Have questions about Substack? The Substack team, and your fellow writers, are here to help!
Our team will answer questions and share insights with you in the threads today from 10 a.m.–11 a.m. PDT / 1 p.m.–2 p.m. EDT. We encourage writers to stick around after the hour and continue the conversation together.
To help organize conversations, we’re opening two discussion threads this week. Jump into a thread to join the conversation most relevant to you.
Notes: Substack Notes is a new space where you can publish short-form posts and share ideas with other writers and readers on Substack. This week we shipped a number of improvements to Notes including:
The “My Subscriber” tab
Writers may see a “My Subscriber” tab at the top of your Notes feed including posts from people who subscribe to their publication. We’re experimenting to see if this tab helps writers and readers build stronger connections through Notes.
Paid replies We’re experimenting with writers being able to limit replies to only their paid subscribers. Some writers with paid subscriptions will see this option starting today, and it will roll out for everyone in the coming days. Our hope is this new tool will help you encourage good-faith discussions on Notes, while also offering new value to your paying subscribers.
When writers compose a new note from the web (app coming soon) they can control if only paid subscribers or everyone on Substack can reply to a note from a drop-down menu.
🟧 I am liking notes more over time. It's been fun to explore! The first few days it felt odd and then I realized the algorithm was not working for me. I was seeing things I wasn't interested in so I started hiding some of those posts and it got better.
Will there be a way to bookmark subs that one likes? There are so many good ones and I would like to subscribe to all of them but I know I won't end up reading them. It would be disingenuous to sign up and then not open emails which doesn't help the authors either. But I would like to bookmark and read some of these occasionally when I have time. Is bookmarking a feature that may be available in the future?
Also I see Notes doesn't have a way to choose "Less of this". Sometimes someone is posting too much. I like their posts but too many can be overwhelming and it would be nice to adjust it without removing them alltogether.
A couple of weeks ago, I'd set some of my Love Letters to Free and some to Paid, yet both my partner and i who have full access to them all, could only see some posts listed on the newsletter home page. Shouldn't i, as author, at least be able to see them all?
Any chance of having Substack newsletter visibility less "open"? Because i see that people do look at the posts from outside of Substack, but don't seem to have an incentive to subscribe since they can view them without a subscription anyway. (just a thought :))
Hi Jo, thanks for the feedback! Setting a post to Paid should not remove it from the homepage. Could you send me an example of a post missing from your homepage?
Hi Dayne, thanks for your reply. I set them all back to "Everyone" and they are now all visible. I'll see if i can do it again now and if it happens again i will send you one. I didn't want them to all be visible to the public; only to subscribers, free or paid.
I've now set Love Letter 14 to Free subscribers only. It is invisible to the public, now, which is what I wanted, but it is also invisible both in the Archive and on the Home page. https://loveanddecibels.substack.com/
thank you for this. It seems when i paywalled some of my newsletters, i may have scared people off, because new subscriptions had stopped, so i did not use paywalling, anymore.
🟧 - is it possible to have in-app / desktop views added to the stats information of a post? I can see that some of my readers have read my posts (they've liked/commented) but their email count is 0. I assume this must be because they have seen the post within the app/website "Inbox" page. Having those stats populate would help me better understand engagement.
Would also love to see the actual Stats page show a hierarchy of most-viewed posts.
"...to signal whoM you are looking to talk with....." Easy ways to remember: "Who" is followed by a verb. If you have preposition entanglements, use "whom."
Words are powerful. Be careful what you write, because you can subconsciously become that. I used to title my blog, "a struggling mom" until I realized that the title may be self-fulfilling. I changed my substack to "A Thriving Mom" and I definitely identify with that more. Remember the power of words!!
You're so right about that! I'm a parent and former teacher, and I also write on topics related to education, culture, and parenting. I noticed you wrote an article on "improving our relationship with social media"... I just wrote this week on the same topic. https://raisingamericans.substack.com/p/under-the-spell-of-social-media. Hope you'll check it out!
Yes - getting the framing right is vital for setting up expectations - both for yourself and for your readers. I'm so happy you had the opportunity to come at it from both directions.
