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:
Celebrating one year of Office Hours: In 38 discussion threads with tens of thousands of comments over the past year, we’ve hosted writer Office Hours with you all. In celebration, we pulling together a year’s worth of shared lessons and advice in the form of a well known song: Everybody’s free (to connect with each other).
TikTok embeds: Writers now can embed TikToks by copy-and-pasting the URL directly into a draft post. TikToks will play within the post on web in Chrome and in the Substack app. In other browsers and in emails, a static image will that link to the original TikTok.
Product news: We’ve made some updates including an upgraded podcast player, new leaderboard categories, and improved moderation tools. Learn more in our most recent product news update.
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.
PS - We're celebrating one year of hosting Office Hours discussion thread on the Substack blog today. We strung together advice from the past year from writers in the form of a song. Check it out: https://on.substack.com/p/office-hours
Thank you as well! I've said this in previous office hours, and I'll say it again: Substack has done absolute wonders to foster this creative community.
I was just reflecting back on past posts today, and it's incredible to see the evolution of not just my own writing -- but how Substack has evolved overtime too.
You've paid such careful attention to the needs and wants of the community while standing firmly behind your principles that attracted many of us to the platform in the first place. I can't wait to see what the future holds for all of us.
Woot! Office hours has been huge for me in terms of connecting with other writers, finding new work to follow, and growing my subscriber base. Really grateful for the community here and all the advice I've received from folks who've been doing this longer than I have.
Thanks so much, Jessica! I'm taking a closer look at your work right now--love the framing of "morning after thoughts," and I think we have a lot of overlap in terms of subject area 👀
Gz 👏 I love this initiative! It's so unique to keep attention to the users as you do. And today's blog post is 🔥🔥🔥 So fun idea to remix “Everybody's Free (To Wear Sunscreen)” 🎶
Congratulations on one year of Office Hours. Thursday afternoon--my favorite time of the week! I hope you know how much you're all appreciated for the support and advice you give here, and everywhere!
That’s something we can discuss. You just signed up for so I can email you now. How it usually works to email directly, it’s the name of the Substack @Substack.com.
Congrats on one year. Pretty sure May is my one-year-on-Substack anniversary too. I don’t always come to office hours but I appreciate that you do these. The Substack team is way more helpful and friendly towards its creators than other platforms I’ve been on.
It's only my third time here for Office Hours, but I am loving the Substack platform. I'm going to make it a priority to try and be here for more Thursday advice and action! Thanks for providing this outlet.
Yoooo! Been here a little over a week. Trickling in subscribers. Anybody else that writes for self improvement, mental health, and encourages other people to continue through the mud of life? That's my realm. Get at me!
Epic. Love the “Office Hours.” It is now a weekly scheduled event on my calendar. The conversations are akin to a dessert shop full of delectable advice.
Congratulations on a year of Office Hours. I've learned a lot from these threads and it's been amazing to connect with other writers. I've been writing on Substack for two years now and the second year I've really enjoyed the connection with other writers
We've made the switch to Substack for our podcast. We're two English teachers who discuss pop culture through the lens of literary analysis. We're also working to expand our offerings by writing blog posts that relate to our content.
That's a very solid concept. I'm in a special position to appreciate it after adjuncting for a bit, and seeing how a little pop culture wakes up the room.
Feel free to follow 😊 We're taking off until August but plan to each write four pieces related to previous content during the summer months. We're trying to diversify and stop dependng so much on social media.
I love reading this! We too are two (!) high school English teachers who started a newsletter to share about other women's journeys and experiences. I can't wait to read your newsletter!
Hi all ! I'm new around here, I'm an illustrator and PhD candidate in anthropology and I recently started to write a newsletter about creativity and capitalism, it's called The (Im)posture.
I use to have all these ideas stuck in my head and then I discovered Substack and it's like suddenly I had found the perfect medium to put them out there. So happy to be able to share with my community away from algorithms.
Wow love that! I was an anthro major as an undergrad...excited to check out your stack! To me, Substack is the best platform for all the ideas that an editor is never going to publish and that can't really be formulated into a pitch....it feels like the answer to the nightmare of freelancing
Such a good description of what many (including myself) are doing. "...ideas that an editor is never going to publish and that can't really be formulated into a pitch..." Often the most beautiful ideas; sometimes the most important ones.
Welcome, Julien! I think you'll find Substack to be a wonderful community and a great change from the algorithm-driven model of other platforms. Best wishes for success!
Sounds fab! I know what you mean about "ideas stuck in my head" - and the absence of algorithms is so refreshing here. I write about Celtic folklore and seasonal living :)
Nice, Julien! I am also getting my PhD in anthropology, though I admit I come to Substack to a little bit escape my program! I will check out your letter! Also, another anthro letter you might enjoy is The Liminal: https://liminalliety.substack.com/
Hi Katie! I've been writing Music Mindset Marketing for a couple of months now, sharing stories from my life and career as a New Zealand-born, touring bass player in Nashville. My goal is to talk about some of the harder aspects of being a self-employed musician, so people know they're not alone in it. It's been so lovely just to get 1 or 2 comments on each post from people saying how much they identify and how nice it was to know they're not the only one feeling something. My numbers are small (59 subs) but I'm loving the journey of writing every week and building a community around the shared experience of being a female musician! Don't really have a question, just wanted to say thank you to this wonderful platform and community for doing what you do!
Great idea. Just subscribed. I'm a writer/photographer for an online music blog and cross post to a section ("The Music Diaries") on my Substack. Might be an opportunity to collaborate at some point.
The blog is Americana Highways. The Music Diaries is my Substack section where I place my AH posts (and occasional other music-related essays as well).
Hmm - sounds interesting, Vanessa! I haven't yet started by newsletter, but it will be music tips for music students, drawn from my life as a private music teacher. It will be geared toward folks wanting to get more understanding of music. And more!!
I had a few encouraging milestones this past week. I've matched the number of subscribers since moving to Substack that I had before Substack. So from 31 to 62, which is awesome. I got my first post with double digit likes, and I'm finally finding a community to connect. I write speculative short stories or an essay every week, and it's been a great experience 👍
Well.. if you need automations you are sort of stuck with mailchimp or another more full-featured email system.
I'm a former mailchimp users (and software developer) so the automation desire is not lost on me. However, for my personal use, I just found it was more of a barrier to creating content, plus I wanted the more blog-style listing of content housed at a location/site on the web.
Since doing so, I've helped a few of my musician friends move to Substack. But, again, if you need automation, mailchimp is a solid platform.
Matthew, I also wanted to mention that after watching your video I read your post, "Addict Son, Addict Family." Thank you so much for posting it. This really got to me: "Christopher’s mom and I used to say that Christopher was like all our children but MORE! More laughter. More tears. More compassion. More frustration. More." I appreciate that through your struggles and heartbreak you see your son's beauty and uniqueness, the intensity of personality that has always been part of who he is. This is an important story to tell.
Michelle, Thank you! I appreciate that you took the time to read that piece and to let me know. Christopher is at 145 days clean today. He's walking without a walker or cane and has thrown himself into learning to write software. Being engaged with the world and having something that interest him is the best we can hope for.
It is something that no parent, no family, and no addict should endure... but, here we are.
HI Matthew.... interested, I will watch your You Tube later. Are you helping musician friends because you are a musician, or write about music? Not sure, from your title...?
I am a songwriter/performer but I am also a long-time software engineer, web developer, and technology consultant. When I started playing music a immediately had a newsletter, website, and other social content (I create videos, etc.). My musician friends were often lost, so I just help them when I can.
They are NOT clients or potential clients. They can't afford me. ;-) I can't afford me either..
Oh yeah, another question.... what features DOES Substack have? Does it tell you how many folks have opened your newsletter? Does it tell you if folks have put your post into Spam?
Hi Ernie. No email system will tell you if the recipient flagged you as spam (or put you into spam). In fact, you won't know on an email by email basis whether any given email is being marked as spam.
If you are running your own email server (not the case here on Substack), you can find out if your domain or IP address has received enough complaints that it is flagged. But, those of us on Substack, have no control over that.
While I haven't researched it, I am trusting that Substack stays on top of this. So far my delivery and response is pretty good, so I don't worry about it. I far more focused on working to create better/more engaging content. The server work is tedious.
The system does show you how many people opened your email and how much traffic your post has received. However, it is important to understand that open rates are horribly unreliable as many email systems block the technology that shows whether X or Y individual has opened it.
The secret to the highest level of engagement is interesting or controversial or wildly helpful content.
Hi Michelle, I switched from Mailchimp last year but wasn't sending out emails on a regular basis as my focus was only on our podcast. But after being on this platform regularly for about few months now, I have to say I really love it. It just feels less fussy. Hope you will enjoy it too.
What a fun idea, Jason! I teach a flash fiction workshop and have been deep diving into the novella-in-flash form lately. Yours is a big and wonderful creative undertaking.
Hey! I'm new to this office hours but I've been looking through the wonderful comments that were linked in the latest "Learnings from one year of Writer Office Hours" post and I've so far discovered (and subscribed!) to a number of newsletters I hadn't before. This is an incredible place of good-natured writers. Excited to be here. Nothing much else is on my mind right now except that I need to write :)
Hi Katie! I'm new to office hours! I've loved writing here for the last few months and quickly grew my following, mainly via my Instagram and Wordpress blog. However, I seem to have plateaued - any tips for overcoming this? :)
Hello!! Welcome to Office Hours! We're so thrilled to have you with us today and love hearing that you have been enjoying writing on Substack! Here are some tips for growth that may be useful to you: https://on.substack.com/p/grow-4?s=r
Thanks Cole. I'll look into recommendations - any strategies that you've found helpful there?
I've got a really engaged following on Instagram, daily posting and distinct themes, giving my followers something valuable each day and working hard on creating attention-grabbing images. I tend to share my Substack most days directly linked in my Story, and see it as an extension of what I'm doing on Instagram. I'm @everythinglooksrosie over there. Hope that helps :)
Thank you! I can almost lift my head - soon I'll be crawling ;) Sometimes I wonder how welcome I am on the substack threads as I share things that are forbidden in other places. I really appreciation the expression of welcome!
I love your newsletter! You offer a space of genuine rounded warmth that invites expansion rather than contraction around potentially tender issues. Keep expanding and being you, lovingly, authentically, gently, potently!
So I’m still trying to figure out how to categorize my different genres ( topics) before I publish word one. I write poetry, memoir short pieces , original aphorisms, articles on yoga and cannabis and psychedelics, for instance and I’d like to separate them by subject matter so yo speak and for instance under memoir I have sub-topics .. I do not know how to do that … and so I have yet to even publish one thing for that reason. I don’t want to seem like I’m a writer who is “all over the place” but it happens that I write in these different categories. The problem with being a non - tech savvy boomer …
Hi, Glenn. Sorry I wasn't here for Writer's Hours 'live' I was scrolling just now and saw the word 'categories' jump out. Wow! I had asked the friend who helped me set up my page if this feature existed, and even though she's been active 'on the inside', she told me it wasn't possible. It is possible! Can you tell me how to do it; or should I go to 'Support'; or is it too late, retroactively? You've clearly done a fantastic job of separating categories on your site. Thanks and Cheers! – Zelda
1.) There is one thing that links all of these things together, and only you can really know what that is. But to me, from the outside, all of these things are ways of exploring what it is to be human. I would say 'consciousness' - I don't like throwing that word around but certainly in the cannabis/psychedelics domain this has a particular meaning.
2.) There are also a lot of people doing work to combine bodywork (yoga in particular) with managed doses of psychedelics. I suspect these people are also into poetry and the arts... just a hunch!
3.) So if you have a unifying theme, you don't necessairly have to come across as 'all over the place'.
4.) Practically, you can maybe choose a particular day of the week to publish on a topic:
- Poetry/Prose Monday
- Yoga Wednesday
- etc.
On another (selfish) note: I'd love to read your poetry. I feature creative works from my community: https://cocreatespace.substack.com. Poetry, art, illustrations, prose, short stories, film, photography, dance among other things!
Take a look and let me know if you'd like to chat!
I would love to chat. Thank you .. my poetry spans a lifetime and can is a bit dark as it reflects my internal struggle especially my more recent work which speaks to me having to work ( as in a j o b that I’m misaligned in ).. sometimes I feel like a poser because I work a j o b more than I write .. yes I would love to chat ..
I'm coming in late to all of this - wish I had gotten off my duff and come earlier! Sherri - you rang a bell, a couple of bells actually. I too find myself writing all over the place, office walls included. I look forward to seeing how you do it (if you've posted on substack, I couldn't find it) The other bell ring is I just posted a collection of photos I took while pursuing the wild mushroom in the mountains of Oaxaca. Serendipitously, it was (is) the 50th anniversary of my meeting Maria Sabina and partaking of her "magic" mushroom ceremony. Funny how things work out. Good luck! https://wp.me/p4wqiI-97b
Yes there is this as well. But don't you build a different mailing list for each publication? That seems like a lot to handle for someone starting out.
following for suggestions! on word press I would have 2-3 key words that differentiate my posts and just add them at the beginning of the title ex: CATEGORY: Title .. but haven't mapped it out yet for sub
One thing you could explore is Substack's "Sections" feature — where you can group different types of posts under broad categories. They then show up on your homepage as menu items. There are a few examples of folks doing this (Jeff Tweedy's stack comes to mind).
I joined Substack because of Jeff. And yes, categories (newsletters) are an effective way to separate out content. A word of caution, too much segmentation is as problematic as too little.
Jason... I understand you want to grow your readership. But posting a comment, unrelated to the question or conversation, multiple times throughout the threads is both spammy and needy. Also, it rarely (as in never) is really much of a game-changer.
Office hours is for engaging with the community. This type of post is anti-engagement.
Rather, help others here, ask legitimate questions, and, in doing so, you may give them compelling reason to find out more about you.
If you are looking for growth strategies, share your posts with friends, family, and social and ask that people consider subscribing. Then, when you post, either at the top or bottom of what you write, you can ask readers - those who have already engaged - to share your work with others.
I am super appreciative of the care and information given to Jason in naming that this is not a thread for self-promotion. It's hard information to receive and be named, and I am appreciative to you Jason in your saying you got it. Thank you both for the modeling. Loving this community.
Well... thanks. I promise you I'm capable of being a snarky ass-hat too.. But I reserve that for people who are mean to others. Not even mean to me. I'm unoffendable in that regard.
Otherwise, I'm just very direct and also work, and hope, to make less troll-like responses the norm. It's a losing battle but at least I attempt to conduct myself accordingly.
Thank you, And I love your newsletter. In any event, a lot of my questions on this site get deleted -- somebody in substack doesn't like me. Please take a look at this question that keeps getting deleted:
QUESTION: Does the use of capital letters in a post, or of too many capital letters in a post, undermine or inhibit the dissemination of a post on the internet ?
I think someone on this site said that search engines are programmed in such a way as to make your piece less prominent if you have lots of caps.
A couple of days ago I wrote what I thought was a fairly decent article about Alito’s abortion decision, and I am frustrated by its limited dissemination. I had 8 distinctly different points, and each point or idea has a title which is in caps. Should I have used something, other than capital letters, to highlight the headings. Please look at the post and tell me how the formatting may have thwarted its dissemination. https://davidgottfried.substack.com/p/alitos-abortion-decision-exquisitely?s=w
Thank you but may I be Thor instead? Or Buffy, The Vampire Slayer. Either works for me.
Nah.. mostly I want people to understand netiquette and promotion. I'm ruthlessly direct, unoffendable, and sarcastically snarky as necessary. In regard to this issue, direct seems to be all that is needed and then gently coach back into the fold. ;-)
As Matthew mentioned, this is for a writer to come ask questions and share insights.
On the first Thursday of every month, we take a break from Office Hours and host a Shoutout Thread (https://lu.ma/shoutout). It's a chance for all of us to share what we’ve been reading and inspired by recently on Substack.
That's a better place to come and promote your Substack and better shoutout what you've been reading.
Let me know if you have any questions we can help with today, please let us know.
No worries. We've all done it or something like it.
Online etiquette is an interesting thing. Growth and community involvement takes work and time.
If you have not done so, look into Gary Vaynerchuk's book (or find a YT video about it), "Jab Jab Jab Right Hook"
The pitch - look at me, read me, etc. is the right hook. It rarely lands unless you set it up with some jabs and other work. The jab is sharing useful, helpful, or super entertaining information for FREE!
Focus on your jab and you earn the right to throw the occasional right hook.
Office hours is such a great way to reach so many writers, so thank you!
My focus is on mental health, wellness, and the human experience in it's entirety (the not so pretty parts are my main focus) Anyone else writing about the same sort of thing? <3
I love the name! Mine for today: I was outside in my garden with unshaved legs when a friend walked by. I saw her staring at my legs. It was a little awkward, but also fine. She likes me for who I am and I like her for she is. Awkwardness is okay. So it being out in the garden with unshaved (or shaved) legs.
This is my first time at office hours. I'm a writer and a creative writing tutor. I started my Substack just over a week ago. It's blog plus podcast for those new to creative writing. I have GBS so it can be quite tiring but I am enjoying the challenge.
Intimidated. Especially because I made the move to Substack to avoid having to deal with social media... I am slowly making my transition away from anything having to do with social platforms like that. I can't seem to escape them.
You could probably get away with just using Twitter and Instagram to try to direct traffic. It's the route I'm going and, if nothing else, saves you the social media headache of dealing with the TikTok / FB crowd.
I rely mainly on writing intensive platforms - specifically Reddit. These visual/video platforms take away from the point of relying on the written word for good content. You know? Just my two cents.
I’ve also had a lot of success with Reddit. I sometimes create special “editions” of a post just for Reddit, eliminating anything that could potentially upset the mods. It’s worth the extra work.
I also think it makes sense to stick w the platforms I use and enjoy because I sort of intuitively understand them. I “get” twitter and Reddit. Instagram not so much.
It can absolutely be touchy. If you’re interested, search the subgroups and see the kinds of things people post about. Each sub-Reddit has its own community feel to it, and it’s more about the amount of time you want to give to it. I’ve found a few that have proven helpful. Then there are others that are absolute crap. I don’t fret so much on the time wasted about those, but see it as a check list to move on. My positive experiences have made it worthwhile.
I relate hard to most of social media taking away attention from words. Just so much easier to look at an image mindlessly than to form one from reading words. That said, I'm not intimidated by the addition of TikTok embeds; I'm comfortable just avoiding it. We shape each email however we like here, right?
I just cannot stand the thought of having to rely on imbedding visual elements (specifically video) to complement my writing because that's what other writers realize gains them more traction to their publication.
I've been a social media user since Zuckerberg's early days, and there was a time when I swore by it specifically because it encouraged a form of verbal thinking-out-loud. When it got meme-y and superficial, my interest waned... I can see it working out for many people. But for me, it adds a bit of pseudo-intellectualism to whatever I might want to write. Does that make sense. Idk.
Yeah, I hear you. I feel certain that if you feel this way, you can avoid embedding any videos in your emails and your readers will not find it odd. It's your style.
I wouldn't use gifs and memes in my newsletter either, but I did subscribe to one that does because the writing was still good. So I guess I subscribed in spite of that. We'll be fine!
It all depends on what you write about. I write about gridiron football history and believe period images are essential to helping readers understand differences in the game and society from then to now. The right picture is worth a lot of words.
You have to find the right community to post or share your articles in. For you, try r/eclecticism and see the type of members there, and some of the things they share or comment. In my experience, reddit subgroups very, and it’s just about what you’re willing to put up with.
I made the move of investing on social channels and found it quite rewarding. Twitter, LinkedIn, and to some extent, Instagram!
