622 Comments

Thank you for coming to Office Hours! Our team is signing off for today.

We will be back next week for Shoutout thread. We are eager to learn more about what you are reading.

In the meantime, our resources are here for you.

https://substack.com/resources

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Be well,

The Substack Team

Katie + Bailey + Kelsa + Rose + Jasmine + James + Mary

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Huge shoutout to Substack this week for a long-awaited moderation feature: the ability to bulk delete comments from spam accounts.

A few weeks ago when I was on the featured writer list, my Substack was spammed with hundreds of comments full of racial profanity.

A member of the team reached out to me with the update: when you ban someone, you now have the option to remove every comment they've made from your Substack. This will be an invaluable tool for writers who have to deal with trolls and spamming!

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I broke through to the top 13 outdoor/climate newsletter.

Growth has been steady.

Working on cracking the top 10 for podcast is the next goal.

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I am doing a year in review this Sunday for my newsletter (one year old on Substack) and what I accomplished with it. It may help other writers so be on the lookout.

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Not a question, but just want to shout out how responsive and helpful the Substack team always is. I come to Bailey or Katie worrying about some problem like once a week and they’re always encouraging, kind, and solution-oriented. That does not go unnoticed or unappreciated y’all!

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After my first month on Substack, I'm up to 80 free subscribers. I promote on twitter, Stocktwits and LinkedIN and get about 100 views a day with better than 50% opens. I make my money trading, so I'm in no hurry to go paid. The entrepreneur in me wants to go paid now, but I don't need the hassle nor the stress. To really overcome the "fame deficit" that slows the growth of a lot our newsletters, I would have to buy mailing lists. I won't do that. I'll just keep blogging daily and offering the best content I can. If nothing else, I develop good trading ideas for myself.

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Hello! 👋🏾

I’m very excited for Substack’s continued innovation and really enjoy using this platform as it grows. It’s really the little things and I love them.

Two suggestions:

1). Tip jar - Why go to other sites for one-time payments when all can be done in-house. Can Stripe have a custom button? Maybe PayPal?

2). Patrons - I recently read Elle Griffin piece about a writer who received 100k to work on her Substack full time. This would be very beneficial for others who are trying to build their bodies of work. Is there an endowment to draw from? Can people be solicited for donations to fund the arts? Just a thought.

Lastly, shoutout to me for my tiny, but mighty Substack of poetry, fiction, and personal essays. Things are shaping up nicely and I’m getting great engagement. To those who I’ve collaborated with, thank you. To those who I’m writing for, we will connect shortly. To those who have yet to collaborate with me, can’t wait to meet you. 🙂

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I've reached 130 free subscribers in my first few months on this platform, & I'm so grateful to have reached people the way I have before the book's release.

(I'll never get over what an intimate medium writing can be)

Also, I may sound like a simple girl, but I'm pleased with how my site looks on my computer.

The buttons are exactly the browns I wanted & the fonts fit the overall vibe pretty well.

These customizable visual elements can help one 'own' their little corner here, and for that, I'd like to thank the team.

While I'm here, I'd like to give a shoutout to Nadia Bolz-Weber from The Corners, whose work is some of the most lucid, cutting writing I've come across in years.

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My question this week is about 'discovery'. I'm wondering why there isn't a separate category for writing. I don't know whether to look under 'Culture' or 'Art' for my own newsletter and the newsletters of other writers. I find writers in both.

My newsletter, Writer Everlasting, is strictly for writers, yet there is no easy way to find it. (I haven't found it yet)

Could you please add a 'Writing' category? It would be so useful

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I followed the suggestion from a recent thread to prune subscribers that weren't getting or opening emails, and found a bunch of zombie free signups from our old Mailchimp account with zero opens. After culling a few hundred, our open rate has skyrocketed, which is a nice boost personally and I hope helps with how machines interpret the value of the posts.

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Feb 24, 2022·edited Feb 24, 2022

Can someone from Substack address the following: Can we please get an option to disable showing the "welcome page" to people who haven't subscribed? I don't want to shove the email form in people's faces before they've read or browsed anything. I've personally seen the welcome page also being confusing to many readers, and it deters them from browsing at all—"Let me read first" isn't intuitive. It's also really annoying for people who choose to browse my articles from the Web and just don't prefer email.