This is a great insight! I'm considering a name change. I also write about parenting - currently i'm focused on the early years, but as my children grow older I'm feeling the desire the evolve my content 😊
Yes! NLP says the same thing and you are right, Marissa. That's what i've been trying to get my readers to understand about the power of our words. Perhaps i should also tell them that the written word is just as powerful.
The title is so important. Mine is stream unconsciousness which is a riff on stream of consciousness. I am literally streaming my unconscious and just letting it flow. Then I go back and edit but not too much:)
✏️ Hello all, and happy Office Hours! Here's a little bit of encouragement from one small newsletter to all of you:
I think we can all agree that no matter who you are, life will sometimes get in the way of writing the way we want to write. Hardships happen. Stress happens. Grief happens. We can lack the time, space, privacy, emotional stability, or energy to sit down and put words on the page (or screen), and it's really easy to feel guilty about that.
But here's what I say: sometimes, your hardships will inspire you to write. Maybe differently than you're used to, maybe with a different tone, rhythm, or focus. Or, sometimes a season of hardship is a cue to take a break and refill, stock up on inspiration, and don't worry about output for a while. But the only bad option is to punish yourself. You're not a failure if you need a change of creative pace! Just roll with it and see what happens!
Most importantly: keep going, keep writing, and DON'T GIVE UP! 🌿
I've found that vulnerability can be an incredibly powerful place to write from - not just for the writer, but from the reader who recognizes and reacts to the authenticity of what you're going through.
Writing from a vulnerable place takes time. I started this page of mine in June. I started by posting old stories I had. Having gone through a traumatic incident at work, I was, as you say, vulnerable. I was unable to write anything until October'ish. The incident happened in January. It's a powerful place to write from, but it's also a place you have to try and distance yourself from. Writing about your own vulnerability might lead to triggering other peoples' trauma even as you try to work through your own. (Look up: It was an accident, Steve, in my Scribbler feed.)
As always, 👏. Beating ourselves up when life gets in the way is not being kind to ourselves. And we need to be self-kind, to feel the right stuff and show up with the right energy...
Also: sometimes breaking your publishing rhythm is what's best for you AND your audience. Surprise them! Our job is to set expectations, but it's also to cut through the noise. If you need a break, maybe THEY'D appreciate a break, and be delighted when you show up a bit differently than usual.
Totally agree Mike. My post for Saturday speaks on having energy. Funny how we all share similar thoughts, as I too have considered pulling back a bit but haven't yet. Have I subscribed to your work?
I've been wondering this Mike, so thanks for posting that. I've been striving to hit a weekly cadence, but maybe shaking things up slightly on occasion is the way to go...?
Also, it feels weirdly old-school already to be in an Office Hours comments thread instead of looking at replies on Notes.
So true! I rebranded my whole newsletter after my mom passed cause my past writings didn't have the same energy. But I still wanted to write. Still finding my footing with how I wanna write but haven't punished myself for *that*.... Just other stuff I've gotten a bit better about, ahaha.
I'm sorry for you loss! It's slowly getting better, but whew! The first few months were filled with a despair I never knew. I love my new newsletter name now, though: Losing Orbit. Documenting re-discovering myself after losing my center of gravity (I was caregiving for her for 8 years full time before she passed, right after I graduated college. So life's really anew for me now!).
8 years lovely! I did same with my Mom and actually brought her back laughing, joking and even swimming once again. It was one of, if not the proudest thing I ever accomplished and I miss her every day
Oh that's beautiful! I absolutely love that you were able to do that!
I actually published a poem this past week about how Spring I constantly wonder if Spring would've saved my mom.
I remember her last 3 months were intense, and I knew everything was bringing her down, including the shorter, darker days. I ended up wondering if we could JUST make it to Spring, if that would have saved her when nothing else could: https://losingorbit.substack.com/p/i-wonder-if-spring-couldve-saved
I'm sorry that's really hard. Yes it's difficult, the feelings come and go in waves. I was going through a lot of stuff with my house (which is what my Sub is about) so I couldn't be there for her as much as I wanted to. 8 years is a long time for you. Here's to a new beginning.
