Have questions about publishing, growing, or going paid on Substack?
The Substack team, and your fellow writers, are here to help!
Today we’re gathering the writer community and members of our Community, Product, and Writer Development teams together in a thread to answer writer questions for an hour.
Seeking tips for growing your email list? Some inspiration: Alexandre Dewez wrote an annual review breaking down growth on their Substack, Overlooked.
Wondering how you encourage reader engagement, and maybe even community? Some inspiration: Ilana Wiles, author of Apparently, hosted a “Roll Call” thread just after her publication launched to get to know readers.
Drop your questions in the thread and we’ll do our best to supercharge each other.
Our team will be in the thread today from 9 am - 10 am PST / 12 pm - 1 pm EST answering questions with you.
Hey all! I run a fiction and poetry blog at https://alexknepper.substack.com . But it seems like most people cover nonfiction topics, news, politics, finance.
How can I leverage substack when most people are doing nonfiction writing? Any tips?
P.s.- any creative writers out there? Where's my tribe at??
Oh, also, Eve Tushnet of "The Rogation Dragon" is delightful, witty, and somewhat nutty, (in a way I ultimately find IDENTIFIABLE) and she writes both fic and non-fic!
Her schtick is that she's gay and yet was drawn to traditional spirituality.. and her story also went down dark roads of alcohol addiction, so she's both very sympathetic to people "in low places," and is continually fascinated by learning more and more what it means for someone in her shoes to be a Christian, and... finding catharsis and wisdom in art. (the latter having pretty much always been a part of her life!)
> "P.s.- any creative writers out there? Where's my tribe at??"
me-me-me-meeee! (but my fiction writing is all over the internet, etc. or in my own files safely on my hard drive, hehe!)
I just concluded that I should start a Substack to consolidate some of that stuff. (and because it's what I more naturally "crank out.") But the Substack I have now is not that one! I will have to create it. (I already know what I'll name it.
Talking with you gave me motivation! (Also, apparently I've been ruminating on the thoughts that was destined for its "About" page for literal YEARS!) :) Thank u, Alex!
Hi! I'm Erik Hoel, a novelist and a scientist, and I run The Intrinsic Perspective which takes on the intersection of literature and science. https://erikhoel.substack.com/
I have a question about crossposting. Recently, a piece of mine made it to #1 on Hacker News. Obviously great for me, ended up with about 20,000 views. However, I wasn't the one who posted it there, someone else did. In general, what are your thoughts on crossposting? Do the more successful stacks normally do it? Or is it better to let it grow organically? Since stack is not a full blown news or media site, to reach an outside audience you need to post somewhere else. For me that's normally twitter, and that's done well enough and I get a steady stream of subscribers from it, but do many of the more fast growing blogs also crosspost elsewhere? I'm thinking of Hacker News, Reddit, LessWrong, etc, as potential options.
Hey Erik! I don't see anything wrong with crossposting. I repost my investment reports on Medium -- which lets you add a canonical link under settings to avoid duplication. It's helped expand my reach and drive some additional traffic to my newsletter. Reddit is a good spot too if you can find the right subreddit.
Medium's domain authority can be a massive difference-maker. Every single report I've written has ranked on the first SERP for my keywords, and it's usually the Medium repost. I definitely recommend it.
I tried posting on Hacker News but my posts never got any traction. I suspect they prioritize posts of long-term Hacker News users. Twitter works best for me, followed by Reddit.
I agree with this - I tried once and the same effect, I wonder if the Hacker News karma points are what matters in terms of if people see what what the algorithm prioritizes. So maybe Hacker News is actually worst place to crosspost
I've just started writing a newsletter, https://proximities.substack.com/, which highlights three non-Western news stories each day. My question is how do you start to drill down to what your readers really want in terms of length, subject matter etc?
Do you look at open rates? Do you simply ask? Any tips?
Lately I have found a lot of value in directly asking. I have done this through a single question or two at the beginning of whatever I'm writing that day, as well as an anonymous survey I created via Google Forms and then asked people to participate in (or not). This has been incredibly helpful as I iterate on what I'm currently offering as well as make decisions about the future.
The one thing about feedback is: you get feedback. So don't ask unless you're ready to hear what your readers have to say!
I write a book rec newsletter and ran a survey tied to Independent Book Store Day. I entered everyone who completed it in a raffle for a $20 gift certificate to their local book store. The data I got was well worth $20.
Some of my readers are telling me that they want to become paid subs, but are confused and couldn't figure it out. If I hear from some, it probably means that many more have the same problem.
What I figured out happens is that they are not logged into their Substack account on that particular device/browser, so when they click subscribe (expecting to see ways to pay), they only see the "add your email here" page with nothing else.
This is confusing to them, and they sometimes just give up.
I wish there was a way to make it clear on that page that if you're already a free subscriber and are looking for paid options, you need to log in (with convenient link, etc.. as little friction as possible).
Hey Rishi! Sure, feel free to drop me a email if you have any questions or anything you'd like to discuss. You can reach me just by replying to any of my newsletter emails. Cheers! 💚🥃
After having a lot of initial interest, my list has plateaued a bit. I hear everyone about the value of collaboration, and I’m wondering if Substack has a category system / some sort of landing page that would help writers (and readers) find similar publications. Sorry if this has already been covered and I missed it, and thanks in advance for any help!
love it ... will check it out ... I have an Author Adventure Publishing Posse newsletter at authorlizlawless.substack.com and post 3 days a week about writing, publishing, and marketing.
Are you wanting just a picture of a map? Or an actual interactive map that users can click, zoom in/out, etc? I'm guessing you know a picture would already be an option. But an interactive map (which is what I'm assuming you mean) would be a really cool idea for a cycling newsletter.
Interactive map-- just like how you can embed a YouTube video or a Tweet, you know? You click and it takes you to the route vs. having to do a screengrab of the map.
I just wanted to say, how pleasantly surprised I was with Substack's ability to embed video content from Youtube. It's as simple as copy-pasting the video URL!
I pasted the video URL in my post as a placeholder with the intent of googling how to embed videos later, and when the video appeared as an embed right away, I was super-impressed.
How would you go about growing a so-called "newsletter without a niche"? Mine (www.whitenoise.email) encompasses a wide variety of themes (e.g. behavior, psychology, philosophy, the brain, books). As such, it's a bit difficult to grow by traditional means. Thank you! Collaborations/comments/conversations welcome!
Hi Tom. I'm in a similar situation. I'm a comedy writer and send out a weekly curated newsletter on a central topic: https://theshortstory.substack.com/
I'm creating "temporary niches" each week by focusing promotion towards readers interested in that week's theme. So far, it's been working well and the readers tend to enjoy the newsletter enough that they stick around for future issues.
I'm more or less in the same situation as you. By checking your newsletter I realized you're focusing only on one theme in one issue. This is an added advantage for you! You can make use of you the Reddit communities (don't spam) for driving some traffic. Say you're writing something about productivity and mind, you can post it in the subreddit.
