548 Comments
User's avatar
Katie @ Substack's avatar

Thank you for coming to Office Hours! Our team is signing off for today and we will be back next week.

In the meantime, our resources are here for you.

https://substack.com/resources

https://support.substack.com/hc/en-us

We hope to see you out on the Substack (virtual) category tour. This is a meeting place for writers to connect directly over Zoom, and as a showcase for the wide variety of writing happening on Substack within a given category. Join us: https://on.substack.com/p/category-tour

See you soon,

The Substack Team

Katie + Jasmine + Jairaj + Christina + Becca + Ben

Expand full comment
Valorie Kelly's avatar

thank you

Expand full comment
Mateus Habib's avatar

Hey! Is it possible to insert audio notes on the middle of the text (not on top like the podcast tool). E.g. I'm writing an interview with a coffee farmer and I wanted to share some of the WhatsApp audios she sent me. Thanks!

Expand full comment
Karen Constable's avatar

Hi Mateus, I'm experimenting with SoundCloud audio embeds. You can put them anywhere in a text post and they work pretty well. SoundCloud hosts the audio and it's free.

Expand full comment
Jay Knowles's avatar

I've experimented with this as well, but it always opens up a new Soundcloud page. Have you figured out how to make it play from within the email/post/app? (Same problem with Youtube. Am I missing something? Thanks!

Expand full comment
Renee Faber's avatar

Yes, same question.

Expand full comment
Milan Shimono's avatar

Same question!

Expand full comment
Hal Walker's avatar

I’m pretty sure not, but I sure wish it was.

Expand full comment
User's avatar
Comment deleted
Mar 17, 2022
Comment deleted
Expand full comment
Hal Walker's avatar

I love how responsive Substack is. Thank you!

Expand full comment
Jay Knowles's avatar

Yes, please!

Expand full comment
Sean L. McCarthy's avatar

Thanks for continuing to update, keep going and growing them, please! Can I get new subscribers today just because I'm Irish? Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Expand full comment
Katie @ Substack's avatar

Hahah! From one Irish to another, Happy St. Patrick's Day Sean!

Expand full comment
Jackie Dana's avatar

Happy St. Patrick's Day! I just wrote about an Irish community founded in St. Louis after the Famine https://unseenstlouis.substack.com/p/irish-kings-gangs-witches

Expand full comment
Joan DeMartin's avatar

Happy St. Patrick's Day to you, Jackie!

Expand full comment
Jackie Dana's avatar

And to you as well Joan!  ☘️

Expand full comment
Brad Kyle's avatar

A Sean McCarthy....Irish? I'm sorry, I'm not buying it! Imposter, I say! Just playin', yo! Here's hoping you're a good sport! In one 4th grade class I used to teach, I made all of my ESL students "Irish for a Day" one St. Paddy's Day.

Amid other activities, I gave them all new names. This turned (happily, I hasten to add) Edgar Diaz into Edgar O'Diaz! Happiest of St. Patrick's Days, Sean!

Expand full comment
Wayne Robins's avatar

Brad, those sure were different times and a different place. Also, I remember a girl getting suspended from junior high for dye-ing her hair green. Now that's considered a normal day. My adult-ish daughters have no problem with purple streaks at their (corporate or that level) jobs.

Expand full comment
Alison Acheson's avatar

Happy St. Paddy's!!

Expand full comment
William Collen's avatar

Just wanted to share something I've been experimenting with lately. I've been using very large-format images of paintings in my newsletter; the full-screen images really bring out the detail in the paintings. The formatting doesn't work so well if the post is viewed using a mobile device or in email, but I've been encouraging readers to click through to the web version to get the full effect. You can take a look here if you want. https://ruinsruinsruins.substack.com/p/sad-paintings?s=w

Expand full comment
Jackie Dana's avatar

Wow, that's cool. Thanks for sharing!

Expand full comment
🅟🅐🅤🅛 🅜🅐🅒🅚🅞's avatar

This is why I still enjoy reading posts on my desktop. Nice!

Expand full comment
Donald E. L. Johnson's avatar

Nicely done. Especially the Ukraine painting at the bottom. Lead with it.

Expand full comment
E. Jean Carroll's avatar

Gorgeous!

Expand full comment
Joan DeMartin's avatar

Wow! Thanks for sharing—looks terrific!

Expand full comment
Carol Sill's avatar

very nice

Expand full comment
Christina Loff's avatar

Looks great William!

Expand full comment
Chevanne Scordinsky's avatar

That looks very good!

Expand full comment
Salma W. N.'s avatar

Can I just say, that I have been on Substack for just a few days, and I can't believe how wonderful this community is. I feel like I've finally found my people! <3

Expand full comment
Valorie Kelly's avatar

I feel the same way they even respond to my dumb questions. I am not at tech savy as I would like to be and I am way past 50 years

Expand full comment
sherri jane margolin aka durga's avatar

I’m 68. We are in this together. :) I new as well.

Expand full comment
sherri jane margolin aka durga's avatar

Hi Salma and Valorie, a shout out .. I’m new as well .. I have yet to publish .. I’m still working on my profile and getting a feel for the platform. I stumbled upon this chat today quite by accident which is good because I have questions which to me seem very dumb and so I know I will need to be asking them. So it feels good to know there are other newcomers.

Expand full comment
Salma W. N.'s avatar

I have found this place to be super supportive, and there’s a “no-stupid-question” mentality which makes it very comfortable and welcoming.

Expand full comment
sherri jane margolin aka durga's avatar

Lol.. I am very glad to hear that because I’m not tech anything so just navigating it is a “movie” which brings me to my first “stupid” question: I write in different genres from memoir to poetry to a how to-mediate so do I /would categorize them and then if so how from the tech side?

Expand full comment
Salma W. N.'s avatar

Why don’t you create different sections for your publications?

Expand full comment
sherri jane margolin aka durga's avatar

That’s what I want to do but I’m not sure how to do that from a technical standpoint .. like is there a way to create sections? That’s my issue.

Expand full comment
Salma W. N.'s avatar

You’ll have to go in your Dashboard and scroll down. There’s a button that says Add Section, and you just click on that.

Expand full comment
Caitlin H. Mallery's avatar

The people on here are great. There is a lot of support and help!

Expand full comment
YouTopian Journey's avatar

All we need is an internal referral program and a way to bypass our substack going to Spam (I know we have the APP) and we are good.

Expand full comment
Milan Shimono's avatar

Great idea. Can't wait for Android app for both reading and authoring!

Expand full comment
Diane Hatz's avatar

Hi all - Not sure if Chevanne from The Flare has mentioned already, but she and I are hosting "Substack Talk with Chevanne and Diane" on clubhouse this Monday 3/21 at 6pm est. Our guest will be Samantha from Creator Mindset + Growth, another substack. We're talking about (duh) substack and our writing, and I think we might be getting into using twitter to promote our work. Please join if you are so inclined! We'll have a Q&A session where you can participate. And if you'd like to be a guest on the show at some point, just let one of us know. We're thinking 2x a month but not sure yet of schedule. Thanks!

https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.clubhouse.com/event/mZqbGz2A?utm_medium%3Dch_event%26utm_campaign%3DNYFkUA_iLyJvHwfKxzqCiA-103486&sa=D&source=calendar&usd=2&usg=AOvVaw0AMTjUaRDKKHAkSIz0gALn

Expand full comment
Hal Walker's avatar

Cool. I’ll check it out

Expand full comment
Kevin Alexander's avatar

Fantastic! Glad you two are making this a regular thing.

