Have questions about publishing, growing, or going paid on Substack?
The Substack team, and your fellow writers, are here to help!
We’re gathering the writer community and members of the Substack team together in this discussion thread to answer writer questions for an hour. Drop your questions in the thread by leaving a comment, and we’ll do our best to share knowledge and tips.
Our team will be answering questions and sharing insights with you in the thread today from 10 a.m.–11 a.m. PST / 1 p.m.–2 p.m. EST. We encourage writers to stick around after the hour and continue the conversation together.
Some updates and reminders from the Substack team:
Recommendations: Our cross-promotion tool for writers has a new designated tab! So your recommendations are promoted in a new space on your publication homepage.
Comment moderation: We made some improvements to comment reporting tools, making it easier for writers and readers to moderate their own communities. Learn more.
“Podcasting Office Hours” postponed: We’re postponing the special Office Hours on podcasting until new audio features are live. We’ll be sure to revisit questions collected at last week’s Office Hours for this special edition. More to come!
Got questions about Substack or feedback about what’s new? You’re in the right place! Leave a comment in this thread.
Next Thursday, we’ll take a break from Office Hours to hold our monthly Shoutout Thread. Come ready to share what you’ve been reading and inspired by recently on Substack. Save it to your calendar so you don’t miss it.
Lots of wins to celebrate in today's thread plus great insights swapped on comments and recommendations.
Thanks for being here! Our team is signing off today and looking forward to shoutout thread next week. Come to discover great writing and writers you might collaborate with.
This month is our one year anniversary since we launched on @SubstackInc, so I thought I'd share a bit of info.
We just 1800 subscribers today, of which about 300 we brought in from another newsletter. The rest we've added since then organically.
We've got about 180 fully paid subscribers and 75 comps to industry professionals, friends, and others.
And since turning on paid subscriptions last June 22 we've grossed almost $10,000, which frankly seems amazing. Even better are all of the people we've met through our newsletter.
So thanks, Substack. Without this great platform, we wouldn't have this!
A bit of encouragement from one tiny newsletter to all of you: KEEP GOING! Don't stop, and don't give up. Someone out there LOVES your voice. They might not be telling you--they might not know how--but they love what you say, they read it every time, and they need you to keep going. Slow growth is still growth. Keep going!! 🌿
Hi Substackers, has the Substack team considered or discussed the idea of print versions of our newsletters to offer subscribers? I believe Elle Griffin with The Novelleist is offering a print magazine, and many Substackers (including me) have a goal of publishing essays or work into a book. And I wonder whether there might be an interesting spin-off platform to make it affordable to Substack writers to offer a book or print versions, perhaps to commemorate milestones or other events in their community. Would anyone be interested in this? Thanks!
I have been loving Substack so much thus far. I am slowly bringing people over (around 4,000 since March, which feels great) from Instagram, which hasn't been the easiest feat but is exciting! I'm curious if anyone has insight or wisdom around how often to share paid versus unpaid content, whether paid content/the paywall should be emailed to all subscribers or if that's obnoxious (it feels that way!), and if there is a way to track specific sources of subscribers (I got a lot in the past week but am unsure of where they're all coming from!). Thanks so much for offering this forum.
In the most recent issue of my newsletter, CAFÉ ANNE, I included a progress report detailing how I got my first 1,500 readers in my first six months, recounted my first experience going semi-viral-ish, and calculated my current hourly wage from paid subscriptions ($7.26 an hour!).
Thought you might enjoy reading. The report, which includes my Substack traffic and subscription trend graphs, is at the bottom of the newsletter:
So, when we get an e-mail (with someone's e-mail address) that says, "E-mail disabled," does that mean the subscriber actively unsubscribed? It almost sounds like a tech announcement, but my guess is that it, indeed, is an un-subscribing. I'm....uh, asking for a friend.
