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Thanks, Mary. To encourage engagement, I started with the letter โAโ to get things moving, and I shared my own love of the word โautumnโ and what it means to me. Iโm encouraging longer conversations in the thread. The reality is people are just so darn busy. You know I need to remember this is my world and my life, itโs not necessarily how my readers want to spend the morning. just getting them to show up is pretty awesome! Good luck. Keep in touch. ๏ฟผ๏ฟผ
I am grateful for a full plate that includes being grateful that in my retirement I have time to help others, rather than being the person who *needs* help.
So true for me, too, Pete!! Iโm an Airbnb super host in Rhode Island, and from May through October, I make enough money as a superhost to do this work that I love. Feeling very grateful and blessed today.
Ah! October! The month of my birth and a favorite, if bittersweet, time. Precious time that is (usually) easy to utilize outdoors, motivated by the certainty that it wonโt last long. Also, our family reunion, Octobermeier, is held then.
Carol - Quick question if you know the answer. If I start an open thread like yours on Gratitude, will my sub's get a notification each time someone comments? that could be super annoying? Help :)
Great question - what's the distinction and can you be both? I personally abhor people who seek to influence without engagement - it's called propaganda. To influence with impeccable integrity is to invite engagement, reflection, collaboration on ideas...at least that's how I see it. Can you see what some people don't like me yet?
Thanks again, Jessica! I have the whole left brain right brain thing combined. I have an MFA in creative writing and an MBA in business. It has served me well over the last 68 years ๐๐๐
I intend to go back and subscribe to the folks I have interacted with, but every time I have tried to do something new, I wind up on the outside, looking in. Much like my using years. I will try that later today.
I write enough every day to more than populate a Substack, but have published very little since giving up a weekly blog five-years-ago. Health issues (prostate cancer, encephalitis, triple bypass surgery) and family issues have kept my productive hours to a minimum. The last six-months my health has markedly improved, but democracy's health has been on the decline. It appears that some have eaten fermented fruits of "Liberty" and become intoxicated with the notion that whatever they want to be free to do is okay, but the rest of us need to agree they are right and follow meekly along.
I was preparing to bail for a while in favor of my mandatory lunch/naptime when I saw your question.
You may have meant "physically active," but my mind was on "writing" and Putin and Agent Orange's merger of selfishness and power have threatened the happiness of billions of our global cousins.
I am going revisit this discussion after I "rest and digest" while my brain sorts through the morning for connections and reboots.
You have probably already met ThanksForLettingMeShare who posts a daily Gratitude List that makes apparent that he has an Attitude of Gratitude that he carries through his life.
This is the first sub-thread that I have engaged with for so long and I am loving the interaction. Spent 25-years seeking serenity via the ever narrowing funnel of alcohol and other drugs. Anyone can have an off-quarter-century, but I am so grateful to have escaped in 1985, just in time to avoid utter disaster.
I'm going to tell you---these writers office hours are actually the most productive and most fun times of the week for me. I always come away with a bunch of other people's great ideas and then I meet the greatest people.
My brain always starts to shut down for my mandatory lunch/naptime, but today it really faded fast and being interactive surely drained my battery faster.
I understand, Sara! Donโt be afraid to experiment. I throw so much shit up and every now and then something sticks. Experiment! Show up here and pick everyoneโs brain. I love it!
Thanks, Wendy! It was a feature I offered a year ago in my private Facebook group and Iโm really trying to phase out and away Facebook, so I thought Iโd try it in my stack.
I have a love-hate relationship with Facebook like many of us, Stephen. I got hacked last fall and without any explanation, without any recourse, Facebook unceremoniously shut down my account with 4000 friends and my Instagram account with 1000 followers. Apparently somebody from some other country convinced them that I was dangerous individual. They also got into bank accountsโฆ Iโll spare you the details, but Iโm loving what Iโm finding here on the stack. Heading out. Iโve enjoyed our conversations here.
That sucks big time. My heart goes out to you. I had a lot of worldwide friends and loved so much about it...until I didn't. I just woke up one day and decided never to go back. It was no longer giving me joy.
I left when they started overtly censoring but I'd already been censored for years, on everything from Standing Rock to speaking up for Palestinians to posting actual pub med articles.
Love this idea Carol! I just wrote a post about taking small daily pauses, so this idea would fit really well. Thanks for getting my wheels turning! xx
Sure, David. For the next 52 weeks, on Thankful Thursday, in a thread, I will ask my readers to list something, someone, someplace, that they are deeply grateful for. Iโm encouraging them to add a photograph, add some artwork, add a poem, a sentence or two. My goal is engagement. My goal is to get my readers comfortable with using the platform. Hope that helps.
My newsletter is all about acidic, salty and bitter comments about greed, dishonesty, and oppression -- With a heavy sprinkling of incisive commentary. So when your need for sweetness and light and Mary Poppins has been sated, and you are in the mood for the non musical equivalent of Lou Reed or "Born to be Wild" by Steppenwolf, come on down and visit my site.
Joyce and Lynne: I hope the preceding did not offend. It was meant to be humorous
Currently, I am working towards building a community on other platforms (specifically Instagram and Facebook) and redirect them to my Substack newsletter. It is not easy because it looks like I am cultivating three communities. But I am hoping it begins to make sense over time.
For Instagram, I take screenshots of the most shareable paragraphs from my essays and edit them into bite-sized excerpts that people can read and share easily. I have come to realise that this is also a good way of making a connection even if doesn't exactly translate into a subscription.
For FB, I stick to relevant groups and communities and reply to every comment and acknowledge every share.
I screenshot little snippets of my weekly newsletter and add the link to it in my Insta stories on the day I publish. Its created some traffic to my substack and a few sub's. Still learning!
The IG stories thing works really well. The algorithm is such that sometimes followers miss your updates. So being consistent on IG is beneficial to keep reminding your followers of your essays.
Any relation to Mike? One of my favorites for his support and his "Everything is Amazing" attitude. Good writer too and one intend to follow once I find the time.
You can add a link to your IG Story by clicking on the Sticker icon. You'll find a list of stickers you can add to your story. Adding a link is one of the sticker options.
Let me know when you do! I have not ventured into IG, but often thought my camera addiction and love of stories would make a useful combination. My sister (co-author of the Val and Kit series Buddy-style mystery novels.) and also my Editor/Publicist/Heroic Figure) has encouraged me to get on all those platforms. When she reposted on of my posts on her FB account, she got a lot of positive feedback to send me.
I've found that my most catchy clips from writing and then sharing screenshots of the comments I've received from people in regard to my writing has helped draw in new folks from IG. For some, it takes a view visits before they decide to subscribe
I do the same thing for Instagram but copy and paste an excerpt into a Canva template with an eye-catching background or picture. Haven't tried IG stories yet; didn't know the algorithms affect what my followers see. I learn so much on these forums. Thanks.
Pooja, Iโm doing some similar things on IG. Iโm using Unsplash photographs and some from Pixabay, adding the link to my stack and things like โBut first, coffee.โ โDonโt be shy:subscribeโ with a pic of a cat under a blanket. Itโs quite fun actually! ๐โ๏ธ๐ป
right?! I actually quite like all the fun things we can do around here. Like I keep telling myself - experimentation over perfection. It is a slightly risquรฉ approach for me since I'm generally a worrier, but it is helping me learn a lot of things about myself and my craft :))
Same here. I jumped in not having all the answers. Hell, I didnโt even know what questions to ask, but I am on a roll and loving every minute that I get to do what my heart desires. I am a creator. You are a creator. And here we are. Following you, by the way.
I also have an ongoing mantra in the back of my mind about experimentation over perfection! It's so much more empowering to think of efforts as intentional experiments within your control
Hey, Stephen, Quick question. How do you know that those free subs are coming off of your IG stories? Itโs probably a stupid question, but Iโve learned to ask for the information that I need.
You know, I'm not 100% sure, but I typically check my engagement through Facebook in the business.facebook.com section. I can see how many people clicked the link. From there I can go into Substack and see the percentage of people from IG who read the post. I get more reach through FB, but I honestly really dislike that platform.
Do you stick with ig posts or reels? My posts get very little traction but my reels get 6K views. Maybe reels are the way to go but I'm not totally sure how to incorporate newsletter bits into reels. Has anyone tried this?
I am doing IG posts and stories right now. The algorithm is such that it is a hit or miss. I haven't explored Reels so much. Although it really is the way going forward. I guess I am also trying to figure it out. Good luck to the both of us :)
yes IG is frustrating with their algorithm. I can get 7K views, hundreds of "likes" and no new followers, so I'm afraid their set-up just doesn't promote engagement like it used to.
This is a good tip, I have always wanted to do a similar thing on Instagram but haven't found the time. Do you find posting on IG helpful in increasing engagement with your newsletter?
Since I am unsure if my newsletter emails directly go to the receiver's promotions folder, IG posting makes me feel secure. After sharing on IG, I know that my followers have read the latest post, even if they are just excerpts. If they really did like reading them, they can click on the link to read the whole post. In a way, I feel like I am giving my reader the choice to read my essay instead of bombarding them with my content all the time.
I host a thread called โWhatโs Your Story?โ Itโs an occasional Tuesday space where I invite my readers to participate in the writing. In under 200 words, Iโve offered topics like, โYour Musical Moment,โ โYour Sibling Storyโ and โYour Thrilling Experience.โ This weekโs was โYour Good Advice.โ Iโd love to hear YOURS in the thread. :) Hal
oooh this is interesting. I'm more in the maker space (crafters, artisans, etc) so maybe I can do more of a "share your project" or "get unstuck with your project" community forum exercise? hmmm. the gears are turning now!
We might have some overlap. I just subscribed :) I publish two newsletters on Substack so if you want to check mine out, you definitely want to make sure it's titled 50 Things (and not The Safety Training Net which is the one I do for a very specific safety pro audience).
I love that! I'll borrow some good advice that came up in the episode of Trying I was watching last night "don't buy the first round because a lot of people in the group go home early"
My next essay is around the movies that defined or described your childhood. Mine is a toss up between The Sandlot and Now & Then. Everyone- what's yours?
Great question! I've been using Facebook Groups related to my topic. The better I get at writing a brief description or question at the top of a post, the more engagement I get.
I'm also on www.minds.com. I'll report back on this after I've been using it for a few months.
Honestly, putting the sign up link in first line of description, and Iโve also dabbled in creating free digital product downloads (I.e. phone wallpapers) where they sign up for the newsletter to get the free download. I share those on Instagram Reels and YT Shorts.
You tube can yield a treasure trove of subscribers
But:
YouTube has been the bane of my existence.
My productivity has waned into nothingness since I discovered that immensely addictive site.
Youtube gives me the opportunity to review my life -- and when one spends all of one's time reviewing one's life, one forgets to live one's life.
On Youtube, I recapitulate my love of Rock n roll, left of center Democratic pols like Bobby Kennedy, my Jewish roots in Brooklyn, York -- and at the end of three hours of utter nostalgic waste I am left with a feeling of emptiness and loneliness, which is, I suppose, par for the course in our wired, witless world.
If I had the time and better equipment, I truly think in a perfect world Iโd make YouTube videos to supplant my Substack! Iโd love to be able to chat or vlog about my Substack and such, then link back to said substack haha.
Right! Or even just seeing my excitement as a writer finding a place to write about and how that type of scheduling looks like in a "day in the life" type way may be interesting!
Or teasing a topic that I'll send people over to substack to, to continue the conversation!
And thank you!
I definitely wouldn't want it to become a "get rich quick" arena and would hope or train people to not expect that for Substack. It's not about that at all (of course!)
I came here also to mention YouTube, but didn't want to mention for the 100th time if someone else said it already, so...I second this!
Since I'm just getting started here on Substack, I haven't fully leveraged YouTube yet. I've mentioned it to my email list on Mailerlite, and in my Facebook Group so far.
I have the comment button there always and some just write there - others who know me from mighty networks - instagram or Facebook respond wherever they feel at the moment- at times they send me private messages -
I use the comment button at the end of the newsletter and also ask for thoughts. It spurs engagement I think. But I am new here so we will see what happens.
Next to growing subscribers, my top priority is to create conversation. I do a couple of things.
First, I invite people to comment. It may sound obvious, but it helps to put it out there.
Second, I end every story with 5 discussion questions. The questions are always connected to the story in some way, but I try to make sure they're questions most people would feel comfortable responding to (nothing too personal, nothing that requires a novel-length answers, questions that are open-ended, as opposed to yes/no, etc.)
Third, I make sure to respond to the comments, and if makes sense, ask a follow up. Again, it sounds obvious, but that's how you have a conversation, right?
All that being said, I've found that there are limits to conversation based in part on the size of my audience and in part based on the genre (I write humor, which isn't nearly as much of a conversation-starter as news or opinion, but on the upside the conversations are a lot more fun!).
About two months ago I launched a Wednesday edition of my newsletter and I made conversation a priority. I do everything I described above for the Wednesday edition, but I also ask my audience to submit slice-of-life humor they find in the wild (easy stuff like a silly sign or a funny conversation they overheard at the store). That added level of participation REALLY helps drive the conversation, and as an added bonus, it's helping me come up with more ideas about what to write about. In fact, the most recent Wednesday edition had section about Snackle Boxes that I never would've touched if my readers hadn't started talking about them (sharing that link here so you can see what I'm talking about https://michaelestrin.substack.com/p/slice-of-life-humor-in-search-of?r=1fqhx&s=w&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web)
I asked my community to share "one word" that represents a gift they would like to give the world during these troubling times. The response was great! I'm then filing all these into a word cloud and sharing back with them tomorrow. Word Clouds display all the words once...the words that were shared the most by my audience are larger and those only shared once will be smaller. Compassion, patience, and grace were the largest words on the word cloud. I love my subscribers for this reason. :)
Love that! I'm finding it hard to get people to respond to my emails or comment on Substack (even when prompted), but the same people engage with me on IG. Wondering if it's because email/substack feels more formal or like they need a more thoughtful response here. One word prompts are a great idea - curious if that would help people get comfier sharing :)
I've been paying more attention to what prompts my own engagement and response with other readers and creators so I can be mindful of how to inspire that same interaction in my work.
I did notice ending each post with a very clear question to respond to made a noticeable difference. I think, unless called to action, we've gotten into the habit of reading and consuming really passively and I'd really like to turn my space into more of a conversation.
Interestingly, I get a lot of direct emails in response. Maybe I have very shy readers :o)
Yes, this is such a good call! I'm planning to test a very direct feedback section at the end of every newsletter with bullet-point questions -- I found myself responded to a substack with this format the other day and it was such a huge light-bulb moment for me, lol!
Isn't that so funny? We try to reinvent the wheel or get really clever about it, but really we're the perfect test case for our own work and there are so many other brilliant people we get to be inspired by.
I do end up having lovely exchanges when people respond directly. But not as much luck in the comments section(which honestly is still very quiet as I'm still quite new) or there doesn't seem to be a natural way to do it. What has your experience been like?
I havenโt begun to do this yet but I plan to. My substack is short stories. Iโm thinking of doing some bonus content featuring examples of writers being annoying on Twitter. The goal is to be funny and be a release valve for those of us who are exhausted by bullshit in the literary world. I think Iโll ask my audience to send me examples that they find.
Trying to do a job poster and job seekers thread for the audience and so far I got way more comments than normal, but still not quite where I want it to be.
Managing too many different platforms is overwhelming. I like to stick to engaging with readers through the comments rather than try pulling them off onto other channels. Connecting to other newsletters that way has helped, too.
One thing I haven't used much yet is the Discussion Thread tool on Substack. How has that gone for others? I'm curious.
The Substack team is signing off for today! We'll be back next week at the same time and place. In the meantime, checkout the Substack resources: https://substack.com/resources and consider joining us for our workshop on free to paid subscriber conversion: https://lu.ma/download-conversion
Keep going,
Katie, Bailey, Jasmine, Alex, Michelle, Lucas, Kirthi, Yuriy, and Nicole
Hello everyone! Here's a little encouragement from one small newsletter to all of you. Do you find yourself getting caught up in the numbers? It's really easy to get stuck on how many subscribers you have...or don't have. But take it from me: while the numbers feel good, they ultimately don't matter. What matters is the community you build around your newsletter, the way you build yourself up as a writer, and the persistence you show as you keep writing. So keep writing! Don't stop! The world needs your voice! ๐ฟ
Love this, S.E., and great advice. I started by turning off notifications for unsubscribes. That felt so good, I turned off notifications for subscriptions as well. Freedom! Now I check my numbers once a week if I remember, but mostly I let it go. My metric for my newsletter is (and has been since day one): am I having fun? If the answer is yes, that's what matters to me.
Thank you! Unfortunately substack hasn't helped with the stalker situation. They said they banned the person harassing/stalking me and had their engineering team find a way to prevent them from making new accounts, however they've been making new accounts freely and substack ignores my pleas for help. So I'm on my own, plus a little help from my friends.
this is so good! one of the obstacles to my starting a newsletter is being afraid of getting too caught up with the metrics and starting to measure my own self-worth around it. glad that you are able to protect your mental health around it.
No matter how great (or terrible!) your newsletter (or any kind of creative project): you are more than the work. Full stop.
(Whenever I get an unsubscribe, I just remind myself that I am not for everyone, and that's okay! I want people to be free of the weight of their inboxes; I don't want to add to that burden. I want subscribers who *want* to hear from me and be in community with me. Everyone else *should* let me go.)
Great way to think about unsubscribes, and I also turned off that notification. So important for all of us to remember we are more than our work, and that no oneโs work can possibly appeal to everyone!
Such wise words, and takes a lot of behind-the-scenes work to get to that place, at least for those of us with people pleasing tendencies! Totally agree with your approach to unsubscribes.
So true. The numbers feel good only momentarily. This week I had a video on TikTok get 10 Million views and become a trend. Itโs been fun and has definitely produced some Dopamine, but its the process of writing and editing and putting into the world a thousand words that gives me a deeper sense of satisfactionโฆ. onto the next thousand wordsโฆ
Wow, congratulations on the virality! I imagine that's the double-edged sword, right? Yes, the numbers from a viral post can feel incredible, but what's next? What do you do in the aftermath? I think it's awesome that you're already thinking of the next thousand words. Keep going, Hal! The world needs what you're offering.
Good point, S.E. What I've enjoyed so much about Substack right from the start is the sense of community. I don't have many subscribers, but I've gotten engagement from the start because people on here are so active. It's great. Thanks for the reminder. It's easy to fixate on the numbers.
It really is, Pablo. But I'm so glad you're here, and don't give up! Consistency is key. Community is always better than numbers, in the long run, when it comes to sharing your art and soul. ๐ฟ
Agree totally! I rarely look at my stats and have few subscribers at this point, but I will keep publishing my newsletter every week because itโs a good discipline for me and it is helping others cope with the stress in their lives and find reasons for hope.
Beautifully said, Wendi! Every so often, especially if I've put off writing my next post and I'm down to a deadline, a little voice says, "Aw, just skip this post. No one will mind."
But then I realize: I will mind. Even if no one else reads, I will mind very much if I slip in what I've set out to do. And invariably, those posts end up reaching someone more than I ever thought they could. Lesson learned, every time.
I did exactly that last Thursday. I usually post my Liner Notes on Thursday afternoons and hadn't written anything and said the same thing to myself--"people will enjoy the break." Then I sat down and something just poured out and I posted it and got a comment within 10 minutes that said that it was the best yet. That was a fantastic reminder to always, always keep writing.
The other part of the story is how much that one comment meant to me---which reminds me to tell people when they do something I think is good. So I owe one to that person for sure.
I feel the same way! Iโm in it for now for the emails and DMโs Iโm receiving from family and friends who are loving and/or missing my newsletter. This has been a really big mood booster for me. I feel inspired to keep writing, be consistent and let them learn more about me.
