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.
Have you decided how you structure your posts? A consistent writing format establishes a clear brand identity and helps readers know what to expect from your newsletter. Need help? Our team just published this comprehensive guide covering all the ways you can format a Substack post.
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.
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!)
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.
Hi Wesley - this is possible, and I do this. https://womenlead.substack.com Once posts are a month old, I go and select the option to make them available for paying subscribers only. This is just to give a little extra to those who pay, without paywalling content!
Ah yes but I would like for it to not be hacked together but offered as an official model so that it's super clear for all potential signer-uppers and it's properly explain in the little sign up box. Totally respect you're doing it this way tho!
Yes, that might be good! The only advantage of doing this manually is that one can be selective in opening up a specific post for a longer time if needed.
What I am doing is every third email is for paying subscribers. On some occasions, like reaching 500 subscribers, or Christmas I am going to unlock some past subscriber only stories. My is @@🔒, but you can think of other arrangements: @🔒@🔒 or @@@🔒 or @🔒🔒. Over time there will be a sizable subscriber only area.
I forgot to mention this is especially interesting for substackers such as myself whose content is my educational, each issue is stand alone, and ever green.
This is an interesting model, but its success depends on your content. Imagine you have lots of articles in the subscriber only are. Why are your subscribers going to read (need) many of them. Also keep in mind that everybody have the story in their mailboxes forever.
For me - this is just a way to give a little extra to paying subscribers because my content is not something I want to ideally put behind a paywall. Plus, it encourages people to sign up (even if just to collect all mails in their inbox). And I also do some interviews (which are long), and hence only send a shorter version as mail, while the full version is available on the website. This sort of becomes exclusive to subscribers only once they are archived.
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
Great. It would also be cool if people can read the beginning of the post to get their interest, and then it cuts off saying “To keep reading, type in your email” or something along those lines
Could you also offer part of the article on Substack, and then say "to read the entire email, type in your email and the entire article will be delivered to your inbox" as a way to both get an email and validate that the email is a working email?
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.
I have a random story for you... there's this awesomesauce guy who committed a ridiculous amount of his time and energy to being a 5th-grade teacher. (Even though I'm a homeschool mom & tutor outside the public school system, I decided there was a lot I could learn from that guy!!)
He strongly recommends to parents that they regularly take their kids to the library. Why? Because then they can't say, "Nobody reads anymore!" They have evidence right in front of their faces that that's false. They can resist those dissenting voices, and--even if it's in their own heads--think, "Hey, maybe YOU don't read, but I know there's LOTS of people who read!"
(Teacher's name is Rafe Esquith. His first book was "Teach Like Your Hair's on Fire," so naturally I couldn't resist a title like that! My retelling of it is heavily paraphrased!)
Interesting! Thanks for sharing. I've heard of Rafe Esquith but never read any of his work. (I'm a fellow homeschooling mom, too -- or, was, this past year 😊 I don't know if it ever really ends)
> "I'm a fellow homeschooling mom, too -- or, was, this past year 😊"
Exciting, wild and crazy, huh?! :>
> "I don't know if it ever really ends"
Amen! We are always teaching them, and we'll pretty much always have more years'-worth of experiences we've seen. I always think of this one friend whose children are now grown... I'd regularly see her affectionate, usually-silly interactions with them on Facebook. It gives me much hope and joy!
Heyo! Savvy question! We aim to feature mostly undiscovered writers who are going deep into a clear topic and exemplify best practices, like posting regularly and engaging with readers.
Do you know a Substack publication that we should be featuring? You can nominate a great pub here - http://bitly.com/substackstowatch
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)! :-(
Send multiple test emails as you’re writing your newsletter and make sure it goes in the main tab at each step of the process. I’ve noticed that sometimes one specific link I include causes the entire email to go to promotions, and then when I remove that link it goes to the main tab.
Basically, sending test emails throughout your writing process makes it much easier to figure out why your emails are getting sent to the promotions tab. If you write the entire thing and then send a test email at the very end, it becomes much harder to diagnose the problem.
VERY exciting you started with a "seed" of members who you (at least mostly, I think) know face-to-face!!
I want to do something like this... start with people I know IRL, close internet friends, and friends from college who I think would like it.
(However I'm incredibly shy at the American occupation of promoting my own work / "tooting my own horn," as we call it. Nonetheless, I'm hopeful that even with my shy, "listen-to-the-other-person's-stuff-first" ways... there must be methods that work for this personality I have.)
I decided to create a newsletter on using leadership tools to combat burnout, buuuuut I think I'm postponing launch and working on this other one. (Possibly imposter syndrome! XD )
I run a newsletter called 10+1 Things where I post 11 things which are worth sharing.
This is what worked for me:
1. Submit your newsletter to various directories. (infact I'm building one specific for Substack writers. Ping me if you are interested to join rishikeshshari[at]gmail.com)
2. Join various Substack Facebook groups.
3. Connect with other fellow writers during Substack office hours.
4. Twitter has worked wonders for me.
5. If you're writing say about productivity, post it (don't spam) to the corresponding subreddit. This drives lot of traffic.
6. I run a curated newsletter, so if feature any author, I email them. Sometimes they repost it to their Twitter.
Yes! We have a discord server for Substack writers where we all share our newsletters and success stories! Here’s that link: https://discord.gg/8mPbCFJfEh
We have a category section, but it's somewhat limited now. We're aware that writers want more ways to be discovered and just need more engineering / product firepower to really nail it.
2) We encourage cross-pollination with other writers - guest posts, guest interviews. Demonstrating how you think and write in front of other groups of high-potential readers is a great way to bump up your readers. To find other writers, you can google or enter into twitter "substack.com" + [search term, e.g. "cocktails] to see other pubs in your area of interest.
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.
Ha, maybe! I personally have no problem being consistent -- I find it much easier to write and publish if I know I am sending something out every Tuesday and Wednesday without fail, but I know this is a big issue for others. There's some fascinating psychology and personality stuff there, to be sure.
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!
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?
Instagram is worthless. Too saturated and I don't think people who enjoy reading are as engaged on Instagram (it's picture/video based). It makes sense that people have more success on Twitter.
Reddit! I write about digital minimalism and spending more time offline. I promote my newsletter on relevant subreddits- /r/nosurf, /r/digitalminimalism. I genuinely enjoy engaging with people there because I'm passionate about the topic so I don't see it as extra work. I just need to remind myself to engage more because I'm trying to stay offline myself.
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!