I write a weekly newsletter called 10+1 Things featuring 11 things that are worth reading.
Hey there, I'm trying to grow my readership and one of my strategies is guest posts in other publications. Any tips for ways to best lead people to your newsletter when you do a great post? I'm thinking links embedded in the post to other articles of mine, post script etc. Thanks!
One format I've done that was super successful was doing a guest post as writing back and forth between yourself and the primary writer of the newsletter. Then you write the first part of it on the newsletter of the person with more subscribers, and to read the end of it people have to go to your actual newsletter page. It was super successful in getting new sign ups. But it's kind of labor intensive and not something everyone will be willing to do. Yes to gathering best practices!
Hi All! I am trying to figure out how to A/B test my writing. For example: length of newsletters, tone of writing, graphs vs images, introducing gifs, etc. While metrics can be many, how do I execute this and learn what my readers actually want?
I am using the sections feature to host a book study/club this summer around a common text: https://readbyexample.substack.com/s/cultivating-genius-book-study (I write about PK-12 education, specifically literacy leadership.) Other practicing educators will post a written response to the book as contributors. Nice to be able to separate this project from my weekly writings.
Hi guys, thanks for this awesome platform: I have a few suggestions/requests:
1) Ability to customise themes for each different section
2) Ability to exclude footnotes from the email version of all posts!
They seem to take up a lot of the memory in the "too long for email" calculation, and I would always prefer people to have the images rather than the footnotes (which is often the trade-off I find myself making)
3) Ability to embed social cards of other Substack posts (not sure if this is the right terminology? I mean the card type thing you see when you share an article/newsletter on social media).
Over the last week or so I've published a long investigation in 3 parts and now I'm working on another that introduces the series and gives a brief overview of each part, linking them all together. For now I'm embedding my own tweets that link to the article, but ideally I'd like to be able to post the URL to a Substack post into the editor and have that 'social card' thingy magically pop-up like a tweet does. Hope that makes sense?
I think they're still developing some functionality for that -- but I've found writers with comparable newsletters just by reading these office hour threads.
Hi Carter, I've started participating in these office hour threads as you mentioned to meet others. Nice recent post on Chargepoint. Feel free to subscribe to investrly here and there's likely ways to collaborate if you'd like.
That's very cool. Checking it out now. Themed hours/threads would be a great way to connect. Additionally, possibly connecting writers who've been using Substack for around similar periods of time and/or close in follower numbers. This would allow for easier and more congruent partnerships. As always, happy to chat more about this and any ideas. Invest early with us at investrly.substack.com.
This is a repeat question because I still can't figure it out - I keep a draft post which I use as a template, and I used to be able to command-a to select all and then copy, but this no longer works. Doing edit menu > select all doesn't work either, and when I use the cursor to select it will select some of the text but not the lines/buttons/text - help?!
Hi Team! Pablo here. I write a news industry rag for the Latino lens at latinx.substack.com. This week my team and I decided to make our infrequent newsletter a consistent weekly free edition published Mondays at 8:30am ET.
Curious if there are any other prominent Latinx publications active on the substack platform?
Hi there! My Substack, PopPoetry (https://poppoetry.substack.com) is made up of weekly posts for anyone interested in writing and the creative life.
My mission is to bring poetry out of the ivory tower and into your living rooms and your hearts. I study the intersection of poetry and poets with pop culture, including TV, film, music, and more.
I know my readers are out there, but I'm still trying to grow my email list. I sound like a broken record, but any advice would be appreciated! My Substack is still free right now, but I hope to grow it and one day go paid.
I am planning to run discursion threads with guests. The thread will begin with several questions from my side as separate comments. I will invite the guest to respond and everyone to join the thread. So, the thread will start like an interview and will continue as a discursion (hopefully). What do you think about this strategy? What is your experience with guest discussions?
I have seen the old fashioned AMA threads but the idea of open threads was really intriguing. I have brainstormed few ideas for the thread. I'm planning to create a thread once I hit 100 subscribers. I'll definitely update you on the same once it's live.
I use custom drawn comic book art in my substack to help illustrate points and showcase the story. It has helped so I suggest doing something different. You can see what I mean here. https://youtopianjourney.substack.com/
Say I have a budget of $500 to spend on growing my list. I've read that Substack newsletters aren't seeing worthwhile results with social media ad buys. How would you recommend spending a small marketing budget? Purchasing ads on other newsletters? Podcast advertising? Refer-a-friend programs? I'd love to hear any success stories.
Sounds like you found your core readers, though? Unless I'm miscalculating, 15% of everyone who visited your site from the ad subscribed, which is a high conversion rate for a social ad!
Regular Twitter sharing. I doubt you'll get a high ROI on Google / Facebook / Twitter ads. That ship has long sailed.
To find really high ROI ad opportunities I think you need to be very creative: perhaps new platforms that aren't as well known yet and where ad inventory exceeds demand.
Hi, there! I am new to substack, and still trying to figure out what the best container for my content would be. Is there a substack for children? I have a whole series of linked, illustrated children's stories I'd love to share, is that possible on substack? They are kind of like episodes.
Saw you rolled out the ability to send a welcome email to manually imported subscribers.
Love this, thanks - but I have two questions:
1. Could you add this ability for imported csv’s as well?
2. Also, currently the UX sends my “welcome to paid subscribers” to any new subscriber, regardless of whether they’re paid or free. (I have one for free and one for paid.)
3. As long as I'm asking... how about a warm-up sequence 5-10 emails before sending regular content?
Hi all! I have been trying to figure out how to best utilize Substack. What are creative ways people are using Substack to connect with followers? Also, any thoughts on posting cadence? Thanks!
I let anyone who wants follow the members account. I don't mind. The upside for me is that I bombard them with paywall content and eventually they'll feel inclined to subscribe.
I still have questions from a couple weeks ago about how the Sections feature works. I've seen a couple newsletters that have used them, so that helped. But I still have many more questions. Can a single post be tagged for more than one section? What does the setup process look like for the writer? How does it work for current and future subscribers to select only specific sections? I think it would be great to add a tutorial with screenshots about the Sections feature to the Writers Resources. This might help answer questions for a lot of people.
This is a boring product use issue. We include some evergreen link sections in our weekly Los Angeles historic preservation newsletter (https://esotouric.substack.com), so I open up the most recent post in Firefox and copy-paste it into a new draft. When I paste, a handful of single spaces turn into double spaces, and I have to hunt them down and delete. If there's anything Substack could do so that doesn't happen, it would be swell.
Hi. I’ve been wanting to check out Office Hours for weeks! This week I finally made it but I’m in the car traveling to Maine (NOT driving :) I’ll follow along when I can because I’m already finding some useful info. And I could use a lot of useful info. I write about getting older and how fun it is at Silver Linings- https://cindyeastman.substack.com/ Great to get to know other writers here!
