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Who's new here? Say hello and let us know what's top of mind today.

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Thanks for attending Office Hours today! The Substack team is signing off but we'll be back next week to help answer questions.

Happy writing!

Katie, Seth, Sofia, Josh and Cain

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Hello all, and happy Office Hours! Here's a little bit of encouragement from one small newsletter to all of you:

Today, I want to talk about the often invisible effects of our work. How many pieces of written work have you read that changed your life in some way, and the writer of that work has zero idea? How many of those writers have you gone back to and thanked, or left a comment, or sent a private message or piece of fanmail? If you're like me, it's not many!

This isn't a message to guilt you, but to encourage you: if this is something you relate to, then just imagine how many people might be out there reading your work and loving it, yet not able to tell you for whatever reason? Maybe they're shy, or maybe they just don't know how to say it. You might even be changing someone's life and have NO idea! That's why it's incredibly important to keep pushing forward, even if you aren't getting the feedback you hope for. Your invisible readers are very much real people, and they love what you do!

Keep going, keep writing, and DON'T GIVE UP! 🌿

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Dear Substack, I'd really love for you to go back to the "Let me read it first" message rather than "No thanks". It's friendlier, and more descriptive.

Most of what Substack does and is, though, is wonderful! I hope that discussion threads like this can keep the same positive sincerity as they grow bigger and bigger.

Personally, I'm happy to have hit publish on a post a couple days ago (https://alasdairpedley.substack.com/p/breakthroughs) , though I'm having trouble sticking to my aim of a weekly post. I don't want to write for the sake of getting it done, I'd rather wait until I have some inspiration and something good to give to my readers. Tricky balance.

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Here's a bit of really good advice from fellow Brit Florence HR Scott, who writes about women in early medieval history (https://florencehrs.substack.com/p/medieval-academy-of-america-podcasting):

"Never write with a bad faith reader in mind. You always need to write for your most enthusiastic, most interested subscriber, who loves what you do. The minute you start writing for this reader in your head who will tear apart everything you say, or god forbid you’re writing for the most respected expert in your field who might be looking to disagree with you or catch you out, you’re not gonna produce good writing, you’re not gonna produce a good podcast. You will tie yourself in knots hedging every sentence and including far too much reasoning and information - and let’s be honest that’s what academic writing is for...

By all means cite the scholars whose work you use, provide reading suggestions if you want, quote other authorities, give credit where credit is due definitely. But if you are speaking or writing for a public audience you have to trust yourself that the way you’ve processed the information is reasoned and valid and is coming from a knowledgeable, sensible perspective. If you don’t trust your own expertise, how can you expect your readers to trust your expertise?"

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How much can a Substack stack, if a Substack could stack subs?

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I noticed you changed the text under the option to enter email subscribe to “no thanks “ from “let me read it first “ I find that unfortunate

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Exciting to see Substack continue to poke at the fiction and book communities. It's already hugely active, of course, but there's so much more potential there. As a writing-focused platform, Substack is the perfect venue for fiction writers. I'm using it to write and serialise my new stories, which I'll then collect into an anthology as an ebook and paperback. Having the support of readers and paid subscribers is incredible.

I have encountered an active and hugely supportive bunch of fellow writers here in a year and a half. Far more than I have in the previous decade+ on social media. Thanks, Substack!

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I have no question to ask, post to plug or opinion to proffer other than to say that Substack is great and I’m glad that it exists as both a writer and a reader...

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Hello Substack community! I have been writing on here fairly consistently for about 1.5 years and I've done all the things I frequently see here about how to grow subscriber count including reaching out to other writers about collabs *crickets*, commenting on other people's writing, trying The Sample and none of it seems to work. Luckily I just enjoy writing and my audience is small but super engaged so it's nice to hear some feedback but Idk it's really tough and it seems like substack could do more to promote UNKNOWN writers as the writers I always see promoted have large followings on other platforms or are already famous from something else they do. For now I'm just gonna keep showing up but it would be nice if something worked one day.

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Hello fellow writers. Hope you are well today, and I'd to share some thoughts.

Lots of people say you should stay the course, that is: keep at it. Good advice, but “keep at it” doesn’t mean a schedule dictated by what others say is best. Find your own rhythm, whatever it may be. Straight time, odd time, jazz, Afro-Cuban. Hell, even disco. Up to you.

