the airport now or I would try to be fluffier with my praise!
When it comes to posts with, say, two authors... must the other author have their own substack? Or simply be signed up to make comments on Substack?
(Would like to collaborate with people from my life-outside-Substack... and put them as fellow authors ..but feel awkward pressuring them "create you own Substack, even if you won't use it!")
They don't need to have their own Substack (although maybe they will want to.. ;)
You can just add them as a collaborator in settings. We're also working on some stuff to make this easier!
THANK you! It -does- feel like a thing I could have spent five more minutes puzzling over in the help page, but... I was distracted and got frustrated. ;)
Two questions:
1) is there a way to include tables in posts? (I want to use it for a team depth chart, salaries, etc.)
2) is there any way to improve on Google/SEO? My stories barely rank whereas a SI blog that aggregates my info is top two every time.
1) We don't have a native table format yet. One work around might be to take a screenshot of the table and include it as an image (and optionally you could have that link out to the data somewhere)
2) This is something we are doing a lot of work on! In terms of things you can do, you can keep publishing good content, write clear titles, and encourage your readers to share your stuff.
Thank you for your reply on this, Chris. I've been asking about SEO for a couple of weeks because it doesn't seem like Google is indexing our content properly, and it is good to know that you're on top of it. :)
After five months and close to 50 posts, I've created an index of titles, month pub'd, and each is linked to the piece. I don't really want to have this as my "pinned" opener, as it's not the most colourful post... but I would like it posted right underneath as a permanent piece that makes finding what one is looking for easier.
Is it possible to do this?
Have you considered homepage links? https://on.substack.com/p/new-homepage-links
Ah! I did not know! I will explore this. The Unschool is multi-genre (as is my writing) so it's a bit all over--hence the need for a thorough index. I do believe that writers learn from all genres, even if they write in only one--so this is key for me.
Thank you!
An index is really powerful! I love when i come across a publication that has created their own.
I don't want people choosing not to subscribe because it all looks overwhelming. I do wish there was a way to create the categories I have in my index and place the posts under those... but then I remind myself the format is "newsletter" and I can't really so that.
So this is me going to where you directed...and now left with the question: I will need to publish my index first (I haven't yet), then copy/paste the link into the box for "add link" under "recommended links"...right?
If you can think of a pub with an index... I'd love to go and see what they've done, too!
Have you heard about sections? That might be an even better fit than homepage links https://on.substack.com/p/new-sections
Love sections! Would love to be able to use long titles on the home page for each (Annette On The Road) and short titles (Road) on home page, so not so crowded. Currently only using short titles.
Oh! I was thinking the sections are rather separate. I will check out both these options. I want it to be as straightforward as possible. For complicated content, the format has to be easy. Thank you for your suggestions, Katie! MUCH appreciated!
Placed it on the homepage, and it looks good! I'll check out "sections" when we are working with the appearance of our pubs on Grow...with "sections"--thanks again!
thanks for asking this - I've been wondering the same thing. I'm in the process of making index posts for my main topics, but it does sound like the homepage links would be useful.
Melanie, you can see how it appears: https://diymfatheunschoolforwriters.substack.com/
As someone who writes personal essays and reflections on books and culture, about a variety of things how do I reach a wider audience? Should I put certain keywords in my descriptionโsince Iโm only allowed 3, which ones should I use?
To clarify: Do you mean keywords, or "publication tags"? https://support.substack.com/hc/en-us/articles/360042221312-How-do-I-add-tags-to-my-publication-
Yes thatโs correct
I would take a look at the leaderboards to help you determine which tags to use - and choose one connected to that primary leaderboard if you aspire to get there :) https://substack.com/home
Beyond publication tags, I'd also encourage you to get to know your fellow writers! Subscribe to, comment on their writing. Perhaps you'll eventually be embedding each others articles in your posts, pointing to other writers with your homepage links, or guest posting. Those people have readers who are already on substack and interacting, perhaps they'd be interested in your writing as well.
To get you started, here's one writer who is super active in the community and very generous who covers books as well - https://booksongif.substack.com/ & https://substack.com/profile/807146-books-on-gif
I am currently writing about geek/nerd culture. Anyone else out there writing about the same thing? I would love to get some inspiration. At the moment I'm writing about programming(my career) and doing some video game and movie reviews. I have no end of topics, just wondering how to gain a following. All ideas are welcome!
You're in good company, John! There are people on Substack nerding out on all different topics.