I will check out your sub. I am trying limit how much I subscribe to as i can only consume so much (subscribing and not reading is bad in my opinion) but I will bookmark and try to read when I can.
It's overwhelming sometimes! So many great newsletters but so little time and then there's the tech stuff that I have to delve into. I just focus on the writing.
I find myself causally thinking of things she'd like or want all the time. Like I have a YouTube video playing and this chick was talking about these terrycloth bands for the wrists so water doesn't drip down your arms and I was like, "mom would've loved that!"
And thank you, a VERY new beginning indeed!
Also, I TOTALLY get that! I'm gonna have to parse down on who I've subscribed to when I first got on Substack cause I want to be able to look at my list and feel like I can digest what comes from them. Absolutely understand being selective 100%. I really appreciate you even bookmarking me!
That is a very sweet memory. Thank you for sharing it with us.
In the beginning, when you join Substack, you get excited and subscribe. Later you get overwhelmed so I decided to cut down. I'm glad I limited how many I can consumer otherwise I'd be unsubscribing from them.
You have to show yourself compassion before you can show it to anyone else. I find that everything ultimately serves as kindling to my writing. Every hardship, every moment of concern, every great happiness and every great sadness. The thing that attracted me most to Substack, and the thing I love most about it is that I finally get to write specifically and solely for my readers. Not for sponsors, not for clients, just for my readers. Content that I work hard to be of value to them. This makes writing cathartic again for the first time in several years. I become totally immersed in the writing. I cry sometimes over what the words mean to me.
Sometimes it gets so overwhelming that I do need to step away, and I've stopped punishing myself for that. I just accept that I'm human, and hope my readers will understand that too.
So thank you, Substack, for really "getting it" and giving us the outlet we've long needed to let us focus where writers most need to. On our readers.
After reflecting and readjusting my priorities, I feel more motivated and energised than ever! Taking a step back to process your thoughts and feelings and do some honest and kind introspection can work wonders, both for the writing process and for your life.
I sat and wrote about the rain today for about 30 mins, partly because it was raining and partly to switch my mind away from an afternoon of interviewing. A welcome distraction fuelled by my mind going to a better place
I had to stop for a month. I just had too much going on (more critical things) and too much stress in my life. I felt guilty but only one or two people unsubbed. I don't know whether it was because of my stopping but it doesn't matter. Subs will come and go and it's not personal. Prioritize yourself first.
✏️ - I have one general tip for anyone going paid with their newsletter (which I previously posted in a Paid Subscriptions thread, and it was well-received, so hopefully it's useful here too?)...
It's this:
>*Send each of those new paid subscribers a personal email of thanks.*<
I bet few people do this, and certainly nobody beyond a certain level of success when they have thousands of subscribers, because that could get insanely time-consuming.
But early on, when you're just getting a few dozen paid subs, or anything up to a hundred? Try saying thanks by personal email, and go that extra step towards appearing human and approachable to them.
(And if you can spare the time, write that email entirely 'by hand', not using some copy & paste template - and maybe even Google their email address to see if you can find out something about them. If you say thanks and then "ps. I think you're in Montana? Is that right? Gorgeous part of the world - I'm jealous!" then you will look *amazingly* human. And you can't look too human in this line of work.)
A personalized welcome email sounds like a fantastic idea, Mike! I'm definitely not at the stage, where I can turn on paid yet, but I'll store this idea in my back pocket for when I do get there. (Fingers crossed)
Great writing is a conversation between writer and reader, right? So your idea about sending a personal email to each subscriber is right on!! Don't be surprised if writing those emails brings new content ideas. Great idea!!! Thanks!!!!
I hear you - there's certainly a line where it becomes a bit creepy and intrusive. But I reckon a simple, slightly personalised thank-you stays on the right side of that line, and the goodwill generated is worth the very small amount of risk that it's taken the wrong way. (But also, if they went paid, surely they'd *want*, or at least appreciate, that extra bit of personalised effort?)
✏️I took the plunge and went paid with my French Substack. No takers yet but will consider Thank you notes if paid subs appear. I'm kinda giving potentials free previews and such currently Not blocking or pushing too much. Mike
How is this different from a really heartfelt thank you in the paid subscriber auto-email? That it's more personal ? (also , wouldn't that be two emails already?)