I hadn’t posted on TikTok for about 4 weeks. On Tuesday, I posted 10 seconds of music and it has been viewed 2.2M times. Now, if only .5% of those viewers would check out my Substack! 😳
I think adding recommendations to the sidebar is really cool -- a great reimagining of the classic blogroll. I'm less thrilled about adding it as a tab on the navbar. I want the navbar to be dedicated to my Substack and my content. I would love to be able to turn off the navbar tab and keep the recommendations in the sidebar, but the settings right now only turn it off in the sidebar and keep the tab. It would be great to have a more control here over how these recommendations are shown.
I've one massive hit of a piece that soared to over 1800 views with only 30 subscribers. It went around on twitter. But it really depends on where it's shared. As far as subscribers go, I only have 30 for one, and 8 for the other so I'm looking at everyone here getting more and more and I know it will eventually happen! You guys give me hope!
Hello fellow Substackers, this is my first time here for Office Hours. I love reading all of your questions, advice, and successes! I have been writing "Morning After Thoughts" for 58 consecutive days reflecting light on three things on my mind when I first wake up, and offering a space for others to do the same and share. From sex and family drama to work woes and hangovers, what's on your mind today? I appreciate this platform very much!
I think the recommendation feature is a really great tool. My substack is still growing, so I don't know how much traffic I'll send the publications I recommend, but I'm glad to show and spread some love.
When a payment fails through Stripe, is it up to us to contact the subscriber? Or does Stripe contact them? Does the subscriber continue to receive paid posts if payment method fails?
Shameless plug alert - I write about writing. I nudge people through the practical realities and internal perils of being a writer. You can read more here: https://gentlecreative.substack.com/about
A couple lessons learned in the last couple weeks:
- I felt an impulse to increase my posting cadence. I increased it a little bit (in my head--I've only just started) but I realized I can use this to keep the emphasis on my paid content. My free newsletter will be infrequent but informative, and is intended to drive people to my paid content (books I am writing and in the future essays) which will be more frequent and go much more in depth.
- I am trying to not care toooo much about the subscriber count. I grew on wordpress through consistency, and after three years got up to one-hundred-some subscribers, but the real win there is that I figured out what I am good at writing about, and what topics I am passionate to write about. The content matters more to me. Substack, as the evolution of that, I aim to refine even more. There are encouraging early signs that this strategy will be successful.
- The first paid subscriber gave me such a rush. Who was this person? How did they find me? What did they like? There is no way of knowing, but I felt affirmed to keep going. I am producing a product, after all, and they are paying for it, so time to go all in!
Just a few thoughts. All the best to the rest of you! God Bless!
Hi everyone! Are there any ‘stacks out there who facilitate “matchmaking” for joint ventures? Newsletter swaps, critique and beta reading partnerships, or just a place to find someone to collaborate with?
I’m thinking of putting up one that caters to the last, as I’ve had friends wanting to find other writers to co-write with or work with artists for, say, comics or short films. Not sure how that might be received around here though.
I am in the process of revamping our Twitter hype pod for substack writers. I will be adding new members who want to get new and fresh eyes on their work. Follow @youtopianJ and I will add you today.
Substack how does the platform determine a source of subscriber? For example, last week I had a few subscribers from officer hours, some had a source of Substack Network and others said Direct. This is important for tracking sources, especially when advertising our substacks.
I want to start posts available to all but I also want those who feel like contributing to be able to do so. Does that mean I have to start paid and allow everybody to read free for a while? What's the best way to do that?
There are definitely a few things that I would love to see in my newsletter
1. Personalisation
2. Option to create a few membership options with different benefits
3. Opportunity to add merchandise benefits for the subscribers
4. We have paywall but I would also like to see paywall end so that I don’t have to break the flow for my subscribers and the content after paywall end should be visible to the free subscribers
Any suggestions for how to grow you paid subscriber base? I got a handful of paid subscribers when I launched that a few months ago, but my paid subscriber growth has been basically stagnant since then.
