644 Comments

It was a busy Office Hour today! Thank you all for coming and for supporting fellow writers in answering questions.

We’ll host our final Office Hours of the year next week, but it’ll be a day later than usual, on Friday, Dec. 17, 10 a.m.–11 a.m. PST / 1 p.m.–2 p.m. EST. We hope you will join us!

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

Happy writing,

Katie + Bailey + Rose + Kelsa + Jasmine + Kristen + Alex + Linda + Server + Seth + Ben

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One tip I wanted to share: every Substack writer should try, at least once, to do a discussion thread (a "new thread" vs "new post") and ask a provocative question or two. Because I didn't have time to create a full post the week of Thanksgiving, instead I asked for people to share memories, and I was astonished by the amount of engagement and the number of people that commented - it was far more than people usually comment on one of my standard posts.

So if you're short on time or just want to change things up a little, give it a try. Just make sure you ask a question that people will be excited to answer!

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I've said it here a lot, but I'll say it again. Subscribing to other Substack newsletters and really engaging via the comments on their posts will get eyes on your newsletter, and may very well lead to subscribers. I've gotten a host of sign-ups via my comments on Cheryl Strayed's Substack, E Jean Carrol's Substack, Courtney Martin's Substack, and Nadia Bolz-Weber's Substack. Not because I was promoting my newsletter, per se, but because I was offering substantive, thoughtful commentary that grabbed folks' attention, and Substack put that handy-dandy link to my newsletter right by my name, so they pop on over.

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Not another question, but a small bit of encouragement to my compatriots. I went paid in early September. Like many folks I got a huge influx of paid folks at the beginning, and then it slowed to a sedate but steady pace. I struggle with promotion on any other social media platform other than FB, where I've been building a platform for a long, long time. I'm not as consistent as I should be, and it's also hard to know sometimes how to promote content that's great but behind a paywall. Still, after three months of inconsistent promotion and a lot of great actual writing I've got 368 folks on my list and 50 (FIFTY!!) of them are paid. That's just over a 13.5% conversion rate, which is high. Is is growing as fast as I'd like? No, but that's entirely on me. But it IS growing simply by continuing to do really good work and a modicum of promotion. Your newsletter will, too.

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Hi people! I'm brand spankin' new to Substack. Recently retired, I'm finally writing what I enjoy (instead of reports for my boss!) It's great to be here!

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First off, want to say I'm really glad we did a Christmas promotion like Substack suggested. We did a 50% discount and got twenty new paid subscriptions which pushed our paid rate to 8%. Woo hoo!

In terms of discoverability, I'm frustrated that the tag for travel is only revealed when a user clicks on the + on the Subtack main page. I can't see any reason why all of the tags aren't visible, since discoverability is already difficult enough. Any chance of changing this, Substack?

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Hey, all. I, too, love the continual improvements to Substack. I'd still like to see an option to "tip" or give a one-off donation to a writer. I still believe that a tip-jar feature could provide another regular revenue stream for Substack writers, as many folks just won't commit to $5 a month but would contribute $5 after reading a couple of free posts.

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I'm curious to hear how other people are growing their subscriber base. Would love to learn from those who are starting more grassroots and building a following, rather than from those that have large social medial followings and then launched a Substack.

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I had my first ever open thread a few weeks back and I thought I'd share what I learned. I was nervous but it went really well.

In the thread I recommended books for people working on their holiday shopping lists. https://whattoreadif.substack.com/p/what-to-gift-if-find-the-book-for/comments

What I learned:

- I heard from multiple people that they liked the "service" aspect of it. They were getting actual help instead of just a discussion.

- I think having a specific ask rather than just a general "what's your favorite book" made it easier to participate. (I know I find those questions overwhelming.)

- I asked a few friends and family members ahead of time to make sure to participate, which I think added a veneer of legitimacy to the whole thing.

Happy holidays all!

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We have a Substack writers Unite Twitter hype pod, follow me @youtopianj and I will add you to it, you could get some new eyes and support on your posts.

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Here's an unsolicited suggestion: if you ever start a Substack Reader app, including a community chat function in it!

I use a Telegram chat group for community building, but a problem with that is that I continuously have to keep track of who is subscribing and not. Since Substack already knows who is subscribing and not, why not include such functionality right there in the app? Just a random idea.

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Squishy/subjective question: how do you continue to write when there's been a lull in traction for a few weeks?

I find it hard to predict how well a piece will be received/shared. Sometimes, it's much better than expected and other times, it's quiet. I don't think there's a huge difference in my writing quality, so I'm guessing it's more that some topics/ideas resonate more than others.

Moral support/input appreciated!

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Feature request: the ability to assign labels to specific readers.

This would be useful because writers would then be able to send emails to different groups of readers based on their assigned labels.

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Super duper excited for full width images. My newsletter's header is gonna look so hot now!

Subscribe at https://hellouniverse.substack.com/ for a fun poem every week! 🤗

Really looking forward to the Dec 20 hangout sesh. Hope lots of us can make it!

