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Substack has been such a blessing because of its ease of use and continuously updating feature set. I am able to maintain a weekly schedule and haven't missed a week only because writing on Substack is as easy as writing something on Word or Notepad. Not having to worry about any technical elements has been one of the biggest boons for me and has inculcated this weekly writing habit in me.
This platform also allowed me to participate in Substack Go where I made some awesome friends who I still hang out with on writing hour calls.
All in all, this has been a 100/100 experience.
My sincere thanks and gratitude to everyone at Substack. Cheers!
It was like an accelerator, but they also tried to group people by both geographic location and topic. weekly meetings and a lot of interactive stuff. I got a ton of value out of it.
I agree, it's a great platform for those of us who don't have the technical skills some others require. Easy to create a newsletter and write new posts. I really appreciate the newly added ability to quickly add images from Unsplash.
Get biz cards (with 'Stack name + web address), Salma, if you haven't already! They're a great icebreaker, I've found, for introducing my 'Stack!
It helps if you have a gripping photo or artwork; I realize not everyone can produce a card that features a backstage shot of themselves with The Ramones from 1977 (pictured at left), but who am I to assume? Bottom line....business card!
Thanks, Salma! I managed to take a solid half-hour away from a kind young gentleman, a worker at the grocery store, this morning! Once I start chatting up my articles/page, I get wound up! Plus, he loved the Ramones shot, and he was incredulous when I told him that was me at 22!
He had to cut it short at some point, reminding me..."Well, I've gotta go...I work with perishables...." (cut to me, blushing profusely)
Wow this is awesome to hear! Thank you, Punit. What group were you in for Substack Go? We love to hear when writers keep getting together independently!!
Didion 14 in the house, yo! We morphed into bi-monthly Zooms (or every other Friday, whichever comes first)! We have a music-themed-writing group of about half-a-dozen. It's fun, and keeps us connected; plus, I've found it helpful to ask some questions, and quiz the group on tips and hints I can maybe use!
Hi everyone! I see a lot of people asking about growth strategies, so thought Iโd share my experience.
Iโve been on Substack a little over a year. In that time my audience has grown 6X.
By far the biggest jump was when Daily Brew linked to one of my stories in their newsletter. That was great, but replicating that kind of growth was beyond my control.
Two strategies I can control are as follows.
First, I do post my stories to social media. I like Twitter and I already had a decent following there (about 1,200 people). That said, conversion through social media isnโt great. So in my experience Twitter might add one or two free subscribers per week. To get that I have to be fairly active (something I enjoy) and I have to limit self-promo. I try to adhere to an 80/20 rule, so for every ten posts, 8 arenโt self-promo. That said, I try to keep all social media on point by sharing funny posts. I write a humor newsletter so being funny on twitter is really about extending the brand, if that makes sense.
The second thing I do to grow is cross promo. I know thatโs been mentioned a lot in these threads, but for some reason people rarely mention the importance of RELEVANT self-promo. By relevant I mean your cross-promoting in the same category, or around connected topics. By way of example, I did a few non-relevant cross-promos at first. I think I added five or six subs, which is nice, but not super helpful. When I switched to doing promo with other humor writers, I found that cross promos would yield 40(ish) subs. Also, those new subs almost always included a handful of super engaged readers. Here I define engaged as readers who are likely to comment.
Anyway, I hope this helps. And if you write humor, by all means hit me up if you wanna do cross-promo!
Thanks! I don't think we know for a fact there aren't a lot of humor focused writers on here, because there's no category listing them all.
As I understand it, categories are self-selecting. I put in my keywords "Fiction," which is why my newsletter is in fiction. So it wouldn't be Substack's job to decide what was humor and what wasn't.
Thanks Paul! Your newsletter is especially good for a range of different cross-promo opps because you write often (and really well) about topics that are relevant to anyone writing newsletters. Hint: if youโre not subscribed to Paulโs newsletter, you should be!
Thanks for sharing your experience, Michael. These are great tips! I don't write humor, but boy do we need more of it in the world, so I'm checking our your Stack now. :)
Hey Michael! Curious that you brought up Daily Brew because one of my subscribers said that I should try getting mine featured there somehow. Can you talk about how that happened for you? Cheers.
Sure, but there isnโt much to say. They found one of my posts, probably because it was shared on twitter a little more than whatโs typical for me. It was a relatable humor piece about the drama of installing a new garage door. Honestly, I just think one of their editors thought it would click with their readers and so they shared it. Thatโs what I mean by out of my control in terms of replicating.
Cross-promoting is always a good idea. I mainly write about Japan but my newsletter also features elements of travel, food, films, lifestyle, reading/writing, architecture, and music. I know, it's all over the place. If you guys write about these things and are interested in cross-promotion (e.g. exchanging guest posts), please get in touch.
You can either email me at jb64jp@yahoo.co.jp or get in touch through my newsletter.
Greetings, Michael! Interesting hearing your 'Stack story. I'm a relative newbie, starting as I did in August. While I'm not a comedy writer, per se, I used to be. My bro was a stand-up in and around Houston in the mid- to late-'70s, and I helped write his material. Plus, he had a recurring segment on the weekly local UHF-TV station variety show (mid-'70s) that I helped write and provide music for.
And, I try to provide subtle and not-so-subtle humor in my music-related pieces, and love injecting word play into my titles and social media blurbs to grab attention when posting links. If you have an idea to merge our creative output, holler!
Otherwise, not knowing where you are musically, there might be some of my rock'n'roll misadventures from the '70s and '80s you might find riveting.
I'll leave you with the mortal words of one of my fave funny men, Martin Mull, and his take on writing/writers: "Some people have a way with words; others, not have way." Cheers!
Facebook is rock solid? Users were prohibited from sharing the Hunter Biden laptop story because it was โfake news.โ But now that itโs too late to matter, itโs no longer fake news. How about bringing light to that darkness? 10% for the big guy!
In my experience, Facebook is not good at bringing new subscribers. Lots of views, a decent numbers of comments, but few subscribers. My story about my close encounter with Covid-19 (https://giannisimone.substack.com/p/coronation-street?s=w) got hundreds of views but only a handful of new readers.
I hear good things about Twitter, but unfortunately I was blocked almost as soon as I started. I guess I did something wrong but I can't figure it out. Oh well.
I have a raw admission -- Iโve been steering clear of these Office Hours at my own peril. Now having made a full commitment to the immense ocean of Substack resources, my audience and engagement is growing exponentially. If you find yourself constantly thirsty for a great non-fiction book, then check us out. https://greatbooksgreatminds.substack.com
Office Hours (and all the Substack resources) can be overwhelming for sure, but glad you've waded in! There are some great people -- and great information -- here.
Wow, what a great testimonial! I haven't been avoiding the Office Hours, but admit to being a bit overwhelmed by all I want to engage in here -- there's so much goodness! As a traveler on the Taoist path, too, I'll use my training to not worry, focus, and take the next step. :) And as writer about books (fiction and non...), I can't wait to check out both your Stacks!
Howdy all you Office Hours junkies! Since I've seen several others mentioning growth strategies, I thought I would offer mine. For my Unseen St. Louis Substack, which is all about local history, I have found success in two places: Reddit and local interest Facebook groups. For each post, I share it in the r/StLouis subreddit (as well as others if they fit, such as r/Ireland for my St. Pats history piece about Irish immigrants) and a variety of local groups on FB interested in nostalgia or history. I sometimes have to pick and choose which groups to post in because each is a little different, so I don't post everywhere each time.
For those with Substacks with a local focus, this can be a great move. For others, see if you can identify subreddits and FB groups that may match up. I would think this strategy could be great for Substacks about tech, health, science, crypto, etc. The one area I haven't cracked is fiction.
There are two caveats to all of this: 1. be sure to review the group's rules and policies (some are very anti-self-promo) and check to see that others are sharing links/videos as well, and 2. don't go on Reddit or join FB groups JUST to promote your Substack. Join the subreddits or groups and read other posts first, and comment/participate. Once you've shown you can contribute in a genuine way, sharing a link every week or two (I publish 2x a month) will likely be welcome.
Hi Jackie - this is good advice. For a previous blog I fell afoul of a particular subreddit's rules on no self-promotion and my post was removed very quickly. This became a problem for me because they changed their rules at some point and previously it had been a great source of traffic!
I also agree about contributions to subreddits - the communities have a knack for figuring out who's genuine and who's not.
The real trick is that EVERY SUBREDDIT IS DIFFERENT. Some have incredibly intricate rules and for others, everything goes. That's why it's so important to read the rules and hang out in the sub for a while to get a feel for things.
And it can be beneficial in multiple ways - by hanging out in my city's subreddit (something that hadn't occurred to me before even though I've been on Reddit for more than a decade) I have actually learned a lot and been able to help others even when not promoting my Substack! I mean, if what you're writing is appropriate there, what others are writing should be of interest to you as well.
Well, to be fair, a group that is nothing but people promoting themselves is pretty boring and doesnโt offer much value to the membership๏ฟผ. Itโs much better when the community is based on lots of different contributions and people sharing their research or thoughts being just part of the conversation.
Just wanted to encourage people to do three things:
1. Do cross promos and guest posts! โ๐พ
Theyโre great for your development as a writer but also gets you seen with a wider audience. theflare@substack.com if youโre interested.
2. Speak up in the comments! ๐ฃ
Writers (like me) love to engage with readers. Discuss the piece, what you thought, what surprised you. Building community is the best part of Substack.
3. Connect! โ
Iโm at @theone_chiv on Twitter and Instagram. I have snow and bacon ASMR reels for funsies. Weโre all out here trying to promote, but also be ourselves.
Hey, folks. I'm deep in a seasonal freelancing gig, so may not make it to Office Hours today. But just wanted to put this out there: my biggest growth jumps have always come from cross-promotion, so I'm up for that if any of y'all wanna go in together on something. You can email me at ashasanaker@gmail.com, and check out what I'm up to at https://ashasanaker.substack.com. Looking forward to working together!
Hi Asha. I just read your story about your son, Otto. Such a talented artist! Thank you for sharing your story of a Mom trying not to 'fix' everything. It's definitely a 'Mom' thing!
I just subscribed, Sarah! In addition to my substack writings, I am querying agents for my children's books and your publication will be so wonderful for my publication journey.
around 30% of the newletter emails go to spam folders. I see both from the newsletter I write, both from newsletters I am subscribed to (even newsletters I am a Paid subscriber to!) - Substack Team: please solve this issue, because it is a major problem for many of us. Our hard work of hours and hours of writing an article literally goes to trash.
Substack Team: can't you insert some codes in the newsletter emails, so they don't end up in the spam folder of subscribers?
One thing I've found really helpful is asking the readers to reply to my emails. I've included a "send a quick reply with how you found out my newsletter" prompt in my welcome email. I also put a lot of reply prompts in my regular posts. This has led to my newsletter being classified less as spam, and my open rates over the past 2 months since I implemented this have climbed from 25% to as high as 48%. It may not be the only factor contributing to this growth, but it is surely the only action I've taken. Hope it helps ๐
This is a great idea. Do you find that your newsletter is reaching readers' inboxes more often - even if they don't personally reply? (As in, it's having a positive general effect?)
I sent an email once in a while to the emails that never open just asking them if they have been receiving my newsletter. The first one had almost 400 opens and the second almost 200, you can do this in the subscriber page and filter out your readers. It has helped get people to open and be on the lookout for my newsletter.
I've found that my open rate has dropped significantly lately, I believe because of certain email providers blocking content, which results in an opened email not being registered as open. For example, I have a handful of Protonmail users, and know for sure that they open the messages, because they comment on them. Even so, their opens don't register with Substack.
We don't have complete control over what the email providers do with emails. It has to do with a number of factors, including open rates, subject lines...
This is one benefit of encouraging readers to read in the iOS (and soon, Android) apps. In the app, writers always get instant, reliable delivery (no more Promotions folder!)
Thank you for the reply, Bailey. Yes, I imagined that was the issue: it all depends on the internal algorithms set by each email provider/email client - on which Substack doesn't have control, obviously.
Here is an idea, however: couldn't you or Chris Best contact directly the executives of Gmail, Yahoo, Outlook and the other main email providers, and kindly request to change their algorithms to let the Substack newsletter emails go through, without being marked as spam?
I believe Substack is big enough now, and strong enough to make a point on this... (and not much work is required to those email providers to change their algorithms, just a couple of lines of codes)
By the way: your own reply was marked as "spam" by my email provider/client (Outlook / eMclient)
I'm sorry you're having this issue, but I don't think this is true for everyone. I have personally never found a Substack newsletter in my spam folder, and my open rates for both newsletters suggests the number of emails sent to spam is very low. I wonder if the size of the newsletter, the topics, the subject lines, the frequency of sends, or other things are impacting the spam rate?
it depends on many factors, Jackie: which is the email provider of the subscriber, which is the email client software, the settings, and so on. Depends of the algorithms put in place for each of those. Currently I have a 42% average open rate, I had 60% open rate 1 month ago. But I have seen many newsletter emails from authors I'm subscribed to ending up in my spam folder. Therefore, I suppose the same happens to many of my subscribers regarding my newsletter emails - and I know the same happens to many of us
I don't know if mine are being delivered properly or not. But I also subscribe to several newsletters and almost all of them go to the promotions tab. Only Heather Cox Richardson is delivered to the inbox.
I am more concerned with my subscribers missing my posts. I know to check the promo tab to find the things that get stuck there. I keep it because I get a lot of actual promotional emails that belong there. To bad Google does such a crappy job with gmail.
Good points, Jackie. I haven't done a deep enough dive into this to know what portion of my emails are going to a SMAM folder. I do know that my open rates after about 2-3 days are almost always over 50%...but I don't have that many subscribers!
I write a newsletter about books, reading and all things adjacent to both. I wanted to let all the peeps at Substack know how much I appreciate all the additions/changes to the platform; it makes is so much fun to be a part of the Substack newsletter world.