SEO is something our team is learning more and more about every day. Here's what I can share:
- Prominently featuring keywords in your title, subtitle, about page, and one-line description helps writers appear. Using the words in full vs. abbreviation is important. (e.g. if you're writing about a public figure, write out their full name don't abbreviate it. That will help you show up in higher search when someone searches for that person's name.)
- We've also noticed that cross-promotion also helps with showing up higher in Google results, because it means more links back to the post.
Again, super helpful! I'm already reading through posts from WTF SEO, which are amazing. SEO is a rather new territory for me, but I know it's important for any web content. Thanks!
Hi Shelby, I’m delighted to have chanced upon your publication. I’ve spent the last few days reading up on the Highly Sensitive Person and its relationship to anxiety. Really looking forward to your newsletter!
Umm, Shelby... due to random coincidence I saw this post of yours juxtaposed with Bailey's recommendation of "cross-pollination with other writers - guest posts, guest interviews."
Looked at your newsletter, and you had me at "Have you ever cried in the work bathroom?" Do you think you could let me do a guest interview or guest post for you? Granted, it would probably mostly help ME. I have a story or two from conversations that I need to "get out."
Thanks for thinking of me, Vikki. Right now, I'm still in the process of figuring out my content calendar but plan to keep things in-house until I have a good rhythm going. Maybe later on I'd consider guest posts, just not at the moment. Good luck with your publication!!
(also, ooh, "content calendar"--that gives me an idea! I could "treat" myself to creating a calendar & "making it pretty"--just to convince myself to make a more detailed calendar. ...instead of just keeping mental notes of "where I'm going" with this.)
> "Good luck with your publication!!"
Thank you!! I got sooo much energy from attending office hours & from some collaboration I've gotten into because of it. :> (Also, from writing a post that really challenged me! though that last one was slightly terrifying.)
Hi Vishisht, thanks for coming to Office Hours. I see you've shared your publications a few times in the thread now. We ask that you use this space to ask questions about publishing, growing, or going paid on Substack and help answer other writers.
We are hosting a shoutout thread next week where you can come and share your publication with other writers.
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?
There are so many different ways to think about free versus paid strategies (and your readers' experience of it), depending on each writer's strategy and content. There's a lot of good info in our Guide to Going Paid (https://on.substack.com/p/your-guide-to-going-paid).
I answered a similar question in our office hours a few weeks, so I'll just paste that info here:
The value of your writer-reader relationship can be measured along two major axes: your reach (the size of your audience) and your engagement (how much they’re paying attention).
In order to benchmark those, however, you’ll first need to figure out what your financial goals are for going paid. If you’re going full-time, your financial needs might be different from a writer who wants a part-time side project. Be honest with yourself! It’s okay to dream big, and it’s just as okay to say you don’t want to invest time in a full-time project.
Got a number in mind? Great. Now it’s time to do a bit of napkin math:
In the best of circumstances, we typically see conversion rates of 5-10% for writers who are going paid. You can use your email open rates to help approximate whether to use a high or low conversion rate. If your email open rates are typically less than 30%, use a 3% conversion rate. If your email open rates are typically 30-50%, use a 5% conversion rate. If your email open rates are greater than 50%, use a 10% conversion rate.
Here are my thoughts on going paid.* I've been reading a lot of advice on this topic, and one thing that has really stuck with me (I'm sure it was a post from someone on Substack, but I can't remember who...sorry) is offering content that has greater value for those who are going paid. My Substack is essentially for Bible studies I've written (https://groundedinthebible.substack.com/). So the study or lesson itself is free, but then I plan to create "premium" resources to go with each one (or most of them). So for example, I might include a journal sheet to use with the study, or create a powerpoint presentation that can be downloaded and used for a group study. These premium resources will be available only to paid subscribers. So in this way, free subscribers still get all the Bible study content, but you have to be a paid subscriber to get the extra resources. I also plan to create things like an Index that will be available for paid subscribers that is more organized than just looking through the archives. Adding extra resources like these can be a good way to go paid initially to get the idea in subscriber's minds, and then eventually if you want to add posts with content that are for paid subscribers only, you can do that.
*Take my advice with a grain of salt. I have not gone paid yet (planning to in about a month). I have a VERY small following thus far, and I don't expect to make much from going paid. Currently I am offering a "free trial" of my premium resources, which will be available to paid subscribers only on 8/1.
I went almost 2 months before going paid, at which point I thought a monthly newsletter and mid-month (strong!) post would be enough...but am realizing I need to continue with more free material. (I had over 100 free, folks and about 20% of that went paid readily...but now need more. The interest and engagement seems good; I'm having fun too. (It's all about writing...) So I'm working to find the balance of being inviting, AND making the paying folks feel as if they are getting worth. Hoping the paying folks realize the necessity of my sharing freely. It's ind of a feeling-my-way-through thing :) So...just FYI!
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.
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!
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/
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?
Hi there Thomas! Thank you for writing. This is currently not possible, though it's a request we've heard and we will add a +1 to the number of requests to our product team. Sorry for the inconvenience.
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
It really depends on your goals! If you're trying to just grow awareness of you/your writing, posting on both may make sense.
If you'd like to grow your subscribers (email list of your audience that you own) and potentially go paid, we recommend the following:
Make Substack your primary landing page: If you have a separate website which reposts much of your Substack’s free content, this hurts your Substack’s SEO and makes it difficult to convert new readers into habitual readers and paying subscribers. Readers may also be confused about what differentiates a Substack subscription from what they can read elsewhere, and this may be why some aren’t realizing that a subscription includes your web archive of paid posts. To ensure that your existing audience can find you, we recommend that writers use Substack as their primary home on the web.
I've been pondering bringing my newsletter over to Medium as well since Medium is really good with canonical links. On the one hand, it weakens my argument to subscribe to the newsletter, BUT since my newsletter is more about platform building rather than producing an income it might make sense. I guess it depends on your end goal for sharing it on Medium?
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
The name of my newsletter is The Novelleist (as in, I’m a novel writer named Elle ☺️) but I chose to keep my url http://ellegriffin.substack.com just in case that ever needs to change in the future. So personally I like that you used your name, then you can name the newsletter whatever you want!
It depends actually. My Newsletter's name is 10+1 Things(https://rishikesh.susbtack.com) but the URL I used is my name. The newsletter is basically a curated list of stuff that I thought were worth sharing. I kept my name since I'm trying to grow an audience around my blog as well!
Thank you! Also, I want to make sure I'm never going to get confused with someone else when I finally get famous so my unique name helps (versus a title that could be use by anyone) :P
It really depends on your audience and platform. If I'm not familiar with a writer by name, then I'm more likely to subscribe to a newsletter that is titled. I love Elle's hybrid solution -- name the newsletter, but leave the url in your name.