First a thank you - I came to the US when I was 11 with no English, got one of my only B's in college in English (the other was Tax Accounting - yuck lol) and NEVER thought I would be writing. I have learned so much and never would have done it without your platform.
Has the Substack team considered:
1) Ways for authors to find similar authors or - better yet - putting them (with their permission) into small groups based on interests? I haven't been able to grow my newsletter on networking tips recently and would appreciate the support of others very much
2) Along a similar note, but perhaps easier, how about a mentor program where more experienced substack writers are paired up with new writers? Would be so powerful and would create such a sense of family.
Erik Hoel's Substack looks stunning. I just ordered three new episodes of podcast cover art through Fiverr as the new trend is new art for each Season and episode.
Is there any way to create a left sidebar? I want to have a continuing secondary feature but not make it the pinned center top item. Is this possible in mag. format?
Have now published every Friday for a month and a half! Sometimes more than one post at a time, though I find the second one doesn't get looked at as much, so I will stick to one post, I think. At first I was hitting publish at the very last minute of the day, but it's getting easier and earlier in the day. Phew! It would have been hard to keep up that pace. A couple questions: one or two people have told me they have trouble accessing the newsletter from Facebook, also forwarding and liking it. Do people have to be subscribed to read a post? To like a post? Thanks!
Hi Substack! Quick question: is there a way to post "announcements" to our subscribers without making a whole new permanent post for it? I'm launching a piece of paid content tomorrow and I wanted to give all of my subscribers a heads-up, so I added it onto the top of my post today, but I'm just wondering if there's a better way to do that. Thanks!
I’m still closing in on fifty subscribers (almost there!), but my open rate usually lands right around 60%. I’m pleased with the numbers and look forward to reaching this first milestone!
About the recommendations: (Sorry, Katie, I can't find your original post) When I see someone's recommendations I can't just click on one of them to check it out, I have to either subscribe to all those posted or write down the names to look for them afterward. Is this a glitch? Shouldn't I be able to check them out one by one before I decide to subscribe?
This is such an awesome space to find so many new Substacks to follow from breaking bread to finding home. (Those are personally specific topics I love to read about, write about, and reflect on.) Thank you for sharing your stories! My Substack, Morning After Thoughts, touches on many of these subjects and more. https://jessicabsokol.substack.com/
Greetings - I still haven't started my newsletter, although I hope to soon! One thing holding me back is creating the name and getting clear on my topic. Any advice welcome.
I started thetreasurebox.Substack.com where I share funding opportunities for the education sector and other than my past subscribers whom I’ve brought in here, I’ve seen that I’m gaining more subscribers from LinkedIn and Twitter
I have to say it's good hearing all these success stories. I've been at this for two months now and feel a bit of a failure. I already have a massive following elsewhere, but my Substack seems to be taking off s-l-o-w-l-y
Also another question: of course this is a product feature that I understand will take time to integrate (if you do). But it'd be super helpful if there's an option to hyperlink to a different point in the same article. My pieces tend to be longreads more often than not, and I'd love the reader to have an option to redirect themselves to an older point in the article
Hi, I've been managing my newsletter from 8 months now. In that time, I've grown to 250 subscribers (primarily because the last piece I did was a hit). But I really want to explore how to go about SEO as a means of growth. I'd love any and all pointers in that direction (I've also read the Substack guide on it too). Thank you so much!
Writer Office Hours 📅
👋 Roll call 👋
Who has a win from this week they'd like to share? Reply to this comment! We'll celebrate together.
💬 What have you learned about comment moderation? 💬
Please share tips do you have for creating healthy discussion with your readers.
We just shared an updated guide to our comment reporting tools: https://on.substack.com/p/a-guide-to-substacks-moderation-tools
💌 Recommendations 💌
What feedback and questions do you have on the new recommendations page?
Lots of wins to celebrate in today's thread plus great insights swapped on comments and recommendations.