Expand full comment
Diane Hatz's avatar

thanks!

Expand full comment
YouTopian Journey's avatar

I may be down as a guest. Keep me in mind.

Expand full comment
Chevanne Scordinsky's avatar

Yes, I have your email.

Expand full comment
Elizabeth's avatar

This is awesome!

Expand full comment
Diane Hatz's avatar

If anyone is interested, our podcast is now out for your listening pleasure! https://wholehealth.substack.com/p/substack-talk-w-chevanne-and-diane?s=w

Expand full comment
YouTopian Journey's avatar

Don't forget, we have a twitter hype pod for substack writers. Follow me @youtopianj and I will add you to it.

Expand full comment
E.R. Flynn's avatar

Just followed you in twitter and here. Great substack! You can find mine at : https//erflynn.substack.com

Expand full comment
YouTopian Journey's avatar

I am having issues, adding, standby.

Expand full comment
Cali Bird's avatar

Thank you. Enjoy!

Expand full comment
Cali Bird's avatar

Hi. Can you add me too please. I'm @calibird

Expand full comment
James Maynard's avatar

Thanks! Also following and awesome that you put this together.

Expand full comment
Philoinvestor's avatar

Done.

Expand full comment
Salma W. N.'s avatar

Found you and am following - @idoprofess

Expand full comment
User's avatar
Comment deleted
Mar 17, 2022
Comment deleted
Expand full comment
YouTopian Journey's avatar

We share our substack newsletters and we like/retweet/comment with our networks.

Expand full comment
John Ward's avatar

Have you noticed it working for hype pod members? I ask because I’ll see things like this (for like games or books) and I just scroll past because it’s obvious that it’s just a blind promo. Not saying that what you’re doing is like that. I’m just curious if anyone has gained traction as a result of your efforts.

Expand full comment
Fog Chaser's avatar

Yes, it's a very supportive group.

Expand full comment
Kevin Alexander's avatar

I'm in there and get a lot of value from it.

Expand full comment
David's avatar

yessss

Expand full comment
Bex Sinden's avatar

I followed you last week, but I haven’t heard anything from the group. Let me know if there is another step I should be taking to join.

Expand full comment
YouTopian Journey's avatar

What is your Twitter? Will make sure you are added.

Expand full comment
Ivan Webster's avatar

My Twitter is @IvanWebster16. Would love it if you'd add me. Thanks.

Expand full comment
Bex Sinden's avatar

@bexsinden Thank you!!!

Expand full comment
Sharon Cortelyou's avatar

I just want to say how much I enjoyed and appreciated the category tour kick-off yesterday. I met some other writers in the breakout sessions and look forward to more of these.

Expand full comment
Joan DeMartin's avatar

I enjoyed it, too! Met two very interesting writers!

Expand full comment
Hal Walker's avatar

I agree. Those break out rooms are terrific

Expand full comment
Valorie Kelly's avatar

I agree little hard locating it though. But worth the effort

Expand full comment
Wayne Robins's avatar

I don't like to read on my iPhone, but within 24-36 hours of the announcement of the Substack Read app, I got more than 100 new subscribers. And it seems to operate well, no glitches so far. So I definitely vote yes on the new app.

Expand full comment
Jackie Dana's avatar

Wow, that's impressive!

Expand full comment
Wayne Robins's avatar

I'm very grateful that a fellow Substacker who I have done call-and-response posts taking different sides of the same topic, named mine as one of four that he follows. And he has a very large audience, so I attribute a lot of that growth to him, with deep gratitude

Expand full comment
Jackie Dana's avatar

Oh definitely - a shoutout from someone with a large audience is GOLDEN.

And on that subject, if anyone wants to shout out either of my Substacks, I'm down! 🤣

Expand full comment
Christina Loff's avatar

So great to hear Wayne!

Expand full comment
Wayne Robins's avatar

Thank you, Christina!

Expand full comment
George Barnett's avatar

Congrats, Wayne!

Expand full comment
Wayne Robins's avatar

Thanks, George.

Expand full comment
Charlotte Rutledge's avatar

I have a question about recipes. Has the Substack team ever considered or been approached about adding an option to insert a recipe block, much the same way as you can insert a poetry or code block? It would be great if there was a better way to format recipes. Curious what styles other recipe developers and writers have had success with on that front. If you want to share a link to your Substack, I'd love to check out some of yours!

Thanks to the Substack team for these continued improvements and upgrades!

Expand full comment
Jasmine Sun's avatar

Hi Charlotte, we've heard this request from some of our food writers, and it's on our radar as something to consider. I know some food writers will choose to embed PDF files to printable recipes (you can just drag-and-drop a PDF into the Substack editor).

Expand full comment
Kate McDermott's avatar

I didn't know I could drag and drop a PDF. Thank you!

Expand full comment
Jasmine Sun's avatar

You can see an example of the PDF embed at the bottom of this post: https://whattocook.substack.com/p/sriracha-shrimp-sushi-bowls?s=r

Expand full comment
Hannah Griffin's avatar

Ooh this is such a good idea, I would love that feature!

Expand full comment
Sarah Kmon's avatar

I like that idea. It would be helpful as someone who reads recipes.

Expand full comment
Lerato Umah-Shaylor's avatar

Wonderful updates! Thank you Substack team.

Expand full comment
Erin Geary's avatar

It's great to see so many of us starting our Substack journeys! I'm at the very beginning of mine and trying to get the word out--as are you. Check me out at commonfolk365.substack.com. I hope to subscribe to more in the Substack world. Any advice as to how to get more subscribers would be great. Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Expand full comment
Nikhil Rajagopalan's avatar

Start with your family and friends first. Get feedback and refine. Post consistently per the schedule you've decided on and stick to it for a while. Then start advertising in your social media. Build a brand and develop a differentiation sales point: What makes your content stand out from others that do the same? If your subject isn't niche, then this becomes your defining point. Have these things ready to show in front of an audience. Include screenshots from people who say good things about your newsletter. It helps convince new folks to sign up and stay signed on.

This is a lot of advice coming from someone who themselves started fewer than two weeks ago on Substack, but I think I've covered my fundamentals in my About Page. Hope some (or all of this) helps! Good luck, bonne chance!

Expand full comment
Sarah Kmon's avatar

Check out a page called Substack Grow

Expand full comment
Caitlin H. Mallery's avatar

Substackers sharing each others work is helpful. Comment on people you follow on substack.

Expand full comment
Ben @ Substack's avatar

You're on the right track! One good way to get discovered is just to be active in our community threads and interact with other writers. We also find that sharing your writing on your socials and encouraging your readers to do the same is a great way to get initial readers.

Best of luck on your journey!