I recently built a landing page outside of substack to drive more traffic to my newsletter. However, I have to manually subscribe anyone who signs up through my landing page since Substack does not have an external facing subscription API.
Does Substack have any plans to create an API for external subscriptions in the near future?
Even I wish there was an external-facing API like you mentioned.
By the way, loved your substack and I subscribed to it. As someone who just came after a 4month long backpacking trip, I could connect a lot with your content.
Hi! I am still working on starting my daily quote email list through Substack, and although I haven't sent out anything yet, I have a few questions.
First of all, I was wondering is there any way to schedule my emails/newsletters in advance to be sent to my audience at a certain time without me having to manually send them at the exact moment I want them to be sent?
My other question is can I exempt certain people (a few friends and family members) from paying for a paid subscription, yet still allow them to receive the content within the paid subscription?
Thank you so much for the help and I hope everyone has a wonderful day!
I find it such a useful function when it comes to managing workload. If I have more time earlier in my day, and get the newsletter finished a couple of hours early, I can then schedule it to go at the usual time and move on with my day.
I see that most of the popular writers on Substack are experts in their own field or they have a huge fan following in social media channels.
As a noob writer who's starting, what is the best trick to growing the substack?
I have this dream of building a community around my stack and was wondering what is the sweet spot to launch a community or a discussion? Any stats or number would be valuable.
352 comments, and I've watched people make two posts within a few minutes 3 days after the thread was started? Wow! (for comparison, her other two posts have 134 comments, and 3 comments)
Also, the concept of an "Open Thread" is great... you give a little introduction and then people talk about whatEVER they want to!
I think if I try an OpenThread on a small Substack, (which is what mine will be) I will have at least 5 "ringers" who I ask in advance to post within a few hours. :> So I don't feel "I got all ready to have a party, but nobody comes."
Wow, that open thread concept is amazing. Let me think of an engaging idea like that for my subscribers. Thanks again Vikki! Appreciate your effort in doing this!
Open Threads hold a special place in my heart, as they gave some valued gifts of online community to a close family member of mine. (the community of people who grew to know each-other - in large part within Scott Alexander's old Open Threads - which, btw, he creates AT REGULAR INTERVALS, so people know when to expect them!)
Also, if you're going to respond so enthusiastically... well, then I know other things I know that you might find useful!! XD Some of the "MAGIC" of the community that formed around Scott Alexander's writing was because of Scott's standards for commenters, which can be found here: https://slatestarcodex.com/2014/03/02/the-comment-policy-is-victorian-sufi-buddha-lite/ (fun fact: apparently, a week before he implemented his now-seems-like-it-should-be-famous comment policy, he asked his readers what they thought it should be! So LISTENING to your readers and showing you're listening is huge!)
1. What do you hope the community would look like (in terms of interests, or values, or both!)
2. If you could take any community you've been a part of, and "import" people from it, what community would it be?
I got a lot out of the "About" page that Leah Libresco's "Other Feminisms" blog has - https://otherfeminisms.substack.com/about - sometimes she chose to focus on subjects that was driven by what her readers were eager to discuss, rather than the subjects she would have default thought would be good "first discussion" ones. (tho there are some things that won't match up to you or me b/c she already had a following outside Substack.)
1. The community I'm trying to build is of people who care for few topics of my interests like sustainability, design and technology. Ideally, the community would be the backbone of a non-profit I'm planning to launch in 4 years. Basically, the community would discuss open ideas, find solutions for existing problems and create products.
2. I'm a very interdisciplinary person, so the communities I'm part of so far are very focused say like photography, sustainability, climate change. I believe that an interdisciplinary community is required for many things which I'm intending to solve.
Hmm! Sounds like you'd want some of your reader/participant base to be geographically-local. ...but that it would not be limited to that, as the community starts out online, and maybe people will get good at working together online.
> Basically, the community would discuss open ideas, find solutions for existing problems and create products.
In some circumstances, people love being asked for help! (I think those circumstances are: "it's within their area of expertise" and "the initial comittment is not too huge.") Maybe some RL friends & family and some of the people who you know best online / have skill in areas like sustainability.
Have you started telling people in your circle of friends - online or off - about your dream yet? (This is something I've been fairly shy about, myself! So whatever the answer is, maybe we can encourage each-other!)
Cross-promotion with other newsletters has been successful for me, and guest editing another newsletter. You could try engaging in other newsletters' communities, i.e. comment on their posts and reply to other people's comments
I agree George. But I guess having some reader base gives some motivation. There is no doubt that I'm learning a lot from this newsletter but yeah I'm grinding a lot every week for it! :)
Hello, total newbie here. Wondering if it's ok to name my Substack page the same name as my long standing but not very active personal Blogger blog? Any copyright or similar issues I should be aware of? TIA
Hi there. I am having so much trouble figuring out how to get paid. I have $400 in my account but I can't figure out how to cash out. Can anyone help me?
I've checked the entire forum, support section, tried reaching out via Twitter and Facebook, scoured YouTube, and still can't find any answers or section in my account on how to actually cash out my earnings. Anyone else have this issue??
I write the Global Economic Outlook (G.E.O) - https://ecofinar.substack.com/ which provides insight and analysis of economic events across the world. Simply put, we break down economic events from Lagos to London to New York.
It's really been great learning from the discussion tonight!
I have a question about promoting your paid posts -- do you unlock them when you post them to say, Twitter or Facebook, and then put them back behind the paywall after a period when you've wanted people who aren't yet subscribed to check them out? Or, do you keep them locked, and do a brief teaser/explanation on social media of what they're about?
Hi there, I am Rahul and I write https://lightconejournal.substack.com/ on market insights. I cover various areas such as commodities, gold, stock markets, the Fed and crypto from a macro perspective. I have a couple of questions: (1) is it possible to create a disclaimer and disclosure page? That sort of thing is helpful in a finance related blog. (2) I want to categorize my posts with tags so people can easily find historical posts. Such as let’s say someone is looking for everything to do with “gold” or the “Fed”. How can I do that?
Hi Katie, thanks for your reply. The section pages seem to be separate newsletters altogether. Suppose I create a new “gold” section, then how can I move my old “gold” related posts into this new section?
Hey, my substack is currently free but I want to introduce an option to pay soon. When I do this, can I send a link to my free mailing list with a link/button that allows them to convert to paid if they want to?
I really wish you hadn't started making these threads about self-promotion, rather than about addressing issues with the platform itself. It's bad enough that Substack is asking its users to sort out the problems, rather than paying more staff. Just one example, and it's the last one I'll offer for free, when you use the app on the phone, typing quote marks messes up the text around them. Anyone being paid to find issues would have found and sorted this quickly. As for the "self-promotion" features, they remind me very much of the Kindle experience for most writers. They also remind me that the money in Substack, as in the 1849 Gold Rush, will go to the first to arrive (the celebs in this case) and, especially, those who figure out how to "mine the miners", in this case providing "services" to exploit people's vanity. If your bosses are in earnest about helping writers, then time will tell. I would be pleasantly surprised.