Thanks for being here! Our team is signing off today and looking forward to shoutout thread next week. Come to discover great writing and writers you might collaborate with.
In the meantime, our resources are here for you:
https://substack.com/resources
https://support.substack.com
Keep going,
Katie, Bailey, Kelsa, Jasmine, Sergey, Annie, Sofia, Chris, Jamil, Andrew, and Kyle
This month is our one year anniversary since we launched on @SubstackInc, so I thought I'd share a bit of info.
We just 1800 subscribers today, of which about 300 we brought in from another newsletter. The rest we've added since then organically.
We've got about 180 fully paid subscribers and 75 comps to industry professionals, friends, and others.
And since turning on paid subscriptions last June 22 we've grossed almost $10,000, which frankly seems amazing. Even better are all of the people we've met through our newsletter.
So thanks, Substack. Without this great platform, we wouldn't have this!
A bit of encouragement from one tiny newsletter to all of you: KEEP GOING! Don't stop, and don't give up. Someone out there LOVES your voice. They might not be telling you--they might not know how--but they love what you say, they read it every time, and they need you to keep going. Slow growth is still growth. Keep going!! 🌿
Hi Substackers, has the Substack team considered or discussed the idea of print versions of our newsletters to offer subscribers? I believe Elle Griffin with The Novelleist is offering a print magazine, and many Substackers (including me) have a goal of publishing essays or work into a book. And I wonder whether there might be an interesting spin-off platform to make it affordable to Substack writers to offer a book or print versions, perhaps to commemorate milestones or other events in their community. Would anyone be interested in this? Thanks!
I have been loving Substack so much thus far. I am slowly bringing people over (around 4,000 since March, which feels great) from Instagram, which hasn't been the easiest feat but is exciting! I'm curious if anyone has insight or wisdom around how often to share paid versus unpaid content, whether paid content/the paywall should be emailed to all subscribers or if that's obnoxious (it feels that way!), and if there is a way to track specific sources of subscribers (I got a lot in the past week but am unsure of where they're all coming from!). Thanks so much for offering this forum.
and my shout out is i made 500 subscribers today!
Hi all!
In the most recent issue of my newsletter, CAFÉ ANNE, I included a progress report detailing how I got my first 1,500 readers in my first six months, recounted my first experience going semi-viral-ish, and calculated my current hourly wage from paid subscriptions ($7.26 an hour!).
Thought you might enjoy reading. The report, which includes my Substack traffic and subscription trend graphs, is at the bottom of the newsletter:
https://annekadet.substack.com/p/bingers?s=w
PS Sharing this info with my readers generated an immediate increase in the number of paid subscribers from 70 to 85—a huge jump for me!
Three quick questions:
1. I’ve been here an entire week, and no Pulitzer. Care to explain the false advertising?
2. Why am I not worthy of centering text? What sin weighs down my soul? I thought I did a decent job hiding the evidence.
3. Now that I’ve begged and threatened my existing base, what should I do for growth? Dignity optional.
I find reading all of your comments here very inspiring! Thank you for that, are you feeling the same way?
So, when we get an e-mail (with someone's e-mail address) that says, "E-mail disabled," does that mean the subscriber actively unsubscribed? It almost sounds like a tech announcement, but my guess is that it, indeed, is an un-subscribing. I'm....uh, asking for a friend.
I scored a collaborative partnership with an innovative coffee brand that should exponentially boost my readership
I hadn’t posted on TikTok for about 4 weeks. On Tuesday, I posted 10 seconds of music and it has been viewed 2.2M times. Now, if only .5% of those viewers would check out my Substack! 😳
I think adding recommendations to the sidebar is really cool -- a great reimagining of the classic blogroll. I'm less thrilled about adding it as a tab on the navbar. I want the navbar to be dedicated to my Substack and my content. I would love to be able to turn off the navbar tab and keep the recommendations in the sidebar, but the settings right now only turn it off in the sidebar and keep the tab. It would be great to have a more control here over how these recommendations are shown.