The welcome page is my single biggest gripe with Substack. Sending people to the /about or /archive pages from elsewhere doesn't help because the moment people click on the logo or title to visit the homepage, the email form is shown again. If Substack is marketing the platform as being designed for "Bloggers" too (https://substack.com/for-bloggers), then they shouldn't treat publications as merely being newsletters with an email form.

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An integrated merch store would be cool.

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I just started my newsletter a few weeks ago, so I'm sorry if this is too much of a newbie question (I did search Help first) - is there a way to group posts by topic or category so people visiting the newsletter for the first time can choose a sub-category to check out rather than just seeing all posts?

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Hello! New here, really excited to get the ball rolling on my brand new Relationship newsletter/community.

Still forming the core concept, but a key strategy will be to interview guests and share their unique stories, but I'm not sure how to best format the post and at what cadence.

Any examples of Substack newsletters that rely in interviews that I can refer to as a baseline?

If it's weekly, will I be able to keep up? If it's monthly, how 'quality' is high quality content worth waiting for?

Excited to build the community of my dreams here. Thank you, Substack!

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Hi there, I am curious if anyone has had success growing their subscriber base through promoting their newsletter on Reddit? If so, are there any key learnings you can share? Thanks!

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Don't forget to join our twitter hype pod, you may get some new readers. Follow me @youtopianj and I will add you

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Has anyone tried the new feature giving free folks a 7 day free trial for signing up on a paid-only post with a free preview? Did people unsubscribe? Or does anyone worry (as I do) that folks will be annoyed and feel tricked into subscribing? I would like to use it, but . . . (also like being able to pin comments! Thanks, Substack!)

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I'm new and write "Writers' Haven by Christine Wolf." I'm eager to interview and get to know other Substack writers and share their journeys. I think fellow writers (particularly Substack writers) will find these interesting and helpful. (Thanks to all who've already raised their hands. I'll be in touch soon!) I email you questions about your experiences as a writer. You respond. Then, I post our interview, with a link to your newsletter. If interested, lmk. I'm at christine at christinewolf dot com. Thanks!

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I received positive comments about the two short video posts I did.

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Remember, write what you know.

It’s more genuine that way.

Your readers know.

Support what you believe in.

Cheers.

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Did we ever get a response to the changing NONE to FREE on the payment options ... it is very confusing to my connections and potential subscribers. Sorry if I missed it before.

Thanks, liz

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I have been experimenting with growing a bigger presence on social media, especially Instagram. As I get more followers -- mostly by posting Instagram Reels and stories unrelated to my newsletter but still relax to the theme (snacks, food, candy) -- it has brought in a small, but steady-ish stream of free subscriptions.

Has anyone else experimented with growing, say, a strong Instagram presence to see how it can impact newsletter growth?

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This may be a dumb question. If I put a paywall in a post but choose that the post is for only paid subscribers, do my free subscribers still get an email about the post but only see the part above the paywall?

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just noticing that music adds a powerful dimension to my posts https://rohn.substack.com/p/music?utm_source=url / of course it can also turn people off if they don't like the music : )

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Had a question about subscriber surveys. Has anyone used them and how? Would appreciate any examples of forms/questions used. Thanks!

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[Migration and Promotion Questions] Hi! I currently having a free weekly newsletter--focused on well-being--that I send via another platform that I will be migrating to Substack. I also plan on creating an additional article or two each week, which will be available for subscribers.

I have a few questions on strategy. I am grateful for any insights.

1/ Any suggestions on best practices to migrate my current mailing list? Should I just announce to them that the platform will switch and do the migrating on my own, or have them sign up for it on Substack?

2/ Any thoughts on best strategy regarding converting this audience to the paid model? Should I have the subscription content be available for free for a certain time (if so, how long?). Or should I just use that feature in which you put the paywall up after a certain paragraph? Or a combo?

I'm super excited to start having my newsletter on Substack! And really excited about the community aspect as well! Thanks!

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Hi everyone. Question about promotions: I publish a weekly Substack that typically includes several short items and then a feature about NYC life or a profile of an interesting NYC character. The best place for me promote is reddit/nyc. Every week I post the newsletter there, and this gets me 100 or so views within the hour, and then the mods yank it down. I couldn't figure out why.