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.
There are a couple other dating related substack writers in our discord server for substack writers. Maybe you could cross promote? Here’s that link: https://discord.gg/8mPbCFJfEh
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!
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?
I think you should never compromise on quality. If you feel overworked, just reduce the length of your posts or skip a week. That my philosophy anyway.
I'm not from the team, but a wrestle with that too. Since I don't have a rigid schedule, but aim for three posts a week of about 1,500 words, I will delay a day if I'm not feeling sharp.
Not an answer, but here's something that encouraged me yesterday:
"Don't let the perfect be the enemy of the good. Your posts don't have to be long, groundbreaking, perfect, or full of citations. Short, imperfect, and published always beats unpublished."
-from the documentation for the Recurse Center's blog aggregator (I don't care if nobody knows what the Recurse Center is; I made my citation, lol!)
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.
Just thinking out loud, but could the issue be that a lot of the audience for a newsletter about being off-grid might not be big social media and might really be living partly or fully off-grid?
We had a session with Tony Meccia who writes https://charlotteledger.substack.com/. He is trying to find readers in his local community. They don't always hang out in easy-to-reach places. So he got creative--finding local Facebook groups, partnering with NPR station, and creating "shareable" content like a "40s Under 40" awards. We have a write up that will come out (hopefully later today!) on Writers' Library with what he shared. I know it's a little different than your target readers but I think he offers great inspiration of places to find and reach more readers.
Thanks, Florence, but actually FB groups on off-grid are thriving. I admin one on FB that was 900 people a year ago last January. It now has more than 4.7 thousand members. I'm coming to the conclusion though that off-gridders are not my target audience.
Ah okay! You obviously know your market much better than I do. Have you thought about trying to use Twitter a bit more? I find it a very useful place to get subscribers
I opened a Twitter account and gained - wait for it - a whopping two followers. That was after I followed a number of accounts, etc. My last account for my former blog, Sub-three Running, had in contrast well over 3,000 followers. I'm not sure if it's too esoteric of a subject, or if people just aren't keen on the newsletter. Thank you for your suggestions though.
The content is what it is: a mix of long form writing on my off-grid life (much of it focussed on wildlife), and less how to go off-grid. That said, I have written pieces on how difficult it is to mortgage an off-grid home. For awhile I was writing The Sunday Read, a round-up of off-grid news, but that's become a more sporadic thing these days. I love Bailey's suggestion of breaking up longer pieces. I have trouble writing for the newsletter some weeks because I'm too busy with my paying writing work.
First of all great newsletter. I have subscribed to it since you write about some topics which are close to my heart.
I run a newsletter called 10+1 Things where I post 11 things which are worth sharing. I had good success with the following tricks:
1. Submit your newsletter to various directories. (Infact I'm building one specific for Substack writers. Ping me if you are interested to join rishikeshshari[at]gmail.com)
2. Join various Substack Facebook groups.
3. Connect with other fellow writers during Substack office hours.
4. Twitter has worked wonders for me.
5. If you're writing say about productivity, post it (don't spam) to the corresponding subreddit. This drives lot of traffic.
6. I run a curated newsletter, so if feature any author, I email them. Sometimes they repost it to their Twitter.
7. Why don't you try LinkedIn? There is a huge community on LinkedIn in the off-grid sustainability segment. My academic background is also off-grid and renewables and I see a lot of traction on LinkedIn.
8. I have seen some Clubhouse groups on Sustainability. You can be a part of them and may be plug your newsletter once you have enough credibility.
Rishikesj, I'll have to hit up your newsletter. Thank you for all the wonderful ideas. I didn't realize that about LinkedIn. I'd been posting on the feed there, but again not getting a lot of traction. Best, Charles
Hey Charles! Just jumping in. The truth is that it's very common for growth to come in waves - that there will be several weeks without great increase, and then a viral post will lead to a jump in subscriptions. This is the normal path and experience that all writers have on Substack.
A few things to consider auditing:
* Are your posts are too long?
Some writers have extremely long posts that would be better served by splitting them up into shorter ones throughout the week or month.
If you
re a monthly longform writer, consider breaking up the post into a few sections so that you can send at least one post out per week, but it doesn't create any new writing requirements.
* Do you make Substack your primary landing page?
If you don't have your Substack as your "link in bio" on other profiles, consider doing so.
And if you have a separate website which reposts much of your Substack’s free content, it can hurt your Substack’s SEO and make it difficult to convert new readers into habitual readers and paying subscribers. Readers may also be confused about what differentiates a Substack subscription from what they can read elsewhere, and this may be why some aren’t realizing that a subscription includes your web archive of paid posts. To ensure that your existing audience can find you, we recommend that writers use Substack as their primary home on the web.
* Do you have a strong one-line description?
Your one-line description, seen on your landing page, should demonstrate the value of reading. A great example - Pull Request, e.g. "A newsletter about tech and culture, by technologists, for technologists, published weekly."
* How are your publication tags?
For Substack’s current discovery features, broader tags are more useful than specific ones - especially if they fit in our featured categories list on Reader and substack.com/home. I might try changing your tags to increase the chance your publication is featured.
* Do you celebrate or share testimonials?
Consider collecting and re-sharing when people celebrate your newsletter. This might mean asking for permission to use quotes from readers who email you a compliment directly or it may be re-sharing (and saving) public tweets from people talking about your newsletter on Twitter. These testimonials can be shared with readers in your About page and can be highlighted at launch moments, ahead of special offers, and at key milestones in the publication's journey.
* Are you including ~two sentences about your publication at the top of each of your posts?
Consider publishing a few sentences about your publication (and subscriptions, if relevant) at the top of your posts. It can be short and include a subscribe button. That way, if someone forwards your articles to a friend, or shares a link, it will help capture new subscribers.
Hi Bailey: Thank you so much. Those are great suggestions, especially about breaking up the long form pieces. I really appreciate you weighing in. Cheers!
I have the same questions as to whether this platform reaches those who are seeking to create a smaller footprint on the planet, live healthy, simpler, natural. Most want the glam.
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.
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?
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!
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.
Are you part of any music Discords, subreddits, or Facebook groups? Or perhaps do you read any other music newsletters. There might be an opportunity to cross-promote.
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.)
The way they describe their publication is awesome in my opinion:
Chaoyang Trap is a newsletter about everyday life on the Chinese internet. It’s a regular, usually fortnightly, exploration of contemporary China, one important niche at a time. We’re interested in marginal subcultures, tiny obsessions, and unexpected connections.