Yes, it might be! but the auto-email...well, I suspect everyone can tell it's an auto-email. I guess in a way, it's like the difference between an FAQ and AMA? An automated component and a live component...
There's a brilliant service that some friends have been using with their online acting school: every time they got a paid signup, they recorded a ten-second video "Hi [name], thank you so much! etc." recorded from their phones wherever they were that day. They got so many of those people writing back to say how lovely it was to get a message like that.
Hm yes. I will think about it, haven't yet made up my mind about the whole thing. I can see how recording thank you messages can work, although I'm not sure whether that would be a good fit for me. I will definitely keep all of this in mind, though.
Use the personal thankyou email to offer the new paying person something extra - that way getting a second one won't feel too overwhelming to them.
For example, when I first turned on paid (on my main publication, not this one), I offered a one hour "Ask me Anything" session to new subscribers in a personalised thank you email.
People loved it and it was a great way for me to find out more about my subscribers and build connections.
I actually had to stop doing it when I got too busy, but it wasn't something I had promised publicly so that was easy.
I actually try to do this to free subscribers too. I see them as just as relevant to build a relationship with. At the moment my growth is perhaps 2-8 subscribers a day and it feels doable
I like Sam Harris’ model; offer a free subscription to anyone who reaches out and asks, if they are financially strapped. Most of the time I’ve found that people really want to help and support your writing.
Will there be a way to organize notes like a topic feed?
I don't think hashtags may be the answer, since that would just be turning Notes into more like Twitter, but maybe give the option of adding 3-5 pre-selected tags at the end of a Note? The topics could be the same list provided by the Substack newsfeed. Could tags also be applied to stories as well?
Great question! We're thinking a lot about this. One of the first things we are trying is the "my subscribers" tab to help you see notes from your subscribers. I imagine we could do something like that is reader facing so readers could see notes for all the readers of their favorite publications.
I saw someone else talking about this and second the suggestion. If the Substack "Discovery" categories allowed us to look at the Notes activity going on within them, we could find not only topically related information but active newsletters and active communities.
Especially for people who have varied interests. I like politics, but not 24/7. I also want to read humor, travel, cooking, life lessons, philosophy, music, and sports. Organizing into discover feeds without hashtags could be a great way to continue community building without (hopefully) turning into Twitter style dogpiles.
I write humor too but I am a politics-free zone. Too much out there. I tend to unsubscribe if there are political posts. I'd love a tab that says no-politics.
Oh, I have no politics. I just write stories. They're long, literary pieces I put up once a week. (Oh yeah, and I'm serializing a novel for my 7 PAID followers that I put up on Wednesdays.) You might actually like some of them. https://benwoestenburg.substack.com
That's where Sections comes in. My newsletters are kind of eclectic and I write about politics in both sometimes, but I keep it in separate sections so my subscribers can opt out of any section they don't want to read, while still reading those they do.
Hello De, Slouching Towards Bethlehem is a line from W B Yeats' poem The Second Coming.
In my Substack: http://grahamcunningham.substack.com/ (which most people would probably see a a 'political' one), rather than a 'news'-obsessed focus, I try to dig deeper - and broader - to the longer-term philosophical undercurrents shaping (and re-shaping) our Western culture.
I really like this idea - would give an additional outlet for notes, and allow for "quick thoughts" from authors to have a chance of discovery and engagement.
I can't make any promises, but I can tell you: the Notes team is very actively looking at this entire area, and other teams are doing interesting work on tags, too. We definitely hear this!
🟧 - Hi, I'd love to see an option to include a first name in email to subscribers, to make the readers experience more personal. Like, in the email headers that you can set-up in the settings. Would that be possible?
Personalisation would be so great for open rates, and put Substack ahead of some competitors too. I am way more likely to open an email with my name in it!
🟧 notes is fun and all but I am not seeing any major traction from it yet. Would be great if we can have analytics on the best times of the day to post.
The quick answer is to... ugh... be "authentic." I use Notes to take a break from posting humor and satire on my newsletter and look to make genuine connections and share my day-to-day activities.