It looks like you're just getting started, something to consider.
- Be consistent. Pick a regular writing schedule and stick to it. Whether daily, weekly, biweekly, monthly, quarterly, or annually, the important part is being consistent. Donโt worry if youโre not sure what to say yet. Getting into a rhythm will help you find your voice and feel more confident sharing your publication. As new visitors come across your publication, theyโre more likely to sign up when they see that youโre active.
- Tell your friends, coworkers, and acquaintances that youโve started a newsletter. Itโs okay to email them from your personal email to let them know. Be sure to include a link for them to subscribe if they choose. Bring it up in conversation, over lunch, and whenever you meet someone new.
- Link to your publication everywhere you can. Make yourself discoverable to increase the chances that a stranger will stumble upon your work. Add your Substack URL to your email signature, personal website, and bio on Twitter, Instagram, etc.
- Post on Twitter (or Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, etc) about starting a newsletter and ask your followers to subscribe. Pin a tweet about it to the top of your Twitter feed. Tell them what itโs about and why you think theyโd like it. As you publish new posts, keep sharing your excerpts and insights.
More guidance here: https://on.substack.com/p/getting-your-first-100-signups
Hi, Stacey Keith Eskelin, @ Cappuccino here. I'm a big fan of the Wonkette (all that delicious snark), which uses a "throw some money our way if you like our publication" model. Does that actually work? Because I'd like to do the same thing, if possible. I write four times a week, rely on volunteer money, and that feels right to me. But is it economically viable? Does anyone know?
Hi Stacey! A lot of publications use language like that for subscribersโessentially stressing "pay if you value this." In a way, it's stressing the whole core idea of the Substack model, which is readers pay for content they value, rewarding writers directly. So yes, we think that model can definitely work! Another thing publications sometimes do is say, "If you can't afford this, write to me and let me know," and then comp the subscription. My personal opinion is that this kind of language actually makes the people who can afford to pay and do want to show they value the work that way feel even better about paying, and the people who can't afford feel it's still attainable.
Yes, this is good. My "Unschool" will attract people who can't afford an MFA, I'm thinking, as well as those not inclined to go to an institution to learn to write... and a lot of apprenticing writers do not have extra $$. And I want to be clear that I understand that, having lived it.
I hate that you lived anything like that, Alison. I'm afraid we all have, at one point or another. I just hope our idealism doesn't come back to bite us in the ass. It does, sometimes. But this approach feels right to me, too. Let's see where it takes us!
You're right--we all, or at least many, have. And even as we move on, it's significant to remember, I find.
I'll try to run fast when idealism sneaks up behind...
LOLOL! Right? May the gods smile upon us fools.
Yes, I absolutely believe that. What interesting times we live in. All issues around money are fraught, though, even this one! Thank you for all that you guys do at Substack. Don't think for one minute it goes unappreciated.
Wait! Help me understand this. When you say, "throw some free posts my way," what does that mean? I'm totally fascinated and curious.
We generally try to encourage writers to charge subscriptions, not ask for donations, because your writing is valuable. That is the fundamental premise of our business - the world de-values the work writers do. Yearly subscriptions also offer writers security. You know that you have reliable income. For donations or micropayments, your income is stochastic and unreliable.
This is awesome, because it goes directly to the issue I'm trying suss out here. And there appears to be a variety of opinions on the subject, which I love because it shows we're thinking non-linearly. Are there statistics on both models? As I mentioned, the Wonkette charges nothing but relies on donations. As a freelancer whose finances go up and down with nauseating regularity, I find myself WANTING to build my Substack this way. But there's a more gimlet-eyed part of me that thinks, no, Stacey, you need to ask for subscription money and to paywall some of your articles.
If we had cold, hard statistics, it would make decisions like this easier, don't you think? Does Substack have anything like that?
When I use the Substack search box (the one on the Substack website) and enter my name, nothing shows up. The same when I google my name along with "substack." Is that to be expected for lesser known writers on Substack, or is something amiss? Is it nothing to be concerned about, or is it something to be concerned about and as a consequence I'm in "the orbiting ecstasy of a true paranoia"? (Kidding, sort of.)
Hi Ken! For Substack search, it's typical for recently created publications to be absent from search results until they gain a handful of subscribers. Your publication should start showing up in our search results once you have a few active signups.