I've one massive hit of a piece that soared to over 1800 views with only 30 subscribers. It went around on twitter. But it really depends on where it's shared. As far as subscribers go, I only have 30 for one, and 8 for the other so I'm looking at everyone here getting more and more and I know it will eventually happen! You guys give me hope!
Hello fellow Substackers, this is my first time here for Office Hours. I love reading all of your questions, advice, and successes! I have been writing "Morning After Thoughts" for 58 consecutive days reflecting light on three things on my mind when I first wake up, and offering a space for others to do the same and share. From sex and family drama to work woes and hangovers, what's on your mind today? I appreciate this platform very much!
I just removed inactive subscribers (people who didn't open any newsletters since they subscibed!). Quality > quantity
I think the recommendation feature is a really great tool. My substack is still growing, so I don't know how much traffic I'll send the publications I recommend, but I'm glad to show and spread some love.
Recommendations are great! Any word on the Android app?
When a payment fails through Stripe, is it up to us to contact the subscriber? Or does Stripe contact them? Does the subscriber continue to receive paid posts if payment method fails?
Shameless plug alert - I write about writing. I nudge people through the practical realities and internal perils of being a writer. You can read more here: https://gentlecreative.substack.com/about
A couple lessons learned in the last couple weeks:
- I felt an impulse to increase my posting cadence. I increased it a little bit (in my head--I've only just started) but I realized I can use this to keep the emphasis on my paid content. My free newsletter will be infrequent but informative, and is intended to drive people to my paid content (books I am writing and in the future essays) which will be more frequent and go much more in depth.
- I am trying to not care toooo much about the subscriber count. I grew on wordpress through consistency, and after three years got up to one-hundred-some subscribers, but the real win there is that I figured out what I am good at writing about, and what topics I am passionate to write about. The content matters more to me. Substack, as the evolution of that, I aim to refine even more. There are encouraging early signs that this strategy will be successful.
- The first paid subscriber gave me such a rush. Who was this person? How did they find me? What did they like? There is no way of knowing, but I felt affirmed to keep going. I am producing a product, after all, and they are paying for it, so time to go all in!
Just a few thoughts. All the best to the rest of you! God Bless!
Hi everyone! Are there any ‘stacks out there who facilitate “matchmaking” for joint ventures? Newsletter swaps, critique and beta reading partnerships, or just a place to find someone to collaborate with?
I’m thinking of putting up one that caters to the last, as I’ve had friends wanting to find other writers to co-write with or work with artists for, say, comics or short films. Not sure how that might be received around here though.
Thanks in advance for any advice and leads! ❤️
New user here. I’ve enabled my Stripe account, but I noticed another writer using PayPal for a one time payment. Can you discuss?
I am in the process of revamping our Twitter hype pod for substack writers. I will be adding new members who want to get new and fresh eyes on their work. Follow @youtopianJ and I will add you today.
Aside from these discussions, how do you connect with other writers and creatives for support in your work?
Substack how does the platform determine a source of subscriber? For example, last week I had a few subscribers from officer hours, some had a source of Substack Network and others said Direct. This is important for tracking sources, especially when advertising our substacks.
I want to start posts available to all but I also want those who feel like contributing to be able to do so. Does that mean I have to start paid and allow everybody to read free for a while? What's the best way to do that?
There are definitely a few things that I would love to see in my newsletter
1. Personalisation
2. Option to create a few membership options with different benefits
3. Opportunity to add merchandise benefits for the subscribers
4. We have paywall but I would also like to see paywall end so that I don’t have to break the flow for my subscribers and the content after paywall end should be visible to the free subscribers
Any suggestions for how to grow you paid subscriber base? I got a handful of paid subscribers when I launched that a few months ago, but my paid subscriber growth has been basically stagnant since then.
Hi there, thank you so much for doing this.