For the last few months, I've been heads-down building Newsletter To Socials to better fulfill the needs of independent writers. I interviewed a bunch of content marketers to see what sorts of tools I could bring to the Substack ecosystem. Well, I'm happy to share that I just relaunched https://newslettertosocials.com/ with a completely new list of features.
I’m an old head who remembers when IG was all about still life, people studies, and action shots. It was a great time to be an artiste on the site. It was a great community.
I agree with you. I loved Instagram for the photos of my friends and their kids but now it’s like a copy of TikTok where if you don’t post a video with the Instagram music nobody cares
What's wild about TikTok, is that it is quickly replacing Spotify as the top place where people discover new music. So, it's something that musicians are having to embrace — I'm finding it slightly annoying, but I'm starting to play the game a bit. We'll see. Hal Walker (Living in a Body) is the person to look to for all things TikTok: https://halwalker.substack.com/
I will. I have used Beethoven, Mozart and jazz on mine and it is always nice to find new talent. I subscribed to your newsletter and will check out your TikTok. My recipes are under BonlemonKitchen
"80% of the people who use TikTok say they discover new music on the platform"
Hal Walker (who is also here on Substack) went viral on TikTok with just an instrumental clip — his is an amazing success story, really. I also write instrumental music, so, I share your skepticism. But I think more and more, if you are looking for streaming growth, it's becoming harder to write off TikTok. At least for now.
Hmm... doesn't Tik Tok have a very short time limit? I am trying to focus on "relaxation music" form yoga classes, things like that. That being said, I do have some short catchy songs, but not sure that is my real direction....?
I think you can now upload videos up to 10 min. It might be worth exploring and experimenting, honestly. I think there's a huge appetite for that kind of music and lifestyle, even on TikTok.
Not a fan either, and I agree that some people will enjoy it. But I wonder-- if that particular integration will yield more traffic, will it in turn will make people who don't use it feel obligated to do it for their audience?
Circling back, I think TikTok will be a great feature for food writers. My friend who writes Makans of a Chef, has been posting really neat recipe videos on that platform for a long time. The embed feature could be great for this type of thing!
I haven't ventured into using Tik Tok yet, but other social media platforms have helped get me traffic tremendously. Especially in Facebook groups and by posting on Twitter + LinkedIn.
All of that takes time though! So I created https://newslettertosocials.com/ to help myself out and I just recently released it to the public
I love to scroll through TikTok and I'm excited about embedding TikTok's into my Substack. But I don't really make TikToks -- too much investment in terms of time, not nearly enough return. FWIW, I think the most successful TikTok accounts are YouTubers who already had a lot of content that could be repurposed to a shorter, cooler format.
Fortunately/unfortunately, TikTok is endlessly entertaining, not only for mindless zoning out, but even in terms of educational/informative content. I'm a pretty big consumer of content over there.
As an eternal sketch comedy fanboy, I'm over the moon that there's a platform for small groups to build real audiences and incomes again. The tighter that YouTube turned the screws, the more small groups fell off the map.
To be clear, I don't write sketch comedy. And if I expand my sleepless creative output, it’s going to be into comics. But I can definitely appreciate TikTok’s boost for the format as an observer.
As for the drawbacks, I really can’t call them worse than Twitter's. And no presidents have rallied cryptofascists via TikTok dance yet, so I’ll give it the edge.
Just this month, watch hours on TikTok officially overtook YouTube in the US. So even if you are not a video content creator, being able to embed TikTok is a great tool!
Been experimenting with complementary content there (under @StrategyTok), expanding the network of others interested in strategy, no crossover (yet), raising profile, slowly slowly. Curious about the new TikTok embeds in Substack, thinking thinking...
That's a wrap on Office Hours for today. We officially have one full year of Office Hours in the books! Thank you for showing up and creating this space with us.
We'll be back next week and will carve out some extra time to talk about podcasting and audio tools. More to come soon.
Congratulations for one year of office hours! @Bailey I've been pondering exit strategies from my paid publication lately... if I ever want to stop Substack-ing, I would love to be able to pause yearly memberships but not monthly memberships. So I would tell new subscribers, "the last issue will be 31st March 2023, subscribe monthly til then, but don't sign up for a year because there is not a year of full issues to come." Has anyone else had that thought? I'm not going to want to do this forever....
Just reflecting on how much vulnerability and courage it takes to keep showing up, keep sharing, and keep putting yourself and your writing out there, regardless of how it goes or performs or reaches people... reminding myself of this, which means I know others may need it too. It is no easy thing to keep going and yet here we are.
YES! Love this! Showing up is the hardest part, but you're right: it's worth it, no matter what kind of attention it gets. You don't know how many people you're actually reaching! 🌿
That's why it is so good to have a community here that gets that. Lots of support and encouragement. Well done on mustering courage and being willing to face the vulnerability.
eliciting discussion is something i'm still hesitant about doing, since most of my subscribers aren't substack users. if people like what i write, they'll reply directly to my email. how have you successfully started conversations in your comments?
I think it's really important to interact with your readers and the comment section is the perfect place. If readers can only respond by email it becomes a dialogue and not a discussion--unless that's what you prefer.
Don't be afraid to ask your readers questions. Some of my most visited pieces are those where I do a Q&A and everyone participates. They're also the most rewarding.
Speaking to that (comment section), I notice that some Substack writers are disallowing readers to comment unless they subscribe. I would encourage them to allow free folks to comment as well. I comment all the time, and I really believe that enhances your newsletter credit.
I think that as long as you have some feedback happening that's good! In my opinion, having comments on the post is mostly a vanity metric, and a pseudo-indicator of activity on that post.
Same here! Close to 100 subscribers and hoping for some more to celebrate my Substack’s first birthday.
Agreed on these tips. I’ve gotten so much out of just being on Office Hours. Community, collaboration, interviews, encouragement… I’ve been fortunate to have all these.
Great advice here, Nikhil! I'm interested in doing a discussion thread, but I always make sure to ask a question in every weekly newsletter in hopes that readers will engage and share. It (usually) works!
Good morning! Here is this week's encouragement from one tiny newsletter to all of you: Keep Writing! The more consistent you are, the more the ones who need you will find you. "Engagement" isn't the best measure of readership, because sometimes the ones who love you most won't know how to tell you in a comment. Build a community, not just a collection of readers. It may be small at first, but it will grow. Focus on your passions, your interests, your goals, and your true fans will show up. Most importantly: don't give up!! 🌿
It's the toughest paradox for writers!! But helpful to keep in mind. Sometimes the silent readers are the ones who need you the most. Post for them, if for no one else!
You're so right, Igor. Sometimes when I feel my motivation slipping I try to imagine that there's one reader...just one...who is *craving* my words and would be really heartbroken if I didn't post that day. Is it true? Maybe not. But it gets me to post! :D
It's been a year I joined substack and a year these threads have opened countless introductions and friendships for so many of us. Kudos to the substack team for enabling people to form meaningful connections. 🎉🎉🎉
Slow and steady is good advice. I am approaching my two year mark on Substack and just passed 500 subscribers (11 paid.) Which I think is pretty good for a fiction/humor/creative writing newsletter by an unknown writer. I have learned some hard lessons along the way.
First, don't overcommit and burnout. Find a comfortable pace and (if possible with your type of newsletter) schedule a buffer of newsletters in advance so you won't feel the pressure of deadlines.
Second, more is not always better. Many people are reaching over-saturation of newsletters. Offering them more frequent newsletters as a paid benefit may not be the best strategy. Quality will keep them coming back, not quantity.
Build a community. Respond to comments. Do threads. Sure, if you have 50,000 readers, you probably can't respond to every comment. But for us mortals, it helps. Besides, comments are my favorite part of Substack.
Anyway, thanks Substack for creating a great platform for indie publishing.
Absolutely. If you are writing about current events or doing news journalism, buffering is very difficult. Buffering works for better for non time-sensitive writing. Which is what I do. 🙂
Mark, greetings from another 2year Substack toddler with about the same stats, and similar beliefs re quality v quantity. Trying to own a specialist niche with so much other content out there is a bear...
hello everyone! this is my first "office hours". i'm wondering if there are any other musicians or songwriters out there who are using video/podcast features to share their demos or work in progress? this is something i've been enjoying a lot with substack.
i started my newsletter about two months ago and i honestly can't believe i didn't do it sooner. every time Monday rolls around when I get to write and schedule, it always feels like a treat. maybe i'm still in the "honeymoon" stages of this project, but having something i'm so ~into~ even only at 25 subscribers feels great.
Olivia, first of all: welcome! I run a music newsletter, and I'm a few weeks into my Substack experience. I can tell you that this is an amazingly supportive community. It sounds like we share the fact that we're doing something we love, and I can tell you that makes all the difference in the world. It doesn't feel like work, it's fun, and there's no substitute for that. Wish you all the best!
Hey, thanks so much, Kyle! It's a pleasure to meet you. Thanks also for subscribing. I just subscribed to you as well and can't wait to read your work!
I've been asking Substack to include a way to post multiple mp3 files where you have individual players embedded in your post. However, in this instance, I converted my audio to simple videos, published them unlisted on YouTube, and embedded them.
In any case, I'll check out what you are up to. Good luck and welcome!
Welcome Olivia! I have a real live singer/songwriter/guitarist writing for/with me! His name is Stephen Michael Schwartz, and he recorded for RCA Records in the mid-'70s, and has recorded many albums in the children's music lane, both solo, and with the Parachute Express trio!
As we've done before, he's been sending me rare and unreleased song file demos that will be appearing in future SMS articles! Feel free to hop on board!
Again, welcome, and continue enjoying your writing process!---Brad (and Stephen)!
Celebrating that my readership more than doubled (from 61 to 131) in the last few weeks because a mentor (with 500K followers on fb) shared this post of mine. I am so grateful to her for seeing what I'm trying to share.
I'm slowly exploring more and more substack functionality. I clicked the button to set up a podcast and it was scary easy. I haven't, you know, done anything with it yet. My goal is to keep it bare bones and mostly as a way to improve my speaking and especially speaking off-the-cuff. My goal is to have a topic and some basic notes and speak for 10 minutes about it and try to minimize the "ums" and "uhs".
Still thinking about the right content for it and my topic area, but it feels good to explore multiple formats.
I've only been on substack for a month or so but cheers on the office hours anniversary! God bless!
I have a podcast with a friend (litthinkpodcast.substack.com) and the lessons that I learned there I've carried over to my Substack. Now I'm taking old blog posts and turning them into podcast episodes, so I'm pretty much read a script, which is more polished than my conversational podcast with a friend. I MUCH prefer podcasting to making videos for YouTube 😉
That's a good thought, I have a blog on wordpress and I've been writing there for three years and done a LOT of writing. Converting some of those posts into podcasts would be a neat idea. It would be nice to revisit them, since a lot of what I've done on that blog has been to build an understanding of the world. When I revisit them, rather than read them right out I could expand on the topic with what I've learned since then.
You're welcome! Yes, I have to make some adjustments to make the episodes little more timeless, but it's working so far and it keeps them short (under 15 minutes). Check it out!
Hey Scoot, I think I'm in the same boat. I'm curious to try podcasting and have been for years but never did it despite having explored most other formats like YouTube videos, Instagram posts, blog, etc. I'm also new to substack - they remind me on my landing page that I launched my newsletter here 17 days ago, so I'm even newer than you!
I have no idea why I want to do a podcast except that I know I listen to podcasts in different situations than I read email newsletters, so this might be the case for readers too.
I think finding the right topic area to cover and the right format for the podcast is important. Imagine your ideal subscriber: When do they listen to your podcast, why do they listen? What do you want them to get from it? The process of answering those questions will help you form the best offering in a format that your readers/listeners need.
I say all this partly as unsolicited advice and partly as a reminder to myself of what I need to do before I get started. Best of luck to you, Nick, I am sure you will figure out how to make the podcast you always wanted to listen to!
Hey Sarah, brilliant - thanks for cross mentioning it here otherwise I would have missed it. I also have 7 years of blog posts to look into for material (though many are ephemeral pieces). When I'm ready, I might do just that!
I just wanted to express appreciation for Substack, in the sense that I am happy to be able to put something out in the world without having to go through the painful process of pitching to editors at various publications. I have been both a freelancer crossing my fingers and toes that my pitch is the right story for the right time for the right publication, and I've also been a magazine editor and had to decline awesome pitches because there just wasn't room in our editorial calendar or we had recently included something on a similar topic. I'm really grateful that I can publish something consistently on Substack without barriers (albeit with my small audience) without having to go through that process. Thanks Substack!
Hello. I’m new to Substack and Office Hours! So far, I’ve gathered most of my (small) readership through my accounts on Instagram. But I’m looking to discover new ways of connecting with readers and writers.
When thinking about connecting with new readers, our Substack Grow resources are the place to go. I suggest this one: https://on.substack.com/p/grow-4?s=w
To connect with fellow writers, Office Hours is a great place to start! We are gearing up for some programs for writers to plug into that will be available soon.
If you are on Discord, a number of writers in the Substack Writers Unite discord which Elle Griffin started. You can join here: https://discord.gg/83fSxJyA
I do the same. But I use Twitter and put my newsletter in newsletter directories. Just google ‘newsletter directory’. Collaborating with other newsletter writers kind of help too.
Natalie, your newsletter looks really intriguing! I've only skimmed your first essay, but I can't wait to go back and read more. As for connecting with writers, I host a writer's community, as do a few others on Substack. Everyone welcome!
Natalie.....I've had lots of success on FB, which I know most people hate. But, inasmuch as my focus is '70s and '80s rock music (and behind the scenes thereof), I'm able to take advantage of the various groups on FB.
I join, and then post my links....groups like punk rock, prog rock, classic rock, and even decades, like all things '70s, '80s, etc. I make sure, of course, I post in the appropriate groups! My links, therefore, hit many hundreds of thousands (if not millions) of pairs of eyes! Good luck!
Thanks Brad! I often write about social history and I’ve heard that Facebook is great because the audience is slightly older than other platforms like Instagram. I’ll have to give it a try! Do you post to groups from your personal account or do you have an author page that’s just for your writing?
No. Don't even know what an author page is! I just join groups that pertain to my subject matter, and post new links to those! Ex: I've written about the Sex Pistols and the Ramones....those links got slapped up onto punk groups and '70s groups!! Hundreds of thousands of eyeballs! I've written about the Houston Astros, and post those pieces onto Astros groups and baseball groups!
The problem I'm experiencing with FB is they group moderators often deny my post by saying I'm making a sales pitch--which I am not. My "Subscribe" button offers my newsletter for free or paid. Is that why they're kicking me out?
That's usually a problem I have with Reddit..."self-promotion." I've had FB group mods deny my post, but I'm guessing it's because they don't deem it fits the subject matter of the group (I rarely check the reason, 'cause at that point, I don't care)!
Again, with my general posts about "rock stars" and/or the music biz and a baseball team, subject matter "hunger" seems to work in my favor, generally speaking!
Hi Chevanne. I posted this a bit further down so perhaps you’ve already seen it, but I use Instagram to write about social history and post once a day Mon-Sat. Each week I have a different theme - this week it’s Victorian fraudsters. Instagram allows captions of up to 2,000 characters (I think!) so over six days I can tell quite a long story. The downside is that you can’t post links in captions on your feed. I use the 24 hour ‘stories’ feature for external links to Substack instead. My following on there is quite modest but it feels like a community and it’s helped me to build an audience. It’s slow growth but feels engaged (much more than Twitter for me). My readership is still very small but hopefully going in the right direction. You can find my account here: https://www.instagram.com/longagogrotto/
Hi, Natalie - I did a personal email (cut/paste main content with personalised bits tailored to each recipient) to everyone in my contact book ... I'm still working through my Facebook contacts. It takes time, but it's worth it!
Great to see the new categories, any chance of a Video Games (ideally the actually correct ‘Videogames’ but I’m not picky) one? We are growing in number and being ghettoised within Technology means we’re up against some pretty big tech/startup-focused names and it’s hard to cut through. Discovery is pretty rough, I think y’all could be a bit more aggressive with the category system and I’m curious about why it’s currently so limited.
Been a good week, anyway. A couple signups away from 2,000 readers and I did a special offer on paid subs that’s brought in another 15 or so, pushing the conversion rate up towards 9%. Onwards!
Congrats on this growth. I think your category has really huge potential, seeing as the corporate games journalism industry seems to be losing a ton of credibility. I agree with the category reform though. I've been asking for "outdoors" as a category forever. They have climate change, but not outdoors.
Thanks Bailey! Still curious about why the categories are kept so small though. The whole point of Substack is it’s a broad church, I struggle to understand why the taxonomy is seemingly being modelled after a 1980s bookstore.
So thrilled to be featured on Discover this week!! Thank you Bailey, Kate, & the Community Team for the shout-out, and for all the hard work you do to support us ☺️
Hi all - For those who are new to the platform, welcome! I just released my 9th issue today — creeping up on a year myself. And congrats to the Substack community team on the milestone!
I just want to take a moment to share that whatever questions you have, you can ask here and the folks in this wonderful community will point you in the right direction. Everyone — from the Substack community team, to the writers here chiming in — has always been incredibly supportive, kind, and helpful.
The platform gives you pretty much everything you need to be successful. So, be patient with the process, and pick an approach that feels like it is sustainable for you (whether that's post frequency, subject matter, or design). Try thinking about your newsletter as a long-term endeavor — the last thing you want to feel is burnt out after a short time. It can feel like a hustle sometimes, so be patient with yourself. Slow and steady.
Thanks again to everyone here for the support over the last 9 months.
Hey everyone. I am new to substack and looking to grow my subscribers list. My aim is to help people on their journey to living a happy and purposeful life, to help achieve the goals you have and become the best version of yourself. Please subscribe and help me build a community of people that want to live a happy and purposeful life!
How does the dashboard distinguish a subscriber source? For example, I have had readers join from an office hour and it says direct for one, substack network for another. This would help to show us exactly where our subscribers come from.
Subscriber sources are last-touch attribution (i.e. where were they right before signing up) so it is possible that a user could discover your publication through office hours but came back later through a different source and signed up.
We have some updates planned around attribution soon that should give you more insights into where subscriptions are coming from.
Yes, I would love to know if the subscriber read something before becoming a subscriber. Did they land on a specific article? Or did they land on the homepage and read a few things before signing up?
I would love to be able embed any HTML I pleased, but understand if that’s not on the immediate roadmap. Otherwise, I think audio embeds from major podcast platforms like Apple Podcasts or hosting providers like Simplecast, OMNY, Megaphone, etc would be super useful for those who don’t want to host their main feeds through Substack.
There are a whole host of other embeds I can imagine being super useful. Amazon and Bookshop.org affiliate blocks, Reddit posts, Kickstarter, document providers. I think the more expansive the better.
Hi all - this thread just keeps getting better and better! I'm so grateful to have found you all. I can't remember if I've mentioned, but I've rebranded and renamed my substack from "Whole Health" to "Next Draft with Diane Hatz". I've finally stood tall and have announced to the world (and my terrified inner child) that I'm a fiction writer. I'm in the process of republishing an indie book I put out 14 years ago and never promoted. I'm currently doing cover, marketing, plan etc. I want to sync my substack with the book coming out and what it relates to, the book I'm currently writing, and articles around research I'm doing (mainly spirituality type of stuff). And possibly document the process of putting out an indie book. I would love to connect with writers who have books out or are publishing something relatively soon who are working on or who've done marketing plans for them. I'd love to be able to bounce ideas off folks to come up with creative ways to market/promote the work - especially ways to sync our books with our substacks. Anyone doing anything similar and interested in connecting? Thanks!