Iโd also like to add my โtwo centsโ for a new category in โdiscoverโ called books or reading. I spent several hours over the weekend going through the discover feature and I found upwards of 40 โnew to meโ newsletters about books and reading. I already subscribed to a couple of dozen prior to this, so that makes at least 60 of us all writing about books and reading. It would be fantastic to see Substack give us our own category, and highlight and feature/promote us as a group as they have done with the โfood writers.โ Iโve enjoyed seeing the food writers cross promote each other and make their little newsletter community stronger for it.
I second this. I subscribe to many of these newsletters -- including Gayla's (it's great! go subscribe!) -- and agree that there are enough now that they could constitute their own category.
Anna Bonet, Ashley Holstrom, Books on GIF, Cassie Gutman, David Grigg, Elizabeth Held, Gayla, Janet Lewis Saidi, Lani Diane Rich, Laura Sackton, Lupita Aquino, Nia Carnelio, Tabatha Leggett... this is prob just scratching the surface.
Fabulous point, Gayla! I think you may have found my Stack recently and subscribed -- thank you! Though I've only been on here a short while, the community seems incredible. I'd love to easily find other book & reading newsletters and have this be a genre that's featured. (Subscribing to yours right now, of course. :)
Gayla, I dig what you're doing, The cross-promoting of other Newsletters is something I could lean into a bit more! I leapfrog off books, classics, and authors myself at 'Shelf of Crocodiles.'
Everyone is talking about growth strategies but you should also make sure you offer something unique and have a plentiful amount of content. Once you can deliver something that readers can benefit from, then you can start scaling and this is a never ending process that requires promotion, promotion, promotion. You have to be in this for the long haul. Keep writing and working away. A year ago I was barely getting 100 opens and now it is almost 30 times that per issue. There is no magic bullet, there is just the work and the hustle.
Hello! We love Substack and think it's so great you run office hours. We were wondering: are there any plans to introduce a predictor for best time of day to send newsletters based on your audience and their activity? We have readers in so many different time zones, so we're trying to get a feel for what time of day is best for sending things out.
The general answer to this is to send out during working hours on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Mornings a bit better. But, because the app entices the reader to scroll, it's not as important as a tweet for example.
I've found consistency matters much more than a specific time. As far as time zones, do you have an idea of where most readers are? You might try and time it to hit both at a good time (eg; 0800 Eastern is lunchtime in the UK).
We *think* we have a pretty equal spread of PST, EST and GMT/CEST, so we try to send at 6 am PST/9 am EST/2 pm GMT/3 pm CEST to get everyone in a daytime window.
The consensus seems to be that in most cases time of day doesn't really matter. Readers read their emails any time of day and you're right--they come from every time zone. Just make it interesting enough so when they see your newsletter in their inbox they'll stop everything and read it!
It totally depends on each individual newsletter but yes, if there was a way to provide this specifically and internally (as opposed to generally), it would be so helpful.
Still have tiny readership. However, one particular topic got much more intake than usual, including viewers from multiple search engines--both the usual and obscure ones. None of them subscribed. I don't want to turn my Substack into click bait, so I guess it's back to the long game.
I do! But it's kind of like shops that plaster signs everywhere, and are annoyed when you don't read them because you're too busy admiring the merch . . . :)
Greetings! Here is my question. I changed one of the sections in my newsletter to make it a separate subscription. How can I unsubscribe people who signed up for the whole shebang but don't want that section? Alternatively, how can I ensure that people who DO want that section haven't been unsubscribed from it now that I've changed the settings? Thanks
I recently wrote my readers an explainer about what are my current newsletter sections (the terms are confusing to all) and I did a screen cap to show them what they can get or not get. Everyone just commented that they want it all so my worrying about sending the wrong content to people didnโt really matter !
I have the same question! I know that people can go to their settings to choose which sections to subscribe to, but this seems like an advanced move. And I know that we as writers, when we create a new section, can auto-subscribe existing readers. But I don't think we can make individual changes after the fact.
This is correct. When I created a new section I sent out an email explaining how to choose sections. I was still rather dissatisfied with that solution, though, as the new section, while tangentially related, was not the same content, and I feared people would not want to keep receiving it over time, so I started up a second Substack. That has worked out well and I discovered it is much easier to promote, so I am now successfully building a separate audience for it.
Hi Jackie, that's very useful to hear. I considered doing that myself, but wondered if there was some rule against it, or that it would be too difficult to manage. I might try that myself. How did you transfer subscribers to the new Substack? Thanks.
I didn't. I just created the new Substack, copied my three previous posts from the section over to the new one, and started fresh. I did announce my new Substack in the older one, and from time to time mention/link to each Substack in the other one, since they do overlap.
Thanks, Jackie. I think I might just do that. I've only published about half a dozen articles in that section. I suppose if someone complains that that was the one they signed up and paid for I could just cancel their subscription so they get a refund
I have yet to dive into twitter. I have zero understanding of the platform. Is it a good idea to jump in despite the fact I don't have any connections there?
I think a lot of it depends on what kind of writing you do. I've found the outdoor community on twitter to be nonexistent. Even big publications like Outside Magazine don't really have much engagement over there. But some of my economist friends see huge conversions on twitter.
Hi Renee. You could have both. If you look at my Twitter profile at https://twitter.com/terryfreedman you will see that I've called myself by the name of my website (Ict & Computing in Education) but my Twitter 'handle' is @terryfreedman. In the profile information I've put a link to my Substack newsletter. Hope that helps
Hi everyone -- I created a new section for my podcast...and then scheduled it to go out to my list as normal...and it only went to 2 people who had subscribed since I added the new section. How can I make sure my subscribers all get what I'm sending out? There seems to be no way to determine who a post gets sent to... or (maybe even better) how to edit the subscribers to make sure which sections they receive in their inbox. Thanks!!
Hey Bailey--big fan here. Thanks for the reply. Being a human, I can't be sure I did anything correctly. Maybe I just published... BUT are you saying that each section will be emailed to the whole list? Or only to those who subscribe to that section? I'd love it be sent to my whole subscriber base, of course. Thanks!
We do a lot to improve SEO for Substack overall. Readers can search for posts by topic and by publication name on Substack, and also browse through leaderboard categories (top free and top paid publications are listed there) - https://substack.com/.
In the future, you can expect to see some really exciting tools for writers to promote other writing on Substack as well. Stay tuned for that!
Hello, I was curious if there was an easier way to insert tables into the body of my newsletter. I currently just use screenshots of excel sheets, but I was wondering if there was a way to plug in an HTML code or another service that might make this easier/less amateur?
Have a question about stats. In stats it will say I have 100 clicks from Facebook and 2 subscribers, yet in the subscriber page, I will have dozens of subscribers from Facebook, please advise.
Thanks for hosting these Office Hours! I haven't been on much in the past few weeks, mainly because of the Substack App and my reading habits. The app is a great reading experience, but I read my Substack newsletters now via the app early in the morning. By the time I get the email about Office Hours, it's the next day, lol. So here's a feature request: being able to toggle โ per newsletter, via the app โ how you want to receive your subscription.
Hey guys, curious where in the roadmap are language mutations of Substack? Is it something that can be expected this year? I am asking because of interest from local newsrooms in Europe where English isnโt an option as older audiences do not understand it. Thanks.
Hello. I have been on Substack for several months and love it. I have about 500 subscribers and get a lot of great feedback on my articles but just see very little subscriber growth. I put the articles out on LinkedIn and FB too. Signed up for a service to "spread the word" - I know this takes time, but just wondering if there are other things I can do. I write an article per week- Monday's Motivation thank you
thesample.ai is great if you don't have it; it's one of the few newsletter sharing services I'm on from which I see a significant amount of subs. Think "healthy trickle" and not "floodgates", but enough healthy trickles can combine to make something Huck Finn can raft down.
One thing I do always notice is the massive amount of variance in what works for different kinds of writers. I could never get a subscriber from a mountain-climbing forum; it's a closed world for me. The flip side is that (with my more general subject matter) I can often get good results out of things like The Sample.
That makes "have a wider niche" seem good, but the bigger your niche the more competition you have.
Have you shared the referral link with your subscribers? Apparently the more people subscribe using your link, the more they will send out your newsletter to their list.
Having said that, I got one subscriber to my new Substack even though I haven't shared the link yet!
So first, you want to understand the three ways the sample works:
1. Organic
If you are on The Sample, it's going to send out your newsletter to a certain amount of people a day. It's algorithm-driven, so the amount it sends out depend on who you are, how readers react to you, etc. You want to pin your very best, most loved article so that's the one they see and rotate it with other popular articles.
This is limited, but it's something. You do get subscribers this way, and it's great. But you can do better.
2. Referral trading
If you send a new subscriber to the sample, the sample will send you increased traffic to try to "repay" that subscriber. There's a limit to how many people they will send your newsletter to when trying to do this, but it's a high limit and usually they are gonna get you that subscriber. I suspect they even get you more subscribers that way than they report they do; they don't seem to be able to "count" every single subscriber you get through them. So they underpromise, overdeliver as a general rule.
That means if you have a high-trust audience and can get 20 of them to sub to the sample, you will likely get 20+ new subscribers. That's great! It's a good use of your audience goodwill - much better than you'd typically see with a traffic share with another substacker (there are exceptions to this rule, of course).
Note that this is different than how Refind works (or at least how it worked for me). Refind pays you back view-for-view rather than subscriber-for-subscriber. That's a worse deal, because the traffic you send refind is almost always higher quality (more likely to subscribe to them) and the stuff Refind sends you is lower quality (not that likely to subscribe to you). So I've sent refind multiple subscribers (probably) but I don't get subscribers from them, typically. Bad deal by my estimation, bad use of audience goodwill.
3. Paid
Paid works like referral, except now you are putting money on the table, and TS only takes that money when they confirm they provided you a subscriber. Think "dollar to 3-4 dollars" in terms of how much this costs.
This CAN be a great deal, if you have a good idea of how likely those people are to turn into paying subscribers, you can say something like "OK, once substack and stripe have taken their cut, I'm at about 4 bucks per sub, with an average lifespan of a year. That's 48 dollars. I have a 4% conversion rate, which means if I'm paying $2 per non-paid sub, I'd expect to get 48 dollars every 25 people I pay for. That means I can pay just under two dollars per sub if I want to break even".
The danger here is that it's unlikely the average substacker knows any of that data - so it's a gamble. I don't recommend it except after long, careful thought, boring data-gathering, and troublesome frustrating math.
I'm also trying to be the dread-emperor of all the lands. Maybe when we are the last two left we can just flip a coin for who gets to be the global despot.
Wondering if getting a Twitter account now just to promote a 'stack is worth it. I think I'll ask my connections to tweet on my behalf and link to the 'stack.
I have over 6000 followers on Twitter and don't find it a good source of follows for my newsletter. I could be because my interests on Twitter are eclectic and don't always follow what I write on my newsletters.
Interesting. I can't seem to get any traction on FB. There's an enormous audience for what I write on FB, but I get nowhere, in fact, I'm often denied postings. (Maybe FB telepathically knows that I despise it.)
FB is definitely not good to find subscribers. I subscribed to your newsletter, by the way. It's very interesting. Maybe we can collaborate on cross-promotion.
Yes, I'd be interested in that. Give me a few days to look at your newsletter. I've never done cross-promotion before. How would you suggest we proceed?
I wanted to leave a comment to draw attention to the tons of great content Substack makes available via their YouTube channel. Iโve been learning a lot and gaining useful insights from the wide range of topics covered in those videos!
Another question I have: Is there a way to upload audio clips and post them throughout the post? It would be amazing to have a written newsletter that also has some audio clips but I'm not sure how to do that other than just uploading one audio file that posts at the top. Thanks!
Hi Ryan. With podcasts, if you plan on them being distributed through podcasts apps and platforms - Apple, Pocketcast, etc. - it wouldn't work.
If, when you say podcast, you are only concerned with your embedded audio here at Substack, then yes. But for a podcast to be distributed to other platforms, then the single audio file is necessary for the podcast platform to "consume" it for packaging.
You may already know this but I wanted to ensure it was understood.
Thanks for the thoughts, Matthew. I don't distribute the podcast through Substack, rather I distribute through Anchor.
I do send it as a podcast newsletter to my email list through Substack. Right now, I can only include one embedded audio file per email but I do two podcast episodes per week. The open rate on the 2nd email goes down quite a bit and I'm looking for ways to embed both files into one newsletter post. So far that has not been available...unless, I'm missing something!
Yep. You had me at "perfectly." I think it would work for a musician as well to incorporate multiple songs similar to an EP/LP in the old days or an A-side/B-side single.
This is a question/feature I've been requesting since joining. My reason is provide written commentary around audio clips... In my case, the audio clips are examples of songs in process - the writing process.
I want to post the first, rough, phone idea all the way to a completed song.
You can embed Soundcloud but I would prefer NOT to have another platform. The last time I did it, I simply created YouTube videos of the audio and embedded those as unlisted videos on channel.
But being able to upload and embed mp3 files at various spots in a post would be super-helpful.
Ah, thanks so much. I guess I could do Soundcloud or another podcast type of platform but yeah, I agree with you! Would be great to have files throughout.
Nope.. I checked out the site. It should be much simpler - far closer to how you embed external content like YouTube videos here or SoundCloud links. I want a simple player at a specific spot.
For what most people want the feature for, I suspect that is a better interface.
I'm not fighting - nor am I wrong. I know feature I want. I visited your site and it doesn't meet my requirements.
It may be perfect for you - and that's totally cool.
I too program - in HTML5, javascript, and other languages and platforms. I'm not looking for auto-play (I find it bothersome). Furthermore, as stated, I want a simple, elegant, inline player.
