Have questions about publishing, growing, or going paid on Substack?
The Substack team, and your fellow writers, are here to help!
We’re gathering the writer community and members of the Substack team together in this discussion thread to answer writer questions for an hour. Drop your questions in the thread by leaving a comment, and we’ll do our best to share knowledge and tips.
Our team will be answering questions and sharing insights with you in the thread today from 10 a.m. – 11 a.m. PST / 1 p.m. – 2 p.m. EST. We encourage writers to stick around after the hour and continue the conversation together.
Some updates and reminders from the Substack team:
Product news: Image galleries are now available for writers, a long-requested feature at Office Hours. You can upload multiple images side-by-side by navigating to the images in your tool bar and selecting “add gallery.” We also launched mentions, cross-posts, and more.
full time and resigned his professorship at Tufts University. Erik attended Substack Grow back in the summer of 2021 and offered sharp insights on how he’s grown on Substack in our Grow interview series earlier this year. We hope you’ll join us in a celebration of Erik’s work.
Have questions about Substack or feedback about what’s new? You’re in the right place! Leave a comment in this thread.
Next week there will be no Office Hours. We’ll be back the first Thursday in December for our monthly Shoutout Thread. Save it to your calendar so you don’t miss it.
This week we were super excited to see some writers who have long been invested in the Substack writer community go "all in" on their Substacks
Erik Hoel announced he is committing to write The Intrinsic Perspective full time and resigned his professorship at Tufts University. (Erik attended Substack Grow back in the summer of 2021 and offered sharp insights on how he’s grown on Substack in our Grow interview series earlier this year.)
Thanks for joining us at Office Hours today! The Substack team is signing off for today. We're taking a break from Office Hours next week to celebrate Thanksgiving in the US. We'll be back the week after.
Hello all, and happy Office Hours! Here’s a little bit of encouragement from one small newsletter to all of you: many parts of the world are entering what we call the holiday season, and it can be both a magical and difficult time for writers! Maybe the holidays afford you a bit more free time to get things done, or maybe this season is so full of activities and family time that you aren't able to focus. Maybe this is the time of year when you see the relatives who don't "get" your writing, who think it's a waste of time and energy, or maybe you're inspired by all the potential for magic and mystery this season brings. Whether this is a time for joy or loneliness, whether this is a time of boredom or busyness, you're not alone. Wherever you are in your writing journey this season, you're right where you need to be, and we're right here with you! Go gently with yourself, find pockets of peace, take a deep breath, and remember why you write. And then, keep writing, keep going, keep sharing! DON'T GIVE UP! 🌿
Hey everyone! A bit of advice if you're struggling to understand how to attract people into your list.
Those people who haven't found you yet - where are they right now? Where do they regularly hang out? What are they reading online?
And by all this I mean: where do YOU regularly hang out & what are you reading online? (Because they are just kinda like you, right? Your ideal core audience are folk who more or less care about the same things you do!)
If you assume they will be acting more or less like you do, then your own behaviour is a good guide and a good thing to analyse here - and might lead you straight to that audience. (Which websites are your non-guilty daily pleasures? How about pitching a guest post or trying to attract their attention so they'd be interested in interviewing you?)
Alternately: if you yourself kinda aspire to be like one of your writer heroes, where do *they* hang out - and then by extension, where does *their* audience hang out?
If you know where your ideal audience currently is, you can start coming up with a plan to get their attention - guest-posting, or leaving a really amazingly thoughtful comment somewhere, or even helping one of those "other Yous" directly with something, which is a fantastic way to get someone interested.
I am looking forward to seeing how people use image galleries. I think this presents a great opportunity for comic creators and am interested in seeing how they work with the new features.
The most genuinely supportive thing any Substacker can do is go paid on at least one other Substack written by someone who's not a celebrity,or already heavily promoted by Substack. It meant the world to me when [names redacted so they don't get begging letters] all started paying. If you're not paying for anyone else, how does that encourage readers to cough up?
Oh man! SO excited about image galleries. Now I don't have to do all that jerry-rigging on Canva to display photos side-by-side. It's going to save me a ton of time!
I would love to see Substack feature writers who don’t have any paid subscribers. Maybe even some who have small numbers of free subscribers. While I can see the benefits of people who have larger audiences, the already successful don’t necessarily reflect how most writers struggle to get anyone to care about their work.
First of all, I’d like to thank Substack’s network effects. Despite not playing the social media game and writing under a pseudonym, I’ve been getting great readers to my publication. I can’t imagine this happening anywhere else. To all those writers hesitant to start because they don’t have a massive following: Just do it. Think of this like a startup. You build a quality product (your writing) and never compromise on the value you provide. Everything else will come to you. That is what makes substack different from Twitter of Facebook. Just focus on your writing!
I guess I'm not the only one here who has already depleted the pool of potential readers in among my social media followers. So I'm trying to explore other means of finding readers.