Here's what I do:
1. I restack quotes from my own stories to promote them.
2. Share other articles.
3. Ask my audience questions. (I.e., sharing what music I'm listening to and asking what others are playing.)
4. Comment on other posts, leave genuine feedback, engage in good faith debate.
So far it's going well. I've gained 20 new subs in the first week of using notes and I'm a fairly small account.
I have been using it to share interesting posts from fellow substackers (there are so many amazing posts out there, wow!), as well as to get in contact with fellow writers. I also plan to use it more to debunk smelly things floating around in the mainstream media pool, depending on what stinks the most.
This week, I tried using it as a discussion starting point. Wow, honestly. I was surprised by the people taking the time to leave well-argued and thought-out responses. I started out with a bunch of open questions about free speech online. You can check it out (and add to the discussion!) here if you like https://substack.com/profile/47938040-robert-urbaschek/note/c-14893989
I've been keeping an eye on Home and simply commenting on anything I find genuinely interesting. Because you're seeing subscribers/subscribed and their subscribers/subscribed (I think) then you get a reasonable amount of reach. It's been interesting to see topics/Substacks/authors pop up that I never would have come across.
✏️ Hi everyone! I'm always interested to hear how other writers plan and organise their content: Do you have set days of the week to write/publish? Do you have a bank of content or write each piece at the time? How has the way you do things evolved as you've spent more time here?
At the moment I post a weekly letter on Sunday (write on Saturdays, usually) and a monthly round-up of favourite newsletters/books/audio/TV etc. I'm going to be offering more in the coming months (new occasional writing series, more photography, video content and voice notes) but for now I'm keeping it simple and getting into a flow. You can also find me on Notes proably sharing a photo of dog/cat/tea.👋
A couple of months ago, I started more seriously planning my content. Chose a weekday, partly at random partly based on my schedule, to publish 'main' posts. Am now rigidly sticking to that. It has been working out, and has allowed me to plan ahead better. Now I am going to start experimenting with adding other, probably shorter, posts in between.
That's really interesting, Robert, I think the consistency side of it is really key, isn't it? I think I might go for midweek for my shorter/additional content (for paid subsribers) and keep the free content on Sundays like it is now. Definitely good to plan ahead!
Yes I think so. I'm not sure whether to make it explicit to my readers ('Expect a post on Saturday' or something), I figured that if I didn't I would still have the freedom to move it by one day if the need arises, but at least they know to expect a new post every two weeks (in the weekend for those paying attention to when). How do others do this? Do you make your posting days known?
I think I wrote in my first post that I was planning to share every Sunday but otherwise it just says "weekly letters and monthly round up" on the homepage when people subscribe. I think having some flexibility is good and hopefully readers know that we're all human and it might move by a day here and there. I've heard Farrah Stor talk reguarly about the importance of being regular - like the weekend supplements in a newspaper, for example - so I try to think of it like that for the most part.
I post on Sunday nights with my FREE stories AFTER 8, and on Wednesday for my PAID. I used to post Tuesdays & Thursdays in addition to my Sundays, and it was just too much to keep up with. My stories are long, so I can break them into pieces and post them as a serial for five-six weeks while I work on another story. I write my serial novel and try to keep at least four of five weeks ahead on that as well. So far, it's working, but I just started this new format a couple of weeks ago. https://benwoestenburg.substack.com
Sunday and Wednesday is what I'm thinking (when I add the weekday content) - seems like a good balance between emails and time -wise for writing too. Love the idea of serialising longer pieces too - it's great that this can be a space for fiction as well as essay-style writing.
Sounds like a good idea, I have communicated my frequency but not the weekday (wasn't sure yet at the time anyway). I think it would be a good idea to mention it in an upcoming post, then.
Hi Bryce! I have a list of ideas, some sentences/thoughts that have come to me on some of those, and I add to that back and fore. Sometimes I have an idea I feel I need to write about that week but if I'm not sure I go to the list and might pick from there or at least get some inspiration! I split the ideas into categories (creativity, personal, reading, etc) to keep it organised. It's an evolving system at the minute but that's how it is for now! 😀 Love hearing how everyone else does it too - so many different approaches!