For growth, recommendations are pretty solid and a passive way to get new subscribers, although it depends on the subscriber count. A substack I recommend has received almost 400 subscribers. Another one that I just started recommending less than a week ago has received 13 so far. I recommend everyone try it out.
Wondering about how to encourage followers to be engaged with my content. Aside from providing them a call to action ("Comment below if...."), how might one go about doing that? How do you get people out of their email inbox and into the comments section after they read the newsletter?
It's not a groundbreaking idea, but every Monday I start my post with a "comment highlight" where I shout out a comment from the previous week. I be sure to link back to the commenter's social media (where applicable). This seems to help my readers understand that I read and appreciate the comments and the community we're building. Just an idea! 🌿
People seem to like it! Especially when I highlight a comment from someone who has a Substack newsletter or other blog/online presence I can link to. I've noticed that readers will click the link to explore the person I've highlighted, which is pretty cool! I don't have a huge following yet but I have noticed that the quality of my comments is really high, with commenters adding their own thoughts and contemplations to what I've written. I think the comment highlight has been a net positive, overall! 🌿
A lot of people getting your posts via email won't even realize that they can like and comment. So if that's something you want, it's probably worth adding buttons throughout the content to send people to the web so they can comment, and maybe even worth explaining how to leave comments in text.
"Teaching" info like that I put in occasional "Subscriber Only" posts, where I also include Exclusive Sneak Peeks into upcoming pieces. So, as well as giving them exclusive content in these couple-a-month posts, I also include "here's what'll help you peruse the site" info! Go get 'em, Adam!
I took a low 'n slow, no social media approach to my wordpress site. Personally, I am not a fan of over-promoting. In my experience and in my opinion, readers will be engaged if you write something that engages *you*. If you are not enthusiastic about what you're writing about, why would they be? Also in my experience, maybe one in five views will produce a comment, so don't be discouraged if you have a lot of clicks but not a lot of talking. Just keep at it and your enthusiasm will be infectious. I'm of a quality over quantity kind of mind.
If you really want to spur the conversation, I like to do it by soliciting ideas or writing about a topic I don't know a lot about and getting feedback from readers who know more than I do. It inspires me to write follow up posts elaborating on the topic with their contribution.
That might be another point: If readers comment, engage with them in the comments but also write articles based on their feedback. They will like seeing that you took their comments to heart and put their thoughts into your posts.
Godspeed and good luck! Hope this has been helpful.
And if you keep your eyes peeled on On Substack, we'll be publishing an interview miniseries soon specifically about how writers are using comments and other strategies to interact with readers :)
I'm one of your subscribers, Joe, and I appreciate the work you do. Growing numbers via email is a problem for me, too, since I didn't have a base to start with. But I have to believe word of mouth may be just as effective as beating ourselves up begging for subscribers at different outlets.
I could be totally wrong, since I suck at marketing, but there's real value, I think, in building a loyal community by just being there and doing your thing. They'll be out there beating the bushes for you!
Promote on a different channel, target a different audience (if applicable), hire a copywriter to help write ads for you, scale back the frequency of posting (to reduce reader fatigue). Just enjoy the process; there's no rush to get to the top.
Unless you are a celebrity or have the luck of being featured on a high-impact promotion, the sub count will be middling. That's how it is.
Hey Joe! I use biz cards on top of whatever social media to post my links. I use the picture you see to your left with my 'Stack web address, and brief blurbs on what I write! I just ordered new cards from VistaPrint where I included QR codes on the back!!
You can give your cards to new people you meet, and post them on Starbucks/Panera bulletin boards, too! Good luck!
I also post my links, when appropriate, onto replies to occasional tweets that have to do with recording artists I've already written about. It helps that THAT's my 'Stack subject matter (as opposed to plumbing, accounting, or jarring preserves, where tweets to reply to might be scarce), but it's also a fun way to spread my 'Stack!
I really have to get braver on Twitter. I can post a throw-away line and get thousands of hits, but not a ripple when I post my own pieces--no matter how much I appeal to them!
i wouldn't be surprised if external links (Substack, news outlets, etc.) are downplayed a bit by Twitter's algorithm. I don't think they're "shadow-banning" anyone, rather they don't want you clicking out for their site for another.
I ran into one recording artist on Twitter....and, 3 or 4 on FB! Sometimes when I write about an artist, put the link up on FB, the artist (or someone in the group) will contact me, thanking me!
I, of course, strike while THAT iron is hot, and ask (via DM, usually) them questions about their era/group/sound/product, etc, and put their answers into the article! Instant interview!
Every "Writer Office Hours" I read; I always tell myself how I need to step up my Substack game. Today is no different. You guys really are inspiring. Thanks!
hello! i am unsure if this is the right way to use office hours as this is my first time. i am fairly new to substack and i found it hard to find writers who write on similar topics: early twenties life, mindful living, reflections. how do you find a community of like minded writers on substack?
Hi Joy! Welcome. Yeah, it can take a little trial/error to find others, but the Substack homepage categories can be helpful (you can see a bunch of pubs in different genres/categories). And two ideas of publications you might enjoy — Devotions: https://devotions.substack.com/ and Time*Being: https://hallierosetaylor.substack.com/
I mentioned yesterday that I thought it would be great if you broadened the categories. I had a real problem categorising my substack which is a a writing course for beginners. I also have problems finding other people to subscribe to because of the categorising issue.
I write an outdoor/adventure newsletter. My experience with the recommendations feature so far has been pretty great. I've found that partnering with people who truly match your niche is a huge component of making sure you source subscribers who actually are interested in your writing.
If anyone else writes about the outdoors, please reach out to me. I'd love to talk, have you on the Trail Talk podcast as a guest, and work on some cool cross-promotion ideas!
Hmmm - looking around, it seems that Substack is more for writers. Perhaps I’m just stating the obvious but there seems to be quite a few that write about arts, philosophy and academia. So the question is … is Substack going to work for me?
Essentially I write a newsletter from my 3minutemaths website. It’s directed at students / parents and focussing on the resources I’ve created - mainly UK curriculum. Will this work on Substack or should I be thinking more about opinion pieces?
My motivation was to try to monetise the newsletter - perhaps providing additional value for subscribers.
If you see a lot of people writing about something and you're writing about something different, that's a good sign you've got a unique "product offering" and your writing will fill an unmet need. Keep going!
I think this would work great on Substack. You could also ask for the video feature to be turned on for your publication, and upload video tutorials and lessons if that's the kind of thing you do.
In the end, Substack is just a platform, like WordPress, so the issue is whether you have content of interest to others. As long as Substack meets your technical needs, the rest is on you. Good luck.
Is there any progress on my idea for a "faux paywall"? Everyone I've discussed this idea with thinks that this would be massively beneficial for writers and that Substack should definitely prioritize this!
It's just like a paywall; you can make it start at any point in your article and you can "tease" as much of the article as you want. But instead of a paywall, they just have to do a free signup in order to keep reading.
This is what one person told me:
I'm really digging this idea on the "faux paywall," and I mean REALLY in all caps. It would truly improve my publication because, at this time I'm keeping my archive paid while I would much rather have it accessible via free signup so that I could capitalize on more than a year of daily articles on a vast array of topics to encourage people to become free subscribers and begin their journey with me. I assume this would take some time to implement for Substack since they would actually have to clearly differentiate accesses between visitors and free subscribers and effectively have to take into account three categories of users (visitors, free subs and paids subs) instead of two (free subs and paid subs). But this is something I really want them to be working on right now. REALLY.
What I always say is, at the beginning of a newsletter, getting engagement is more important than getting revenue because the engagement that you get and the speed at which you manage to make it evolve organically in an exponential manner (that's the hardest part) will naturally augment the pool of people you can get revenue from. After all, why trying so hard to earn a living from tens or hundreds when you could do so from thousands of people instead. That's why I really wish Substack would ramp up their efforts on getting eyeballs on newsletters just as much if not more as they're doing at the current time to maximize paid subscriptions. As much as they aim to fight it, attention is indeed the currency of the Internet even outside of the advertisement model, because without visibility how could you get people to pay for what you offer if they don't even know it exist? And when luckily enough some do know it exists, why would they support something still nobody else knows about which therefore will be lacking impact in its own field?
This is a feature already, isn't it? You can write as much as you want, then under More in the menu bar, simply select the Paywall option and it will insert a paywall break that limits everything after it to paid subs.
Yes, a real paywall -- Andrew is talking about a paywall to grab free subscribers, i.e., one where there is no exchange of money. That's the "faux" part of "faux paywall," as opposed to the actual paywall that already exists.
I see what you mean. I guess I was confused because that's more than a faux paywall, it's a request to add an entirely new layer of visibility restriction to the platform.
Oh Jairaj, I just realized you're the CTO at Substack... haha. This is amazing because there really isn't any incentive for people to sign up to the newsletter currently because they could always head back to the website or the app to read a public post. With this new feature, it would serve the top funnel grab to help us get sign-ups. When would this feature be available??
This is something I went through. I cleaned my email address of about 300 people. It was really disheartening, because that was about half my audience at the time.
Here's what I recommend:
1. Ignore this problem unless your open rate is in consistent decline and is starting to get into the teens. Otherwise, you'll drive yourself crazy
2. Sign up for an email validation service. I use Zero Bounce. They'll let you import your email address, and test for email addresses that are completely invalid, or spam. Then delete these.
3. Sign up for mail meteor, the gmail extension. (only do this for one month, you're only going to use it to send one email.)
4. Go to substack's subscriber dashboard. Apply the following filters:
-activity < 1 star
-emails opened < 1
-web posts seen < 1
-comments < 1
-emails forwarded < 1
-subscsriber date on or before (pick a date, a few months in the past.)
5. Export the list that generates, and take it over to google sheets
6. Send an email to those subscribers. Introduce yourself, and ask if they have subscribed to you by mistake, or if they're really interested in your newsletter, but not showing up in your analytics. (This happens sometimes.)
The reason we're not using your Substack email address is because sending out an email with a 0% open rate, actually hurts the deliverability of your next email.
7. Anyone who ignores the email, purge from your list after about a week.
Note that ZeroBounce lets you check up to 100 email addresses a month for free.
That may not be useful for heavy hitters, but I'm at around 1,250 subscribers now, and I've been just chipping away by checking a new set of 100 each month over the past several months. I'm almost "caught up" to the newest people.
Around November or December, I switched to requiring email validation on sign-up, which chased off all those spambots. I was hesitant to add any friction to the sign-up, but to the extent they double-check that someone really wants to sign up, it's good. (My only lurking fear is...what if the validation email goes to spam)
Related question! I heard from a reader this morning who received an email I sent to a targeted group, asking when the newsletter would launch (it launched in September.) I checked his stats and, as his comment suggested, every newsletter send has "dropped" since the start--presumably because his server misreads it as spam.
It was obviously easy to straighten out this problem on an individual basis, but I don't see a filter for "dropped emails." Do I have to review thousands of unpaid subs one at a time to see if this is the conversion block in other cases? Thanks!
Hi Hanna! We don't currently show the number of dropped emails in the CRM but do show the number of emails delivered ("Email deliveries") which you can use to see if the users are receiving your emails.
But isn't that a gross number? Like, if I sent an newsletter to my list of 10 people and the CRM reported eight deliveries, I'd have to check each intended recipient to determine where the errant two newsletters went, right?
All CRM metrics will be relevant just to that user, so, if you sent one email to 10 people and it was dropped for two people, you would see 8 users with 1 email delivery and two users with 0 email deliveries.
Cole, very helpful. I've probably purged more people than I should, honestly! I try to remind myself that I've had people who get emails week in, week out, sometimes for months, never responding, until SUDDENLY something grabs their attention, and they become engaged. Thank you for the advice about how to keep people on board.
Thanks! It also does really help sometimes when people actually are reading everything you write, but tracking data isn't making it back to substack. Some email providers are harder than others to keep tabs on.
Many email systems block the technology that shows they've opened an email. As long as emails are not bouncing, removing subscribers for NOT opening is probably ill-advised.
You are not charged for unopened emails. Why do you want to clean those? Just curious.
A subscriber who does not engage does not affect other subscribers from opening your email. "Open rate" is only somewhat relevant/truthful.
Meaning, if I have 100 subscribers who's email systems disable tracking opens but all of them open my email, my open rate is tracked as 0% but is, in fact, 100%.
All I'm saying is, your open rate is "a metric" but not "the metric".
Or is it your belief that having a higher open rate (as tracked on Substack) improves your visibility?
As someone with 25+ years in tech - implementing email systems like corporate Exchange and others - It does not change the ranking or value of your sent emails to any given recipient.
I casually look at "open" rates but truly only care about traffic and ultimately engagement.
In turn, open rate can affect spam sorting. A lot of my subscribers who actively look for my emails say they stopped going to spam, after I purged my list. (My open rate went from 13% to 30% in that purge. Now it's between 35-45%
Unless you are running your own email server, this isn't true.
We are, for better or worse, subject to how substack's reliability or reputation is maintained on their systems.
Our individual lists are only relevant to the aggregate across substack and whether they address issues like complaints and bounces.
"Cleaning" your list individually may exclude as many good emails as bad. I set up my company domain to block any tracking of opens. Only click-thrus or displaying images will bypass that.
So.. my company email NEVER displays that I have opened any of the technical newsletters I subscribe to.
I've tried cleaning up "inactive" subscribers in the past but it turns out they weren't actually inactive. They were just reading the posts outside of email.
In my list above, that's why I sort out "post views of all time," and "web post views of all time." Some of them really are just reading on facebook or something.
I know I'm really late to this, but I have questions. My name is Roger and I publish "Roger's Writings." It's kind of a sarcastic, snarcasitc, opinionated look at current events. I mix in historical projects as well. I have a few questions that maybe some of you can help with. I have a very modest following and would like to grow my readership. I already use email and social media to push my work out there.
1) Can I record, and then review, a podcast before I post?
2) I probably have a targeted audience, what is the best way to reach them?
3) Other than email and social media, what is a good way to promote my work?
Thanks in advance, and hopefully I will be able to find answers to my questions. :) - Roger
I've been promoting on Twitter, but I don't think it's terribly effective. I also have an email signature and I think that helps. A few peeps on here have suggested Redditt or Instagram
Hi all! I started my newsletter focused on mental health and psychology about four months ago. Been pretty happy with my growth so far, 2500+ free subscribers and consistent open rates between 55 - 65%. I researched all the guides on going paid, and 2 weeks ago launched a premium subscription. I created quite some offers and promoted it a lot, but my conversion is nowhere near the estimated 5-10% Substack mentioned. I feel pretty discouraged because I receive a lot of positive feedback through polls and unsure how to improve. Any tips? I do not want to bombard my free followers all the time with offers and promotions as I want to focus on providing quality content first.
Hi Alf! Don't be discouraged! You're just getting started. I may be wrong, but I think you just have ~2 paid posts now?
The secret to a good, ongoing paid strategy is to make sure that readers feel they are missing out if they aren't able to access the paid pieces/offerings.
At quick glance, I wonder if you could further differentiate your free vs paid biweekly edition.
And I would be curious to see what happens with the monthly edition of The Present Psychologist Pointers. (You should do a free preview / paywall of that if you don't plan too!)
Then, stick with that, essentially. Make it very clear to free folks that they are missing out on something that's valuable.
Thank you so much for your kind and supportive feedback! I will definitely try to refine it more. Also, sometimes being too eager does not help with my own patience. Slow and steady growth as people say, so will focus on that too. I must say I am so, so happy with Substack as a whole. The user experience is stellar!
Hey Alf! I think you're doing brilliantly. But - I hear you. I'm not converting at the 5-10% rate either (see below) and at first it was a bit crushing. But actually? I don't think it matters - unless you fall into the comparison trap, which is never a great thing for the sanity of folk creating stuff...
So - 2.5k on your free list in 4 months? That's hilariously good, if I'm any judge. And 55-65% Opens means that you still have a *really* engaged list, even though you've grown it like bananas in no time (I gather there's usually a bit of a drop-off of average Opens as lists get bigger). These are the most important things, and where the hardest work is. You're already nailing it. That work is DONE. Terrific job.
For things to experiment with re a paid strategy, Bailey's advice is solid, as it always is. For tactics to try, they're the best place to start. But regarding feeling discouraged at your conversion rate - absolutely no need to! I'm not pep-talking you just for cheering-up purposes. I mean this. Hard scientific fact! (I write a science newsletter, so I'm playing that card here.)
For starters, you're just 4 months in, and folk are still getting used to your newsletter and what it's offering them. Secondly, it's only been 2 weeks that you've had a paid option. These two facts put together: it's REALLY early days in the process of persuading them it's worth paying for - but the fact that you've got 2.5k means you are successfully getting people into the early stages of that process. You are already doing the really hard part to a superb degree. The paid bit is just the finale, and it pays off when longterm enjoyment of your work turns into the kind of loyalty that has folk reaching for their wallets/purses. Keep doing what you're doing!
For comparison, but maybe not as an example to follow because I'm still fumbling my way into this newslettering thing: I'm about 15 months in, I have a free list of 8,500, my free list Opens are around 45-55%, and my conversion rate is less than 3%. I'd love it to be higher, and I intend to do my damndest to engineer that, but if I can't? That's actually totally fine, because from a selfish point of view, it's now (just) giving me enough income to live on, and if I continue to maintain my "low" conversion rate, that income will still keep growing as my free list does. So, what more do I need, really? (If my income drops, *that's* when I'll get worried. 😄)
What do you need your paid list to look like? Whatever that number is, *you're already getting there in one way*, simply by just growing your free list and regularly turning up with great newsletters that people open and read. If your paid conversion rate improves, you'll get there a bit quicker - but whatever happens, at whatever conversion rate you settle into, you're currently moving inexorably towards that goal at a very impressive rate, while hitting all the metrics that matter.
Thank you so much for your elaborate reply and encouraging words! I think it is indeed very much a matter of running a marathon, not just a sprint. Your stats indeed look awesome and a great motivator. It makes sense that for people it takes time to get adjusted and see the benefit of a paid subscription. As long as the free list keeps growing, so do the opportunities.
Sometimes it takes a change in mindset to ensure motivation is becoming solid again. Thanks a lot for your input, it is greatly appreciated and definitely has helped me!
Hi Alf, I have recently brought my holistic mental health-oriented newsletter to Substack from my WordPress site and created an archive of my past article and posts. I want to put up a paywall once I have more free sign-ups. I will be interested in the strategies you use. Paid subscribers would have better access to me in terms of Threads, Q & A, podcasts, and maybe a monthly ZOOM forum. I'm hoping to put more time into my newsletter as I become better informed about the community I serve, their needs, and how I can be helpful. I hope to get more feedback and comments on my articles. Good luck. It looks like you are off to a great start.
Hi Ron, thanks for your comment! I have subscribed to your newsletter, always very interesting to have a holistic approach and relate mental health to current affairs in the world. As far as my strategies go for paid subscribers, I am still experimenting a bit as I only started a month ago with enabling a premium subscription option. What I normally do is send out a biweekly edition consisting of 1 article for free subscribers and 3 articles for paid subscribers. Next to this, I write two monthly extra posts, 1 advice column and 1 biography of a famous psychologist. These I send to everyone but paywalled for the free subscribers with the 7-day free trial option. Hope that helps! Good luck to you too!
Can anyone recommend best strategies for "searching" for other newsletters in your niche? I can search random terms in the search bar . . . but is there a better way? My area is history, politics, and democracy.