That's perfect, Lisa! Honestly, whatever keeps your fingers on the (literal or proverbial) keyboard and your butt in the (literal or proverbial) chair is fantastic! :D
Great advice! Thank you. Every now and then Iโll get a โdisabled emailโ message, and it used to tear me up, now not so much. For every disable I get, I receive half a dozen engagements from readers on all levels. Do what makes your heart sing and leave the rest to chance. .
Love this! Very true. I remember my first unsubscribe; it felt very painful. But since then I've had several, and I've realized that it's okay. I would rather write to the folks who truly love what I do, and let the ones who aren't as interested go find the newsletters THEY love!
Agreed! Since I launched on Substack in April, I have connected with old friends and people interested in storytelling. Numbers can give you a sense of market reach, but the impact of our writing on people's lives is most important. Best, Mark Massรฉ www.markmasse.com
Highly agree, Mark! So many of my subscribers don't comment or engage in any way, but every once in a while I'll get a personal email from them or see that they've shared one of my posts and it lets me know that they are, in fact, reading and enjoying what I write. We never really know what will make someone's day or inspire them!
I love your community, fyi. I'm obsessive about the metrics, but I agree, I wrote like this when I had one subscriber (my other email account), so I want to make sure I notice if things aren't going in the right direction, but it's not going to change what I write much, if at all. Love your community, did I already say that? Would it be cool if I wrote something about what you posted today?
I would be honored! And thank you. I'm so grateful that the community forming around my little newsletter is such an incredible group of folks. It's very humbling.
And I love what YOU'RE doing, too! I could have sworn I already subscribed but discovered today that I hadn't (shock!) so I'm officially a subscriber, now. :D
I'm glad you're here, Janera! Don't worry about being small. I believe that real, organic growth happens when we focus on consistency and authenticity. It may be slower growth, but it's certainly higher quality over time!
I write personal essays, devotionals, and poetry about the marriage of nature and faith, using my Celtic Christian beliefs and my woodland home as inspiration.
Happy to share that my newsletter, โmoviewise: Life Lessons From Moviesโ has just been accepted into the Google News app under the โentertainmentโ category! I learned about this program from another Substack writer, Jatan Mehta, who shared this tip in a Writer Office Hours a while ago (Jun 30). (Aside: it would be great if these kinds of tips were put together in one place).
Here is his article explaining how to do it, which I followed:
That is amazing! And now I've subscribed :-) In addition to this Substack I have a newsletter at litthinkpodcast.substack.com where we talk about pop culture from the lens of English teachers ๐
This is why I want to compile a list of all of us on Substack---so that we could try to establish a similar category here on Substack and also on Apple while we're at it--there's strength in numbers!!
Awesomeโฆanother option to check into, and I agree it would be great if all suggestions were together in one place. One from me: create a free page on bio.link. Hereโs mine: https://bio.link/wendigordon. It allows you to have links to all your socials, Substack, Medium, etc in one place right under your name, and unlimited links to content youโve created and want to showcase, organized by categories. Super quick and easy to do, even for someone like me who is not tech savvy.
I love bio.link! I too have one listing, and it is nice to have one place to put all your social media accounts and projects in one place. I have a link to it on my Substack homepage.
Thanks, Wendi, does that mean that you now use the bio.link on all your materials ... or how do you distiguish where you use it and where you use your substack address of other forms of identification?
Right under my name on the bio.link page is a link to both my Substack and Medium pages, as well as Twitter and LinkedIn, so I now use my bio.link page as the website listed on each of those other sites (havenโt added it yet on my Substack page, but updated all the others). Iโm also going to use it in my email signature.
My main goal in creating the bio.link page was to have a place for people, including potential clients and editors of publications I pitch, to read a representative sample of my articles on various topics.
The links are all โfriendโ links, which enables anyone to read my articles behind Mediumโs paywall without having to join Medium. Hopefully more people will discover my articles that way, and I wonโt have to copy and paste new links every time I send an email pitch.
When I publish Medium articles in the same niche as my newsletter, I will still use the Substack link at the end of those articles. I donโt have any printed materials like business cards at this point.
Love the idea behind moviewise! So many lessons in movies/films worth exploring and dissecting after watching. Love these types of talks at gatherings with friends, around the dinner table, etc.
It's pretty new so only two of my 50 articles are showing up. I'm assuming it will get populated in the following weeks. Also, you can download the Google News app and search for "moviewise" to find it.
Paging my fellow travel/culture/personal essay writersโis there a community for us to connect, exchange ideas, maybe explore cross-promotion? Iโve joined the Substack writers Discord, but havenโt seen anything more specific than the nonfiction channel (I also literally joined Discord yesterday, so maybe Iโm doing it wrong?). While I love and am open to connecting with Substack writers of all types, a more tailored group would be super helpful. TIA!
If you're on the Substack Writers Unite Discord, under the header "Build Your Audience" is a channel called #cross-promotion, which you might find useful.
Ooh, having an integrated option would be nice! In the absence of one, I'm thinking Discord may be our best bet? But I am open to other ideas, I have no particular loyalty to Discord!
Yeah, I would like to use social less, especially since it feels like I never get anywhere there. It is SO much work with so little payoff. Also, subscribed!
Fair enough, I'm not a big social media person either. It would be nice to be able to direct message other writers through Substack without resorting to email...if that's an option, I haven't found it yet!
I donโt have a novel idea for you, but I write about travel with occasional personal essays too :) so following your newsletter and maybe we can connect/cross promote through Substack itself!
This is what Iโm thinking, too! Erin suggested above that it would be nice if we could have a direct Substack groupโwhich I think is an excellent idea, but I know of no such feature. So until that exists, Discord probably makes the most sense?
Sorry, somehow missed the notification for this comment! I think a Discord does make the most sense. Maybe we could make a channel in the Substack Writers Unite discord? It's already pretty active!
No worries, Valorie:) Iโm reaching out to the Substack Writers Unite admins about doing exactly this. If itโs up and running by Thursday I will share a link during Office Hours!
I write about travel, personal essays, culture, design, and art. Iโm just getting started so Iโd love to brainstorm / collaborate / encourage each other.
Hi Lisa! Yes, would love to connect. Looks like there is a good amount of interest in this--assuming no one offers up an existing community, I will look into starting a Discord channel for us or something similar! (P.S. I'm fascinated by your newsletter topic--would to hear more about what you do.)
I'd love to see the Substack Writers Unite server on Discord get more active. I know it can be hard to follow things in Discord because it's not a great place to keep track of or search for information, but for "live" communications it can't be beat!
I agree! I joined yesterday and was eager to participate, but then saw that it isnโt super active and that most of the channels have fairly broad organizing ideas, so I honestly wasnโt sure what to contribute.
On the subject of conversation with readers, I'm curious: how many people get contacted by their readers by old fashioned E-mail with questions or proposals? This is less about community and more about 1:1 interaction but I'd like to hear other Substacker experiences. I get very few E-mails but they do seem to be increasing a little bit. Thanks! Keep on keeping on, everyone!
I don't get an email back with *every* post, but I do get a lot of emails back instead of comments! I find it especially happens with people I imported from a previous email list.
Yes, quite a bit! I try to encourage it - and I'm also saying thanks to anyone who takes a paid subscription by sending them an individual email, which I realised is a good way of encouraging them to break that wall down.
It's probably not something that can scale once your readership's beyond a certain size or amount of engagement, I often fall a bit behind in doing it because it's time-consuming, but up to that point, it feels both a useful thing to do (for engagement), and a *good* thing to do (for presenting yourself as an actual human being who really does listen to feedback).
I wonder if the writer tone of the publication is a factor. For example, if you write in an approachable way or seem approachable, maybe that encourages people to reach out directly?
Yes, I think so. I don't exactly know all the ways to sound approachable (and I'm always experimenting with my own), but I certainly recognise it in other writers who are good at it!
Anytime I respond, People always seems surprised that there is a real person on the other side of the screen. It usually leads to some great interactions, though.
That makes me wonder how many newsletter writers, on average, step out and talk to people 1-to-1. If there's a general expectation that they don't, that's a good thing for those of us willing to do it!
I would say 15% of my responses are via email. Usually itโs someone sharing a story or their own experience hearing a song Iโve featured. Always makes my day.
I get nearly as many direct emails as comments on my articles. One particularly engaged readers sends me a reply most weeks. The email responses are often more meaningful - I had one particularly powerful response when I did an article on polio, I had a response from a polio survivor. Not the kind of comment that someone would post publicly (especially that generation), so I'm really glad there is this direct way of communicating.
I get direct emails from a few of my readers. I reply via email, and then soon afterwards I try to turn their email and my reply into a new (longer) article so that everyone can benefit.
Hey, Mark. Great question. Some use old-fashioned email, but Iโve been encouraging my readers to become familiar with all SS has to offer and to engage with me there.
I have found my folks more reluctant to comment since Substack introduced public "likes". Some have figured out how to make their profiles anonymous, while others contact me directly. But still.
I get very few, but I notice that when I ask my readers a question, maybe 2/3 comment publicly and 1/3 reply privately. Not sure if that is a deliberate choice or them not understanding the difference or how the tech works.
Entering my third week on Substack and I am having so much fun! I am at 90 subscribers (last week 78) and 19 paid (last week 16). With two that converted from free to paid this week. I am learning a lot, but ever better - I'm writing and get a lot of joy out of it. Thank you to this community!
Thank you! No secrets, I actually started this on a whim. I just posted on Facebook (615 followers), Instagram (400) and Linkedin (500+) and went from there. It's all an experiment. As a result of these encouraging early response, I'm trying to figure out how to consistently grow an audience. Not sure how to do that - which is why I am here!
Thank you. Itโs been so fun. I put so much effort in and itโs not that much financial gain in comparison to my day job - but I just told someone this is the best money Iโve earned in years!
I am not sure! I am only two and half weeks in! I write humor and heartfelt stories and I am really focusing on building a community ... not trying to just get people to read my posts.
One of the core ways to develop an audience is to borrow someone else's. There are lots of ways to do that, one of which is to publish in other places with established audiences. I often find myself wondering whether a particular piece I am writing should go in the newsletter or if I should submit it to other publications where it might lead people back to the newsletter. I'm wondering if people have thoughts/experiences/data on how much one should publish elsewhere to develop an audience for a newsletter. (To be clear, I'm not asking about publishing on more than one platform simultaneously. I'm talking about established publications that accept submissions.)
We have a guest post feature that we are going to make even more powerful soon - make it easier for writers to use it, make more traffic go to the "guest", expand the feature to podcasts too...
Do any of you all use the guest posts tool now? If not, why not?
The only guest author who contributes to Adventure Snack doesn't have their own Substack. So this is a good reminder to find more guest writers who do!
I vaguely knew about the feature, but the more I think about it, the more this seems like a great co-promotional tool. Thanks for the reminder, Bailey.
I don't have any data, but Substack is famous for writers from other publications borrowing those established audiences and setting up their own newsletters. If you can write for a large publication and get your Substack in the byline, I bet you'd see a boost in subscribers from it.
While I struggle to be consistent at both right now (Substack and publishing elsewhere), I have noticed that there are particular outlets I've published essays on that almost always result in one or two new Substack subscriptions and other outlets that don't. It's also worth noting what each outlet allows you to include in your bio. The ones that allow me to directly link to my Substack are the ones that get the best response. It's worth trying and experimenting! Do what you have the capacity to do and see how it goes!
I cover mostly Wellness related topics and some more general personal essay stuff, so I've published in online magazines like YogiApproved and Introvert, Dear. It's actually the Introvert, Dear publications that have helped a few Substack sigh ups trickle in.
This is interesting. This is something I'm going to start focusing on. I've had success with this strategy in the past, but I haven't applied it to my Substack, partly because I'm not sure what types of publications to go after. Separate but related, have you tried this with podcasts? Have you had any success that way?
I haven't tried it with podcasts, but I would imagine it would work! Any time you can get yourself out in front of an audience with similar interests as what you put out in your Substack, it can be a source of new subscribers. They like you, what you're talking about, want to check out your work, etc.
The only problem I see is that, with all of this writing for other publications, it's been hard to find time to spend writing on my own blog. It's a balance.
That can depend on the field. In my case, I can identify several places that I could submit to with a reasonable hope of acceptance, and I have had a couple of pieces accepted. What I am wondering is the relative merit of publishing any given piece in the newsletter vs submitting it. Obviously if I submit everything, there would be no newsletter. But if I submit nothing, the readers of those publications will never hear of my newsletter. Thus the search for balance.
I submit some articles to mags on a First British Serial Rights basis (there's a USA equivalent) and then, after a period of time, I publish it elsewhere, eg in theory Substack, though have mostly done this using my other blogs so far). I put at the bottom "This was first published in [name] magazine.
Hi, everyone. I'm grateful to be here with you as I find my way. I find this community inspiring and helpful. I launched Heart's Content, my free weekly newsletter 7 months ago as a grand experiment and a way to help hold myself to some accountability to showing up and sharing my thinking/writing more publicly beyond social media posts. The newsletter is still teaching me what it wants to be. Sometimes deeply reflective and instructional, sometimes simply a weekly journal, I tend to center around creativity, writing as a healing modality, spirituality, the power of sharing our stories, and the curriculum of my life. Thus far, I have what I think is a good open rate ( hovers around 35-37%) but I struggle with engagement. I've tried a few open-thread discussions but they mostly go nowhere. I long for more community and would love to hear your thoughts!
Hi Mary........I just celebrated a year on 'Stack. You're at the point (7 mos) where you can start weeding thru your subscriber list, and chop off those who NEVER open your posts! I do it about every 5-6 months, and manage to routinely find 10-20 subscribers who, either have never received the e-mails (bad address they typed in, I guess), or just flat haven't opened even ONE post!
I'm always, now over 50% open rate, and range anywhere from the low 50s to upper-50s. Good luck!
Hi, Brad! Congrats on your year! I wouldn't have thought to do that - thank you for the suggestion. And now I am intrigued by your newsletter title and must go see it!
Thanks so much, Mary....for the congrats, as well as your sub!!! Along with dropping the needle on some of my many lanes of rock'n'pop, please check out my resident singer/songwriter/guitarist, Stephen Michael Schwartz (RCA Records, 1974, when he was 20!), who's been contributing ASTOUNDING content for FR&B since February!
"The newsletter is still teaching me what it wants to be." Keep flowing with this, Mary -- it's a good strategy, in my opinion.
As for engagement, you're not alone: we've all struggled with it at some point, and it ebbs and flows. I think open threads in particular take awhile to get off the ground (plus, it takes time to figure out what kind of questions will spark responses in your audience). Don't give up! I've been writing my newsletter for 2.5 years and it's only in the last seven months that my community has really taken off.
Sarah - thank you! So helpful and reassuring. I notice that old pattern within myself arising again that everything should somehow move fast. Taking a deep breath and committing to continuing to trust and show up and allow it to evolve. Thanks again for your response.
Hi Mary, I love how you put the "the power of sharing our stories, and the curriculum of life." I'm at about a 60% open rate, although I still don't fully understand the numbers on Substack. Keep up what you're doing! It sounds like we have a bit in common, and I just subscribed to yours.
Thanks for the feedback, Jessica! I don't understand the numbers yet either and I am not attached to them other than it brings some reassurance that someone out there is at least opening my emails! A little reassurance goes a long way in the beginning, eh? Oh, fun - I'll go check our yours right now!
Love your description of your newsletter and will subscribe. It sounds similar to mine in some ways, so maybe we can cross-promote at some point. I also struggle with engagement despite making it clear that my goal is to create a supportive community and asking for comments in response to specific questions every week.
Thanks for sharing these resources. As someone else commented earlier, it would be great to have a Substack page with links to all of the resources other writers suggest during these office hour chats!
I've been engaging with my readers through good old email. When I see a new subscriber who engages frequently with my content, I send them an email asking about their life and story. I've made a few good friends this way and really enjoy how it makes me feel connected to my community.
Ahhh you are the one Kevin recommended! I know we arenโt supposed to judge a book by its cover, but I love the astronaut graphic. Excited to check out your page!
I use the email that automatically goes to all new subscribers to ask them to reply to the email and tell me a little about themselves, how they discovered my newsletter, what kind of content would be most helpful to them, etc. Most donโt, but occasionally someone does.
I started writing my newsletter a few months ago to document the aftermath of losing a loved one. It's an attempt to understand grief and navigate towards healing. Through my essays, I try to figure out the complex nature of grief and healing. I'm not an expert, I'm just a writer going through shit. And writing the newsletter helps me channel my focus on acceptance, healing and love.
The subscribers are growing slowly and steadily and I am not complaining. I also love the luxury that is running my own newsletter, where I can write without the confines of an editor or for it to be sold. I can simply let it be - honest and raw. It allows me to explore my craft further and so, I would love to collaborate with anyone who works along the lines of personal essays/memoirs/ slice of life writings.
I am also in the process of adding a new section to my newsletter for art (books, movies, music, food) that revolves around healing and acceptance. So if anyone here would like to contribute to this section, it'd be great!
I donโt focus on grief, but do share personal experiences related to mental health and finding hope when things seem hopeless. Maybe we could collaborate in some way.
thank you, michelle :) every once in a while, a reader will reach out to me and thank me for putting into words the struggle that is healing. and honestly, it is one of the things that keep me going.
Thank you so much Katie ๐งก grief is so difficult. It is like a club for invites-only - although none of us explicitly asked to be there. But no one outside this club knows what it feels like. I'm just trying to make it a safe space :)) thanks for subscribing !
Thanks for your efforts on this platform. A few adjustments that would make it more useful to content providers:
1) allow people to choose which image will be the thumbnail of the newsletter, and to edit/crop that image for best results. Most blogging platforms have had this function for about a decade.
2) Polls with more than 4 possible answers
3) The ability to save and re-use custom buttons and their associated text. Who wants to design a new one every time they want a custom button? I have a co-author, and constantly have to edit the phrase "...support my work" to "support our work." Tedious and frustrating!
4) The ability to set a recurring publication date/time. Why do we content providers have to do this manually for every single newsletter? I'd like to lock in "21:00 EST Weds" for the foreseeable future.
5) Richer data analytics would be great. What time of day do most people view my newsletter? On mobile device or laptop? etc. This would help us give the audience what they want.
6) Also, recommendations and blurbs are helpful, but why does Substack restrict this to people who write on Substack? Several of my subscribers are prominent in academia, journalism, etc. A blurb from them would boost my credibility. But they don't have substacks, so I can't let prospective readers know about them.
Thanks for your prompt reply. I mean the image, selected from each newsletter, at the top of the substack page (in my case, https://allsetarc.substack.com). You can see in this example that the blue trash bag image is oddly cropped. I would have cropped it differently, or chosen another image altogether. Right now, the platform automatically chooses the first image in a given newsletter as the preview image for the newsletter's website. It would be great if we creators could select and/or edit that image ourselves.
Iโm curious what growth tools are most effective to other writers. I love meeting other writers in these discussion threads, following new Substacks, and meeting other writers. Itโs been the most effective way of really building a community so far! I also use The Sample which has gotten me some new subscribers-- https://thesample.ai/?ref=f8b4
Same song, 83rd verse.......I keep tub-thumping business cards, to meet new people, and giving them a card with your 'Stack address, and brief info! Do it right, and the card itself can be a conversation starter (I keep several on the edge of my Panera table, and hang a couple on their bulletin board)!
I have a 2-sided card, with a QR code on the back, so I hang both sides hanging up, so all the QR-code-loving kids can just pass by, and snap the code! You'll be amazed at the number of real live people who can end up with, now, the opportunity to find your 'Stack! I use VistaPrint, but another Stack-er used Canva! Go nuts!
I used Canva's template, added in my brand colors and logo and slapped on a trackable QR code. The cards are on their way! A recent subscriber asked me to mail them an autographed copy. No joke!
Glad to hear that The Sample is working for you, Ali! I've only picked up 2 - 3 that way. I find comments sections (including this one!) on Substack newsletters to be the most effective. That and leveraging my existing Twitter profile.