I'm documenting my travels around the world, so I tend to write one piece at a time for timeliness' sake. To be honest, it can be a bit stressful meeting my own "deadline", which is why I'm starting an interview podcast to complement my newsletter. That way I can take a break from writing every other week.
I think any system that allows you to post consistently without burning yourself out is a good system. Definitely will take a bit of experimenting to figure it out. :)
That's brilliant - totally agree about keeping it manageable and giving yourself some flexibility when circumstances change. Love the idea of a podcast, that's on my list of ideas to come as well - just want to make sure I pace myself with the offerings, such an exciting platform and I want to do all of it! Haha. Will take a look at your travel writing, it sounds great! 💫
I typically send my newsletters out the same day each week and write whenever I'm moved to. I have a lot of drafts and sort of assess what is the best one to pursue for the coming week and focus on that one.
I compose my Substack pieces in Substack, mainly because I love the Version History feature in draft mode. If I make a mistake or want to add something I've taken out I can go back and pull up an earlier version. Then I can either highlight and pull out certain phrases or paragraphs or I can exchange the entire draft for an earlier version.
Substacks editor gives me everything I need to get to a completed draft so it works for me!
✏️Use your draft section like a filing cabinet or drawing board just hit New post and write on it and shove it back into drafts section. Only draw back I found with this method is no way to organize drafts. Have to scroll down to find what ya want. Bryce
I do that too, Theresa, I write bits and pieces and keep a running list of ideas that I add to then sit and write a longer proper draft on the Saturday before I send it out. Tricky to balance it with other work but I love it!
Only thing is, I just saw someone's comment in this thread about how some of their drafts sometimes disappear? (!!) Sooooo I definitely need to be better about backing up my drafts in G Drive or Scrivener!
That might have been me Theresa. History Version that sits to the Left on your screen catches everything if that disappearing act happens. But hey backups always good. #1 thing techys mention
Oooh, no! I was just saying to someone else that I write all my drafts in Google Docs (partly so I can access them on my phone if I need to since that's not a feature in the Substack app yet) but now it seems like a doubly good idea! Your newsletter sounds lovely - I write about creatve living, everyday magic and little moments so it's right up my street! Heading over to Subscribe. 😊✨
Access drafts on phone. How are you having troubles there Charlene?? I just log in to my site and everything is there. I do a lot of work right on the phone to lessen screen light on Desktop and relax a bit ☺️ I find working on my phone helps with Editing too
I used to have a Spreadsheet (google sheet) where I wrote topic ideas. I organized the sheet into Ideas, Planned, Scheduled, Published.
Recently, however, I started using notion.io. I use it for both video and written content, plus to share information with my team (music: my girlfriend (photographer, graphic designer), a producer I'm working with, and a couple musicians who perform with me at times.
It allows for a nice hierarchy of pages and information - multimedia, etc.
It's only manifested because of my amazing intellect and willingness to offer advice to people. ;-)
Actual origin: I was helping a friend with a couple technical issues... Then, they asked if I could help them write something - which I did. Right after they asked me some a parenting question. When I offered my advice, they said, "You are quite the sage."
I replied, "I know! We all know!"
She said, "An arrogant one!"
And my band, which had been seeking a name, suddenly had one. I've kept the moniker ever since.
Ahh this is one of my favourite things to think about.
I launched my publication (Unzen) last week. The plan is to publish Monday, Wednesday, Friday.
I’ll draft each piece for the week on the weekend before and do edits the day of publication.
All my work starts as small, bite-sized notes I take as I read literally anything. Each note is tagged with different topics.
Unzen is about Buddhism, psychology and philosophy so, when it comes time to write, I start clicking around tags related to each topic until I find a little thread of notes I like.
I smoosh the notes together over the weekend, stringing them together to write a draft. From there, it’s a matter of adding info and editing.
Basically, my process exists to remove as much “how do I start” thinking as possible. That means setting a schedule and having a simple (and repeatable) way of generating article ideas.
Personally, I like the once per week cadence. I have a general outline in my mind for the next couple of weeks at a time, but the order has shifted around a bit at times.
I know some writers are far more organised, with the next few months already planned. Some even have a stack of posts already scheduled for the next month!