Your question about Google search results is more complex but I'll do my best to summarize a good answer. There are many factors go into search engine optimization, but generally the more subscribers who visit your publication, click through from your emails, or actively search for or link to your publication name or posts, the higher your publication will be ranked in the results.
In general, keep publishing good content consistently and Google should eventually catch up to realizing your Substack is an authoritative and relevant source.
Thank you, Andrew!
Lol.
There seem to be so many newsletter indexes, and I don't really understand their purpose. Do people use them to find newsletters to try? How do I know which ones I should list on? Are their fees for doing so? I obviously need a lot of help to understand this part of the business.
I have listed on several and seen very little if any uptick, except for SEO which gives it more credibility.
I've had the same experience.
I'm listed on most of them and I've gotten a few new signups - not lots. I've only paid for one so far (it was $20/year) and I don't plan to renew it. They're useful, but not massively so, I would say - but might get more useful in time as people become more aware of them. The main ones that have led to signups for me are Inbox Reads and EmailLove, I think
Hi Anna! In general, we want to do even more on Substack itself to help writers find, discover, share, and cross promote their work across all categories. In the meantime, we're pleased to see people building ways to help with that. But there are many things you can do to help promote yourself across Substack without paying for index services, like: subscribe to other Substacks you like so they show up in your profile; comment in other people's discussion threads and publications (when you do, your Substack publication will show up in your profile); reach out to other Substack writers for content collaboration, like this: https://walkitoff.substack.com/p/anand-s-teenage-dream-of-nyc. Also, remember to make sure your publication has topic tags assigned (in your Settings)!
Thanks Hanne, I do all of those things already. I just don't really understand the benefit of newsletter indexes. I get occasional requests from different indexes and am not sure if it will be helpful.
Could the "sections" navigation bar, which are links to a newsletter's sections that show up on the top left corner of the newsletter's "home" page (https://moviewise.substack.com) also be added to the newsletter's "Archive" page on the top left corner as well (https://moviewise.substack.com/archive)?
Hey there! I think what you are asking would be a feature request - to choose where your sections are displayed?
E.g. in the top left corner
Hi Katie, yes it's a feature request to have the navigation bar for the "sections" show up on *both* the "home" page and the "Archive" page. Currently, the "Archive" page is just a long list of all the articles. If the navigation bar was on the top left corner of this page, as it is on the "home" page, it would be easier for readers to find what most interests them.
Ah I see! I will make note of this with our team
Thank you so much Katie!!!!!!
For example, on my newsletter, moviewise, the sections/links are:
Movie Lists! | Guides To Life | Movie Therapy | Ready To Laugh | +Guest Posts.
It would be great if the "Archive" had these sections/categories to help readers narrow down/find what they are most interested in reading since the "Archive" page is otherwise just one long unorganized list. Thank you so much for any help! ๐ค
Write and write well, team. When you focus on the words, the sentences take care of themselves :)
What is Substack doing to help our newsletters/articles do better in search, and have there been any discussions with Google as to why our content isn't performing well in search results? Right now when I search for my newsletter name or individual articles, most of the results are on the 3rd or 4th page of Google, with things that aren't exact matches ranking higher. Other newsletters are performing the same.
This is very different from my experience writing on Medium, which tended to rank quite well when doing a search on a title, and in one case for my content ranked even higher than the Washington Post for the topic.
It would help A LOT if our content could rank more highly as it would drive a lot more traffic to our content and then hopefully convert to subscribers.
Hi Jackie, we do the basic SEO set up and optimization, but ranking is determined by factors outside of our control including Google's concept of writer credibility and the number of links that direct to your website.
Your ranking on Google will grow as your publication gets more prominence on the internet. We don't have a major discovery mechanism within our own platform *yet.*
There is a lot of chatter in today's thread especially about this and we are taking note.
I understand, but there is a markedly different performance in SEO on Substack than for very similar content on Medium. Although Google results appear to be organic, they really aren't. Google *should* be prioritizing content on a major platform like Substack higher than random content on the internet. Being on Medium gives you a boost because the domain itself is ranked higher, and I would expect that on Substack as well but it doesn't seem to happen.
I am currently in a battle to overtake an athlete with an almost identical name in search results, having a greater volume of work does seem to be helping
I agree with this but I also noticed that if you type my substack name into Google, all of the images come up are from Substack
question, if you're starting out and have amassed a few hundred readers... better to focus on getting a big hit that will go viral or keep to your established format and publishing schedule?
EG aim for the Home Run or try to amass singles?