I agree with you! I love engaging in the comments section because it also brings more meaningful readers to my page who will actually like and comment on posts, and beyond that, I actually feel part of a community and like I have substack friends, which is the best. I hardly ever go on twitter anymore but maybe I should start using it again!
Twitter remains... Twitter so your experience can vary a lot. If I may, do you get a lot of questions about the cast of the shows that you've written for?
Give it a little time.The flywheel will start moving for you. In the meantime, check out the Directory and/or Discord server for cross promo opportunities.
I actually don't promote theirs, they send your newsletter to a bunch of readers and the ones who want to can subscribe. Here's a link -- https://thesample.ai/?ref=f8b4)
Well, and you write about a subject that LI and IG should eat up! With my posts about rock'n'pop and their attendant musicians, I find endless success with the many groups on FB, and can even tolerate the Reddit knuckle-draggers, on occasion!
I guess it's for that reason I'm glad I don't have a pin-point-directed 'Stack, like "Cross-stitching on Canoes in the Mediterranean," or "Susie's Newsletter on Nothing in Particular, But I'm Still Wondering Why I Can't Pull Paying Subscribers."
From way downtown...............BAM!! I know, right? Look for ten 'Stacks opening up tomorrow with that exact focus! A niche (an itch?) that definitely needed post scratching! Wheeeee! More coffee!โโโ
They basically send your newsletter to a bunch of readers, and the ones who respond to it can subscribe. Then you have to import the subscribers to Substack. It only works for some newsletter it seems like, but for a financial one you might have success! https://thesample.ai/?ref=f8b4
The Sample is newsletter sharing. You sign up and you will get samples of newsletters people are writing. Yours can then be sent out. It's a broad way of seeing what is out there: https://thesample.ai/?ref=b66a
I've been on Substack since March, and one of the best things I've done is remain consistent. I'm really focusing on the whole the concept of "if you build it, they will come" and it's working. People know that they can expect new writing from me on a weekly basis and I give myself room to explore different styles. I do advertise that I have a paid subscription but I don't bash it over people's heads. I provide great free content and I think that makes some people be like "hmm, if the free content is great and consistent, the paid must be even better". For me, the key has been having paid content that doesn't lead to me burning out because it requires so much from me.
Hi - I really like your philosophy!! I am trying a similar approach. My goals are super simple: 1) Show up (aka post) each week; and 2) Be as authentic as I can in each post. That's it.
Kudos to those who love the social media marketing but right now I just having fun posting here and not worrying too much about who is watching me.
Yasss, you have to figure out what works for you and what you can sustain! Honestly, even when I post thing on social media, I use the same overall format and then just switch up design. Personally, ease is the best approach!
Taking a moment to share that I just wrapped up the first installment of my newsletter: 12 original instrumental songs, one every month, comprising an entire volume of music.
In a few weeks, I'll release the first song of Volume II, which will be another 12 pieces of original instrumental music. So, I guess I'm serializing an album?
I don't know. I'm just so excited about it, and I really couldn't do it without this platform and the wonderful people here.
Oh, also we were so excited that Substack added a clear guest post feature! Since liththinkpodcast.substack.com tries to take breaks during the year, we love the option of growing our community and continuing to offer our readers and listeners content even if we are on a break.
I recently used a free "email checker" to investigate a few questionable email addresses (who had never opened anything), and found out that they were "bad" โ as in, fake. So, I deleted them. I didn't love seeing the dip in my subscribers, but I'm hoping it helps my open rates and engagement in the long-run.
A little list maintenance from time to time is worthwhile.
I have no idea how many subscribers I have... I just don't let myself pay attention to things like that. So I'm not concerned. I do get notified when I get new subscribers, so in a very general way, I know my subscriber base is growing. But I have approached this effort with an appetite to share my work, not build an empire, so if some of the emails in my subscribers are "bad", so be it. I'll just keep focusing on doing my work.
You are a stronger person than I am! But I totally agree with the sentiment โ the work is the thing, and if folks want to come along for the ride, great. If not, oh well. That's a good reminder for us all!
It's only recently I've noticed that there are some subscribers who have never opened up my emails. I definitely need to look into this. Did you find any disengaged subscribers that were real that you were able to engage with?
I think folks who come from Substack recommendations are, to use some sales-speak, lower quality leads. Because recommendations are auto-checked when you sign up for a newsletter, I think a lot of people don't even realize they're signing up for your newsletter too. Recommendations has been a big boost to my overall subscriber number, but my active subscribers (opening emails, commenting, etc) hasn't really budged.
I agree. I'll take the volume but often I get a new subscriber/disabled notification within a day of sending the first post. I chalk this up to people being like WTF I didn't sign up for this.
Me! Plenty of no-stars folks. Also subs who, when I go in to look at their individual stats, appear to never have opened a single email. I can't account for this -- are all my messages going to spam? And yet sometimes I reach out to them or otherwise have a conversation somehow and they tell me they're reading... in reverse, my boss says he never reads it but his individual stats show that he opens every message. (Maybe he's lying, haha, but maybe there is something else going on that I just can't figure out.)
This is pretty common as far as industry stats go. Anyone getting above a 20% open rate is doing something right. Even the biggest names in the game, such as Mark Gurman, hover between 30% and 40%.
I think people keep a lot of their reading 'saved for later'. Tell me honestly, don't you have a book on your bookshelf that you bought but never read? I am guilty here for I have more than handful like that. For some of our subscribers, I think, it is the same. There are so many reasons for why readers might be doing that.
So I am doing what I can do - focus on the writing part. And trying hard not to get caught up in numbers [ because I will go complete mental if I try to keep tracks of all the subscribers and their stars and the activities ]
A little bit of tech nerdery here but Apple recently rolled out an update that automatically opens emails in their Mail client, which will fire any tracking pixels. That means some portion of opens are going to be false positives, but hard to say exactly how many/much without more rigorous testing capability in Substack. Those tools would be unnecessary IMO, because the point isn't to fuss with open rates and data--the point is to write and read!
I have one that on the surface youโd think has never once read what heโs paying for, but I know from comments on Twitter & elsewhere that he definitely is.
Lots. But I am given to understand that this may simply mean they have anti-tracking features turned on.
On the other hand, when I did a couple of newsletter builders on BookFunnel I noticed that my open rates fell, so I assume that may of those signups were using a dead drop email address just to get the reader magnet. So no stars there.
I have a few. No idea what explains this. Why would someone take the time to subscribe and not open a single email? My only answer is that they subscribe and are checking in on the reader app or website, but (like my children) never checking their email...
Good day, friends. Iโve indicated in the poll that I use Facebook most of the time, but Iโm happy to announce that the shift is underway to move the important conversations to my stack. And just this week I tried using the โthreadโ feature and I am obsessed with it! Love love love it. I am a creative wife, affectionately known here as The Footloose Muse. And no, I do not deliver babies, I help people gift birth to their creative ideas. Would love some follows and promise to return the gesture.
I just started a weekly feature for my paid subscribers called The Conversation and Iโve already gotten a newsletter feature out of it. Not every topic gets people talking, it can be hit or Miss, but people should be encouraged to share their thoughts.
I'm de-motivated in my writing. I miss writing on my wordpress blog www.fallingleaves197988517.wordpress.com . Then again I felt no one took my blogging work seriously. I feel annoyed and burnt out. Also im having a lot of anxiety and panic attacks.
Are you writing about what you want to write about/love writing about? Not knowing anything about you personally, this may just boil down to the what and how you write! Gimme a holler, Liam, if you'd like, at bradc318@gmail.com, and we can talk further.
I just enjoyed the freedom of the wordpress blog. Substack feels like im trying to be some kind of New Yorker style writer. I have some writing goals but its all got in a horrible mess. I might try and in person writing group in my city but sometimes they are like a nest of vipers...
Hey Liam, being annoyed and burnt out is good information; there's usually a message in those emotions. Also, we're entering year 3 of a pandemic and most people (myself included) are fried in ways we aren't even aware of yet. Go easy.
Maybe it's time for a break, Liam? Pushing through annoyance and burnout rarely serves anyone. Are you able to take some time off from your writing, take a step back, not think about it until you're ready to think about it again?
Started two weeks ago to write about small musicians and groups who produces really good songs but donโt managed to get the exposure they deserve from places like Spotify, Apple Music, the radioโฆ
Iโm searching for people to write with/for to collaborate but I donโt know where to start !
I think that growing a reader community start by working together ! Where can I find people who wants to work together, here on Substack ?
Kevin is the boss when it comes to music Substacks. I've really enjoyed connecting with his community on his weekly "what are you listening to" threads. Great for music discovery!
I'm trying to avoid dispersing too widely across platforms, not least because I don't want to increase my own admin time. Anything which is going to eat up time from doing actual writing I have to approach carefully.
What has surprised me is how successful Substack threads are - I thought I'd struggle to generate actual discussion but they've always worked out really well for me, immediately bringing in a bunch of intelligent and interesting responses from subscribers. I've also noticed comments on more general newsletters seem to have increase since I started doing threads - perhaps it puts my readers in the right mindset generally for commenting?
It's also because it isn't just 'comments' - it's a proper discussion. Substack's simple but focused approach encourages depth in the interactions.
I'm curious what cross-platform automation anyone might have used. I can see myself getting really bogged down with admin time, as you mentioned, Simon -- jumping around to multiple social sites to promote.
Hey Erin - my good friend Jon is an illustrator/designer. He's made logos for a few Substack publications, including mine. You can see more of his work at jtwilcox.com
Hi Erin. I am a self-taught, but I would be happy to help you design a logo. I cannot do original illustration but I can do almost anything with text and objects. Let me know! No charge.
Hey Erin! Alex, designer from Substack here. One of my favorite logo designers is Stevan Rodic. You can find his work here: https://dribbble.com/Stevan
He hasn't done any work for Substackers that I know of, but I've done a few projects with him and many friends have worked with him with great results. Maybe a good option!
Shoutout to the emoji-foward-ness of the Category Pirates guys, it moderately changed my life when I realized they used an emoji right in the actual name of their thing lol (truly)
I think the answer to all three of your questions is: it depends on your publication. And the only real way to figure it out is lots of trial and error, iteration, and perseverance. There are no hard-and-fast guidelines or even best practices that fit across the board for all Substack newsletters -- what works for me might not work for you, and vice versa. Experiment, see what happens, make adjustments, keep going!
1.I think the length depends on you and your audience. I'm a longform writer, so my posts tend to be much longer and I think that's what certain readers enjoy. However, I'm working on publishing smaller pieces so I'm able to offer a variety of things.
2. My paid subscribers receive a weekly Friday piece and this other segment of writing every other week. I've been experimenting with paywalls and sometimes allowing these to be open to all as a way to draw people in.
3. I mainly use IG with an intriguing clip of my writing that connects back to Substack.
To your first question, probably how long you want it to be. One thing I like about the Substack app is that is shows me approx. how long it will take to read an article. A 4 minute article is my personal sweet spot. When I see that it will take about 10 or more minutes to read I quickly feel that I need to go back later.
The "good length," Aaron, is whatever length it takes to communicate your story, carefully edited, of course. I just celebrated a year, last week, on 'Stack, and I care not a whit about "paid this" or "subscription that." It'll happen when and if it happens. I can't afford to lose sleep over those mental-masturbatory numbers. Been there.......done that, would-a bought the t-shirt if they'd-a had one!
Use all the social media sites you can find. You don't have to like it, tolerate it, or hold it in such disdain that you won't/don't/can't post your link on one! I use lots of FB groups, but only because I write about rock, its musicians, and general entertainment topics, so there are groups galore I can constantly post on!
My goal with https://newslettertosocials.com is to make a "one stop shop" for posting on every platforms! Def agree though, post everything everywhere until you know what is working and what isn't
Hi. I am interested in converting some of my free subscribers to paid subscriptions. I'd like to have some content available for free and then additional content (which also includes the free content) available for paid subscribers. Best place for me to figure out how to do this is where? Thanks!
Hi Molly! We often recommend publishing one post a week for everyone, and one a week for paid only. These might be different kinds of posts (e.g. the paid could be a discussion thread or interview) or you could choose a cadence that works for you.
Thanks for this. I guess I could simply "cut and paste" the free content into the content for the paid subscribers and then add the paid content. I'm writing a memoir (I'm the founder of Girls on the Run) and the memoir piece will be for paid subscribers. The free subscribers get the backstories to the memoir. Kind of like a musician who shares the backstory to a song and then sings the song.
I would love a way to organize my content so readers can sort of choose their own adventure. Maybe using #tags or some kind of Table of Contents to direct them to essays around the same theme, topic or style.
In Outsourced Optimism, I explore themes of human experience by weaving together fictional stories (usually things I'm watching or reading) together with my personal experiences via different story structures.
For example, my first series explored hope, disappointment and failure through A24's movie Everything Everywhere All At once. I wrote one essay as a timeline of hope, one that documented my experiment of looking at the world through a bagel, one that imagined an email correspondence between my internal parts regarding a recent failure, and one in the form of a letter.
Ideally, I'd love for readers to be able to view my essays by theme, by structure or by the fictional story they were prompted by....if that makes sense? Or to be able to recommend other essays they may like at the bottom of the essay they're reading.
So glad to see your suggestion, Tami! The reverse chronological format for blogs (and now Substack) feels so limiting in contrast to the potential of the "hypertext" navigation used in "choose your own adventure" narratives. Will check out your newsletter now to learn more.
In the meantime, I, too, thought "themes" (or tags) might be an alternative ~ but was disappointed to discover "tags" on Substack are limited to 3 and only apply to the newsletter itself. AFAIK we have no option for building a collection of tags for our collections of posts.
In light of this, I'm curious: Has anyone experimented with creating their own manual collection of tags/themes/categories? (This would be *different* than using the built-in Sections feature on Substack.)
I was wondering the same thing- if anyone has a creative, manual solution in the meantime? I thought about creating a Start Here post and pinning it to the top of my feed with different categories and links to the relevant posts, but was hoping there was a better way...
Elsewhere in this discussion, I discovered a *great* example of a "Start Here" post ~ and, quite frankly, I'm surprised more Substackers haven't done this:
One, Iโm looking to host more guest posts on my newsletter, which is all about living a life of integrity as an imperfect human in a complex world. If you might be interested, or interested in swapping guest posts, email me: ashasanaker@gmail.com.
Two, Iโm coming up on the first anniversary of going paid and thinking about rejiggering my paid vs. free offerings. Have you done that? How and why? Thanks for you input!
I have been writing for a few weeks. I am getting 18 to 26 views per issue. But, only 6 have subscribed (free) and no one has subscribed as a paid reader. What could I do to increase subscriptions in general, and patrons specifically?
I'm new to Substack, so my subscriber base has just begun to establish itself. What advice do you have for writers whose personal brand is focused on being a member of a marginalized community and sharing experiences that those outside of said community don't know about and those within the community can relate to? (In my case, I was born with a visible physical disability, cerebral palsy. I walk with crutches and LOVE GOING TO THE GYM, which, it turns out, people don't typically expect.) Also, is there a way to leave a tip jar so that people who want to pay you can but no one has to pay to subscribe?
You can add a custom button for tips, Sarah. I do mine through Ko-Fi but you can use PayPal or whatever suits you. Just click on the 'custom' button, type a short description, and add the URL.
Hi, I love it here on Substack and I write about addiction and recovery at https://thanksforlettingmeshare.substack.com and also host a podcast, Breakfast with an Alcoholic. We've ben trying really hard to encourage discussion and there just hasn't been much response no matter what the prompts have been--at least so far.
Iโm having similar problems. I include prompts and request comments in response to specific questions every week, but rarely get many (if any) comments.
A little off menu for todays theme, but a few weeks ago I asked about โrandomizingโ the order our recommendations are seen on our pages. I didnโt want the same one to always be at the top.
At any rate, it looks like thatโs now occurring, and I want to thank whomever made that happen.
I just did my first poll and my readers were really into it. I got the response I was looking for. They also left lots of comments about what they wanted to see more of in my newsletter. Thanks for offering this poll. I'm at https://diannejacob.substack.com/
I only started my Substack in the last few days but find it interesting how self promo mainly seems to revolve around social media these days.
As someone who doesnโt use social media and has no wish to, it can be difficult trying to figure out how to get your work to a wider audience. Just a thought about the world we live in now!
I ask subscribers to share. I collaborate with other Substackers. I show up in Office Hours regularly. I'm open about the fact that I write a newsletter, and I carry business cards with me that I can hand to people who are interested.
I did have an IG account for my newsletter but realized over time that I was cultivating two audiences (with little meaningful overlap) and I just don't have the time or energy for that, so I had to make a choice. I think social media is totally useful for newsletter promotion, but it's very hard to maintain if your heart isn't in it (and frankly, my life is too full to maintain anything if my heart isn't in it).
Thanks for sharing what works for you. Iโm trying to show up for and participate in Office Hours more often. I love it every time I am able to be part of the discussion and always learn from others. I try to force myself to interact on Twitter and LinkedIn but am not consistent because my heartโs not in it either, and Iโm an introvert.
I donโt! Itโs brand new, and Iโm happy for it to comfortably settle in. Small steps for now. Mind you, I take time to look around Substack and getting to know other writers from their posts and by getting into chats in the comments. Thereโs plenty of cross-pollination. :D
I second that. Not just the recommendations feature, but direct shoutouts etc. Connecting with other writers has been much more effective for me than social media. However this approach does take time.
Totally agree (esp. as someone who can never pick just one thing!) I think this is on the roadmap, and I'll make sure our product team sees your request :)
Annette, what do you mean by "more than one option?" You mean, more than a choice of two? If you insert a poll into your post, then click the little pencil in the top right-hand corner, enter all your poll details, once you input the two given choices, another box (choice) appears.
Nope: Notice how Substack asks us to pick one in the poll. There's no option to choose multiple answers. Maybe that's not a thing? Am I hallucinating? :) Dammit, Jim, I'm a doctor of philosophy (in history) not a (social) scientist! :) I think I need a survey option. :)
OH oh oh: you mean the ability to pick multiple answers, not offer multiple options. I get it now! Yes, this has occurred to me, too -- that would be so nice to have.
LOL! Thanks, Sarah. And thanks for making me clarify that, or, more accurately for clarifying that for me. I always end up participating in these threads while knocking out a post draft, so my attention isn't always where it should be.
One of the biggest questions I have concerns SEO and organic discovery. I know Medium does SEO incredibly well and Medium articles are often top Google and Bing searches. However, I have yet to see a Substack post show up in a search.
My question is (and forgive me if this has been answered in a previous Office Hours), does Substack allow search engines to crawl through publications, or do search engines not index Substack articles?
Yes, search engines do index Substacks, and after you pass a threshold you will be provided a sitemap automatically. A little known fact is that you also have an RSS feed tied to your Substack. For example, mine is https://brianreindel.substack.com/feed. My short stories are all indexed.
I had similar concerns when I started my literary-focused Substack. Previously I had run a tech-focused blog for ten years and organic discovery was a big part of its growth. But I have come to believe that organic discovery matters far more in some subjects than in others. For what I am doing now, I thing direct participation and word of mouth matter far more than organic discover would. It comes down to whether you are answering the kinds of specific concrete questions that people tend to google for. If so, organic search is huge. For things like fiction and philosophical ramblings, I think it matters far less.
I am a fairly new Substacker (since July) who writes about health and wellness mainly, as that is my career field. I've learned a lot from comments by other writers here and esp. in this thread. Am excited to check out The Sample, Discord, Slack, Hello Universe, Bookstackers, etc. Most of my subscribers so far are people I know and those from links on my Facebook page and so my open rate is pretty good (I think) at 50-75% and my couple dozen subscribers seem to enjoy my musings. I would love to acquire subscribers from other venues, however, but am still mystified as to how to do this, although I will check out the resources listed above and hope that they might be helpful. Any other suggestions?
