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Thanks for coming to this week's Office Hours! The Substack team is signing off for today. We'll be back next week, same time and place.

In the meantime, our resources are here for you: https://substack.com/resources

And, we're sharing new resources on the Blog regularly. We have a new post coming out later today. Keep your eyes out: https://on.substack.com/s/resources

Happy Writing!

Katie + Bailey + Chris + Zoe + Sophia + Jonathan + Wyatt + Jeremy + Rishi

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A free subscriber, with an eye condition exacerbated by computer reading, contacted me via email asking that, because because of it, I remove her from the list, which of course I did. The outcome of this is that now each time I post, I call and read it to her. After a few of these quick calls, she sent me a check for over ten times the Founder level that I set recently. She is my Super Founder and I love that we have still found a way for her to take part.

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Thanks again for hosting these forums!

Would Substack consider releasing data about how long, on average, it takes newsletter authors to reach reader benchmarks? For example, on average, how long does it take to reach 50, 100, or 500 readers (free and paid)? Does category or rate of posting affect that timeframe, and if so, how?

For new authors, itโ€™d be great to have a sense of how long their journey might take. For veteran authors, itโ€™d be useful to know if your newsletter is growing โ€œas expectedโ€ or if they should consider making changes to achieve their goals.

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I love these threads! I am Shalini, I run a newsletter called belladonnaoflavender's Newsletter -https://belladonnaoflavender.substack.com/ I have started cold emailing people I have worked with or know to increase my list of subscribers. Fortunately, the word of mouth has worked for me too. None of my family supports my writing but I am getting there by investing my time in writing better and learning more from other subs. https://belladonnaoflavender.substack.com/ has grown from 500 to almost- 2000 subscriber's in two months!

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Hi Everyone! I write two newsletters on Substack:

Odd Jobs: www.oddjobsnews.com/welcome

The First Years of Marriage: www.thefirstyearsofmarriage.com/welcome

Something that helped me 3x my subscribers this week was doing Google ads. I only spent $10 a day for a week and saw awesome results. It's best to have clear keywords but it was worth the investment to get a boost of interested eyeballs to my newsletters.

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Hi all, I write a weekly newsletter called Womaning in India. I highlight one gender bias every week through stories of real women of India who I interview during the week. (http://womaning.substack.com)

The response to my newsletter has been very encouraging. I have nearly 1500 subscribers and my top post has over 10000 views. I'm thinking of going paid now, but not sure what it is I can offer to paid subscribers that free subscribers don't get. I absolutely intend to keep the free version going every Friday as before.

Any tips and ideas?

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Hi, I write the SneakyArt Post, a newsletter about art I draw from my world.

The best way I have found to grow my free list is consistency - not only with timing, but also style. I want my newsletter to be something comfortable for regular readers. So with every post I consider how much text I use, break it into digestible paragraphs, use bullet points and sections to act as speed-breakers, and edit ruthlessly. A writer friend said to me (and I agree) - "Be prepared to kill your darlings."

I also plug my newsletter on my podcast with every episode, and talk about it on my social media.

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I'm Jackie, and I have a newsletter called Story Cauldron that investigates different places where story lives, and allows me to tell stories about unlikely topics (most recently, a nearly 100-year-old bridge I discovered in my hometown of St. Louis). I am always looking for new ways to get my newsletter out there (I just signed up for every possible aggregator on GrowGetters but I wonder how successful these are for folks?) I would also love to find fellow writers in similar spaces who would be interested in a newsletter swap. I haven't tried a Substack thread for my readers, but since I have a pressing question (whether or not they are interested in local history pieces), that might be a good experiment.

One thing I did this week that could help others - I put together a post to help others entitled, "So you have a Substack... what next?" (https://storycauldron.substack.com/p/so-you-have-a-substack-what-next ) which includes links to posts by other Substackers on Google Analytics and Google Console, has a link to Elle Griffin's Substack Writers Unite Discord server, and more. Most of the tips there are specifically to help people get discovered and attract new readers.