Going viral is a matter of luck. Keep writing and keep being consistent.
I think this is right. I hear from folks all the time that the stuff they think is going to be a home run doesn't get much uptake, and then some random thing they wrote that they didn't think anyone would like becomes huge.
So: keep hitting singles and some of them will unexpectedly land in the parking lot :)
that's been my experience with twitter as well so that absolutely makes sense. My tweets that have gotten 10k likes often feel like they're decent as best when I hit send.
Weโve found that writing regularly and consistently is the biggest predictor of success for new Substack writers.
I also think this post may be helpful and worth reading! https://ellegriffin.substack.com/p/full-send-summer
thanks!
I send out a bunch of newsletters. Most of them are long form written content, and have no deliverability issues. One of them is an assorted links list with links to interesting articles and commentary. The deliverability on that message is a good 15-20% lower than the rest. It is more likely to end up in the spam folder. I'm assuming that more links = more chances of including links to domains that spam filters don't like. Any tips for avoiding this?
Interesting! Lots of links *could* be triggering spam detection, but it's worth exhausting the other possibilities.
Are you going by the open rates? Is there something different you do with the subject lines with those?
As I recall, David Gaughran said something along these lines in a recent newsletter, but I can't find a mention of it on his website.
Consider it is August. Perhaps people don't open emails on vacations? I also experience a lower open rate during the summer.
How would one grow or reach out to more people when writing about a very niche topic?
Iโm a final year medical student and I write about mainly medical student / university student life, as well as general lifestyle advice, concepts in life and anything else that inspires me or is interesting.
Iโve been writing for almost a year now with a newsletter being sent out every week and I seem to be stuck at the 50-70 subscriber region.
Curious: What tactics have you been using so far to reach readers?
I plug myself under my YouTube videos, I have posted on subreddits for new substack writers, word of mouth is a big one, I send out emails to my university colleagues every few months (as new students always role in every semester), I also share the links to the new editions on Facebook, LinkedIn etc whenever I send a new edition out.
Just here to say I checked out one of your newsletters and love the link collection you do with the little emojis at the bottom of your posts
Hey Cole, thanks for checking the NL out and thanks for the kind words! It was inspiration I took from another fellow writer!
Endless learning on this platform :D
I wonder how you can zero in more and more on the target audience you have, as you know exactly who they are ... and they are so dispersed! One thing to consider is guest posts and interviews with members of the medical community. That will help you naturally get in front of more clusters of readers who are in your target audience. Some people who do this well include https://embedded.substack.com/, who interviews people in their target audience (folks who are closely following social media influencers) and Intercalation Station, who does a great job of getting in front of other audiences (like this one https://climatetechvc.substack.com/p/staying-current-with-the-battery) through guest posts.
hmm, I had never really thought about that but it seems like a great way to reach my audience in an interesting way as well. I will certainly do more research with this in mind and see what I can do with it! Thanks a bunch Bailey!
Are there any places within your niche where you can promote your topic? For example, I write about domestic abuse, but I have a unique angle -- I write from a Catholic perspective, something that hasn't yet been done. I use this angle to promote my newsletter not just through the usual social media venues, but by contacting prominent people and non-profit organizations within the Catholic Church and telling them about my newsletter and web site. I hone in on the audience who will best respond to grab their attention to let them know that I'm doing something unique within the broader field of DV awareness. Perhaps you can find organizations and people in your field and do something similar?
This is a really good tipโthank you.
First of all, it's really great seeing you raise awareness on such an important topic and I hope you reach the targets you have set for yourself. Secondly, that is good advice. I need to find groups and organisations of medical students and reach out to them, outside of my university and see if that would work. Thanks Jenny!
There will always be a region that you are stuck in. I am in third stuck period, but just keep promoting it/sharing/writing.
I see. I agree too. Itโs the same thing with youtube. You just have to keep going. How do you promote your work? Curios.
I share it with everyone I meet, just started a Twitter, have an Instagram. Click my bio and check it out. You may dig it.
haha, I see what you did there. I shall check it out! Thanks for commenting.
I remember that back when blogs were the way people did this sort of thing, the way to go was: commenting on others' blogs who are doing something similar to you!! ...and getting into interesting dialogues with them!
I think this approach takes a good bit of investment, but has potential for rich results.
Hey, Vikki. Thank you for commenting. This is a very interesting Idea and one that I SHOULD do more of. I agree that it takes a good bit of investment, however, with the dialogue as you said, there will be very rich results. Such as readers who will probably be engaging with your content. Great suggestion, I will definitely look into doing more of it! Thank you once again.