Hey Annette, little harsh here. Building a comprehensive platform takes time and ya need users to keep progress moving forward so self-promotion is actually necessary to get the things we want.
Oh btw I write weekly posts about the creator economy and how it relates to wider trends at Growth Berries (https://growthberries.substack.com/)
Bailey, I am a Scot, and speak my mind . This isn't aimed at you or the other workers, and I would say "I'm sorry you feel this way" but I learned from living in the American South that this is a passive-aggressive phrase. You guys should know that's how it came across to at least some of us, even if not everyone (and especially not women) feel comfortable dissenting from the chorus of approval. Note how another writer (whom I don't know) rushed to mansplain to me how things work in tech, and self-promote at the same time. I want Substack to succeed. But I'm not feeling particularly encouraged at all to continue contributing to these threads.
Hi, I am Anna and I write a newsletter focusing on issues important to women called Chaise Lounge. https://chaiselounge.substack.com My question is when will we get an underline feature in the editor's bar? I reference books quite a lot and don't like having to use the italics.
Just getting setup - plan is to produce a series of newsletters, on a theme, that will be eventually incorporated into a published book. I'm fine paying 10% of newsletter income, but book proceeds will be all mine, correct?
Hi! I wonder if and when the following will be released:
1. A Substack Reader app
2. Poll functionality
POLLS - Yes...
We all know how critically important engagement is in building community and stickiness.
Thank you for your diligence Bailey
Really happy to hear this.
+1 to that. If not the app, at least a native poll option is necessary.
Hey all! I run a fiction and poetry blog at https://alexknepper.substack.com . But it seems like most people cover nonfiction topics, news, politics, finance.
How can I leverage substack when most people are doing nonfiction writing? Any tips?
P.s.- any creative writers out there? Where's my tribe at??
There's lots of us! I'll echo Bailey's comment about the Discord channel - there's also a Twitter list of substack fiction writers:
https://twitter.com/i/lists/1370419483505012741?s=20
Substack just did a story on a bunch of people using the platform for fiction writing. You're in good company!
https://stories.substack.com/p/fiction-at-length-vampires-scientists?token=eyJ1c2VyX2lkIjo2MDQzNjUxLCJwb3N0X2lkIjozNzM2NDA2NSwiXyI6Im05ekxyIiwiaWF0IjoxNjIzOTQ2MzU4LCJleHAiOjE2MjM5NDk5NTgsImlzcyI6InB1Yi04MTMxOCIsInN1YiI6InBvc3QtcmVhY3Rpb24ifQ.NvdzrP48Au0hS1M6iCM8uL8pAYtSuL10EpA9Pm7fA7Q
Oh, also, Eve Tushnet of "The Rogation Dragon" is delightful, witty, and somewhat nutty, (in a way I ultimately find IDENTIFIABLE) and she writes both fic and non-fic!
https://evetushnet.substack.com/
Her schtick is that she's gay and yet was drawn to traditional spirituality.. and her story also went down dark roads of alcohol addiction, so she's both very sympathetic to people "in low places," and is continually fascinated by learning more and more what it means for someone in her shoes to be a Christian, and... finding catharsis and wisdom in art. (the latter having pretty much always been a part of her life!)
Thanks for the rec- I just subscribed!
> "P.s.- any creative writers out there? Where's my tribe at??"
me-me-me-meeee! (but my fiction writing is all over the internet, etc. or in my own files safely on my hard drive, hehe!)
I just concluded that I should start a Substack to consolidate some of that stuff. (and because it's what I more naturally "crank out.") But the Substack I have now is not that one! I will have to create it. (I already know what I'll name it.
That’s great! I’d love to read your stuff!
Yay, I made it! (and its first post!!)
"Ideas. Imagery. Story." https://ideasimagerystory.substack.com/
Talking with you gave me motivation! (Also, apparently I've been ruminating on the thoughts that was destined for its "About" page for literal YEARS!) :) Thank u, Alex!
You can see my creative substack here, you may dig it. https://youtopianjourney.substack.com/
Thanks! I just joined the discord community!
Hi folks, Paul from Singular Discoveries:
https://singulardiscoveries.substack.com/
I just launched 3 weeks ago and am going weekly. I'm using three tactics to try to grow my list:
Quality: I'm posting original narrative nonfiction that's properly reported and edited.
Cadence: I've gone weekly to try to grow the list regularly.
Guests: I'm interviewing guest writers to try to tap into their readerships.
(This week's guest is Erik Larson, author of Devil in the White City:
https://singulardiscoveries.substack.com/p/saved-by-a-football-plus-erik-larson)
My question is, what external methods are useful for growing your list? Social media, Facebook ads? What have you had success with?
Thanks!
Hi Paul,
I write a newsletter called 10+1 Things featuring 11 things that are worth reading.
< https://rishikesh.substack.com/ >
Main things which worked for me are below:
1. Reddit
2. Substack groups on Facebooks
3. Substack directories
4. My website
These drive the majority of the traffic to my blog.
Regards,
Rishi
Thanks Rishi, I've never used Reddit but all of those sound like good ideas! Oh, and I just signed up to 10+1 Things.
bailey you are, unsurprisingly, doing an amazing job here!
Thanks for the advice and resources...and thanks to Paul for the excellent question.
Thanks so much Bailey. I've read some but not all of those posts, so I'll work my way through the links and the other tips.
Hi! I'm Erik Hoel, a novelist and a scientist, and I run The Intrinsic Perspective which takes on the intersection of literature and science. https://erikhoel.substack.com/
I have a question about crossposting. Recently, a piece of mine made it to #1 on Hacker News. Obviously great for me, ended up with about 20,000 views. However, I wasn't the one who posted it there, someone else did. In general, what are your thoughts on crossposting? Do the more successful stacks normally do it? Or is it better to let it grow organically? Since stack is not a full blown news or media site, to reach an outside audience you need to post somewhere else. For me that's normally twitter, and that's done well enough and I get a steady stream of subscribers from it, but do many of the more fast growing blogs also crosspost elsewhere? I'm thinking of Hacker News, Reddit, LessWrong, etc, as potential options.
Hey Erik! I don't see anything wrong with crossposting. I repost my investment reports on Medium -- which lets you add a canonical link under settings to avoid duplication. It's helped expand my reach and drive some additional traffic to my newsletter. Reddit is a good spot too if you can find the right subreddit.
hmmm interesting - hadn't thought about Medium
Medium's domain authority can be a massive difference-maker. Every single report I've written has ranked on the first SERP for my keywords, and it's usually the Medium repost. I definitely recommend it.
Hi Erik! I will now spend my afternoon reading your posts on UFOs.
That post about UFOs is how I first found Erik's substack.. good stuff
thanks Elizabeth - hopefully my skeptical take isn't ruining anything for you :)
I tried posting on Hacker News but my posts never got any traction. I suspect they prioritize posts of long-term Hacker News users. Twitter works best for me, followed by Reddit.