Expand full comment
Salma W. N.'s avatar

I had posted a question on this thread basically suggesting that new Substackers get together and do some sort of podcast speaking specifically about being new here... Let me know if you'd be into that -- it's literally just an idea I had and would need more brainstorming haha

Expand full comment
Diane Hatz's avatar

Chevanne @ The Flare and I have started a conversation about substack - our next one is Monday 6pm est pm clubhouse. please join! "Substack Talk with Chevanne and Diane" https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.clubhouse.com/event/mZqbGz2A?utm_medium%3Dch_event%26utm_campaign%3DNYFkUA_iLyJvHwfKxzqCiA-103486&sa=D&source=calendar&usd=2&usg=AOvVaw0AMTjUaRDKKHAkSIz0gALn

Expand full comment
Michael Estrin's avatar

Hi Substack community! Always lovely to see so many writers in these Office Hours threads.

Wondering when / if we might see a humor category for discovery? I know there are lots of great writers writing about serious stuff, but sometimes you just need a laugh, right? I believe I mentioned this last time, but when I began on Substack (a little more than a year ago) culture was the most relevant category. Then I moved to fiction - better, but not quite right. Anyway, I’d love a home for humor and I don’t think I’m alone.

Expand full comment
Christina Loff's avatar

Hi Michael - we have been hearing this request a lot for a humor category, it's on our radar!

Expand full comment
Holy Writ's avatar

woohoo thanks!

Expand full comment
Michael Estrin's avatar

Thanks Christina! I just asked Hamish about it in his Twitter AMA. He said he liked the ideas too! Let’s give humor a home 🙏🏻😁

Expand full comment
Holy Writ's avatar

Agreed—a humor section would be great!

Expand full comment
Hannah Griffin's avatar

Hi there! I write Good Book/Good Bread, where every two weeks I recommend and review a book I loved, and bake a delicious bread that fits with the theme. Images are a really important element of my newsletter, and I was wondering if there is any way to ensure images actually appear in the newsletter for subscribers? I know many email clients will automatically not display the images, and the user needs to click "download images." If anyone has any suggestions or ideas for increasing the chances images show up in emails, I'd love to hear.

Thank you!

Hannah

Expand full comment
Caitlin H. Mallery's avatar

This idea is lovely. I always include a recipe or eating idea in my weekly newsletter.

Expand full comment
Hannah Griffin's avatar

Thanks Caitlin :)

Expand full comment
Christina Loff's avatar

Love the concept for your substack Hannah!

Expand full comment
Whitney McKnight's avatar

Hello. Could you please have a discussion about the leaderboards? I am probably making your customer support team crazy peppering them with questions about how it works, but it's hard for me to understand, as the graphics of what used to be very easy to see who was trending seem to be different now, and also do not live in an obvious place.

This stems from an exchange I have already had with Katie in CS:

Me: [[[Somewhere I saw a bit of information on your website that said my publication is in the top 50 mental health newsletters. I now can't find that statistic, and I also don't know how it was derived.

I used the search engine on your site, and if the returns are ranked according to readership, then I come up as #18 Discover Substack Newsletters

Is this accurate, and if so, by what metric? Paid subscribers? Readers? ]]]

Katie at CS: [[[For ranking on leaderboards and in search, subscribers matter most. You can read how that works here. We look at signals that indicate reader satisfaction. For the free publications, that means we rank according to active readership. For the top paid publications list, we focus on revenue, which serves two important purposes: 1) It shows what readers deeply value; and 2) it gives other publishers a clear idea of what’s possible on Substack and how to get there.]]]

Me: [[[Thank you for your reply. I appreciated it and read the post linked within. I also understand the logic. What I am not understanding at this point is where the leaderboard is. It used to be easy to find, but now I am at a loss to find it. Is it now just whatever the search terms I enter returns?]]]

CS: [[[You can find the leaderboard if you scroll down on the Substack homepage, in the reader, and on the new iOS app.]]]

Me: [[[Thanks, Katie. At the risk of really being annoying and having you think I am dense as rock, is this the leaderboard (see below)? I scrolled all the way down to the end and that is all I can see that might be it. I just find it so hard to believe that these are the pubs that are leading (they seem random and obtuse).

Maybe to end my ignorance on this, and that of so many others, perhaps during the next substack writer hours, you could address how publishers can keep track of their comparative success. I know you did this in 2019, but so much has changed and you are far bigger than before. Thanks for considering it and for your time on this. I appreciate it.]]]

I hope this is helpful in explaining what I mean. Many thanks.

Whitney

Expand full comment
Katie @ Substack's avatar

Hi Whitney,

For context, Whitney is referring to the leaderboards at the bottom of http://substack.com/.

Our founders wrote about why we have these leaderboards and how they work here: https://on.substack.com/p/why-we-have-a-leaderboard

I've flagged with our team to see if we can create an updated version but leaderboards are category specific and all function the way outlined in the article.

We do have one category, featured, which our team curates daily (use to be weekly but we switched to daily with the app launch). Here we aim to feature writers who are going deep into a clear topic and exemplify best practices, like posting regularly and engaging with readers.

Expand full comment
E. Jean Carroll's avatar

A complex subject explained with elegance and vim! Thank you, Katie!

Expand full comment
Whitney McKnight's avatar

Thank you, Katie!

Expand full comment
Diane Hatz's avatar

I'm interested in this also. As in, does quantity of writing matter (how many posts a week, for example) or does quality of posts (i.e., % of people who read it) matter more? I'm going back and forth on publishing once a month or more, like once a week, and want to know if one affects things like being chosen for a leaderboard more.

Expand full comment
E. Jean Carroll's avatar

Frequency, Diane, is VERY important, especially with the new app. There are brilliant newsletters published once a month (like the inimitable Cheryl Strayed)---but if you only publish once a month, you will only be in the app FEED once a month. It is smarter to do once a week, or better twice.

Expand full comment
Diane Hatz's avatar

That's what I figured - I've figured out a way to not overwhelm. I simply don't send everything out via email. It'll still go in the feed. So I think it's best of both worlds. Thanks!

Expand full comment
Alison Acheson's avatar

All good questions--thank you for sharing this exchange! I'm also mystified by the lines that Substack ascribes to each--the "hundreds of paid subscribers" or "launched one year ago" --these are not always accurate, which seems really odd. Do we have any choice about these?

Expand full comment
Christine Wolf's avatar

Dear Substack Gods,

Regarding the category tour, I'm still hoping to see "Writing" as a category. As a memoir and writing coach whose focus is on the craft of writing, I don't fit authentically into any of the existing categories.

THANK YOU for considering adding this category. I think it'll be a game changer.

Expand full comment
Jackie Dana's avatar

Hah, I was going to post this as well just to keep the dream alive! Thanks for beating me to it. 🥳

Expand full comment
Gwenda Bond's avatar

This would be great!

Expand full comment
Lone Patriot's avatar

I often receive an email from Substack "featuring" a writer's profile and views. HOW are they included in this promo and HOW can I get it? I think this would be a big help in readership and , hopefully, some subscribers. There must be SOME Conservative viewpoint readers hereon. Thank you.

Expand full comment
Katie @ Substack's avatar

Hi there,

Thanks for raising this concern. I am flagging with our team that works on features.

Generally 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.

Expand full comment
Brad Kyle's avatar

Ooh, ooh, Mr. Kotta! That's me, that's me!! Happy Green Day, Katie!