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Hi. Has anyone else seen their open rate jump in the last couple of months? I write every day, and mine has jumped 50+% since September. But, I can't point to anything I'm doing differently. It's a good problem to have obviously but I'd love to figure it out. Thanks!

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Substack, I am also waiting on a referral program. I don't want to use an outside third party system, this could be game changing as it would allow us to see which subscribers are sharing it the most and reward them in some way.

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Anyone else getting lots (and I mean LOTS) of email opens per user? Was looking at one of my most engaged readers earlier and they're opening every email like 15-20 times. While I don't think I have any others that are quite so extreme, I definitely see multiple opens a lot. Until now I've assumed it was because Substack counts an email forward as an 'open' but now I'm just confused — six months down the line I'd be surprised if people were forwarding my emails to that extent three times a week, just seems weird. If it's just that people are super engaged then that's great, of course, but I do wonder if there's something I don't understand about how the analytics work.

Anyone else encountered this, or know what's up?

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I write seventysomething and many of my subscribers are by definition older. Quite a few have difficulty with the comment function (find it onerous) and end up emailing responses which isn’t as good for me. Is there a straightforward procedure for commenting that I can provide?

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I've been getting a lot of attention, but then very few subscribe. My newsletter is how to help heal our relationships and thereby heal our country. I am trying to figure out what the barriers are. Is that people think it doesn’t apply to them, or they are tired of the topic or they think there is no chance of success? Or is it all bots? What do you all think? I'd appreciate your own reaction.

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Hello! 👋🏾

I have a brand question. So, my schtick is that my work has weight. It’s about connection. When though does a brand steer into territory that’s not in the original intention? How do you change? I have a leadership book still in scraps and while it’s what I do and what I may be good at, it’s not necessary what moves me. I may, however, want to release that book when it’s done. I’m not sure it has a place in my current Substack.

Start a Substack section? Another altogether? Maybe guest post on topics outside the newsletter? Okay, this is like 19 questions but you get the idea.

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I love the post embed feature -- it's great for building on ideas we've covered in earlier posts. But is there a way to make the embeds show up with the thumbnail image from the post too? I try to incorporate wildlife and nature photography into my articles, and I think I have some really cool stuff to look at that may improve the click rate. Thanks!

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Hello! Question for today - Is there any harm to having many subscribers and a lower open rate or is it better to weed out the subscribers who don't open emails so that open rates go up? I think I know the answer but I received a fairly terse email from another Substack writer last week saying he would unsubscribe me unless I open his newsletters and I am just wondering if there is any benefit to taking this step myself. Thanks!

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I have what may be a super simple question but I can't figure out the answer. When you look at a Substack you don't follow, or when you embed Substacks into a post, sometimes they say "by author name" and sometimes they don't.

Geoffrey Golden and I created a Substack for fiction writers on Substack but because I am the "owner" it shows "by Jackie Dana" and I don't want it to show that. How do I change it?

You can see what I mean if you go to this list of authors - some have their names and some don't: https://fictionistas.substack.com/p/fiction-substacks-to-follow

And while I have your attention, if you write fiction on Substack you should totally join us. :)

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hi everyone! a new poem is out today, and as someone who has been here a while, with you all, it be great for any support!

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The new order of the writing tools is perfect!

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I'm interested in making all of my posts older than a year sub-only instead of accessible to all. While automation would be one way to do this, I might prefer something more manual like a mass-edit function that lets me change the audience of many posts at once. Is this anywhere on the roadmap?

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Any thoughts on when the best time to go paid is? I had set up paid subscriptions but then thought twice about it as I didn’t actually have any paywalled content up yet.

How many pieces of paywalled content, or content ready to be paywalled, do you think are necessary before enabling paid subscriptions?

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Thanks everyone, it's been fun chatting with me. I look forward to doing more cross promotion in the near future. If anyone is interested, hit me up at colenobleclimbs@gmail.com

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Hey writing friends: my brother-in-law works with in communications and recently did a great series on newsletters. I found it super helpful as I designed my first newsletter and think through future content.

If you go to his profile activity, you can all the newsletter videos he did with Lesley Sim over the past month.

https://www.linkedin.com/posts/chikodi_laying-out-your-newsletter-for-better-readability-ugcPost-6872187840164429824-z3DX

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Thank you for this Substack, dope as always! As usual, I am down to cross promote as well as invite you to our Twitter hype pod so we can all grow together. Feel free to subscribe to my stack, you may find it useful. https://youtopianjourney.substack.com/

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Hi y'all! I'm late to the party today, but I'm back to make a request again for diacritics in the text editor. I was writing a post last night and wished I had this feature once again instead of having to type the text elsewhere then copy and paste! :)

P.S. I've got holiday and winter-themed posts all month at PopPoetry if you want to swing by!

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Hello everyone! I just flipped my writing into a newsletter and launched it the past week!

Question: I am wondering about paid advertising, such as running facebook ads for a newsletter. Anybody done this? Have you done A/B testing with messaging? Any thoughts and experiences are appreciated!