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Why is Substack awesome? Look into the comments and see how just by visiting Office Hours I found an amazing article about my own mom's work as an animation art director in the 1950s through https://animationobsessive.substack.com/! I have had a Medium publication for about 5 years. Now I am writing about how people can be healthy, happy, and fulfilled no matter what - and how they can Live Well and Prosper. https://amysterling.substack.com/

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Hi everyone! Iโ€™m a professional screenwriter and Iโ€™m setting up my substack to publish serialized thriller novels based on screenplays that never made it to market (blocked by my reps). I have a really basic question โ€ฆ my substack is called Pageturner โ€ฆ and right now I have it set up at

https://juliebush.substack.com

but would it be better to set it up at

pageturner.substack.com (which i reserved under a different email)? Thanks for the advice! xo Julie

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Hello writers! My name is Emma and I am a new writer here. I posted my first and second stories, the first one is about my older sister who we lost in 2007. I have 20 subscribers! My goal is to build a great and active audience to one day publish a memoir. Does anyone have any advice about going paid or keeping it free? (I'm free for now, because I just want people to read it)

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Hi friends โœจ

I just started writing Health & Wealth, a newsletter that brings actionable insights to help more people live healthier, longer, and wealthier

https://healthandwealth.substack.com/

My question is about getting my substack domain to be Google searchable - has anyone found any success with this before?

Thanks and love how active these office hour threads are, thereโ€™s a real sense of being part of a community of writers ๐Ÿฅฐ

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My takeaway from all these office hours and writing and experimenting is this: The shoe that fits one writer can easily pinch another. There is no right way. There is only the way that it works for you. So I recommend that everyone keep experimenting until it clicks.

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What are the best strategies for meeting other writers who are involved in the same or compatible topics, other than just using the Substack search function?

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I write YouTopian Journey and am always ready to do shout outs and help one another grow, don't hesitate to reach out to me.

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Morning! I write Cole's Climb about hiking and safely exploring the outdoors, and I have a two part question, delving into the wonderful world of SEO.

1st: Is there a way to change a post's name as it appears in the URL after we create it? I noticed this with my recent post. I first called it "falling victim to our own knowledge." As I wrote the post I decided a different title suited it better, and settled on "lifesaving advice for your first trip to the mountains." In the URL, it still keeps the initial title.

2nd: Does substack have any hard data on how being a part of the substack writing community impacts our ranking? I.e. do our stories rank higher because we're part of a bigger parent site, or lower because the parent site hosts such a wide variety of content?

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That substack embed link is my new favorite thing. I also like the idea of "What You May Have Missed" post, that might be a year end post for my substack. Thanks folks!

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Hi everyone!

We're the folks behind Animation Obsessive, a guide to animation from around the world: https://animationobsessive.substack.com/

We're wondering if there are any plans to make customizable text previews for the new Substack article embed feature. We tend to start each issue with a standard introduction and bulleted table of contents, and neither translates very well in the automatic text preview right now.

Thank you!

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Hi everyone! I write Life Mostly Full, a newsletter about philosophical and practical strategies for handling an overfull modern life. http://lifemostlyfull.substack.com

One powerful way to gain readers is to hang out where potential readers might congregate, look for good questions they are asking, write a really good response in a newsletter article, then share that response. Youโ€™ll get very engaged readers that way.

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I have a podcast that I am thinking about transferring over to Substack for paid subs only. That would mean only sharing the podcast here and not on Apple, Spotify, etc. Has anyone tried this? I know I love listening to my podcasts on Apple vs a post.

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Hi, folks, as the author of 16 books targeting At-risk kids, I wanted to get started on here. However, the two articles I posted in regards to Nostalgia have received no traffic, so I am not even sure if they were posted correctly. I have an audience of 3500 readers on Facebook, but I would like to expand my readership here. I write brief articles pertaining to growing up in the 60's, humorous stories about dogs, and memorable experiences working with troubled kids. What am I doing wrong on here?

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Hi Team, thanks for the growth tips from last week. As a part of a newly developed routine, I started dedicating my Sundays to Tuesdays to growth experiment. A few initiatives I took this week

1. List myself on all functional and relevant newsletters web directories.

2. Actively pursued swaps with writers who would have my potential audience

3. Participating in more engagement platforms like discord, slack and lunchclub to spread my reach

Keenly awaiting the results. Fingers crossed ๐Ÿคž

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I am wondering about the tag system on Substack. It seems to me that you define the three tags you can once and for all, right? Or do people change the tags with each post?