If you haven't tried The Sample yet, I highly recommend it to all. It's basically a servce that sounds out a sample of your NL to hundreds of readers, and some of them might even subscribe! There's both a free and a paid option, I've tried both and helped me get new readers and subscribers. It can also be a good tool to discover new writers in the area you're intrerested in (be it on Substack or other platforms). Here's a link - https://thesample.ai/?ref=850d (full disclosure - this is a referral link, hope that doesn't go against the rules, happy to remove it if it does).
Another example of such a service is htttps://inboxreads.co. Doesn't cost a thing and can help you find new readers who share the same interests.
Want to confuse your family members on Thanksgiving? Tell them you publish a weekly newsletter on [x topics] and are looking to monetize your audience at [y inflection point] so you can continue to grow your personal brand and build [z company] & that's why you post so much on LinkedIn, Twitter & Facebook - but also tell them fuck social media it's evil. #substackrules
A lot of my readers were very confused by chat and I had to spend a lot of time explaining it was optional. I've posted new threads and have almost zero traction with it.
As a user, I remain confused by it, and have tried to use it but dislike using my phone as it breaks my productivity when I'm trying to get the next newsletter completed. Is there a desktop app?
Hi everyone! I'm curious what you do for creating some sort of template for your newsletters (related: Substack, please add a feature for reusable templates!). My posts are the same format every time. I have a draft post right now but copying and pasting it into a new post is tedious (I have trouble selecting all, and some of the images change size when I paste them). Is there a "save as" feature I'm missing? All of your newsletters look so PRETTY when they land in my inbox, and I feel like I'm recreating the whole thing every time.
Good morning! Last week Joyce from Gratitude Mojo Cafe asked how we can contact each other by email. I and a few others answered that you can use the name of the newsletter followed by @substack.com. But when I tried to email her and she tried to email me, neither one of us got the emails. A few days ago I received her latest post and opened it in my email. I noticed that her email address was not the full name of her newsletter, instead it was gratitudemojo@substack.com. I then checked and realized that my address was also abbreviated, waywardyogini@substack.com. Mystery solved :) I wanted to mention it in case anyone else is having trouble contacting other writers. We wouldn't want an email we send out trying to create a cross-promotion to end up lost in cyberspace, leaving us to believe the other writer isn't interested, right? Also, most importantly the email did not bounce back as undelivered, so had Joyce and I not continued to communicate in the thread last week, neither one of us would have known that the other did not receive the emails.
Im celebrating 3 months on Substack! Every week for three months which impretty proud about but in no small way due to the community so thank you for the support.
To celebrate I dedicated todays post to what ive learned from posting on substack!
In it I retold an anecdote of Erik Hoel's to someone, which I am now sharing with you here: "I grew up sleeping through New England winters in a bedroom without heat. For years the bath faucet ran only cold, so I used to get clean for my public high school in thin inches of water heated up in pots on the stove. I care nothing for riches, but poverty has always been a fear of mine."
This really touched me, particularly the words, "poverty has always been a fear of mine."
I'm thankful that Substack has given him the opportunity to be a paid writer, and wish him and all the writers here continued success. 🤗
Dear substack team, PLEASE reconsider the "badges" feature. How does displaying a publication's rank in terms of paying subscribers have any relation to the quality of the writing or the engagement of the readers? Money is a poor metric for determining an author's value, but the badge feature is an attempt to do just that.
I’ve been here for just over 1.5 years, and have written all my adult life. I do appreciate the platform so much. The 10% I pay is substantially less than I would pay to pull this together on my own site!
I understand the focus on those who bring a lot of money to the platform. ALL of us need those people and writers, because without them, the platform will not exist.
There are many other writers who are here for the joy of writing. Writing is relatively new for them, and they are content for the platform, and either do not care about earnings, or the earnings are secondary.
But there are so many in-between folks here, between those making thousands each month and those who don’t, and don’t mind. For the record, I am making about $500/month.
There IS a lot of helpful and thought-provoking material here, on how to encourage people to “go paid.” And many of us do read through the advice, try it on, work with it. (Yes, I know where to find it.) And work hard to self-promo, in addition to creating solid material with consistency.
My growth plods along, slow, but upward.
Here’s the Thing: I so struggle with all those hundreds of 4-5 star folks, who read every piece, comment when the piece if free… and never pay.
I’m not a marketing person. Well, I am—I’m pushed into the role in the ways that all creatives are pushed into that role now. But not with a marketing degree on my wall.
Somehow, Substack needs to focus on this. Change may be needed. The $5 month model of Medium comes to mind. There are so many readers who have no subscriptions at all, and read here all the time. Just like the people who used to hang out at magazine racks and pick up and read through until the old woman behind the cash register hollered: “Are you going to pay for that?”
Thoughts on this (as opposed to endless complaints!):
—some basic minimal fee for all readers IF they are not subscribed to ANY publications at all. I’m talking several dollars month, or an annual fee. And this would provide some encouraging funding for writers who have gone paid, yet are making under a certain amount each month. Yes, maybe this is too socialistic for Americans, but…!
—once a reader is subscribed to a minimum of X (3?) publications, this charge goes away!