Hey Eli - are you using the app or the website? On the main Substack homepage, if you scroll down a bit, there are categories you can toggle through, which you can then browse: https://substack.com/
To answer #1, there isn't a built-in option to access subscriber addresses — Substack doesn't collect that information. But you can use the subscriber dashboard to send a targeted email to subscribers of a certain level (e.g. all founding, all paid) that includes a link to a form where they can input address. More info on segmenting and targeted emails here: https://on.substack.com/p/subscriber-dashboard-guide
i wonder if there is a way for someone to do a newsletter on all of the best-ofs for substack? does that make sense? i'd like to read a bunch of everybody's work. but it's hard to commit to subscribing to each one individually.
Yeah, I hear you! The Substack community team does a lot of this type of thing, and a lot of it is published on their publication "On Substack" — https://on.substack.com/
some kind of weekly roundup of highlights. a brilliant poem/illo/factoid/editorial/photo/soundbite and so on -- all on one newsletter. then you can have links to subscribe.
Hi! I am new here. I write the Zed Review which is a publication for people who love to read -- poetry, short non-fiction. I am also completing the #100DaysChallege
thank you! I am not posting every single post on substack (because once it's posted I can't submit poems elsewhere!) but I am chugging along ... on day 42! Oh! I will be posting here again soon. Yours is great! I also subscribed!
I totally hear ya! I was posting every single day, and just found not everything should go on Substack. Thank you for subscribing! Looking forward to reading more of yours as well!
Yes, a few. Reddit hates self promotion, unless it's extremely useful content targeted at the community.
Most communities also let this kind of thing slide if you're actually a part of the community, and not just trying to sell them on your work.
I try to legitimately engage in the communities I post my work in. Comment on other people's stuff, and contribute to discussions.
I also try to make sure my content is as targeted as possible. Sometimes smaller communities are actually better for sharing. If you snowball to the top of the community page, you'll be seen quite a lot.
A recent post I had has been viewed almost 50,000 times, and netted me 70 new subscribers.
A final caution: sometimes communities won't let you post until you've built up "karma." Not sure how familiar you are with reddit, but you get it from sharing stuff that people like.
I honestly don't remember when I started my newsletter, but I want to congratulate myself for developing this project until now, though I seem to have done many things "wrong" (e.g. being all over the place subject-wise, not sticking to a regular publication schedule, etc.).
Substack easy-to-use tools certainly help. Even a lazy serial killer like me (I created and then abandoned my share of blogs in the past) has no excuses.
I recently reach my six-month milestone and it's amazing to see how much has changed since the fall!
One feature I would love to see would be a recently used images option so that I don't have to keep searching my computer to upload my divider and other illustrations that I often use in my posts (I know this is available for the header/preview image, but I don't it's available to use in posts?).
I am a poet and essayist. I moved here from Medium. I like the look of the formatting and ease of publishing on Substack. Being able to control my text formatting more is very important.
Hi. This is my first visit to office hours. If you post a comment and someone replies do you get some notification? Or do you have to look back and find it in the thread? Guess I’ll see that first hand if someone replies. 😂 thank you!
Hi! This is my first time participating in a Writer Office session. I'm a writer with a publishing certificate as well. My passion lies in wrestling. I started a substack newsletter dedicated to my skills in writing, podcasting, and wrestling. I created different newsletter sections so it can diverse and fans can sign up just to follow my fictionalized wrestling novel I'm currently writing or follow my wrestling write-ups that can range from wrestler spotlights, to wrestling news, my opinions about wrestling and the wrestling community, and then I have a section for musings like small updates that everyone on my list gets. I currently grew to 7 subscribers over night between a soft launched and a hard launched the next day on twitter thanks to my circle of awesome peeps in my community. I don't have any specific questions yet. I'm still testing out the features and planning stuff out. I do like the collab feature when writing posts because if I can't get a wrestler to do a video interview, I can have them answer questions and make it as a write-up. Thanks for having me in the video beta feature as well! I plan to go live on my twitch soon to talk wrestling and upload that as test video per say and have fun with that feature. I have some great ideas for the future of my newsletter. Now, I'm just enjoying it slowly, and thinking larger than life ideas on how to present my creativity for both free and paid fans. If anyone wants to collab about wrestling which is my super passion, I'm down. DMs are open; let's collab. If you want to talk writing, that's cool too because I create my content to have these two forms of entertainment - wrestling and writing go hand in hand. I created a video called: How To Make A Pro Wrestler, which talks about taking ideas and the structure format of a play or a novel (the 3 story act) and use that as a starting point to create a memorable character (wrestler) that fans will love. So yeah, that's like a little intro. Side notes: I used to for WWE back in 2018. I have my podcast up on my newsletter. I am dubbed The Professor of New Japan Pro Wrestling.
I have more cool articles and stuff coming up! Thanks for reading this and connecting!
👋 Roll call 👋
Who's new here? Reply to this comment and tell us what's on your mind. We look forward to meeting you.
PS - We're celebrating one year of hosting Office Hours discussion thread on the Substack blog today. We strung together advice from the past year from writers in the form of a song. Check it out: https://on.substack.com/p/office-hours
Happy to be here! Looks like I started my publication right after you started doing office hours. My outdoor newsletter turns one in 3 weeks!
It's been an amazing ride with this community
So much to celebrate!
There's a trend! We are marking our one year in two weeks! It's been such a great, full year. Congrats on making it to your first anniversary!
We're very grateful for you Cole. Thanks for all the generosity and good vibes!
Thank you as well! I've said this in previous office hours, and I'll say it again: Substack has done absolute wonders to foster this creative community.
I was just reflecting back on past posts today, and it's incredible to see the evolution of not just my own writing -- but how Substack has evolved overtime too.
You've paid such careful attention to the needs and wants of the community while standing firmly behind your principles that attracted many of us to the platform in the first place. I can't wait to see what the future holds for all of us.
Nice going, Cole!
Thanks!
Jason, I'll take a look at your page and get back to you. Thx, and best wishes in your efforts.
I can tell you've worked super hard and accomplished a lot to expand your newsletter and engage readers!
Woot! Office hours has been huge for me in terms of connecting with other writers, finding new work to follow, and growing my subscriber base. Really grateful for the community here and all the advice I've received from folks who've been doing this longer than I have.
Thanks for being part of the community, Kate!
Thanks for becoming a regular, Kate! We see you!
Hi Kate, I really like your Substack, and am a fellow Massachusetts writer. Subscribed!
Thanks so much, Jessica! I'm taking a closer look at your work right now--love the framing of "morning after thoughts," and I think we have a lot of overlap in terms of subject area 👀
I think we have a lot of overlap as well, and thank you! Looking forward to checking yours out more!
Hi Jason! Your Substack is fascinating. I love Greece, and I also have PTSD, so we have some writing topics in common. I'm subscribing now!
Gz 👏 I love this initiative! It's so unique to keep attention to the users as you do. And today's blog post is 🔥🔥🔥 So fun idea to remix “Everybody's Free (To Wear Sunscreen)” 🎶
P.S. My newsletter is also turning 1 this month 🥳
Omg just 1 month old! I feel like so many writers I have seen chattering about Midweek Crisis.
Ahoy Stygi! Always lovely to see your avatar :)
Congratulations on one year of Office Hours. Thursday afternoon--my favorite time of the week! I hope you know how much you're all appreciated for the support and advice you give here, and everywhere!
Thanks for being here. Ramona!
Yes, indeed! Always a pleasure to attend!
Grateful for you Ramona!
Congrats on a year. I recently completed one year on the platform in February.
https://tvphilosophy.substack.com
Birthday buddies!
Wonderful news. We're glad to have you here!
Certainly open to it.
That’s something we can discuss. You just signed up for so I can email you now. How it usually works to email directly, it’s the name of the Substack @Substack.com.
For instance, mine would be tvphilosophy@substack.com
But it goes to the email associated with it and you can’t send anything from that email.
Congrats on one year. Pretty sure May is my one-year-on-Substack anniversary too. I don’t always come to office hours but I appreciate that you do these. The Substack team is way more helpful and friendly towards its creators than other platforms I’ve been on.
Another birthday buddy! Thank you for being here.
Thanks!
Thank you for joining us today, Ben. And congrats on one year of writing! That's a big deal
Thanks!
Congrats on one year of office hours! Here's to many more years!
To many more! Thanks for being here and a thoughtful contributor, Michael!
Thanks for showing up for other writers, Michael !
It's only my third time here for Office Hours, but I am loving the Substack platform. I'm going to make it a priority to try and be here for more Thursday advice and action! Thanks for providing this outlet.
We're glad you are coming back, Jessica!
Thank you! You gems at Substack are the best!
You ROCK Jessica. It’s been great getting to know you!
Back at ya, Diamond-Michael!
Thank you for joining in!
Yoooo! Been here a little over a week. Trickling in subscribers. Anybody else that writes for self improvement, mental health, and encourages other people to continue through the mud of life? That's my realm. Get at me!
My Substack isn’t really about that at all but I wrote a book about self improvement.
That's pretty cool. Definitely haven't done that! Yet...
Thanks! Someday…
Hi Eric, I really like your Substack, and I feel like we have similar realms. Good stuff about Mondays. Subscribed!
Thanks, Jessica! I am headed to check out yours now. :)
Thanks Eric! Looking forward to reading more of yours!
Epic. Love the “Office Hours.” It is now a weekly scheduled event on my calendar. The conversations are akin to a dessert shop full of delectable advice.
Congratulations on a year of Office Hours. I've learned a lot from these threads and it's been amazing to connect with other writers. I've been writing on Substack for two years now and the second year I've really enjoyed the connection with other writers
Thank you for being here, Melanie!
Happy Birthday. I miss the writing hours and the thing we did in Feb. Can we do that again?
Glad to hear that you miss it! Let's see what we can do :)
I’m late to the party but wanted to say I’m here for year one and two of office hours !
Thank you for being part of the conversation with us, Emily!
Looks like that is a "page not found"
The link to the "Substack song" is a page not found.
We've made the switch to Substack for our podcast. We're two English teachers who discuss pop culture through the lens of literary analysis. We're also working to expand our offerings by writing blog posts that relate to our content.
This is such a cool idea!
That's a very solid concept. I'm in a special position to appreciate it after adjuncting for a bit, and seeing how a little pop culture wakes up the room.
Feel free to follow 😊 We're taking off until August but plan to each write four pieces related to previous content during the summer months. We're trying to diversify and stop dependng so much on social media.
Can't wait to listen, just subscribed.
Thank you!
That's awesome! What motivated you to switch over?
sounds great. I've just subscribed
Thank you!
I love reading this! We too are two (!) high school English teachers who started a newsletter to share about other women's journeys and experiences. I can't wait to read your newsletter!
Love this! Just subscribed. If I remember, I'll subscribe with my personal Substack too 😊
Sounds interesting, I would love to look at a collaboration of some kind. We have some crossover.
That is interesting. Subscribed so we could follow each other for awhile 😊
Me too, looking forward to seeing what you're all about.
Hi all ! I'm new around here, I'm an illustrator and PhD candidate in anthropology and I recently started to write a newsletter about creativity and capitalism, it's called The (Im)posture.
I use to have all these ideas stuck in my head and then I discovered Substack and it's like suddenly I had found the perfect medium to put them out there. So happy to be able to share with my community away from algorithms.
Thanks for being here, Julien!
Wow love that! I was an anthro major as an undergrad...excited to check out your stack! To me, Substack is the best platform for all the ideas that an editor is never going to publish and that can't really be formulated into a pitch....it feels like the answer to the nightmare of freelancing
My feelings exactly Kate! So well put.
Perfectly said. Yes!
Such a good description of what many (including myself) are doing. "...ideas that an editor is never going to publish and that can't really be formulated into a pitch..." Often the most beautiful ideas; sometimes the most important ones.
Welcome, Julien! I think you'll find Substack to be a wonderful community and a great change from the algorithm-driven model of other platforms. Best wishes for success!
Sounds fab! I know what you mean about "ideas stuck in my head" - and the absence of algorithms is so refreshing here. I write about Celtic folklore and seasonal living :)
Such gorgeous photography on your publication <3
Thanks so much Bailey! :) <3
Welcome, Julien!
Dope
Nice, Julien! I am also getting my PhD in anthropology, though I admit I come to Substack to a little bit escape my program! I will check out your letter! Also, another anthro letter you might enjoy is The Liminal: https://liminalliety.substack.com/
looks great. I've just subscribed
Creativity and Capitalism. You’ve sparked my interest Julien.
I just subscribed! I love your illustrations.
Thank you !
I'd love to check it out! What's your link?
Every Substack commenters link is next to their name. Just as yours is. Just click on 'Writes this this this' and you're there.
Yes I worked that out shortly after! Thanks :).
Hi Katie! I've been writing Music Mindset Marketing for a couple of months now, sharing stories from my life and career as a New Zealand-born, touring bass player in Nashville. My goal is to talk about some of the harder aspects of being a self-employed musician, so people know they're not alone in it. It's been so lovely just to get 1 or 2 comments on each post from people saying how much they identify and how nice it was to know they're not the only one feeling something. My numbers are small (59 subs) but I'm loving the journey of writing every week and building a community around the shared experience of being a female musician! Don't really have a question, just wanted to say thank you to this wonderful platform and community for doing what you do!
Vanessa, it's nice to meet you! Alison was telling me about your publication yesterday. We are glad you are here and off to a great start.
Thank you! I'm so happy to be here and loving building a little community around my writing!
Great idea. Just subscribed. I'm a writer/photographer for an online music blog and cross post to a section ("The Music Diaries") on my Substack. Might be an opportunity to collaborate at some point.
Hey Glenn! Nice to meet you! So The Music Diaries is a section within Our Reality Show? I should subscribe to ORS to get TMD posts?
Yes!
Hmm, I'm interested, Glenn. What is the online music blog? What is the Music Diaries?
The blog is Americana Highways. The Music Diaries is my Substack section where I place my AH posts (and occasional other music-related essays as well).
I enjoy the read, Vanessa! Thank you--
Thanks Alison! You've been a great support on my journey :)
Hmm - sounds interesting, Vanessa! I haven't yet started by newsletter, but it will be music tips for music students, drawn from my life as a private music teacher. It will be geared toward folks wanting to get more understanding of music. And more!!
That sounds interesting! Look forward to checking it out when you start it :)
Great to have you here, Vanessa!
Thanks Bailey!
I had a few encouraging milestones this past week. I've matched the number of subscribers since moving to Substack that I had before Substack. So from 31 to 62, which is awesome. I got my first post with double digit likes, and I'm finally finding a community to connect. I write speculative short stories or an essay every week, and it's been a great experience 👍
Go Brian!
Congratulations!
That pretty significant. Congrats!
Thanks Sarah!
I'm nearing 100 free subscribers. It's been a slow process, but I do notice subscribers coming in faster in the past two weeks.
Go Lloyd!
Any idea where the subscriptions are coming from?
Seems a bit all over, but not sure.
Good for you.
Must be a product of elderly critical mass.
Ah, and your good looks!
Hi there, I’m a novelist by trade who began writing about travel & the writing life four months ago at
https://wanderingwriter.substack.com
Attempting to make a complete switch from mailchimp, loving the platform!
How's the move been from mailchimp? Anything that was confusing or could be easier?
I've been on the platform for a month trying to switch from mailchimp as well. I'm loving it so far!
Do you still use mailchimp? I’m tryi g to figure out how to extricate myself—because one thing I need is automations.
Well.. if you need automations you are sort of stuck with mailchimp or another more full-featured email system.
I'm a former mailchimp users (and software developer) so the automation desire is not lost on me. However, for my personal use, I just found it was more of a barrier to creating content, plus I wanted the more blog-style listing of content housed at a location/site on the web.
Since doing so, I've helped a few of my musician friends move to Substack. But, again, if you need automation, mailchimp is a solid platform.
I explained my move here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HKTJSIScYns
Matthew, I also wanted to mention that after watching your video I read your post, "Addict Son, Addict Family." Thank you so much for posting it. This really got to me: "Christopher’s mom and I used to say that Christopher was like all our children but MORE! More laughter. More tears. More compassion. More frustration. More." I appreciate that through your struggles and heartbreak you see your son's beauty and uniqueness, the intensity of personality that has always been part of who he is. This is an important story to tell.
Michelle, Thank you! I appreciate that you took the time to read that piece and to let me know. Christopher is at 145 days clean today. He's walking without a walker or cane and has thrown himself into learning to write software. Being engaged with the world and having something that interest him is the best we can hope for.
It is something that no parent, no family, and no addict should endure... but, here we are.
HI Matthew.... interested, I will watch your You Tube later. Are you helping musician friends because you are a musician, or write about music? Not sure, from your title...?
Hi Ernie,
I am a songwriter/performer but I am also a long-time software engineer, web developer, and technology consultant. When I started playing music a immediately had a newsletter, website, and other social content (I create videos, etc.). My musician friends were often lost, so I just help them when I can.
They are NOT clients or potential clients. They can't afford me. ;-) I can't afford me either..
Thank you, Matthew! This is helpful.
I will definitely check this out. Thank you for sharing!
Oh yeah, another question.... what features DOES Substack have? Does it tell you how many folks have opened your newsletter? Does it tell you if folks have put your post into Spam?
Hi Ernie. No email system will tell you if the recipient flagged you as spam (or put you into spam). In fact, you won't know on an email by email basis whether any given email is being marked as spam.
If you are running your own email server (not the case here on Substack), you can find out if your domain or IP address has received enough complaints that it is flagged. But, those of us on Substack, have no control over that.
While I haven't researched it, I am trusting that Substack stays on top of this. So far my delivery and response is pretty good, so I don't worry about it. I far more focused on working to create better/more engaging content. The server work is tedious.
The system does show you how many people opened your email and how much traffic your post has received. However, it is important to understand that open rates are horribly unreliable as many email systems block the technology that shows whether X or Y individual has opened it.
The secret to the highest level of engagement is interesting or controversial or wildly helpful content.
Same here. I just joined Substack and hope for positive changes. Depending on the results, I plan to break up with mailchimp in the near future.
Your Substack is beautiful Michelle! :)
Agree!
Thank you, Glenn. And thank you for your post on youth and mental health. As the parent of a teen, this subject is often on my mind.
Thank you so much, Rosie! Yours too, especially that beautiful bluebell post:)
Thanks very much Michelle :) 💕
Hi Michelle, I switched from Mailchimp last year but wasn't sending out emails on a regular basis as my focus was only on our podcast. But after being on this platform regularly for about few months now, I have to say I really love it. It just feels less fussy. Hope you will enjoy it too.
Thanks, Sasha! I do enjoy it a lot. Simple and clean. I'm just struggling with how to continue selling classes without an automated system.
Good to know as I am in the process of breaking up with mailchimp.
Way less fussy!
Great to have you here! Welcome.
Welcome!
I also write about travel (and other things) and switched to here from Wordpress about a month ago. Subscribed!
Thank you, Sarah! Just subscribed to On the Journey.
What a fun idea, Jason! I teach a flash fiction workshop and have been deep diving into the novella-in-flash form lately. Yours is a big and wonderful creative undertaking.
Hi Michelle, I really like your Substack! We have a lot in common being travel writers. Subscribed!
Thank you, Jessica. I subscribed to Morning After Thoughts:)
Nice! I've subscribed. Can't wait to read your stories.
Thanks, Ramona! I susbscribed to Writer Everything. That Marabel story is CRAZY!
Hey! I'm new to this office hours but I've been looking through the wonderful comments that were linked in the latest "Learnings from one year of Writer Office Hours" post and I've so far discovered (and subscribed!) to a number of newsletters I hadn't before. This is an incredible place of good-natured writers. Excited to be here. Nothing much else is on my mind right now except that I need to write :)
Glad you are here Nick and found some new reads! You are in good company
I'm glad too. Thanks Katie!