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I had a free subscriber leave a like on every post I have made, one every two minutes which is impossible for humans to do given my lengthy articles and short book are generally 3,000 words or more each. I sent emails to the subscriber trying to find out more but I think it is simply a bot copying all my work. What does Substack do to stop that from happening?

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Cross-promotion anyone? I tell stories about leadership and culture with a focus on 30-50 year old professionals interested in fun and poignant insights to help them grow. ~7000 subscribers. Anybody hitting the same market interested in cross promo?

(I did one with @ColeNoble last month that worked out well!)

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Hey everyone!

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So sorry can't be here today. I have a question. How can I find and hire someone to guide me personally to understand Substack fully and be able to offer technical support. My personal email is topspeaker@yahoo.com. Thank you.

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Any tips and tricks to increase open rates? I find it discouraging that sometimes my substack goes to my own spam folder randomly.

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Thank you Substack for creating such a community on here. Love the threads you do!!

I’m currently in the beginning stages of my wellness Newsletter (what I call my ‘journal’), and a place where I share all contemplations and learnings on life. Meditations, journal prompts etc - as well as podcast chats to discuss self development + discovery!

I’ve had a lot of traction because of my past career as a race car driver in Canada - and really wanting to expand in Substack and share my knowledge. Where is everyone finding the best interest for areas on self help + development? Reddit has been great to gain some new networks as well!!!

Thanks in advance for your input. Wishing you all successful Substacks!! (Love this platform!!!!)

Lindsay Rice

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I would like the option to charge 99¢ for monthly subs. It encourages readers to take a chance on unknown writers while reducing buyer's regret. It also gets revenue flowing into Substack and my account.

I'd rather have 1 million subscribers billed at 99¢ rather than 5000 subscribers at $5.

Maybe I'm missing something, but with rampant inflation taking place—and people becoming more conscious of expenditures— I don't see how this does not make sense.

Is this pricing option something we can see in the near future?

Thanks again Substack for considering my question.

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Another question for today - I currently send out two newsletters - one free and one paid (the paid subscribers get the free as well and the paid version includes more valuable and additional resources. I'd like to try the Paywall feature and change to one newsletter with the paid subscriber content behind a paywall at the bottom but when experimenting with this feature, I do not think it will work. Does anyone do something like this and/or offer any advice?

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4th Question of the Day

I pose this question with some trepidation as I already proffered this query.

Getting “Indexed” on Google

I have been advised that I should be indexed on google and that toward this end I must avail myself of google console. I tried to do this but was unsuccessful. Do you have any articles, primers or insights on how I might do this.

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Hey, Writer Friends! Here's my (perhaps) odd question... I've started doing audio recordings of my newsletter. Folks have been encouraging me to "do a podcast", but the reality is that I don't want to do a podcast. What I would like to do is find some podcasts that I could pitch to in order to be featured as a guest in order to promote my newsletter. I'm a great writer. I'm also a great talker. The trouble is that I don't know how to go about researching podcasts to pitch to. Most of the podcasts I listen to are very popular ones, and those are right out. But there are so many podcasts out there with much smaller audiences that may be looking for folks to interview. How do I go about doing the research to find them? Has anyone undertaken such a process successfully? How did you go about it?

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I really love all the new features being added! I have one question: Will Instagram posts be able to embed like Twitter? I know Instagram can be embedded, but I was wondering if it will be expanded so you can see the text as well as the image, or you can play videos like you can on Twitter embeds, or scroll through an album without leaving Substack? I guess the same goes for Tik Toks as well.

Thanks, and I appreciate all the great work!

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New writer here so apologies for the very basic Q. I love the easy-to-use podcast functionality. Is this limited to audio only? or do writers drop video recordings here as well? I know you can easily embed YouTube or other videos from other sources. But can you record on say on iMovie or QuickTime and upload that here in a similar manner?

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Busy adapting a rewarding (50 year) professional art career from original art to digital opportunities. I have two subjects: "Mostly About Water" and "How to be an Artist." My online following is too minimal to start asking for money. I'm interested in the symbiotic relationship between Substack and Medium. I've often written first on Medium, using an auto upload to Substack, and that slowly my sites will build.

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Excited for full-width images! What image size / dimensions do you recommend, so the graphic still looks sharp when it's expanded?

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This is a very basic question: Every now and then I receive a message with the following email address - reaction@mg1.substack.com. From whom are these coming?

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Hi everyone! Two questions from me:

- Would you consider an embed feature for TikTok the way you have for YouTube, Instagram, Twitter, and Spotify? As someone who likes to link out to external media for one of my newsletter franchises it would be so helpful!

- What is a good open rate, or even an average open rate? I'd love to understand that number in context.

Thank you! Roya

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Morning everyone! I write Cole's Climb, sharing news and stories from the outdoors. Would substack ever consider adding a vanishing subscribe button? I've noticed that if you've subscribed to a newsletter, the button becomes grayed out. It would be a really handy tool if we could clear the space for people who are already supporting us!

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Hello, a question about Instagram embeds: they don't seem to include captions anymore?

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