We want to feel like the best group chat you’ve ever been in.
We accept pitches, and offer micro-grants. You can also subscribe via Wechat / Alipay or Paypal. Get in touch at hello AT chaoya.ng.
Something to be careful about is if a reader continues not to open over a long period of time, their email server might start to recognize your emails as spam.
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!
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?
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.
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.
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.
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?
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.
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 ?
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/
I do follow several writers who write about varied subjects, but they seem to tie it all together somehow. Haley Nahman, for example, writes about everything from style to love to politics but it’s all in the vein of introspection.
There are many topics that I want to explain to my new subscribers (what does the name of my publication stand for; about myself; about building community; housekeeping rules; etc.) But if I do, the welcome email would become very long. It would have been great if there were 3 automated emails. One sent immediately after someone subscribes and the other two in intervals of my choosing -- Medium does this (they have even 4 welcome email) -- Maybe I should find a way to write more concisely. 😅
This is a great idea to have "drip" emails when someone subscribes. I will pass it along to the product team.
Two workarounds you might try in the meantime:
- We see a lot of writers do "roundups" or a curated list of posts to "get started" with that, they link to in their welcome email.
- You might use the Subscriber Dashboard and send some targeted emails manually when someone subscribes to your newsletter. More on how to use that tool in this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ORhE-tmom50
I just blew the top of my head off watching this video, Katie! Why? My brain got so much bigger! Then I had to go walk the dog just to calm down. I learned SO MUCH in that four minutes. I had no idea how brilliant that subscribers tool is. NO IDEA! Please thank the engineers from old E. Jean!
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
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!)
A SOAP OPERA!?! Subscribing now.
Thank you! 😄
The link for our discord server for substack writers is https://discord.gg/8mPbCFJfEh
Thanks Elle - I couldn't find my discord login to post the link 😂
Awesome to hear! Thank you Rachel - our team has enjoyed your tweets as well :)
Thanks, Rachel! This does seem to be a perennial topic, so I appreciate the resources.
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.
Hi Wesley - this is possible, and I do this. https://womenlead.substack.com Once posts are a month old, I go and select the option to make them available for paying subscribers only. This is just to give a little extra to those who pay, without paywalling content!
Ah yes but I would like for it to not be hacked together but offered as an official model so that it's super clear for all potential signer-uppers and it's properly explain in the little sign up box. Totally respect you're doing it this way tho!
Yes, that might be good! The only advantage of doing this manually is that one can be selective in opening up a specific post for a longer time if needed.
BRILLIANT!!! Just went through my May and Early June posts and made several "Paid Subscribers Only."
Oooh savvy
I'll let our product team know about this. Awesome work.
^_^ eeee!
What I am doing is every third email is for paying subscribers. On some occasions, like reaching 500 subscribers, or Christmas I am going to unlock some past subscriber only stories. My is @@🔒, but you can think of other arrangements: @🔒@🔒 or @@@🔒 or @🔒🔒. Over time there will be a sizable subscriber only area.
My favorite part of this explanation was the pattern description using emojis 😊
haha yes, that was so fun! :D
This doesn't work for me because I always want the latest issue freely available for discovery and for the free subs.
Ooooh, this is an intriguing idea.
I forgot to mention this is especially interesting for substackers such as myself whose content is my educational, each issue is stand alone, and ever green.
This is an interesting model, but its success depends on your content. Imagine you have lots of articles in the subscriber only are. Why are your subscribers going to read (need) many of them. Also keep in mind that everybody have the story in their mailboxes forever.
For me - this is just a way to give a little extra to paying subscribers because my content is not something I want to ideally put behind a paywall. Plus, it encourages people to sign up (even if just to collect all mails in their inbox). And I also do some interviews (which are long), and hence only send a shorter version as mail, while the full version is available on the website. This sort of becomes exclusive to subscribers only once they are archived.
Yes but that's perfect for me since my issues are educational, stand alone, and ever green.
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
I know we've experimented with this in the past, and it's a solid idea. I'll mention it again to our product/design team.
Great. It would also be cool if people can read the beginning of the post to get their interest, and then it cuts off saying “To keep reading, type in your email” or something along those lines
Could you also offer part of the article on Substack, and then say "to read the entire email, type in your email and the entire article will be delivered to your inbox" as a way to both get an email and validate that the email is a working email?
👆🏻
I love this idea
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.
Come by Elle's workshop next week :) https://lu.ma/spotlight-fiction
So excited!
This just made my day 🥰
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.
I did this when the newsletter turned one :) See here: https://womenlead.substack.com/p/womenlead-turns-one-
Great example!
👋 Hi Akshi!
Hi Katie. Sending you ✨✨✨ I love these writer office hours!
We love seeing you stop by!
Thank you! I'm going paid at 1 year, 3 months.
All the best!
> "my newsletter about children's books and building a culture of reading in your home"
LOVE, LOVE the topic!
Thank you!
I have a random story for you... there's this awesomesauce guy who committed a ridiculous amount of his time and energy to being a 5th-grade teacher. (Even though I'm a homeschool mom & tutor outside the public school system, I decided there was a lot I could learn from that guy!!)
He strongly recommends to parents that they regularly take their kids to the library. Why? Because then they can't say, "Nobody reads anymore!" They have evidence right in front of their faces that that's false. They can resist those dissenting voices, and--even if it's in their own heads--think, "Hey, maybe YOU don't read, but I know there's LOTS of people who read!"
(Teacher's name is Rafe Esquith. His first book was "Teach Like Your Hair's on Fire," so naturally I couldn't resist a title like that! My retelling of it is heavily paraphrased!)
Interesting! Thanks for sharing. I've heard of Rafe Esquith but never read any of his work. (I'm a fellow homeschooling mom, too -- or, was, this past year 😊 I don't know if it ever really ends)
> "I'm a fellow homeschooling mom, too -- or, was, this past year 😊"
Exciting, wild and crazy, huh?! :>
> "I don't know if it ever really ends"
Amen! We are always teaching them, and we'll pretty much always have more years'-worth of experiences we've seen. I always think of this one friend whose children are now grown... I'd regularly see her affectionate, usually-silly interactions with them on Facebook. It gives me much hope and joy!
What is the criteria or process to be featured in an email that you send out?
They have a recommendation form you can fill out. Here that is: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScs-yyToUvWUXIUuIfxz17dmZfzpNp5g7Gw7JUgzbFEhSxsvw/viewform
You can also recommend a specific post for feature here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfV-L4rTmPso5Uvwxz054dqfZsYjL-Mcjnd28JF1fEf1jY9MA/viewform
Heyo! Savvy question! We aim to feature mostly undiscovered writers who are going deep into a clear topic and exemplify best practices, like posting regularly and engaging with readers.
