267 Comments

Thank you everyone for these great questions! It's exciting to see you jumping in and answering each other's questions.

If you still have questions or are looking for more inspiration, we have lots of great resources for you here: https://substack.com/resources and in our own "Library" archive.

We are wrapping this week's thread but will be back next week with our second Shoutout Thread. Save it to your calendar with the link in the top of todays post so you don't miss it. We look forward to learning more about your publications and what you are reading on Substack.

Until then, happy writing!

Katie + Bailey

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Hi everyone, I'm Rachel, I write The Links (it's a soap opera, in an email 🤗)

We're often talking here about the problem of discoverability so I wanted to share a couple of things, one of the writers in the Substack Discord group shared The Sample, which is a newsletter that sends out curated samples of newsletters from their directory - you can submit your newsletter to be included (https://sample.findka.com/?ref=links) - it's also a good newsletter to sign up for if you want to discover more to read yourself!

And there other I wanted to share/shoutout is this list of newsletter directories in this post by Grow Getters (https://growgetters.substack.com/p/low-hanging-fruits) - I can testify that listing your newsletter in directories leads to signups (only a couple for me so far but better than nothing!)

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Would you consider a subscription model where the latest (or latest X) issue is freely available but the archives are only accessible for paying subscribers? It allows for continuous social sharing of the latest issue and as soon as the next issue comes out the previous issue goes into the subscribers only area.

I think it would be fantastic and it's similar to how Marc Maron's podcast works.

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Is it possible to make it so that people can only read a post if they provide their email? This way, we can grow our readership before deciding to go paid

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I'm so happy to see you featuring Elle Griffin and Leny Rachitsky. Makes me feel like Substack is truly tapping into some good talent.

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I would love to see examples of how other Substackers have announced going paid. I've read through everything on the Resources page but honestly never get tired of hearing what other writers are doing re: all aspects of Substack. Right now I'm working on an announcement about going paid -- turning on paid subscriptions on Aug 1, for my newsletter about children's books and building a culture of reading in your home, https://canweread.substack.com/welcome -- and am curious about how others have done this.

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What is the criteria or process to be featured in an email that you send out?

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Hello all! Any tips/best practices that can help us ensure that our newsletters are landing in people's inboxes and not promotions? I end up having at least an open rate of 10-15% + when it lands in the inbox (but that happens so rarely)! :-(

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Hi, my weekly newsletter 'Bohring' is two months old and the response has been amazing till now.

But it is limited only to the audiece I know, the students of my own department at my university.

Is there a page on Substack where writers can promote their newsletter and talk to fellow writers?

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Just want to say thanks to the Substack team for continuing Writer Office Hours and being consistent. I always find value here, and I'm grateful for it.

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Hi! 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? Would like some help on how to test my writing for different styles for maximum engagement!

I write about everything money and personal finance at https://moonstocks.substack.com/

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Would anyone here be willing to share where you get your traffic from? I know a lot of people get traffic from Discord and Twitter. Any other places you have found successful?

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Hi there! I'm in the process of getting everything together to launch a newsletter this fall ( highlysensitive.substack.com ). I connected the URL to Google Search Console via the meta tag. But I'm wondering if y'all have any information on SEO best practices specifically for Substack? Like, I would think I wouldn't have to worry about a sitemap. But should I focus on maximizing the efforts of titles and keywords? Any insight would be appreciated!

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Any consensus on what number of subscribers one should have before going to a paid model? My Substack is a month old, the responses have been excellent, but I'm trying to increase the mass before I ask for money. Thoughts?

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Homepage links are awesome, but what's NOT is losing all of the graphic images I spend time on creating to accompany my posts. I've been told by SS support that a correction for that is in the works, and I hope that's accurate.

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Hey everyone, hope you’re doing well! I am 22 years old and I just started a newsletter last week. It’s not perfect, but I do have a few ideas as to what to write about. If you like my writing style be sure to subscribe!

Link to newsletter https://areyoubored.substack.com/publish?utm_source=menu

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This was dope, thank you to Substack for hosting this. See you at the Shoutout.

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I write YouTopian Journey, which intends to motivate and inspire readers through a mix of unique art and knowledge. Happy to feature other substack writers so we can grow together. https://youtopianjourney.substack.com/

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Dear Substack Team.