When I participate in the comments in one particular Substack... I often engage in good thinking... and I even "raise" my level of effort in how I construct my sentences!
I think this is a combination of factors: I have high regard for the person who writes that Substack (Leah Libresco), I expect that the average fellow-participant is well-read and highly-trained in writing, (moreso than myself) and I love thinking about the particular questions Leah puts before us. (It helps that it's an explicitly discussion-focused Substack!)
So the very act of participation often improves both my thinking and writing! (If I could find 2 or 3 more like that--maybe engaging different topics I like--it might be good for me.)
Hey, Josh. No need to apologise! Yes, I mentioned it in one of my replies but I do the basics of literally just pasting my newsletter link on my 'status'. Is there something you do in particular or something you had in mind that is different?
Thank you for all your support! Writer Office Hours has been very helpful.
Hi Bailey,
I asked a question last week that didn't appear to get answered concerning going paid: I will finally be launching my newsletter shortly, probably right after Labor
Day if not a week before. I already set up my stripe account so people have the option of supporting me if they choose, but I plan to keep everything free for awhile...I also went with six instead of five dollars a month and sixty dollars/year. This seems to be outside the norm...but I would at least like to give people the option to support my work right away, if they choose...but there will be no paywall for awhile. Is this way off so that I might turn people off from subscribing? Thanks,
Joan
I think the way you're planning sounds exactly right. Let people pay if they want, but set the expectation that everything will be free for at least a while. Then, down the line, you can do a big official paid launch and get everyone off the fence then.
The other benefit of that is that it gives you a bit of flexibility while you're figuring out the format / what works.
Thanks for that feedback, Chrisโappreciated.
Just tried Google Site Verification, and I am stumped... I downloaded the code choosing URL prefix property, and it failed. I tried deleting the phrase google-site-verification from the code, and that failed too. Should I wait after entering the code before verifying? Or am I missing something?
P.S. Dammit, Jim, I'm a historian, not a techie!
Does Substack provide any tools to help us poll/survey our readers?
We don't as of yet, but we are *very* aware of this feature request ;)
It will be a great way to learn more about our readers. thank you.
Hey Ahmad! You can check feedletter.co for collecting some basic feedback and testimonials.
Do people find things like a weekly "link drop," in addition to their usual posts, helpful? Do people engage with those or do they mostly look for the main content?
Hi Samuel! A lot of writers experiment with this as a paid subscriber benefit. That's because often it's not the "flagship," most broadly appealing material that free readers will come for, but a nice way of going the extra mile on additional reading for the superfans (ie, paying subscribers).
I'll have to look into that down the line :)
I don't. It creates a confusing mix between article and curated list. You can create a separate section and send links on a different schedule or dedicate a special issue of your newsletter to links.
I could see that. I may try it for a couple weeks and see what happens. Thanks!
My readers come for the content, but they may stay for a link drop. So far, only other links I have featured is for other substack writers, which has been gaining some traction for them.
I mostly write in-depth researched articles, but often follow up with a collection of links with commentary related to that article. For me readers, they are less interested in the links - lower open rate, fewer hits. However I still do it because it's obviously of interest to some of my readers and it gives me a bit of a break, since I find it a lot easier than writing the full articles.
I write The Sharpenerโthinking through poetry. I have 22% conversion rate, 35-40% open rate for my free, daily newsletter, and 50-60% open rate for my paid weekly newsletter. I'm looking for ideas to increase both free and paid subscribers, and to convert free subscribers to paid ones. Thoughts?
To grow your *free* list, the highest leverage things you can do are publishing good content consistently and making your work easy for potential readers to find.
Here, we list some tactics for doing that:
Make Substack your primary landing page: Linking to your Substack from your social media bios and including Substack's subscribe embed on your website (https://support.substack.com/hc/en-us/articles/360041759232-Can-I-embed-a-signup-form-for-my-publication-) will drive more potential readers to your page. This improves your Substackโs SEO (which is largely based on number of links) and helps ensure that your fans can subscribe to your work directly rather than having to remember to visit your website or see your social media posts.
Write a strong one-line description: Your one-line description should demonstrate the concrete value of reading your newsletter. Ideally, it should imply both the intended audience and intended purpose, so someone can quickly identify themselves as a target reader. Two great examples of one-liners are Technically and Kosmic Cooking Club. Read more tips for your one-liner in our guide here https://on.substack.com/p/how-to-polish-your-publications-about.