Do you know a Substack publication that we should be featuring? You can nominate a great pub here - http://bitly.com/substackstowatch
I agree.
I'd love to know this, as well.
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)! :-(
Our developers spend *so* much time on deliverability, and we do everything we can to optimize this on our end.
Here's what you can do - https://support.substack.com/hc/en-us/articles/360043484112-How-do-I-get-my-email-out-of-the-Promotions-tab-
I recommend to my subscribers to check out this link with easy instructions: https://help.aweber.com/hc/en-us/articles/204029246
Here’s something I found useful:
Send multiple test emails as you’re writing your newsletter and make sure it goes in the main tab at each step of the process. I’ve noticed that sometimes one specific link I include causes the entire email to go to promotions, and then when I remove that link it goes to the main tab.
Basically, sending test emails throughout your writing process makes it much easier to figure out why your emails are getting sent to the promotions tab. If you write the entire thing and then send a test email at the very end, it becomes much harder to diagnose the problem.
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?
VERY exciting you started with a "seed" of members who you (at least mostly, I think) know face-to-face!!
I want to do something like this... start with people I know IRL, close internet friends, and friends from college who I think would like it.
(However I'm incredibly shy at the American occupation of promoting my own work / "tooting my own horn," as we call it. Nonetheless, I'm hopeful that even with my shy, "listen-to-the-other-person's-stuff-first" ways... there must be methods that work for this personality I have.)
oh, wow, thank you for mentioning that!!
I decided to create a newsletter on using leadership tools to combat burnout, buuuuut I think I'm postponing launch and working on this other one. (Possibly imposter syndrome! XD )
That's awesome!! <strikethrough>when do we begin?</strikethrough>
I just got your signup in my Gmail, so I'll mail you write away... I mean "right away"!! :-D
Hi Samreet!
I run a newsletter called 10+1 Things where I post 11 things which are worth sharing.
This is what worked for me:
1. Submit your newsletter to various directories. (infact I'm building one specific for Substack writers. Ping me if you are interested to join rishikeshshari[at]gmail.com)
2. Join various Substack Facebook groups.
3. Connect with other fellow writers during Substack office hours.
4. Twitter has worked wonders for me.
5. If you're writing say about productivity, post it (don't spam) to the corresponding subreddit. This drives lot of traffic.
6. I run a curated newsletter, so if feature any author, I email them. Sometimes they repost it to their Twitter.
Thanks.
Thanks, i will surely follow your advice.
Great points. I am starting to get organic traffic and I believe it is coming from the directories and possibly the Substack Weekly Newsletter email.
Yes! We have a discord server for Substack writers where we all share our newsletters and success stories! Here’s that link: https://discord.gg/8mPbCFJfEh
Congrats on your success so far!
We have a category section, but it's somewhat limited now. We're aware that writers want more ways to be discovered and just need more engineering / product firepower to really nail it.
Some ideas for the short term:
1) There are third-parties who have created directories of interesting Substacks - https://stacksear.ch/, https://discoversubstacks.com/, https://substackreview.com/, https://inboxstash.com/newsletters/
2) We encourage cross-pollination with other writers - guest posts, guest interviews. Demonstrating how you think and write in front of other groups of high-potential readers is a great way to bump up your readers. To find other writers, you can google or enter into twitter "substack.com" + [search term, e.g. "cocktails] to see other pubs in your area of interest.
Thank you, it will help for sure👍
Thank you, i will try that today
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.
Maybe they will train some of us to be consistent by they way THEY are consistently "showing up"! :-D
(You know, people imitate what they see someone else doing!!)
Ha, maybe! I personally have no problem being consistent -- I find it much easier to write and publish if I know I am sending something out every Tuesday and Wednesday without fail, but I know this is a big issue for others. There's some fascinating psychology and personality stuff there, to be sure.
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/
I would also like to know this!
I finally understand "crypto" after reading your Crypto 101. I will forget it tomorrow. But at least I understand it today.
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?
Instagram I ran a promotion and got a 10% conversion rate, which may seem high, but wasn't worth the money.
Instagram is worthless. Too saturated and I don't think people who enjoy reading are as engaged on Instagram (it's picture/video based). It makes sense that people have more success on Twitter.
Reddit! I write about digital minimalism and spending more time offline. I promote my newsletter on relevant subreddits- /r/nosurf, /r/digitalminimalism. I genuinely enjoy engaging with people there because I'm passionate about the topic so I don't see it as extra work. I just need to remind myself to engage more because I'm trying to stay offline myself.
For me the biggest sources of paid subscribers have been
1: Twitter
2: Cross-promotions with other newsletters
3: Reddit
4: Substack.com
5: Hacker News
Thanks for sharing I will check those i am not currently using.
Yes mine have been similar:
1) Hacker News
2) Ads in other newsletters
3) Cross promotions
4) Discord
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!
Some additional answers for you :)
SEO is something our team is learning more and more about every day. Here's what I can share:
- Prominently featuring keywords in your title, subtitle, about page, and one-line description helps writers appear. Using the words in full vs. abbreviation is important. (e.g. if you're writing about a public figure, write out their full name don't abbreviate it. That will help you show up in higher search when someone searches for that person's name.)
- We've also noticed that cross-promotion also helps with showing up higher in Google results, because it means more links back to the post.
Again, super helpful! I'm already reading through posts from WTF SEO, which are amazing. SEO is a rather new territory for me, but I know it's important for any web content. Thanks!
Thanks for this insight.
Just to toss this in the mix, there's a publication that goes into this for publishers: https://wtfseo.substack.com/
Thanks, that's helpful!
Hi Shelby, I’m delighted to have chanced upon your publication. I’ve spent the last few days reading up on the Highly Sensitive Person and its relationship to anxiety. Really looking forward to your newsletter!
Thanks, Richa! That means a lot :)
Umm, Shelby... due to random coincidence I saw this post of yours juxtaposed with Bailey's recommendation of "cross-pollination with other writers - guest posts, guest interviews."
Looked at your newsletter, and you had me at "Have you ever cried in the work bathroom?" Do you think you could let me do a guest interview or guest post for you? Granted, it would probably mostly help ME. I have a story or two from conversations that I need to "get out."
Thanks for thinking of me, Vikki. Right now, I'm still in the process of figuring out my content calendar but plan to keep things in-house until I have a good rhythm going. Maybe later on I'd consider guest posts, just not at the moment. Good luck with your publication!!