Expand full comment
Sarah Miller's avatar

To the best of my knowledge (when the Substack team arrives in an hour they can confirm or deny), but they handpick those people. It's invite-only, right now. I *think* there is a way you can submit/suggest people, including yourself, to be considered -- maybe someone else can provide a link for that, because I can't find it.

Expand full comment
Chevanne Scordinsky's avatar

Agreed. I would love that as well. I have some loyal folks supporting and promoting me, but oh boy, I’d love a feature.

Expand full comment
Lone Patriot's avatar

Thanks. Yes, it seems that a few options would work. 1. After first two weeks of posts, automatically featured. Depending on daily 'arrivals', maybe a few at a time. 2. Schedule everyone at least every 6 months with few of the most read posts. 3. Invite a couple of Most Read for headliners as a draw for them. Just sayin'...

Expand full comment
Emily Miller's avatar

It really would be nice if substack did it in some way that was fair to all. And I think we would all love the “reward” of being featured even once.

Expand full comment
Lone Patriot's avatar

Correctamundo, Emily. Well, they should be able to do it MORE OFTEN or MORE writers ON ONE email or REGULARLY cover everyone. Since is just an "email" SEVERAL A DAY or EVERY DAY is not prohibitive!! Room for everyone GRACIOUS enough to USE Substack....! Nick B.

Expand full comment
Emily Miller's avatar

Thank you! I feel the same way. Like substack is ashamed of its conservative writers (who happens to also be among the most popular on the site!)

Expand full comment
Lone Patriot's avatar

Seemingly so. Thanks for your concurrence. I don't know what the big deal is anyway. With the exception of Marxist trolls, Conservatives read Conservative material. They should find comfort in the fact that I do a lot of RINO drubbing. lol.

Expand full comment
Brad Kyle's avatar

I just subbed you, LP! Shhh......don't tell anyone! Don't wanna be cancelled, de-platformed, de-programmed, put on Sandy Cortez's naughty list, or have my statue pulled down! Excuse me......I've got some reading to catch up on!

Expand full comment
Lone Patriot's avatar

lol. Thanks, Brad. Since you're the FIRST, I'll simply say "Make It So, Number One"......

Expand full comment
Emily Miller's avatar

PS I am NOT one of the most popular - just working class Substack - but I see the big ones with tens of thousands of subscribers (wow) but they are never featured or even referred to much. Just feels like conservatives are embarrassing to the brass

Expand full comment
MARLA YOUNG's avatar

Your newsletter is great Emily! I would love for you to expand or start a separate newsletter sharing your fitness routine, travel tips etc.

Expand full comment
Emily Miller's avatar

You just made me week! Month! I wound love to write about travel and fitness but I didn’t think my readers would want that from me. I’m inspired to think about how to do a separate one just for the fun topics. Thank you!

Expand full comment
MARLA YOUNG's avatar

I think you should do it! Seriously, we need more publications for conservative women to share tips, resources, recipes, fitness etc.

Expand full comment
🅟🅐🅤🅛 🅜🅐🅒🅚🅞's avatar

I understand she is also great at Wordle...

Expand full comment
Emily Miller's avatar

You’re awesome, Paul. But unfortunately I’ve now lost two of my 60 games! I’ll never get my stats back at this rate. I wish they would let us go back and play the early games.

Expand full comment
MARLA YOUNG's avatar

Thanks for the prompt! Your newsletter looks great!

Expand full comment
Emily Miller's avatar

I subscribe to you too now and I’m excited because you write about what really interests me !

Expand full comment
MARLA YOUNG's avatar

Thank you! Your IG is great too! Thank you for highlighting the DC Firefighters and the mandates.

Expand full comment
Ashwin Sharma's avatar

Thanks substack! Hi everyone, my name is Ash and I write about mental illness in ancient civilisations! You can find out more here: https://ancientmadness.substack.com/about

I thought I’ll share what I’m really enjoying about substack at the moment:

I ❤️ flow state.

They release daily music recommendations which helps induce flow states! It’s awesome

https://www.flowstate.fm/

& the intrinsic perspective, by Erik Hoel is a newsletter which has some of the most important essays about education I’ve read in my life!

https://erikhoel.substack.com/

Thanks!

Expand full comment
Stygi's avatar

flowstate is great! Their focus music recommendations always hit the spot 🎯👌🎶

Expand full comment
Behrouz Jafarnezhad's avatar

Oooh the 'Early access scheduling' feature is fantastic!

Expand full comment
Suzanna Aaring's avatar

Why's that?

Expand full comment
Behrouz Jafarnezhad's avatar

Because I don't want to limit my reach by putting my content behind a paywall, and this can be a reason for my audience to pay for urgency rather than the content; especially if the content is time-sensitive.

Also, free subscribers can regularly see what they're missing by not being a paid subscriber.

Expand full comment
Tom White's avatar

A happy St. Patrick’s Day to all! https://www.whitenoise.email/p/st-patrick

Expand full comment
Melanie Newfield's avatar

Is the Office Hours session at an awkward time for you? I'm hosting a Zoom meetup for Substack writers in the Pacific region this Saturday/ Sunday (depending on your timezone). It's a chance to get together with other writers on Substack, at a time friendly to those who live around the Pacific Ocean (including places like SE Asia which aren't technically on the Pacific, but are close enough). Here's a link to the invitation if you are interested. https://lu.ma/lggaftyx

Expand full comment
Jackie Dana's avatar

Melanie is awesome and everyone on the other side of the world from us Americans should join her!

Expand full comment
ric leczel's avatar

My first attempt at podcasting is to record all of my prior posts into spoken articles. is there a way to insert individual podcasts of that post into the archival post? does that even make sense? if someone clicks on an old post, can I insert the podcast back in time, as it were?

I plan to record a months worth to send out as a "special edition" but also wanted to park the voice component into the original post

thanks as always

Ric

Expand full comment
Diane Hatz's avatar

I'm also interested in this. Can you not just edit the article and put a link to the podcast in it?

Expand full comment
ric leczel's avatar

perhaps, but my lazy bone said ask first do later, lol

Expand full comment
Christina Loff's avatar

Hi Ric - Right now you can not go back and add podcasts to posts that were already published as regular posts.

Expand full comment
Jasmine Sun's avatar

(But we're working on this soon!)

Expand full comment
ric leczel's avatar

Yay Jasmine, i also saw the what am I reading template, you guys keep cranking out things for the tool box, thanks!

Expand full comment
ric leczel's avatar

thanks - but maybe soon it looks like

Expand full comment
Milan Shimono's avatar

My question: what's the best way to categorize your content for readers viewing on website? Subject line Naming conventions, sub-newsletters, what else? Is it possible to add tags? Emails by author?

💕 the early access feature. I'm only on my third post so still growing my readership, but will definitely keep this feature/strategy in mind for when I go paid.

Expand full comment
J. M. Elliott's avatar

I’m struggling with categorization too. I kind of miss tags, as my previous format allowed me to create a kind of index with them that worked really well. Maybe a pinned post at the top with topic/links to serve as a table of contents?

Expand full comment
Sarah Miller's avatar

You can also create sections in your newsletter, that will then appear as headers at the top of your landing page, to serve as categories. I don't do this myself but I'm seeing more and more Substackers utilize sections like this.