Hi all! I'm a pretty new newsletter writer; just launched mine earlier this month. My newsletter (This'll Have to Do) is stories, musings, etc. and, at the moment, mainly focuses on the daily selfies I took from late March 2020 to May 2021. You can find it here: https://samjeancoop.substack.com/
I'm interested in growing my newsletter, as I think we all are. I've definitely read some of the suggestions so I've got those in the back of my mind. But since my newsletter is pretty personal and kind of niche, I'm having a hard time figuring out where exactly to start. I promote on instagram and a bit on LinkedIn (I'm already on there for job searching purposes so I figured, why not). If you use Discord at all, how did you y'all find your Discord Communities? Any suggestions on interesting or unexpected copy to include in newsletters to encourage subscribers to share? Any other unexpected ideas or places you've found subscribers and/or writers in similar veins to connect with?
commenting on writers posts that share your niche is been a place where I have picked up a few readers, I actually got my 1st founding member $100/year from a Glenn Greenwald post i commented on
It sounds like this is a great time to experiment with style and content rather than focusing on subscribers. Focus on what you are wanting to write and that will help you define your audience.
YEY! Send me a brief bio and your top three interests/passions/inspirations -- and a few dates in the near future when you'd be free to meet up! How exciting!
I would LOVE to interview you! You would make for a GREAT first episode! Could you send me a brief bio? I'd love to schedule something in April! :D email me at shedoesprofess@outlook.com
Haven't launched my Substack yet am working w a consultant and whoa it's a slow process for me. But the name/ Substack domain is "Immunocompromised Times" and it will combine science reporting with memoir comics and reported essays
Hi gang! I've seen several comments about asking readers to reply to posts to increase engagement. I've only been doing this for a couple of months but my replies are usually from the same handful of folks I consulted before starting out on my journey.
1) How do you ask folks to reply? Is it as simple as putting your email in your posts? Is that a party foul?
2) Still wondering how to get rid of the yellow round thing that looks like a hockey puck that is the default for our post. Many on this writer's hour use their photos.
3) How do I resist the urge to worry about number of readers? I vowed not to do this. Now I'm thinking if I could just get past a certain number (like 100...) I'd stop. Honestly!
Re #1 - they should be able to just reply to the email. There is something in the settings for the post (on the page where you hit Publish) that allows replies.
You can also encourage them to comment on the post by adding a Comment button. IF they click this it will take them through to your article on the web.
#3 - everyone cares about their stats. I love it when I get an email with a new subscriber, I don't love it when someone unsubscribes - though you don't want people who aren't interested in what you are writing so it is no bad thing really. Just keep going. I've gained 67 new subscribers since January and I'm really happy with this. I've got new subscribers by using The Sample. They send your newsletters out to their reader base and people can then subscribe. Here's my affiliate link - https://thesample.ai/?ref=c538. The more people subscribe using more link, the more they will push my newsletter.
3, this is a burden for writers of all audiences, from books to articles, to newsletters. A good way to help yourself is to change your metric of success. Did someone tell you that they had a good experience or received something helpful from you? Are you proud of your work? Are you writing consistently about things you want to say?
Redefining your success to something beyond numbers may help keep your mind off the numbers.
I know that it is discouraging to put your heart and soul into something and feel that it is not being valued. I have been writing on here for just over a year and still do not have even 100 subscribers. It took me years before that to call myself a writer.
But if you are showing up each week and doing the work you want and are happy with than you are a writer.
Thank you. Very good thoughts. I started sending daily emails out during COVID to a group of friends which grew to 60 people. These were generally enjoyed (or ignored-which is OK too) and I assumed that those 60 would move over to Substack. Many did, but the number of comments has dropped dramatically. I think folks are less likely to chime in to a "formal blog" or whatever we are going on substack. Thank you. I really appreciated your thoughts.
Tad, re: #2 -- if you click on the yellow round thing at the top of your screen, on the right, and then your name, it will bring you to a page that allows you to edit your profile. You can upload a photo of yourself from there.
I'm in the same boat about thinking about my number of readers. I basically just started my newsletter so I know it'll take time but it's definitely always in my thoughts as well. Right there with you!
Friends warned me about his. We spend a lot of our lives measuring ourselves against others which is a total waste of time. Hard habit to break though.
definitely hard, but remember that every subscriber you have wants to hear from YOU specifically. They didn't happen to be just scrolling by the way they might be on FB. That validation will get you through a lot of self-doubt.
2. The top menu bar on the substack homepage says "For Writers" "For Readers." Will it at some point say "For Listeners" with links to podcasts published on Substack?
Hi Ryan, for 1) that page shows the top publications by factors like readership and revenue. For 2) we don't have specific plans yet but we're certainly trying to make podcasts a more prominent category - thanks for the suggestion!
Thanks, Aaron. My next request as a terribly selfish writer would be to split Food & Drink. There are so many more recipe based food newsletters that they overwhelm the drink side of the equation. Not a complaint to any food writers. Keep them coming. I make those vegan recipes!
I have made the decision to start podcasting. My baby steps are to read all of my posts since I started, a little over a year's worth. My idea is to use Movavi recording software to get both audio and video, then separate the two and post the audio on Substack. I want to record entire months in one podcast post, but not as a continuous stream. My thought is to introduce the month in the main podcast and then upload the other audio files.
this is do-able right? putting several audio files into one podcast post?
thanks
Substack has been phenomenal for me! katie, baily jasmine and the whole team are rock stars!
Hey fellow writers and Substack team. I've found what may be a bug in the editor that I REALLY would love to see fixed. It seems like it's impossible to add a "share with caption" button into the email header or footer, but it is possible to add "subscribe with caption."
Not sure if this is for some reason intentional, but having this would be a fantastic tool!
Hi! This isn't a bug, it's a limitation we're aware of, and I definitely agree it should be possible to add a caption to all button types. Sometimes we just see people put two dividers around the button and type in the caption manually above the button.
Amazing! One suggestion for those pages -- I've gone ahead and submitted my main public feed to Apple, Spotify, and other listening platforms. It would be great to have the option to include those links / official badges on the podcast page for easy access. My ideal feature would be to just enter those links in the podcast settings and have the badges show up on the page automatically.
Hi Adam, that makes total sense. I think those links are on our roadmap for how we plan to improve that page in the future (we want to make the art pop more, add play buttons, make clear it's a podcast, etc) but I will flag it to the team either way!
Hello substack team, I have a spirituality based newsletter here called Source Driven (https://vishankagandhi.substack.com). I was wondering if you can please touch upon ways we can expand the reach for niche publications. Does the algorithm support the promotion of such content? Thanks! :)
My newsletter is spirituality themed, and I just started a podcast -- I am looking for people to interview for the first few "episodes" -- so let me know if that's something you're interested in doing.
Hi Kevin! I am hoping to interview ordinary people who do have extraordinary experiences to share!
It's a work in progress, but I am so humbled by everyone who is willing to building on this brainchild of mine. I think if I start getting people from Substack, the theme will be writing-centric, most probably.
I am new on Substack (one month so far!) and was curious how other publications have episodes with attached photos all over their homepage as opposed to a long line of publications.
For all the readers out there! "By first reading aloud and then reading alongside, my grandfather showcased how the most talented authors effortlessly unspooled, cleverly recounted, and skillfully concluded tales both true and tall.
He helped me realize that reading represented a conversation between reader and authorโthe former living and the latter sometimes deadโthat this simple act led to an inheritance of wisdom from generations past."
What has gotten me to pay: someone writes great free content (without paywalls in the middle, which turns me off) and then publishes something extra juicy for paying members. For example, I was reading Dan Jones's History Etc. and he had a paid post about Robin Hood, which is one of my favorite quasi-historical figures. I was like, there you go, I want to read that, and paid right then and there.
1. Write for a long time and be consistent in the delivery of your content. That builds the free base and makes you indispensable in their inbox. Mine is Daily. It's tough, but I'm part of someone's morning, afternoon, or evening.
2. Don't worry about money and focus on putting out free content and showing the value for the time being (like maybe 6 mos- 1 yr?)
3. Talk about how going paid helps support the hours you put in, but use empathetic language. Avoid language like "It's just 5 USD". See the About pages of big Stackers and see how they phrase verbiage around payments.
4. Tell your audience that you will be introducing paywalls into your posts going forward. Give them time to think about how they'll miss your content should they be on free.
5. But never, ever go completely full paid until you are properly established. It will look like you are punishing your core free audience for their inability to pay X dollars a month. It'll be # 1 on the Top Ten Anime Betrayals of All Time.
6. Finally, I hate to say this, but personality and charm in marketing and copywriting play a YUGE role. People read you for your tone. A closer look at *how* we are saying what we are saying can make or break a conversion.
Sure thing. Maybe unlock a few articles? Anyone checking out your stack wont know if your writing is a match for them unless they can read several full length articles end to end.
What's an example of goodwill? I have 6,400 followers/friends on FB, but only a tiny number have come along to LoucheLife.substack.com. Frustrating, if I'm being honest.
FB and other platforms are structured differently than Substack. Most of those 6400 people are already on FB for something. Likes, follows, etc. are low friction. Signing up for a newsletter takes a little effort. I know it can be frustrating, but I'll say this; the people that have followed you here? They're your target audience.
This post covers all of the tactics we recommend for helping writers convert free subscribers to paid subscribers - https://on.substack.com/p/grow-6?s=w
I see a lot of you talking about the header/footer in your newsletters. This is something I haven't delved into yet. I'm not even sure from the newsletters I subscribe to what would be considered the header/footer vs. the regular post. What is the advantage of using a header/footer? What does this look like in the final product? Does this apply only to emails? Or to the post itself? Or is there a tutorial or something I should look at to find more info?
First of all, thank you for creating this platform. I truly feel the connections with the writers I follow and the readers following my Substack publication. I have a couple of questions: 1) I just created a separate newsletter under the main umbrella, and was wondering if I could move some of the old posts to live under this separate newsletter I just created? 2) Is there a plan in the future to have half of the post available to free subscribers and the other half only visible to paid subscribers? We have a magazine photo shoot component to accompany each podcast episode, and we are hoping the photoshoot aspects only be offered to paid subscribers while the podcast components are still available for all. But currently, if I add a "paywall" to a post, the whole post becomes off-limit to free subscribers. Thank you a lot.
When I created a second Substack I copied and pasted the articles I wanted to use from my first Substack over to the new one before I launched. You can also do this after you launch but not send out emails. Or you could link to the old articles somewhere on the new Substack. Or all three!
I'm starting to organize a newsletter and hope to launch in May. I'm having some trouble getting my site set up. If anyone has ideas about the following, I would appreciate it. Thanks very much!
1. How do you set up an unsubscribe option?
2. How do I edit my webpage and homepage so that there is always certain text on the top or in a sidebar on the right. I see how to do this as an Email Header, but I want it to appear on all versions of the newsletter.
3. How do I place text in different places around the site? The Bitterman Project has text all over the place!
4. You can't preview it until you save your settings and check the live site yourself. I would avoid sharing it until you feel ready. You can, however, preview any theme changes in the "Edit theme" section of settings.
I'm considering holding Office Hours for my own publication, Busy Bee Kindergarten, which is all about how to effectively teach kindergartners to read and write. https://busybeekindergarten.substack.com/
Would I just try to copy your procedures and format? Maybe send an email out announcing the day and time? Then sit there ready to respond to comments to that email? It might be hard to catch up, but the comments should always be available, right, so readers could come back later and still read through everything? Any help or ideas would be appreciated!
Thank you so much for these links. They were helpful. I am still a bit confused as to how to START one. Would it be best to send an email ahead of time saying it's happening on a certain date and time and then send an email at that appointed date and time to begin it?
Yes, I'd recommend announcing it in your previous 1-2 posts and perhaps posting on social media as well both in advance of and when you post the thread. If you know any readers personally, I'd perhaps message them (or just ask friends of yours) to post some comments just to get the thread going โ people are scared of being the first commenter!
Randee, wondering if you'd be interested in doing a guest post (my newsletter is about children's books, raising readers, and creating a culture of reading in your home) about how best to support kindergarteners on their path to reading?
Sure! And perhaps you could guest post about kindergarten level books that make for excellent read-alouds or any other topic you think kindergarten teachers would appreciate!
I would *love* to! How can I be in touch? Or, if you want to send me an email at canweread@substack.com, we can get the conversation started. Thanks, Randee!
I might be looking a gift horse in the mouth here, but I've seen a *huge* uptick in free subscriptions (about 30% growth) since mid-March. I've been running my newsletter steadily for 3 years and have not seen this type of growth since my initial launch week. Some of the new signups are from addresses that look fishy -- either nonsense strings of letters, unfamiliar domains, or what appear to be publicly listed contact addresses for roofing companies and marketing studios (?)
Maybe I am being paranoid here. I can't think of how someone would exploit this for phishing or any other type of scam, but it's got me wondering if other writers have seen something similar. Thoughts?
I would keep a close eye on the activity of those subscribers. If you notice no activity (no stars) by those subscribers after several new posts, you might unsubscribe them. You can also turn on the "double opt-in" option requiring subscribers to confirm their email.
That's a good point, I guess the iPhone app launched around the time I saw this spike begin. Looking at the Stats tab, though, my top 3 sources of visitors are still Google, Facebook, and Twitter. Maybe the app traffic doesn't register in that dashboard view yet.
Fast question: what happens to all my free subscribers when I move to paid?
Can I give them option of staying free because they've been the first round and have helped promote / grow my newsletter?
If I wanted to let them know I'm going paid but give them the free option for supporting me so far, how would you recommend doing that.
Has anyone gone that route and with what steps?
ALSO, along with my own 'Shelf of Crocodiles,' I'm working with a talented artist named Damian Fulton on his own recently-launched newsletter 'Radical Rick Spitballing'
It's based on the art and zany, Mad-Magazine like characters of his comic strip 'Radical Rick,' which ran in BMX Plus magazine through the 80's and 90's
Just this week, Damian's raffling off one of his Radical Rick paintings in an effort to fundraise relief for Ukrainian refugees through Foursquare.com.