I publish content for (future) founders on my Substack publication https://www.upgradespace.io. I use the "Section" function to publish the content bilingually (both German and English). Default language is English. On the main page I would like to have only the English language articles. For readers who would like to read in German, I would like to use the section function. By clicking on the "German language edition" section (Deutschsprachige Ausgabe), readers only see the German language articles. Two questions:

1) Is it possible that on my main page only the English language articles will appear - and not also the German language articles of the created section? Because for my English speaking readers the German articles are rather disturbing.

2) If this is not possible, would it be feasible to implement this?

I am looking forward to a feedback.

Thanks and with many greetings,

Thomas

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In my newsletter, I have a news updates section, the main article, and then a just for fun section. . I cross-post the main article to Medium. I have been importing the URL to Medium and then editing out the other pieces. But now I am thinking that I shouldn't do that. Should I just post the article in Medium with a conical link explaining that the article is part of my newsletter? https://chaiselounge.substack.com

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How important is it to have a newsletter name that communicates what your newsletter is about versus using your own name, specifically on this platform? I write a weekly newsletter about disconnecting/unplugging and reconnecting with the offline world at https://mehretbiruk.substack.com/ (Mehret's Newsletter) Does it matter? If it does, in what sense? Maybe give me some ideas for alternative title? :D

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Hi all! I’m Jett! I write Inferno Like Dates, which as you can imagine is about dating, and will usually be highlighting the negatives but there are going to be some positives too. This is a very new thing for me (one whole post so far!) so I’d also like to spread the word about my newsletter, and would love to hear tips on how to do so.

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❤️ substack and been writing on it for over a year about a spooky new technology - Quantum Computing http://quantumcomputing.substack.com

We run local quantum computing newsletter for communities globally

- Women in Quantum http://womeninquantum.substack.com/

- Quantum in Africa http://onequantumafrica.substack.com/

- Quantum in India https://onequantumindia.substack.com/

- Quantum in Nepal https://onequantumnepal.substack.com/

With all of that, we have the largest global reach within Quantum Computing and use it to drive equality, opportunities and a bit of fun

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Caitlin from https://poppoetry.substack.com here again! :) My Substack is where pop culture meets poetry: weekly explainers, author interviews, book reviews, and exercises for the creative mind and writers of all kinds.

Can we embed PDFs in Substack, or only if they're converted to JPGs? Apologies if this info is easily accessible elsewhere!

Loving the homepage links. I forgot how many I really do read!

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Do you recommend prioritizing consistency or quality when a tradeoff needs to be made?

Obviously you want to have both, but I think it's inevitable that if I stick strictly to sending out a weekly newsletter, there will be some weeks where the inspiration/content isn't up to my normal standard.

Has the Substack team done any research on whether it's better to publish something you know is not your best work to stay consistent vs. skip an issue and take the time to hone the quality?

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Hi everyone. I blog about living off-grid, sustainability, and the climate crisis in Tales Beyond the Grid at https://charlesmandel.substack.com/ I'm not big on Twitter, but I cross-post a lot on Facebook. Even so, I've hit a plateau, and can't seem to develop more followers. Any tips for where I might spread the word about my newsletter would be welcome. Thanks, all.

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Hello everybody!

I'm a new user here, but I've been a connoisseur of the written word for years now.

My question is, how do I get people to read or subscribe? Keeping everything free and available is my goal at least until I have enough people that would actually pay to read what I write.

For now, I'm just looking for an audience, like-minded people, and someone to at least debate, comment, and develop relationships with.

P.S. Connecting with friends on Twitter/Facebook is out of option since I very rarely use them. I imagined Substack to be a place for building friendships with other written word connoisseurs. :)

I hope there are enough people here that do read this and will head to check my writing, criticize it, and ultimately become my readers, subscribers, and friends.

For anyone sticking this long - Enjoy your day!

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Hey there! I'm Kavir and I write https://thediscourse.substack.com

My question is: How do you get more people to engage with your newsletter through replies or comments? Is a call to action question at the end of the newsletter the best way?