I was just thinking what a nice bunch of people are in this thread too :)
Every week! Mark your calendar. It's a refreshing change from the other platforms I'm on. :)
Welcome, Nick.
I am new to Substack and just subscribed to your newsletter. Love the positivity!
Cool idea, I'll check it out, Jason.
Hi Katie! I'm new to office hours! I've loved writing here for the last few months and quickly grew my following, mainly via my Instagram and Wordpress blog. However, I seem to have plateaued - any tips for overcoming this? :)
Hello!! Welcome to Office Hours! We're so thrilled to have you with us today and love hearing that you have been enjoying writing on Substack! Here are some tips for growth that may be useful to you: https://on.substack.com/p/grow-4?s=r
Thanks so much, Zoe! Really helpful :)
I too, would like to hear your Instagram strategy.
Thanks Lloyd - see below :)
Well first off, I'd love to hear what your strategy is for Instagram.
In terms of overcoming a plateau, I'd try recommendations!
Thanks Cole. I'll look into recommendations - any strategies that you've found helpful there?
I've got a really engaged following on Instagram, daily posting and distinct themes, giving my followers something valuable each day and working hard on creating attention-grabbing images. I tend to share my Substack most days directly linked in my Story, and see it as an extension of what I'm doing on Instagram. I'm @everythinglooksrosie over there. Hope that helps :)
Thanks so much Courtney! :) Lovely to hear.
Hi! I'm new :) I'm an author and writing coach. I love this platform so far.
Hello :)
Subscribed
I'm also starting a personal podcast. Subscribed!
Hey Emily, WELCOME!
I'm two months old!
Lily! Congratulations on being two months old!! We're so happy to have you here :-)
Thank you! I can almost lift my head - soon I'll be crawling ;) Sometimes I wonder how welcome I am on the substack threads as I share things that are forbidden in other places. I really appreciation the expression of welcome!
Lily - We've so appreciated your reading and commenting!
Thank you for saying that!
I love your newsletter! You offer a space of genuine rounded warmth that invites expansion rather than contraction around potentially tender issues. Keep expanding and being you, lovingly, authentically, gently, potently!
I’m new and not even sure how to access office hours .. I hope this comment is getting through ..
This is it, Sherri! You're here. We just chat with each other like this.
So I’m still trying to figure out how to categorize my different genres ( topics) before I publish word one. I write poetry, memoir short pieces , original aphorisms, articles on yoga and cannabis and psychedelics, for instance and I’d like to separate them by subject matter so yo speak and for instance under memoir I have sub-topics .. I do not know how to do that … and so I have yet to even publish one thing for that reason. I don’t want to seem like I’m a writer who is “all over the place” but it happens that I write in these different categories. The problem with being a non - tech savvy boomer …
I'm in the same situation. I've created sections on my site to categorize the topics I write about. Co-Create's advice is terrific.
I'm glad you found it useful! My name is Raphy :D.
Hi, Glenn. Sorry I wasn't here for Writer's Hours 'live' I was scrolling just now and saw the word 'categories' jump out. Wow! I had asked the friend who helped me set up my page if this feature existed, and even though she's been active 'on the inside', she told me it wasn't possible. It is possible! Can you tell me how to do it; or should I go to 'Support'; or is it too late, retroactively? You've clearly done a fantastic job of separating categories on your site. Thanks and Cheers! – Zelda
Go to Settings, scroll down and you'll see the option to "Add a Section." It's very simple.
Thank you! Wish I'd figured out sooner. :-)
You can go back and file existing posts into the sections you create, if that’s helpful...
I didn't know you could make those categorisations. That's really cool!
Hi Sherri!
1.) There is one thing that links all of these things together, and only you can really know what that is. But to me, from the outside, all of these things are ways of exploring what it is to be human. I would say 'consciousness' - I don't like throwing that word around but certainly in the cannabis/psychedelics domain this has a particular meaning.
2.) There are also a lot of people doing work to combine bodywork (yoga in particular) with managed doses of psychedelics. I suspect these people are also into poetry and the arts... just a hunch!
3.) So if you have a unifying theme, you don't necessairly have to come across as 'all over the place'.
4.) Practically, you can maybe choose a particular day of the week to publish on a topic:
- Poetry/Prose Monday
- Yoga Wednesday
- etc.
On another (selfish) note: I'd love to read your poetry. I feature creative works from my community: https://cocreatespace.substack.com. Poetry, art, illustrations, prose, short stories, film, photography, dance among other things!
Take a look and let me know if you'd like to chat!
R
I would love to chat. Thank you .. my poetry spans a lifetime and can is a bit dark as it reflects my internal struggle especially my more recent work which speaks to me having to work ( as in a j o b that I’m misaligned in ).. sometimes I feel like a poser because I work a j o b more than I write .. yes I would love to chat ..
I say to people (and it's possible I picked it up from somewhere else but I don't recall):
'You're not an office worker who write a bit of poetry. You are a poet, who happens to work in an office.'
You can replace 'office worker' with and J.O.B. and 'poet' with any creative endeavour.
I saw you just subscribed - I will email you and we can arrange something from there! Where are you based btw?
R xx
I'm coming in late to all of this - wish I had gotten off my duff and come earlier! Sherri - you rang a bell, a couple of bells actually. I too find myself writing all over the place, office walls included. I look forward to seeing how you do it (if you've posted on substack, I couldn't find it) The other bell ring is I just posted a collection of photos I took while pursuing the wild mushroom in the mountains of Oaxaca. Serendipitously, it was (is) the 50th anniversary of my meeting Maria Sabina and partaking of her "magic" mushroom ceremony. Funny how things work out. Good luck! https://wp.me/p4wqiI-97b
https://support.substack.com/hc/en-us/articles/360037824371-Can-I-create-multiple-publications-under-the-same-account-
Yes there is this as well. But don't you build a different mailing list for each publication? That seems like a lot to handle for someone starting out.
following for suggestions! on word press I would have 2-3 key words that differentiate my posts and just add them at the beginning of the title ex: CATEGORY: Title .. but haven't mapped it out yet for sub
One thing you could explore is Substack's "Sections" feature — where you can group different types of posts under broad categories. They then show up on your homepage as menu items. There are a few examples of folks doing this (Jeff Tweedy's stack comes to mind).
https://jefftweedy.substack.com/
I joined Substack because of Jeff. And yes, categories (newsletters) are an effective way to separate out content. A word of caution, too much segmentation is as problematic as too little.
Your truest readers will read/follow regardless.
I've just recently moved to Substack. I write about travel and reflections on life.
Jason... I understand you want to grow your readership. But posting a comment, unrelated to the question or conversation, multiple times throughout the threads is both spammy and needy. Also, it rarely (as in never) is really much of a game-changer.
Office hours is for engaging with the community. This type of post is anti-engagement.
Rather, help others here, ask legitimate questions, and, in doing so, you may give them compelling reason to find out more about you.
If you are looking for growth strategies, share your posts with friends, family, and social and ask that people consider subscribing. Then, when you post, either at the top or bottom of what you write, you can ask readers - those who have already engaged - to share your work with others.
Thanks for jumping in Matthew!
I am super appreciative of the care and information given to Jason in naming that this is not a thread for self-promotion. It's hard information to receive and be named, and I am appreciative to you Jason in your saying you got it. Thank you both for the modeling. Loving this community.
Well... thanks. I promise you I'm capable of being a snarky ass-hat too.. But I reserve that for people who are mean to others. Not even mean to me. I'm unoffendable in that regard.
Otherwise, I'm just very direct and also work, and hope, to make less troll-like responses the norm. It's a losing battle but at least I attempt to conduct myself accordingly.
Mathew, nice to see you. Please take a look at my last two posts on this forum, office hours
Hi David...I love your videos. And your comments!
Thank you, And I love your newsletter. In any event, a lot of my questions on this site get deleted -- somebody in substack doesn't like me. Please take a look at this question that keeps getting deleted:
QUESTION: Does the use of capital letters in a post, or of too many capital letters in a post, undermine or inhibit the dissemination of a post on the internet ?
I think someone on this site said that search engines are programmed in such a way as to make your piece less prominent if you have lots of caps.
A couple of days ago I wrote what I thought was a fairly decent article about Alito’s abortion decision, and I am frustrated by its limited dissemination. I had 8 distinctly different points, and each point or idea has a title which is in caps. Should I have used something, other than capital letters, to highlight the headings. Please look at the post and tell me how the formatting may have thwarted its dissemination. https://davidgottfried.substack.com/p/alitos-abortion-decision-exquisitely?s=w
MATTHEW! You are our Batman!!
Thank you but may I be Thor instead? Or Buffy, The Vampire Slayer. Either works for me.
Nah.. mostly I want people to understand netiquette and promotion. I'm ruthlessly direct, unoffendable, and sarcastically snarky as necessary. In regard to this issue, direct seems to be all that is needed and then gently coach back into the fold. ;-)
Hi Jason,
As Matthew mentioned, this is for a writer to come ask questions and share insights.
On the first Thursday of every month, we take a break from Office Hours and host a Shoutout Thread (https://lu.ma/shoutout). It's a chance for all of us to share what we’ve been reading and inspired by recently on Substack.
That's a better place to come and promote your Substack and better shoutout what you've been reading.
Let me know if you have any questions we can help with today, please let us know.
No worries. We've all done it or something like it.
Online etiquette is an interesting thing. Growth and community involvement takes work and time.
If you have not done so, look into Gary Vaynerchuk's book (or find a YT video about it), "Jab Jab Jab Right Hook"
The pitch - look at me, read me, etc. is the right hook. It rarely lands unless you set it up with some jabs and other work. The jab is sharing useful, helpful, or super entertaining information for FREE!
Focus on your jab and you earn the right to throw the occasional right hook.
Been on Substack for 2 weeks! My letter is called tiny vulnerabilities and can be found here: https://meganzolorycki.substack.com/
Office hours is such a great way to reach so many writers, so thank you!
My focus is on mental health, wellness, and the human experience in it's entirety (the not so pretty parts are my main focus) Anyone else writing about the same sort of thing? <3
The aesthetic alone is beautiful. I’m going to cozy up to this one.
Awww! Thanks for the feedback! Sooo appreciated rn❤️
Hi Megan! I love your aesthetic. I write on similar ish topics. Subscribed :)
Hi Joy! Thanks for the subscribe. I've also subscribed to yours! We have a similar vibe <3
Thanks! Subbed🤓 I just posted newsletter Tuesday “Vulnerability Is Not a Dirty Word”…🤣
subscribed to yours as-well <3
Thanks Megan! ❤️
I love the name! Mine for today: I was outside in my garden with unshaved legs when a friend walked by. I saw her staring at my legs. It was a little awkward, but also fine. She likes me for who I am and I like her for she is. Awkwardness is okay. So it being out in the garden with unshaved (or shaved) legs.
oh yes the human experience of awkwardness. Gotta love it! I couldn't agree more, awkwardness is indeed OKAY.
#embracetheawkward
This is my first time at office hours. I'm a writer and a creative writing tutor. I started my Substack just over a week ago. It's blog plus podcast for those new to creative writing. I have GBS so it can be quite tiring but I am enjoying the challenge.
Welcome!
🎥 How's everyone feeling about Tik Tok?
Intimidated. Especially because I made the move to Substack to avoid having to deal with social media... I am slowly making my transition away from anything having to do with social platforms like that. I can't seem to escape them.
You could probably get away with just using Twitter and Instagram to try to direct traffic. It's the route I'm going and, if nothing else, saves you the social media headache of dealing with the TikTok / FB crowd.
I rely mainly on writing intensive platforms - specifically Reddit. These visual/video platforms take away from the point of relying on the written word for good content. You know? Just my two cents.
I’ve also had a lot of success with Reddit. I sometimes create special “editions” of a post just for Reddit, eliminating anything that could potentially upset the mods. It’s worth the extra work.
Likewise, having some interesting interactions on Reddit (just had 1200 views of a recent Substack free post - a wonderful moment...)
I'll have a look to see what writers groups are there. Thanks
I also think it makes sense to stick w the platforms I use and enjoy because I sort of intuitively understand them. I “get” twitter and Reddit. Instagram not so much.
I had success turning my written quotes into images. Best of both worlds!
I have similar feelings about SM and really dislike FB, but I'm wondering about Reddit. Not sure I understand how to work it. Any tips or suggestions?
Reddit is touchy...be careful. (read about it here: https://pau1.substack.com/p/stackhacks-get-more-readers)
Paul this post looks super helpful thank you!
Thanks, Paul! Great information.
Thank you for sharing such a beneficial piece!
I just subscribed to your newsletter. I hope to have my first newsletter published this week.
I am a record holder of sorts. I was banned for life from my sub-reddit of choice after one or two posts. I guess I managed to do it all wrong.
It can absolutely be touchy. If you’re interested, search the subgroups and see the kinds of things people post about. Each sub-Reddit has its own community feel to it, and it’s more about the amount of time you want to give to it. I’ve found a few that have proven helpful. Then there are others that are absolute crap. I don’t fret so much on the time wasted about those, but see it as a check list to move on. My positive experiences have made it worthwhile.
I tried, but had to walk away. I stick with FB and Twitter, and LIMIT my time...as in five minutes :)
I relate hard to most of social media taking away attention from words. Just so much easier to look at an image mindlessly than to form one from reading words. That said, I'm not intimidated by the addition of TikTok embeds; I'm comfortable just avoiding it. We shape each email however we like here, right?
I just cannot stand the thought of having to rely on imbedding visual elements (specifically video) to complement my writing because that's what other writers realize gains them more traction to their publication.
I've been a social media user since Zuckerberg's early days, and there was a time when I swore by it specifically because it encouraged a form of verbal thinking-out-loud. When it got meme-y and superficial, my interest waned... I can see it working out for many people. But for me, it adds a bit of pseudo-intellectualism to whatever I might want to write. Does that make sense. Idk.
Makes perfect sense. We are all different, and have many ways of consuming content.
Yeah, I hear you. I feel certain that if you feel this way, you can avoid embedding any videos in your emails and your readers will not find it odd. It's your style.
I wouldn't use gifs and memes in my newsletter either, but I did subscribe to one that does because the writing was still good. So I guess I subscribed in spite of that. We'll be fine!
It all depends on what you write about. I write about gridiron football history and believe period images are essential to helping readers understand differences in the game and society from then to now. The right picture is worth a lot of words.
Another question, are there other writing intensive SM platforms that I may be missing?
Reddit has always seemed like a cesspit to me. Can you recommend a good writers group there?
Here is a tool that links to all subreddits that are related to your keyword: https://anvaka.github.io/sayit/?query=
You have to find the right community to post or share your articles in. For you, try r/eclecticism and see the type of members there, and some of the things they share or comment. In my experience, reddit subgroups very, and it’s just about what you’re willing to put up with.
OK thanks. I'll have a look.
Vary *
I am so scared of TikTok, but very active on Instagram and Twitter and that's worked okay for me so far!
Me too Kate. I’d rather change flat tires for a living than join the TikTok craziness. LOL! LinkedIn is my sandbox.
I made the move of investing on social channels and found it quite rewarding. Twitter, LinkedIn, and to some extent, Instagram!
For the last few months, I've been heads-down building Newsletter To Socials to better fulfill the needs of independent writers. I interviewed a bunch of content marketers to see what sorts of tools I could bring to the Substack ecosystem. Well, I'm happy to share that I just relaunched https://newslettertosocials.com/ with a completely new list of features.
I agree!
Reinforcing my suspicion that I have the perfect face for radio/podcasting.
Relatable
Same here. By our voices combined... 🗣
You've got plenty of company, lol.
Same, Mike. Same.
LOL
Hahahaha!
Not much of a fan. It is too addictive. Sad that Instagram is starting to become TikTok.
I’m an old head who remembers when IG was all about still life, people studies, and action shots. It was a great time to be an artiste on the site. It was a great community.
I agree with you. I loved Instagram for the photos of my friends and their kids but now it’s like a copy of TikTok where if you don’t post a video with the Instagram music nobody cares
What's wild about TikTok, is that it is quickly replacing Spotify as the top place where people discover new music. So, it's something that musicians are having to embrace — I'm finding it slightly annoying, but I'm starting to play the game a bit. We'll see. Hal Walker (Living in a Body) is the person to look to for all things TikTok: https://halwalker.substack.com/
Like, what kind of music? I am writing mostly instrumental music. I have the impression that Tik Tok is for young singer types...?
Oh there is classical music in TikTok. I have posted some videos of my recipes there and I use classical or instrumental music 🎶
Yes! Feel free to throw some Fog Chaser on one of your recipe videos :)
I love your music 🎶
Thank you! I love your recipes! (gluten & dairy free household over here) :)
I will. I have used Beethoven, Mozart and jazz on mine and it is always nice to find new talent. I subscribed to your newsletter and will check out your TikTok. My recipes are under BonlemonKitchen
Thank you! I will do the same :)
I think it's across the board: https://newsroom.tiktok.com/en-gb/tiktok-launches-new-music-campaign
"80% of the people who use TikTok say they discover new music on the platform"
Hal Walker (who is also here on Substack) went viral on TikTok with just an instrumental clip — his is an amazing success story, really. I also write instrumental music, so, I share your skepticism. But I think more and more, if you are looking for streaming growth, it's becoming harder to write off TikTok. At least for now.
Hmm... doesn't Tik Tok have a very short time limit? I am trying to focus on "relaxation music" form yoga classes, things like that. That being said, I do have some short catchy songs, but not sure that is my real direction....?
I think you can now upload videos up to 10 min. It might be worth exploring and experimenting, honestly. I think there's a huge appetite for that kind of music and lifestyle, even on TikTok.
Yup - Sirius XM radio has a TikTok channel now!
Did you know TikTok has replaced Google for the place to search for things for the past 2 or 3 years now! (Ugh)
I'm not a fan of Tik Tok. I'm worried that it might force people who aren't a fan to follow suit just for the traffic stats.
Not a fan, personally, but it's a great addition for people who are. More functionality is always a good thing!
Not a fan either, and I agree that some people will enjoy it. But I wonder-- if that particular integration will yield more traffic, will it in turn will make people who don't use it feel obligated to do it for their audience?
Feeling? I'm Terrified of Tik Tok, so.....of course, I must do what I am afraid to do, right Katie?
I am outrageously cheeky to say this to a writer of your calibre, but - you spelled "run away screaming from" wrong there. That's my strategy anyway.
("Eagles may soar, but weasels don't get sucked into jet engines" - Anon.)
Circling back, I think TikTok will be a great feature for food writers. My friend who writes Makans of a Chef, has been posting really neat recipe videos on that platform for a long time. The embed feature could be great for this type of thing!
Good observation.
I haven't ventured into using Tik Tok yet, but other social media platforms have helped get me traffic tremendously. Especially in Facebook groups and by posting on Twitter + LinkedIn.
All of that takes time though! So I created https://newslettertosocials.com/ to help myself out and I just recently released it to the public
Very interesting. I’ll check it out. Thanks!
I love to scroll through TikTok and I'm excited about embedding TikTok's into my Substack. But I don't really make TikToks -- too much investment in terms of time, not nearly enough return. FWIW, I think the most successful TikTok accounts are YouTubers who already had a lot of content that could be repurposed to a shorter, cooler format.
could make a nice themed playlist as a post...
Same here. I don't create TikTok content, I only consume it. But I appreciate the ability to embed that content here.
You have a great music name....Chris :)
Thanks, Paul. ;)
I see that you write about music, Chris. There are some really great TikTok accounts that talk about music. My favorite is Raised By Hippies.