I am also wondering about how to read other people's post on Substack. It seems like you have define narrowly what you are looking for. Is there some more random way of seeing posts,I mean so you discover thing you didn't have in mind but that still fall within some broad interest of yours?

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Hi - my newsletter had an inadvertent hiatus this summer and I'm just getting back to it now. Because it is personal reflections, my subscribers are mostly friends and social media contacts. All free. I've been doing Substack Grow and still not sure if I can take the leap to get my solid subscriber base (small) to pony up with cash. Any ideas on convincing friends/aquaintances to help sustain this work?

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I write about music and commercial aviation/travel. I'd love to find other writers to swap guest posts with.

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Hey, all. I write Let Your Life Speak. I started on Jan 4, 2021 and have been publishing every Monday and Friday since then. I just went paid this last Monday. At the time I had about 325 free subscribers. Here's the launch announcement: https://ashasanaker.substack.com/p/its-time

A few things: I planned out a two-week launch. I haven't upped my posting schedule on Substack, however, Mon - Fri I've been posting short videos about the launch on my Instagram feed. They're actually fun, and give folks a peer into my actual life and personality. I also cross-post all of those to my Facebook feed. You can see those here: https://www.instagram.com/ashasanaker/?hl=en

I also am spending at least an hour on Twitter Tues - Sat, searching out folks who are interested in the same stuff I am, commenting on stuff, and tweeting. I honestly find the platform a little painful. It's not my temperament at all. But, I'm giving it a go for the two weeks of the launch. Here's my Twitter profile: https://twitter.com/ashathinks

What else? I'm going to send some targeted emails to my most frequent free readers this weekend, reminding them of the 20% off on annual memberships sale I'm running for the first week of the launch. I set my Founding Membership at $100 and told my readers that with that extra bump beyond the annual member price they were seeding scholarships for anyone who wanted an annual subscription and couldn't afford it.

My results have been strong so far. I've added 6 new free subscribers in the last 3 days, and I'm up to 26 paid. That's about 8% already, which is higher than average for the usual number of opens I get, and I know there's more coming because folks have told me they have to wait until payday, etc.

On 9/20 I'll move stuff behind the paywall.

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Thanks for hosting! Love checking out everyoneโ€™s work!

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Hello! I'm using Substack to publish my YA novel in serial format. I just launched this week and would love to connect with other fiction (especially YA!) writers.

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Hello! My newsletter is pretty niche. I'm reviewing TV shows that formed my young adulthood and seeing how they look to me now. I think there's potential for a decent sized readership, but I'm having trouble building it. I'm posting on message boards and forums where fans of these TV shows gather, but there are self promotion rules so I can't just link to articles very often. I want to be easier to find on Substack. I've labeled myself with 3 keywords, but when I go to the Substack discover page and search using those terms, my newsletter never comes up. How do I make myself more findable?

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Is there a "best" day/time to release new articles? I've been toying with different days and times, but none seem to be more effective than the others.

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First, thanks for all your support and the Substack Grow seminars have been terrifically helpful. I've been steadily writing my America Eats! newsletter (food from a historical, social, cultural, and personal viewpoint) since May. It's growing--extremely slowly--by word of mouth and social media support. I've now sharpened all its components (again, thanks all!) and feel it's ready to really push it out next month. But now, I feel completely overwhelmed by all the ancillary steps you've outlined beyond writing! What is the most important steps I should take next--all the avenues for networking, trying for guest posts, tools you've developed? I know I should probably do everything at once but it feels like there isn't time in the day to do it all. Can you recommend there some kind of prioritizing for the most optimum results and get some sleep at the same time?

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Hello everyone, I write at COLD COFFEE WRITER. Here's my question: Does it make a difference how often you post? Which is better--every day? once or twice a week? occasionally? Does the frequency of posting affect readership?

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I notice that most of my readers come from Facebook. Especially after I post a link to my Substack article. A lot of people prefer not to receive email, feel overwhelmed by it, especially when it lands in their spam or "promotions" folder. Has anyone considered a Facebook strategy, and how to convert FB readers to paid subscribers?