Don't look at your Substack as free vs paid. Instead, look at it as free content and paid content. Everyone will get the free content, but only those who pay will get the paid materials (or will be able to read past a paywall in a given post.)
What you need to decide upon if you go paid is what, if anything, you will share with all subscribers, and what is paid. Most people would not recommend moving everything behind a paywall as it is very difficult to grow a newsletter if people can't read anything and make a decision about its value to them. In fact, many very successful paid newsletters publish a lot of free material. It's a great way to boost SEO and get people hooked, and those who enjoy what you're doing may want to support you in the future.
Jackie, makes sense! Yeah I was thinking about the paywall for a hot minute, but I'm leaning toward keeping everything free for current subs and then seeing what free content I can give out for new subs but offering more for the paying option.
Hey C.M. -- nothing happens to your free subs when you go paid. Everyone is still free until they subscribe. If you want to give anyone complimentary paid subscriptions, you have the option to do that.
Sarah, Iโve seen many thoughtful and helpful comments from you here today, so I checked out your newsletter and just subscribed. As a stay-at-home dad to a 21-month-old son, itโs extremely important to me that I teach him the importance of reading, and so I look forward to the great recommendations youโll provide!
Thank you so much for your kind words, Chris -- and for subscribing! 21 months is such a great age and a wonderful time to lay the foundation for a lifetime of reading. If there's ever anything I can do for you, don't hesitate to hit reply (or reach out otherwise) -- I really, REALLY love talking to people about raising readers ๐
Thank you, Sarah! I feel a bit bad about going off-topic here on this thread (hopefully no one minds terribly) but Iโll certainly reach out in the future. Iโm actually struggling with the whole intro to books thing with him now (heโs completely disinterested it seems) so, Iโm sure to have questions and need advice!
You can send me an email at canweread@substack.com or wait for your first issue next Wednesday -- either way, you're not alone in this struggle (21mo are the busiest people on the planet)!
Sarah - thanks! That's great to know... when you say 'Everyone is free until they subscribe' do you mean that my free subs stay free unless they resubscribe as paying?
Yes, exactly. Everyone who signed up for free remains signed up for free until they decide to become a paying subscriber. (They don't have to resubscribe -- they just click a button, enter their CC info, if they don't already subscribe to other Substacks, and the deal is done.)
Had a look at your newsletter as well and love the content! I have a number of grad school friends who are really into writing and recommending children's lit, and in particular children's lit with a Christian tilt (I met them in a small MFA program with a Christian-classical emphasis).
Looks like your writing comes from a rich cross-section of your own love of writing / reading and reading / parenting.
My wife and I are having our first kid this July so I'll be needing recommendations in the coming years!
Hi all, I'm also relatively new to Substack. Great to be here! I have a post going out on Saturday where I uploaded a GIF I created. It looks fine on the web browser but the GIF doesn't display in the email.
I'm getting round it by having a button saying 'if you can't see the GIF, click here' but it might be something for Substack to look into.
This week I have a question for you all about currency for paid subscriptions. I am based in the UK and am going to introduce a paid subscription next month. I am thinking of a monthly amount of USD $5.99 or GBP ยฃ5.
It would be simpler, and cheaper for me to use GBP but USD seems to be the universal currency of the internet.
Here's my question - if you are American, would you be phased by a subscription quoted in ยฃ? Would you know roughly how much that is in $?
For those of you that have paid subscriptions for an audience in different countries what are your thoughts, particularly if you not based in the USA?
I've signed up for a couple of referral services - if you promote them and they get a subscriber, they'll get you one. I've only gained about three subs this way, so I'm wondering if anybody else is using them and what kind of response you're getting?
I have both and haven't gotten anything - I haven't sent the links out, though, so that's obviously part of the reason. the other is that it takes about a day's work to promote my writing once I publish it, so I'm finding the balance between writing, promoting, making an income and having a life very challenging right now....
Hi, I'm in the Eastern Time Zone at 1p trying to reach the Office Hours. Am I in the right place? My first time here. Does it take place in this thread?
Thanks! I expected yet another Zoom, but this is so much better! Great tips and camaraderie here, and fabulous that I can copy and pasted tips into my notes app. Just getting my feet wet in Substack, though I've developed websites for over 20 years. Looking forward to contributing what I learn about Substack here in case it helps others.
Hi all - I recently sent my newsletter out. One reader replied to it and asked to be unsubscribed. There was an "unsubscribe" link at the top of the email they replied to. If I click on it, will I then unsubscribe that person? Or do they have to do it? That would be a lot easier than going into settings and finding the person. Thanks!
Hello wonderful writers!
Thank you for showing up for each other today. We love spending this time with you all each week.
We'll be back next week for a very special shoutout thread (see above). We hope to see you there!
Best,
Bailey, Kelsa, Jasmine, Jamil, Jonathan, Aaron, Ben, and Sergey
Kirk thanks for the courage to share your non-mainstream message so bravely!
Hello Substack team,
I want to share my appreciation and gratitude towards this platform.
I just completed a year of writing poems every week on my substack.(https://hellouniverse.substack.com check it out! ๐ค)
Substack has been such a blessing because of its ease of use and continuously updating feature set. I am able to maintain a weekly schedule and haven't missed a week only because writing on Substack is as easy as writing something on Word or Notepad. Not having to worry about any technical elements has been one of the biggest boons for me and has inculcated this weekly writing habit in me.
This platform also allowed me to participate in Substack Go where I made some awesome friends who I still hang out with on writing hour calls.
All in all, this has been a 100/100 experience.
My sincere thanks and gratitude to everyone at Substack. Cheers!
Substack Go was great for making valuable connections with other writers. I hope they make it a recurring event so more people can experience it.
What is Substack Go? Iโve not heard of this before now.
It was like an accelerator, but they also tried to group people by both geographic location and topic. weekly meetings and a lot of interactive stuff. I got a ton of value out of it.
Thanks, Kevin. That sounds really interesting! I hope they do this again. Iโll definitely want in on it.
A program we ran in February! If it sounds meaningful to run again, let us know https://substack.com/go
I'd also be interested!
I'd like it too!
Definitely will do. Sounds very interesting. Thanks, Bailey!
This sounds fantastic. I'd be interested!
I agree. Such a wonderful platform.
I agree, it's a great platform for those of us who don't have the technical skills some others require. Easy to create a newsletter and write new posts. I really appreciate the newly added ability to quickly add images from Unsplash.
Yes! I need to check out that new option.
Ditto! Substack simplicity is the best!
I just subscribed ! good stuff ! here is mine - https://joetassonejr.substack.com/
I can't stop saying the same. I am a walking talking Substack ad everywhere I go.
Get biz cards (with 'Stack name + web address), Salma, if you haven't already! They're a great icebreaker, I've found, for introducing my 'Stack!
It helps if you have a gripping photo or artwork; I realize not everyone can produce a card that features a backstage shot of themselves with The Ramones from 1977 (pictured at left), but who am I to assume? Bottom line....business card!
Good idea to have on business card.
Fantastic idea!!
Thanks, Salma! I managed to take a solid half-hour away from a kind young gentleman, a worker at the grocery store, this morning! Once I start chatting up my articles/page, I get wound up! Plus, he loved the Ramones shot, and he was incredulous when I told him that was me at 22!
He had to cut it short at some point, reminding me..."Well, I've gotta go...I work with perishables...." (cut to me, blushing profusely)
Wow this is awesome to hear! Thank you, Punit. What group were you in for Substack Go? We love to hear when writers keep getting together independently!!
Hello Bailey!
It was Didion 7.
Shoutout to Didion 7!! ๐ค
Didion 14 in the house, yo! We morphed into bi-monthly Zooms (or every other Friday, whichever comes first)! We have a music-themed-writing group of about half-a-dozen. It's fun, and keeps us connected; plus, I've found it helpful to ask some questions, and quiz the group on tips and hints I can maybe use!
What a wonderful idea Punit! I've just subscribed. I write and record my poetry. Hope to connect!
Hi everyone! I see a lot of people asking about growth strategies, so thought Iโd share my experience.
Iโve been on Substack a little over a year. In that time my audience has grown 6X.
By far the biggest jump was when Daily Brew linked to one of my stories in their newsletter. That was great, but replicating that kind of growth was beyond my control.
Two strategies I can control are as follows.
First, I do post my stories to social media. I like Twitter and I already had a decent following there (about 1,200 people). That said, conversion through social media isnโt great. So in my experience Twitter might add one or two free subscribers per week. To get that I have to be fairly active (something I enjoy) and I have to limit self-promo. I try to adhere to an 80/20 rule, so for every ten posts, 8 arenโt self-promo. That said, I try to keep all social media on point by sharing funny posts. I write a humor newsletter so being funny on twitter is really about extending the brand, if that makes sense.
The second thing I do to grow is cross promo. I know thatโs been mentioned a lot in these threads, but for some reason people rarely mention the importance of RELEVANT self-promo. By relevant I mean your cross-promoting in the same category, or around connected topics. By way of example, I did a few non-relevant cross-promos at first. I think I added five or six subs, which is nice, but not super helpful. When I switched to doing promo with other humor writers, I found that cross promos would yield 40(ish) subs. Also, those new subs almost always included a handful of super engaged readers. Here I define engaged as readers who are likely to comment.
Anyway, I hope this helps. And if you write humor, by all means hit me up if you wanna do cross-promo!
Speaking of humor, you know what would be a great homepage category? Humor!
We may not be the biggest, most profitable category on Substack, but if HQ would just humor us...
Thanks! I don't think we know for a fact there aren't a lot of humor focused writers on here, because there's no category listing them all.
As I understand it, categories are self-selecting. I put in my keywords "Fiction," which is why my newsletter is in fiction. So it wouldn't be Substack's job to decide what was humor and what wasn't.
Nice, Michael. I have done a few interviews of other newsletter writers, and they always get a few new subscribers.
Thanks Paul! Your newsletter is especially good for a range of different cross-promo opps because you write often (and really well) about topics that are relevant to anyone writing newsletters. Hint: if youโre not subscribed to Paulโs newsletter, you should be!
where do I venmo that 20 bucks to?
๐๐
Thanks for sharing your experience, Michael. These are great tips! I don't write humor, but boy do we need more of it in the world, so I'm checking our your Stack now. :)
Thanks Lisa!
Hey Michael! Curious that you brought up Daily Brew because one of my subscribers said that I should try getting mine featured there somehow. Can you talk about how that happened for you? Cheers.
Sure, but there isnโt much to say. They found one of my posts, probably because it was shared on twitter a little more than whatโs typical for me. It was a relatable humor piece about the drama of installing a new garage door. Honestly, I just think one of their editors thought it would click with their readers and so they shared it. Thatโs what I mean by out of my control in terms of replicating.
It's cool when we discover these offbeat little ways of getting clicks and engagement.
Your strategy sounds like a winner to me.
Cross-promoting is always a good idea. I mainly write about Japan but my newsletter also features elements of travel, food, films, lifestyle, reading/writing, architecture, and music. I know, it's all over the place. If you guys write about these things and are interested in cross-promotion (e.g. exchanging guest posts), please get in touch.
You can either email me at jb64jp@yahoo.co.jp or get in touch through my newsletter.
Greetings, Michael! Interesting hearing your 'Stack story. I'm a relative newbie, starting as I did in August. While I'm not a comedy writer, per se, I used to be. My bro was a stand-up in and around Houston in the mid- to late-'70s, and I helped write his material. Plus, he had a recurring segment on the weekly local UHF-TV station variety show (mid-'70s) that I helped write and provide music for.
And, I try to provide subtle and not-so-subtle humor in my music-related pieces, and love injecting word play into my titles and social media blurbs to grab attention when posting links. If you have an idea to merge our creative output, holler!
Otherwise, not knowing where you are musically, there might be some of my rock'n'roll misadventures from the '70s and '80s you might find riveting.
I'll leave you with the mortal words of one of my fave funny men, Martin Mull, and his take on writing/writers: "Some people have a way with words; others, not have way." Cheers!
Hi Brad! Gonna check out your Substack!
Fabulous! And, I didn't even have to lift my skirt.......................................very far. Thanks! Hope you dig!
Thanks for sharing these strategies, Michael!
You bet, my pleasure!
Thanks for the info! I'd be happy to cross-promo.
Facebook is rock solid? Users were prohibited from sharing the Hunter Biden laptop story because it was โfake news.โ But now that itโs too late to matter, itโs no longer fake news. How about bringing light to that darkness? 10% for the big guy!
It has been debunked a bunch of times and FB has a policy, admittedly poorly managed, of not allowing misinformation.
You have been deceived
https://news.yahoo.com/york-times-quietly-deletes-claim-021800355.html
No worries though. The deceit served its purpose.
In my experience, Facebook is not good at bringing new subscribers. Lots of views, a decent numbers of comments, but few subscribers. My story about my close encounter with Covid-19 (https://giannisimone.substack.com/p/coronation-street?s=w) got hundreds of views but only a handful of new readers.
I hear good things about Twitter, but unfortunately I was blocked almost as soon as I started. I guess I did something wrong but I can't figure it out. Oh well.
I have a raw admission -- Iโve been steering clear of these Office Hours at my own peril. Now having made a full commitment to the immense ocean of Substack resources, my audience and engagement is growing exponentially. If you find yourself constantly thirsty for a great non-fiction book, then check us out. https://greatbooksgreatminds.substack.com
Office Hours (and all the Substack resources) can be overwhelming for sure, but glad you've waded in! There are some great people -- and great information -- here.
Wow, what a great testimonial! I haven't been avoiding the Office Hours, but admit to being a bit overwhelmed by all I want to engage in here -- there's so much goodness! As a traveler on the Taoist path, too, I'll use my training to not worry, focus, and take the next step. :) And as writer about books (fiction and non...), I can't wait to check out both your Stacks!