—bundling subscriptions: Choose 3 or 6 or whatever, for a certain price… which will encourage exploration. (Writers could opt in to this program.)
Also -- further thoughts:
—the rotation of featured writers should make some sense. It appears to be arbitrary. What IS Substack looking for here: it would be good to know. I have to admit to feeling very isolated at times with my promotion; it’s all on me. (I have been featured once with about 15 other writing publications—thank you Substack, for that.)
—and last, and I’ll not be popular for saying this, but there’s a sense of favouritism: that is, it would be best if we could not see the subscriptions, paid and otherwise, of Substack employees. It’s not a cool policy—seriously!
Again, I’ll say I AM grateful for this! But just some thoughts. I appreciate how you do respond to thoughts!
Hi folks! I've recently been thinking about building systems to better achieve goals. I've found that I don't have a great system for writing yet (I end up speed-writing pieces on Sunday and Monday before I publish on Tuesdays). Would love to get some inspiration from you all regarding the writing systems/routines that you've settled into!
By the way, the Substack team asked me to come by (which I normally do anyways, these are always great). I'm here if anyone wants to ask me any questions about the experience of jumping into paid.
And if you'd like to check out the growing (almost 700 subs!) How About This community and become a H.A.T.T.E.R., please do check out my Substack (click on my name/newsletter name in the heading of this comment for more information). Cheers!
I'm curious if there is any movement toward an API? I know the level of effort required is pretty significant, and I was just curious. I would love to contribute an open-source Java client to help support it in order to help the Substack dev community grow.
I've got a couple questions regarding the cross-posting feature, which I love the idea of:
1) Can my subscribers opt out of them without completely unsubscribing from me? I want to make sure people are only getting the emails they want from me.
2) If I'm subscribed to multiple substacks within the same field and a bunch of them cross-post an article that's been making waves, I'm going to end up getting multiple emails with the same article, correct?
In case it's not obvious, I'm trying to work out how it can end up annoying readers, so I can best avoid that. 😅
Hello everyone. Love these Thursday get togethers.
I published a review today of my first three months on Substack and concluded the best part and most surprising part has been the community so thank you all!
I am still struggling to gain traction with new subscribers. Any tips welcome!
It´s more than urgent to translate Substack to other languages, like portuguese. There is a lot of missed subscribers because of that. It´s not a big deal: translate at least the payment process and basic stuff like the "listen" button in the email (where before was a play button, so even the non english speakers could understand. Now there is a simple button). I could help translate if you need, but please translate. Missing oportunities here.
A nice feature to have would be something like a monthly subscription to substack in general for say, $15, which gives you access to either a certain number of essays or a certain number of channels. Or maybe both.
For example, instead of paying $5 for each author, I could pay $15, and get access to 15 essays, or maybe 5 channels and then the proceeds would be divided appropriately. ($1 per essay or $3 per channel) I know I'd rather pay a bundled subscription vs. having to have to buy each channel.
Maybe just make it like a credit. $1/Credit where an essay is 1 credit and a channel is 3 credits and you can mix and match however you'd like?
Flattered to be designated a 'Substack Bestseller' for having over 100 paid subscribers - though that doesn't seem a massive number tbh. However will take it as a compliment and am more than grateful to the subscribers who got me there! Can't quite see how it works though @Katie and others on the Substack team. It's not showing on my profile and the certification doesn't seem to be downloadable. It's switched on in settings so should it appear somewhere?
Ok, this might be my last comment that I drop here for the day, but I'm hoping that someone here has good advice. I'm desperately trying to move away from social media dependence (but Elon Musk will have to pry Twitter away from my iron grip). Taking FB off of my phone has already made a HUGE difference.
Here's the thing: I still want to be able to easily share things like pictures with my friends and family. I have a public profile on IG because I (try) to use it to promote my writing, so out of respect for my kiddos, I don't post pictures of them on IG. Do I 1) Start a private IG account for just friends and family that I can share to my private FB feed or 2) is there another way to easily share photos with friends and family that doesn't require me to put FB back on my phone?
Hello! I'm pretty new here, and I started on Substack in October. I migrated my subscribers from Mailchimp, and I am consolidating all of my online output through my Substack site. I've gone from a monthly newsletter to a once-a-week format. So far so good. I am interested in how I can gain more subscribers outside of social media. Minimizing my engagement with Instagram and FB have been good for my mental health and has freed up lots of time. I love the idea of cultivating my own audience without being beholden to a corporate algorithm. I would like to depend less on social media, but I need to find out how. Any suggestions would be helpful.
My name is Roqué, and my Substack site is called Where Pianos Roam (https://roquemarcelo.substack.com/). I write about slow creativity across a multimedia framework, as well as personal essays on various topics. Each issue showcases my writing, music, artwork, photography, and short films—in various combinations.
My calendar invite says this wasn't supposed to start until noon CST, but it looks like it already has. Hmm...
First, I want to say how much I appreciate Substack's writer-centric design. Ownership of my list, tools that let writers focus on their content and craft, and a stated mission to do better on social media are why I chose to transition over to Substack.