First a thank you - I came to the US when I was 11 with no English, got one of my only B's in college in English (the other was Tax Accounting - yuck lol) and NEVER thought I would be writing. I have learned so much and never would have done it without your platform.
Has the Substack team considered:
1) Ways for authors to find similar authors or - better yet - putting them (with their permission) into small groups based on interests? I haven't been able to grow my newsletter on networking tips recently and would appreciate the support of others very much
2) Along a similar note, but perhaps easier, how about a mentor program where more experienced substack writers are paired up with new writers? Would be so powerful and would create such a sense of family.
Love you all!
Erik Hoel's Substack looks stunning. I just ordered three new episodes of podcast cover art through Fiverr as the new trend is new art for each Season and episode.
Is there any way to create a left sidebar? I want to have a continuing secondary feature but not make it the pinned center top item. Is this possible in mag. format?
Have now published every Friday for a month and a half! Sometimes more than one post at a time, though I find the second one doesn't get looked at as much, so I will stick to one post, I think. At first I was hitting publish at the very last minute of the day, but it's getting easier and earlier in the day. Phew! It would have been hard to keep up that pace. A couple questions: one or two people have told me they have trouble accessing the newsletter from Facebook, also forwarding and liking it. Do people have to be subscribed to read a post? To like a post? Thanks!
I would love a way to tag/categorize my newsletters do people can search more easily.
Hi Substack! Quick question: is there a way to post "announcements" to our subscribers without making a whole new permanent post for it? I'm launching a piece of paid content tomorrow and I wanted to give all of my subscribers a heads-up, so I added it onto the top of my post today, but I'm just wondering if there's a better way to do that. Thanks!
Would love ABCs on how to use Recommendations to grow readership. Thanks.
I’m still closing in on fifty subscribers (almost there!), but my open rate usually lands right around 60%. I’m pleased with the numbers and look forward to reaching this first milestone!
My recent reflection on Sisyphus: https://www.whitenoise.email/p/sisyphus?s=r
Diamond-Michael Scott, a great Substack writer, made my week by reaching out with some questions and featuring me in his newsletter.....this kind of support from other writers is such a great part of being in the Substack community :) https://greatbooksgreatminds.substack.com/p/books-and-the-art-of-breaking-bread?r=yimjq&s=r&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
About the recommendations: (Sorry, Katie, I can't find your original post) When I see someone's recommendations I can't just click on one of them to check it out, I have to either subscribe to all those posted or write down the names to look for them afterward. Is this a glitch? Shouldn't I be able to check them out one by one before I decide to subscribe?
This is such an awesome space to find so many new Substacks to follow from breaking bread to finding home. (Those are personally specific topics I love to read about, write about, and reflect on.) Thank you for sharing your stories! My Substack, Morning After Thoughts, touches on many of these subjects and more. https://jessicabsokol.substack.com/
Greetings - I still haven't started my newsletter, although I hope to soon! One thing holding me back is creating the name and getting clear on my topic. Any advice welcome.
I started thetreasurebox.Substack.com where I share funding opportunities for the education sector and other than my past subscribers whom I’ve brought in here, I’ve seen that I’m gaining more subscribers from LinkedIn and Twitter
I have to say it's good hearing all these success stories. I've been at this for two months now and feel a bit of a failure. I already have a massive following elsewhere, but my Substack seems to be taking off s-l-o-w-l-y
Is it a good idea to start publishing portions of book chapters I am working on to my Substack ?
Also another question: of course this is a product feature that I understand will take time to integrate (if you do). But it'd be super helpful if there's an option to hyperlink to a different point in the same article. My pieces tend to be longreads more often than not, and I'd love the reader to have an option to redirect themselves to an older point in the article
Hi, I've been managing my newsletter from 8 months now. In that time, I've grown to 250 subscribers (primarily because the last piece I did was a hit). But I really want to explore how to go about SEO as a means of growth. I'd love any and all pointers in that direction (I've also read the Substack guide on it too). Thank you so much!