I didnโt attend when I first started my Substack but when I joined in, a lot changed. Congrats on the increased engagement.
Wow that's awesome to hear!
Howdy all you Office Hours junkies! Since I've seen several others mentioning growth strategies, I thought I would offer mine. For my Unseen St. Louis Substack, which is all about local history, I have found success in two places: Reddit and local interest Facebook groups. For each post, I share it in the r/StLouis subreddit (as well as others if they fit, such as r/Ireland for my St. Pats history piece about Irish immigrants) and a variety of local groups on FB interested in nostalgia or history. I sometimes have to pick and choose which groups to post in because each is a little different, so I don't post everywhere each time.
For those with Substacks with a local focus, this can be a great move. For others, see if you can identify subreddits and FB groups that may match up. I would think this strategy could be great for Substacks about tech, health, science, crypto, etc. The one area I haven't cracked is fiction.
There are two caveats to all of this: 1. be sure to review the group's rules and policies (some are very anti-self-promo) and check to see that others are sharing links/videos as well, and 2. don't go on Reddit or join FB groups JUST to promote your Substack. Join the subreddits or groups and read other posts first, and comment/participate. Once you've shown you can contribute in a genuine way, sharing a link every week or two (I publish 2x a month) will likely be welcome.
Hi Jackie - this is good advice. For a previous blog I fell afoul of a particular subreddit's rules on no self-promotion and my post was removed very quickly. This became a problem for me because they changed their rules at some point and previously it had been a great source of traffic!
I also agree about contributions to subreddits - the communities have a knack for figuring out who's genuine and who's not.
The real trick is that EVERY SUBREDDIT IS DIFFERENT. Some have incredibly intricate rules and for others, everything goes. That's why it's so important to read the rules and hang out in the sub for a while to get a feel for things.
And it can be beneficial in multiple ways - by hanging out in my city's subreddit (something that hadn't occurred to me before even though I've been on Reddit for more than a decade) I have actually learned a lot and been able to help others even when not promoting my Substack! I mean, if what you're writing is appropriate there, what others are writing should be of interest to you as well.
I just started replying on subreddits tonight. ๐
Iโll try developing a strategy for engagement since Iโm doing it a lot of places. It can be hard to keep up.
Itโs tricky and it doesnโt work overnight. But the strategy I posted above got me over 30 subscriptions yesterday so it definitely works.๏ฟผ
Well, to be fair, a group that is nothing but people promoting themselves is pretty boring and doesnโt offer much value to the membership๏ฟผ. Itโs much better when the community is based on lots of different contributions and people sharing their research or thoughts being just part of the conversation.
People will also tune out those who overdo self-promotion.
Hello! ๐๐พ
Just wanted to encourage people to do three things:
1. Do cross promos and guest posts! โ๐พ
Theyโre great for your development as a writer but also gets you seen with a wider audience. theflare@substack.com if youโre interested.
2. Speak up in the comments! ๐ฃ
Writers (like me) love to engage with readers. Discuss the piece, what you thought, what surprised you. Building community is the best part of Substack.
3. Connect! โ
Iโm at @theone_chiv on Twitter and Instagram. I have snow and bacon ASMR reels for funsies. Weโre all out here trying to promote, but also be ourselves.
100% yes to all of these!
Love these tips. Thank you!
Yes to all of this!
Hey, folks. I'm deep in a seasonal freelancing gig, so may not make it to Office Hours today. But just wanted to put this out there: my biggest growth jumps have always come from cross-promotion, so I'm up for that if any of y'all wanna go in together on something. You can email me at ashasanaker@gmail.com, and check out what I'm up to at https://ashasanaker.substack.com. Looking forward to working together!
Hi Asha. I just read your story about your son, Otto. Such a talented artist! Thank you for sharing your story of a Mom trying not to 'fix' everything. It's definitely a 'Mom' thing!
Hi Asha!
Hi, Bailey!
I'd love to cross-promote. I'll email you today. Thank you for putting this out there!
Asha, I'd love to do something together. I'll send you an email.
I just subscribed, Sarah! In addition to my substack writings, I am querying agents for my children's books and your publication will be so wonderful for my publication journey.
Thanks for subscribing, Renee! And good luck with your queries!
Thank you, Sarah!
I would be down.
I would consider a cross-promo. How would that work, I've never done it before. Thxs!
Email me and letโs chat!
Hi Asha, you have a lovely newsletter there! Would love to cross-promote. Let me know your thoughts :)
Am taking a very short lunch break and then have to get back to work, but email me? Weโll figure something out together.
around 30% of the newletter emails go to spam folders. I see both from the newsletter I write, both from newsletters I am subscribed to (even newsletters I am a Paid subscriber to!) - Substack Team: please solve this issue, because it is a major problem for many of us. Our hard work of hours and hours of writing an article literally goes to trash.
Substack Team: can't you insert some codes in the newsletter emails, so they don't end up in the spam folder of subscribers?
One thing I've found really helpful is asking the readers to reply to my emails. I've included a "send a quick reply with how you found out my newsletter" prompt in my welcome email. I also put a lot of reply prompts in my regular posts. This has led to my newsletter being classified less as spam, and my open rates over the past 2 months since I implemented this have climbed from 25% to as high as 48%. It may not be the only factor contributing to this growth, but it is surely the only action I've taken. Hope it helps ๐
Seconding this! I also ask my subscribers to like each post. Every little engagement helps!
That's a great tip! Thank you.
This is a great idea. Do you find that your newsletter is reaching readers' inboxes more often - even if they don't personally reply? (As in, it's having a positive general effect?)
Yes, that's what I'm seeing with open rates, especially for newer subs.
Thanks for this tipโI'm going to add that right now before it gets lost in the jumble of my Substack "To Do" list!
Awesome tip; thank you so much!
Thanks Punit, I'm going to try adding that to my welcome email too!
Great idea, I like it!
I sent an email once in a while to the emails that never open just asking them if they have been receiving my newsletter. The first one had almost 400 opens and the second almost 200, you can do this in the subscriber page and filter out your readers. It has helped get people to open and be on the lookout for my newsletter.
That's what I did just before sending my last newsletter, so that these people check their spam folder. Great advice!
This is a great idea. Google seems determined to send newsletters to spam or promotions, so it's up to us as writers to connect with readers.
thank you - BTW- just subscribed to your- read a few- very well done !
Thank you!
Great idea. This is such a frustrating part of technology!
I've found that my open rate has dropped significantly lately, I believe because of certain email providers blocking content, which results in an opened email not being registered as open. For example, I have a handful of Protonmail users, and know for sure that they open the messages, because they comment on them. Even so, their opens don't register with Substack.
Every week it changes for me.
same here: from 60% average open rate 1.5 months ago, down to 42% open rate average in the last 2 weeks.
Excellent idea! I'm hovering around 50-ish% open rate, and I really want to get that up a bit. This might be the trick!
I never broke 48% and that was only on my first issue, I would kill for 50% open rate! Rock on!
A disproportionate number of my subscribers are friends and family, so that does skew the rate a bit!
Thank you, YouTopian! - this is an excellent idea, I will try it
Another good ideaโthank you!
Great tip! Thanks.
Shawn, would you be willing to share a copy of that email?
Sure, its pretty simple. Email me at info@shaungold.com and I will send you it.
Will do. Thank you!
Hi - I'd like the email as well. I'll email you.
What a great tip -- thank you!
And the "promotions tab" may as well be the spam folder.
yep
We don't have complete control over what the email providers do with emails. It has to do with a number of factors, including open rates, subject lines...
This is one benefit of encouraging readers to read in the iOS (and soon, Android) apps. In the app, writers always get instant, reliable delivery (no more Promotions folder!)
Thank you for the reply, Bailey. Yes, I imagined that was the issue: it all depends on the internal algorithms set by each email provider/email client - on which Substack doesn't have control, obviously.
Here is an idea, however: couldn't you or Chris Best contact directly the executives of Gmail, Yahoo, Outlook and the other main email providers, and kindly request to change their algorithms to let the Substack newsletter emails go through, without being marked as spam?
I believe Substack is big enough now, and strong enough to make a point on this... (and not much work is required to those email providers to change their algorithms, just a couple of lines of codes)
By the way: your own reply was marked as "spam" by my email provider/client (Outlook / eMclient)
I'm sorry you're having this issue, but I don't think this is true for everyone. I have personally never found a Substack newsletter in my spam folder, and my open rates for both newsletters suggests the number of emails sent to spam is very low. I wonder if the size of the newsletter, the topics, the subject lines, the frequency of sends, or other things are impacting the spam rate?
it may also depend on who your email provider is.
of course!
it depends on many factors, Jackie: which is the email provider of the subscriber, which is the email client software, the settings, and so on. Depends of the algorithms put in place for each of those. Currently I have a 42% average open rate, I had 60% open rate 1 month ago. But I have seen many newsletter emails from authors I'm subscribed to ending up in my spam folder. Therefore, I suppose the same happens to many of my subscribers regarding my newsletter emails - and I know the same happens to many of us
Of course, that was my point. And to Cole's point - I use Gmail myself, and still don't see newsletters in spam. And I've never whitelisted anything.
I am in the same boat as Jackie -- Gmail user, no Substacks in my spam. I also don't have this problem with my own newsletter.
I don't know if mine are being delivered properly or not. But I also subscribe to several newsletters and almost all of them go to the promotions tab. Only Heather Cox Richardson is delivered to the inbox.
Getting rid of the promotional tab is a great first step (https://medium.com/a-geeks-blog/you-should-disable-your-gmails-promotional-tab-7b4ba1eac490 ) but you might also try the Substack app if you haven't already, as that resolves the issue!
I am more concerned with my subscribers missing my posts. I know to check the promo tab to find the things that get stuck there. I keep it because I get a lot of actual promotional emails that belong there. To bad Google does such a crappy job with gmail.
Good points, Jackie. I haven't done a deep enough dive into this to know what portion of my emails are going to a SMAM folder. I do know that my open rates after about 2-3 days are almost always over 50%...but I don't have that many subscribers!
What does inserting codes in the newsletters mean?
that is something that the Substack Team has to do (not us, writers) - it is very technical to explain...
It sounds technical.
well it is, Renee... ;-) do you know about html, css, javascript codes?
Oh no, I don't. LOL That is not definitely my territory in life.
I think it's a technical way for Substack to tell the mail services that our newsletters aren't spam and should not be marked as such.
This is the bane of our existence.
I write a newsletter about books, reading and all things adjacent to both. I wanted to let all the peeps at Substack know how much I appreciate all the additions/changes to the platform; it makes is so much fun to be a part of the Substack newsletter world.
Iโd also like to add my โtwo centsโ for a new category in โdiscoverโ called books or reading. I spent several hours over the weekend going through the discover feature and I found upwards of 40 โnew to meโ newsletters about books and reading. I already subscribed to a couple of dozen prior to this, so that makes at least 60 of us all writing about books and reading. It would be fantastic to see Substack give us our own category, and highlight and feature/promote us as a group as they have done with the โfood writers.โ Iโve enjoyed seeing the food writers cross promote each other and make their little newsletter community stronger for it.
I second this. I subscribe to many of these newsletters -- including Gayla's (it's great! go subscribe!) -- and agree that there are enough now that they could constitute their own category.
Anna Bonet, Ashley Holstrom, Books on GIF, Cassie Gutman, David Grigg, Elizabeth Held, Gayla, Janet Lewis Saidi, Lani Diane Rich, Laura Sackton, Lupita Aquino, Nia Carnelio, Tabatha Leggett... this is prob just scratching the surface.
Awesome list, thank you!
You're welcome! Go subscribe to them all! ๐
Fabulous point, Gayla! I think you may have found my Stack recently and subscribed -- thank you! Though I've only been on here a short while, the community seems incredible. I'd love to easily find other book & reading newsletters and have this be a genre that's featured. (Subscribing to yours right now, of course. :)
Yes, I do subscribe to yours, thanks for subscribing to mine. It is a great community.
Yes, yes, yes!
I am with you 1000% Gayla. And letโs talk online about how we may be able to collaborate.
I meant offline :)
I third!
Gayla, I dig what you're doing, The cross-promoting of other Newsletters is something I could lean into a bit more! I leapfrog off books, classics, and authors myself at 'Shelf of Crocodiles.'
Keep it up!
https://crocodileshelf.substack.com/
Everyone is talking about growth strategies but you should also make sure you offer something unique and have a plentiful amount of content. Once you can deliver something that readers can benefit from, then you can start scaling and this is a never ending process that requires promotion, promotion, promotion. You have to be in this for the long haul. Keep writing and working away. A year ago I was barely getting 100 opens and now it is almost 30 times that per issue. There is no magic bullet, there is just the work and the hustle.
Amen.
Hello! We love Substack and think it's so great you run office hours. We were wondering: are there any plans to introduce a predictor for best time of day to send newsletters based on your audience and their activity? We have readers in so many different time zones, so we're trying to get a feel for what time of day is best for sending things out.
The general answer to this is to send out during working hours on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Mornings a bit better. But, because the app entices the reader to scroll, it's not as important as a tweet for example.
Why during working hours?
People read newsletters while they are at their office jobs :)
I've found consistency matters much more than a specific time. As far as time zones, do you have an idea of where most readers are? You might try and time it to hit both at a good time (eg; 0800 Eastern is lunchtime in the UK).
We *think* we have a pretty equal spread of PST, EST and GMT/CEST, so we try to send at 6 am PST/9 am EST/2 pm GMT/3 pm CEST to get everyone in a daytime window.
The consensus seems to be that in most cases time of day doesn't really matter. Readers read their emails any time of day and you're right--they come from every time zone. Just make it interesting enough so when they see your newsletter in their inbox they'll stop everything and read it!
It totally depends on each individual newsletter but yes, if there was a way to provide this specifically and internally (as opposed to generally), it would be so helpful.