I'll add that moving my email list from Feedblitz to Substack was easy-peasy, and I don't miss paying $15/newsletter for the privilege of mailing to my peeps. That has enabled me to cost-effectively ramp up from once-in-awhile newsletter sends to a committed schedule of twice weekly, with a few weeks of third-post bonus content.
So, yay, Substack, for providing a viable alternative that actually helps writers rather than squeezing them for cash or forcing them to compete for clicks.
Now I'm going to be brutally honest about the issues and limitations I've encountered in my three months on the platform.
First, the issues:
1. I tried to move my archive of past posts from a Typepad blog at the URL www.brunettegardens.com over to Substack, and your system only grabbed the most recent 10 posts. I've tried performing the migration several different ways with no better results, and I've also tried reaching out for help on this a couple of times through office hours and other open posts, but I have yet to get any solutions from Substack.
2. Until the above is resolved, and I feel confident about Substack as a replacement, I won't be able to use my own domain address for Substack.
3. I went all-in with Substack, giving recommendations for several other accounts, opting for boost, and enabling referrals. Not only do the recommendation emails come too frequently, in my opinion, but in the first month, many of my subscribers received a slew of DUPLICATE emails for every one sent directly by Substack. I lost a number of subscribers right off the bat this way, as they perceived this new service I'd introduced as buggy and annoying, which is really unfortunate.
And the limitations:
- Perhaps because of #3 above, I'm net neutral after 3 months on the platform. While I have picked up new subscribers from Substack, I've also lost the same amount. I'm hopeful this shakeout will eventually turn in my favor, but it's not a thrilling way to begin.
- I was really surprised and dismayed to hear of the badge system you're planning to introduce, as it is in direct conflict with your stated mission not to drive writers toward popularity contests. This will only create a system like every other faulty online publishing system, rewarding writers who chase popular, click-bait content and penalizing the niche writers who craft thought pieces.
Despite the issues and limitations, I'm committed to the platform for the time being. Thanks for trying to work with us.
I do love this platform. I want to grow my presence here, but cannot make the chat today. I do have questions....after Thanksgiving, then I'll have time to ask, and listen.
[Feature request for Substack Chat!] I would love love love to see Chat support audio messages. I have been considering starting a Voxer group or Telegram group but to have it unified with my newsletter subscription platform would be *chef's kiss** 😘👌
Hi everyone! I've finally caught one of these early enough 🤗 Thank you for the space!
Have folks had any luck with using mentions and cross posts? I'd love to cultivate closer relationships with writers in the same or similar niche (Alaskan politics). Have you been using these features for people that you've already connected with, or using them as a way to first reach out? Thank you!
Hi everyone! I’m curious to know how those of you who have newsletter sections in different languages work around the signup process and other standardized messages to readers — and also whether Substack may have any useful functionality coming up for these multilingual publications. Many thanks!
(for context, I had been writing in Russian for over a year before I started an English-language section, and I can’t figure out how to make the two “subscriber journeys” fairly smooth, beyond just writing “English below” on About pages etc)
Just want to add that, I regularly read Office Hours to read what people are chatting about, and this is where I find fun Substacks to subscribe too. It's like visiting a bookshop for me.
The well-established writer John Michael Greer, who's not on Substack but has published widely and runs two indie blogs, posted something yesterday that might help many of you who are new to writing, especially, but is something I found nice to read even as a writer who's been making a FT living at it for the past 15 years. LINK: https://www.ecosophia.net/writing-as-microcosm-2-a-door-will-open/
Has anyone else started a podcast after starting their Substack? I took the leap, and now trying to publish one written post per week as well as one podcast.
My written posts are usually 1,000 wds. I'm aiming to make the podcasts all around 25 minutes.
My challenge is how I can cover the same topics in writing and on the podcast without it sounding repetitive. Curious if anyone else has had the same concern.
Hi writers! I had a question regarding consistency. As you may see from my newsletter, I have bursts of motiviation and it lasts for a few weeks. After that, it seems to fall because of lack of content, some other work which takes priority etc.
How do you keep yourself motivated and consistent? Any tips?
I’ve started helping a few people which their LinkedIn game. If you’d like a few pointers drop me a connection request on LinkedIn (in my bio) and I’m happy to take a look for you.
This week we were super excited to see some writers who have long been invested in the Substack writer community go "all in" on their Substacks
Erik Hoel announced he is committing to write The Intrinsic Perspective full time and resigned his professorship at Tufts University. (Erik attended Substack Grow back in the summer of 2021 and offered sharp insights on how he’s grown on Substack in our Grow interview series earlier this year.)
https://twitter.com/erikphoel/status/1592542846145421316
And today Liberty RPF, a sage product feedback-giver and supporter of fellow writers, shared similar news (https://twitter.com/LibertyRPF/status/1593271926398533633).
We'd love to celebrate those two in today's thread, and also hear from *you*!
Have you been considering the same, or recently made a leap to fully focus on your Substack as a business?
If not, what would you want to see to do that yourself?