Expand full comment
J. M. Elliott's avatar

Yes I’ve done this also and I do think it helps to manage broad categories. For example, I have a regular newsletter, I’m serializing a novel, and I plan to post additional creative writing and art, etc. Each of these has its own section. But I’m just starting so it’s all evolving…

Expand full comment
William Collen's avatar

Sections are a very useful tool if you have posts that easily separate into categories (for instance "book reviews" and "film reviews").

Expand full comment
Diane Hatz's avatar

I use the magazine feature, and have created sub-newsletters for each area because it sorts the posts better. check out my substack if you want to see how i do it.

Expand full comment
Caitlin H. Mallery's avatar

Have you tried using the magazine layout feature? If you have different types of posts that may give a better view than just a list of of most recent posts.

Expand full comment
Prabir Kumar Talukdar's avatar

Loving the conversations and feedbacks here. Also, a great place to find amazing content that people are writing about. More power to you all.

Expand full comment
Christine Wolf's avatar

Hey hey, Substackers. Please indulge me in this highly unscientific poll. I'm curious about whether you, as a writer, struggle with numbers. I've only recently learned about a learning disability called dyscalculia (dyslexia with numbers), and I have it. I recently wrote a piece about it, and I'm getting LOTS of private messages from writers saying they've always struggled with mathematics and numbers. If you're one of those people, I'd love to hear from you. I'm at christine (at) christinewolf (dot) com. Here's a link to a piece I just published about dyscalculia and what it feels like: https://christinewolf.substack.com/p/can-freelance-writing-itemized-taxes?r=3m99v&s=w&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web

And, while I have your attention, if you'd like to be featured as a Substack writer in my "Writers On Writing" series, please let me know. Thanks to everyone who's replied so far. I hope to get through my list and send you interview questions in the next two weeks. Here's a link to the series: https://christinewolf.substack.com/s/writers-on-writing. Again, I'm at christine (at) christinewolf (dot) com.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Expand full comment
Jackie Dana's avatar

You know I'm a fellow dyscalculia-er. If you ever wanted to have guests talk about what it's like to not be able to do word problems or comprehend certain types of math, do accounting tasks, estimate size/distance, play music (I can read music but I can't grasp how long to play notes), or live with math anxiety (especially in jobs where you're expected to talk about performance in terms of data), let me know!

Expand full comment
J. M. Elliott's avatar

I would enjoy hearing from others! I relate to everything you mentioned except the music. I could play by ear, but written music/time signatures were my nemesis!

Expand full comment
Jackie Dana's avatar

Exactly. If I knew a tune, or heard it, I could play it, and I used sheet music to remember the notes. But even though I knew what a quarter note was or whatever, and understood the theory behind the music, I could never play the rhythm based on the notes. I just couldn’t translate it.

Expand full comment
J. M. Elliott's avatar

Thank you, I don’t feel so weird now :-)

Expand full comment
Sarah Lavender Smith's avatar

hi all, I have been following the Substack categories tour, but I don't fit neatly into any of their categories. Mine, "Colorado Mountain Running & Living," would fit more into Health/Fitness or Outdoors and/or Lifestyle. Anyone else out there fit into these categories? I'd like to discover your newsletter if so.

Expand full comment
Kathryn Gates, LMFT's avatar

I don't remember what mine is under, but Health/Fitness is a good category for me, too. Is this not already a category?! I write the Body Acceptance Project.

Expand full comment
Sarah Lavender Smith's avatar

No, it’s not one of their main categories.

Expand full comment
Kathryn Gates, LMFT's avatar

Seems pretty obvious. As are the others you suggested- Outdoors and Lifestyle.

Expand full comment
Diane Hatz's avatar

you must follow cole's climb!

Expand full comment
Sarah Lavender Smith's avatar

Yes, and he interviewed me for his Trail Talk podcast!

Expand full comment
Hannah Griffin's avatar

I second Cole's Climb!

Expand full comment
Regina Doi's avatar

RE: importing Subscribers. Will there be a method to adjust an imported person's subscription within a Substack Magazine subsection? Right now, subscriber imports default to all magazine sections of my publication. Love the new reading app and hope a Substack Writer's app is in development!

Expand full comment
J. M. Elliott's avatar

Similarly, I wanted to import an old blog via url to a single section. It probably overcomplicates things, but it would be handy…

Expand full comment
Regina Doi's avatar

Hi, J.M, that is what I am doing with old blogger sites and my current mailchimp list. Not all subscribers want to receive newsletters from all of my substack magazine "sections" and I don't want to create and manage multiple standalone substack newsletters if I can help it.

Expand full comment
Christina Loff's avatar

Hi Olga! Readers can manage the sections they receive emails from by going to My Account -> Click Edit next to publication name -> Select which sections they want email notifications for. Let me know if that answers your question!

Expand full comment
Regina Doi's avatar

Hi Christina, yes I'm aware that readers can do this. I am asking if the newsletter writer can adjust which newsletter the subscriber import can be "poured" into.

Expand full comment
Christina Loff's avatar

Ah, got it Olga. Unfortunately this isn't possible right now.

Expand full comment
Regina Doi's avatar

Yes, I hope this feature will be considered, since it is a selling point for writers to switch over from other writing platforms and consolidate readership on substack.

Expand full comment
Mark Isero's avatar

This is very interesting – that imports default to all magazine sections. I might want to import subscribers to just one of my sections.

Expand full comment
Regina Doi's avatar

Yes, that is what I would like to do, but do not see an import function like this yet in substack.

Expand full comment
Caitlin Cowan's avatar

Loving some of these new features! I offer a curated companion playlist for subscribers, and I wish that Substack would support the larger Spotify playlist embed. Right now, the embed only shows the title of the playlist and not the list of the first few tracks, as is shown on this page: https://developer.spotify.com/documentation/widgets/

Expand full comment
Stygi's avatar

💯👌

Expand full comment
Caitlin H. Mallery's avatar

Thats interesting. I usually just share what the vibe of the playlist is.

Expand full comment
Sarah Miller's avatar

Interesting idea!

Expand full comment
Red Lamb's avatar

A nice feature would be to have the option for Substack video at the end of a post, rather than at the top—my publication blends text and visuals in that order.

Expand full comment
Katie @ Substack's avatar

Noted and on our team's radar Ryan!

Expand full comment
Sarah Miller's avatar

I LOVE early access scheduling -- such a great idea! I'm not seeing the ability to schedule early access in my posts, though -- can someone tell me where it is? Thanks!

Expand full comment
Jasmine Sun's avatar

In the Publish settings! Set audience to "paid subscribers," click "Schedule" and the options will appear.

Expand full comment
E.R. Flynn's avatar

I don't see it either and I've tried everything. Is it a limited roll out?

Expand full comment
Jasmine Sun's avatar

Hi! We looked into this and think it should be fixed—could you check if you see it now?

Expand full comment
E.R. Flynn's avatar

I just checked on a post I made this morning and it's now working. Very Cool! Thanks!

Expand full comment
Jasmine Sun's avatar

Amazing! Let me know if you have any other thoughts/feedback :)

Expand full comment
Sarah Miller's avatar

Thanks, Jasmine. I'm not seeing it show up -- I'll keep playing around with it and if I keep having problems, I'll reach out to support.

Expand full comment
Jasmine Sun's avatar

Hi! We looked into this and think it should be fixed—could you check if you see it now?