That would be interesting to see.
+1 to this idea!
Still have tiny readership. However, one particular topic got much more intake than usual, including viewers from multiple search engines--both the usual and obscure ones. None of them subscribed. I don't want to turn my Substack into click bait, so I guess it's back to the long game.
Do you include Subscribe buttons once or twice in every post? A lot of people may not realize it's an option otherwise.
I do! But it's kind of like shops that plaster signs everywhere, and are annoyed when you don't read them because you're too busy admiring the merch . . . :)
I guess I've been forgetting to do that.
It's interesting how that works! A lot of readers who aren't subscribers see a piece as "one and done" . They just don't think to subscribe.
Greetings! Here is my question. I changed one of the sections in my newsletter to make it a separate subscription. How can I unsubscribe people who signed up for the whole shebang but don't want that section? Alternatively, how can I ensure that people who DO want that section haven't been unsubscribed from it now that I've changed the settings? Thanks
I recently wrote my readers an explainer about what are my current newsletter sections (the terms are confusing to all) and I did a screen cap to show them what they can get or not get. Everyone just commented that they want it all so my worrying about sending the wrong content to people didnโt really matter !
That's very encouraging, Emily. I think I will try the same
Feel free to copy it! Look under the part about technical tips here https://www.emilypostnews.com/p/note-to-readers-the-alec-baldwin?
That's really kind of you , Emily. Thank you. I will have a look.
Hi Emily, thanks again. I've used some of your email, and thanked you for it here: https://terryfreedman.substack.com/p/controlling-which-emails-you-receive All the best, Terry
I like yours even more ! Now Iโm going to have to do a new one and use that sub headline because it makes me laugh.
LOL. Be my guest, Emily :-)
I have the same question! I know that people can go to their settings to choose which sections to subscribe to, but this seems like an advanced move. And I know that we as writers, when we create a new section, can auto-subscribe existing readers. But I don't think we can make individual changes after the fact.
This is correct. When I created a new section I sent out an email explaining how to choose sections. I was still rather dissatisfied with that solution, though, as the new section, while tangentially related, was not the same content, and I feared people would not want to keep receiving it over time, so I started up a second Substack. That has worked out well and I discovered it is much easier to promote, so I am now successfully building a separate audience for it.
Hi Jackie, that's very useful to hear. I considered doing that myself, but wondered if there was some rule against it, or that it would be too difficult to manage. I might try that myself. How did you transfer subscribers to the new Substack? Thanks.
I didn't. I just created the new Substack, copied my three previous posts from the section over to the new one, and started fresh. I did announce my new Substack in the older one, and from time to time mention/link to each Substack in the other one, since they do overlap.
Thanks, Jackie. I think I might just do that. I've only published about half a dozen articles in that section. I suppose if someone complains that that was the one they signed up and paid for I could just cancel their subscription so they get a refund
Feel free to take a look at how I did mine (unseenstlouis.substack.com and storycauldron.substack.com - no need to subscribe unless you want to!) and if you have Qs feel free to email me at unseenstlouis@substack.com
That's my belief too. Let's hope we're wrong!
Don't forget to join our Twitter Hype pod for Substack writers, follow me @youtopianJ and I will add you to it.
I have yet to dive into twitter. I have zero understanding of the platform. Is it a good idea to jump in despite the fact I don't have any connections there?
I think a lot of it depends on what kind of writing you do. I've found the outdoor community on twitter to be nonexistent. Even big publications like Outside Magazine don't really have much engagement over there. But some of my economist friends see huge conversions on twitter.
Everything helps.
I am in the same boat!!
YES!
Do I use my name or newsletter name?
Hi Renee. You could have both. If you look at my Twitter profile at https://twitter.com/terryfreedman you will see that I've called myself by the name of my website (Ict & Computing in Education) but my Twitter 'handle' is @terryfreedman. In the profile information I've put a link to my Substack newsletter. Hope that helps
This is super helpful! Thank you Terry!
Thank you, Terry!
I use my own name, but that's mainly because I didn't want to switch back & forth between 2 accounts.
done. thanks
Hi everyone -- I created a new section for my podcast...and then scheduled it to go out to my list as normal...and it only went to 2 people who had subscribed since I added the new section. How can I make sure my subscribers all get what I'm sending out? There seems to be no way to determine who a post gets sent to... or (maybe even better) how to edit the subscribers to make sure which sections they receive in their inbox. Thanks!!
I agree. That's similar to my question, which Mark Isero has too.
Are you sure that it did go out via email? Sometimes a box gets unchecked in the "Publish" page that leads to posts only going up on the web. (https://support.substack.com/hc/article_attachments/4404498846996/Screen_Shot_2021-07-31_at_6.53.46_PM.png + https://support.substack.com/hc/en-us/articles/360037831771-How-do-I-publish-a-new-post-). You can go back to send a post out via email but editing the post, going to the publish page, and checking that box!
Hey Bailey--big fan here. Thanks for the reply. Being a human, I can't be sure I did anything correctly. Maybe I just published... BUT are you saying that each section will be emailed to the whole list? Or only to those who subscribe to that section? I'd love it be sent to my whole subscriber base, of course. Thanks!
Is there a way Substack promotes our newsletter to the readers? If yes, how does it work?
We do a lot to improve SEO for Substack overall. Readers can search for posts by topic and by publication name on Substack, and also browse through leaderboard categories (top free and top paid publications are listed there) - https://substack.com/.
In the future, you can expect to see some really exciting tools for writers to promote other writing on Substack as well. Stay tuned for that!
Hi Bailey, I have only seen one area (when setting up) to add in three tags...so when readers search, are they just picking up words within our posts?
Looking forward to finding out about more tools. As I'm relatively new to Substack I'm finding it hard to promote to readers within the platform.
Thanks!
Yes, I would like to know about this. Excellent question!
Hello, I was curious if there was an easier way to insert tables into the body of my newsletter. I currently just use screenshots of excel sheets, but I was wondering if there was a way to plug in an HTML code or another service that might make this easier/less amateur?
You can also file embed excel sheets (and PDFs) by dragging and dropping them into the text editor!
The only way I've found to reliably use tables is screenshotting what I make in Excel, unfortunately
I need the same information
Have a question about stats. In stats it will say I have 100 clicks from Facebook and 2 subscribers, yet in the subscriber page, I will have dozens of subscribers from Facebook, please advise.
Thanks for hosting these Office Hours! I haven't been on much in the past few weeks, mainly because of the Substack App and my reading habits. The app is a great reading experience, but I read my Substack newsletters now via the app early in the morning. By the time I get the email about Office Hours, it's the next day, lol. So here's a feature request: being able to toggle โ per newsletter, via the app โ how you want to receive your subscription.
I second this!
Hey guys, curious where in the roadmap are language mutations of Substack? Is it something that can be expected this year? I am asking because of interest from local newsrooms in Europe where English isnโt an option as older audiences do not understand it. Thanks.
We are very very interested in this, but I can't give a timeline now. We would love for your readers to be able to use Substack easily!
Thanks. Any way to lobby somehow to get this higher in priorities? ๐
Hello. I have been on Substack for several months and love it. I have about 500 subscribers and get a lot of great feedback on my articles but just see very little subscriber growth. I put the articles out on LinkedIn and FB too. Signed up for a service to "spread the word" - I know this takes time, but just wondering if there are other things I can do. I write an article per week- Monday's Motivation thank you
thesample.ai is great if you don't have it; it's one of the few newsletter sharing services I'm on from which I see a significant amount of subs. Think "healthy trickle" and not "floodgates", but enough healthy trickles can combine to make something Huck Finn can raft down.
+1 for The Sample. It's worked well for me. I get 1-2 signups every couple of days.
I've been using the sample for months and have yet to get a single subscriber from it
One thing I do always notice is the massive amount of variance in what works for different kinds of writers. I could never get a subscriber from a mountain-climbing forum; it's a closed world for me. The flip side is that (with my more general subject matter) I can often get good results out of things like The Sample.
That makes "have a wider niche" seem good, but the bigger your niche the more competition you have.
Have you shared the referral link with your subscribers? Apparently the more people subscribe using your link, the more they will send out your newsletter to their list.
Having said that, I got one subscriber to my new Substack even though I haven't shared the link yet!
I'd echo that....have gotten some really engaged subscribers from The Sample
How do you promote it? I signed up for The Sample and Refind, and have only received a handful of new subs...
So first, you want to understand the three ways the sample works:
1. Organic
If you are on The Sample, it's going to send out your newsletter to a certain amount of people a day. It's algorithm-driven, so the amount it sends out depend on who you are, how readers react to you, etc. You want to pin your very best, most loved article so that's the one they see and rotate it with other popular articles.
This is limited, but it's something. You do get subscribers this way, and it's great. But you can do better.
2. Referral trading
If you send a new subscriber to the sample, the sample will send you increased traffic to try to "repay" that subscriber. There's a limit to how many people they will send your newsletter to when trying to do this, but it's a high limit and usually they are gonna get you that subscriber. I suspect they even get you more subscribers that way than they report they do; they don't seem to be able to "count" every single subscriber you get through them. So they underpromise, overdeliver as a general rule.
That means if you have a high-trust audience and can get 20 of them to sub to the sample, you will likely get 20+ new subscribers. That's great! It's a good use of your audience goodwill - much better than you'd typically see with a traffic share with another substacker (there are exceptions to this rule, of course).
Note that this is different than how Refind works (or at least how it worked for me). Refind pays you back view-for-view rather than subscriber-for-subscriber. That's a worse deal, because the traffic you send refind is almost always higher quality (more likely to subscribe to them) and the stuff Refind sends you is lower quality (not that likely to subscribe to you). So I've sent refind multiple subscribers (probably) but I don't get subscribers from them, typically. Bad deal by my estimation, bad use of audience goodwill.
3. Paid
Paid works like referral, except now you are putting money on the table, and TS only takes that money when they confirm they provided you a subscriber. Think "dollar to 3-4 dollars" in terms of how much this costs.
This CAN be a great deal, if you have a good idea of how likely those people are to turn into paying subscribers, you can say something like "OK, once substack and stripe have taken their cut, I'm at about 4 bucks per sub, with an average lifespan of a year. That's 48 dollars. I have a 4% conversion rate, which means if I'm paying $2 per non-paid sub, I'd expect to get 48 dollars every 25 people I pay for. That means I can pay just under two dollars per sub if I want to break even".
The danger here is that it's unlikely the average substacker knows any of that data - so it's a gamble. I don't recommend it except after long, careful thought, boring data-gathering, and troublesome frustrating math.
I'm also trying to be the dread-emperor of all the lands. Maybe when we are the last two left we can just flip a coin for who gets to be the global despot.
thanks for the tip!
The Sample works for me too!
awesome- ty so much !
500 subscribers in "several months" is amazing, Joe -- whatever you're doing, keep doing it!
Ok- to be honest- 67% were people I added :)
That's still 33% that came from somewhere and liked what they saw...
As noted below, promote/promote/promote. Find out where your target audience hangs out & show them how/why your newsletter will be of value for them.
And yes, definitely give twitter a chance; if nothing else, it;s a great way to connect with other writers.
Wondering if getting a Twitter account now just to promote a 'stack is worth it. I think I'll ask my connections to tweet on my behalf and link to the 'stack.
Also, hi Kevin! (waves enthusiastically)
I have over 6000 followers on Twitter and don't find it a good source of follows for my newsletter. I could be because my interests on Twitter are eclectic and don't always follow what I write on my newsletters.
Hi Nikhil! :)
If you haven't yet read through these posts, they have a lot of great ideas about how to find and grow your audience.
https://on.substack.com/p/grow-4
https://on.substack.com/p/how-to-engage-readers-substack
Interesting. I can't seem to get any traction on FB. There's an enormous audience for what I write on FB, but I get nowhere, in fact, I'm often denied postings. (Maybe FB telepathically knows that I despise it.)
FB is definitely not good to find subscribers. I subscribed to your newsletter, by the way. It's very interesting. Maybe we can collaborate on cross-promotion.
Yes, I'd be interested in that. Give me a few days to look at your newsletter. I've never done cross-promotion before. How would you suggest we proceed?
I've just got your latest post (very interesting and thought-provoking, by the way) and I'm going to get in touch via email.
Amazing -- what is the service that helped spread the word?
What is โspread the wordโ?
sorry - it is Blogpros - they provide stats but I did not really see any value
Promote, promote, promote. You can join our Twitter hype pod, follow @youtopianj and I will add you.
ty ! I guess I need to use Twitter more- Shamefully, I am not on a lot- more of a FB guy and trying to keep up
I wanted to leave a comment to draw attention to the tons of great content Substack makes available via their YouTube channel. Iโve been learning a lot and gaining useful insights from the wide range of topics covered in those videos!
https://youtube.com/channel/UCm1ilvByQlcDkuVq1VAxxBg
Another question I have: Is there a way to upload audio clips and post them throughout the post? It would be amazing to have a written newsletter that also has some audio clips but I'm not sure how to do that other than just uploading one audio file that posts at the top. Thanks!
Hi Jenny! There's no way to do this just yet, but hang tight -- we have some changes in the pipeline I think you'll like :)
Sweet!
Agreed. That would be cool. Also, to have two full podcasts sent in one email.
Hi Ryan. With podcasts, if you plan on them being distributed through podcasts apps and platforms - Apple, Pocketcast, etc. - it wouldn't work.
If, when you say podcast, you are only concerned with your embedded audio here at Substack, then yes. But for a podcast to be distributed to other platforms, then the single audio file is necessary for the podcast platform to "consume" it for packaging.
You may already know this but I wanted to ensure it was understood.
Thanks for the thoughts, Matthew. I don't distribute the podcast through Substack, rather I distribute through Anchor.