Thanks for joining us at Office Hours today! The Substack team is signing off for today. We're taking a break from Office Hours next week to celebrate Thanksgiving in the US. We'll be back the week after.
In the meantime, visit our resources: https://substack.com/resources
Talk soon,
Katie, Bailey, Mel, Mike, Kevin, Ari, Varun, and Ben
How are you starting to use Chat?
Hello all, and happy Office Hours! Here’s a little bit of encouragement from one small newsletter to all of you: many parts of the world are entering what we call the holiday season, and it can be both a magical and difficult time for writers! Maybe the holidays afford you a bit more free time to get things done, or maybe this season is so full of activities and family time that you aren't able to focus. Maybe this is the time of year when you see the relatives who don't "get" your writing, who think it's a waste of time and energy, or maybe you're inspired by all the potential for magic and mystery this season brings. Whether this is a time for joy or loneliness, whether this is a time of boredom or busyness, you're not alone. Wherever you are in your writing journey this season, you're right where you need to be, and we're right here with you! Go gently with yourself, find pockets of peace, take a deep breath, and remember why you write. And then, keep writing, keep going, keep sharing! DON'T GIVE UP! 🌿
Hey everyone! A bit of advice if you're struggling to understand how to attract people into your list.
Those people who haven't found you yet - where are they right now? Where do they regularly hang out? What are they reading online?
And by all this I mean: where do YOU regularly hang out & what are you reading online? (Because they are just kinda like you, right? Your ideal core audience are folk who more or less care about the same things you do!)
If you assume they will be acting more or less like you do, then your own behaviour is a good guide and a good thing to analyse here - and might lead you straight to that audience. (Which websites are your non-guilty daily pleasures? How about pitching a guest post or trying to attract their attention so they'd be interested in interviewing you?)
Alternately: if you yourself kinda aspire to be like one of your writer heroes, where do *they* hang out - and then by extension, where does *their* audience hang out?
If you know where your ideal audience currently is, you can start coming up with a plan to get their attention - guest-posting, or leaving a really amazingly thoughtful comment somewhere, or even helping one of those "other Yous" directly with something, which is a fantastic way to get someone interested.
Hope that makes sense!
First comment! I win.
I am looking forward to seeing how people use image galleries. I think this presents a great opportunity for comic creators and am interested in seeing how they work with the new features.
The most genuinely supportive thing any Substacker can do is go paid on at least one other Substack written by someone who's not a celebrity,or already heavily promoted by Substack. It meant the world to me when [names redacted so they don't get begging letters] all started paying. If you're not paying for anyone else, how does that encourage readers to cough up?
Oh man! SO excited about image galleries. Now I don't have to do all that jerry-rigging on Canva to display photos side-by-side. It's going to save me a ton of time!
I would love to see Substack feature writers who don’t have any paid subscribers. Maybe even some who have small numbers of free subscribers. While I can see the benefits of people who have larger audiences, the already successful don’t necessarily reflect how most writers struggle to get anyone to care about their work.
Hi fellow writers 👋, this is Livio.
Since I have joined Substack and started posting regularly, I have figured out that writing is much easier than gaining subscribers.
On the one hand, I am using the Substack network as much as I can.
On the other, I am trying to leverage my +2.5k Linkedin followers, but gaining subscribers is not the easiest task anymore.
Can someone help by sharing tactics that are revealing successful?
My publication is Think Twice, It's All Right.
I write for fellow overthinkers, articles on decision making, personal & career growth in conditions of high uncertainty.
https://livmkk.substack.com/
First of all, I’d like to thank Substack’s network effects. Despite not playing the social media game and writing under a pseudonym, I’ve been getting great readers to my publication. I can’t imagine this happening anywhere else. To all those writers hesitant to start because they don’t have a massive following: Just do it. Think of this like a startup. You build a quality product (your writing) and never compromise on the value you provide. Everything else will come to you. That is what makes substack different from Twitter of Facebook. Just focus on your writing!
I'm still new here (about 6 weeks), but I know there's those who are even newer. Welcome!
I've learned a lot about it all works on Substack. Still learning, though. Also, I keep finding great stuff to read. Informative and inspiring.
I have a once week schedule. Some people can do more I know, but 1xweek seems to be a sweet spot for me.
Many thanks to all!
I guess I'm not the only one here who has already depleted the pool of potential readers in among my social media followers. So I'm trying to explore other means of finding readers.
If you haven't tried The Sample yet, I highly recommend it to all. It's basically a servce that sounds out a sample of your NL to hundreds of readers, and some of them might even subscribe! There's both a free and a paid option, I've tried both and helped me get new readers and subscribers. It can also be a good tool to discover new writers in the area you're intrerested in (be it on Substack or other platforms). Here's a link - https://thesample.ai/?ref=850d (full disclosure - this is a referral link, hope that doesn't go against the rules, happy to remove it if it does).
Another example of such a service is htttps://inboxreads.co. Doesn't cost a thing and can help you find new readers who share the same interests.
There's also 15+ different newsletter directories here - https://www.growgetters.co/post/newsletter-directory. Some of them probably work better for certain niches, like tech.