Use calls to action in your posts: In every post, you should use buttons and email headers and footers to ask readers to sign up, become a paying subscriber, comment, or forward your emails to their friends. Ted Gioia does a great job of highlighting his subscribe button and publication description here https://tedgioia.substack.com/p/notes-on-my-pandemic-reading.
Celebrate and share testimonials: Collect and re-share quotes when your readers celebrate your newsletter. This might mean asking for permission to use quotes from readers who email you a compliment directly or it may be re-sharing (and saving) public tweets from people talking about your newsletter on Twitter. These testimonials can be shared with readers in the writer's About page and can be highlighted at launch moments, ahead of special offers, and at key milestones in the publication's journey.
Conduct targeted outreach to the press and community leaders. Whether in advance of your publication launch, breaking news, or a big story, you can create your own โpress listโ of journalists and influencers (in your industry, locality, or community) to reach out to for promotion. This can include both people you know personally and cold outreach. This encourages other influential writers and leaders to share and/or cite your work, as Edwin Dorsey explains here https://on.substack.com/p/going-paid-the-bear-cave. You can even offer to give these people comped paid subscriptions to your newsletter.
Publish interviews or community spotlights to โborrowโ other peopleโs audiences. For example, Delia Cai writes about growing her list by interviewing media figures like Ann Friedman, and Chinese Storytellers published a spotlight interview with reporter Karen Hao. These can be effective because your interviewee is likely to reshare your newsletter post to their audience as well.
Improve your publication tags: For Substackโs current discovery features, broader tags are more useful than specific ones - especially if they fit in our featured categories list on Reader. I might try changing your tags to INSERT TAGS to increase the chance your publication is found.
Comment on other writersโ publications: Substack includes a link to your publication when you comment elsewhere. When you engage with and discuss with other writers (e.g. comments, threads), more of their readers will find your own work as well.
Include two sentences about the publication at the top of posts: You might consider publishing a few sentences about your publication at the top of free posts. It can be short and include a subscribe button. This way, new readers who find and love one post will know that your newsletter publishes more content. Here are examples: Byrne Hobart, The Diff example https://diff.substack.com/p/surfing-the-right-s-curve; Isaac Saul, Tangle example https://www.readtangle.com/p/new-rules-for-the-debate.
Thank you so much. This is helpful information
Can you explain what you mean by "making
Substack your primary landing page"?
Pointing to it from other places you spend time online. For example, Bari Weiss puts her Substack publication as her website in her bio on Twitter - https://twitter.com/bariweiss
Okay, that example helps
In terms of converting free to paid subscribers, the non-specific and abstract but most true answer is: it depends on your topic and audience.
Beyond that, I'm going to give you the full list of tactics we have on file at Substack HQ. Prepare thyself! And feel free to try what sounds like a good fit for your publication and readership:
*Highlight subscriber benefits*
Tell readers about the paid subscription - Readers need to understand that the writer is running a publication with paid subscriptions involved, so tell them that somewhere โ on your About page, at least, but perhaps also in a note at the bottom of every post (and pair it with a subscribe button). Make sure to include a personal note as well, just like you do in your announcement post. TrueHoop does a good job of explaining why paid subscriptions matter, and The Isolation Journals clearly list subscriber benefits.
Experiment with new language in preambles: Edit your email header and footer from your Settings page to encourage your current free readers to subscribe. You can explain subscriber benefits, write a personal note, or link them to previews of old paid posts. It can be useful to change these up semi-regularly so readers donโt just gloss over the message.
Interview one of your paid subscribers (maybe someone whoโs reached out to you before to say thanks?) about how your newsletter has helped them. Send the edited interview to your free subscribers, and encourage the interviewee to share it through their networks.
Even if you donโt do a whole interview feature, testimonial quotes/clips can also be added to your about page, preambles, etc.
This is even more effective if you interview a subscriber who has a large and/or overlapping audience themselves (see Delia Caiโs strategy for โBorrowing other peopleโs audiencesโ).
*Target high-potential free readers*
Use the subscriber dashboard to send your most active free readers (e.g. most opens over the past 30 days) a personal email asking to become a paid subscriber. I recommend making the ask in your authentic voice - be honest about the costs that go into the production of your free content, and how much itโd mean to have them as donors. Video example here.