Uh oh! Is that my daughter?
Thanks, Michael! I'll definitely check that out.
Fortunately/unfortunately, TikTok is endlessly entertaining, not only for mindless zoning out, but even in terms of educational/informative content. I'm a pretty big consumer of content over there.
If I open the app, it's a minimum 48 minutes before I realize what I've been doing.
Haha same here.
Hey Katie.
I see TikTok embeds are available. Cool.. but I'm not 15. ;-)
Okay - just kidding. I have started looking into short-form video content on TikTok.
But... I would LOVE to be able to embed multiple mp3's - inline - not as a podcast but with a simple player for each.
Hi Matthew, we're working on new audio features. More very soon!
*weeping with joy and shivering with anti........ pation.
Curious to see how it works for/with the platform.
As an eternal sketch comedy fanboy, I'm over the moon that there's a platform for small groups to build real audiences and incomes again. The tighter that YouTube turned the screws, the more small groups fell off the map.
To be clear, I don't write sketch comedy. And if I expand my sleepless creative output, it’s going to be into comics. But I can definitely appreciate TikTok’s boost for the format as an observer.
As for the drawbacks, I really can’t call them worse than Twitter's. And no presidents have rallied cryptofascists via TikTok dance yet, so I’ll give it the edge.
There’s some really good sketch comedy on TikTok!
I've been impressed!
Just this month, watch hours on TikTok officially overtook YouTube in the US. So even if you are not a video content creator, being able to embed TikTok is a great tool!
Been experimenting with complementary content there (under @StrategyTok), expanding the network of others interested in strategy, no crossover (yet), raising profile, slowly slowly. Curious about the new TikTok embeds in Substack, thinking thinking...
That's a wrap on Office Hours for today. We officially have one full year of Office Hours in the books! Thank you for showing up and creating this space with us.
We'll be back next week and will carve out some extra time to talk about podcasting and audio tools. More to come soon.
See you next time,
Katie, Bailey, Kelsa, Jasmine, Zoe, Dominik, Nikhil, Jairaj, Jonathan, Sam, and Jessica
Congratulations for one year of office hours! @Bailey I've been pondering exit strategies from my paid publication lately... if I ever want to stop Substack-ing, I would love to be able to pause yearly memberships but not monthly memberships. So I would tell new subscribers, "the last issue will be 31st March 2023, subscribe monthly til then, but don't sign up for a year because there is not a year of full issues to come." Has anyone else had that thought? I'm not going to want to do this forever....
Just reflecting on how much vulnerability and courage it takes to keep showing up, keep sharing, and keep putting yourself and your writing out there, regardless of how it goes or performs or reaches people... reminding myself of this, which means I know others may need it too. It is no easy thing to keep going and yet here we are.
YES! Love this! Showing up is the hardest part, but you're right: it's worth it, no matter what kind of attention it gets. You don't know how many people you're actually reaching! 🌿
I definitely feel that. Made two posts and feel unsure how to continue. But, your point is right - just keep showing up.
Synchronicity will find you and show you the way...
I so agree with that, but it sure feels rough sometimes. Thank you for the reminder and support!
Yep. 19-months and counting. Keep going!
Beautifully put, Lisa - I totally agree. Others need it too :)
Yes yes yes. 100% agree with this and feel your words like a punch in the heart! Thank you
That's why it is so good to have a community here that gets that. Lots of support and encouragement. Well done on mustering courage and being willing to face the vulnerability.
Well said, Lisa...
Such affirming words. Thank you for adding this here. Very grateful as a longtime follower of yours!
Hell to the yes!
Agree 100%.
You hit the nail on the head - I've just realised how personal it is to do this. Even my 'random' playlists get analysed for some 'deeper' meaning!
Amen
Well said, Lisa!
You rocked it!
Hey everyone! So close to 100 subscribers! But it's important that they are engaged, so here are some tips!
1. Ask questions, seek feedback in the post. Consider a standalone fortnightly chillax discussion thread.
2. Look at your peaks in your visitor stats and see which days do better and try to schedule your best work then.
3. Subscribe and engage only to what you can commit. I would prioritize subscribing to and contributing to a small Substack that's just starting out.
4. Once a community is formed, seek collaboration. Maybe do a cross-post, text interview, or even podcast interview?
5. It's not a race, so grow at a pace that's comfortable and sustainable!
Good luck, folks!
I love doing text interviews with writers and artists. It is so fascinating to learn about their creative process.
Very close to 100 here as well!
Just hit 100 myself—onward and upward!
Go Lloyd go!
I love all these tips. Tickled to find I am doing some of them. E.g. I have just started a fortnightly discussion thread. Shouty Thursdays, is what I'm calling it. https://sarahkmongrowinghearths.substack.com/p/shouty-thursday/comments?s=w
VERY MUCH ENJOYED SHOUTY THURSDAYS TODAY 😉
"Shouty!" How fun!
eliciting discussion is something i'm still hesitant about doing, since most of my subscribers aren't substack users. if people like what i write, they'll reply directly to my email. how have you successfully started conversations in your comments?
I was hesitant too, but I ran a discussion thread this week, and it was amazing. Now I wish I hadn’t waited so long!
We are considering doing this and are a bit nervous. What were your keys to success this week?
I'm in the same situation Kevin is. Would love to know how you made it work.
My Substack covers music, and I’m *always* curious what my readers are listening to. So this week I finally asked them.
My questions were:
What’s on heavy rotation in your world?
What do you think we should we all be listening to?
I wish I had something more actionable to tell you, but my key to success was just gritting my teeth and getting out of my own way.
Way to go, Kevin! The first time is kind of intimidating -- glad you had a good response.
I think it's really important to interact with your readers and the comment section is the perfect place. If readers can only respond by email it becomes a dialogue and not a discussion--unless that's what you prefer.
Don't be afraid to ask your readers questions. Some of my most visited pieces are those where I do a Q&A and everyone participates. They're also the most rewarding.
You're good at that, Ramona!
Speaking to that (comment section), I notice that some Substack writers are disallowing readers to comment unless they subscribe. I would encourage them to allow free folks to comment as well. I comment all the time, and I really believe that enhances your newsletter credit.
I think that as long as you have some feedback happening that's good! In my opinion, having comments on the post is mostly a vanity metric, and a pseudo-indicator of activity on that post.
Same issue here. I get replies all the time, but these same readers are less likely to comment on a post
Same here! Close to 100 subscribers and hoping for some more to celebrate my Substack’s first birthday.
Agreed on these tips. I’ve gotten so much out of just being on Office Hours. Community, collaboration, interviews, encouragement… I’ve been fortunate to have all these.
You were my first warm welcome. I just subscribed and look forward to reading your writings, my friend!
Really enjoy your Substack, Chevanne!
Thanks so much!
Great advice here, Nikhil! I'm interested in doing a discussion thread, but I always make sure to ask a question in every weekly newsletter in hopes that readers will engage and share. It (usually) works!
You totally should!! 😎
Sounds like a great idea.
Such good advice! Thanks Nikhil!
Most welcome, Jessica! As much as it's advice for others, it's also a personal musing in a public forum, haha!
100% yes to #3.
Great advice. Thanks.
Good morning! Here is this week's encouragement from one tiny newsletter to all of you: Keep Writing! The more consistent you are, the more the ones who need you will find you. "Engagement" isn't the best measure of readership, because sometimes the ones who love you most won't know how to tell you in a comment. Build a community, not just a collection of readers. It may be small at first, but it will grow. Focus on your passions, your interests, your goals, and your true fans will show up. Most importantly: don't give up!! 🌿
"sometimes the ones who love you most won't know how to tell you in a comment." Yesssss!!!
It's the toughest paradox for writers!! But helpful to keep in mind. Sometimes the silent readers are the ones who need you the most. Post for them, if for no one else!
Thank you! I agree that consistency is key to reach goals. Focusing on my interests have been a huge push for me to keep going😌
Love this, Celeste!! Yes, as long as you're interested, *someone* will be interested, even if they don't tell you!
I agree. I love my chosen subject and topics...avid self-helper here... so while I'm waiting for my 'tribe' to come along, I'm enjoying myself.
Lovely sentiment. I agree about consistency, and you're right - you never know who is quietly reading that you might be helping with your words.
They're out there, and they need you! 🌿
⚡️⚡️⚡️
Happy one year of Office Hours, Kevin! 🥳
🎉🎉🎉
Thanks for the encouragement!
Absolutely, Lorraine! Anytime! 🌿
Thanks! This is so true, yet so hard to keep up!
You're so right, Igor. Sometimes when I feel my motivation slipping I try to imagine that there's one reader...just one...who is *craving* my words and would be really heartbroken if I didn't post that day. Is it true? Maybe not. But it gets me to post! :D
Me too, I just push through. :)
Thank you for sharing your inspiring words!
Thank you for being here, Mark! Keep going, don't stop!
Yeahhhhhhhh
Hey hey!! Good to see you! How's your week going? 🌿
It's going!
Nicely summarized!
It's been a year I joined substack and a year these threads have opened countless introductions and friendships for so many of us. Kudos to the substack team for enabling people to form meaningful connections. 🎉🎉🎉
So many one year olds on here! Congrats!
Thanks Chevanne
Swarnali, congratulations on being on Substack for one year!! Thank you for the positive feedback and we're so thrilled to have you join us today!
Slow and steady is good advice. I am approaching my two year mark on Substack and just passed 500 subscribers (11 paid.) Which I think is pretty good for a fiction/humor/creative writing newsletter by an unknown writer. I have learned some hard lessons along the way.
First, don't overcommit and burnout. Find a comfortable pace and (if possible with your type of newsletter) schedule a buffer of newsletters in advance so you won't feel the pressure of deadlines.
Second, more is not always better. Many people are reaching over-saturation of newsletters. Offering them more frequent newsletters as a paid benefit may not be the best strategy. Quality will keep them coming back, not quantity.
Build a community. Respond to comments. Do threads. Sure, if you have 50,000 readers, you probably can't respond to every comment. But for us mortals, it helps. Besides, comments are my favorite part of Substack.
Anyway, thanks Substack for creating a great platform for indie publishing.
Congrats! Good advice, as well.
Thanks Chevanne! 😀
Congrats!
Thanks, Elizabeth. 😀
buffering is smart; but tough if material is time-sensitive.
Absolutely. If you are writing about current events or doing news journalism, buffering is very difficult. Buffering works for better for non time-sensitive writing. Which is what I do. 🙂
This is incredibly helpful and relieving to read. We are almost to our one year mark and at about 400 subscribers. I appreciate this veteran insight!
Congratulations. That is great for one year. 🤓
Glad to hear you've been successful with this approach. The gameplan I came up with before switching to Substack is nearly identical.
It has been a lot of experimenting, learning what works, and what I can realistically produce. I think I am finally figuring it out. 🤓
Great advice, Mark -- and congrats on two years!
Thanks, Sarah. 😀
Mark, greetings from another 2year Substack toddler with about the same stats, and similar beliefs re quality v quantity. Trying to own a specialist niche with so much other content out there is a bear...
Hi George. I don’t even have a niche! Other than it is my humor and fiction writing. 🤣
hello everyone! this is my first "office hours". i'm wondering if there are any other musicians or songwriters out there who are using video/podcast features to share their demos or work in progress? this is something i've been enjoying a lot with substack.
i started my newsletter about two months ago and i honestly can't believe i didn't do it sooner. every time Monday rolls around when I get to write and schedule, it always feels like a treat. maybe i'm still in the "honeymoon" stages of this project, but having something i'm so ~into~ even only at 25 subscribers feels great.
Brandon Boyd of Incubus has been doing some really neat posts lately with audio - https://brandonboyd.substack.com/
Jeff Tweedy and Patti Smith also use audio x video
https://pattismith.substack.com/
https://jefftweedy.substack.com/
Excellent tip! Haven’t checked in on Brandon in ages.
Thanks Bailey! Love Wilco, and love discovering that some great artists are on substack! So interesting to see how other people are doing it.
Checkout Fog Chaser. He’s putting original pieces into his newsletters.
Thanks Kevin! I did stumble across him earlier this week actually. Cheers for reminding me to go back and check him out.
Thanks, Kevin!
Olivia, first of all: welcome! I run a music newsletter, and I'm a few weeks into my Substack experience. I can tell you that this is an amazingly supportive community. It sounds like we share the fact that we're doing something we love, and I can tell you that makes all the difference in the world. It doesn't feel like work, it's fun, and there's no substitute for that. Wish you all the best!
Greetings, Chris! May I welcome you Front Row & Backstage! It's easy to get past MY rope line!! Anxious to peruse your site....just subscribed!
Brad's newsletter is fantastic!! Check him out!! Very entertaining! Brad, I am going to send you the list of Al Nagle's songs, later today!! HaHa.
Thanks, Ernie! Makes me wonder, now, if Ron and/or Scott Mathews might touch base with me now that the post is up!
Hey, thanks so much, Kyle! It's a pleasure to meet you. Thanks also for subscribing. I just subscribed to you as well and can't wait to read your work!
Gotta ask, Chris...and pardon my lack of creativity! Are you, at all, related to Dweezil, Ahmet, Diva, and Moon?😁
🤫😉
Chris ain't talking about it!!
Brad/Chris: You’re both in for a good time.
I can relate; I do a ton of writing on Fridays, and more and more find myself looking forward to it.
Right? I keep a note on my phone which I just add to during the week, and it’s satisfying to then distil all of it at the end of the week.
A treat for me too. Cathartic.
Welcome Olivia!! So glad to hear this! We're thrilled to have you on Substack :-)
Hi Olivia. I'm a songwriter and author (published professionally through Pearson and via articles on professional development and technology).
I post live performances, song breakdowns, as well as personal essays unrelated to music or related in only any ancillary way.
A few months ago I posted a song from the first phone recording of an idea through its development.
https://matthewmoran.substack.com/p/song-the-path-phone-demos
I've been asking Substack to include a way to post multiple mp3 files where you have individual players embedded in your post. However, in this instance, I converted my audio to simple videos, published them unlisted on YouTube, and embedded them.
In any case, I'll check out what you are up to. Good luck and welcome!
Hi Olivia, that's exactly what I've been doing! Would love to connect if you ever want to chat about it.
Welcome Olivia! I have a real live singer/songwriter/guitarist writing for/with me! His name is Stephen Michael Schwartz, and he recorded for RCA Records in the mid-'70s, and has recorded many albums in the children's music lane, both solo, and with the Parachute Express trio!
I made a Flipboard page for him to house all his/my 'Stack SMS articles! You might start there, for his stuff, anyway: https://flipboard.com/@schwartzstories/front-row-backstage-with-stephen-michael-schwartz-fcjpqreoy
As we've done before, he's been sending me rare and unreleased song file demos that will be appearing in future SMS articles! Feel free to hop on board!
Again, welcome, and continue enjoying your writing process!---Brad (and Stephen)!
Celebrating that my readership more than doubled (from 61 to 131) in the last few weeks because a mentor (with 500K followers on fb) shared this post of mine. I am so grateful to her for seeing what I'm trying to share.
https://sarahkmongrowinghearths.substack.com/p/the-paradigm-shift?s=w
Congratulations!! 🥳
Congratulations!!! That's exciting! We're so happy to have you writing on Substack, Sarah.
wahoo!!
Congratulations!
Go, Sarah, go!
Dope!
I'm slowly exploring more and more substack functionality. I clicked the button to set up a podcast and it was scary easy. I haven't, you know, done anything with it yet. My goal is to keep it bare bones and mostly as a way to improve my speaking and especially speaking off-the-cuff. My goal is to have a topic and some basic notes and speak for 10 minutes about it and try to minimize the "ums" and "uhs".
Still thinking about the right content for it and my topic area, but it feels good to explore multiple formats.
I've only been on substack for a month or so but cheers on the office hours anniversary! God bless!
I have a podcast with a friend (litthinkpodcast.substack.com) and the lessons that I learned there I've carried over to my Substack. Now I'm taking old blog posts and turning them into podcast episodes, so I'm pretty much read a script, which is more polished than my conversational podcast with a friend. I MUCH prefer podcasting to making videos for YouTube 😉
That's a good thought, I have a blog on wordpress and I've been writing there for three years and done a LOT of writing. Converting some of those posts into podcasts would be a neat idea. It would be nice to revisit them, since a lot of what I've done on that blog has been to build an understanding of the world. When I revisit them, rather than read them right out I could expand on the topic with what I've learned since then.
Great idea! Thank you very much!
You're welcome! Yes, I have to make some adjustments to make the episodes little more timeless, but it's working so far and it keeps them short (under 15 minutes). Check it out!
Hey Scoot, I think I'm in the same boat. I'm curious to try podcasting and have been for years but never did it despite having explored most other formats like YouTube videos, Instagram posts, blog, etc. I'm also new to substack - they remind me on my landing page that I launched my newsletter here 17 days ago, so I'm even newer than you!
I have no idea why I want to do a podcast except that I know I listen to podcasts in different situations than I read email newsletters, so this might be the case for readers too.
I think finding the right topic area to cover and the right format for the podcast is important. Imagine your ideal subscriber: When do they listen to your podcast, why do they listen? What do you want them to get from it? The process of answering those questions will help you form the best offering in a format that your readers/listeners need.
I say all this partly as unsolicited advice and partly as a reminder to myself of what I need to do before I get started. Best of luck to you, Nick, I am sure you will figure out how to make the podcast you always wanted to listen to!
Check my response above. I have a lot more fun podcasting than I thought I would. The work is in the editing 😊
Hey Sarah, brilliant - thanks for cross mentioning it here otherwise I would have missed it. I also have 7 years of blog posts to look into for material (though many are ephemeral pieces). When I'm ready, I might do just that!
Also, just subscribed. I do travel posts AND personal posts but camping is our thing. Even though we upgraded to a ridiculous travel trailer 😜
Nice, I'm into that and so subbed to your newsletter as well! I'm now wondering what this travel trailer looks like...
Several photos on my Instagram 😜
It's just a great way to recycle old material, make it new, and expand audience. At least, that's what I'm working on ;-)
I just wanted to express appreciation for Substack, in the sense that I am happy to be able to put something out in the world without having to go through the painful process of pitching to editors at various publications. I have been both a freelancer crossing my fingers and toes that my pitch is the right story for the right time for the right publication, and I've also been a magazine editor and had to decline awesome pitches because there just wasn't room in our editorial calendar or we had recently included something on a similar topic. I'm really grateful that I can publish something consistently on Substack without barriers (albeit with my small audience) without having to go through that process. Thanks Substack!
Hannah, thank you so much for your feedback and for joining office hours today! We're pumped to have you writing on Substack.
Hello. I’m new to Substack and Office Hours! So far, I’ve gathered most of my (small) readership through my accounts on Instagram. But I’m looking to discover new ways of connecting with readers and writers.
Hi Natalie! Welcome to Office Hours.
When thinking about connecting with new readers, our Substack Grow resources are the place to go. I suggest this one: https://on.substack.com/p/grow-4?s=w
To connect with fellow writers, Office Hours is a great place to start! We are gearing up for some programs for writers to plug into that will be available soon.
If you are on Discord, a number of writers in the Substack Writers Unite discord which Elle Griffin started. You can join here: https://discord.gg/83fSxJyA
Thanks Katie, that’s very helpful. I’m new to Discord but will definitely have a look!
I do the same. But I use Twitter and put my newsletter in newsletter directories. Just google ‘newsletter directory’. Collaborating with other newsletter writers kind of help too.
Thanks for the reminder about newsletter directories. I really have to get cracking!
Thanks for that directory tip, Celeste! I'll give it a go!