Any other channels you know of?
Any updates on Chat for Android and also for browser would be greatly appreciated! Thank you!
Want to confuse your family members on Thanksgiving? Tell them you publish a weekly newsletter on [x topics] and are looking to monetize your audience at [y inflection point] so you can continue to grow your personal brand and build [z company] & that's why you post so much on LinkedIn, Twitter & Facebook - but also tell them fuck social media it's evil. #substackrules
A lot of my readers were very confused by chat and I had to spend a lot of time explaining it was optional. I've posted new threads and have almost zero traction with it.
As a user, I remain confused by it, and have tried to use it but dislike using my phone as it breaks my productivity when I'm trying to get the next newsletter completed. Is there a desktop app?
Hi everyone! I'm curious what you do for creating some sort of template for your newsletters (related: Substack, please add a feature for reusable templates!). My posts are the same format every time. I have a draft post right now but copying and pasting it into a new post is tedious (I have trouble selecting all, and some of the images change size when I paste them). Is there a "save as" feature I'm missing? All of your newsletters look so PRETTY when they land in my inbox, and I feel like I'm recreating the whole thing every time.
What about a search field right in the front page?? It is a really missing feature.
Good morning! Last week Joyce from Gratitude Mojo Cafe asked how we can contact each other by email. I and a few others answered that you can use the name of the newsletter followed by @substack.com. But when I tried to email her and she tried to email me, neither one of us got the emails. A few days ago I received her latest post and opened it in my email. I noticed that her email address was not the full name of her newsletter, instead it was gratitudemojo@substack.com. I then checked and realized that my address was also abbreviated, waywardyogini@substack.com. Mystery solved :) I wanted to mention it in case anyone else is having trouble contacting other writers. We wouldn't want an email we send out trying to create a cross-promotion to end up lost in cyberspace, leaving us to believe the other writer isn't interested, right? Also, most importantly the email did not bounce back as undelivered, so had Joyce and I not continued to communicate in the thread last week, neither one of us would have known that the other did not receive the emails.
Im celebrating 3 months on Substack! Every week for three months which impretty proud about but in no small way due to the community so thank you for the support.
To celebrate I dedicated todays post to what ive learned from posting on substack!
https://neverstoplearning1.substack.com/p/what-ive-learned-from-starting-a
I had a dream about Substack last night! 🤯
In it I retold an anecdote of Erik Hoel's to someone, which I am now sharing with you here: "I grew up sleeping through New England winters in a bedroom without heat. For years the bath faucet ran only cold, so I used to get clean for my public high school in thin inches of water heated up in pots on the stove. I care nothing for riches, but poverty has always been a fear of mine."
This really touched me, particularly the words, "poverty has always been a fear of mine."
I'm thankful that Substack has given him the opportunity to be a paid writer, and wish him and all the writers here continued success. 🤗
Dear substack team, PLEASE reconsider the "badges" feature. How does displaying a publication's rank in terms of paying subscribers have any relation to the quality of the writing or the engagement of the readers? Money is a poor metric for determining an author's value, but the badge feature is an attempt to do just that.
I’ve been here for just over 1.5 years, and have written all my adult life. I do appreciate the platform so much. The 10% I pay is substantially less than I would pay to pull this together on my own site!
I understand the focus on those who bring a lot of money to the platform. ALL of us need those people and writers, because without them, the platform will not exist.
There are many other writers who are here for the joy of writing. Writing is relatively new for them, and they are content for the platform, and either do not care about earnings, or the earnings are secondary.
But there are so many in-between folks here, between those making thousands each month and those who don’t, and don’t mind. For the record, I am making about $500/month.
There IS a lot of helpful and thought-provoking material here, on how to encourage people to “go paid.” And many of us do read through the advice, try it on, work with it. (Yes, I know where to find it.) And work hard to self-promo, in addition to creating solid material with consistency.
My growth plods along, slow, but upward.
Here’s the Thing: I so struggle with all those hundreds of 4-5 star folks, who read every piece, comment when the piece if free… and never pay.
I’m not a marketing person. Well, I am—I’m pushed into the role in the ways that all creatives are pushed into that role now. But not with a marketing degree on my wall.
Somehow, Substack needs to focus on this. Change may be needed. The $5 month model of Medium comes to mind. There are so many readers who have no subscriptions at all, and read here all the time. Just like the people who used to hang out at magazine racks and pick up and read through until the old woman behind the cash register hollered: “Are you going to pay for that?”
Thoughts on this (as opposed to endless complaints!):
—some basic minimal fee for all readers IF they are not subscribed to ANY publications at all. I’m talking several dollars month, or an annual fee. And this would provide some encouraging funding for writers who have gone paid, yet are making under a certain amount each month. Yes, maybe this is too socialistic for Americans, but…!
—once a reader is subscribed to a minimum of X (3?) publications, this charge goes away!
—bundling subscriptions: Choose 3 or 6 or whatever, for a certain price… which will encourage exploration. (Writers could opt in to this program.)