I agree with this - I tried once and the same effect, I wonder if the Hacker News karma points are what matters in terms of if people see what what the algorithm prioritizes. So maybe Hacker News is actually worst place to crosspost
Hi Erik!
Your stack is amazing. The bitcoin article was very intriguing. Keep inspiring!
I write a newsletter called 10+1 Things featuring 11 things that are worth reading.
< https://rishikesh.substack.com/ >
Thank you Rishikesh - much appreciated
That's a really intriguing subject for your newsletter!
That's nice to hear - I don't see too many in that gap between the sciences and the humanities so that's something I really want to fix
Hi! Thanks for doing these - so good.
I've just started writing a newsletter, https://proximities.substack.com/, which highlights three non-Western news stories each day. My question is how do you start to drill down to what your readers really want in terms of length, subject matter etc?
Do you look at open rates? Do you simply ask? Any tips?
Bests,
Barry.
Lately I have found a lot of value in directly asking. I have done this through a single question or two at the beginning of whatever I'm writing that day, as well as an anonymous survey I created via Google Forms and then asked people to participate in (or not). This has been incredibly helpful as I iterate on what I'm currently offering as well as make decisions about the future.
The one thing about feedback is: you get feedback. So don't ask unless you're ready to hear what your readers have to say!
Google Forms is a really smart idea, Sarah. Thanks so much.
You're welcome! Hope it works for you.
Oh, and thanks for the warning on feedback : )
I've used polls via Google Forms, Typeform and Twitter. A common piece of advice I hear is max 1,500 words.
I write a book rec newsletter and ran a survey tied to Independent Book Store Day. I entered everyone who completed it in a raffle for a $20 gift certificate to their local book store. The data I got was well worth $20.
Okay, Elizabeth. You are a genius.
Thanks for that, Michael - appreciated. Hadn't heard of Typeform.
+1 for Typeform!
I'd like the answer to this one, too? I've sent out a poll, but got very little feedback.
I agree with Bailey here. Reaching out to individuals will give you a much richer picture.
That said, I hope for my subscribers to rank every one of my posts so that I know how I can best serve them.
Hello, thank you for doing this.
Some of my readers are telling me that they want to become paid subs, but are confused and couldn't figure it out. If I hear from some, it probably means that many more have the same problem.
What I figured out happens is that they are not logged into their Substack account on that particular device/browser, so when they click subscribe (expecting to see ways to pay), they only see the "add your email here" page with nothing else.
This is confusing to them, and they sometimes just give up.
I wish there was a way to make it clear on that page that if you're already a free subscriber and are looking for paid options, you need to log in (with convenient link, etc.. as little friction as possible).
I think it'll help everybody on the platform.
Thanks,
L
Hi Liberty,
I write a newsletter called 10+1 Things featuring 11 things that are worth reading.
< https://rishikesh.substack.com/ >
Seems like my content is a lot similar to yours or we are in the same niche.
Can we connect? As an experienced writer, I hope I can learn few things from you!
Regards,
Rishi
Hey Rishi! Sure, feel free to drop me a email if you have any questions or anything you'd like to discuss. You can reach me just by replying to any of my newsletter emails. Cheers! 💚🥃
Hey all, I’m Jason and I write Ideas Over Drinks: book reviews and personal essays, often paired with cocktail recipes and techniques.
https://jasonbasanemec.substack.com/
After having a lot of initial interest, my list has plateaued a bit. I hear everyone about the value of collaboration, and I’m wondering if Substack has a category system / some sort of landing page that would help writers (and readers) find similar publications. Sorry if this has already been covered and I missed it, and thanks in advance for any help!
love it ... will check it out ... I have an Author Adventure Publishing Posse newsletter at authorlizlawless.substack.com and post 3 days a week about writing, publishing, and marketing.
Got it. Thanks for the resources, Bailey, and please keep me posted as that category section develops.
https://www.radletters.com/
Rad Letters is another good directory (and bonus it has led to new subscribers for me)
me too
Hi y'all! I just launched my first substack (https://kickstand.substack.com/) and I would LOVE to be able to embed maps from Strava!
Welcome! Serious cyclist here ... I just signed up.
Not that my Substack is actually serious, lol! Thanks!
I enjoy reading all things cycling!
Are you wanting just a picture of a map? Or an actual interactive map that users can click, zoom in/out, etc? I'm guessing you know a picture would already be an option. But an interactive map (which is what I'm assuming you mean) would be a really cool idea for a cycling newsletter.
Interactive map-- just like how you can embed a YouTube video or a Tweet, you know? You click and it takes you to the route vs. having to do a screengrab of the map.
Mine is about cycling, mostly, in case there are any cycling fans out there!
Fun, fun, fun! Thanks!
Hello!
I'm Punit, and I write one fun, thought-provoking poem every week on Hello Universe <https://hellouniverse.substack.com/>
I just wanted to say, how pleasantly surprised I was with Substack's ability to embed video content from Youtube. It's as simple as copy-pasting the video URL!
I pasted the video URL in my post as a placeholder with the intent of googling how to embed videos later, and when the video appeared as an embed right away, I was super-impressed.
Well done, guys!
How would you go about growing a so-called "newsletter without a niche"? Mine (www.whitenoise.email) encompasses a wide variety of themes (e.g. behavior, psychology, philosophy, the brain, books). As such, it's a bit difficult to grow by traditional means. Thank you! Collaborations/comments/conversations welcome!
Hi Tom. I'm in a similar situation. I'm a comedy writer and send out a weekly curated newsletter on a central topic: https://theshortstory.substack.com/
I'm creating "temporary niches" each week by focusing promotion towards readers interested in that week's theme. So far, it's been working well and the readers tend to enjoy the newsletter enough that they stick around for future issues.
Hi Tom,
I'm more or less in the same situation as you. By checking your newsletter I realized you're focusing only on one theme in one issue. This is an added advantage for you! You can make use of you the Reddit communities (don't spam) for driving some traffic. Say you're writing something about productivity and mind, you can post it in the subreddit.
I write a weekly newsletter called 10+1 Things featuring 11 things that are worth reading.
< https://rishikesh.substack.com/ > Please check it out and let me know your feedback.
Regards,
Rishi
Hello Team,
I recently started writing a guide for Indian Philosophy on Substack - https://indianphilosophy.substack.com/
I would love to know if there are more ways to customize the home page/landing page? For example, ability to add a paragraph about the publication.
Thank you, Katie. Is it possible to have some customizations on the welcome page? - https://indianphilosophy.substack.com/welcome
Hey there, I'm trying to grow my readership and one of my strategies is guest posts in other publications. Any tips for ways to best lead people to your newsletter when you do a great post? I'm thinking links embedded in the post to other articles of mine, post script etc. Thanks!