Hey Celeste, interested to hear more about newsletter directories. Are there certain ones you found generated more new subscribers than others?
The Sample curates newsletter for newsletter readers to discover.
It would match how many subscribers you get them.
My referral link: https://thesample.ai/?ref=dec9
Thanks Celeste, I had no idea about directories but I’ll give them a try.
Welcome! A great bunch of helpful people here!
Thanks Lloyd!
Natalie, your newsletter looks really intriguing! I've only skimmed your first essay, but I can't wait to go back and read more. As for connecting with writers, I host a writer's community, as do a few others on Substack. Everyone welcome!
Thank you Ramona, that’s so encouraging. I’ll definitely check out your writer’s community, it’s always helpful to share experiences.
Natalie.....I've had lots of success on FB, which I know most people hate. But, inasmuch as my focus is '70s and '80s rock music (and behind the scenes thereof), I'm able to take advantage of the various groups on FB.
I join, and then post my links....groups like punk rock, prog rock, classic rock, and even decades, like all things '70s, '80s, etc. I make sure, of course, I post in the appropriate groups! My links, therefore, hit many hundreds of thousands (if not millions) of pairs of eyes! Good luck!
Thanks Brad! I often write about social history and I’ve heard that Facebook is great because the audience is slightly older than other platforms like Instagram. I’ll have to give it a try! Do you post to groups from your personal account or do you have an author page that’s just for your writing?
No. Don't even know what an author page is! I just join groups that pertain to my subject matter, and post new links to those! Ex: I've written about the Sex Pistols and the Ramones....those links got slapped up onto punk groups and '70s groups!! Hundreds of thousands of eyeballs! I've written about the Houston Astros, and post those pieces onto Astros groups and baseball groups!
The problem I'm experiencing with FB is they group moderators often deny my post by saying I'm making a sales pitch--which I am not. My "Subscribe" button offers my newsletter for free or paid. Is that why they're kicking me out?
That's usually a problem I have with Reddit..."self-promotion." I've had FB group mods deny my post, but I'm guessing it's because they don't deem it fits the subject matter of the group (I rarely check the reason, 'cause at that point, I don't care)!
Again, with my general posts about "rock stars" and/or the music biz and a baseball team, subject matter "hunger" seems to work in my favor, generally speaking!
That’s brilliant! Sounds like something I can start doing straight away. Thanks for your help!
Nice. But don't they remove the post?
If you make your post look "natural" it will not be removed in most cases. Be an engaging member in the community before you just drop your link
I’m interested to see your strategy for Instagram. I haven’t had much success there. Still trying to hone in on how to better promote.
Hi Chevanne. I posted this a bit further down so perhaps you’ve already seen it, but I use Instagram to write about social history and post once a day Mon-Sat. Each week I have a different theme - this week it’s Victorian fraudsters. Instagram allows captions of up to 2,000 characters (I think!) so over six days I can tell quite a long story. The downside is that you can’t post links in captions on your feed. I use the 24 hour ‘stories’ feature for external links to Substack instead. My following on there is quite modest but it feels like a community and it’s helped me to build an audience. It’s slow growth but feels engaged (much more than Twitter for me). My readership is still very small but hopefully going in the right direction. You can find my account here: https://www.instagram.com/longagogrotto/
Modest?! Oh pshaw!!
Hi, Natalie - I did a personal email (cut/paste main content with personalised bits tailored to each recipient) to everyone in my contact book ... I'm still working through my Facebook contacts. It takes time, but it's worth it!
That’s a great idea Bryan! Thank you.
If Instagram worked, then other social medias will other work. I would take a look at https://newslettertosocials.com
Thanks Krager!
Welcome Natalie!
Thanks Igor!
Great to see the new categories, any chance of a Video Games (ideally the actually correct ‘Videogames’ but I’m not picky) one? We are growing in number and being ghettoised within Technology means we’re up against some pretty big tech/startup-focused names and it’s hard to cut through. Discovery is pretty rough, I think y’all could be a bit more aggressive with the category system and I’m curious about why it’s currently so limited.
Been a good week, anyway. A couple signups away from 2,000 readers and I did a special offer on paid subs that’s brought in another 15 or so, pushing the conversion rate up towards 9%. Onwards!
Congrats on this growth. I think your category has really huge potential, seeing as the corporate games journalism industry seems to be losing a ton of credibility. I agree with the category reform though. I've been asking for "outdoors" as a category forever. They have climate change, but not outdoors.
Thanks Cole! I’d love to see an Outdoors category added too, now you mention it.
We are monitoring this category! It's not *quite* big enough to go on the leaderboard yet, but hopefully soon. Congrats - 2000 readers is a lot!!!
Thanks Bailey! Still curious about why the categories are kept so small though. The whole point of Substack is it’s a broad church, I struggle to understand why the taxonomy is seemingly being modelled after a 1980s bookstore.
So thrilled to be featured on Discover this week!! Thank you Bailey, Kate, & the Community Team for the shout-out, and for all the hard work you do to support us ☺️
Hi all - For those who are new to the platform, welcome! I just released my 9th issue today — creeping up on a year myself. And congrats to the Substack community team on the milestone!
I just want to take a moment to share that whatever questions you have, you can ask here and the folks in this wonderful community will point you in the right direction. Everyone — from the Substack community team, to the writers here chiming in — has always been incredibly supportive, kind, and helpful.
The platform gives you pretty much everything you need to be successful. So, be patient with the process, and pick an approach that feels like it is sustainable for you (whether that's post frequency, subject matter, or design). Try thinking about your newsletter as a long-term endeavor — the last thing you want to feel is burnt out after a short time. It can feel like a hustle sometimes, so be patient with yourself. Slow and steady.
Thanks again to everyone here for the support over the last 9 months.
Wise words and thank you for the encouragement. I just joined and hope to have my first newsletter out this week.
Hear, hear!
Hey everyone. I am new to substack and looking to grow my subscribers list. My aim is to help people on their journey to living a happy and purposeful life, to help achieve the goals you have and become the best version of yourself. Please subscribe and help me build a community of people that want to live a happy and purposeful life!
Welcome, Nic! This sounds beautiful :) I will check out your Substack x
Thank you so much! I post on Wednesdays and Sundays! Please subscribe to be notified when I post!
My newsletter has a very similar ring to it! Welcome!
How does the dashboard distinguish a subscriber source? For example, I have had readers join from an office hour and it says direct for one, substack network for another. This would help to show us exactly where our subscribers come from.
Subscriber sources are last-touch attribution (i.e. where were they right before signing up) so it is possible that a user could discover your publication through office hours but came back later through a different source and signed up.
We have some updates planned around attribution soon that should give you more insights into where subscriptions are coming from.
Yes, I would love to know if the subscriber read something before becoming a subscriber. Did they land on a specific article? Or did they land on the homepage and read a few things before signing up?
This is a very interesting feature idea. I like that
I second this.
I third it.
Me too!
Truly so excited for TikTok embeds. Can't wait to see what other multimedia embeds y'all bring to Substack!
What others are you hoping for? :)
I would love to be able embed any HTML I pleased, but understand if that’s not on the immediate roadmap. Otherwise, I think audio embeds from major podcast platforms like Apple Podcasts or hosting providers like Simplecast, OMNY, Megaphone, etc would be super useful for those who don’t want to host their main feeds through Substack.
There are a whole host of other embeds I can imagine being super useful. Amazon and Bookshop.org affiliate blocks, Reddit posts, Kickstarter, document providers. I think the more expansive the better.
Oh, and improving the Spotify embed to show full playlists and albums!
Hi all - this thread just keeps getting better and better! I'm so grateful to have found you all. I can't remember if I've mentioned, but I've rebranded and renamed my substack from "Whole Health" to "Next Draft with Diane Hatz". I've finally stood tall and have announced to the world (and my terrified inner child) that I'm a fiction writer. I'm in the process of republishing an indie book I put out 14 years ago and never promoted. I'm currently doing cover, marketing, plan etc. I want to sync my substack with the book coming out and what it relates to, the book I'm currently writing, and articles around research I'm doing (mainly spirituality type of stuff). And possibly document the process of putting out an indie book. I would love to connect with writers who have books out or are publishing something relatively soon who are working on or who've done marketing plans for them. I'd love to be able to bounce ideas off folks to come up with creative ways to market/promote the work - especially ways to sync our books with our substacks. Anyone doing anything similar and interested in connecting? Thanks!
Congrats on announcing to the world, Diane! It takes courage. Keep going!
For growth, recommendations are pretty solid and a passive way to get new subscribers, although it depends on the subscriber count. A substack I recommend has received almost 400 subscribers. Another one that I just started recommending less than a week ago has received 13 so far. I recommend everyone try it out.
That’s amazing! Great to have such a boost. I wish more of the bigger substacks would do the same.
How many are paid? how many free?
It doesn't show me that in the dashboard, just subscribers generated.
Wondering about how to encourage followers to be engaged with my content. Aside from providing them a call to action ("Comment below if...."), how might one go about doing that? How do you get people out of their email inbox and into the comments section after they read the newsletter?
It's not a groundbreaking idea, but every Monday I start my post with a "comment highlight" where I shout out a comment from the previous week. I be sure to link back to the commenter's social media (where applicable). This seems to help my readers understand that I read and appreciate the comments and the community we're building. Just an idea! 🌿
This is such a great idea! Giving it a try soon.
That sounds like an awesome idea. I will be trying that. Thx!
What's the feedback that you get? Do people enjoy/appreciate it?
People seem to like it! Especially when I highlight a comment from someone who has a Substack newsletter or other blog/online presence I can link to. I've noticed that readers will click the link to explore the person I've highlighted, which is pretty cool! I don't have a huge following yet but I have noticed that the quality of my comments is really high, with commenters adding their own thoughts and contemplations to what I've written. I think the comment highlight has been a net positive, overall! 🌿
Thank you for the information!
Thanks, Jane!
A lot of people getting your posts via email won't even realize that they can like and comment. So if that's something you want, it's probably worth adding buttons throughout the content to send people to the web so they can comment, and maybe even worth explaining how to leave comments in text.
"Teaching" info like that I put in occasional "Subscriber Only" posts, where I also include Exclusive Sneak Peeks into upcoming pieces. So, as well as giving them exclusive content in these couple-a-month posts, I also include "here's what'll help you peruse the site" info! Go get 'em, Adam!
I took a low 'n slow, no social media approach to my wordpress site. Personally, I am not a fan of over-promoting. In my experience and in my opinion, readers will be engaged if you write something that engages *you*. If you are not enthusiastic about what you're writing about, why would they be? Also in my experience, maybe one in five views will produce a comment, so don't be discouraged if you have a lot of clicks but not a lot of talking. Just keep at it and your enthusiasm will be infectious. I'm of a quality over quantity kind of mind.
If you really want to spur the conversation, I like to do it by soliciting ideas or writing about a topic I don't know a lot about and getting feedback from readers who know more than I do. It inspires me to write follow up posts elaborating on the topic with their contribution.
That might be another point: If readers comment, engage with them in the comments but also write articles based on their feedback. They will like seeing that you took their comments to heart and put their thoughts into your posts.
Godspeed and good luck! Hope this has been helpful.
We've published a few resources on the subject, such as this one on discussion threads (https://on.substack.com/p/how-to-use-discussion-threads-to) and this one about finding and engaging your readers more generally (https://on.substack.com/p/how-to-engage-readers-substack?s=w).
And if you keep your eyes peeled on On Substack, we'll be publishing an interview miniseries soon specifically about how writers are using comments and other strategies to interact with readers :)
Welcome new Substackers! Your Welcome email has more than double the open rate of any other email message. It will pay to make it great! Here's how: https://pau1.substack.com/p/-which-email-message-has-the-highest?s=w
Really liked this post, Paul -- I always get at least one little gem from you!
Thanks Sarah!
Thanks Paul, those are some super helpful tips in there
Happy One-Year Office Hours Anniversary Substack and Writers! 🎉
Good morning y'all! Can't believe it's been a year in office hours!
Right?
I’ve hit a plateau just under 300 subs. Any suggested tactics for continuing to grow ams overcome this hurdle?
I'm one of your subscribers, Joe, and I appreciate the work you do. Growing numbers via email is a problem for me, too, since I didn't have a base to start with. But I have to believe word of mouth may be just as effective as beating ourselves up begging for subscribers at different outlets.
I could be totally wrong, since I suck at marketing, but there's real value, I think, in building a loyal community by just being there and doing your thing. They'll be out there beating the bushes for you!
Thanks Ramona!! (I love your work, too!) Yea, it's like everyone says: good writing will grow over time.
Solidarity!
Promote on a different channel, target a different audience (if applicable), hire a copywriter to help write ads for you, scale back the frequency of posting (to reduce reader fatigue). Just enjoy the process; there's no rush to get to the top.
Unless you are a celebrity or have the luck of being featured on a high-impact promotion, the sub count will be middling. That's how it is.
Hey Joe! I use biz cards on top of whatever social media to post my links. I use the picture you see to your left with my 'Stack web address, and brief blurbs on what I write! I just ordered new cards from VistaPrint where I included QR codes on the back!!
You can give your cards to new people you meet, and post them on Starbucks/Panera bulletin boards, too! Good luck!
Yea this seems something I should invest in. Thanks!
Based on your writing niche, beg for retweets on twitter from prominent accounts.
That's how Karlstack got a cable news interview
I also post my links, when appropriate, onto replies to occasional tweets that have to do with recording artists I've already written about. It helps that THAT's my 'Stack subject matter (as opposed to plumbing, accounting, or jarring preserves, where tweets to reply to might be scarce), but it's also a fun way to spread my 'Stack!
I really have to get braver on Twitter. I can post a throw-away line and get thousands of hits, but not a ripple when I post my own pieces--no matter how much I appeal to them!
Yeah, I get nothing, response/hit-wise from Twitter! But, it doesn't stop me from trying...or at least, just keep posting!
i wouldn't be surprised if external links (Substack, news outlets, etc.) are downplayed a bit by Twitter's algorithm. I don't think they're "shadow-banning" anyone, rather they don't want you clicking out for their site for another.
That could be, but it seems Twitter is full of outgoing links. I've been known to retweet them fairly often myself!
I ran into one recording artist on Twitter....and, 3 or 4 on FB! Sometimes when I write about an artist, put the link up on FB, the artist (or someone in the group) will contact me, thanking me!
I, of course, strike while THAT iron is hot, and ask (via DM, usually) them questions about their era/group/sound/product, etc, and put their answers into the article! Instant interview!
Thanks man! Lol I feel so petty when I do that, but I think its the only way forward.
Keep promoting
Every "Writer Office Hours" I read; I always tell myself how I need to step up my Substack game. Today is no different. You guys really are inspiring. Thanks!
hello! i am unsure if this is the right way to use office hours as this is my first time. i am fairly new to substack and i found it hard to find writers who write on similar topics: early twenties life, mindful living, reflections. how do you find a community of like minded writers on substack?
Hi Joy! Welcome. Yeah, it can take a little trial/error to find others, but the Substack homepage categories can be helpful (you can see a bunch of pubs in different genres/categories). And two ideas of publications you might enjoy — Devotions: https://devotions.substack.com/ and Time*Being: https://hallierosetaylor.substack.com/
You can also explore Discover: https://substack.com/discover?utm_source=%2Finbox&utm_medium=reader2-nav
My exact same question. I just posted it.
I mentioned yesterday that I thought it would be great if you broadened the categories. I had a real problem categorising my substack which is a a writing course for beginners. I also have problems finding other people to subscribe to because of the categorising issue.
Looking for recommendations partners!
I write an outdoor/adventure newsletter. My experience with the recommendations feature so far has been pretty great. I've found that partnering with people who truly match your niche is a huge component of making sure you source subscribers who actually are interested in your writing.
If anyone else writes about the outdoors, please reach out to me. I'd love to talk, have you on the Trail Talk podcast as a guest, and work on some cool cross-promotion ideas!
I'm colenobleclimbs@gmail.com
Hmmm - looking around, it seems that Substack is more for writers. Perhaps I’m just stating the obvious but there seems to be quite a few that write about arts, philosophy and academia. So the question is … is Substack going to work for me?
Essentially I write a newsletter from my 3minutemaths website. It’s directed at students / parents and focussing on the resources I’ve created - mainly UK curriculum. Will this work on Substack or should I be thinking more about opinion pieces?
My motivation was to try to monetise the newsletter - perhaps providing additional value for subscribers.
Any thoughts would be much appreciated.
If you see a lot of people writing about something and you're writing about something different, that's a good sign you've got a unique "product offering" and your writing will fill an unmet need. Keep going!
I think this would work great on Substack. You could also ask for the video feature to be turned on for your publication, and upload video tutorials and lessons if that's the kind of thing you do.
In the end, Substack is just a platform, like WordPress, so the issue is whether you have content of interest to others. As long as Substack meets your technical needs, the rest is on you. Good luck.
Is there any progress on my idea for a "faux paywall"? Everyone I've discussed this idea with thinks that this would be massively beneficial for writers and that Substack should definitely prioritize this!
such an interesting idea. i'd like to try it!
What do you mean by faux paywall?
It's just like a paywall; you can make it start at any point in your article and you can "tease" as much of the article as you want. But instead of a paywall, they just have to do a free signup in order to keep reading.
This is what one person told me:
I'm really digging this idea on the "faux paywall," and I mean REALLY in all caps. It would truly improve my publication because, at this time I'm keeping my archive paid while I would much rather have it accessible via free signup so that I could capitalize on more than a year of daily articles on a vast array of topics to encourage people to become free subscribers and begin their journey with me. I assume this would take some time to implement for Substack since they would actually have to clearly differentiate accesses between visitors and free subscribers and effectively have to take into account three categories of users (visitors, free subs and paids subs) instead of two (free subs and paid subs). But this is something I really want them to be working on right now. REALLY.
What I always say is, at the beginning of a newsletter, getting engagement is more important than getting revenue because the engagement that you get and the speed at which you manage to make it evolve organically in an exponential manner (that's the hardest part) will naturally augment the pool of people you can get revenue from. After all, why trying so hard to earn a living from tens or hundreds when you could do so from thousands of people instead. That's why I really wish Substack would ramp up their efforts on getting eyeballs on newsletters just as much if not more as they're doing at the current time to maximize paid subscriptions. As much as they aim to fight it, attention is indeed the currency of the Internet even outside of the advertisement model, because without visibility how could you get people to pay for what you offer if they don't even know it exist? And when luckily enough some do know it exists, why would they support something still nobody else knows about which therefore will be lacking impact in its own field?
This is super interesting! I agree that it's a feature worth Substack's time to explore -- it would really help drive free subscriptions.
This is a feature already, isn't it? You can write as much as you want, then under More in the menu bar, simply select the Paywall option and it will insert a paywall break that limits everything after it to paid subs.
Yes, a real paywall -- Andrew is talking about a paywall to grab free subscribers, i.e., one where there is no exchange of money. That's the "faux" part of "faux paywall," as opposed to the actual paywall that already exists.
I see what you mean. I guess I was confused because that's more than a faux paywall, it's a request to add an entirely new layer of visibility restriction to the platform.
That makes total sense, and thanks for taking the time to make your case! Seems like a great idea to me!
I'm excited for it; it should be extremely obvious why it's a big deal for any Substacker who wants to turn views into free signups!
I am so excited to see this; THIS IS A BIG DEAL FOR ME. :)
Exactly! Oh my gosh! Incredible! This is my dream, right? Will this be implemented? :)
Oh Jairaj, I just realized you're the CTO at Substack... haha. This is amazing because there really isn't any incentive for people to sign up to the newsletter currently because they could always head back to the website or the app to read a public post. With this new feature, it would serve the top funnel grab to help us get sign-ups. When would this feature be available??