-after adding subscriber emails, they pop up on your list almost instantly. If you're talking about "activity," the substack subscriber metric, that;s based on how many times they open an email and come to your publication in a month
-hitting publish actually doesn't necessarily send your post out to everyone -- you have to tick the "email to all my subscribers" box on the page that comes up once you press publish. It's ticked by default. But knowing you can toggle it off is useful if you ever want to just write web-only posts
To your third point - we have a welcome email set up and ready to go, but my question is when someone subscribes to the newsletter, does that email get sent to them automatically - or do I have to send it manually every time someone subscribes?
I tried making an official linkedin page for my substack, but that was mostly so that when I wrote that I was the founder and editor in chief, a little logo would come up in my resume. As for sharing, it's gotten a few eyes on my posts that normally wouldn't, but not much else. I haven't seen a crazy increase in subs
LinkedIn tells me I have quite a number of views when I post there but typically only those I am connected with will comment. Not sure if this has contributed to my growth in subscriptions but I suspect that consistency definitely helps. If folks keep seeing my name with post titles that are interesting, maybe they will eventually check it out.
I know it goes contrary to Substack growth but I've started repurposing part of my Substack content as an Article on LinkedIn to help reach (but I don't have a paid sub).
Any of our fellow Substackers interested in a collaboration?
We create custom ambient music and white noise audio tracks - would be great to team up with another creator to bolster (both) of our Substack communities.
Send me a message if you're interested in exploring this.
Hey there - I'm doing some similar work, and very interested in sound/noise. Would love to connect sometime! Feel free to email me at fogchaser@gmail.com
I try to use both comments and discord, but neither have worked out so far in snagging engagement.
Think I just need to keep going on until I can get people interested in talking. I'll be making a discussion thread relatively soon, so that might become a turning point.
Interestingly, I have a bit of mystery right now with my traffic. I'm getting traffic from facebook according to my stats, despite not linking to my substack there, but attempting to find out who is posting links has been futile even with advanced google tricks. So I'm wondering if there are some private facebook groups talking about my posts where I can't see them, not the engagement I was looking for, but it's something.
I've mentioned on these threads before, but I put off starting a thread for the longest time. I was afraid it'd be like hosting a party no one showed up to. But one week I did it anyway, and it was far and away the most viewed/liked/engaged with post I'd done in some time. Now I kick every week off with one.
All of that to say; give it a go! You never know what might come out of it.
That's reassuring to hear. In my case I need to reach a certain point with my story before doing the thread, but now I'm not as worried about it anymore.
I'm terrible at social media, and generally speaking, do not like to talk about things I create. I'm caught between wanting to build a following and not wanting to engage anyone at all to do it.
So I guess what I'm asking is: How have others with similar dispositions overcome their social media anxiety?
I have been off of social media since 2014, except for LinkedIn for professional purposes. I also write anonymously and generally am not comfortable with excessive promotion.
My solution is to 1- be ok with low and slow growth. 2- to do very selective promotion (I am planning a month-long subscription drive called SUBTEMBER next month, and then I will leave everyone alone the rest of the year). 3- hone your skills and improve your product.
Just keep writing--the people will come. As long as you love what you are writing, people will catch that energy, it will just take time.
I hate social media and am only on one platform (and even then, only check it once in awhile because I really don't want to be there at all). I created an IG account for my newsletter, set myself a posting schedule, stuck with it, and realized what I was doing was growing two audiences, and I don't have the time (energy, patience, or desire) for that, so I ditched it.
You can absolutely grow a Substack audience without social media. That said, other people here successfully use social media to their advantage and you can learn a lot from them. But only if you *want* to use that strategy -- it's not required or necessary.
This is so great to hear! I donโt use any social media and really have no wish to use it as a tool to promote my newsletter. Always good to hear other ideas from people about how to grow an audience without it!
I spent quite a bit of time working on social media to promote my writing, but found that it was affecting my mental health so I have largely walked away from it. I focus on connecting with other writers instead. Of course, this is just as anxiety-inducing, if not more so. For me, it's been easier to focus on connecting for the sake of connecting rather than constant self-promotion. (I'm not a big substack but I'm growing)
Instead of overcoming my social media anxiety, I overcame social media!
It felt like a heck of a wrench at the time to wipe as much trace of myself away from Facebook, Twitter and Istagram as they allow you to, but goodness me, I needed to get my life back, and I DID. :D :D :D
Iโd love the ability to edit comments from the app. Currently the only way to do it is on the main browser based page. Itโs not the easiest thing to have to switch.
Please give us more information about our publications in the stats.
I want to be able to cultivate information like
Total word count
Total free word count
Total word count behind paywall
To include in promotional posts on Instagram but right now I have to open the editor on each post and add it up manually just to get a rough idea of how much content already exists.
You already have this information, please just add it on to our stats page so we can see and use it. Especially helpful as a "year in review" kind of information that we could use to make a 1 year anniversary post.
On a per post basis, you can see the word count. Hover your cursor between the โVersion historyโ and โSettingsโ buttons at the bottom of the editor. Your word count will appear there.
I want it on my stats page and broken down by free and by paylocked.
I want to promote the amount of content people get in my back-catalog when they pay for a sub, but right now I have to tally that myself one at a time and I already have 80+ articles written and that takes forever.
I just wanted to say thank you for updating stats on Substack! I think the improvements are tremendous, and they give me a much clearer idea of where Iโm getting my traffic from.
If you are hosting conversations and cultivating community with your subscribers with your readers, tell us more! What tools do you use and how do you imagine they might better serve your needs?
Today I started a Gratitude Project as a thread. Tremendous response so far from my 300+ subs!!
BRILLIANT and I want to do the same! Thank you!
Thanks, Mary. To encourage engagement, I started with the letter โAโ to get things moving, and I shared my own love of the word โautumnโ and what it means to me. Iโm encouraging longer conversations in the thread. The reality is people are just so darn busy. You know I need to remember this is my world and my life, itโs not necessarily how my readers want to spend the morning. just getting them to show up is pretty awesome! Good luck. Keep in touch. ๏ฟผ๏ฟผ
I am grateful for a full plate that includes being grateful that in my retirement I have time to help others, rather than being the person who *needs* help.
So true for me, too, Pete!! Iโm an Airbnb super host in Rhode Island, and from May through October, I make enough money as a superhost to do this work that I love. Feeling very grateful and blessed today.
Newly retired here, too! I still do some work but with much less pressure. Feeling incredibly grateful to have arrived at this season of life.
Ah! October! The month of my birth and a favorite, if bittersweet, time. Precious time that is (usually) easy to utilize outdoors, motivated by the certainty that it wonโt last long. Also, our family reunion, Octobermeier, is held then.
Interesting idea, Carol! I just subscribed to yours ;)
And just subscribed to your newsletter!
Back at ya, Mary! Thanks ๐
Mary, I subscribed! I'm going to sub you in a few days, Carol. I don't like to do too many all at once or I get a little overwhelmed!
Aw, thanks so much Lily! I'll be sure to check yours out as well.!
I understand โค๏ธ
Carol - Quick question if you know the answer. If I start an open thread like yours on Gratitude, will my sub's get a notification each time someone comments? that could be super annoying? Help :)
Good question. Not sure but I can find out. They would on Facebook, right, so my guess is yes. Maybe ask one of our admins here???
Great question - what's the distinction and can you be both? I personally abhor people who seek to influence without engagement - it's called propaganda. To influence with impeccable integrity is to invite engagement, reflection, collaboration on ideas...at least that's how I see it. Can you see what some people don't like me yet?
Love this idea, Carol! And I just subscribed to yours.
Thanks, Jessica! Back at ya.
Thanks so much, Carol! You have fabulous ideas!
Thanks again, Jessica! I have the whole left brain right brain thing combined. I have an MFA in creative writing and an MBA in business. It has served me well over the last 68 years ๐๐๐
A perfect combination! We have much in common, I love it!
I intend to go back and subscribe to the folks I have interacted with, but every time I have tried to do something new, I wind up on the outside, looking in. Much like my using years. I will try that later today.
I write enough every day to more than populate a Substack, but have published very little since giving up a weekly blog five-years-ago. Health issues (prostate cancer, encephalitis, triple bypass surgery) and family issues have kept my productive hours to a minimum. The last six-months my health has markedly improved, but democracy's health has been on the decline. It appears that some have eaten fermented fruits of "Liberty" and become intoxicated with the notion that whatever they want to be free to do is okay, but the rest of us need to agree they are right and follow meekly along.
I was preparing to bail for a while in favor of my mandatory lunch/naptime when I saw your question.
You may have meant "physically active," but my mind was on "writing" and Putin and Agent Orange's merger of selfishness and power have threatened the happiness of billions of our global cousins.
I am going revisit this discussion after I "rest and digest" while my brain sorts through the morning for connections and reboots.
You have probably already met ThanksForLettingMeShare who posts a daily Gratitude List that makes apparent that he has an Attitude of Gratitude that he carries through his life.
You guys are too nice! Thanks
Oh, I love the synchronicity here!! Following you TBD. 14 years sober, BTW ๐๐๐
This is the first sub-thread that I have engaged with for so long and I am loving the interaction. Spent 25-years seeking serenity via the ever narrowing funnel of alcohol and other drugs. Anyone can have an off-quarter-century, but I am so grateful to have escaped in 1985, just in time to avoid utter disaster.
How lucky are we? I got off the roller coaster in 2008 and I love life!
Just started following you, too. 14 years sober here โค๏ธ๐
I'm going to tell you---these writers office hours are actually the most productive and most fun times of the week for me. I always come away with a bunch of other people's great ideas and then I meet the greatest people.
Keep doing what you are doing so needed.
Thank you--I'll let you in on a secret, this is actually keeping my sober, too. So thank you very much, actually.
I certainly agree!
Oh my God, I totally agree! But I have to tell you, Iโm exhausted after this. Itโs so interactive, right? But I love it!
My brain always starts to shut down for my mandatory lunch/naptime, but today it really faded fast and being interactive surely drained my battery faster.
Woo three cheers for ThanksForLettingMeShare!
Subbed you!
thank you and ditto!
Double ditto
Not familiar but am now!! Thanks, Pete! ๐
Nice. What a great idea. I will go over to your page.
Thanks, Sherri!
We all need a bit of gratitude and encouragement in time like this!
oooh this is a good idea!! I'm really struggling with the community engagement part of my sub. My first poll got exactly one response:
https://soulslikewheels.substack.com/p/6-books-to-read-for-adventurous-crafters
I understand, Sara! Donโt be afraid to experiment. I throw so much shit up and every now and then something sticks. Experiment! Show up here and pick everyoneโs brain. I love it!
Iโm following you now! ๐โค๏ธ
I love that idea and also might try it. Brilliant to do one for each letter!
Thanks, Wendy! It was a feature I offered a year ago in my private Facebook group and Iโm really trying to phase out and away Facebook, so I thought Iโd try it in my stack.
Great ideas, Carol! I too am trying to leave Facebook behind. It seems like a waste of time nowadays.
I have a love-hate relationship with Facebook like many of us, Stephen. I got hacked last fall and without any explanation, without any recourse, Facebook unceremoniously shut down my account with 4000 friends and my Instagram account with 1000 followers. Apparently somebody from some other country convinced them that I was dangerous individual. They also got into bank accountsโฆ Iโll spare you the details, but Iโm loving what Iโm finding here on the stack. Heading out. Iโve enjoyed our conversations here.
Wow. So sorry to hear.
Watch out there are facebook influences here.
That sucks big time. My heart goes out to you. I had a lot of worldwide friends and loved so much about it...until I didn't. I just woke up one day and decided never to go back. It was no longer giving me joy.
I left when they started overtly censoring but I'd already been censored for years, on everything from Standing Rock to speaking up for Palestinians to posting actual pub med articles.
Following you, Wendi and looking forward to reading your work.
Thanks Carol!
Amazing work, Carol. Subscribed to your publication!
Aw, thanks, Ragha! Iโm about to do the same ๐
Love this idea Carol! I just wrote a post about taking small daily pauses, so this idea would fit really well. Thanks for getting my wheels turning! xx
My pleasure, Debbie! Iโll be sure to follow you.
Oh thanks so much Carol! I truly appreciate that--will definitely follow you too. This thread goes so fast--will follow shortly. lol
I know, right?! ๐
Congrats! And sound like a neat idea...
Checking you out now!! Followingโฆ.
Thanks! I will do the same.
Thanks, Joan!!
Please edify me: What is a "Gratitude Project"
Sure, David. For the next 52 weeks, on Thankful Thursday, in a thread, I will ask my readers to list something, someone, someplace, that they are deeply grateful for. Iโm encouraging them to add a photograph, add some artwork, add a poem, a sentence or two. My goal is engagement. My goal is to get my readers comfortable with using the platform. Hope that helps.
I love what a positive, uplifting approach this is.
I love this and would love to figure out something we could do together!
my newsletter is ALL about gratitude, self-awareness, and self-appreciation so I just subscribed to yours! YAY gratitude!
My newsletter is all about acidic, salty and bitter comments about greed, dishonesty, and oppression -- With a heavy sprinkling of incisive commentary. So when your need for sweetness and light and Mary Poppins has been sated, and you are in the mood for the non musical equivalent of Lou Reed or "Born to be Wild" by Steppenwolf, come on down and visit my site.
Joyce and Lynne: I hope the preceding did not offend. It was meant to be humorous
Currently, I am working towards building a community on other platforms (specifically Instagram and Facebook) and redirect them to my Substack newsletter. It is not easy because it looks like I am cultivating three communities. But I am hoping it begins to make sense over time.
For Instagram, I take screenshots of the most shareable paragraphs from my essays and edit them into bite-sized excerpts that people can read and share easily. I have come to realise that this is also a good way of making a connection even if doesn't exactly translate into a subscription.
For FB, I stick to relevant groups and communities and reply to every comment and acknowledge every share.
So far, so good.
I screenshot little snippets of my weekly newsletter and add the link to it in my Insta stories on the day I publish. Its created some traffic to my substack and a few sub's. Still learning!
The IG stories thing works really well. The algorithm is such that sometimes followers miss your updates. So being consistent on IG is beneficial to keep reminding your followers of your essays.
Honestly, Iโd probably do it even if it wasnโt working ๐คฃ I just have so much fun creating them.
Spoken like a true Creativity Addict. As a retired Addiction Counselor, I see it everywhere. Some are just more useful than others.
Some are downright dangerous to democracy and the possibility for a "Happy Life" for all.
Yeah, I need to figure out a way to schedule IG stories time into my day with working at the same time :-)
https://newslettertosocials.com can help automate this process! We just added Instagram and Facebook support
This is really great - just signed up! However, are you able to edit the premade templates to fit your brand, or start from scratch?
We are in the process of adding custom templates!
I'd be happy to create a few to match your brand in the meantime.
DM me on Twitter: https://twitter.com/kragerdev or matthew@newslettertosocials.com and I can put something together for you
Iโm intrigued by this possibility and just clicked on your site. Will check into it further. Thanks!
Happy to help!
Hi Mary! I do this too and with my old content as well.I notice on the days I share to IG, I can easily get 100xs the traffic.
Hi, Kamil. I think we might have a lot in common! Just peeked at your newsletter! We should chat!
Yesss, let's do that! What's the best way to do that for you?
Letโs start with email! Just subscribed to your newsletter
That is a good idea. I might try that!
Any relation to Mike? One of my favorites for his support and his "Everything is Amazing" attitude. Good writer too and one intend to follow once I find the time.
Too kind, thank you, Pete. ๐
If Elizabeth and I discover we're long-lost cousins, I have you to thank!
Me? Not that I know of. :)
Hi Elizabeth. Nice to meet you. *Excellent* surname you have there...
Great Idea Mary! Thanks
Hi there---we've been experimenting with something similar--but having a hard time figuring out how to get links built in--how are you doing it?
You can add a link to your IG Story by clicking on the Sticker icon. You'll find a list of stickers you can add to your story. Adding a link is one of the sticker options.
Let me know when you do! I have not ventured into IG, but often thought my camera addiction and love of stories would make a useful combination. My sister (co-author of the Val and Kit series Buddy-style mystery novels.) and also my Editor/Publicist/Heroic Figure) has encouraged me to get on all those platforms. When she reposted on of my posts on her FB account, she got a lot of positive feedback to send me.
@thanksflms --we've been posting reels with voiceovers which are fun and getting lots of traffic---but getting that traffic back here is not so easy.
I just add my links from the link sticker in stories...is this what you mean?
We post the links next to the reels---but it would be nice if there was something clickable
I also use linkinbio through my later account - which at least let's people navigate to the link in my bio to find individual post links.
Yes!!!
What have you found most effective for bringing followers over from IG?
I've found that my most catchy clips from writing and then sharing screenshots of the comments I've received from people in regard to my writing has helped draw in new folks from IG. For some, it takes a view visits before they decide to subscribe
I find that IG stories are helpful. I usually make some cool graphics, then add a link for viewers to click on.
Would someone like to collaborate with me? I have a new Substack and am looking to grow! Open to any ideas or feedback.
Thank you!
jaroslavnovosyolov.substack.com
Would someone like to collaborate with me? I have a new Substack and am looking to grow! Open to any ideas or feedback.
Thank you!
jaroslavnovosyolov.substack.com
Good tips! I like the bite-sized screenshot sharing.
I am so new here. Can you expound on what you mean by bite-sized screenshot sharing?
thank you Jasmine :)
I do the same thing for Instagram but copy and paste an excerpt into a Canva template with an eye-catching background or picture. Haven't tried IG stories yet; didn't know the algorithms affect what my followers see. I learn so much on these forums. Thanks.
I agree on learning so much from these office hours!
This is my first time in the group and I am already learning so much.
Pooja, Iโm doing some similar things on IG. Iโm using Unsplash photographs and some from Pixabay, adding the link to my stack and things like โBut first, coffee.โ โDonโt be shy:subscribeโ with a pic of a cat under a blanket. Itโs quite fun actually! ๐โ๏ธ๐ป
right?! I actually quite like all the fun things we can do around here. Like I keep telling myself - experimentation over perfection. It is a slightly risquรฉ approach for me since I'm generally a worrier, but it is helping me learn a lot of things about myself and my craft :))
Same here. I jumped in not having all the answers. Hell, I didnโt even know what questions to ask, but I am on a roll and loving every minute that I get to do what my heart desires. I am a creator. You are a creator. And here we are. Following you, by the way.
And we're having fun creating :)
subscribed.
Thanks! Looking forward to reading your work.
I also have an ongoing mantra in the back of my mind about experimentation over perfection! It's so much more empowering to think of efforts as intentional experiments within your control
Thatโs so creative! Love it. Thank you for sharing that. Will certainly try it.
Yay! Let me how it works. Iโll follow you, too ๐โค๏ธ
Thank you so much. I appreciate that.
๐โค๏ธ
What a great, intentional way to connect with people on several different platforms! I appreciate your sharing. :)
:) no problem. hope it helps
This is excellent! Thank you for the help.
I find that IG Stories are a great resource. I usually throw up some cool graphics and add a link. I usually get 1-2 free subs every time I do this.
Hey, Stephen, Quick question. How do you know that those free subs are coming off of your IG stories? Itโs probably a stupid question, but Iโve learned to ask for the information that I need.
You know, I'm not 100% sure, but I typically check my engagement through Facebook in the business.facebook.com section. I can see how many people clicked the link. From there I can go into Substack and see the percentage of people from IG who read the post. I get more reach through FB, but I honestly really dislike that platform.
Following you, too.
Typically 1-2 times a week.
Great tips Pooja! I'm trying to grow my Substack so appreciate new marketing ideas. Thanks!
Thanks Jack---lately I was thinking that would be a good way.
I'm trying to do the same, Pooja! Thanks for sharing and for your advice.
:) hope it helps
Me too!
Would someone like to collaborate with me? I have a new Substack and am looking to grow! Open to any ideas or feedback.
Thank you!
jaroslavnovosyolov.substack.com
Do you stick with ig posts or reels? My posts get very little traction but my reels get 6K views. Maybe reels are the way to go but I'm not totally sure how to incorporate newsletter bits into reels. Has anyone tried this?