Expand full comment
Sarah Miller's avatar

I can see it now! Thank you!

Expand full comment
Ryan Isaac's avatar

Is there a way to add a custom divider line?

Expand full comment
Melanie Newfield's avatar

I created my own using a free Canva account and saved them as either JPG of PNG (I think both work). It's a pretty simple process. I have a nice orange line and a series of orange dots which match my logo

Expand full comment
Brad Kyle's avatar

Melanie....I just signed up to Canva. What, exactly, would I search for to find a color, horizontal line? I searched for "horizontal divider line," but got nothing but pages filled with broadly-separated lines, like notebook paper, but not as close together. Thanks!

Expand full comment
Melanie Newfield's avatar

I made a very thin rectangle for mine. You can find it in "shapes". You can change colours etc

Expand full comment
Brad Kyle's avatar

Thank you, Melanie! My needs are simple!

Expand full comment
Ryan Isaac's avatar

Thank you, Melanie!

Expand full comment
William Collen's avatar

I've been using PNG files, there are a lot of royalty-free ones out there.

Expand full comment
Stygi's avatar

Great question. I've been wondering about it recently

Expand full comment
Whitney McKnight's avatar

Yes. It's in the drop-down menu named "more" in your post drafts. It is the first option.

Expand full comment
Ryan Isaac's avatar

That’s the plain line, right? I’m looking to insert a custom (branded/stylized) line. I think William addresses that in the reply below.

Expand full comment
Jackie Dana's avatar

Yep, if you don't want a plain line, you'll have to find/make one and upload it yourself. I find that copying/pasting from Google Docs preserves images pretty well so that can make the task easier.

Expand full comment
Karen Hoffman's avatar

I love the idea of having a custom divider line! I'll have to start thinking about that. And Melanie's suggestion to use Canva is stellar.

Expand full comment
Carol Sill's avatar

Is there a way to read an embedded pdf on screen, like a small publication within the newsletter, kind of like issuu embeds?

Expand full comment
Jasmine Sun's avatar

Not right now unfortunately—but will pass on the feedback!

Expand full comment
Emily Miller's avatar

I can’t ever find the search button on my own substack. I have the magazine layout. I think it would be helpful for readers if the search button was at the top.

Expand full comment
Katie @ Substack's avatar

I see where this could be confusing! Passing along the feedback to our product team.

Expand full comment
Ivan Webster's avatar

I need advice. I'm about to go paid but I DON"T tier my content. I review movies and I want everyone to have access to every review. So that means paid only. I know I'll lose some subscribers, but I'm looking to gain more. I need money, though not a lot, to go on. Is anyone here paid only with their newsletter? By contrast, would making the newsletter still accessible to those who can't pay a DISINCENTIVE to those I'm asking to pay?

https://moviestruck.substack.com

Expand full comment
Jackie Dana's avatar

It doesn't have to be paid only. There are some newsletters that are free for everyone and still have a paid option, and from what I understand, they can do quite well with that model. Or you could make some content free and some paid. Some writers do a free post and a paid post every week. Now with early access, some may also start everything out as paid and then make it free later on.

Keep in mind that if everything is paid for all time, no one would be able to see what you've written in the past to be able to judge if it held enough value for them to subscribe. If you have a large following already who would be eager to pay for a newsletter from you that could work, but I think it would still be limiting unless you were trying to specifically create a paid community.

Expand full comment
Ivan Webster's avatar

Thanks so much Jackie. This is tremendously helpful.

Expand full comment
Ivan Webster's avatar

But when you write:

"Keep in mind that if everything is paid for all time, no one would be able to see what you've written in the past to be able to judge if it held enough value for them to subscribe."

what about the option at every subscribe now screen that says "Let me see it first"? Wouldn't that allow people to review the entire Archive before deciding whether or not to subscribe?

Expand full comment
Jackie Dana's avatar

Yes, but if everything is paid, all they would see would be titles with a padlock icon. They would not be able to read anything.

Expand full comment
Ivan Webster's avatar

Whoa! Thanks SO much! I really needed to know that.

Expand full comment
E. Jean Carroll's avatar

Hail, Ivan! Consider making your SHOW-STOPPING posts free.....so you grow your sign-ups. And put PAYWalls on our other posts....with a pay wall a reader can read 1/3 or 1/2 your post and then they are STOPPED and asked to pay. This is the model the New York Times uses, and they are doing VERY well financially!!!

Expand full comment
Ivan Webster's avatar

Thanks very much for your suggestion! I'll definitely consider it.

Expand full comment
George Barnett's avatar

Hi Ivan, there are several newsletters that were paid-only from the start (I followed their example), based on the premise / knowledge that the content has value to the target audience (examples include professional advice, market intelligence, difficult to discover research / data, etc.). Unexpectedly, I have accumulated a much larger free subscriber list, so in parallel I have the challenge of converting them to paid (similar to the software challenge in SaaS of converting from the free tier in freemium), and therefore I send out samples and the occasional free article with a CTA to become paid.

Expand full comment
Ivan Webster's avatar

Hi George. Thanks very much for the tip. Sending out samples. I will definitely consider that.

Expand full comment
Salma W. N.'s avatar

Hi Everyone, I just joined and pushed out a few newsletters. I told some friends and family about it, and I have a few subscribers from just doing that. But aside from that, I'm more interested in growing my newsletter from those who are truly interested in what I have to say.

I suppose that's the case for all of us -- What's the best way to find the community that most closely resonates with the content I'm pushing out.

Right now, being in the beginning stages of setting up my newsletter, I have a feeling it will grow into something more concrete -- So I will also need a following that is willing to be part of that profession, if that makes sense?

Expand full comment
Diane Hatz's avatar

The best advice I got was Just. Keep. Writing. Write like you have 10,000 subscribers even if you're the only person there. And do things like this where you'll meet other substackers. I find it really hard to balance the writing and the promoting, so I just keep telling myself to keep writing.

To find community, find magazines and online groups in your field. Read them/join them. Try to get interviewed. Getting press outside of substack with the link to your newsletter included will probably bring the most people in, at least more than you'll get if you think you're going to get all your subscribers from substack iteslf.

Expand full comment
Ivan Webster's avatar

Very sound advice, Diane, from what little I know. I can't stress enough that Just. Keep. Writing is what keeps me going. Aside from a holiday hiatus, I haven't missed a week since starting in October. Doing that brings me here when i can remember to get here and makes me poke around on Twitter and mention my newsletter when it seems appropriate. Also tweet every week the moment after my newsletter appears. But it's the writing itself that makes me feel viable. I've grown, slowly, but I am growing my subscriber list.

https://moviestruck.substack.com/

Expand full comment
Salma W. N.'s avatar

Best advice. To get interviewed, would I have to wait until someone invites me or asks me? I imagine it would be weird for me to ask someone to interview me.

Expand full comment
Diane Hatz's avatar

Why would it be weird? Get to know what they write about and pitch them/suggest to them. I love it when people contact me one on one about writing or being interviewed- when they have reason to. Form spam emails are blocked.

Expand full comment
Diane Hatz's avatar

I have to check with Chevanne but if you’re on clubhouse, why not come on our next show? The one Monday might focus on Twitter but we could talk about this at the next one. (This is assuming my cohost hasn’t already asked someone else).