This week, however, I got a helpful note from one of the mods saying that anything that includes links to YouTube videos or FB posts, information presented in list form, surveys, etc. will get identified as spam and yanked.

My newsletter typically includes all kinds of links to interesting outside things, so I am thinking of creating a separate version of my newsletter each week, just for reddit/nyc that contains just the main feature with no links or additional content. Any thoughts on this? Has anyone tried something along these lines? Thank you!

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Always a good time on these office hour threads! My question involves how best to tag my publication on Substack. I write about visual art, film, books, music, and sometimes even architecture from a more-or-less Christian perspective. I'm currently using Substack's "art & illustration", "film & media" and "culture" tags, but there doesn't seem to be a tag that encompasses everything I'm writing about. Maybe I need to focus on just one topic! Does anyone have any ideas?

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How can we submit new publication categories? I'm discovering the Discover feature, and there's no grouping for Film/TV/Entertainment. I write in that realm, as do all of the members of my Substack Go

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Is it possible to change the name of a publication? If yes, what things should I consider if I want to do so? Thanks!

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Small question--how do you get listed under the special categories? I write America Eats!, a food newsletter and it isn't listed.

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Hi! Is there any way to export your Substack list into another email list for future use? I think it would be possible logistically, but does Substack have any certain policies or rules on that? I’m trying to think ahead and I’ve spent so much time and effort growing my Substack, so I wouldn’t want to lose my subscribers just in case something weird happens. Thank you so much!

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Hi! We're about to launch our newsletter and are wondering about how to handle our 4000 person mailing list that already exists over at Mailchimp. Do we 1) important those names and make our first newsletter a welcome note with encouragement to "stick around" and even subscribe as paid or 2) alert via Mailchimp itself that we are starting our Substack newsletter and please subscribe?

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I'd be interested in experience of trying to generate subscribers through Instagram. I'm familiar with Instagram and it's good for (particularly visual) engagement, but flipping interest into (even free) subscriptions has proven tough, even where IG followers are showing real interest in my stuff. I also think Substack has a pretty low profile on IG generally (there's a placeholder account with no posts).

Is it a simple as "IG is for photos/video, Twitter for writing"?

Thanks, all.

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is it possible to embed RUMBLE videos in the middle of a Post? I tried, but the embed code didn't work...

with YouTube insane censorship, we need an alternative...

Also: can Substack videos be embedded in the middle of a Post, and not just on Top?

multiple videos, if possible... (3 or 4 videos)

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Hey there, so far I've had a couple of readers of mine reaching out to me about a 'bug' regarding a link. It was the 'leave a comment' button that led users who hadn't signed in to an error page (it actually informed users that the page there were was private). Anyway, this page's messaging doesn't look very helpful to me, so I thought to let you know in case you can take a look and perhaps slightly adjust it? Best :)

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Is it possible to give people the option of paying more than the standard sub, just because they can? Or to say, charge different subs to corporate subscribers (people with a corp. email domain) than people with a personal email address?

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Is there anyway to get Substack posts to appear in Google News and Google search? Have I missed something? I don't believe I ever see substack articles appear in Google. But I do see content from other sources that have walled gardens, such as newspapers that require a subscription to read the article.

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I plan to start a Substack newsletter. I am a political writer who writes primarily about Trump and democracy, including recently in the NYT and LA Times. My questions are: 1) where I can get best "instructions" about how to successfully launch a newsletter and 2) I would love to find current writers on Substack willing to provide me with guidance/consultation (I am more than willing to pay a reasonable hourly fee). I prefer to start with input from experienced others rather than simply trial and error. Here is my website which lists some of articles: https://www.elimerritt.com. Thanks for any input you have.

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Looking to solve a problem I've been getting nowhere on, with substack:

When I send an email, my number of subscribers, recipients, and deliveries are all different.

i.e. today;

733 subscribers -- > 726 recipients -- > 697 deliveries.

I've gone through the steps of validating my email list to make sure all the accounts can receive emails. I'm just looking for any kind of clarification on why there appear to be subscribers slipping through the cracks here.

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Any TikTokers in these parts? I'd love to connect. I'm @banakula with 1.6M followers. I notice that the hashtag #substack is pretty empty over there. I'd love to see you over on the hashtag. :) Hal

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Hi all,

I've been writing "confessions of a workaholic" for a bit less than a year.

https://confessionsofaworkaholic.substack.com/

My question is about going paid:

I have about 6.7k subscribers but only about 700ish read each post.