I am doing IG posts and stories right now. The algorithm is such that it is a hit or miss. I haven't explored Reels so much. Although it really is the way going forward. I guess I am also trying to figure it out. Good luck to the both of us :)
yes IG is frustrating with their algorithm. I can get 7K views, hundreds of "likes" and no new followers, so I'm afraid their set-up just doesn't promote engagement like it used to.
Reels definitely get more traction.
I need to learn reels!!
This is a good tip, I have always wanted to do a similar thing on Instagram but haven't found the time. Do you find posting on IG helpful in increasing engagement with your newsletter?
Since I am unsure if my newsletter emails directly go to the receiver's promotions folder, IG posting makes me feel secure. After sharing on IG, I know that my followers have read the latest post, even if they are just excerpts. If they really did like reading them, they can click on the link to read the whole post. In a way, I feel like I am giving my reader the choice to read my essay instead of bombarding them with my content all the time.
Got it, I have been doing that with my followers too at least with the comfort knowing that they already know that I put out a new post.
I host a thread called โWhatโs Your Story?โ Itโs an occasional Tuesday space where I invite my readers to participate in the writing. In under 200 words, Iโve offered topics like, โYour Musical Moment,โ โYour Sibling Storyโ and โYour Thrilling Experience.โ This weekโs was โYour Good Advice.โ Iโd love to hear YOURS in the thread. :) Hal
oooh this is interesting. I'm more in the maker space (crafters, artisans, etc) so maybe I can do more of a "share your project" or "get unstuck with your project" community forum exercise? hmmm. the gears are turning now!
I love prompts and projects like that!
We might have some overlap. I just subscribed :) I publish two newsletters on Substack so if you want to check mine out, you definitely want to make sure it's titled 50 Things (and not The Safety Training Net which is the one I do for a very specific safety pro audience).
Oooh, Iโm loving your writing and excitement for having this outlet! I got caught up in your articles and so appreciate your viewpoints. Subscribed!
Wow, Hal!! You are a phenom in my book. Following now.
Aw shucks, Thank you!
Thank you!! ๐
I love that! I'll borrow some good advice that came up in the episode of Trying I was watching last night "don't buy the first round because a lot of people in the group go home early"
My next essay is around the movies that defined or described your childhood. Mine is a toss up between The Sandlot and Now & Then. Everyone- what's yours?
FYI...I got here late but I'm subscribing to you. Cheers!
Thank you Susy! I'm excited to dive into your work as well. So happy to be connected.
Thank you, Tami! :)
Great idea!
I hope I remember to post something.
Looooooooove this!!!
I do write a newsletter here, but it's a newbie. Is that microcontent, lol? I am still learning lingo, so please pardon my ignorance.
Thank you! Yes, It seems I am. Primarily.
Great question! I've been using Facebook Groups related to my topic. The better I get at writing a brief description or question at the top of a post, the more engagement I get.
I'm also on www.minds.com. I'll report back on this after I've been using it for a few months.
What do you like most about facebook groups?
I'm able to find quite a few FB groups on psychedelics; so that's one great point and I've developed some good relationships with members.
Love your topic/quest. I just subscribed!
Thanks! Your newsletter looks fascinating, so I just subscribed to yours as well!!
Would someone like to collaborate with me? I have a new Substack and am looking to grow! Open to any ideas, subscriptions and feedback.
Thank you!
jaroslavnovosyolov.substack.com
You are quite welcome!
YouTube is my main audience :) pulling them to my newsletter for more direct communication and content in-between videos!
What's been most effective bringing folks from YT for you?
Honestly, putting the sign up link in first line of description, and Iโve also dabbled in creating free digital product downloads (I.e. phone wallpapers) where they sign up for the newsletter to get the free download. I share those on Instagram Reels and YT Shorts.
You tube can yield a treasure trove of subscribers
But:
YouTube has been the bane of my existence.
My productivity has waned into nothingness since I discovered that immensely addictive site.
Youtube gives me the opportunity to review my life -- and when one spends all of one's time reviewing one's life, one forgets to live one's life.
On Youtube, I recapitulate my love of Rock n roll, left of center Democratic pols like Bobby Kennedy, my Jewish roots in Brooklyn, York -- and at the end of three hours of utter nostalgic waste I am left with a feeling of emptiness and loneliness, which is, I suppose, par for the course in our wired, witless world.
Ah, yes. This can happen ๐
Jack, you said, "Send the link."
I would gladly send it, but which link are you referring to ?
If I had the time and better equipment, I truly think in a perfect world Iโd make YouTube videos to supplant my Substack! Iโd love to be able to chat or vlog about my Substack and such, then link back to said substack haha.
Good idea! Iโm sure folks would love more info on โhow-to Substackโ
Right! Or even just seeing my excitement as a writer finding a place to write about and how that type of scheduling looks like in a "day in the life" type way may be interesting!
Or teasing a topic that I'll send people over to substack to, to continue the conversation!
And thank you!
I definitely wouldn't want it to become a "get rich quick" arena and would hope or train people to not expect that for Substack. It's not about that at all (of course!)
Love these ideas!!!
Thank you!
I came here also to mention YouTube, but didn't want to mention for the 100th time if someone else said it already, so...I second this!
Since I'm just getting started here on Substack, I haven't fully leveraged YouTube yet. I've mentioned it to my email list on Mailerlite, and in my Facebook Group so far.
I'm hoping to get that slow, sustainable build.
https://youtube.com/c/SpencerScottPugh
Nope! Thatโd be neat though โ๏ธ
in my articles the key way of writing is asking my questions back at them, so some write back about their experience, it is a form of dialogue .
Nice! Do you use the thread posts or the comment button to prompt readers to answer?
I have the comment button there always and some just write there - others who know me from mighty networks - instagram or Facebook respond wherever they feel at the moment- at times they send me private messages -
I use the comment button at the end of the newsletter and also ask for thoughts. It spurs engagement I think. But I am new here so we will see what happens.
So far. But I will have a more accurate report as my newsletter grows.
I'd love to know what you to do reward?
That is a great way for starting a conversation. Thanks for sharing!
Next to growing subscribers, my top priority is to create conversation. I do a couple of things.
First, I invite people to comment. It may sound obvious, but it helps to put it out there.
Second, I end every story with 5 discussion questions. The questions are always connected to the story in some way, but I try to make sure they're questions most people would feel comfortable responding to (nothing too personal, nothing that requires a novel-length answers, questions that are open-ended, as opposed to yes/no, etc.)
Third, I make sure to respond to the comments, and if makes sense, ask a follow up. Again, it sounds obvious, but that's how you have a conversation, right?
All that being said, I've found that there are limits to conversation based in part on the size of my audience and in part based on the genre (I write humor, which isn't nearly as much of a conversation-starter as news or opinion, but on the upside the conversations are a lot more fun!).
About two months ago I launched a Wednesday edition of my newsletter and I made conversation a priority. I do everything I described above for the Wednesday edition, but I also ask my audience to submit slice-of-life humor they find in the wild (easy stuff like a silly sign or a funny conversation they overheard at the store). That added level of participation REALLY helps drive the conversation, and as an added bonus, it's helping me come up with more ideas about what to write about. In fact, the most recent Wednesday edition had section about Snackle Boxes that I never would've touched if my readers hadn't started talking about them (sharing that link here so you can see what I'm talking about https://michaelestrin.substack.com/p/slice-of-life-humor-in-search-of?r=1fqhx&s=w&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web)
Yes, please see the above comment ๐๐
I asked my community to share "one word" that represents a gift they would like to give the world during these troubling times. The response was great! I'm then filing all these into a word cloud and sharing back with them tomorrow. Word Clouds display all the words once...the words that were shared the most by my audience are larger and those only shared once will be smaller. Compassion, patience, and grace were the largest words on the word cloud. I love my subscribers for this reason. :)
Fabulous, Molly!
Love that! I'm finding it hard to get people to respond to my emails or comment on Substack (even when prompted), but the same people engage with me on IG. Wondering if it's because email/substack feels more formal or like they need a more thoughtful response here. One word prompts are a great idea - curious if that would help people get comfier sharing :)
This is funny. I had to Google microcontent. ๐ Content varies from long form to short to micro. I like to vary things to keep my audience engaged.
I've been paying more attention to what prompts my own engagement and response with other readers and creators so I can be mindful of how to inspire that same interaction in my work.
I did notice ending each post with a very clear question to respond to made a noticeable difference. I think, unless called to action, we've gotten into the habit of reading and consuming really passively and I'd really like to turn my space into more of a conversation.
Interestingly, I get a lot of direct emails in response. Maybe I have very shy readers :o)
Yes, this is such a good call! I'm planning to test a very direct feedback section at the end of every newsletter with bullet-point questions -- I found myself responded to a substack with this format the other day and it was such a huge light-bulb moment for me, lol!
Isn't that so funny? We try to reinvent the wheel or get really clever about it, but really we're the perfect test case for our own work and there are so many other brilliant people we get to be inspired by.
Great idea Sara! Thanks
I do end up having lovely exchanges when people respond directly. But not as much luck in the comments section(which honestly is still very quiet as I'm still quite new) or there doesn't seem to be a natural way to do it. What has your experience been like?
Would someone like to collaborate with me? I have a new Substack and am looking to grow! Open to any ideas, subscriptions and feedback.
Thank you!
jaroslavnovosyolov.substack.com
Would someone like to collaborate with me? I have a new Substack and am looking to grow! Open to any ideas, subscriptions and feedback.
Thank you!
jaroslavnovosyolov.substack.com
Would someone like to collaborate with me? I have a new Substack and am looking to grow! Open to any ideas or feedback.
Thank you!
jaroslavnovosyolov.substack.com
I havenโt begun to do this yet but I plan to. My substack is short stories. Iโm thinking of doing some bonus content featuring examples of writers being annoying on Twitter. The goal is to be funny and be a release valve for those of us who are exhausted by bullshit in the literary world. I think Iโll ask my audience to send me examples that they find.
Elizabeth, are you recording any of your content? I use the podcast feature for my work and people seem to really love it.
I am! I released the first one a few days ago and plan to record another tonight. I used a different app to record it though. It looked like the substack one doesnโt have any audio editing tools, unless Iโm wrong? https://notalittlelamb.substack.com/p/-the-first-of-october?r=39l7m&s=w&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&utm_source=direct
No, youโre right actually, but I donโt need them just yet. For now it meets my needs. So much fun,?
I just setup live discussion forums on Substack and Bookclubs. Excited to experiment with these.
Trying to do a job poster and job seekers thread for the audience and so far I got way more comments than normal, but still not quite where I want it to be.
Managing too many different platforms is overwhelming. I like to stick to engaging with readers through the comments rather than try pulling them off onto other channels. Connecting to other newsletters that way has helped, too.
One thing I haven't used much yet is the Discussion Thread tool on Substack. How has that gone for others? I'm curious.
The Substack team is signing off for today! We'll be back next week at the same time and place. In the meantime, checkout the Substack resources: https://substack.com/resources and consider joining us for our workshop on free to paid subscriber conversion: https://lu.ma/download-conversion
Keep going,
Katie, Bailey, Jasmine, Alex, Michelle, Lucas, Kirthi, Yuriy, and Nicole
Would someone like to collaborate with me? I have a new Substack and am looking to grow! Open to any ideas or feedback.
Thank you!
jaroslavnovosyolov.substack.com
Hello everyone! Here's a little encouragement from one small newsletter to all of you. Do you find yourself getting caught up in the numbers? It's really easy to get stuck on how many subscribers you have...or don't have. But take it from me: while the numbers feel good, they ultimately don't matter. What matters is the community you build around your newsletter, the way you build yourself up as a writer, and the persistence you show as you keep writing. So keep writing! Don't stop! The world needs your voice! ๐ฟ
Love this, S.E., and great advice. I started by turning off notifications for unsubscribes. That felt so good, I turned off notifications for subscriptions as well. Freedom! Now I check my numbers once a week if I remember, but mostly I let it go. My metric for my newsletter is (and has been since day one): am I having fun? If the answer is yes, that's what matters to me.
I actually removed a good third of my list that either wasn't reading or were stalkers.
Following, too!
Thank you! <3 <3
Thumbs up, Lilychili!!! ๐คฃ
Thank you! Unfortunately substack hasn't helped with the stalker situation. They said they banned the person harassing/stalking me and had their engineering team find a way to prevent them from making new accounts, however they've been making new accounts freely and substack ignores my pleas for help. So I'm on my own, plus a little help from my friends.
Oh hell. ๐ I'm so sorry to hear. That's terrible...
You have always been cozy with the "team" - if you were to exert your influence I have no doubt I'd see some change. I'd be grateful if you would!
๐ณโน๏ธ
I know, right? I had no idea they would actually ignore me after repeated reach-outs both here and by email saying I was concerned for my safety.
this is so good! one of the obstacles to my starting a newsletter is being afraid of getting too caught up with the metrics and starting to measure my own self-worth around it. glad that you are able to protect your mental health around it.
No matter how great (or terrible!) your newsletter (or any kind of creative project): you are more than the work. Full stop.
(Whenever I get an unsubscribe, I just remind myself that I am not for everyone, and that's okay! I want people to be free of the weight of their inboxes; I don't want to add to that burden. I want subscribers who *want* to hear from me and be in community with me. Everyone else *should* let me go.)
Great way to think about unsubscribes, and I also turned off that notification. So important for all of us to remember we are more than our work, and that no oneโs work can possibly appeal to everyone!
Exactly.
Such wise words, and takes a lot of behind-the-scenes work to get to that place, at least for those of us with people pleasing tendencies! Totally agree with your approach to unsubscribes.
It does take a lot of work (I've been in therapy for years! ๐) But it's worth it.
LOVE the idea of unsubscribing to those notifications! Such a great idea :)
Do it! It feels amazing.
I'm going to do that. It's not a great feeling when an article you've put your heart and soul into is followed by an unsubscribe!
This is great wisdom, Sarah! Thank you for sharing!
Almost positive I got it from Austin Kleon ๐
Yes, Sarah, fun!! ๐
So true. The numbers feel good only momentarily. This week I had a video on TikTok get 10 Million views and become a trend. Itโs been fun and has definitely produced some Dopamine, but its the process of writing and editing and putting into the world a thousand words that gives me a deeper sense of satisfactionโฆ. onto the next thousand wordsโฆ
Wow, congratulations on the virality! I imagine that's the double-edged sword, right? Yes, the numbers from a viral post can feel incredible, but what's next? What do you do in the aftermath? I think it's awesome that you're already thinking of the next thousand words. Keep going, Hal! The world needs what you're offering.
Good point, S.E. What I've enjoyed so much about Substack right from the start is the sense of community. I don't have many subscribers, but I've gotten engagement from the start because people on here are so active. It's great. Thanks for the reminder. It's easy to fixate on the numbers.
It really is, Pablo. But I'm so glad you're here, and don't give up! Consistency is key. Community is always better than numbers, in the long run, when it comes to sharing your art and soul. ๐ฟ
Agree totally! I rarely look at my stats and have few subscribers at this point, but I will keep publishing my newsletter every week because itโs a good discipline for me and it is helping others cope with the stress in their lives and find reasons for hope.
Beautifully said, Wendi! Every so often, especially if I've put off writing my next post and I'm down to a deadline, a little voice says, "Aw, just skip this post. No one will mind."
But then I realize: I will mind. Even if no one else reads, I will mind very much if I slip in what I've set out to do. And invariably, those posts end up reaching someone more than I ever thought they could. Lesson learned, every time.
I did exactly that last Thursday. I usually post my Liner Notes on Thursday afternoons and hadn't written anything and said the same thing to myself--"people will enjoy the break." Then I sat down and something just poured out and I posted it and got a comment within 10 minutes that said that it was the best yet. That was a fantastic reminder to always, always keep writing.
The other part of the story is how much that one comment meant to me---which reminds me to tell people when they do something I think is good. So I owe one to that person for sure.
Yes, same here.
I feel the same way! Iโm in it for now for the emails and DMโs Iโm receiving from family and friends who are loving and/or missing my newsletter. This has been a really big mood booster for me. I feel inspired to keep writing, be consistent and let them learn more about me.
That's perfect, Lisa! Honestly, whatever keeps your fingers on the (literal or proverbial) keyboard and your butt in the (literal or proverbial) chair is fantastic! :D
Great advice! Thank you. Every now and then Iโll get a โdisabled emailโ message, and it used to tear me up, now not so much. For every disable I get, I receive half a dozen engagements from readers on all levels. Do what makes your heart sing and leave the rest to chance. .
Love this! Very true. I remember my first unsubscribe; it felt very painful. But since then I've had several, and I've realized that it's okay. I would rather write to the folks who truly love what I do, and let the ones who aren't as interested go find the newsletters THEY love!
Exactly! Iโm not gonna be everybodyโs cup of tea and thatโs OK.
Agreed! Since I launched on Substack in April, I have connected with old friends and people interested in storytelling. Numbers can give you a sense of market reach, but the impact of our writing on people's lives is most important. Best, Mark Massรฉ www.markmasse.com
Highly agree, Mark! So many of my subscribers don't comment or engage in any way, but every once in a while I'll get a personal email from them or see that they've shared one of my posts and it lets me know that they are, in fact, reading and enjoying what I write. We never really know what will make someone's day or inspire them!
I love your community, fyi. I'm obsessive about the metrics, but I agree, I wrote like this when I had one subscriber (my other email account), so I want to make sure I notice if things aren't going in the right direction, but it's not going to change what I write much, if at all. Love your community, did I already say that? Would it be cool if I wrote something about what you posted today?
I would be honored! And thank you. I'm so grateful that the community forming around my little newsletter is such an incredible group of folks. It's very humbling.
And I love what YOU'RE doing, too! I could have sworn I already subscribed but discovered today that I hadn't (shock!) so I'm officially a subscriber, now. :D
Thank you for that! Did I mention that I love what you do?
Thanks S.E. Reid, as always sharing your wisdom and positivity with us all!
I appreciate you so much, Jessica! ๐ฟ
Back at ya!
Would someone like to collaborate with me? I have a new Substack and am looking to grow! Open to any ideas or feedback.
Thank you!
jaroslavnovosyolov.substack.com
Hi Jaroslav! I suggest checking out the Substack Writers Discord if you're looking for collabs and cross-promotions! I believe you can find it here: https://discord.com/channels/809073184371638315/809073184946782243
I thought I had subscribed ages ago, but apparently not. I have just rectified that.
Me, too. Fixed it, S. E. Reid!
So kind of you! Thank you!
Oh thank you so much, Terry! Very much appreciated!
Ooooohhh... NEEDED this reminder today! Thanks so much!
You're very welcome, Amy! Don't give up, okay?
There it is!
And as always, thanks for being in our corner!
Thank YOU for always sharing your wisdom and encouragement with us, Kevin!
I'm glad you're here, Janera! Don't worry about being small. I believe that real, organic growth happens when we focus on consistency and authenticity. It may be slower growth, but it's certainly higher quality over time!
I write personal essays, devotionals, and poetry about the marriage of nature and faith, using my Celtic Christian beliefs and my woodland home as inspiration.
What about you?
@Janeraโ everyone starts at 0. Keep going!
Happy to share that my newsletter, โmoviewise: Life Lessons From Moviesโ has just been accepted into the Google News app under the โentertainmentโ category! I learned about this program from another Substack writer, Jatan Mehta, who shared this tip in a Writer Office Hours a while ago (Jun 30). (Aside: it would be great if these kinds of tips were put together in one place).
Here is his article explaining how to do it, which I followed:
https://thoughts.jatan.space/p/how-i-got-my-blog-listed-on-google-news
Also, I do not have a custom domain, but it worked for me anyway. This is my domain:
https://moviewise.substack.com
It took about 10 days to get approval and go โlive". Ask me anything! Iโm happy to help ๐ค
That is amazing! And now I've subscribed :-) In addition to this Substack I have a newsletter at litthinkpodcast.substack.com where we talk about pop culture from the lens of English teachers ๐
Will definitely look into this! I wonder if they have a sobriety/addiction/mental-health category.