No problemo!
And thanks for being straightforward!
(also, ooh, "content calendar"--that gives me an idea! I could "treat" myself to creating a calendar & "making it pretty"--just to convince myself to make a more detailed calendar. ...instead of just keeping mental notes of "where I'm going" with this.)
> "Good luck with your publication!!"
Thank you!! I got sooo much energy from attending office hours & from some collaboration I've gotten into because of it. :> (Also, from writing a post that really challenged me! though that last one was slightly terrifying.)
Hi Vishisht, thanks for coming to Office Hours. I see you've shared your publications a few times in the thread now. We ask that you use this space to ask questions about publishing, growing, or going paid on Substack and help answer other writers.
We are hosting a shoutout thread next week where you can come and share your publication with other writers.
Thanks for understanding. Cya next week!
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?
There are so many different ways to think about free versus paid strategies (and your readers' experience of it), depending on each writer's strategy and content. There's a lot of good info in our Guide to Going Paid (https://on.substack.com/p/your-guide-to-going-paid).
I answered a similar question in our office hours a few weeks, so I'll just paste that info here:
The value of your writer-reader relationship can be measured along two major axes: your reach (the size of your audience) and your engagement (how much they’re paying attention).
In order to benchmark those, however, you’ll first need to figure out what your financial goals are for going paid. If you’re going full-time, your financial needs might be different from a writer who wants a part-time side project. Be honest with yourself! It’s okay to dream big, and it’s just as okay to say you don’t want to invest time in a full-time project.
Got a number in mind? Great. Now it’s time to do a bit of napkin math:
In the best of circumstances, we typically see conversion rates of 5-10% for writers who are going paid. You can use your email open rates to help approximate whether to use a high or low conversion rate. If your email open rates are typically less than 30%, use a 3% conversion rate. If your email open rates are typically 30-50%, use a 5% conversion rate. If your email open rates are greater than 50%, use a 10% conversion rate.
Thanks as always, Bailey
Thanks I know the info is great but not so helpful for the fractionally challenged creative! :-)
Very informative! Thanks!
This is so helpful. Thanks Bailey!
Great info! Substack is growing and giving a writer a space to speak freely!
Here's a great piece about paid subscriptions from Cherie Hu, who writes the (very) successful Water & Music newsletter. This post is about running a Patreon page, but to me the lessons apply equally as well to a Substack newsletter too -- there's so much in this to ponder: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/five-lessons-from-my-first-year-running-patreon-page-cherie-hu/
MY GAWD! CHERIE HU opened my yes! Thanks Mr. Johnson!
(Wait, I just realized how my reply might have sounded... please know I was trying to be funny!)
I was once married to a fellow named "Mr. Johnson."
You are SO welcome! And just one quick thing, my father is Mr. Johnson -- please call me Terrell 😃
(I love your newsletter, by the way!)
Thanks! This was a great read!
You're welcome! That article has been very helpful for me in my own newsletter journey too :)
Here are my thoughts on going paid.* I've been reading a lot of advice on this topic, and one thing that has really stuck with me (I'm sure it was a post from someone on Substack, but I can't remember who...sorry) is offering content that has greater value for those who are going paid. My Substack is essentially for Bible studies I've written (https://groundedinthebible.substack.com/). So the study or lesson itself is free, but then I plan to create "premium" resources to go with each one (or most of them). So for example, I might include a journal sheet to use with the study, or create a powerpoint presentation that can be downloaded and used for a group study. These premium resources will be available only to paid subscribers. So in this way, free subscribers still get all the Bible study content, but you have to be a paid subscriber to get the extra resources. I also plan to create things like an Index that will be available for paid subscribers that is more organized than just looking through the archives. Adding extra resources like these can be a good way to go paid initially to get the idea in subscriber's minds, and then eventually if you want to add posts with content that are for paid subscribers only, you can do that.
*Take my advice with a grain of salt. I have not gone paid yet (planning to in about a month). I have a VERY small following thus far, and I don't expect to make much from going paid. Currently I am offering a "free trial" of my premium resources, which will be available to paid subscribers only on 8/1.
Thanks for your insight!
I’d like to hear more about this as well!
I went almost 2 months before going paid, at which point I thought a monthly newsletter and mid-month (strong!) post would be enough...but am realizing I need to continue with more free material. (I had over 100 free, folks and about 20% of that went paid readily...but now need more. The interest and engagement seems good; I'm having fun too. (It's all about writing...) So I'm working to find the balance of being inviting, AND making the paying folks feel as if they are getting worth. Hoping the paying folks realize the necessity of my sharing freely. It's ind of a feeling-my-way-through thing :) So...just FYI!
Thanks Alison, I appreciate you sharing your thoughts on this.
If you take a look at "Your guide to going paid," under Resources in your Dashboard, there is some guidance there.
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.
It is! Our team is working on it now. Really sorry for this issue.
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
just subscribed to both of you!
This was dope, thank you to Substack for hosting this. See you at the Shoutout.
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/
I've loved reading your newsletter!
And thank you so much! Great stuff coming.
Dope! Let's do it!
You had me at your post on the Feynman Technique.
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
Hi there Thomas! Thank you for writing. This is currently not possible, though it's a request we've heard and we will add a +1 to the number of requests to our product team. Sorry for the inconvenience.
Add +1 for me, too 👍
+1
Thanks for your quick reply Bailey, and great you have that topic in your backlog :)
Or in short: Is it possible to completely separate the two sections while still having them listed in the header?
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
It really depends on your goals! If you're trying to just grow awareness of you/your writing, posting on both may make sense.
If you'd like to grow your subscribers (email list of your audience that you own) and potentially go paid, we recommend the following:
Make Substack your primary landing page: If you have a separate website which reposts much of your Substack’s free content, this hurts your Substack’s SEO and makes it difficult to convert new readers into habitual readers and paying subscribers. Readers may also be confused about what differentiates a Substack subscription from what they can read elsewhere, and this may be why some aren’t realizing that a subscription includes your web archive of paid posts. To ensure that your existing audience can find you, we recommend that writers use Substack as their primary home on the web.
I've been pondering bringing my newsletter over to Medium as well since Medium is really good with canonical links. On the one hand, it weakens my argument to subscribe to the newsletter, BUT since my newsletter is more about platform building rather than producing an income it might make sense. I guess it depends on your end goal for sharing it on Medium?
Medium does allow you to put plug at the end of your article, but so far I have not seen any of my Medium followers make that switch.