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What’s the best way to promote a publication that covers a diverse range of topics through the personal essay? The most distinct aspect of my Substack is perhaps my voice as a writer, but I write with the hope that a wider readership can connect to it.

The one-line description of my Substack is something I definitely need to work on. Any suggestions would be welcome!

(https://richa.substack.com/)

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Any ideas for starting from 0 subscribers? I've got Twitter as an outlet but that's it so far.

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I'm wondering how to grow my audience at https://recordstore.substack.com/ . I feel like I have a good concept, with content that I think anybody interested in music would like, but without a twitter presence, I don't know how to promote it.

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Hey, y'all--a few weeks ago (or maybe 1-2 months) someone from Substack cited as an example... a newsletter that focused on "interesting and/or obscure corners of Chinese internet." (I think!) Anyone know what substack that might be?

(I think I'm going to look in my log of the Zoom workshop on writing 1-sentence descriptions + about pages.)

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Is there a way to resend a email only to those subscribers who didn't open it; as a reminder under the heading: Here's what you missed...

This feature would allow writers to increase the open rate by a substantial amout of 25%

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Hi Team. Just looking for the latest on being able to have pdf's in our newsletter. I know you had said about 2 weeks ago that the person who was working on that was out. Any ETA on this? Thank you!

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Thanks for mentioning Asian Century Stocks!

Suggestions on new features:

• Tables

• Word counter

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Thanks for the thread! I have a question about Discord. Does “Discord” show as a source for referral links in the stats section of the Dashboard? Or are clicks from Discord counted under a different category?

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I'm unable to get Stripe going because I have no idea what the six-digit number (### : ###) is for my device. Can anybody help a tech dinosaur?

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Hi I'm Michael Kimelman, I'm a father, investor, advisor and bestselling author. I started a Substack earlier in the year to offer

sensemaking on markets, politics and disruptive innovation. My goal is to offer minority reports and advice to help readers achieve radical financial and personal sovereignty.

So nice to meet you all! I'm a fan of https://taibbi.substack.com/ and

https://jordanschachtel.substack.com on Substack for their excellent coverage of the disruption from Covid and our unprecedented monetary and fiscal experiments currently taking place.

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Thanks for not just the professional expertise, but especially for the caring. Much of what you say I find interesting as a retired educator. My goals are not so market oriented. I am writing just leave my footprints on this planet before I leave.

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How can I emmbed my substack in my own web page?

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I think podcasts are a fabulous chance for Substack to grow and engage subscribers - do you have plans to promote and grow the podcast space - I have a literary vibing one https://tumbleweedwords.substack.com/p/episode_001-impulsiveness

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I want to send just 1 newsletter via email. Such newsletter must have new contents in both the main body and in the section. Just one newsletter. How can I do?

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Any tips on how to promote a newsletter? My Substack, Happy Animal News - https://happyanimalnews.substack.com/ - has just one subscriber, my boyfriend :D I tried Reddit and am planning on setting up an Instagram. Any other ideas?

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Thanks so much for this resource! Question for you: is it possible to edit homepage links? I've had my links up for a while, but wanted to add subtitles to some of them. The only option I see is to add a new link, not edit existing links. Thanks.

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Is there an update on making substack website fixed for mobile safari so people can leave comments from iphone or iPad ?

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My paid subscribers show up as 3 to 1 on the dashboard. So one person has three lines, email, first name, last name. I can’t figure out how to collapse them into one to get an exact count. Anyone else figured out how to do it ?

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How long is this thread available? I'd love to read it all (but it's LONG)! and would like to come back to it later....

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what happen to the option to lead subscribers send free gift subscriptions? it has disappeared from my settings page

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Is it possible to insert visual recordings I've made into my newsletter?

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At my Substack newsletter, Ramona's News From the Blogfront, my interests are varied so I've just started using sections. I have 'Politics', 'Strictly Writing', 'Life', and 'Archives', where I revisit some 12 years of blog posts. I've been trying to lure people in but now I worry that it's just too eclectic and doesn't satisfy those who might want a tighter Point of View.

I wonder if anyone has built a successful newsletter being this eclectic or is it better to build separate newsletters for each topic? Thanks for any advice. https://ramonagrigg.substack.com/

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