I know some people (myself included) who would be all over this.
They have a "health" section with subcategories in "mental health" and "healthcare".
Fantastic! Mine would definitely fit the mental health category.
Ditto.
This is why I want to compile a list of all of us on Substack---so that we could try to establish a similar category here on Substack and also on Apple while we're at it--there's strength in numbers!!
Iโm all in!
Yes!!
Meeeee! My alcohol-free newsletter Relatable AF would be PERF. https://relatableaf.substack.com
You know I'm in!
Awesomeโฆanother option to check into, and I agree it would be great if all suggestions were together in one place. One from me: create a free page on bio.link. Hereโs mine: https://bio.link/wendigordon. It allows you to have links to all your socials, Substack, Medium, etc in one place right under your name, and unlimited links to content youโve created and want to showcase, organized by categories. Super quick and easy to do, even for someone like me who is not tech savvy.
I love bio.link! I too have one listing, and it is nice to have one place to put all your social media accounts and projects in one place. I have a link to it on my Substack homepage.
https://bio.link/moviewise
Thanks, Wendi, does that mean that you now use the bio.link on all your materials ... or how do you distiguish where you use it and where you use your substack address of other forms of identification?
Right under my name on the bio.link page is a link to both my Substack and Medium pages, as well as Twitter and LinkedIn, so I now use my bio.link page as the website listed on each of those other sites (havenโt added it yet on my Substack page, but updated all the others). Iโm also going to use it in my email signature.
My main goal in creating the bio.link page was to have a place for people, including potential clients and editors of publications I pitch, to read a representative sample of my articles on various topics.
The links are all โfriendโ links, which enables anyone to read my articles behind Mediumโs paywall without having to join Medium. Hopefully more people will discover my articles that way, and I wonโt have to copy and paste new links every time I send an email pitch.
When I publish Medium articles in the same niche as my newsletter, I will still use the Substack link at the end of those articles. I donโt have any printed materials like business cards at this point.
Thanks, Wendi ... that was helpful.
Oh this is great. I never considered the Google News app but now itโs time to take a look! I wonder if Apple News would be the same?
Love the idea behind moviewise! So many lessons in movies/films worth exploring and dissecting after watching. Love these types of talks at gatherings with friends, around the dinner table, etc.
Yes! Absolutely. Movies are a great source of comfort and inspiration ๐คฉ
Oh this is super interesting. Thanks so much for sharing. I'll definitely be taking a look at this.
What a great idea, thanks for sharing the article link too!
Thanks for sharing your brilliance.
Great resource. Thank you!
Thanks for sharing! Just checked out your newsletter and subscribed. Can't wait to spend a bit of time in your archives.
Thank you so much! I really appreciate it ๐ฅณ!
As a retired actor/director I resonate with your newsletter concept! Will check it !
Congratulations!
Great.
That's fantastic!
What a cool idea. How did you manage the verification without the custom domain?
I just applied by filling out their form on "publishercenter.google.com."
Where is the link to your domain on google news?
I believe this is the link:
https://news.google.com/publications/CAAqBwgKMKfgvAswtPvTAw
It's pretty new so only two of my 50 articles are showing up. I'm assuming it will get populated in the following weeks. Also, you can download the Google News app and search for "moviewise" to find it.
Paging my fellow travel/culture/personal essay writersโis there a community for us to connect, exchange ideas, maybe explore cross-promotion? Iโve joined the Substack writers Discord, but havenโt seen anything more specific than the nonfiction channel (I also literally joined Discord yesterday, so maybe Iโm doing it wrong?). While I love and am open to connecting with Substack writers of all types, a more tailored group would be super helpful. TIA!
If you're on the Substack Writers Unite Discord, under the header "Build Your Audience" is a channel called #cross-promotion, which you might find useful.
Okay, I just joined this group on Discord! Now to figure it all out... Thanks Geoffrey!
Thanks for this suggestion, I'll check it out!
What a good idea! I wonder if Substack could entertain the idea of "substack groups"?
Ooh, having an integrated option would be nice! In the absence of one, I'm thinking Discord may be our best bet? But I am open to other ideas, I have no particular loyalty to Discord!
I would love it keep it all in house, tbh. I'm divesting from Facebook, Slack reminds me of the workplace and Discord feels like another shouty app.
Yeah, I would like to use social less, especially since it feels like I never get anywhere there. It is SO much work with so little payoff. Also, subscribed!
hey thank you fellow journeywoman!
Fair enough, I'm not a big social media person either. It would be nice to be able to direct message other writers through Substack without resorting to email...if that's an option, I haven't found it yet!
This is a great idea, Erin!
YES! Love this!
I donโt have a novel idea for you, but I write about travel with occasional personal essays too :) so following your newsletter and maybe we can connect/cross promote through Substack itself!
Just subscribed to yours as well, Ali! This is exactly what I was looking for! If there isn't an existing community, we can always create one :)
Yes! I love that!
I don't know if there's an existing one, but I would love to connect with writers in this topic more! Maybe we could create a channel in the discord?
This is what Iโm thinking, too! Erin suggested above that it would be nice if we could have a direct Substack groupโwhich I think is an excellent idea, but I know of no such feature. So until that exists, Discord probably makes the most sense?
Sorry, somehow missed the notification for this comment! I think a Discord does make the most sense. Maybe we could make a channel in the Substack Writers Unite discord? It's already pretty active!
No worries, Valorie:) Iโm reaching out to the Substack Writers Unite admins about doing exactly this. If itโs up and running by Thursday I will share a link during Office Hours!
Iโm a personal essay writer and would love to connect and maybe cross-promote! Iโm not on Discord much; maybe you could start a private FB group?
I write about travel, personal essays, culture, design, and art. Iโm just getting started so Iโd love to brainstorm / collaborate / encourage each other.
That would be great, Lisa! Your newsletter sounds right up my alley!
I'd like to know this too since I am about to start a travel newsletter.
Great! It sounds like this may not exist yet...happy to have you join if we need to create something new!
Happy to join if you do!
Hey Samantha! I am in the same realm as you! Writing about travel and my personal experiences and working to build a community. Would love to connect!
Hi Lisa! Yes, would love to connect. Looks like there is a good amount of interest in this--assuming no one offers up an existing community, I will look into starting a Discord channel for us or something similar! (P.S. I'm fascinated by your newsletter topic--would to hear more about what you do.)
Thank you so much! I'd love to connect :) I will subscribe to your newsletter as well!
I'm not familiar with discord but am always down to join!
Iโm not familiar with Discord either but willing to learn so I can join this group! I understand the hesitation about using FB.
I'd love to see the Substack Writers Unite server on Discord get more active. I know it can be hard to follow things in Discord because it's not a great place to keep track of or search for information, but for "live" communications it can't be beat!
I agree! I joined yesterday and was eager to participate, but then saw that it isnโt super active and that most of the channels have fairly broad organizing ideas, so I honestly wasnโt sure what to contribute.
Throwing out there that bookstackers created our own community!
What's a bookstacker? (Visions of teetering piles of books and anxious onlookers!)
Itโs an appropriate visual. We write about books! Thereโs also the fictionistas who write fiction.
I'm already part of fictionistas. What's the URL for bookstackers?
:) what platform do you use? Are you finding it effective to be an effective tool?
Following! Thanks for bringing this up, Samantha. (And, I just subscribed to yours.)
I just subscribed to you too, Jessica! Perhaps we can start our own group if there isn't one out there already!
And thank you!
Yes, I would love that!
Yes! Would love that
On the subject of conversation with readers, I'm curious: how many people get contacted by their readers by old fashioned E-mail with questions or proposals? This is less about community and more about 1:1 interaction but I'd like to hear other Substacker experiences. I get very few E-mails but they do seem to be increasing a little bit. Thanks! Keep on keeping on, everyone!
All the time -- every post. Some people never leave a comment but frequently write back to me directly...
I don't get an email back with *every* post, but I do get a lot of emails back instead of comments! I find it especially happens with people I imported from a previous email list.
Thatโs amazing! Itโs great you get such consistent engagement.
Yes, quite a bit! I try to encourage it - and I'm also saying thanks to anyone who takes a paid subscription by sending them an individual email, which I realised is a good way of encouraging them to break that wall down.
It's probably not something that can scale once your readership's beyond a certain size or amount of engagement, I often fall a bit behind in doing it because it's time-consuming, but up to that point, it feels both a useful thing to do (for engagement), and a *good* thing to do (for presenting yourself as an actual human being who really does listen to feedback).
I wonder if the writer tone of the publication is a factor. For example, if you write in an approachable way or seem approachable, maybe that encourages people to reach out directly?
Yes, I think so. I don't exactly know all the ways to sound approachable (and I'm always experimenting with my own), but I certainly recognise it in other writers who are good at it!
Yes, that's a great point!
Anytime I respond, People always seems surprised that there is a real person on the other side of the screen. It usually leads to some great interactions, though.
I get that too. :) "Is this really you?"
That makes me wonder how many newsletter writers, on average, step out and talk to people 1-to-1. If there's a general expectation that they don't, that's a good thing for those of us willing to do it!
I would say 15% of my responses are via email. Usually itโs someone sharing a story or their own experience hearing a song Iโve featured. Always makes my day.
I get nearly as many direct emails as comments on my articles. One particularly engaged readers sends me a reply most weeks. The email responses are often more meaningful - I had one particularly powerful response when I did an article on polio, I had a response from a polio survivor. Not the kind of comment that someone would post publicly (especially that generation), so I'm really glad there is this direct way of communicating.
I get direct emails from a few of my readers. I reply via email, and then soon afterwards I try to turn their email and my reply into a new (longer) article so that everyone can benefit.
I get more direct emails than comments. Not everyone wants their comments made public.
Hey, Mark. Great question. Some use old-fashioned email, but Iโve been encouraging my readers to become familiar with all SS has to offer and to engage with me there.
I have found my folks more reluctant to comment since Substack introduced public "likes". Some have figured out how to make their profiles anonymous, while others contact me directly. But still.
I have had zero direct emails, although my Battlegrounds+ FB page is an active community of over 3500 people constantly arguing (in a good, fun way).
I get very few, but I notice that when I ask my readers a question, maybe 2/3 comment publicly and 1/3 reply privately. Not sure if that is a deliberate choice or them not understanding the difference or how the tech works.
None! Most comment directly and there have been sporadic emails relating to cross promotion, not a post.
Entering my third week on Substack and I am having so much fun! I am at 90 subscribers (last week 78) and 19 paid (last week 16). With two that converted from free to paid this week. I am learning a lot, but ever better - I'm writing and get a lot of joy out of it. Thank you to this community!
Share your secret to success, please! Those are very impressive results! Did you have an existing audience/email list from another platform?
Thank you! No secrets, I actually started this on a whim. I just posted on Facebook (615 followers), Instagram (400) and Linkedin (500+) and went from there. It's all an experiment. As a result of these encouraging early response, I'm trying to figure out how to consistently grow an audience. Not sure how to do that - which is why I am here!
Fantastic progress on the paid subscribers. You have more than me even though I have over 600 free subscribers.
Thank you for the encouraging words!
Wow, Giyen, that's amazing growth -- I think it took me more than a year to get to 90 subscribers ๐ Whatever you're doing, keep it up!
I will try! And will keep sharing what I am doing. This is all very encouraging - thank you!
Congrats! What a great start to your journey!
Thank you Chevanne. Itโs wonderful and fun.
Love this vibe!
Thank you. Itโs been so fun. I put so much effort in and itโs not that much financial gain in comparison to my day job - but I just told someone this is the best money Iโve earned in years!
Congrats on the growth curve, Giyen! You got another subscriber. All the best!
Wow! Thank you!
What advice would you give about getting people to convert? Why do you think people have decided to pay for yours? Great work!
I am not sure! I am only two and half weeks in! I write humor and heartfelt stories and I am really focusing on building a community ... not trying to just get people to read my posts.
Amazing growth. How did u do it?
Still too new to know! I wrote a little blurb earlier in the thread but I am going to keep sharing my successes to help others too!
Awesome job!
Thank you!
Amazing growth, a really amazing growth.
One of the core ways to develop an audience is to borrow someone else's. There are lots of ways to do that, one of which is to publish in other places with established audiences. I often find myself wondering whether a particular piece I am writing should go in the newsletter or if I should submit it to other publications where it might lead people back to the newsletter. I'm wondering if people have thoughts/experiences/data on how much one should publish elsewhere to develop an audience for a newsletter. (To be clear, I'm not asking about publishing on more than one platform simultaneously. I'm talking about established publications that accept submissions.)
We have a guest post feature that we are going to make even more powerful soon - make it easier for writers to use it, make more traffic go to the "guest", expand the feature to podcasts too...
Do any of you all use the guest posts tool now? If not, why not?
More on that here: https://support.substack.com/hc/en-us/articles/4406178016148-How-can-I-add-a-guest-author-to-a-post-
The only guest author who contributes to Adventure Snack doesn't have their own Substack. So this is a good reminder to find more guest writers who do!
I vaguely knew about the feature, but the more I think about it, the more this seems like a great co-promotional tool. Thanks for the reminder, Bailey.
I don't have any data, but Substack is famous for writers from other publications borrowing those established audiences and setting up their own newsletters. If you can write for a large publication and get your Substack in the byline, I bet you'd see a boost in subscribers from it.
All roads lead to Substack, I say try anything
Yes, indeed! Iโm a Heygo tour guide offering guided meditations three times a week, and I push my stack continuously. And it works!
While I struggle to be consistent at both right now (Substack and publishing elsewhere), I have noticed that there are particular outlets I've published essays on that almost always result in one or two new Substack subscriptions and other outlets that don't. It's also worth noting what each outlet allows you to include in your bio. The ones that allow me to directly link to my Substack are the ones that get the best response. It's worth trying and experimenting! Do what you have the capacity to do and see how it goes!
Where else do you publish?
I cover mostly Wellness related topics and some more general personal essay stuff, so I've published in online magazines like YogiApproved and Introvert, Dear. It's actually the Introvert, Dear publications that have helped a few Substack sigh ups trickle in.
This is interesting. This is something I'm going to start focusing on. I've had success with this strategy in the past, but I haven't applied it to my Substack, partly because I'm not sure what types of publications to go after. Separate but related, have you tried this with podcasts? Have you had any success that way?
I haven't tried it with podcasts, but I would imagine it would work! Any time you can get yourself out in front of an audience with similar interests as what you put out in your Substack, it can be a source of new subscribers. They like you, what you're talking about, want to check out your work, etc.
I've been experimenting with that sort of thing recently. Some of my writing was featured as a "visual meditation" on Artway: https://www.artway.eu/artway.php?id=1255&lang=en&action=show&type=imagemeditations
which in turn led to a very good shoutout on Victoria Jones' Art and Theology blog: https://artandtheology.org/2022/08/04/roundup-west-african-praise-medley-reading-poetry-fiction-more/
I got eleven subscribers from that. Just yesterday I got a piece published in the Agape Review. https://agapereview.com/2022/08/17/thehidingplace/
The only problem I see is that, with all of this writing for other publications, it's been hard to find time to spend writing on my own blog. It's a balance.
finding places to publish seems like finding a needle in a haystack
That can depend on the field. In my case, I can identify several places that I could submit to with a reasonable hope of acceptance, and I have had a couple of pieces accepted. What I am wondering is the relative merit of publishing any given piece in the newsletter vs submitting it. Obviously if I submit everything, there would be no newsletter. But if I submit nothing, the readers of those publications will never hear of my newsletter. Thus the search for balance.
I submit some articles to mags on a First British Serial Rights basis (there's a USA equivalent) and then, after a period of time, I publish it elsewhere, eg in theory Substack, though have mostly done this using my other blogs so far). I put at the bottom "This was first published in [name] magazine.
having a niche topic or point of view can help make the haystack a bit smaller
I get it
Hi, everyone. I'm grateful to be here with you as I find my way. I find this community inspiring and helpful. I launched Heart's Content, my free weekly newsletter 7 months ago as a grand experiment and a way to help hold myself to some accountability to showing up and sharing my thinking/writing more publicly beyond social media posts. The newsletter is still teaching me what it wants to be. Sometimes deeply reflective and instructional, sometimes simply a weekly journal, I tend to center around creativity, writing as a healing modality, spirituality, the power of sharing our stories, and the curriculum of my life. Thus far, I have what I think is a good open rate ( hovers around 35-37%) but I struggle with engagement. I've tried a few open-thread discussions but they mostly go nowhere. I long for more community and would love to hear your thoughts!
Hi Mary........I just celebrated a year on 'Stack. You're at the point (7 mos) where you can start weeding thru your subscriber list, and chop off those who NEVER open your posts! I do it about every 5-6 months, and manage to routinely find 10-20 subscribers who, either have never received the e-mails (bad address they typed in, I guess), or just flat haven't opened even ONE post!
I'm always, now over 50% open rate, and range anywhere from the low 50s to upper-50s. Good luck!
Hi, Brad! Congrats on your year! I wouldn't have thought to do that - thank you for the suggestion. And now I am intrigued by your newsletter title and must go see it!
Thanks so much, Mary....for the congrats, as well as your sub!!! Along with dropping the needle on some of my many lanes of rock'n'pop, please check out my resident singer/songwriter/guitarist, Stephen Michael Schwartz (RCA Records, 1974, when he was 20!), who's been contributing ASTOUNDING content for FR&B since February!
If you start with my article where I wrote about my interviewing David Cassidy in 1975, you'll see the genesis of my relationship with Stephen! https://bradkyle.substack.com/p/in-a-houston-penthouse-with-david
If you want to binge on Stephen, I've set up a Flipboard page for all his Substack content (all clicks send you back to 'Stack, anyway): https://flipboard.com/@schwartzstories/front-row-backstage-with-stephen-michael-schwartz-fcjpqreoy
Enjoy, Mary! Happy to have you past the rope line, and I hope you enjoy your All-Access! Cheers!
"The newsletter is still teaching me what it wants to be." Keep flowing with this, Mary -- it's a good strategy, in my opinion.
As for engagement, you're not alone: we've all struggled with it at some point, and it ebbs and flows. I think open threads in particular take awhile to get off the ground (plus, it takes time to figure out what kind of questions will spark responses in your audience). Don't give up! I've been writing my newsletter for 2.5 years and it's only in the last seven months that my community has really taken off.
Just wanted to say, Sarah, that I really appreciate how consistently helpful you are.
Oh, thank you, Terry ๐ I like being here.
Sarah - thank you! So helpful and reassuring. I notice that old pattern within myself arising again that everything should somehow move fast. Taking a deep breath and committing to continuing to trust and show up and allow it to evolve. Thanks again for your response.
You're so welcome. It sounds like you have the wisdom you need -- hang on to that, keep reminding yourself of that, and keep going!
You are a lovely spirit!
Hi Mary, I love how you put the "the power of sharing our stories, and the curriculum of life." I'm at about a 60% open rate, although I still don't fully understand the numbers on Substack. Keep up what you're doing! It sounds like we have a bit in common, and I just subscribed to yours.
Thanks for the feedback, Jessica! I don't understand the numbers yet either and I am not attached to them other than it brings some reassurance that someone out there is at least opening my emails! A little reassurance goes a long way in the beginning, eh? Oh, fun - I'll go check our yours right now!
Yes, a little reassurance does go a long way, always!
And thank you for checking mine out!
just joined you on your journey!
Thanks so much! I look forward to yours as well!
Love your description of your newsletter and will subscribe. It sounds similar to mine in some ways, so maybe we can cross-promote at some point. I also struggle with engagement despite making it clear that my goal is to create a supportive community and asking for comments in response to specific questions every week.
Thanks so much, Wendi! Happy to connect. I've followed yours as well. Let's chat sometime!
Sounds good Mary!