I do send it as a podcast newsletter to my email list through Substack. Right now, I can only include one embedded audio file per email but I do two podcast episodes per week. The open rate on the 2nd email goes down quite a bit and I'm looking for ways to embed both files into one newsletter post. So far that has not been available...unless, I'm missing something!
Got it.. you are not using Substack as your podcast platform. You are using it as email distribution of the content you've created for Anchor.
In that case, yes, your idea works perfectly.
Yep. You had me at "perfectly." I think it would work for a musician as well to incorporate multiple songs similar to an EP/LP in the old days or an A-side/B-side single.
This is a question/feature I've been requesting since joining. My reason is provide written commentary around audio clips... In my case, the audio clips are examples of songs in process - the writing process.
I want to post the first, rough, phone idea all the way to a completed song.
You can embed Soundcloud but I would prefer NOT to have another platform. The last time I did it, I simply created YouTube videos of the audio and embedded those as unlisted videos on channel.
But being able to upload and embed mp3 files at various spots in a post would be super-helpful.
Ah, thanks so much. I guess I could do Soundcloud or another podcast type of platform but yeah, I agree with you! Would be great to have files throughout.
Nope.. I checked out the site. It should be much simpler - far closer to how you embed external content like YouTube videos here or SoundCloud links. I want a simple player at a specific spot.
For what most people want the feature for, I suspect that is a better interface.
I'm not fighting - nor am I wrong. I know feature I want. I visited your site and it doesn't meet my requirements.
It may be perfect for you - and that's totally cool.
I too program - in HTML5, javascript, and other languages and platforms. I'm not looking for auto-play (I find it bothersome). Furthermore, as stated, I want a simple, elegant, inline player.
For closer to what Wordpress provides with audio.
Hi all! I'm a pretty new newsletter writer; just launched mine earlier this month. My newsletter (This'll Have to Do) is stories, musings, etc. and, at the moment, mainly focuses on the daily selfies I took from late March 2020 to May 2021. You can find it here: https://samjeancoop.substack.com/
I'm interested in growing my newsletter, as I think we all are. I've definitely read some of the suggestions so I've got those in the back of my mind. But since my newsletter is pretty personal and kind of niche, I'm having a hard time figuring out where exactly to start. I promote on instagram and a bit on LinkedIn (I'm already on there for job searching purposes so I figured, why not). If you use Discord at all, how did you y'all find your Discord Communities? Any suggestions on interesting or unexpected copy to include in newsletters to encourage subscribers to share? Any other unexpected ideas or places you've found subscribers and/or writers in similar veins to connect with?
Thank you!
commenting on writers posts that share your niche is been a place where I have picked up a few readers, I actually got my 1st founding member $100/year from a Glenn Greenwald post i commented on
It sounds like this is a great time to experiment with style and content rather than focusing on subscribers. Focus on what you are wanting to write and that will help you define your audience.
I just started a podcast and am looking for people to interview. If anyone is interested, please reach out to me -- or comment down here. You can read a little more about it here: https://shedoesprofess.substack.com/p/about-she-does-profess-podcast?s=w
I'd love to be interviewed. You can see my bio if you scroll down on my About page https://gentlecreative.substack.com/about
Awesome! Just shot you an email for next steps!
Love this idea, Salma -- I'm interested!
YEY! Send me a brief bio and your top three interests/passions/inspirations -- and a few dates in the near future when you'd be free to meet up! How exciting!
shedoesprofess@outlook.com
I am down.
I would LOVE to interview you! You would make for a GREAT first episode! Could you send me a brief bio? I'd love to schedule something in April! :D email me at shedoesprofess@outlook.com
IT WILL BE AN HONOR!
Honor is all mine. Will send now. Thank you.
I think we might have some interesting overlap, and I would be happy to do an interview with you at some point.
That would be lovely! Can you send me an email with a brief bio and some dates you'd be available? Will be very exciting.
Will do
Awesome!
Haven't launched my Substack yet am working w a consultant and whoa it's a slow process for me. But the name/ Substack domain is "Immunocompromised Times" and it will combine science reporting with memoir comics and reported essays
Hi gang! I've seen several comments about asking readers to reply to posts to increase engagement. I've only been doing this for a couple of months but my replies are usually from the same handful of folks I consulted before starting out on my journey.
1) How do you ask folks to reply? Is it as simple as putting your email in your posts? Is that a party foul?
2) Still wondering how to get rid of the yellow round thing that looks like a hockey puck that is the default for our post. Many on this writer's hour use their photos.
3) How do I resist the urge to worry about number of readers? I vowed not to do this. Now I'm thinking if I could just get past a certain number (like 100...) I'd stop. Honestly!
Tad
Re #1 - they should be able to just reply to the email. There is something in the settings for the post (on the page where you hit Publish) that allows replies.
You can also encourage them to comment on the post by adding a Comment button. IF they click this it will take them through to your article on the web.
#3 - everyone cares about their stats. I love it when I get an email with a new subscriber, I don't love it when someone unsubscribes - though you don't want people who aren't interested in what you are writing so it is no bad thing really. Just keep going. I've gained 67 new subscribers since January and I'm really happy with this. I've got new subscribers by using The Sample. They send your newsletters out to their reader base and people can then subscribe. Here's my affiliate link - https://thesample.ai/?ref=c538. The more people subscribe using more link, the more they will push my newsletter.
Thank you very much.
3, this is a burden for writers of all audiences, from books to articles, to newsletters. A good way to help yourself is to change your metric of success. Did someone tell you that they had a good experience or received something helpful from you? Are you proud of your work? Are you writing consistently about things you want to say?
Redefining your success to something beyond numbers may help keep your mind off the numbers.
I know that it is discouraging to put your heart and soul into something and feel that it is not being valued. I have been writing on here for just over a year and still do not have even 100 subscribers. It took me years before that to call myself a writer.
But if you are showing up each week and doing the work you want and are happy with than you are a writer.
Thank you. Very good thoughts. I started sending daily emails out during COVID to a group of friends which grew to 60 people. These were generally enjoyed (or ignored-which is OK too) and I assumed that those 60 would move over to Substack. Many did, but the number of comments has dropped dramatically. I think folks are less likely to chime in to a "formal blog" or whatever we are going on substack. Thank you. I really appreciated your thoughts.
Tad
Tad, re: #2 -- if you click on the yellow round thing at the top of your screen, on the right, and then your name, it will bring you to a page that allows you to edit your profile. You can upload a photo of yourself from there.
Thanks Sarah! I have three dogs so the problem will be which one gets the glory...
I'm in the same boat about thinking about my number of readers. I basically just started my newsletter so I know it'll take time but it's definitely always in my thoughts as well. Right there with you!
Friends warned me about his. We spend a lot of our lives measuring ourselves against others which is a total waste of time. Hard habit to break though.
definitely hard, but remember that every subscriber you have wants to hear from YOU specifically. They didn't happen to be just scrolling by the way they might be on FB. That validation will get you through a lot of self-doubt.
@substack: Two questions: 1. What determines if a newsletter is added to the Discover page: https://substack.com/discover/category/food/paid
2. The top menu bar on the substack homepage says "For Writers" "For Readers." Will it at some point say "For Listeners" with links to podcasts published on Substack?
Hi Ryan, for 1) that page shows the top publications by factors like readership and revenue. For 2) we don't have specific plans yet but we're certainly trying to make podcasts a more prominent category - thanks for the suggestion!
Thanks, Aaron. My next request as a terribly selfish writer would be to split Food & Drink. There are so many more recipe based food newsletters that they overwhelm the drink side of the equation. Not a complaint to any food writers. Keep them coming. I make those vegan recipes!
What great questions!
Hi All,
I have made the decision to start podcasting. My baby steps are to read all of my posts since I started, a little over a year's worth. My idea is to use Movavi recording software to get both audio and video, then separate the two and post the audio on Substack. I want to record entire months in one podcast post, but not as a continuous stream. My thought is to introduce the month in the main podcast and then upload the other audio files.
this is do-able right? putting several audio files into one podcast post?
thanks
Substack has been phenomenal for me! katie, baily jasmine and the whole team are rock stars!
Iโve only seen one per, but you can try uploading two to see what happens. They may have to be separate episodes.
Hey fellow writers and Substack team. I've found what may be a bug in the editor that I REALLY would love to see fixed. It seems like it's impossible to add a "share with caption" button into the email header or footer, but it is possible to add "subscribe with caption."
Not sure if this is for some reason intentional, but having this would be a fantastic tool!
for that matter, how do I add a "One-time Donation" button
Great question!
Hi! This isn't a bug, it's a limitation we're aware of, and I definitely agree it should be possible to add a caption to all button types. Sometimes we just see people put two dividers around the button and type in the caption manually above the button.
See example in this post, you could do the same with a Share: https://tedgioia.substack.com/p/the-wailing-keening-sound-as-a-hidden?s=r
Yo Cole! For the first time ever, your newsletter hit my main inbox today, was a lovely sight.
Love the podcast tab! Glad thereโs a dedicated space for audio content without having to make it into a separate section on the backend.
Great! And unlike sections, the tab will match the art, title, and description to your podcast info and add those episodes automatically :)
Amazing! One suggestion for those pages -- I've gone ahead and submitted my main public feed to Apple, Spotify, and other listening platforms. It would be great to have the option to include those links / official badges on the podcast page for easy access. My ideal feature would be to just enter those links in the podcast settings and have the badges show up on the page automatically.
Hi Adam, that makes total sense. I think those links are on our roadmap for how we plan to improve that page in the future (we want to make the art pop more, add play buttons, make clear it's a podcast, etc) but I will flag it to the team either way!
Hello substack team, I have a spirituality based newsletter here called Source Driven (https://vishankagandhi.substack.com). I was wondering if you can please touch upon ways we can expand the reach for niche publications. Does the algorithm support the promotion of such content? Thanks! :)
My newsletter is spirituality themed, and I just started a podcast -- I am looking for people to interview for the first few "episodes" -- so let me know if that's something you're interested in doing.
I'd seen your note on a Discord, I think. What's the aim of the podcast?
Hi Kevin! I am hoping to interview ordinary people who do have extraordinary experiences to share!
It's a work in progress, but I am so humbled by everyone who is willing to building on this brainchild of mine. I think if I start getting people from Substack, the theme will be writing-centric, most probably.
Hi. I've been a Buddhist for 34 years and in my Substack I give calm, gentle encouragement for writers. I'd love to be interviewed. https://gentlecreative.substack.com/. You can email me at gentlecreative@substack.com
Cali! Yes, I'm subscribed to yours. It's wonderful. And I would LOVE to interview you. I'll shoot you an email shortly.
Fantastic. And thanks for being a subscriber
I'd be interested in learning more about an interview. Could I email you a few questions?
Of course! shedoesprofess@outlook.com
I just subscribed - please follow back if interested!
Thanks for subscribing! Just subscribed as well. :)
Spirituality is an interesting category, I also write in that category, but I am not sure how people can best search within it.
Just saw your publication, it's beautiful! Would love to cross-promote if you would be interested.
Sure
It's called Caitlin Chats
I am new on Substack (one month so far!) and was curious how other publications have episodes with attached photos all over their homepage as opposed to a long line of publications.
It's under settings / style. Change the layout to Magazine!
Thank you so much, Ashley!!!
Welcome! :)
Thank you, so glad to join all of you fabulous writers and creators!
For all the readers out there! "By first reading aloud and then reading alongside, my grandfather showcased how the most talented authors effortlessly unspooled, cleverly recounted, and skillfully concluded tales both true and tall.
He helped me realize that reading represented a conversation between reader and authorโthe former living and the latter sometimes deadโthat this simple act led to an inheritance of wisdom from generations past."
https://www.whitenoise.email/p/read
"By first reading aloud and then reading alongside..." Yes! This is a beautiful image, Tom, and absolutely the way to raise readers.
Thank you Sarah!!!
How does one convert free subscribers to paid subscribers? I have a lot of the former and a few of the latter.
What has gotten me to pay: someone writes great free content (without paywalls in the middle, which turns me off) and then publishes something extra juicy for paying members. For example, I was reading Dan Jones's History Etc. and he had a paid post about Robin Hood, which is one of my favorite quasi-historical figures. I was like, there you go, I want to read that, and paid right then and there.
1. Write for a long time and be consistent in the delivery of your content. That builds the free base and makes you indispensable in their inbox. Mine is Daily. It's tough, but I'm part of someone's morning, afternoon, or evening.
2. Don't worry about money and focus on putting out free content and showing the value for the time being (like maybe 6 mos- 1 yr?)
3. Talk about how going paid helps support the hours you put in, but use empathetic language. Avoid language like "It's just 5 USD". See the About pages of big Stackers and see how they phrase verbiage around payments.
4. Tell your audience that you will be introducing paywalls into your posts going forward. Give them time to think about how they'll miss your content should they be on free.
5. But never, ever go completely full paid until you are properly established. It will look like you are punishing your core free audience for their inability to pay X dollars a month. It'll be # 1 on the Top Ten Anime Betrayals of All Time.
6. Finally, I hate to say this, but personality and charm in marketing and copywriting play a YUGE role. People read you for your tone. A closer look at *how* we are saying what we are saying can make or break a conversion.
Cheers.
This is hugely helpful. Mucho thanko.
Sure thing. Maybe unlock a few articles? Anyone checking out your stack wont know if your writing is a match for them unless they can read several full length articles end to end.
On it. Thank you so very much.
If I can jump in, #6 cannot be overestimated. There are a bazillion writers out there, but only 1 you.
See above.
A superb point. Well done you.
What would make you pay for a newsletter?
That is a GREAT question.
For me itโs always โcompelling story well writtenโ regardless of subject. Good writing is a wonderful thing.
Add value to create goodwill then end the post with a call to action (subscribe for more content etc etc)
What's an example of goodwill? I have 6,400 followers/friends on FB, but only a tiny number have come along to LoucheLife.substack.com. Frustrating, if I'm being honest.