Stay true to yourself. In an environment of metrics and number chasing, it’s important to remember that numbers are a game that you aren’t obliged to play. Substack encourages it, but I say write because it’s something you must do, not for the scoreboard of external fabricated validation. I also advocate:

Write as artistic expression, not to satisfy a perceived demand.

Don’t publish only safe and acceptable pieces. Take risks.

Subscribe / recommend / etc. from true enjoyment and interest, not in hope of reciprocity.

Ignore stats. Delete the next-day stats email without opening.

Personally, I remind myself that I can control my work / schedule but that I can’t control the reaction of others. Exterior reactions / decisions are out of my hands.

If any of this resonates, great. If not, that's fine too. My main wish is that people chart their own waters. That’s where we find true satisfaction and beauty.

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Dear Substack: new functionality request: Two other writers and I are doing a collaboration piece this Sunday. We all have slightly different paid models and prices and explored ways to bundle subscriptions (e.g., subscribe to all three of us and get XX% off). Unfortunately that functionality isn't available, but we think it could be a strong value add for writers and for Substack.

Would love to see what the team can come up with here. Thanks!

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👋 I am here to ask for an encouragement.

Last week I’ve been contemplating to give up. To stop writing.

To stop building a life out of my passions. To decide for comfort and flexibility, rather than meaning.

To then receive support and kind words from many fellow writers.

From Winston and Dave. From Wendy and Laura. From Mike to Ed.

So, thanks for being here. All new encouragements are welcome. 🙏

And feel free to drop a like, or a word, in the short article below.

It has been written to acknowledge to honour this moment.

https://livmkk.substack.com/p/on-giving-up

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I've been writing on Substack for sometime, but just this week I launched my first podcast episode!

https://joewrote.substack.com/p/podcast-interview-with-an-anonymous#details

I'm brand new to podcasting, so I'd love any feedback on the episode, or tips & tricks, suggestions, and things you wish you knew when you started podcasting on Substack. Anything is appreciated!

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one question for substack team and one question for everyone:

1. This is so minor but might y'all ever be able to make comments collapseable in the app like they are in web? I find that collapsing comments is sorta the key for me to be able to navigate comment threads, without it I get overwhelmed panic and throw my phone out the window.

2. Raffle giveaways -- anyone have experience w them? I have some t-shirts that are dope and some of my readers have been asking about, so I was thinking of doing something like 'anyone who becomes a paid sub in the next week gets entered into a tshirt raffle or something' idk. If anyone knows how to do this plz do let me know thank you

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I always find it interesting to talk to someone I haven't heard from in ages and to hear how much they enjoy what I write and how they read it constantly. That's the best thing to keep me going even if it feels like the needle isn't moving that fast.

Part of me just wishes they'd hit that heart button too! :)

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Duplicate to drafts is AMAZING! Thank you!

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Just wanted to say that the Substack Letters function/feature/format is quite cool!

If you want to have a fun exchange with some other author you want, give it a go.

For example, Mark Dykeman and Julia Falatko are having an exchange about the impact of childhood experiences on the creative work that they do as adults: https://howaboutthis.substack.com/p/on-process-and-place-letter-2-mark

And myself and Alicia Kenworthy (https://catalectic.substack.com/) have launched our own Two Person Book Club:

Letter 1 - https://fictitious.substack.com/p/two-person-book-club-letter-1

Letter 2 - https://catalectic.substack.com/p/two-person-book-club-letter-2

It's fun :)

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Just published my first Substack column on the science, psychology, social context, and practice of embodiment. Would love any suggestions on list growth in these industries. Thanks in advance, and gratitude for the amazing Substack community!

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Hi everyone: I'm struggling to get into the Substack networking game. The fact that I'm even calling it a "game" says it all. I'm generally internet-averse (like many writers, perhaps?) and Substack is the first platform I could bring myself to engage with. Even so, I'm struggling. It often feels disingenuous to like and comment when the goal in the back of my mind is getting more subscribers.

At the same time, I genuinely do want to meet other writers and have a community. I see others on Substack building what seem like genuine connections that transcend personal interest, but I am blocked by my own suspicion of all things growth-hack-y.

Anyone else in this boat? How are you dealing with it?

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I love Office Hours but when exactly is 'starting time'? Is it 1 PM EST, or is it more than an hour earlier, when more than 100 comments are already on the page? I'm not exactly a stickler for promptness but isn't this a bit of a free-for-all now?