That's what I suspected. Since I'm a "writer who also has a newsletter" rather than a "newsletter writer" that might be okay for me.
haha canonical* link
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
The name of my newsletter is The Novelleist (as in, I’m a novel writer named Elle ☺️) but I chose to keep my url http://ellegriffin.substack.com just in case that ever needs to change in the future. So personally I like that you used your name, then you can name the newsletter whatever you want!
Hello Mehret,
It depends actually. My Newsletter's name is 10+1 Things(https://rishikesh.susbtack.com) but the URL I used is my name. The newsletter is basically a curated list of stuff that I thought were worth sharing. I kept my name since I'm trying to grow an audience around my blog as well!
Thank you! Also, I want to make sure I'm never going to get confused with someone else when I finally get famous so my unique name helps (versus a title that could be use by anyone) :P
great blog! https://tumbleweedwords.substack.com/p/episode_001-impulsiveness
Ooooooh, this is a wonderful suggestion! Thank you so much for the suggestion! Love the creative twist with your name in the title as well. :)
It really depends on your audience and platform. If I'm not familiar with a writer by name, then I'm more likely to subscribe to a newsletter that is titled. I love Elle's hybrid solution -- name the newsletter, but leave the url in your name.
best of both worlds!
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.
There are a couple other dating related substack writers in our discord server for substack writers. Maybe you could cross promote? Here’s that link: https://discord.gg/8mPbCFJfEh
Thanks!
❤️ 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
Congrats on writing for a year, Andre! No small feat. Thanks for being here
It's a daily struggle :)
Yay - quantum computing. :> Two years ago, my husband taught/tutored a couple students out of "Q is for Quantum," by Terry Rudolph!
Very cool, the field has come a long way since and a lot more resources out there.
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!
That is dope. Check out my substack, I think there is a synergy or two. https://youtopianjourney.substack.com/
I'm also curious about the PDF embed.
Still working on our PDF embeds. The engineer who was owning that is on indefinite sick leave, but we are advocating for it with our product team!
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?
I think you should never compromise on quality. If you feel overworked, just reduce the length of your posts or skip a week. That my philosophy anyway.
I agree.
I'm not from the team, but a wrestle with that too. Since I don't have a rigid schedule, but aim for three posts a week of about 1,500 words, I will delay a day if I'm not feeling sharp.
Not an answer, but here's something that encouraged me yesterday:
"Don't let the perfect be the enemy of the good. Your posts don't have to be long, groundbreaking, perfect, or full of citations. Short, imperfect, and published always beats unpublished."
-from the documentation for the Recurse Center's blog aggregator (I don't care if nobody knows what the Recurse Center is; I made my citation, lol!)
Great reply, thank you Vikki W.
That's great advice, Vikki!
I don't think consistency with bad things can get you too far but I think holding yourself to the standard of "perfect" can be paralyzing.
I think it can be a healthy balance of picking a slower consistency to start that you can commit to and being honest with your readers as you learn.
"Don't let perfect be the enemy of the good" is also a concept from 12 Step programs. Because none of us is perfect.
I wrestle with...(typo)
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.
Just thinking out loud, but could the issue be that a lot of the audience for a newsletter about being off-grid might not be big social media and might really be living partly or fully off-grid?
That's a great point, Florence!
We had a session with Tony Meccia who writes https://charlotteledger.substack.com/. He is trying to find readers in his local community. They don't always hang out in easy-to-reach places. So he got creative--finding local Facebook groups, partnering with NPR station, and creating "shareable" content like a "40s Under 40" awards. We have a write up that will come out (hopefully later today!) on Writers' Library with what he shared. I know it's a little different than your target readers but I think he offers great inspiration of places to find and reach more readers.
Another piece of inspiration, First 1000 shared how they got their first 1000 subscriber: https://first1000.substack.com/p/growing-first-1000-this-newsletter
Thanks, Florence, but actually FB groups on off-grid are thriving. I admin one on FB that was 900 people a year ago last January. It now has more than 4.7 thousand members. I'm coming to the conclusion though that off-gridders are not my target audience.
I should add that one FB group is just for Nova Scotia alone.
Ah okay! You obviously know your market much better than I do. Have you thought about trying to use Twitter a bit more? I find it a very useful place to get subscribers
I opened a Twitter account and gained - wait for it - a whopping two followers. That was after I followed a number of accounts, etc. My last account for my former blog, Sub-three Running, had in contrast well over 3,000 followers. I'm not sure if it's too esoteric of a subject, or if people just aren't keen on the newsletter. Thank you for your suggestions though.
Hi Charles,
I think wannabe off-grid people(like me) are your target niche. May be you can revise your content a bit to target those demography?
The content is what it is: a mix of long form writing on my off-grid life (much of it focussed on wildlife), and less how to go off-grid. That said, I have written pieces on how difficult it is to mortgage an off-grid home. For awhile I was writing The Sunday Read, a round-up of off-grid news, but that's become a more sporadic thing these days. I love Bailey's suggestion of breaking up longer pieces. I have trouble writing for the newsletter some weeks because I'm too busy with my paying writing work.
Dear Charles,
First of all great newsletter. I have subscribed to it since you write about some topics which are close to my heart.
I run a newsletter called 10+1 Things where I post 11 things which are worth sharing. I had good success with the following tricks:
1. Submit your newsletter to various directories. (Infact I'm building one specific for Substack writers. Ping me if you are interested to join rishikeshshari[at]gmail.com)
2. Join various Substack Facebook groups.
3. Connect with other fellow writers during Substack office hours.
4. Twitter has worked wonders for me.
5. If you're writing say about productivity, post it (don't spam) to the corresponding subreddit. This drives lot of traffic.
6. I run a curated newsletter, so if feature any author, I email them. Sometimes they repost it to their Twitter.
7. Why don't you try LinkedIn? There is a huge community on LinkedIn in the off-grid sustainability segment. My academic background is also off-grid and renewables and I see a lot of traction on LinkedIn.
8. I have seen some Clubhouse groups on Sustainability. You can be a part of them and may be plug your newsletter once you have enough credibility.
Regards,
Rishikesj
Thanks.
Rishikesj, I'll have to hit up your newsletter. Thank you for all the wonderful ideas. I didn't realize that about LinkedIn. I'd been posting on the feed there, but again not getting a lot of traction. Best, Charles
Hey Charles! Just jumping in. The truth is that it's very common for growth to come in waves - that there will be several weeks without great increase, and then a viral post will lead to a jump in subscriptions. This is the normal path and experience that all writers have on Substack.
A few things to consider auditing:
* Are your posts are too long?