There are some resources out there for this topic -
https://on.substack.com/i/51161892/start-a-conversation
https://on.substack.com/p/engage-1-suleika-jaouad
Thanks for sharing these resources. As someone else commented earlier, it would be great to have a Substack page with links to all of the resources other writers suggest during these office hour chats!
@Bailey@substack Do sub's get notified each time someone comments on Threads?
I've been engaging with my readers through good old email. When I see a new subscriber who engages frequently with my content, I send them an email asking about their life and story. I've made a few good friends this way and really enjoy how it makes me feel connected to my community.
FYI, I write poems on Hello Universe - https://hellouniverse.substack.com
Go subscribe!
I highly encourage people to check out Hello Universe. Itโs a little dose of joy in a world where thatโs in short supply.
Checking it out now! Thank you Kevin! (Checking yours out too)
Kevin! One of my good email friends. Great to see you here. ๐
Ahhh you are the one Kevin recommended! I know we arenโt supposed to judge a book by its cover, but I love the astronaut graphic. Excited to check out your page!
Woohoo! Glad you like the graphic, I invested an entire evening into putting it together.
I got the tiny astronaut from flaticon.com - wonderful resource for small icons if you're looking for any. ๐
I like this super personal, hands-on approach, Punit -- it's a great idea. Thanks for sharing.
Just did, thanks in part to Kevinโs recommendation.
Thanks, and welcome on board. Hope you'll enjoy it! ๐ค
I use the email that automatically goes to all new subscribers to ask them to reply to the email and tell me a little about themselves, how they discovered my newsletter, what kind of content would be most helpful to them, etc. Most donโt, but occasionally someone does.
It's that occassional reply that brightens the day! ๐โ๏ธ
Interesting, I've thought about doing this, but I was wary of irritating subscribers.
Go for it!
That's a brilliant idea
Lovely idea!
This is a very good idea.
Is there a place within substack where you can directly email your reader? Or do you need to export your audience list and find them?
You can use the "CRM" tool to do this! https://on.substack.com/p/subscriber-dashboard-guide
Thank you!
Loved Anne Byrnโs interview yesterday and am so honored to be mentioned in it!
The food category has so many great collabs!
Yes, ditto! I was excellent.
Would someone like to collaborate with me? I have a new Substack and am looking to grow! Open to any ideas, subscriptions and feedback.
Thank you!
jaroslavnovosyolov.substack.com
Hello guys!
I started writing my newsletter a few months ago to document the aftermath of losing a loved one. It's an attempt to understand grief and navigate towards healing. Through my essays, I try to figure out the complex nature of grief and healing. I'm not an expert, I'm just a writer going through shit. And writing the newsletter helps me channel my focus on acceptance, healing and love.
The subscribers are growing slowly and steadily and I am not complaining. I also love the luxury that is running my own newsletter, where I can write without the confines of an editor or for it to be sold. I can simply let it be - honest and raw. It allows me to explore my craft further and so, I would love to collaborate with anyone who works along the lines of personal essays/memoirs/ slice of life writings.
I am also in the process of adding a new section to my newsletter for art (books, movies, music, food) that revolves around healing and acceptance. So if anyone here would like to contribute to this section, it'd be great!
see you around :))
I donโt focus on grief, but do share personal experiences related to mental health and finding hope when things seem hopeless. Maybe we could collaborate in some way.
Would someone like to collaborate with me? I have a new Substack and am looking to grow! Open to any ideas, subscriptions and feedback.
Thank you!
jaroslavnovosyolov.substack.com
This is beautiful - glad you can process through writing and connecting with your readers, sending love!
thank you, michelle :) every once in a while, a reader will reach out to me and thank me for putting into words the struggle that is healing. and honestly, it is one of the things that keep me going.
I section out my weekly emails to include the "art". If you want to poke around for ideas. Also would be happy to contribute and collaborate.
Just subscribed to your newsletter, Iโm going through grief myself so itโs always comforting to hear other peopleโs thoughtsโค๏ธ
Thank you so much Katie ๐งก grief is so difficult. It is like a club for invites-only - although none of us explicitly asked to be there. But no one outside this club knows what it feels like. I'm just trying to make it a safe space :)) thanks for subscribing !
To the Substack developers:
Thanks for your efforts on this platform. A few adjustments that would make it more useful to content providers:
1) allow people to choose which image will be the thumbnail of the newsletter, and to edit/crop that image for best results. Most blogging platforms have had this function for about a decade.
2) Polls with more than 4 possible answers
3) The ability to save and re-use custom buttons and their associated text. Who wants to design a new one every time they want a custom button? I have a co-author, and constantly have to edit the phrase "...support my work" to "support our work." Tedious and frustrating!
4) The ability to set a recurring publication date/time. Why do we content providers have to do this manually for every single newsletter? I'd like to lock in "21:00 EST Weds" for the foreseeable future.
5) Richer data analytics would be great. What time of day do most people view my newsletter? On mobile device or laptop? etc. This would help us give the audience what they want.
6) Also, recommendations and blurbs are helpful, but why does Substack restrict this to people who write on Substack? Several of my subscribers are prominent in academia, journalism, etc. A blurb from them would boost my credibility. But they don't have substacks, so I can't let prospective readers know about them.
Hi Yuriy,
Thanks for your prompt reply. I mean the image, selected from each newsletter, at the top of the substack page (in my case, https://allsetarc.substack.com). You can see in this example that the blue trash bag image is oddly cropped. I would have cropped it differently, or chosen another image altogether. Right now, the platform automatically chooses the first image in a given newsletter as the preview image for the newsletter's website. It would be great if we creators could select and/or edit that image ourselves.
Iโm curious what growth tools are most effective to other writers. I love meeting other writers in these discussion threads, following new Substacks, and meeting other writers. Itโs been the most effective way of really building a community so far! I also use The Sample which has gotten me some new subscribers-- https://thesample.ai/?ref=f8b4
Same song, 83rd verse.......I keep tub-thumping business cards, to meet new people, and giving them a card with your 'Stack address, and brief info! Do it right, and the card itself can be a conversation starter (I keep several on the edge of my Panera table, and hang a couple on their bulletin board)!
I have a 2-sided card, with a QR code on the back, so I hang both sides hanging up, so all the QR-code-loving kids can just pass by, and snap the code! You'll be amazed at the number of real live people who can end up with, now, the opportunity to find your 'Stack! I use VistaPrint, but another Stack-er used Canva! Go nuts!
That other Stacker would be me :)
I used Canva's template, added in my brand colors and logo and slapped on a trackable QR code. The cards are on their way! A recent subscriber asked me to mail them an autographed copy. No joke!
Glad to hear that The Sample is working for you, Ali! I've only picked up 2 - 3 that way. I find comments sections (including this one!) on Substack newsletters to be the most effective. That and leveraging my existing Twitter profile.
I agree with you! I love engaging in the comments section because it also brings more meaningful readers to my page who will actually like and comment on posts, and beyond that, I actually feel part of a community and like I have substack friends, which is the best. I hardly ever go on twitter anymore but maybe I should start using it again!
Substack feels more engaging than Twitter. One gets specific answers here.
Twitter remains... Twitter so your experience can vary a lot. If I may, do you get a lot of questions about the cast of the shows that you've written for?
Haha, yes!
Give it a little time.The flywheel will start moving for you. In the meantime, check out the Directory and/or Discord server for cross promo opportunities.
Thanks. So far, so good!
That sounds like good advice - thanks so much. What is The Sample?
It's a service that pushes out your newsletter in return for you promoting theirs
I actually don't promote theirs, they send your newsletter to a bunch of readers and the ones who want to can subscribe. Here's a link -- https://thesample.ai/?ref=f8b4)
What's The Sample?
LinkedIn and IG have been my best referrers so far, though I suspect LinkedIn only works for certain kinds of Substacks.
Well, and you write about a subject that LI and IG should eat up! With my posts about rock'n'pop and their attendant musicians, I find endless success with the many groups on FB, and can even tolerate the Reddit knuckle-draggers, on occasion!
I guess it's for that reason I'm glad I don't have a pin-point-directed 'Stack, like "Cross-stitching on Canoes in the Mediterranean," or "Susie's Newsletter on Nothing in Particular, But I'm Still Wondering Why I Can't Pull Paying Subscribers."
Cross-stitching in canoes? Take my money already! :)
From way downtown...............BAM!! I know, right? Look for ten 'Stacks opening up tomorrow with that exact focus! A niche (an itch?) that definitely needed post scratching! Wheeeee! More coffee!โโโ
โ๏ธโ๏ธโ๏ธโ๏ธ
Haha yeah hitting that sweet spot of specific but not too specific does seem to be the key.
They basically send your newsletter to a bunch of readers, and the ones who respond to it can subscribe. Then you have to import the subscribers to Substack. It only works for some newsletter it seems like, but for a financial one you might have success! https://thesample.ai/?ref=f8b4
Thanks so much, Ali! This seems like it has potential. I'll definitely check it out.
I just signed up for The Sample. Thanks for the tip, Ali!
Thanks for mentioning The Sample, AliโI hadnโt heard of it but just Googled and it looks really cool. Iโll be trying it out.
sweet! i forgot that if i gave people my link it would help lol https://thesample.ai/?ref=f8b4
What is The Sample?
The Sample is newsletter sharing. You sign up and you will get samples of newsletters people are writing. Yours can then be sent out. It's a broad way of seeing what is out there: https://thesample.ai/?ref=b66a
Thanks for the explanation, Caitlin!
I've been on Substack since March, and one of the best things I've done is remain consistent. I'm really focusing on the whole the concept of "if you build it, they will come" and it's working. People know that they can expect new writing from me on a weekly basis and I give myself room to explore different styles. I do advertise that I have a paid subscription but I don't bash it over people's heads. I provide great free content and I think that makes some people be like "hmm, if the free content is great and consistent, the paid must be even better". For me, the key has been having paid content that doesn't lead to me burning out because it requires so much from me.
Hi - I really like your philosophy!! I am trying a similar approach. My goals are super simple: 1) Show up (aka post) each week; and 2) Be as authentic as I can in each post. That's it.
Kudos to those who love the social media marketing but right now I just having fun posting here and not worrying too much about who is watching me.
Yasss, you have to figure out what works for you and what you can sustain! Honestly, even when I post thing on social media, I use the same overall format and then just switch up design. Personally, ease is the best approach!
Taking a moment to share that I just wrapped up the first installment of my newsletter: 12 original instrumental songs, one every month, comprising an entire volume of music.
So, I made my first section, Volume I: https://fogchaser.substack.com/s/volume-one
In a few weeks, I'll release the first song of Volume II, which will be another 12 pieces of original instrumental music. So, I guess I'm serializing an album?
I don't know. I'm just so excited about it, and I really couldn't do it without this platform and the wonderful people here.
Been a joy listening to Volume I unfold and can't wait for Volume II!
Very kind, Katie โ thank you!
Congrats, so so exciting!
Thank you!
You should be excited! I'm looking forward to hearing the first of Vol. II.
Just reached my 6 month milestone on Substack!
Congrats Diana!!
Thanks so much!
Oh, also we were so excited that Substack added a clear guest post feature! Since liththinkpodcast.substack.com tries to take breaks during the year, we love the option of growing our community and continuing to offer our readers and listeners content even if we are on a break.
How many fellow writers have subscribers who never open anything? Even from Substack recommendations, I have so many subscribers who have no stars.
I recently used a free "email checker" to investigate a few questionable email addresses (who had never opened anything), and found out that they were "bad" โ as in, fake. So, I deleted them. I didn't love seeing the dip in my subscribers, but I'm hoping it helps my open rates and engagement in the long-run.
A little list maintenance from time to time is worthwhile.
I have no idea how many subscribers I have... I just don't let myself pay attention to things like that. So I'm not concerned. I do get notified when I get new subscribers, so in a very general way, I know my subscriber base is growing. But I have approached this effort with an appetite to share my work, not build an empire, so if some of the emails in my subscribers are "bad", so be it. I'll just keep focusing on doing my work.
You are a stronger person than I am! But I totally agree with the sentiment โ the work is the thing, and if folks want to come along for the ride, great. If not, oh well. That's a good reminder for us all!
It's only recently I've noticed that there are some subscribers who have never opened up my emails. I definitely need to look into this. Did you find any disengaged subscribers that were real that you were able to engage with?
Not this round, but that's definitely happened in the past!
I think folks who come from Substack recommendations are, to use some sales-speak, lower quality leads. Because recommendations are auto-checked when you sign up for a newsletter, I think a lot of people don't even realize they're signing up for your newsletter too. Recommendations has been a big boost to my overall subscriber number, but my active subscribers (opening emails, commenting, etc) hasn't really budged.
Great insight. I've definitely accidentally subbed before. It's also not super easy to unsubscribe, which may add to that phenomenon.
I agree. I'll take the volume but often I get a new subscriber/disabled notification within a day of sending the first post. I chalk this up to people being like WTF I didn't sign up for this.
Interesting perspective.
Me! Plenty of no-stars folks. Also subs who, when I go in to look at their individual stats, appear to never have opened a single email. I can't account for this -- are all my messages going to spam? And yet sometimes I reach out to them or otherwise have a conversation somehow and they tell me they're reading... in reverse, my boss says he never reads it but his individual stats show that he opens every message. (Maybe he's lying, haha, but maybe there is something else going on that I just can't figure out.)
This is pretty common as far as industry stats go. Anyone getting above a 20% open rate is doing something right. Even the biggest names in the game, such as Mark Gurman, hover between 30% and 40%.
Don't know why. People are weird.
I think people keep a lot of their reading 'saved for later'. Tell me honestly, don't you have a book on your bookshelf that you bought but never read? I am guilty here for I have more than handful like that. For some of our subscribers, I think, it is the same. There are so many reasons for why readers might be doing that.
So I am doing what I can do - focus on the writing part. And trying hard not to get caught up in numbers [ because I will go complete mental if I try to keep tracks of all the subscribers and their stars and the activities ]
That is a good word.
A little bit of tech nerdery here but Apple recently rolled out an update that automatically opens emails in their Mail client, which will fire any tracking pixels. That means some portion of opens are going to be false positives, but hard to say exactly how many/much without more rigorous testing capability in Substack. Those tools would be unnecessary IMO, because the point isn't to fuss with open rates and data--the point is to write and read!
Also have some paid subscribers who are no stars so I don't know.
I know at least one of mine is my grandparents who pay just cause they love me!
That's the sweetest thing I've read today.
Now THAT is weird.
I have one that on the surface youโd think has never once read what heโs paying for, but I know from comments on Twitter & elsewhere that he definitely is.
It's a mystery, that's for sure.
Lots. But I am given to understand that this may simply mean they have anti-tracking features turned on.
On the other hand, when I did a couple of newsletter builders on BookFunnel I noticed that my open rates fell, so I assume that may of those signups were using a dead drop email address just to get the reader magnet. So no stars there.
It's a small percentage for me, but my subscriber base is pretty small. I suspect that percentage rises as your subscriber count goes up.
(Raises hand)
Same here. Someone will sign up and not even open the next newsletter that I publish?!
I have a few. No idea what explains this. Why would someone take the time to subscribe and not open a single email? My only answer is that they subscribe and are checking in on the reader app or website, but (like my children) never checking their email...
Good day, friends. Iโve indicated in the poll that I use Facebook most of the time, but Iโm happy to announce that the shift is underway to move the important conversations to my stack. And just this week I tried using the โthreadโ feature and I am obsessed with it! Love love love it. I am a creative wife, affectionately known here as The Footloose Muse. And no, I do not deliver babies, I help people gift birth to their creative ideas. Would love some follows and promise to return the gesture.
I just started a weekly feature for my paid subscribers called The Conversation and Iโve already gotten a newsletter feature out of it. Not every topic gets people talking, it can be hit or Miss, but people should be encouraged to share their thoughts.
I'm de-motivated in my writing. I miss writing on my wordpress blog www.fallingleaves197988517.wordpress.com . Then again I felt no one took my blogging work seriously. I feel annoyed and burnt out. Also im having a lot of anxiety and panic attacks.
Are you writing about what you want to write about/love writing about? Not knowing anything about you personally, this may just boil down to the what and how you write! Gimme a holler, Liam, if you'd like, at bradc318@gmail.com, and we can talk further.
Thanks folks... (brad i may take you up)
I just enjoyed the freedom of the wordpress blog. Substack feels like im trying to be some kind of New Yorker style writer. I have some writing goals but its all got in a horrible mess. I might try and in person writing group in my city but sometimes they are like a nest of vipers...
i dunno...
You can write on Substack just the way you did on your WordPress site. It's yours. Be you
Hey Liam, being annoyed and burnt out is good information; there's usually a message in those emotions. Also, we're entering year 3 of a pandemic and most people (myself included) are fried in ways we aren't even aware of yet. Go easy.
Maybe it's time for a break, Liam? Pushing through annoyance and burnout rarely serves anyone. Are you able to take some time off from your writing, take a step back, not think about it until you're ready to think about it again?
You're not alone.
You're not alone. It happens to me everytime since I began writing seriously years ago. Somehow, I overcome the challenge.
๐ Everyone !
Started two weeks ago to write about small musicians and groups who produces really good songs but donโt managed to get the exposure they deserve from places like Spotify, Apple Music, the radioโฆ
Iโm searching for people to write with/for to collaborate but I donโt know where to start !
I think that growing a reader community start by working together ! Where can I find people who wants to work together, here on Substack ?
See you every Friday on https://smallears.substack.com
Love this! I've always wanted to start a project called "Tinier desk." Welcome to Substack!
I'd love to collaborate on that too
Thank you ! This is a cool idea, tell me if you start it one day !
I write in the same space. Always down to collaborate with other music writers. Letโs see if we can put something together!
Kevin is the boss when it comes to music Substacks. I've really enjoyed connecting with his community on his weekly "what are you listening to" threads. Great for music discovery!
Thank you! I'm always happy to see what you've been playing!
How have I been missing all these music publications?!
It takes a bit, and then it seems like we're everywhere at once.
Sounds good ! Where can I find your email to see what we can do ?
I love everything music related, consider me subscribed!
Just subed too, interesting subject youโre doing !
Awesome! I'm happy to hear it. Please jump right in.
Right on! I think you'll like what I'm building.
I'm trying to avoid dispersing too widely across platforms, not least because I don't want to increase my own admin time. Anything which is going to eat up time from doing actual writing I have to approach carefully.
What has surprised me is how successful Substack threads are - I thought I'd struggle to generate actual discussion but they've always worked out really well for me, immediately bringing in a bunch of intelligent and interesting responses from subscribers. I've also noticed comments on more general newsletters seem to have increase since I started doing threads - perhaps it puts my readers in the right mindset generally for commenting?
It's also because it isn't just 'comments' - it's a proper discussion. Substack's simple but focused approach encourages depth in the interactions.
Agree that these are major strengths of substack! There's nuance and give-and-take here which is fantastic.
I'm curious what cross-platform automation anyone might have used. I can see myself getting really bogged down with admin time, as you mentioned, Simon -- jumping around to multiple social sites to promote.
Off-topic question: Any good recs for logo designers for one's own Substack? Hit me with 'em!
Hey Erin - my good friend Jon is an illustrator/designer. He's made logos for a few Substack publications, including mine. You can see more of his work at jtwilcox.com
My logo: fogchaser.substack.com/welcome
Moby Dick logo: https://mobydicksummer.substack.com/
These are really nice!!
Hi Erin. I am a self-taught, but I would be happy to help you design a logo. I cannot do original illustration but I can do almost anything with text and objects. Let me know! No charge.
Thanks for that kind offer Rian, I'll let you know!
Hey Erin! Alex, designer from Substack here. One of my favorite logo designers is Stevan Rodic. You can find his work here: https://dribbble.com/Stevan
He hasn't done any work for Substackers that I know of, but I've done a few projects with him and many friends have worked with him with great results. Maybe a good option!
Thank you Alex!