*Offer free trials or free previews*
Unlock old paid content: You may also want to โunlockโ some of your old-but-good paid posts via editing the post settings. This allows you to share them as examples of paid subscriber benefits in your about page, targeted emails to subscribers, welcome emails, etc. (Example.)
Give your free audience a free 2 weeks of paid posts, either resharing old posts or as a โtrial periodโ for the new paid posts. Since you publish your paid posts more frequently, this will demonstrate value to them, and allow you to launch a new conversion campaign for your large free audience. You can also do this via emails in the subscriber dashboard if you donโt want to share them to your Substack site.
Provide an instant free trial for new subscribers: You can edit the welcome email that goes out to new free readers to offer them a link to a credit card free trial. This might get a lot more free readers to test out the paid subscription faster, and they can still cancel in order to avoid being charged. This strategy is an alternative to just unlocking old paid posts.
Remind readers what theyโve missed. Send an email to your free list highlighting and teasing some of your best paid posts that they can unlock with a subscription. Example: Noahpinion.
*Re-launch to readers*
There's no reason a writer shouldn't re-introduce themselves to their readers by sharing who they are and what they care about, and get into the mission of the publication, from time to time.
This can be a dedicated post, perhaps positioned as a "welcome" to new readers. It could also be at junctures like the six-month mark of publishing the newsletter, the year mark, before the holidays/new year, etc; or if you plan on introducing a new content line for paid subscribers. It can also be framed as "what this community has accomplished" together, and paired with a discount code.
*Offer discounts*
Some writers haven't experimented with discounts, and these can be a huge driver of subscriptions. It's worth trying and pointing to people who have done it successfully.
Pomp sends discounts to his free-only list, which is a popular and successful way to get in front of would-be subscribers.
You can use the subscriber dashboard to target your most active/engaged free readers with a special offer.
This here is a treasure trove of information.. I strongly suggest converting this into a post or a twitter thread to make it kore accessible (it's a bit lost right now in this comment tree structure)
+1, I found this to be one of the most valuable comments on any of the Substack office hours posts. Thanks so much Bailey!
Terrific advice and ideas. Thank you so much
My newsletter can't be found searching your website.
Hi I am new to "substack" I am here to read other's comments. I have been looking for such a platform all my writing life. Facebook censors the posts especially if they are carefully researched facts. I have to ask, how many posts are too much?
Thanx for helping to bring us writer's a great platform! A big place for us to
bloviate! I write "Michael's Newsletter".
I keep hearing good things about Substack (redunderline? - doesnโt consider itself a legitimate word - or Apple doesnโt it Google doesnโt - hmm? Tech unsavvy me.. too.. two more underlines) from media personalities. I set up my spot here and am slowly easing into what I see as something Iโve long really much wanted - to perhaps butcher the queen's English a bit - and pretty much didnโt even know it most of my writing career โฆ now at three score and four
I would like to have a way of polling readers eg on future content they would be interested in. I've thought that a simple way of doing this would be to have a 'like' button. So I could offer three options, say, and people like/click/or comment on the one they prefer.
Looking for a real time mentor. I have immense offering to return us to civility. Freedom is not free
Hello, I have more of a structural question I was hoping to get your opinion on for my newsletter For the Love of Nature. My newsletter is monthly and is comprised of 4-5 segments which look at different, though related, things. I was wondering if monthly is too infrequent to realistically build an audience despite its length. I've also toyed with the idea of breaking up the newsletter into two pieces and send it biweekly, though the two newsletters would be different, then. Let me know what your thoughts are!
Sorry I wasn't able to participate at the scheduled time - 4am in New Zealand. I have one small question - is it possible to do subscript and superscript in the text? I can't find a way. Since climate change is one of my topics, it looks a bit funny when I write CO2 or 1.5oC. I usually write them out as words anyway, as my readers are generally non-scientists, but it would be good to be able to do.
I will share this with the team!
I have imported my email list from Constant Contact. However, I have not figured out how to complete the process so that they show up on Substack. I am missing something, but I on't know what! Can someone help?
Substack emails seem to show up in the Gmail Promotions Tab - any tips on how to avoid this?
Just tell the audience to drag it to inbox and reply to the email!
A fellow writer had a good tip to ask you readers to to drag the Substack emails from Promotions to their Primary Inbox!
This helps train Google's algorithm about where the emails should go. And, encourage your readers to add your email address to their contact list or send a message to your @substack.com address may also help.