Also -- further thoughts:
—the rotation of featured writers should make some sense. It appears to be arbitrary. What IS Substack looking for here: it would be good to know. I have to admit to feeling very isolated at times with my promotion; it’s all on me. (I have been featured once with about 15 other writing publications—thank you Substack, for that.)
—and last, and I’ll not be popular for saying this, but there’s a sense of favouritism: that is, it would be best if we could not see the subscriptions, paid and otherwise, of Substack employees. It’s not a cool policy—seriously!
Again, I’ll say I AM grateful for this! But just some thoughts. I appreciate how you do respond to thoughts!
I love coming to these. I always find new authors to read.
I think the idea of image galleries is genius!
Is there any update on whether or not Substack is still going ahead with that awful "badge" thing they mentioned last week?
Hi folks! I've recently been thinking about building systems to better achieve goals. I've found that I don't have a great system for writing yet (I end up speed-writing pieces on Sunday and Monday before I publish on Tuesdays). Would love to get some inspiration from you all regarding the writing systems/routines that you've settled into!
By the way, the Substack team asked me to come by (which I normally do anyways, these are always great). I'm here if anyone wants to ask me any questions about the experience of jumping into paid.
Me again. For anyone who would like to connect on Mastodon now that, um, some people are leaving the birdsite, here is my contact information:
How About This newsletter Mastodon: @howaboutthis@masthead.social
Personal: @markdykeman@mastodon.online
And if you'd like to check out the growing (almost 700 subs!) How About This community and become a H.A.T.T.E.R., please do check out my Substack (click on my name/newsletter name in the heading of this comment for more information). Cheers!
I'm curious if there is any movement toward an API? I know the level of effort required is pretty significant, and I was just curious. I would love to contribute an open-source Java client to help support it in order to help the Substack dev community grow.
My free subscriber list is constantly growing but isn't converting to paid at the same level, any tips?
Hey Substack team and fellow writers!
I've got a couple questions regarding the cross-posting feature, which I love the idea of:
1) Can my subscribers opt out of them without completely unsubscribing from me? I want to make sure people are only getting the emails they want from me.
2) If I'm subscribed to multiple substacks within the same field and a bunch of them cross-post an article that's been making waves, I'm going to end up getting multiple emails with the same article, correct?
In case it's not obvious, I'm trying to work out how it can end up annoying readers, so I can best avoid that. 😅
Hello everyone. Love these Thursday get togethers.
I published a review today of my first three months on Substack and concluded the best part and most surprising part has been the community so thank you all!
I am still struggling to gain traction with new subscribers. Any tips welcome!
It´s more than urgent to translate Substack to other languages, like portuguese. There is a lot of missed subscribers because of that. It´s not a big deal: translate at least the payment process and basic stuff like the "listen" button in the email (where before was a play button, so even the non english speakers could understand. Now there is a simple button). I could help translate if you need, but please translate. Missing oportunities here.
A nice feature to have would be something like a monthly subscription to substack in general for say, $15, which gives you access to either a certain number of essays or a certain number of channels. Or maybe both.
For example, instead of paying $5 for each author, I could pay $15, and get access to 15 essays, or maybe 5 channels and then the proceeds would be divided appropriately. ($1 per essay or $3 per channel) I know I'd rather pay a bundled subscription vs. having to have to buy each channel.
Maybe just make it like a credit. $1/Credit where an essay is 1 credit and a channel is 3 credits and you can mix and match however you'd like?
Flattered to be designated a 'Substack Bestseller' for having over 100 paid subscribers - though that doesn't seem a massive number tbh. However will take it as a compliment and am more than grateful to the subscribers who got me there! Can't quite see how it works though @Katie and others on the Substack team. It's not showing on my profile and the certification doesn't seem to be downloadable. It's switched on in settings so should it appear somewhere?
Ok, this might be my last comment that I drop here for the day, but I'm hoping that someone here has good advice. I'm desperately trying to move away from social media dependence (but Elon Musk will have to pry Twitter away from my iron grip). Taking FB off of my phone has already made a HUGE difference.
Here's the thing: I still want to be able to easily share things like pictures with my friends and family. I have a public profile on IG because I (try) to use it to promote my writing, so out of respect for my kiddos, I don't post pictures of them on IG. Do I 1) Start a private IG account for just friends and family that I can share to my private FB feed or 2) is there another way to easily share photos with friends and family that doesn't require me to put FB back on my phone?
Hello! I'm pretty new here, and I started on Substack in October. I migrated my subscribers from Mailchimp, and I am consolidating all of my online output through my Substack site. I've gone from a monthly newsletter to a once-a-week format. So far so good. I am interested in how I can gain more subscribers outside of social media. Minimizing my engagement with Instagram and FB have been good for my mental health and has freed up lots of time. I love the idea of cultivating my own audience without being beholden to a corporate algorithm. I would like to depend less on social media, but I need to find out how. Any suggestions would be helpful.