As much as I want to, and as much as I get out of this, I can't possibly keep up when, by 'starting time', there are already hundreds of conversations taking place.

Just saying...

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What are genuine ways to share your newsletter without feeling like you're constantly promoting it? I don't want my followers on other social media to feel overwhelmed or annoyed by constant promotion.

Right now I share a tweet or Instagram story whenever a newsletter goes out twice a week. I fear promoting more would annoys followers but I don't know how else to grow.

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Just wanted to come on and say that I am having so much fun working on my newsletter and, just this week, publishing my first ever podcast episodes to go with it. I didn’t know that I would ever find a way to talk about my love of stories and books that didn’t feel like totally shouting into an empty, angry void. Substack has helped empower my confidence and let me have fun just trying the damn thing out and unbelievably, making me think I could make a real go of this.

Thank you for creating such a wonderful place for a community of creative people to be and enjoy. I’m so grateful and excited!!

Elea from Huskybleu. ❤️

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I just wanted to wish you all a wonderful rest of the week! I know this is how we really connect with each other before commenting is closed so Hiiii!! 💖

I know a lot is going on but together through the community here, sharing our stories connects us and we can get through anything! Thanks for Substack creating this great platform. Rockstars! Yeah we’re all Rockstars! 😁

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Delenda est Carthago! Translate the U.I.. O can helo with the portuguese. We are losing paid subscribers because of the only-english U.I.

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HEY SUBSTACK: Wondering if there is or will be a way to track traffic for individual posts over time, like a line graph or something.

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Hello! I’m curious about ways to promote my substack without social media. I left social media in 2021, for my mental health, and I don’t want to go back. But I also don’t want my substack to languish.

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As an indecisive writer, occasionally I'll change the title of a post after it's been scheduled. Unfortunately, the URL wants to keep the original title, creating a bit of a mismatch between the post and its web address. Is there a way to change the url after scheduling and prior to posting to show the updated title? Thank you for your help!

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oh i have a lil story about my first real experience with being trolled - so the other day I wrote a piece about how I can't handle my son's crying - https://botharetrue.substack.com/p/i-cannot-handle-my-sons-crying.

it was meant to be a peek into how parenting feels for someone with what the doctors call adhd and ocd. Anyways, on Substack everyone was so kind in the comments full of love and genuine good spirit etc.

The essay also made its way to the Internet where it was Shared on a forum that is similar to but not called Reddit. And boy oh boy the comments there!! They really said some mean shit and it caught me by surprise and made me sad and angry. I told my friends about it and they were like "um...dude it sounds like you're describing what its like to write something on the internet."

to which I replied "yea but not on Substack!!"

at which point I realized that Substack is a strange oasis of good humans and kind vibes in a sea of toxic douchmonkeys (respectfully), and for that I am eternally grateful.

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Does anyone have the experience of two completely separate Substacks? I've been contemplating a second one with my fiction, essays, and more. I would want it to be on its own. Thoughts?

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Another question: I think in past Office Hours I noticed a TypeForm link for nominating Substacks to be featured on Substack Reads (or similar?) Is that still a thing?

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I started my Substack page in June of 2022. I find that a good number of people are clicking on my content and I assume reading it. I think I am getting pretty good open and click rates. But I am only at around 42 free subscribers. I don't want to go paid until I have reached 100. How do I turn those people who will click on my page to read into subscribers? I have tried everything I know to do. I could really use some help.

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I am very happy

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Hi all! I write my newsletter https://learningtointerrupt.substack.com/ as a mix of book reviews, notes about writing and publishing, and my personal life — I enjoy reading substacks about a variety of topics, but I wonder how everyone else feels. Would you rather read a more curated newsletter about one specific / niche topic or do you like a splash of the personal / a variety of topics?

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Hi Substackers! Where are all the illustrators? 😍

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Just wanted to say thanks for the Audience Insights tab in Stats, absolutely love it (and not just because it turns out I’m read in 103 countries in 47 states, though that certainly helps). More of this sort of thing, please!

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Hi everyone! I’ve been itching to finish writing my fourth article, and just haven’t made time for It. I’m SO pleased that I am really feeling so excited for this weekend because I know I’ll have time for it. I’m new to writing for public consumption and I didn’t know how I would feel about it. I loved publishing the first 3 articles and #4 will be published this weekend with fulfillment and joy. I feel grateful to have found Substack ✍🏽 🙏🏽!