I suggest ending your guest post with a link to the About page of your Substack
One format I've done that was super successful was doing a guest post as writing back and forth between yourself and the primary writer of the newsletter. Then you write the first part of it on the newsletter of the person with more subscribers, and to read the end of it people have to go to your actual newsletter page. It was super successful in getting new sign ups. But it's kind of labor intensive and not something everyone will be willing to do. Yes to gathering best practices!
Hi All! I am trying to figure out how to A/B test my writing. For example: length of newsletters, tone of writing, graphs vs images, introducing gifs, etc. While metrics can be many, how do I execute this and learn what my readers actually want?
I write about everything money and personal finance at https://moonstocks.substack.com/
I am using the sections feature to host a book study/club this summer around a common text: https://readbyexample.substack.com/s/cultivating-genius-book-study (I write about PK-12 education, specifically literacy leadership.) Other practicing educators will post a written response to the book as contributors. Nice to be able to separate this project from my weekly writings.
Thanks Matt - I'm now interested in checking out "sections"!
Is it new? (Not that this is relevant to me specif., b/c I am surely newer than it is! But for when I mention it to other writers!)
It is new. And being "newer" to it, maybe you will find some novel uses for it.
Yesssss... I was just mailing someone else about something she could use it for on her Substack!
Hi guys, thanks for this awesome platform: I have a few suggestions/requests:
1) Ability to customise themes for each different section
2) Ability to exclude footnotes from the email version of all posts!
They seem to take up a lot of the memory in the "too long for email" calculation, and I would always prefer people to have the images rather than the footnotes (which is often the trade-off I find myself making)
3) Ability to embed social cards of other Substack posts (not sure if this is the right terminology? I mean the card type thing you see when you share an article/newsletter on social media).
Over the last week or so I've published a long investigation in 3 parts and now I'm working on another that introduces the series and gives a brief overview of each part, linking them all together. For now I'm embedding my own tweets that link to the article, but ideally I'd like to be able to post the URL to a Substack post into the editor and have that 'social card' thingy magically pop-up like a tweet does. Hope that makes sense?
Re: 3) — this would also be cool for putting together periodic lists of recommended Substack articles
Thanks Bailey, that's great to hear
Ì have a blog on Wordpress. Can this be easily moved to Substack?
It was seamless for me. Couldn't have been easier
I just published my first audio post (https://jackbneary.substack.com/p/-an-interview-with-my-dad-about-being) and some subscribers are reporting that the audio player isn't working on mobile.
Has anyone else experienced this or have tips for a smooth audio experience (especially for iPhone)?
Thanks!
Hi all.
As the writer for Investrly we empower you to invest early in your financial future weekly via our substack newsletter.
I’m here to see how Substack can help match our growing newsletter with other writers/newsletters that want to collaborate and work together to grow.
Susbtack could run ways to help enhance this for consistent newsletters.
I think they're still developing some functionality for that -- but I've found writers with comparable newsletters just by reading these office hour threads.
I also have a newsletter in the investing space:https://diligence.substack.com/
Hi Carter, I've started participating in these office hour threads as you mentioned to meet others. Nice recent post on Chargepoint. Feel free to subscribe to investrly here and there's likely ways to collaborate if you'd like.
investrly.substack.com
Yeahhhhhhhhh!
That's very cool. Checking it out now. Themed hours/threads would be a great way to connect. Additionally, possibly connecting writers who've been using Substack for around similar periods of time and/or close in follower numbers. This would allow for easier and more congruent partnerships. As always, happy to chat more about this and any ideas. Invest early with us at investrly.substack.com.
This is a repeat question because I still can't figure it out - I keep a draft post which I use as a template, and I used to be able to command-a to select all and then copy, but this no longer works. Doing edit menu > select all doesn't work either, and when I use the cursor to select it will select some of the text but not the lines/buttons/text - help?!
Thanks for replying - I don't think I've changed any settings but I'll investigate!
Hi Team! Pablo here. I write a news industry rag for the Latino lens at latinx.substack.com. This week my team and I decided to make our infrequent newsletter a consistent weekly free edition published Mondays at 8:30am ET.
Curious if there are any other prominent Latinx publications active on the substack platform?
Was just about to recommend Hola Papi — Substack is great and so is his new book.
Hi there! My Substack, PopPoetry (https://poppoetry.substack.com) is made up of weekly posts for anyone interested in writing and the creative life.
My mission is to bring poetry out of the ivory tower and into your living rooms and your hearts. I study the intersection of poetry and poets with pop culture, including TV, film, music, and more.
I know my readers are out there, but I'm still trying to grow my email list. I sound like a broken record, but any advice would be appreciated! My Substack is still free right now, but I hope to grow it and one day go paid.
I am planning to run discursion threads with guests. The thread will begin with several questions from my side as separate comments. I will invite the guest to respond and everyone to join the thread. So, the thread will start like an interview and will continue as a discursion (hopefully). What do you think about this strategy? What is your experience with guest discussions?
I'm also planning an open thread! Waiting for the subscribers to reach 100!
Hey Bailey!
I have seen the old fashioned AMA threads but the idea of open threads was really intriguing. I have brainstormed few ideas for the thread. I'm planning to create a thread once I hit 100 subscribers. I'll definitely update you on the same once it's live.
I use custom drawn comic book art in my substack to help illustrate points and showcase the story. It has helped so I suggest doing something different. You can see what I mean here. https://youtopianjourney.substack.com/
Thanks again for answering questions!
Say I have a budget of $500 to spend on growing my list. I've read that Substack newsletters aren't seeing worthwhile results with social media ad buys. How would you recommend spending a small marketing budget? Purchasing ads on other newsletters? Podcast advertising? Refer-a-friend programs? I'd love to hear any success stories.
Instagram advertised post for $50 netted me 12 subscribers and close to 80 visits, so it isn't worth it.
Sounds like you found your core readers, though? Unless I'm miscalculating, 15% of everyone who visited your site from the ad subscribed, which is a high conversion rate for a social ad!
I expected more from it.
Google Ads has been completely useless for me. I found the greatest success with Twitter and guest interviews with other newsletters / podcasts
Awesome! To be clear, are you saying you've had success with Twitter ads or regular Twitter sharing?
Regular Twitter sharing. I doubt you'll get a high ROI on Google / Facebook / Twitter ads. That ship has long sailed.
To find really high ROI ad opportunities I think you need to be very creative: perhaps new platforms that aren't as well known yet and where ad inventory exceeds demand.
Thanks for all of your excellent advice today, Michael—appreciated!
Thanks for the advice. I'll be on the lookout for new platforms and creative opportunities.
(I'm saying "awesome" that you've found success on Twitter. Sorry you wasted time with Google.)
Thank you for the suggestion! I've done cross-polination in the past with other newsletters and will hopefully do more.
I am curious about paid promotion, though. Any strategies or techniques Substack has found effective with paid?
Hi, there! I am new to substack, and still trying to figure out what the best container for my content would be. Is there a substack for children? I have a whole series of linked, illustrated children's stories I'd love to share, is that possible on substack? They are kind of like episodes.