Some writers have extremely long posts that would be better served by splitting them up into shorter ones throughout the week or month.
If you
re a monthly longform writer, consider breaking up the post into a few sections so that you can send at least one post out per week, but it doesn't create any new writing requirements.
* Do you make Substack your primary landing page?
If you don't have your Substack as your "link in bio" on other profiles, consider doing so.
And if you have a separate website which reposts much of your Substack’s free content, it can hurt your Substack’s SEO and make it difficult to convert new readers into habitual readers and paying subscribers. Readers may also be confused about what differentiates a Substack subscription from what they can read elsewhere, and this may be why some aren’t realizing that a subscription includes your web archive of paid posts. To ensure that your existing audience can find you, we recommend that writers use Substack as their primary home on the web.
* Do you have a strong one-line description?
Your one-line description, seen on your landing page, should demonstrate the value of reading. A great example - Pull Request, e.g. "A newsletter about tech and culture, by technologists, for technologists, published weekly."
* How are your publication tags?
For Substack’s current discovery features, broader tags are more useful than specific ones - especially if they fit in our featured categories list on Reader and substack.com/home. I might try changing your tags to increase the chance your publication is featured.
* Do you celebrate or share testimonials?
Consider collecting and re-sharing when people celebrate your newsletter. This might mean asking for permission to use quotes from readers who email you a compliment directly or it may be re-sharing (and saving) public tweets from people talking about your newsletter on Twitter. These testimonials can be shared with readers in your About page and can be highlighted at launch moments, ahead of special offers, and at key milestones in the publication's journey.
* Are you including ~two sentences about your publication at the top of each of your posts?
Consider publishing a few sentences about your publication (and subscriptions, if relevant) at the top of your posts. It can be short and include a subscribe button. That way, if someone forwards your articles to a friend, or shares a link, it will help capture new subscribers.
This is all cogent advice. Thank you.
Love all of these opportunities. Thanks Bailey
Hey Bailey,
Just one question. Is there anyway to know whether a person came to my newsletter while browsing through Substack platform itself?
If you turn on paid, we can show you that data in your dashboard for paid subscribers - https://twitter.com/StockJabber/status/1405004261675655172
Hi Bailey: Thank you so much. Those are great suggestions, especially about breaking up the long form pieces. I really appreciate you weighing in. Cheers!
I have the same questions as to whether this platform reaches those who are seeking to create a smaller footprint on the planet, live healthy, simpler, natural. Most want the glam.
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!
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?
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/)
Thanks Vishisht! Just subscribed to your newsletter. Look forward to reading your work.
Any ideas for starting from 0 subscribers? I've got Twitter as an outlet but that's it so far.
Here you might find some inspiration: https://on.substack.com/p/getting-your-first-100-signups
Just subscribed!
Thanks! I also subscribed to you.
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.
Hi Amaya,
Are you part of any music Discords, subreddits, or Facebook groups? Or perhaps do you read any other music newsletters. There might be an opportunity to cross-promote.
Buy Hypefury's book on Gumroad, it will help you create a Twitter following
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.)
I know which one this is - https://chaoyang.substack.com/
The way they describe their publication is awesome in my opinion:
Chaoyang Trap is a newsletter about everyday life on the Chinese internet. It’s a regular, usually fortnightly, exploration of contemporary China, one important niche at a time. We’re interested in marginal subcultures, tiny obsessions, and unexpected connections.
We want to feel like the best group chat you’ve ever been in.
We accept pitches, and offer micro-grants. You can also subscribe via Wechat / Alipay or Paypal. Get in touch at hello AT chaoya.ng.
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%
That's a great idea, Samreet.
You can use the features in your subscriber dash to see who hasn't opened and then send them a targeted email.
Here is a video guide how to do that: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ORhE-tmom50
Something to be careful about is if a reader continues not to open over a long period of time, their email server might start to recognize your emails as spam.
Thanks, i will try that
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!
You are absolutely right. Let me check in with them right now. So sorry for the delay.
Thanks for mentioning Asian Century Stocks!
Suggestions on new features:
• Tables
• Word counter
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?
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?
Stripe will send a text with a 6 digit number in to the phone number you provided. It will say 'Your Stripe verification code is: ###-###'
Thank you, Florence. I missed that email.
Thank you Florence!
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.
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.
How can I emmbed my substack in my own web page?
Go Dashboard > Settings > Embed email signup form on other websites
But what I need is to displey mi articles not the suscription.
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
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?
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.
This is very annoying, true.
Is there an update on making substack website fixed for mobile safari so people can leave comments from iphone or iPad ?
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 ?
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....
It won't disappear anytime soon.
what happen to the option to lead subscribers send free gift subscriptions? it has disappeared from my settings page
Hmmm. If either of these tactics aren't working, then we have a bug.
How do I give a subscription as a gift? - https://support.substack.com/hc/en-us/articles/360037489632-How-do-I-give-a-subscription-as-a-gift-
How do I offer a complimentary subscription to a reader?
https://support.substack.com/hc/en-us/articles/360037465612-How-do-I-offer-a-complimentary-subscription-to-a-reader-
I'm asking one of our engineers. Stay tuned!
Is it possible to insert visual recordings I've made into my newsletter?
What do you mean by visual recordings? Videos?
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/
I think the way you are using sections is great :)
Thank you!
I do follow several writers who write about varied subjects, but they seem to tie it all together somehow. Haley Nahman, for example, writes about everything from style to love to politics but it’s all in the vein of introspection.
Here’s her Substack: https://haleynahman.substack.com/
Haley is the BEST!
Thanks so much. I'll take a look.
There are many topics that I want to explain to my new subscribers (what does the name of my publication stand for; about myself; about building community; housekeeping rules; etc.) But if I do, the welcome email would become very long. It would have been great if there were 3 automated emails. One sent immediately after someone subscribes and the other two in intervals of my choosing -- Medium does this (they have even 4 welcome email) -- Maybe I should find a way to write more concisely. 😅
This is a great idea to have "drip" emails when someone subscribes. I will pass it along to the product team.
Two workarounds you might try in the meantime:
- We see a lot of writers do "roundups" or a curated list of posts to "get started" with that, they link to in their welcome email.
- You might use the Subscriber Dashboard and send some targeted emails manually when someone subscribes to your newsletter. More on how to use that tool in this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ORhE-tmom50
I just blew the top of my head off watching this video, Katie! Why? My brain got so much bigger! Then I had to go walk the dog just to calm down. I learned SO MUCH in that four minutes. I had no idea how brilliant that subscribers tool is. NO IDEA! Please thank the engineers from old E. Jean!