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Hello everyone, I write Indian food stories and recipes over on my Substack Beyond Butter Chicken (http://Perzen.Substack.com)

I’d love to connect with other food story-tellers. And for the people that enjoy food writing, do you like just skipping to the recipe or is it the story that makes you want to cook/eat the food.

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I'm new here! I always miss Office Hours because I have a recurring meeting at the same time, but today it got moved, and wow! It hasn't even officially begun and you're already all here encouraging each other. ❤️ Gonna make sure I start tuning in afterwards from now on for the excellent motivation!

May as well ask a question while I'm here: In addition to the newsletter I currently write, I'll be starting a new podcast here in a few weeks, and I'd like to know how easy you all found it to get it up and running and distributed. Been writing online a while, but never did a podcast before. Thanks!

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I thought I had an idea, but after a few minutes, I realized it was just a headache.

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Apologies in advance if this is addressed in another comment, but I haven't read through the whole thread. I just don't "get" the private substack idea. Who would use it—in addition to or in lieu of a regular substack we work hard to promo and build readership—and why?

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Hey everyone! Hope you're all having a great week :)

I'm fairly new here, but I wanted to see if I could get some insight on a couple of topics:

- Early on with your newsletter, does social media provide a big boost? I'm not a fan of social media -- I've deactivated/reactivated accounts several times -- but with a very limited budget, sometimes it feels like the best way to get started.

- I do feel like cross-promotion would be my preferred route. Do you have any suggestions on where to find those opportunities? And also, how to go about presenting those opportunities? I think I get in my head a little bit about it, because my newsletter is, well, new. It's not like I can point to 1,000+ subscribers as a selling point to someone I'm approaching. I of course want the exchange to be beneficial for both parties... so yeah, it just ends up feeling like I'm A) selling something and B) that I can't deliver on that promise at this time.

Any/all feedback is greatly appreciated! Thank you!

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Do you feel there is such a thing as publishing too often? For some subscriptions I get new content three times overnight. I don't mind so much but if I were doing this I would be worried about losing subscribers. What are your thought?

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How do I discover writers who are similar like myself who just started and writes similar content? It feels like I only see the very popular ones. I also want to ask how to promote my blog when I don't have a big following on social media? Also, this is the first time I've engaged in commenting. If you'd like to read something from a 23 yo in nyc that likes fun, fashion, and SATC ... check out thekarliediaries.substack.com :*

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Hey Substack, the analytics updates have been quicker lately -- thank you!!! I have an additional request: Can you add a tab on the analytics page for each post that shows a simple chronological list of opens/reads, with the most recent open/read at the top? That way we can quickly see who the most recent reader was since the last time we looked, without having to look at each reader. It would be extremely helpful and save a lot of time. I'm sure it would be easy to add. Thank you for considering it!!!

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I just started a newsletter called Wikipedia Daily, where I send a daily interesting Wikipedia article to the readers. I launched it today. What do you recommend I do to grow my subscriber count, from pretty much 0? I have 2 subscribers right now.

https://wikidaily.substack.com/subscribe

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A week or two ago I asked here about repurposing my Substack pieces as an op-ed in a newspaper. Under my urgentopeds.com banner, I write op-eds for opinion leaders in major publications, but I also publish more satirical work under my own name. I disclosed to the editor that a version of this had appeared on Substack, but he didn't seem to mind. I suspect not every editor will feel the same. Here's what appeared in the Berkshire Eagle:

https://www.berkshireeagle.com/opinion/columnists/william-klein-liars-caucus/article_46a8f9b4-9907-11ed-9215-ef0cdf3e5ae7.html

Thanks for your guidance, and to this great community!

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Is anyone else working on a technical newsletter?

I've been writing Mostly Python. It's a mix of technical posts about the language, some pieces about how to think about using Python in real-world projects, and current happenings in the Python world.

What do you like about Substack as a technical writer? Is there anything you wish Substack would do differently, to better support technical writing?

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Hello. Newbie here. Looking for any suggestions on growing readerships. Not too concerned about paid subscriptions yet - just want to get more people reading. I post three times per week and push out to Twitter and LinkedIn for my social media advertising.

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Hi all. It's not long now until I hit the first anniversary of my Substack and a considerable number of my annual subscribers will be considering whether to renew. Would love to know how other 'stackers have handled this. Is there a way of offering re-subscribers a discount or have you created more exclusive content for them? Would be really helpful if you'd share your experience of this

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