Expand full comment
Chevanne Scordinsky's avatar

I haven’t asked anyone. Any suggestion, I’ll add them, but we can decide together on the next guest.

Expand full comment
Diane Hatz's avatar

Of course!

Expand full comment
Sarah Kmon's avatar

Look at a page called Substack Grow. I found it superhelpful.

Expand full comment
Melanie Newfield's avatar

I second that. There's a series of 6 posts to walk you through the process. Here's a link https://substack.com/grow?utm_source=menu-dropdown

Expand full comment
Salma W. N.'s avatar

Thanks so much!

Expand full comment
Dusty Cole's avatar

Hey all,

Trying to figure out why my Footnote icon is invisible (barely visible), as to not be an option (under the More editing options)?

Thanks much,

Dusty

Expand full comment
Chevanne Scordinsky's avatar

The only time the footnote is grayed out for me is when the photo is selected.

Expand full comment
Lia Haberman's avatar

Do you have good examples of newsletter swaps, introducing the idea that you have another writer that day and helping to promote each other's newsletters?

Expand full comment
Chevanne Scordinsky's avatar

I do cross promotion on others’ substacks and it’s worked out nicely. It’s not always tit for tat, but that’s fine. I’ve done On Repeat, The Turnstone and have Save Our Happy Place next. After that is Fictionistas, then an art collaboration with Winta Assefa. I was also interviewed by Collected Rejections and have a conversation series with Diane Hatz of Whole Health.

I’m not getting monstrous growth but I have loyal people in my corner. T Van Santana of Adventures in Secrecy and Geoffrey Golden of Adventure Snack are A1 steak sauce supporters who promote me.

Wow, this is now a shout out post.

I just come on the forum and say “Hey, let’s collaborate!” I leave my email [ theflare@substack.com ] and that about does it.

Expand full comment
Lia Haberman's avatar

Cool, thanks for sharing!

Expand full comment
Brad Kyle's avatar

Michael Acoustic interviewed me a couple weeks ago! Here THAT is, followed by Michael's 'Stack site: Part1: https://michaelfab.substack.com/p/part-i-of-my-interview-with-brad?s=r Part 2: https://michaelfab.substack.com/p/part-ii-of-my-interview-with-brad?s=r and, Michael Acoustic: https://michaelfab.substack.com/ Enjoy!--Brad

Expand full comment
🅟🅐🅤🅛 🅜🅐🅒🅚🅞's avatar

Can confirm...good stuff!

Expand full comment
Brad Kyle's avatar

Many thanks, Paul! I appreciate your kind words and your active involvement past the rope line, Front Row & Backstage!--Brad

Expand full comment
Lia Haberman's avatar

Thanks! Will check out

Expand full comment
Sarah Miller's avatar

Tania Rabesandratana invited me to do a guest post on her excellent newsletter, Why Would Anyone, earlier this week -- I thought she did a great job of introducing the concept: https://tania.substack.com/p/041?s=r

Expand full comment
Lia Haberman's avatar

thank you!!

Expand full comment
Sarah Miller's avatar

You're welcome. Collaborating, including guest posting, is super fun -- I highly recommend doing it!

Expand full comment
Adam Cecil's avatar

I’m curious to hear from writers — Have you promoted the new app to your subscribers? Have your subscribers switched over to it, and have you seen any change in behavior?

I see about 1-2% of my views on recent posts coming from the app, some of which I’m sure are me.

Expand full comment
Kevin Alexander's avatar

I've added the button into each edition since it was rolled out. At a quick glance, it looks like about 10% of my views are coming from it?

Expand full comment
E. Jean Carroll's avatar

How can you tell the views are coming from the App, Kevin?

Expand full comment
Kevin Alexander's avatar

When you look at the stats for one of your posts, it separates it out as a line item, the same way it might for "email," "direct," etc.

Expand full comment
Adam Cecil's avatar

Wow! Much higher than I would’ve expected.

Expand full comment
Michael Estrin's avatar

I added the sign call-to-action to my most recent post. I think I saw about 5% of readers coming from the app. Will be curious to see if that number grows in the coming weeks. I’ll probably add the CTA through March. After that, my feeling is, if you know, you know.

Expand full comment
Sarah Miller's avatar

I wouldn't say I promoted it -- I mentioned it as an option because during last week's Office Hours, community beta testers convinced me that some people will like it better than email. Okay, maybe some of my subscribers will too; what do I know?

I have seen increased total views on each post, as well as 2-3% traffic coming from the app. It's not huge, but every additional set of eyeballs counts!

Expand full comment
YouTopian Journey's avatar

How can you see if the traffic is coming from the APP?

Expand full comment
Sarah Miller's avatar

At the bottom of your stats for each post, under Traffic Sources -- I'm seeing 2-3% for each post.

Expand full comment
YouTopian Journey's avatar

Interesting, mine is vast majority email and then 1% is other, unless I am specifically promoting that post.

Expand full comment
Sarah Miller's avatar

I see other, too -- app traffic is delineated in its own category.

I suspect I'm seeing that small percentage from the app because I'm listed under the Parenting category, in the Discover area. I think people are browsing, and there I am.

Expand full comment
E. Jean Carroll's avatar

Sarah, my traffic listings are:

Email

Direct

Twitter

Other

I don't have a listing for the App traffic

Expand full comment
Jenny duBay's avatar

Thank you for the great updates. Substack just keeps getting better and better!

Expand full comment
Luigi Cappel's avatar

I'm new and have just posted my first blog. I was wondering why it didn't show up in the new section. Also is it possible to embed videos, such as from YouTube into your article. It's one of the things I like from Wordpress that people can watch a video without leaving the page.

Expand full comment
E. Jean Carroll's avatar

You can imbed YouTube videos! Gifs! Instagrams! Twitter, Luigi! Just post the links.

Expand full comment
Luigi Cappel's avatar

Thanks Jean, I figured it out after I posted :)

Expand full comment
Cara Coslow's avatar

Happy St Patrick’s everyone.

Expand full comment
David Gottfried's avatar

My last two messages contained 2 urgent questions. The questions are related so they should have been placed in one e mail. So I will try to begin again. (I woke up 3 minutes ago and am not fully awake. And I can't find coffee filters. Sorry)

THE RE,LATED QUESTIONS:

a) I have subscribed to many newsletters. I don't remember all of the newsletters I have subscribed to. Where can I find a list of newsletters I have subscribed to.

b) When I get an e mail from a newsletter I subscribed to, it usually does not appear in my inbox in g mail. In other words, when I open G mail, the e mail from the newsletter DOES NOT APPEAR. I can only find the email if I do a search for e mails from that newsletter. However, as I said in the immediately preceding question , I don't remember the newsletters I subscribed to and therefore can't search for them

Is someone sabotaging my substack account. As I said in a question posed several months ago, and never answered, when I try to schedule my newsletter for publication at a specific time, the newsletter is simply not sent to some of my subscribers.

Expand full comment
E. Jean Carroll's avatar

David, Check your Promotions Folder in your Gmail. Here are the newsletters you are subscribed to: THEY ARE LISTED IN YOUR PROFILE! The Arrogant Sage, Critical Conditions by Wayne Rogers, The Dispatch, Thinking About....BIOHACK and KAM, Continental Riffs, Curious, Diving Deeper, Get Together, On Substack, and Situation Normal.