My name is Roqué, and my Substack site is called Where Pianos Roam (https://roquemarcelo.substack.com/). I write about slow creativity across a multimedia framework, as well as personal essays on various topics. Each issue showcases my writing, music, artwork, photography, and short films—in various combinations.
I have a new writer Substack called Notes from the Spiral Arm!
Hello, Substack team!
My calendar invite says this wasn't supposed to start until noon CST, but it looks like it already has. Hmm...
First, I want to say how much I appreciate Substack's writer-centric design. Ownership of my list, tools that let writers focus on their content and craft, and a stated mission to do better on social media are why I chose to transition over to Substack.
I'll add that moving my email list from Feedblitz to Substack was easy-peasy, and I don't miss paying $15/newsletter for the privilege of mailing to my peeps. That has enabled me to cost-effectively ramp up from once-in-awhile newsletter sends to a committed schedule of twice weekly, with a few weeks of third-post bonus content.
So, yay, Substack, for providing a viable alternative that actually helps writers rather than squeezing them for cash or forcing them to compete for clicks.
Now I'm going to be brutally honest about the issues and limitations I've encountered in my three months on the platform.
First, the issues:
1. I tried to move my archive of past posts from a Typepad blog at the URL www.brunettegardens.com over to Substack, and your system only grabbed the most recent 10 posts. I've tried performing the migration several different ways with no better results, and I've also tried reaching out for help on this a couple of times through office hours and other open posts, but I have yet to get any solutions from Substack.
2. Until the above is resolved, and I feel confident about Substack as a replacement, I won't be able to use my own domain address for Substack.
3. I went all-in with Substack, giving recommendations for several other accounts, opting for boost, and enabling referrals. Not only do the recommendation emails come too frequently, in my opinion, but in the first month, many of my subscribers received a slew of DUPLICATE emails for every one sent directly by Substack. I lost a number of subscribers right off the bat this way, as they perceived this new service I'd introduced as buggy and annoying, which is really unfortunate.
And the limitations:
- Perhaps because of #3 above, I'm net neutral after 3 months on the platform. While I have picked up new subscribers from Substack, I've also lost the same amount. I'm hopeful this shakeout will eventually turn in my favor, but it's not a thrilling way to begin.
- I was really surprised and dismayed to hear of the badge system you're planning to introduce, as it is in direct conflict with your stated mission not to drive writers toward popularity contests. This will only create a system like every other faulty online publishing system, rewarding writers who chase popular, click-bait content and penalizing the niche writers who craft thought pieces.
Despite the issues and limitations, I'm committed to the platform for the time being. Thanks for trying to work with us.
I do love this platform. I want to grow my presence here, but cannot make the chat today. I do have questions....after Thanksgiving, then I'll have time to ask, and listen.
Have a happy Thanksgiving.
Also, I’d like to be able to exit some of the chats. I don’t want to be in the chat for all the Substack’s I subscribe to. It’s too much.
[Feature request for Substack Chat!] I would love love love to see Chat support audio messages. I have been considering starting a Voxer group or Telegram group but to have it unified with my newsletter subscription platform would be *chef's kiss** 😘👌
Hi everyone! I've finally caught one of these early enough 🤗 Thank you for the space!
Have folks had any luck with using mentions and cross posts? I'd love to cultivate closer relationships with writers in the same or similar niche (Alaskan politics). Have you been using these features for people that you've already connected with, or using them as a way to first reach out? Thank you!
Hi everyone! I’m curious to know how those of you who have newsletter sections in different languages work around the signup process and other standardized messages to readers — and also whether Substack may have any useful functionality coming up for these multilingual publications. Many thanks!
(for context, I had been writing in Russian for over a year before I started an English-language section, and I can’t figure out how to make the two “subscriber journeys” fairly smooth, beyond just writing “English below” on About pages etc)
Just want to add that, I regularly read Office Hours to read what people are chatting about, and this is where I find fun Substacks to subscribe too. It's like visiting a bookshop for me.
The well-established writer John Michael Greer, who's not on Substack but has published widely and runs two indie blogs, posted something yesterday that might help many of you who are new to writing, especially, but is something I found nice to read even as a writer who's been making a FT living at it for the past 15 years. LINK: https://www.ecosophia.net/writing-as-microcosm-2-a-door-will-open/
Has anyone else started a podcast after starting their Substack? I took the leap, and now trying to publish one written post per week as well as one podcast.
My written posts are usually 1,000 wds. I'm aiming to make the podcasts all around 25 minutes.
My challenge is how I can cover the same topics in writing and on the podcast without it sounding repetitive. Curious if anyone else has had the same concern.
Just a quick note to say I’m really thrilled you’ve added image galleries. Thank you for this feature!!
Hi writers! I had a question regarding consistency. As you may see from my newsletter, I have bursts of motiviation and it lasts for a few weeks. After that, it seems to fall because of lack of content, some other work which takes priority etc.
How do you keep yourself motivated and consistent? Any tips?
I’ve started helping a few people which their LinkedIn game. If you’d like a few pointers drop me a connection request on LinkedIn (in my bio) and I’m happy to take a look for you.