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Sadly, I can't make the office hours. I work mornings. Have you considered making them on alternative mornings and afternoons?

I am still learning about growing my publication. I write Life Intelligence - Live more, love more, do more. Matter. www.vpetrova.com

Thank you for all you do to help us!

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My substack doesn't show up when people search for it on the substack home page. Any reason why?

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Hello Everyone.

This is Michael from https://brentandmichaelaregoingplaces.substack.com/.

We write about travel from a digital nomad perspective. Our primary means of growth has been interacting on appropriate forums on Facebook, Slack, Reddit, etc. It's paid off with slow but steady growth -- we started five months ago and just passed seven hundred subscribers today.

I'd like to do more networking with other travel substacks but there just don't seem to be that many that are active and/or match us. Has anyone had luck networking with substacks outside their genre? Any other suggestions certainly welcom.

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I just used a "Share" button on a thread, but it doesn't work. Does anyone know why?

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So far, a resounding failureโ€ฆwhat do I do wrong?

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Good morning Substack world. Thank you to the Substack team for hosting these sessions.

I have a question about the Substack homepage and the "Categories" feature. My Substack is a music newsletter (where I send new compositions every month) โ€” are there certain thresholds my publication needs to hit in order to be included under the "Music" category (when "All" is selected)? Curious what those might be / what it would take to get there.

Thanks again,

Matt / Fog Chaser

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Hi everyone, I write the Physician Healer and started in Feb. I share stories, experiences and thoughts about my past and present life to help others overcome moments of fear, mental and physical pains, how to deal with the egoic mindโ€™s mental chatter, techniques on how to overcome feelings of not enough-ness and how to heal mental and physical pain and to bring the whole of ourselves into the light, in mind, body and spirit. I am in the process of including short videos to guide my paid subscribers on how to perform intentional and stillness meditations. We will see how that works. Wish me luck!

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Hi! I'm a journalist with a newsy Substack. I love having sections so I can break things out and allow subscribers to only get emails for the topics/sections they want. But I'm still worried that because I'm not a once-a-week newsletter, that I might be overwhelming or burdening new subscribers? How do I deal with that? Anyone out there been there, done that, can relate?

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Being a creator is difficult. I wrote a special issue titled Why Create. You can read it at the link below. I am also open to shout outs, shares, whatever so we can help one another grow. https://youtopianjourney.substack.com/p/why-create

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How do you space "Subscribe" and "Share" buttons in your piece? I want subscribing to be easy, but I also don't want to be pushy.

How many buttons do you typically put on a page?

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Hello Everyone, I am just getting started on Substack. I am trying to bring the power of comics to everyone. I am blind and accessible comicbooks is my main interest however, I am also a performing magician. Do artists with multiple skill sets complicate their message with more than one clear message or objective? What is your experience on this?

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Hi everyone! I write The Gray Area. It is a newsletter about the Gray Area in the world and ourselves. It is broad due to me doing and being passionate about a lot of things.

It is mainly a creative outlet, but I'd still like to amass some following. I have been writing it for a year and a half every other week. Over this time I have only signed up a handful of people.

I follow most of the guidance that Substack recommends but with little to no results.

Any feedback on my letters or my general work? Any feedback on growing it more?

Anything is appreciated!

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Hi everyone! I'm writing my first newsletter with substack focusing on sports betting stories: https://eventheodds.substack.com/

My email is set for 8am EST, but I'm seeing open rates go up later in the day. Did you guys play around with send times when you were first getting started?

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Two questions:

First, I know a number of people (myself included) for whom charging money for the substack is more trouble than it is worth. Is there any specific advice for people for whom staying free is the plan?

Second, do you have any ways to help someone who is already an established writer but who is perhaps less tech savvy? This is someone I know, and this question may be best answered by email.

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Substack seems to favor people with a big social media presence. What is substack doing to help new comers grow their presence online?

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A reader told me she didn't understand some of the words I was using. What do you think about connecting a pop-up thesaurus to Substack, so that an explanation shows when you highlight a word. Just a random idea.

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I have manually added a few people to our subscribers list, but they aren't receiving the emails until they sign themselves up. Any idea why?

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