FB and other platforms are structured differently than Substack. Most of those 6400 people are already on FB for something. Likes, follows, etc. are low friction. Signing up for a newsletter takes a little effort. I know it can be frustrating, but I'll say this; the people that have followed you here? They're your target audience.
This post covers all of the tactics we recommend for helping writers convert free subscribers to paid subscribers - https://on.substack.com/p/grow-6?s=w
We also recently created an amazing custom paywall tool that is very effective for some writers: https://support.substack.com/hc/en-us/articles/4407989020308-How-do-I-publish-a-free-preview-of-a-paid-post-on-Substack-
I see a lot of you talking about the header/footer in your newsletters. This is something I haven't delved into yet. I'm not even sure from the newsletters I subscribe to what would be considered the header/footer vs. the regular post. What is the advantage of using a header/footer? What does this look like in the final product? Does this apply only to emails? Or to the post itself? Or is there a tutorial or something I should look at to find more info?
Glad you asked this question, iโm puzzled about that too. Would love to see some beat use ideas about headers and footers.
Hello the Substack team,
First of all, thank you for creating this platform. I truly feel the connections with the writers I follow and the readers following my Substack publication. I have a couple of questions: 1) I just created a separate newsletter under the main umbrella, and was wondering if I could move some of the old posts to live under this separate newsletter I just created? 2) Is there a plan in the future to have half of the post available to free subscribers and the other half only visible to paid subscribers? We have a magazine photo shoot component to accompany each podcast episode, and we are hoping the photoshoot aspects only be offered to paid subscribers while the podcast components are still available for all. But currently, if I add a "paywall" to a post, the whole post becomes off-limit to free subscribers. Thank you a lot.
When I created a second Substack I copied and pasted the articles I wanted to use from my first Substack over to the new one before I launched. You can also do this after you launch but not send out emails. Or you could link to the old articles somewhere on the new Substack. Or all three!
Thanks for your reply. I wish we didn't have to create new post but simply just switch the "category" is in...
Hello All,
I'm starting to organize a newsletter and hope to launch in May. I'm having some trouble getting my site set up. If anyone has ideas about the following, I would appreciate it. Thanks very much!
1. How do you set up an unsubscribe option?
2. How do I edit my webpage and homepage so that there is always certain text on the top or in a sidebar on the right. I see how to do this as an Email Header, but I want it to appear on all versions of the newsletter.
3. How do I place text in different places around the site? The Bitterman Project has text all over the place!
4. How do I preview the web page and home page?
1 .Unsubscribe is an automatic option available to all readers of Substack newsletters.
2. You'd have to insert that header/footer text in the body of the post if you wnat it to appear on the site too. Sidebars are something different called "recommended links" in publication settings: https://support.substack.com/hc/en-us/articles/360059181172-How-do-I-add-a-recommended-link-
3. Perhaps you are talking about publication sections: https://support.substack.com/hc/en-us/articles/360060687771-How-can-I-create-multiple-newsletters-or-podcasts-under-one-publication-
4. You can't preview it until you save your settings and check the live site yourself. I would avoid sharing it until you feel ready. You can, however, preview any theme changes in the "Edit theme" section of settings.
Thank you very much Jasmine! That's very helpful. I'll try to implement your suggestions. May I be in touch with you if I have more questions?
I participate in Office Hours threads like this every Thursday where we have many team members (and fellow writers) here to help!
Okay, great, thanks.
I'm considering holding Office Hours for my own publication, Busy Bee Kindergarten, which is all about how to effectively teach kindergartners to read and write. https://busybeekindergarten.substack.com/
Would I just try to copy your procedures and format? Maybe send an email out announcing the day and time? Then sit there ready to respond to comments to that email? It might be hard to catch up, but the comments should always be available, right, so readers could come back later and still read through everything? Any help or ideas would be appreciated!
Hi! Great idea. This post includes some ideas for how to run effective threads: https://on.substack.com/p/how-to-use-discussion-threads-to
We also recently published a general resource for interacting with your readers: https://on.substack.com/p/how-to-engage-readers-substack?s=w
Also, comments will always be available to view.
Thank you so much for these links. They were helpful. I am still a bit confused as to how to START one. Would it be best to send an email ahead of time saying it's happening on a certain date and time and then send an email at that appointed date and time to begin it?
Yes, I'd recommend announcing it in your previous 1-2 posts and perhaps posting on social media as well both in advance of and when you post the thread. If you know any readers personally, I'd perhaps message them (or just ask friends of yours) to post some comments just to get the thread going โ people are scared of being the first commenter!
Great ideas! Thank you! I'm excited to try this.
Randee, wondering if you'd be interested in doing a guest post (my newsletter is about children's books, raising readers, and creating a culture of reading in your home) about how best to support kindergarteners on their path to reading?
Sure! And perhaps you could guest post about kindergarten level books that make for excellent read-alouds or any other topic you think kindergarten teachers would appreciate!
I would *love* to! How can I be in touch? Or, if you want to send me an email at canweread@substack.com, we can get the conversation started. Thanks, Randee!
Great! I made a note. My email is missbusybeekindergarten@gmail.com
I might be looking a gift horse in the mouth here, but I've seen a *huge* uptick in free subscriptions (about 30% growth) since mid-March. I've been running my newsletter steadily for 3 years and have not seen this type of growth since my initial launch week. Some of the new signups are from addresses that look fishy -- either nonsense strings of letters, unfamiliar domains, or what appear to be publicly listed contact addresses for roofing companies and marketing studios (?)
Maybe I am being paranoid here. I can't think of how someone would exploit this for phishing or any other type of scam, but it's got me wondering if other writers have seen something similar. Thoughts?
I would keep a close eye on the activity of those subscribers. If you notice no activity (no stars) by those subscribers after several new posts, you might unsubscribe them. You can also turn on the "double opt-in" option requiring subscribers to confirm their email.
Where is your traffic coming from, Paul? Could it be the Substack app has given you more visibility in your subject area?
That's a good point, I guess the iPhone app launched around the time I saw this spike begin. Looking at the Stats tab, though, my top 3 sources of visitors are still Google, Facebook, and Twitter. Maybe the app traffic doesn't register in that dashboard view yet.
If you had traffic coming from the app, it would register on your Dashboard. (Substack enabled this right away, and I see app traffic every day.)
I get random emails like that everyday.
Hi is this what we write in to participate in writers hours?
Yep, this is Office Hours! It's a chat thread.
Thank you @substack for everything you do!
Fast question: what happens to all my free subscribers when I move to paid?
Can I give them option of staying free because they've been the first round and have helped promote / grow my newsletter?
If I wanted to let them know I'm going paid but give them the free option for supporting me so far, how would you recommend doing that.
Has anyone gone that route and with what steps?
ALSO, along with my own 'Shelf of Crocodiles,' I'm working with a talented artist named Damian Fulton on his own recently-launched newsletter 'Radical Rick Spitballing'
https://radicalrick.substack.com/
It's based on the art and zany, Mad-Magazine like characters of his comic strip 'Radical Rick,' which ran in BMX Plus magazine through the 80's and 90's
Just this week, Damian's raffling off one of his Radical Rick paintings in an effort to fundraise relief for Ukrainian refugees through Foursquare.com.
https://radicalrick.substack.com/p/staying-rad-when-a-crisis-hits?s=w
Happy reading and posting everyone!
Don't look at your Substack as free vs paid. Instead, look at it as free content and paid content. Everyone will get the free content, but only those who pay will get the paid materials (or will be able to read past a paywall in a given post.)
What you need to decide upon if you go paid is what, if anything, you will share with all subscribers, and what is paid. Most people would not recommend moving everything behind a paywall as it is very difficult to grow a newsletter if people can't read anything and make a decision about its value to them. In fact, many very successful paid newsletters publish a lot of free material. It's a great way to boost SEO and get people hooked, and those who enjoy what you're doing may want to support you in the future.
Jackie, makes sense! Yeah I was thinking about the paywall for a hot minute, but I'm leaning toward keeping everything free for current subs and then seeing what free content I can give out for new subs but offering more for the paying option.
Thanks!
Hey C.M. -- nothing happens to your free subs when you go paid. Everyone is still free until they subscribe. If you want to give anyone complimentary paid subscriptions, you have the option to do that.
Sarah, Iโve seen many thoughtful and helpful comments from you here today, so I checked out your newsletter and just subscribed. As a stay-at-home dad to a 21-month-old son, itโs extremely important to me that I teach him the importance of reading, and so I look forward to the great recommendations youโll provide!
Thank you so much for your kind words, Chris -- and for subscribing! 21 months is such a great age and a wonderful time to lay the foundation for a lifetime of reading. If there's ever anything I can do for you, don't hesitate to hit reply (or reach out otherwise) -- I really, REALLY love talking to people about raising readers ๐
Thank you, Sarah! I feel a bit bad about going off-topic here on this thread (hopefully no one minds terribly) but Iโll certainly reach out in the future. Iโm actually struggling with the whole intro to books thing with him now (heโs completely disinterested it seems) so, Iโm sure to have questions and need advice!
You can send me an email at canweread@substack.com or wait for your first issue next Wednesday -- either way, you're not alone in this struggle (21mo are the busiest people on the planet)!
Wonderful. Thanks again so much! And yes, haha 21mo are incredibly busy people. If heโs awake, he has one setting: GO!
Sarah - thanks! That's great to know... when you say 'Everyone is free until they subscribe' do you mean that my free subs stay free unless they resubscribe as paying?
Appreciate it.
Yes, exactly. Everyone who signed up for free remains signed up for free until they decide to become a paying subscriber. (They don't have to resubscribe -- they just click a button, enter their CC info, if they don't already subscribe to other Substacks, and the deal is done.)
Got it! Thanks again.
You're welcome! And -- I looked at your newsletter -- if you ever want to collaborate on children's books, let me know.
Will do Sarah!
Had a look at your newsletter as well and love the content! I have a number of grad school friends who are really into writing and recommending children's lit, and in particular children's lit with a Christian tilt (I met them in a small MFA program with a Christian-classical emphasis).
Looks like your writing comes from a rich cross-section of your own love of writing / reading and reading / parenting.
My wife and I are having our first kid this July so I'll be needing recommendations in the coming years!
Hi all, I'm also relatively new to Substack. Great to be here! I have a post going out on Saturday where I uploaded a GIF I created. It looks fine on the web browser but the GIF doesn't display in the email.
I'm getting round it by having a button saying 'if you can't see the GIF, click here' but it might be something for Substack to look into.
so it appears that I cannot insert MP3 files into a post. Can it just be one audio file per post? that limits my great plan! ugh
I had a similar question!
This is a highly requested feature and we'll release the ability to upload mp3s in the. near future!
Good things come to those who wait!
Hello
How's everyone?
This week I have a question for you all about currency for paid subscriptions. I am based in the UK and am going to introduce a paid subscription next month. I am thinking of a monthly amount of USD $5.99 or GBP ยฃ5.
It would be simpler, and cheaper for me to use GBP but USD seems to be the universal currency of the internet.
Here's my question - if you are American, would you be phased by a subscription quoted in ยฃ? Would you know roughly how much that is in $?
For those of you that have paid subscriptions for an audience in different countries what are your thoughts, particularly if you not based in the USA?
Many thanks
Cali
I wouldn't know roughly how much it is in dollars, but I also wouldn't be fazed.
Thanks Sarah.
Luck with Newsletter Referral Services?
Hi everybody!
I've signed up for a couple of referral services - if you promote them and they get a subscriber, they'll get you one. I've only gained about three subs this way, so I'm wondering if anybody else is using them and what kind of response you're getting?
Here are the two I'm using:
The Sample
https://thesample.ai/?ref=83e1
Refind
https://refind.com/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=barter&utm_campaign=5dKSJM3MUB8UwVSBssx18Q
(Those are my referral links, and if you sign up you'll receive your own.)
TL:DR - Seems more effective if you already have a following, which is kind of self-defeating!
I have both and haven't gotten anything - I haven't sent the links out, though, so that's obviously part of the reason. the other is that it takes about a day's work to promote my writing once I publish it, so I'm finding the balance between writing, promoting, making an income and having a life very challenging right now....
I'm getting a steady trickle from The Sample. 19 so far. I've not heard about Refind. Is that the thing which gives you a signup form on Twitter?
I just started with Refind because I get a cute banner on my Twitter page ( @theone_chiv ). Nothing yet, but Iโm hopeful.
I like the banner - very cool!
So does this put subscribers onto your substack?
Unfortunately, no. You have to import subscribers into your Substack.
Hi, I'm in the Eastern Time Zone at 1p trying to reach the Office Hours. Am I in the right place? My first time here. Does it take place in this thread?
Welcome, Mary Anne!
Welcome, you are here!
Thanks! I expected yet another Zoom, but this is so much better! Great tips and camaraderie here, and fabulous that I can copy and pasted tips into my notes app. Just getting my feet wet in Substack, though I've developed websites for over 20 years. Looking forward to contributing what I learn about Substack here in case it helps others.
Yep, you're in the right place!
I'm wondering if backlinks/domain authority/any other traditional SEO concepts have relevance while publishing on Substack?
Yes, Google does index our publications. This article may help (shameless plug): https://pau1.substack.com/p/6-steps-for-more-substack-subscribers?s=w
thank you, Paul
But a good shameless plug, because it's genuinely helpful!
Thanks Sarah!
Hi all - I recently sent my newsletter out. One reader replied to it and asked to be unsubscribed. There was an "unsubscribe" link at the top of the email they replied to. If I click on it, will I then unsubscribe that person? Or do they have to do it? That would be a lot easier than going into settings and finding the person. Thanks!
I unsubscribe anyone who replies with that. It is pretty simple, just search their email in your subscriber list and remove them.
but in their actual email response, there's an unsubscribe button. i want to know if that'll unsubscribe also. it save going into settings and all.
Want to thank all the new readers since being here last time. PLEASE SEND more! Thanks