There you go. The first five are PAID subscriptions.

Enjoy!

Expand full comment
Karen Hoffman's avatar

For #2, do they happen to be going to a different folder/tab? For example, my gmail has an Inbox, Promotions, and Social. Your newsletters could end up in any of those folders depending on your settings and what mood gmail is in that day. Sometimes, newsletters go to the Spam folder and never to your inbox at all. These are all good places to look for your newsletters. Then you can move each letter to your inbox, and when gmail asks if you want to do that with all email from that address, select yes.

For #1, Kevin has a good suggestion. The other thing you can do is to click on your profile pic when you are in Substack, select Profile, then Edit Profile. That will give you a list of all your subscriptions.

Expand full comment
Kevin Alexander's avatar

For your subscriptions, click on your profile pic, and then "reader." That will take you to the reader, and on the left-hand sidebar, you should see everything you've subscribed to.

Expand full comment
Karla Bergen's avatar

I created this account by mistake. I was just trying to follow someone’s blog. Help me get out of this - I have no intention of ever writing a blog! Please!

Expand full comment
Diane Hatz's avatar

I think the staff has left. If you do into your account, you should see "dashboard" at top right. Click on that. You should see "settings" at the top. Click on that. Scroll all the way down and in red, there should be something about deleting your account.

Expand full comment
Karla Bergen's avatar

Deleting my account will also delete my subscriptions. I guess I’ll leave it for now until I get further help. Thanks for trying to help.

Expand full comment
Karla Bergen's avatar

Thank you - I will give that a try. I love reading other peoples blogs – I just don’t want to write one myself. Lol.

Expand full comment
Wayne Robins's avatar

I do have a question that might be delicate, but what the heck. I enjoy reading George Saunders substack on writing, although I am not a paying subscriber. But the other day he posted a merchandise shop, on which one can buy that author's scribbles as t-shirts and the like, for $30-$40. I'm not sure what the standard operating procedures are for using ones Substack as a merchandise store, but it certainly has the whiff of being really uncool.

Expand full comment
Jackie Dana's avatar

Lots of people have various ways of monetizing their creative work beyond their Substacks. Some people sell books, some sell merch, some include affiliate links in their posts. If you find his efforts to make a living with his work distasteful, I'd either ignore them or unsubscribe. There are other Substacks (and books, webinars, etc.) that focus on the craft of writing.

Expand full comment
Wayne Robins's avatar

I've been reading his books for years. He's a best-selling author who is also a professor at Syracuse University. I know there are other options, but as Saunders is the best known fiction writer on Substack, I'm saying it's tacky. That is all.

Expand full comment
Sarah Kmon's avatar

Hi Wayne, it sounds like receiving the notification for a merchandise shop landed with you as lacking integrity, perhaps, or something else? Out of order with this being specifically a writing community? Is that close?

Is your question, is this outside the rules of substack? I didn't really see a question

Expand full comment
Wayne Robins's avatar

"Very excited today to be announcing that we now have a Story Club Store.

There you’ll find t-shirt and sweatshirts and hats, embellished with some with our familiar Story Club elements (deer, bear, writing shed) and with my wacky, inept, but heartfelt illustrations, including these guys:..." --George Saunders, "Story Club" March 14

Expand full comment
Wayne Robins's avatar

So one, I find this tasteless, using his celebrity to sell merchandise on his "Story Club Store." Two, I am going to guess that Substack pays him, but I'm wrong, no worries. So yes, three, does this violate Substack rules, and if not, I find it, as I said, really uncool. I did not know posts had to be in the form of a question. It is just my opinion.

Expand full comment
Wesley Verhoeve's avatar

Can you explain why you find it tasteless that he is selling merchandise for his project? Is it because you assume him to have "enough money" already or is it about something else?

Expand full comment
Wayne Robins's avatar

"if I'm wrong, no worries"

Expand full comment
Bex Sinden's avatar

I write new email headers to accompany every newsletter. I structure them as short notes to subscribers. Are subscribers able to see the email headers if they use the Substack app?

Expand full comment
Katie @ Substack's avatar

Hi Bex! This is something that was flagged to our app team. Currently headers do not show in the app but I see why this would be valuable.

Expand full comment
Bex Sinden's avatar

Thank you!

Expand full comment
Donald E. L. Johnson's avatar

When I post, I don't get the email on my computer. I just get a notice on my iPad from the app. Can this be fixed?

Expand full comment
Jasmine Sun's avatar

You may have toggled off your emails in your app settings, which you can change in the Profile tab (bottom right) > Settings (top right) > Notifications.

Expand full comment
Sarah Lavender Smith's avatar

This is something I don't like about the new app, that it defaults to turn off email delivery of the newsletter, which fundamentally changes the reading experience. People are less likely to read based on an app notification, in my view, than an email. I'd like to see the app setting continue to deliver emails plus give a notification about the post being in the app's inbox, then leave it to the user to opt-out of email delivery. I will not be promoting the app until this changes because I want my subscribers to keep getting the email versions of my posts.

Expand full comment
Jasmine Sun's avatar

Sarah, this is a fair perspective, and we actually recently changed the feature in response to writer feedback like yours: now, all new app users will keep getting emails by default. In the next version of the app, we'll move the notifications toggle into settings so it won't be part of the setup process.

You can read more about this from CEO Chris Best here: https://on.substack.com/p/office-hours-32/comment/5484210?s=w

Expand full comment
E. Jean Carroll's avatar

Thank the gods, Jasmine!

Expand full comment
Donald E. L. Johnson's avatar

Thanks. I'll check that setting.

Expand full comment
Diane Hatz's avatar

I have a question about organizing podcasts. I uploaded my first one but it would only go in the main whole health/main page - I wasn't able to filter it in my "Etc" sub-newsletter or one I want to make for "podcasts" - is there any way to do this, as in, did I miss something?

Expand full comment
Katie @ Substack's avatar

Right now, podcasting is set up to send directly to the podcasting specific section. I see where it would be helpful to send different episodes to different sections so I am flagging with our team.

Expand full comment
Diane Hatz's avatar

Thanks so much, Katie!!

Expand full comment
Silvan Torey's avatar

Am I the only one for whom the strikethrough button functions as underline instead of strikethrough? Reached out to support this weekend but haven’t heard back yet.

Thanks.

Expand full comment
Katie @ Substack's avatar

Hi Jefferson, this is a known issue that our team is looking into.

Expand full comment
Nicole Rivera's avatar

Question for the podcasters out here. I know substack has a podcast option, but I already have a podcast using Libsyn. I have been toying with the idea of creating a substack newsletter for my podcast community which would include paid content that extends beyond what's available on the podcast, including access to the events I host for my community, but also have a free section which includes the show notes for my episodes moving forward instead of the blog portion of my website. Is there anyone using their substack in this way that can share links with me? Or, honestly, I'd love to see substacks of any podcasters to see how you are showing up here in Substack to complement their audio content! Thanks!

Expand full comment
Diane Hatz's avatar

You can just go to substack.com and search 'podcast' to get a bunch of them. maybe that'll help if you don't get a bunch of people sharing their info here.

Expand full comment