What is the metric you use to decide when to go paid? I'm not in a rush to go paid, but curious to know what I should work on.

Any other advice from those with experience in going paid is super welcomed🙏🏼

Thank you all in advance.

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John Anderson, who was Deputy Minister of Australia between 1999 and 2005, had interesting interview with Steve E. Koonin, (theoretical physicist and policymaker), in October 2021 about The Politics of Climate Change. The interview can be seen on J.A. podcast on YouTube

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I started a newsletter on running inspiration for people too busy to run, because I’m no pro runner but I get so much out of it when I squeeze it into my busy life. I then started another newsletter on my first love of recipe creations which ends up with great images and again inspiration for the kitchen.

I notice managing 2 newsletters isn’t 100% seamless, when you click on my profile only one of them pulls the small blurb. Just wondering if anyone else also managing 2 separate newsletters has any tips? I’m genuinely passionate about both topics to splitting the two seemed like a good idea but maybe I should combine?

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Greetings, I review books about nature and climate at frugalchariot.substack.com, and use photography quite a bit. I am organizing a 2 session weekend workshop this spring for writers who want to up their photography game with photographer Cheryle St. Onge. St. Onge's work has been featured by the New Yorker, the New York Times and many other outlets. She has been awarded a Guggenheim fellowship. Email if you are interested. We are committed to make this affordable for all. Email me at nicie.panetta@gmail.com if you are interested.

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Is it possible to use the paywall as a "subscriber wall," to put up a barrier between random visitors, and free subscribers?

i.e.: "Sign up for free to continue reading"

I recently shared a post that got me a ton of traffic onto my newsletter from Substack, and a ton of positive feedback on Facebook. But of the 300-400 people who clicked over, no new subscribers.

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Any tips on how to promote my newsletter in Canada? I write a weekly book review combined with thoughts on current political events from a American progressive view. I have thought that this could really resonate with some Canadians based on the feedback I had gotten from a Canadian friend.

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THIS WAS POSTED ABOUT 30 MINUTES AGO, NOT RESPONDED TO. DELETED AND IT IS ABSOLUTELY URGENT

The following is extremely serious, and I respectfully request that it be addressed, as soon as practicable, by a supervisor at substack:

Upon typing the web address of my newsletter into my browser. https://davidgottfried.substack.com/ , I was horrified by what I saw: The utter degradation of my home page. I noticed this about 20 minutes ago.

My home page sported a picture of sardonic, sadistic Nazis.

I have posted plenty of things which attacked Nazis and denigrated Nazis. I never posted anything which celebrated Nazis or meant to celebrate Nazis.

Please determine how and why my site was marred.

If I am associated with Nazis, I will be despised, rejected and my attempts to disseminate my work product will be impeded and destroyed. The defamation of my character would of course be actionable in a court of law. However, I am not interested in litigation; I am interested in correcting the problem. Please get back to me as soon as possible.

I have posted articles which noted that Ukraine has a history of collaborating with Nazis and that Russia fought valiantly and gallantly against the Third Reich. I wonder if pro Ukrainian operatives are the culpable parties.

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Good news: Created my first podcast and it was so easy. Thank you Substack!

Bad news: Why is it that, when I Google "Christine Wolf on Substack," the only thing that shows up is a comment I made in a Writer Office Hours thread?

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Hi everyone! First time here and not sure if I know how this works but here goes my question...

I've seen other writers how somehow manage to write a poetry block, but the font doesn't change, so it's the same font as the rest of the text.

The reason I'm asking is because I want to be able to press intro when writing and avoid the space there's in between paragraphs, and the only way is trough a block, but then the font is different, which is not what I want.

I realised that I could write my text in this free way inside a poetry block and then simply press of Styles and choose normal, then the block is gone and the structure stays, unless I remove a work, then all lines (full stop+intro) get together, as in the same paragraph, which just needs readjusting (using a poetry block again and then selecting Normal style). Then the structure remains in my post, but only if it's visited on the website. I mean that I got all messy in the email form – which was a real shame.

There's a way to do it for sure, but the Support team couldn't help. So please somebody crack the code for me!!

Thank you :)

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