Hi there, I have a Technical question.
Which type of URL will enable me see the Stats breakdown:
- adding ?s=twitterDM to the URL or
- adding ?utm_source=twitterDM
I stupidly tested with same keywords and now do not know which one is right. 😅
Thank you for your help!
Thanks Jairaj, how often do Stats refresh?
What is the best way to clean up an email list? How can we know for certain that a subscriber is not opening emails or reading any posts?
This is something I went through. I cleaned my email address of about 300 people. It was really disheartening, because that was about half my audience at the time.
Here's what I recommend:
1. Ignore this problem unless your open rate is in consistent decline and is starting to get into the teens. Otherwise, you'll drive yourself crazy
2. Sign up for an email validation service. I use Zero Bounce. They'll let you import your email address, and test for email addresses that are completely invalid, or spam. Then delete these.
3. Sign up for mail meteor, the gmail extension. (only do this for one month, you're only going to use it to send one email.)
4. Go to substack's subscriber dashboard. Apply the following filters:
-activity < 1 star
-emails opened < 1
-web posts seen < 1
-comments < 1
-emails forwarded < 1
-subscsriber date on or before (pick a date, a few months in the past.)
5. Export the list that generates, and take it over to google sheets
6. Send an email to those subscribers. Introduce yourself, and ask if they have subscribed to you by mistake, or if they're really interested in your newsletter, but not showing up in your analytics. (This happens sometimes.)
The reason we're not using your Substack email address is because sending out an email with a 0% open rate, actually hurts the deliverability of your next email.
7. Anyone who ignores the email, purge from your list after about a week.
Thanks for the tips, especially #2.
I was not aware such services were available.
Note that ZeroBounce lets you check up to 100 email addresses a month for free.
That may not be useful for heavy hitters, but I'm at around 1,250 subscribers now, and I've been just chipping away by checking a new set of 100 each month over the past several months. I'm almost "caught up" to the newest people.
Around November or December, I switched to requiring email validation on sign-up, which chased off all those spambots. I was hesitant to add any friction to the sign-up, but to the extent they double-check that someone really wants to sign up, it's good. (My only lurking fear is...what if the validation email goes to spam)
Sure thing!
Related question! I heard from a reader this morning who received an email I sent to a targeted group, asking when the newsletter would launch (it launched in September.) I checked his stats and, as his comment suggested, every newsletter send has "dropped" since the start--presumably because his server misreads it as spam.
It was obviously easy to straighten out this problem on an individual basis, but I don't see a filter for "dropped emails." Do I have to review thousands of unpaid subs one at a time to see if this is the conversion block in other cases? Thanks!
Hi Hanna! We don't currently show the number of dropped emails in the CRM but do show the number of emails delivered ("Email deliveries") which you can use to see if the users are receiving your emails.
But isn't that a gross number? Like, if I sent an newsletter to my list of 10 people and the CRM reported eight deliveries, I'd have to check each intended recipient to determine where the errant two newsletters went, right?
All CRM metrics will be relevant just to that user, so, if you sent one email to 10 people and it was dropped for two people, you would see 8 users with 1 email delivery and two users with 0 email deliveries.
So if I go to the post stats, I'll see that breakdown by email address?
Cole, very helpful. I've probably purged more people than I should, honestly! I try to remind myself that I've had people who get emails week in, week out, sometimes for months, never responding, until SUDDENLY something grabs their attention, and they become engaged. Thank you for the advice about how to keep people on board.
These are great tips – in particular the first one (about not driving ourselves crazy). I also like #6, it’s a great personal touch.
Thanks! It also does really help sometimes when people actually are reading everything you write, but tracking data isn't making it back to substack. Some email providers are harder than others to keep tabs on.
Thanks for the tips.
This is so helpful - thanks so much, Cole!
This is really helpful, thanks!
Thank you for this!
Many email systems block the technology that shows they've opened an email. As long as emails are not bouncing, removing subscribers for NOT opening is probably ill-advised.
You are not charged for unopened emails. Why do you want to clean those? Just curious.
Deliverability. Email providers track how many other people open your emails. this helps them sort things into spam, or promotions.
Cleaning your email list is healthy.
It helps improve your open rate and makes it less likely your emails will be marked as spam.
It affects open rate. For example, my last email sent to my active subscribers was almost 40%. My weekly email to the list is between 9-15%
A subscriber who does not engage does not affect other subscribers from opening your email. "Open rate" is only somewhat relevant/truthful.
Meaning, if I have 100 subscribers who's email systems disable tracking opens but all of them open my email, my open rate is tracked as 0% but is, in fact, 100%.
All I'm saying is, your open rate is "a metric" but not "the metric".
Or is it your belief that having a higher open rate (as tracked on Substack) improves your visibility?
As someone with 25+ years in tech - implementing email systems like corporate Exchange and others - It does not change the ranking or value of your sent emails to any given recipient.
I casually look at "open" rates but truly only care about traffic and ultimately engagement.
Thank you for this.
In turn, open rate can affect spam sorting. A lot of my subscribers who actively look for my emails say they stopped going to spam, after I purged my list. (My open rate went from 13% to 30% in that purge. Now it's between 35-45%
Unless you are running your own email server, this isn't true.
We are, for better or worse, subject to how substack's reliability or reputation is maintained on their systems.
Our individual lists are only relevant to the aggregate across substack and whether they address issues like complaints and bounces.
"Cleaning" your list individually may exclude as many good emails as bad. I set up my company domain to block any tracking of opens. Only click-thrus or displaying images will bypass that.
So.. my company email NEVER displays that I have opened any of the technical newsletters I subscribe to.
You can check in the subscriber dashboard but it isn't always accurate. I have a lot of dead emails, I need to clean them out myself.
I've tried cleaning up "inactive" subscribers in the past but it turns out they weren't actually inactive. They were just reading the posts outside of email.
Yes, this is what concerns me.
In my list above, that's why I sort out "post views of all time," and "web post views of all time." Some of them really are just reading on facebook or something.
Did anyone else send out a newsletter today? Are your analytics working?
I posted my latest piece at 5:45 PM yesterday and everything is fine on my side.
Hi Cole! I posted almost an hour ago and my stats aren't showing up yet, but sometimes that's not uncommon for me. You think there might be an issue?
It resolved itself, it appears. Thanks for checking in though!
I know I'm really late to this, but I have questions. My name is Roger and I publish "Roger's Writings." It's kind of a sarcastic, snarcasitc, opinionated look at current events. I mix in historical projects as well. I have a few questions that maybe some of you can help with. I have a very modest following and would like to grow my readership. I already use email and social media to push my work out there.
1) Can I record, and then review, a podcast before I post?
2) I probably have a targeted audience, what is the best way to reach them?
3) Other than email and social media, what is a good way to promote my work?
Thanks in advance, and hopefully I will be able to find answers to my questions. :) - Roger
I've been promoting on Twitter, but I don't think it's terribly effective. I also have an email signature and I think that helps. A few peeps on here have suggested Redditt or Instagram
It looks good, especially as I don't know much about American politics (I'm a Brit). I've subscribed
Thank you! I will subscribe to yours as well. Because I like eclecticism!
Hi there! I'm Lisa Amowitz, YA fantasy author and cover designer. Just popping in quickly between meetings. (also a graphic design professor--gahhh!)
Welcome!
Oooh! What covers have you designed? And books have you written?!
Hi--sorry--in a rush but here is my website...
http://www.lisaamowitz.com/
I'm super new to substack but here to learn, learn learn!
Hi all! I started my newsletter focused on mental health and psychology about four months ago. Been pretty happy with my growth so far, 2500+ free subscribers and consistent open rates between 55 - 65%. I researched all the guides on going paid, and 2 weeks ago launched a premium subscription. I created quite some offers and promoted it a lot, but my conversion is nowhere near the estimated 5-10% Substack mentioned. I feel pretty discouraged because I receive a lot of positive feedback through polls and unsure how to improve. Any tips? I do not want to bombard my free followers all the time with offers and promotions as I want to focus on providing quality content first.
If anyone wants to check out my newsletter, you can find it here: https://thepresentpsychologist.substack.com/
Thank you all for this great and supportive community ❤️
Hi Alf! Don't be discouraged! You're just getting started. I may be wrong, but I think you just have ~2 paid posts now?
The secret to a good, ongoing paid strategy is to make sure that readers feel they are missing out if they aren't able to access the paid pieces/offerings.
At quick glance, I wonder if you could further differentiate your free vs paid biweekly edition.
And I would be curious to see what happens with the monthly edition of The Present Psychologist Pointers. (You should do a free preview / paywall of that if you don't plan too!)
Then, stick with that, essentially. Make it very clear to free folks that they are missing out on something that's valuable.
Thank you so much for your kind and supportive feedback! I will definitely try to refine it more. Also, sometimes being too eager does not help with my own patience. Slow and steady growth as people say, so will focus on that too. I must say I am so, so happy with Substack as a whole. The user experience is stellar!
Hey Alf! I think you're doing brilliantly. But - I hear you. I'm not converting at the 5-10% rate either (see below) and at first it was a bit crushing. But actually? I don't think it matters - unless you fall into the comparison trap, which is never a great thing for the sanity of folk creating stuff...
So - 2.5k on your free list in 4 months? That's hilariously good, if I'm any judge. And 55-65% Opens means that you still have a *really* engaged list, even though you've grown it like bananas in no time (I gather there's usually a bit of a drop-off of average Opens as lists get bigger). These are the most important things, and where the hardest work is. You're already nailing it. That work is DONE. Terrific job.
For things to experiment with re a paid strategy, Bailey's advice is solid, as it always is. For tactics to try, they're the best place to start. But regarding feeling discouraged at your conversion rate - absolutely no need to! I'm not pep-talking you just for cheering-up purposes. I mean this. Hard scientific fact! (I write a science newsletter, so I'm playing that card here.)
For starters, you're just 4 months in, and folk are still getting used to your newsletter and what it's offering them. Secondly, it's only been 2 weeks that you've had a paid option. These two facts put together: it's REALLY early days in the process of persuading them it's worth paying for - but the fact that you've got 2.5k means you are successfully getting people into the early stages of that process. You are already doing the really hard part to a superb degree. The paid bit is just the finale, and it pays off when longterm enjoyment of your work turns into the kind of loyalty that has folk reaching for their wallets/purses. Keep doing what you're doing!
For comparison, but maybe not as an example to follow because I'm still fumbling my way into this newslettering thing: I'm about 15 months in, I have a free list of 8,500, my free list Opens are around 45-55%, and my conversion rate is less than 3%. I'd love it to be higher, and I intend to do my damndest to engineer that, but if I can't? That's actually totally fine, because from a selfish point of view, it's now (just) giving me enough income to live on, and if I continue to maintain my "low" conversion rate, that income will still keep growing as my free list does. So, what more do I need, really? (If my income drops, *that's* when I'll get worried. 😄)
What do you need your paid list to look like? Whatever that number is, *you're already getting there in one way*, simply by just growing your free list and regularly turning up with great newsletters that people open and read. If your paid conversion rate improves, you'll get there a bit quicker - but whatever happens, at whatever conversion rate you settle into, you're currently moving inexorably towards that goal at a very impressive rate, while hitting all the metrics that matter.
THIS IS THE WAY. [Mandelorian GIF required here]
Keep it up!
Hi Mike!
Thank you so much for your elaborate reply and encouraging words! I think it is indeed very much a matter of running a marathon, not just a sprint. Your stats indeed look awesome and a great motivator. It makes sense that for people it takes time to get adjusted and see the benefit of a paid subscription. As long as the free list keeps growing, so do the opportunities.
Sometimes it takes a change in mindset to ensure motivation is becoming solid again. Thanks a lot for your input, it is greatly appreciated and definitely has helped me!
Hi Alf, I have recently brought my holistic mental health-oriented newsletter to Substack from my WordPress site and created an archive of my past article and posts. I want to put up a paywall once I have more free sign-ups. I will be interested in the strategies you use. Paid subscribers would have better access to me in terms of Threads, Q & A, podcasts, and maybe a monthly ZOOM forum. I'm hoping to put more time into my newsletter as I become better informed about the community I serve, their needs, and how I can be helpful. I hope to get more feedback and comments on my articles. Good luck. It looks like you are off to a great start.
Hi Ron, thanks for your comment! I have subscribed to your newsletter, always very interesting to have a holistic approach and relate mental health to current affairs in the world. As far as my strategies go for paid subscribers, I am still experimenting a bit as I only started a month ago with enabling a premium subscription option. What I normally do is send out a biweekly edition consisting of 1 article for free subscribers and 3 articles for paid subscribers. Next to this, I write two monthly extra posts, 1 advice column and 1 biography of a famous psychologist. These I send to everyone but paywalled for the free subscribers with the 7-day free trial option. Hope that helps! Good luck to you too!
Can anyone recommend best strategies for "searching" for other newsletters in your niche? I can search random terms in the search bar . . . but is there a better way? My area is history, politics, and democracy.
I don't know if this will help, but Substack Discover does have categories. https://substack.com/discover?utm_source=%2Finbox&utm_medium=reader2-nav
This may be an obvious answer but I would just google "Substack" plus your term.
Hey Eli - are you using the app or the website? On the main Substack homepage, if you scroll down a bit, there are categories you can toggle through, which you can then browse: https://substack.com/
Hi all! Prepping for my paid launch and I'm going to be giving away some promotional materials for different subscriber levels. Two questions:
1. Does anyone know how we can access subscriber addresses to mail them their goodies?
2. Is anyone aware of any small business/"bulk" mailing services to try to get a break on shipping?
To answer #1, there isn't a built-in option to access subscriber addresses — Substack doesn't collect that information. But you can use the subscriber dashboard to send a targeted email to subscribers of a certain level (e.g. all founding, all paid) that includes a link to a form where they can input address. More info on segmenting and targeted emails here: https://on.substack.com/p/subscriber-dashboard-guide
Thanks, Jasmine! Can we access this information through Stripe, or it has to be done as this two-step process?
Will something be done to allow better placement of images? Left justified or right justified or allowing text to wrap around them?
i wonder if there is a way for someone to do a newsletter on all of the best-ofs for substack? does that make sense? i'd like to read a bunch of everybody's work. but it's hard to commit to subscribing to each one individually.
Yeah, I hear you! The Substack community team does a lot of this type of thing, and a lot of it is published on their publication "On Substack" — https://on.substack.com/
never knew about that. thanks.
Also, this might be of interest: https://read.substack.com/?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=web&utm_campaign=reader2?utm_source=%2Fdiscover&utm_medium=reader2
very helpful.
some kind of weekly roundup of highlights. a brilliant poem/illo/factoid/editorial/photo/soundbite and so on -- all on one newsletter. then you can have links to subscribe.
who's here from substack that can maybe answer this one? i feel like this would help inspire more readership.
Fog Chaser's recommendations are exactly where I would have pointed you :)
bookmarked now
Hi! I am new here. I write the Zed Review which is a publication for people who love to read -- poetry, short non-fiction. I am also completing the #100DaysChallege
Hi Elizabeth, I am also doing a #100daychallenge, and am on day 61 with my Substack! Subscribed to yours, good stuff!
thank you! I am not posting every single post on substack (because once it's posted I can't submit poems elsewhere!) but I am chugging along ... on day 42! Oh! I will be posting here again soon. Yours is great! I also subscribed!
I totally hear ya! I was posting every single day, and just found not everything should go on Substack. Thank you for subscribing! Looking forward to reading more of yours as well!
Happy One Year of Office Hours! I brought cake!
🍰 🍰 🍰 🍰 🍰
Hopefully five slices is enough for everyone.
AHH! Wish we were all sharing cake together
Claiming one. I'll share my ice cream ; )
Has anyone had a good subscriber experience with Reddit? Any tricks of the trade to share?
Yes, a few. Reddit hates self promotion, unless it's extremely useful content targeted at the community.
Most communities also let this kind of thing slide if you're actually a part of the community, and not just trying to sell them on your work.
I try to legitimately engage in the communities I post my work in. Comment on other people's stuff, and contribute to discussions.
I also try to make sure my content is as targeted as possible. Sometimes smaller communities are actually better for sharing. If you snowball to the top of the community page, you'll be seen quite a lot.
A recent post I had has been viewed almost 50,000 times, and netted me 70 new subscribers.
A final caution: sometimes communities won't let you post until you've built up "karma." Not sure how familiar you are with reddit, but you get it from sharing stuff that people like.
Thx!
Reddit works great if you have someone who knows how to manage it.
Thx!
I honestly don't remember when I started my newsletter, but I want to congratulate myself for developing this project until now, though I seem to have done many things "wrong" (e.g. being all over the place subject-wise, not sticking to a regular publication schedule, etc.).
Substack easy-to-use tools certainly help. Even a lazy serial killer like me (I created and then abandoned my share of blogs in the past) has no excuses.
Congrats on one year of Office Hours!
I recently reach my six-month milestone and it's amazing to see how much has changed since the fall!
One feature I would love to see would be a recently used images option so that I don't have to keep searching my computer to upload my divider and other illustrations that I often use in my posts (I know this is available for the header/preview image, but I don't it's available to use in posts?).
I am a poet and essayist. I moved here from Medium. I like the look of the formatting and ease of publishing on Substack. Being able to control my text formatting more is very important.
Hi. This is my first visit to office hours. If you post a comment and someone replies do you get some notification? Or do you have to look back and find it in the thread? Guess I’ll see that first hand if someone replies. 😂 thank you!
It should show up in your email. I just keep checking!
Oh… thank you!
You're welcome. If it doesn't work for you, be sure and come back here and let us know. Someone will know what to do.
It worked. I had a bunch of emails from comments I made - reactions / replies. Just didn’t know to look there. Thanks again.
Glad it worked!
Hi! This is my first time participating in a Writer Office session. I'm a writer with a publishing certificate as well. My passion lies in wrestling. I started a substack newsletter dedicated to my skills in writing, podcasting, and wrestling. I created different newsletter sections so it can diverse and fans can sign up just to follow my fictionalized wrestling novel I'm currently writing or follow my wrestling write-ups that can range from wrestler spotlights, to wrestling news, my opinions about wrestling and the wrestling community, and then I have a section for musings like small updates that everyone on my list gets. I currently grew to 7 subscribers over night between a soft launched and a hard launched the next day on twitter thanks to my circle of awesome peeps in my community. I don't have any specific questions yet. I'm still testing out the features and planning stuff out. I do like the collab feature when writing posts because if I can't get a wrestler to do a video interview, I can have them answer questions and make it as a write-up. Thanks for having me in the video beta feature as well! I plan to go live on my twitch soon to talk wrestling and upload that as test video per say and have fun with that feature. I have some great ideas for the future of my newsletter. Now, I'm just enjoying it slowly, and thinking larger than life ideas on how to present my creativity for both free and paid fans. If anyone wants to collab about wrestling which is my super passion, I'm down. DMs are open; let's collab. If you want to talk writing, that's cool too because I create my content to have these two forms of entertainment - wrestling and writing go hand in hand. I created a video called: How To Make A Pro Wrestler, which talks about taking ideas and the structure format of a play or a novel (the 3 story act) and use that as a starting point to create a memorable character (wrestler) that fans will love. So yeah, that's like a little intro. Side notes: I used to for WWE back in 2018. I have my podcast up on my newsletter. I am dubbed The Professor of New Japan Pro Wrestling.
I have more cool articles and stuff coming up! Thanks for reading this and connecting!
https://marieshadows.substack.com/