I do something similar. https://youtopianjourney.substack.com/
Thanks! I'll take a look.
I'm not sure I can help, but feel like you should check out Sarah Miller's substack on children's books: https://canweread.substack.com/
Thank you! I will check it out.
Great, Bailey, thank you. I'll take a look. Do you know if there are any people available to privately coach a new user on how to use substack?
Saw you rolled out the ability to send a welcome email to manually imported subscribers.
Love this, thanks - but I have two questions:
1. Could you add this ability for imported csv’s as well?
2. Also, currently the UX sends my “welcome to paid subscribers” to any new subscriber, regardless of whether they’re paid or free. (I have one for free and one for paid.)
3. As long as I'm asking... how about a warm-up sequence 5-10 emails before sending regular content?
Thanks!
Hi all! I have been trying to figure out how to best utilize Substack. What are creative ways people are using Substack to connect with followers? Also, any thoughts on posting cadence? Thanks!
I just launched summer reading bingo (I write a book rec newsletter) and it seems like people are really playing!
In case it's helpful: https://whattoreadif.substack.com/p/you-think-summer-reading-bingo-should
Since I'm a nerd, I'm super excited about it. I'll report back in the fall on how it goes — the first two weeks have seen a big increase in comments.
I have a members account on Twitter which I use to post paywall content and communicate with my paid subscribers
How do you manage that? I mean if someone unsubscribes from your newsletter, do you worry about them continuing to follow the members account?
I let anyone who wants follow the members account. I don't mind. The upside for me is that I bombard them with paywall content and eventually they'll feel inclined to subscribe.
I still have questions from a couple weeks ago about how the Sections feature works. I've seen a couple newsletters that have used them, so that helped. But I still have many more questions. Can a single post be tagged for more than one section? What does the setup process look like for the writer? How does it work for current and future subscribers to select only specific sections? I think it would be great to add a tutorial with screenshots about the Sections feature to the Writers Resources. This might help answer questions for a lot of people.
Thanks!
This is a boring product use issue. We include some evergreen link sections in our weekly Los Angeles historic preservation newsletter (https://esotouric.substack.com), so I open up the most recent post in Firefox and copy-paste it into a new draft. When I paste, a handful of single spaces turn into double spaces, and I have to hunt them down and delete. If there's anything Substack could do so that doesn't happen, it would be swell.
Thanks! Appreciate your sharing it with them.
Hi. I’ve been wanting to check out Office Hours for weeks! This week I finally made it but I’m in the car traveling to Maine (NOT driving :) I’ll follow along when I can because I’m already finding some useful info. And I could use a lot of useful info. I write about getting older and how fun it is at Silver Linings- https://cindyeastman.substack.com/ Great to get to know other writers here!
Yep! All of that :)
Hi! I write a newsletter where I interview travelers and summarize their best travel advice.
https://yourtravelmentors.substack.com
I recently built a landing page outside of substack to drive more traffic to my newsletter. However, I have to manually subscribe anyone who signs up through my landing page since Substack does not have an external facing subscription API.
Does Substack have any plans to create an API for external subscriptions in the near future?
Thanks!
Hi Mike,
I write a newsletter called 10+1 Things featuring 11 things that are worth reading.
< https://rishikesh.substack.com/ >
Even I wish there was an external-facing API like you mentioned.
By the way, loved your substack and I subscribed to it. As someone who just came after a 4month long backpacking trip, I could connect a lot with your content.
Keep inspiring!
Regards,
Rishi
Hi! I am still working on starting my daily quote email list through Substack, and although I haven't sent out anything yet, I have a few questions.
First of all, I was wondering is there any way to schedule my emails/newsletters in advance to be sent to my audience at a certain time without me having to manually send them at the exact moment I want them to be sent?
My other question is can I exempt certain people (a few friends and family members) from paying for a paid subscription, yet still allow them to receive the content within the paid subscription?
Thank you so much for the help and I hope everyone has a wonderful day!
1. Yes you can schedule posts for the future so you don't have to manually send them.
2. You can gift subscriptions, which would be how you could give your paid subscription for free to certain people.
Awesome, thanks!
HI Taylor, You can schedule your posts. When you go to the Publish page there is an option at the bottom.
I find it such a useful function when it comes to managing workload. If I have more time earlier in my day, and get the newsletter finished a couple of hours early, I can then schedule it to go at the usual time and move on with my day.
Thank you so much, Anna!
Thanks, Bailey!
Hi,
I write a newsletter called 10+1 Things featuring 11 things that are worth reading.
< https://rishikesh.substack.com/ >
I see that most of the popular writers on Substack are experts in their own field or they have a huge fan following in social media channels.
As a noob writer who's starting, what is the best trick to growing the substack?
I have this dream of building a community around my stack and was wondering what is the sweet spot to launch a community or a discussion? Any stats or number would be valuable.
Regards,
Rishi
Thanks for the reply Katie!
Yes, I'm already doing all those strategies.
I'm also curious to hear about the community building strategies from others!
Something that was recently shared here was this: https://ilanawiles.substack.com/p/role-call-please-introduce-your-former/comments
352 comments, and I've watched people make two posts within a few minutes 3 days after the thread was started? Wow! (for comparison, her other two posts have 134 comments, and 3 comments)
Also, the concept of an "Open Thread" is great... you give a little introduction and then people talk about whatEVER they want to!
I think if I try an OpenThread on a small Substack, (which is what mine will be) I will have at least 5 "ringers" who I ask in advance to post within a few hours. :> So I don't feel "I got all ready to have a party, but nobody comes."
Leah Libresco's open thread on what her readers have been reading: https://otherfeminisms.substack.com/p/open-thread-reading-women
Okay, those two blogs are feminine-coded - this one is not! Here's one of Scott Alexander's open threads (probably more all-over-the-place!) : https://astralcodexten.substack.com/p/open-thread-175
Wow, that open thread concept is amazing. Let me think of an engaging idea like that for my subscribers. Thanks again Vikki! Appreciate your effort in doing this!
Oh my goodness - delighted to hear that! :>
Open Threads hold a special place in my heart, as they gave some valued gifts of online community to a close family member of mine. (the community of people who grew to know each-other - in large part within Scott Alexander's old Open Threads - which, btw, he creates AT REGULAR INTERVALS, so people know when to expect them!)
Also, if you're going to respond so enthusiastically... well, then I know other things I know that you might find useful!! XD Some of the "MAGIC" of the community that formed around Scott Alexander's writing was because of Scott's standards for commenters, which can be found here: https://slatestarcodex.com/2014/03/02/the-comment-policy-is-victorian-sufi-buddha-lite/ (fun fact: apparently, a week before he implemented his now-seems-like-it-should-be-famous comment policy, he asked his readers what they thought it should be! So LISTENING to your readers and showing you're listening is huge!)
Rishikesh- questions for you!