๐ถ๐ธ๐ถ๐ธ every-body's / blog-ging / for the / weekend ๐ถ๐ธ๐ถ๐ธ
Emoji game, strong!
Shoutout to the emoji-foward-ness of the Category Pirates guys, it moderately changed my life when I realized they used an emoji right in the actual name of their thing lol (truly)
I have a few questions quick questions.
1. Is there a good length for an article?
2. How often should you have paid stories?
3. Is there a social media platform that is really effective for posting your substack article? I notice LinkedIn is very effective for me.
I think the answer to all three of your questions is: it depends on your publication. And the only real way to figure it out is lots of trial and error, iteration, and perseverance. There are no hard-and-fast guidelines or even best practices that fit across the board for all Substack newsletters -- what works for me might not work for you, and vice versa. Experiment, see what happens, make adjustments, keep going!
+1
I would also add for #2 is that we have the free paywall feature which allows you to send a portion of your paid post out to paid subs https://support.substack.com/hc/en-us/articles/4407989020308-How-do-I-publish-a-free-preview-of-a-paid-post-on-Substack-
Def agree -- LinkedIn works best for me. But my content (https://habitablecode.substack.com/) is pretty niche technical stuff...
Hi Aaron!
1.I think the length depends on you and your audience. I'm a longform writer, so my posts tend to be much longer and I think that's what certain readers enjoy. However, I'm working on publishing smaller pieces so I'm able to offer a variety of things.
2. My paid subscribers receive a weekly Friday piece and this other segment of writing every other week. I've been experimenting with paywalls and sometimes allowing these to be open to all as a way to draw people in.
3. I mainly use IG with an intriguing clip of my writing that connects back to Substack.
To your first question, probably how long you want it to be. One thing I like about the Substack app is that is shows me approx. how long it will take to read an article. A 4 minute article is my personal sweet spot. When I see that it will take about 10 or more minutes to read I quickly feel that I need to go back later.
The "good length," Aaron, is whatever length it takes to communicate your story, carefully edited, of course. I just celebrated a year, last week, on 'Stack, and I care not a whit about "paid this" or "subscription that." It'll happen when and if it happens. I can't afford to lose sleep over those mental-masturbatory numbers. Been there.......done that, would-a bought the t-shirt if they'd-a had one!
Use all the social media sites you can find. You don't have to like it, tolerate it, or hold it in such disdain that you won't/don't/can't post your link on one! I use lots of FB groups, but only because I write about rock, its musicians, and general entertainment topics, so there are groups galore I can constantly post on!
My goal with https://newslettertosocials.com is to make a "one stop shop" for posting on every platforms! Def agree though, post everything everywhere until you know what is working and what isn't
Hi. I am interested in converting some of my free subscribers to paid subscriptions. I'd like to have some content available for free and then additional content (which also includes the free content) available for paid subscribers. Best place for me to figure out how to do this is where? Thanks!
Hi Molly! We often recommend publishing one post a week for everyone, and one a week for paid only. These might be different kinds of posts (e.g. the paid could be a discussion thread or interview) or you could choose a cadence that works for you.
We also have a guide on paid conversion here: https://on.substack.com/p/grow-6
Thanks for this. I guess I could simply "cut and paste" the free content into the content for the paid subscribers and then add the paid content. I'm writing a memoir (I'm the founder of Girls on the Run) and the memoir piece will be for paid subscribers. The free subscribers get the backstories to the memoir. Kind of like a musician who shares the backstory to a song and then sings the song.
And I'm certainly known to pivot when something isn't working. Going to begin with this though. :)
I wish I knew the answer, Molly! Iโd help if I could. Good luck to you
I would love a way to organize my content so readers can sort of choose their own adventure. Maybe using #tags or some kind of Table of Contents to direct them to essays around the same theme, topic or style.
In Outsourced Optimism, I explore themes of human experience by weaving together fictional stories (usually things I'm watching or reading) together with my personal experiences via different story structures.
For example, my first series explored hope, disappointment and failure through A24's movie Everything Everywhere All At once. I wrote one essay as a timeline of hope, one that documented my experiment of looking at the world through a bagel, one that imagined an email correspondence between my internal parts regarding a recent failure, and one in the form of a letter.
Ideally, I'd love for readers to be able to view my essays by theme, by structure or by the fictional story they were prompted by....if that makes sense? Or to be able to recommend other essays they may like at the bottom of the essay they're reading.
Also, this is a request for the tech folks at Substack:
> Would it be feasible to build in an option for displaying Random posts?
This would help *immensely* in giving visibility to older posts buried in the archives.
So glad to see your suggestion, Tami! The reverse chronological format for blogs (and now Substack) feels so limiting in contrast to the potential of the "hypertext" navigation used in "choose your own adventure" narratives. Will check out your newsletter now to learn more.
In the meantime, I, too, thought "themes" (or tags) might be an alternative ~ but was disappointed to discover "tags" on Substack are limited to 3 and only apply to the newsletter itself. AFAIK we have no option for building a collection of tags for our collections of posts.
In light of this, I'm curious: Has anyone experimented with creating their own manual collection of tags/themes/categories? (This would be *different* than using the built-in Sections feature on Substack.)
I was wondering the same thing- if anyone has a creative, manual solution in the meantime? I thought about creating a Start Here post and pinning it to the top of my feed with different categories and links to the relevant posts, but was hoping there was a better way...
Elsewhere in this discussion, I discovered a *great* example of a "Start Here" post ~ and, quite frankly, I'm surprised more Substackers haven't done this:
> https://flirtcheap.substack.com/
This will definitely be part of my plan going forward ~ especially since we don't have the option of using content-related tags.
Oh thank you! I will check it out! Jo's Epistolary also has a great Start Here post (and is hosting Visual Substack workshops that I highly recommend)
https://jopetroni.substack.com/p/start-here
Great! Thanks so much for sharing. I look forward to taking a closer look. Much appreciated! :-)
Hey, lovelies! Two things:
One, Iโm looking to host more guest posts on my newsletter, which is all about living a life of integrity as an imperfect human in a complex world. If you might be interested, or interested in swapping guest posts, email me: ashasanaker@gmail.com.
Two, Iโm coming up on the first anniversary of going paid and thinking about rejiggering my paid vs. free offerings. Have you done that? How and why? Thanks for you input!
Excited to read through your archive to see if there might be a fun fit!
I have been writing for a few weeks. I am getting 18 to 26 views per issue. But, only 6 have subscribed (free) and no one has subscribed as a paid reader. What could I do to increase subscriptions in general, and patrons specifically?
I'm new to Substack, so my subscriber base has just begun to establish itself. What advice do you have for writers whose personal brand is focused on being a member of a marginalized community and sharing experiences that those outside of said community don't know about and those within the community can relate to? (In my case, I was born with a visible physical disability, cerebral palsy. I walk with crutches and LOVE GOING TO THE GYM, which, it turns out, people don't typically expect.) Also, is there a way to leave a tip jar so that people who want to pay you can but no one has to pay to subscribe?
You can add a custom button for tips, Sarah. I do mine through Ko-Fi but you can use PayPal or whatever suits you. Just click on the 'custom' button, type a short description, and add the URL.
Hi, I love it here on Substack and I write about addiction and recovery at https://thanksforlettingmeshare.substack.com and also host a podcast, Breakfast with an Alcoholic. We've ben trying really hard to encourage discussion and there just hasn't been much response no matter what the prompts have been--at least so far.
Iโm having similar problems. I include prompts and request comments in response to specific questions every week, but rarely get many (if any) comments.
A little off menu for todays theme, but a few weeks ago I asked about โrandomizingโ the order our recommendations are seen on our pages. I didnโt want the same one to always be at the top.
At any rate, it looks like thatโs now occurring, and I want to thank whomever made that happen.
I just did my first poll and my readers were really into it. I got the response I was looking for. They also left lots of comments about what they wanted to see more of in my newsletter. Thanks for offering this poll. I'm at https://diannejacob.substack.com/
That is awesome to hear!
These threads are so long it's hard to absorb all this activity. Is there any way to organize a thread so it is more readable?
I only started my Substack in the last few days but find it interesting how self promo mainly seems to revolve around social media these days.
As someone who doesnโt use social media and has no wish to, it can be difficult trying to figure out how to get your work to a wider audience. Just a thought about the world we live in now!
I don't use any social media for my newsletter. It can be done!
Good to hear this! How do you promote your newsletter?
I ask subscribers to share. I collaborate with other Substackers. I show up in Office Hours regularly. I'm open about the fact that I write a newsletter, and I carry business cards with me that I can hand to people who are interested.
I did have an IG account for my newsletter but realized over time that I was cultivating two audiences (with little meaningful overlap) and I just don't have the time or energy for that, so I had to make a choice. I think social media is totally useful for newsletter promotion, but it's very hard to maintain if your heart isn't in it (and frankly, my life is too full to maintain anything if my heart isn't in it).
Thanks for sharing what works for you. Iโm trying to show up for and participate in Office Hours more often. I love it every time I am able to be part of the discussion and always learn from others. I try to force myself to interact on Twitter and LinkedIn but am not consistent because my heartโs not in it either, and Iโm an introvert.
I donโt! Itโs brand new, and Iโm happy for it to comfortably settle in. Small steps for now. Mind you, I take time to look around Substack and getting to know other writers from their posts and by getting into chats in the comments. Thereโs plenty of cross-pollination. :D
Me neither! I'm allergic...!
Recommendations from other Substack writers are really powerful. You can learn more about that product here: https://on.substack.com/p/recommendations-update
I second that. Not just the recommendations feature, but direct shoutouts etc. Connecting with other writers has been much more effective for me than social media. However this approach does take time.
If you want to disperse with no effort on your part I recommend joining The Sample: https://thesample.ai/?ref=b66a
They distribute snippets of different newsletters to their subscribers.
Conveniently, your post today brings me to my request! A poll in which folks can choose more than one option, please. :)
Totally agree (esp. as someone who can never pick just one thing!) I think this is on the roadmap, and I'll make sure our product team sees your request :)
Thanks, Nicole!
Yes! I love that there are surveys now, but this would be a nice option :-)
Annette, what do you mean by "more than one option?" You mean, more than a choice of two? If you insert a poll into your post, then click the little pencil in the top right-hand corner, enter all your poll details, once you input the two given choices, another box (choice) appears.
Nope: Notice how Substack asks us to pick one in the poll. There's no option to choose multiple answers. Maybe that's not a thing? Am I hallucinating? :) Dammit, Jim, I'm a doctor of philosophy (in history) not a (social) scientist! :) I think I need a survey option. :)
OH oh oh: you mean the ability to pick multiple answers, not offer multiple options. I get it now! Yes, this has occurred to me, too -- that would be so nice to have.
LOL! Thanks, Sarah. And thanks for making me clarify that, or, more accurately for clarifying that for me. I always end up participating in these threads while knocking out a post draft, so my attention isn't always where it should be.
One of the biggest questions I have concerns SEO and organic discovery. I know Medium does SEO incredibly well and Medium articles are often top Google and Bing searches. However, I have yet to see a Substack post show up in a search.
My question is (and forgive me if this has been answered in a previous Office Hours), does Substack allow search engines to crawl through publications, or do search engines not index Substack articles?
Thanks!
Yes, search engines do index Substacks, and after you pass a threshold you will be provided a sitemap automatically. A little known fact is that you also have an RSS feed tied to your Substack. For example, mine is https://brianreindel.substack.com/feed. My short stories are all indexed.
That's great to know, thanks!
I wrote a little bit about SEO in my newsletter's annual review earlier this year, which may be helpful: https://www.nightwater.email/i/48113532/search-engine-optimization
I had similar concerns when I started my literary-focused Substack. Previously I had run a tech-focused blog for ten years and organic discovery was a big part of its growth. But I have come to believe that organic discovery matters far more in some subjects than in others. For what I am doing now, I thing direct participation and word of mouth matter far more than organic discover would. It comes down to whether you are answering the kinds of specific concrete questions that people tend to google for. If so, organic search is huge. For things like fiction and philosophical ramblings, I think it matters far less.
Would someone like to collaborate with me? I have a new Substack and am looking to grow! Open to any ideas or feedback.
Thank you!
jaroslavnovosyolov.substack.com
I look forward to checking it out, Jaroslav!
I'm just getting started and think I missed a step. Where do I create the little box with the title, short description and an email box to subscribe?
Click on the Button dropdown menu on the top right.
Thanks, Lisa ... I've worn out that button without ever having a light bulb come on. I do believe that FogChaser nailed my issue. Love Office Hours!
You can edit those options under "Writer Dashboard>Settings>Welcome Page" โ yours is here: gratitudemojo.substack.com/welcome
Is that what you're referring to?
I may be in love! Thank you. Sometimes it's the simple things that makes me buggy.
I am a fairly new Substacker (since July) who writes about health and wellness mainly, as that is my career field. I've learned a lot from comments by other writers here and esp. in this thread. Am excited to check out The Sample, Discord, Slack, Hello Universe, Bookstackers, etc. Most of my subscribers so far are people I know and those from links on my Facebook page and so my open rate is pretty good (I think) at 50-75% and my couple dozen subscribers seem to enjoy my musings. I would love to acquire subscribers from other venues, however, but am still mystified as to how to do this, although I will check out the resources listed above and hope that they might be helpful. Any other suggestions?
I have many questions ahead of the launch of our newsletter next week! Here are a few to start:
- After we add subscriber emails, how long does it take for them to become active?
- When you hit publish, does your post automatically get emailed to your subscriber list, or do you have to do anything apart from that?
- When someone subscribes, do they automaticallyย get a welcome email?
Thanks in advance!
Welcome! in order:
-after adding subscriber emails, they pop up on your list almost instantly. If you're talking about "activity," the substack subscriber metric, that;s based on how many times they open an email and come to your publication in a month
-hitting publish actually doesn't necessarily send your post out to everyone -- you have to tick the "email to all my subscribers" box on the page that comes up once you press publish. It's ticked by default. But knowing you can toggle it off is useful if you ever want to just write web-only posts
-Welcome emails are a setting determined by you
This is VERY helpful - thank you!
To your third point - we have a welcome email set up and ready to go, but my question is when someone subscribes to the newsletter, does that email get sent to them automatically - or do I have to send it manually every time someone subscribes?
Has anyone found LinkedIn to be useful for getting paid subscriptions and for getting employers in a target sector to pay for subs?
I tried making an official linkedin page for my substack, but that was mostly so that when I wrote that I was the founder and editor in chief, a little logo would come up in my resume. As for sharing, it's gotten a few eyes on my posts that normally wouldn't, but not much else. I haven't seen a crazy increase in subs
LinkedIn tells me I have quite a number of views when I post there but typically only those I am connected with will comment. Not sure if this has contributed to my growth in subscriptions but I suspect that consistency definitely helps. If folks keep seeing my name with post titles that are interesting, maybe they will eventually check it out.
I know it goes contrary to Substack growth but I've started repurposing part of my Substack content as an Article on LinkedIn to help reach (but I don't have a paid sub).
Any of our fellow Substackers interested in a collaboration?
We create custom ambient music and white noise audio tracks - would be great to team up with another creator to bolster (both) of our Substack communities.
Send me a message if you're interested in exploring this.
Could be cool to layer this kind of thing under a voiceover of someone reading their post! https://on.substack.com/p/new-ways-to-listen-to-your-favorite
Agreed!
Hey there - I'm doing some similar work, and very interested in sound/noise. Would love to connect sometime! Feel free to email me at fogchaser@gmail.com
I try to use both comments and discord, but neither have worked out so far in snagging engagement.
Think I just need to keep going on until I can get people interested in talking. I'll be making a discussion thread relatively soon, so that might become a turning point.
Interestingly, I have a bit of mystery right now with my traffic. I'm getting traffic from facebook according to my stats, despite not linking to my substack there, but attempting to find out who is posting links has been futile even with advanced google tricks. So I'm wondering if there are some private facebook groups talking about my posts where I can't see them, not the engagement I was looking for, but it's something.
I've mentioned on these threads before, but I put off starting a thread for the longest time. I was afraid it'd be like hosting a party no one showed up to. But one week I did it anyway, and it was far and away the most viewed/liked/engaged with post I'd done in some time. Now I kick every week off with one.
All of that to say; give it a go! You never know what might come out of it.
That's reassuring to hear. In my case I need to reach a certain point with my story before doing the thread, but now I'm not as worried about it anymore.
I'm terrible at social media, and generally speaking, do not like to talk about things I create. I'm caught between wanting to build a following and not wanting to engage anyone at all to do it.
So I guess what I'm asking is: How have others with similar dispositions overcome their social media anxiety?
I have been off of social media since 2014, except for LinkedIn for professional purposes. I also write anonymously and generally am not comfortable with excessive promotion.
My solution is to 1- be ok with low and slow growth. 2- to do very selective promotion (I am planning a month-long subscription drive called SUBTEMBER next month, and then I will leave everyone alone the rest of the year). 3- hone your skills and improve your product.
Just keep writing--the people will come. As long as you love what you are writing, people will catch that energy, it will just take time.
"SUBTEMBER" -- omg, can I steal that?! ๐
Of course! Please do!
Thank you so much! (I'm going to run a 40% off discount all month in celebration of my 40th birthday, so this will be fun.)
I hate social media and am only on one platform (and even then, only check it once in awhile because I really don't want to be there at all). I created an IG account for my newsletter, set myself a posting schedule, stuck with it, and realized what I was doing was growing two audiences, and I don't have the time (energy, patience, or desire) for that, so I ditched it.
You can absolutely grow a Substack audience without social media. That said, other people here successfully use social media to their advantage and you can learn a lot from them. But only if you *want* to use that strategy -- it's not required or necessary.
This is so great to hear! I donโt use any social media and really have no wish to use it as a tool to promote my newsletter. Always good to hear other ideas from people about how to grow an audience without it!
I spent quite a bit of time working on social media to promote my writing, but found that it was affecting my mental health so I have largely walked away from it. I focus on connecting with other writers instead. Of course, this is just as anxiety-inducing, if not more so. For me, it's been easier to focus on connecting for the sake of connecting rather than constant self-promotion. (I'm not a big substack but I'm growing)
Instead of overcoming my social media anxiety, I overcame social media!
It felt like a heck of a wrench at the time to wipe as much trace of myself away from Facebook, Twitter and Istagram as they allow you to, but goodness me, I needed to get my life back, and I DID. :D :D :D
Treat social media as a task rather than a time sink. Post on there and move on. It's still worth getting your publication onto socials.
https://newslettertosocials.com
Iโd love the ability to edit comments from the app. Currently the only way to do it is on the main browser based page. Itโs not the easiest thing to have to switch.
Heard! I'll check in on this.
Please give us more information about our publications in the stats.
I want to be able to cultivate information like
Total word count
Total free word count
Total word count behind paywall
To include in promotional posts on Instagram but right now I have to open the editor on each post and add it up manually just to get a rough idea of how much content already exists.
You already have this information, please just add it on to our stats page so we can see and use it. Especially helpful as a "year in review" kind of information that we could use to make a 1 year anniversary post.
Hi there,
If you hover over the "i" information icon in the bottom left of your post you can see word count and read time.
I'm not asking for a per post word count.
I am asking for a word count on my entire publication.
I'm not interested in opening 80+ individual posts and adding it up in a separate excel spreadsheet
On a per post basis, you can see the word count. Hover your cursor between the โVersion historyโ and โSettingsโ buttons at the bottom of the editor. Your word count will appear there.
Yes, word count while editing would be great. (I ctrl-A ctrl-C and paste into Word to find mine.)
We already have it when editing.
I want it on my stats page and broken down by free and by paylocked.
I want to promote the amount of content people get in my back-catalog when they pay for a sub, but right now I have to tally that myself one at a time and I already have 80+ articles written and that takes forever.
I just wanted to say thank you for updating stats on Substack! I think the improvements are tremendous, and they give me a much clearer idea of where Iโm getting my traffic from.
As a newbie I found stats a bit confusing until today. Itโs much better now! ๐
Totally! ๐