1. What do you hope the community would look like (in terms of interests, or values, or both!)
2. If you could take any community you've been a part of, and "import" people from it, what community would it be?
I got a lot out of the "About" page that Leah Libresco's "Other Feminisms" blog has - https://otherfeminisms.substack.com/about - sometimes she chose to focus on subjects that was driven by what her readers were eager to discuss, rather than the subjects she would have default thought would be good "first discussion" ones. (tho there are some things that won't match up to you or me b/c she already had a following outside Substack.)
Hi Vikki,
Thanks for the reply.
1. The community I'm trying to build is of people who care for few topics of my interests like sustainability, design and technology. Ideally, the community would be the backbone of a non-profit I'm planning to launch in 4 years. Basically, the community would discuss open ideas, find solutions for existing problems and create products.
2. I'm a very interdisciplinary person, so the communities I'm part of so far are very focused say like photography, sustainability, climate change. I believe that an interdisciplinary community is required for many things which I'm intending to solve.
Thanks for the suggestion. I'll check her stack.
Hmm! Sounds like you'd want some of your reader/participant base to be geographically-local. ...but that it would not be limited to that, as the community starts out online, and maybe people will get good at working together online.
> Basically, the community would discuss open ideas, find solutions for existing problems and create products.
In some circumstances, people love being asked for help! (I think those circumstances are: "it's within their area of expertise" and "the initial comittment is not too huge.") Maybe some RL friends & family and some of the people who you know best online / have skill in areas like sustainability.
Have you started telling people in your circle of friends - online or off - about your dream yet? (This is something I've been fairly shy about, myself! So whatever the answer is, maybe we can encourage each-other!)
Cross-promotion with other newsletters has been successful for me, and guest editing another newsletter. You could try engaging in other newsletters' communities, i.e. comment on their posts and reply to other people's comments
I agree George. But I guess having some reader base gives some motivation. There is no doubt that I'm learning a lot from this newsletter but yeah I'm grinding a lot every week for it! :)
Hello, total newbie here. Wondering if it's ok to name my Substack page the same name as my long standing but not very active personal Blogger blog? Any copyright or similar issues I should be aware of? TIA
+1 for polls!
Help?
Can I pin a fav intro post to top of my substack pg?
ALSO …
I find that when I type “losingourrelgion.substack.com” I get to this:
(a page that shows current post)
BUT … when I add “/welcome” I get to the pg I actually want people to land on - i.e.
““losingourrelgion.substack.com/welcome”
(the welcome page with my one liner)
SO … how do I ensure visitors see my welcome page first?
Can you integrate this with any other calendar beside Google?
Hi there. I am having so much trouble figuring out how to get paid. I have $400 in my account but I can't figure out how to cash out. Can anyone help me?
I've checked the entire forum, support section, tried reaching out via Twitter and Facebook, scoured YouTube, and still can't find any answers or section in my account on how to actually cash out my earnings. Anyone else have this issue??
I write the Global Economic Outlook (G.E.O) - https://ecofinar.substack.com/ which provides insight and analysis of economic events across the world. Simply put, we break down economic events from Lagos to London to New York.
It's really been great learning from the discussion tonight!
I have a question about promoting your paid posts -- do you unlock them when you post them to say, Twitter or Facebook, and then put them back behind the paywall after a period when you've wanted people who aren't yet subscribed to check them out? Or, do you keep them locked, and do a brief teaser/explanation on social media of what they're about?
My first post disappeared from my site. What did I do wrong? Is this common?
Hi there, I am Rahul and I write https://lightconejournal.substack.com/ on market insights. I cover various areas such as commodities, gold, stock markets, the Fed and crypto from a macro perspective. I have a couple of questions: (1) is it possible to create a disclaimer and disclosure page? That sort of thing is helpful in a finance related blog. (2) I want to categorize my posts with tags so people can easily find historical posts. Such as let’s say someone is looking for everything to do with “gold” or the “Fed”. How can I do that?
Hi Rahul, I write insights about markets and personal finance at moonstocks.substack.com :)
Let me know if you are interested in collaborating!
Hi Katie, thanks for your reply. The section pages seem to be separate newsletters altogether. Suppose I create a new “gold” section, then how can I move my old “gold” related posts into this new section?
Is it possible to share a post to LinkedIn the way it is to share to Twitter? Thx!
I have decided to change the name of my newsletter. How will this affect my previous posts? Or should I anticipate any technical problems?
I want to change my newsletter from "The Notable Tribe" to "At My Age". I'm wondering what kind of technical surprises I might be in for.
Hey, my substack is currently free but I want to introduce an option to pay soon. When I do this, can I send a link to my free mailing list with a link/button that allows them to convert to paid if they want to?
Yes you can send emails to your free subscribers only that won't show up on your website. Just include a Subscribe button when writing the draft
If they have already subscribed (as in entered their email) but not subscribed (as in paid), what will that subscribe button lead to?
Thanks!
I really wish you hadn't started making these threads about self-promotion, rather than about addressing issues with the platform itself. It's bad enough that Substack is asking its users to sort out the problems, rather than paying more staff. Just one example, and it's the last one I'll offer for free, when you use the app on the phone, typing quote marks messes up the text around them. Anyone being paid to find issues would have found and sorted this quickly. As for the "self-promotion" features, they remind me very much of the Kindle experience for most writers. They also remind me that the money in Substack, as in the 1849 Gold Rush, will go to the first to arrive (the celebs in this case) and, especially, those who figure out how to "mine the miners", in this case providing "services" to exploit people's vanity. If your bosses are in earnest about helping writers, then time will tell. I would be pleasantly surprised.
Hey Annette, little harsh here. Building a comprehensive platform takes time and ya need users to keep progress moving forward so self-promotion is actually necessary to get the things we want.
Oh btw I write weekly posts about the creator economy and how it relates to wider trends at Growth Berries (https://growthberries.substack.com/)
I see what you did there, Dan...
Also, go Braves!
Bailey, I am a Scot, and speak my mind . This isn't aimed at you or the other workers, and I would say "I'm sorry you feel this way" but I learned from living in the American South that this is a passive-aggressive phrase. You guys should know that's how it came across to at least some of us, even if not everyone (and especially not women) feel comfortable dissenting from the chorus of approval. Note how another writer (whom I don't know) rushed to mansplain to me how things work in tech, and self-promote at the same time. I want Substack to succeed. But I'm not feeling particularly encouraged at all to continue contributing to these threads.
Hi, I am Anna and I write a newsletter focusing on issues important to women called Chaise Lounge. https://chaiselounge.substack.com My question is when will we get an underline feature in the editor's bar? I reference books quite a lot and don't like having to use the italics.
Just getting setup - plan is to produce a series of newsletters, on a theme, that will be eventually incorporated into a published book. I'm fine paying 10% of newsletter income, but book proceeds will be all mine, correct?
Thanks, Katie and Bailey for your time and effort in supporting writers like us!