That sounds like a good balance of planning and flow, it's so important to find what works for you, isn't it? I know, I've heard of other writers keeping a bank of content but maybe it depends on the type of thing you write - as well as the time you might have to do it - can't see myself having the chance to do that even if I wanted to! 😂
I have setup a content calendar, and expect to publish three times a week (although that may vary). I have an ongoing series (on task management for creative people) where I will be making once post a week, then I have an experiment I am running on starting publications on Medium vs. Substsack, together with results from that, which I will be publishing every two weeks. The other days, I will leave open for new ideas as they occur - one of those posts will probably be pretty short and to the point, while the other will be a deep dive.
In any case, I'll be collecting data on what does well, and tweaking my content and publishing schedule to take advantage.
I struggle with this as my content takes a long time to write. Probably because I spend a lot of time refining it to make sure it has relevant information to get the ideas across.
I find it's helpful to plan out a flexible content calendar, and understand the lead time I need to have a draft written, polished, and published. That way, if I know a couple of weeks ahead of time, I can do the work to get everything ready for my deadline dates.
Wow, that's a lot to juggle - sounds so organised too! I think part of the juggle for me is balancing working and writing since this isn't my full time job (yet!).
It can be - I have a previous life as a project manager and analyst, so it fits how I work. But, it's just a case of experimenting and figuring out what works for you. You certainly do not need to have a perfect system straight away - instead try counting basic subscription or view stats to begin with, and then build up there as you find other things you're curious about.
Definitely, I think some flexibility is a sensible move - we're only human! I have a content calendar as well with the dates I'm scheduled to post and then have a two tick system (draft / published) next to the date. I don't pre-plan the topics but I have a list of ideas in categories and various sentences/paragraphs I've jotted that I can develop into fuller ideas. I like to have some room to choose the topic that moves me at the time as well so don't know if I'd like to plan it too far in advance but I might do that for some content outwith the regular letters. 😊
What I am thinking, though, after reading todays thread overall, is that I need to get a bit intentional about Notes, so that I take the time to share others’ work, thoughts and quotes, etc, in a time efficient way. Like maybe take 15 min a day to do that.
That's a great idea - I think enjoying it but also having some intention behind it, especially reguarly sharing other people's work we enjoy, is such a huge part of community building. Love that about Substack. 🥰
Great question! I publish twice a week (just started the second offering two weeks ago); an essay on Tuesdays, and a round up of things on Fridays. My ideas for the Tuesday essay usually come to me in the week prior, as I’m reading and reflecting and paying attention to what I’m hearing and experiencing around me (this method works for what I do). Then, on Monday morning I begin taking notes and fleshing it out. If I’m lucky, I start a draft. Then on Tuesday morning I finish it and post - by Noon if I can. Then, for my “Friday Notes”, I write them (takes 90 min) on Thursday afternoon, and schedule to publish Friday at 9 am. So far this is working well. I keep a running file in Evernote of ideas, and am also planning on some essays that will require more advance research.
It sounds like you've really got a work flow that suits you, Jessica - mine is still a work in progress in terms of additional offerings but my weekly letters feel like a solid habit at the moment and I'm looking forward to sharing another monthly favourites list next week. So good to have a place to kepe ideas as well, isn't it? Mine are mainly in a document that I add to but I scribble them in random places and record ideas in a voice note app too so I somtimes have to spend some time collating them all. Always good to have plenty of them though, I guess! Thank you for sharing! 😊✨
I decided early on to *try to* keep a forthnightly schedule, but I put a disclaimer in my about page that sometimes I may, ahem, miss. The idea was both to keep myself accountable but also give people enough time in between issues so that they wouldn't become boring - this applies to what I wore about of course, which is data stories witht hand-drawn visualisations. I have a backlog of topics as I have started doing my visualisations years ago before starting the newsletter, but it's still a challenge to be on time! I may use your idea of the monthly round-up post, sounds good!
Yes, love a chance to share all the tabs I've had open that month and to recommend things to people - I love reading those kinds of posts so thought I should write one too! 😆 Definitely a good idea to give yourself some flexibility but also some accountability - it's so tricky to get that balance right, isn't it? I don't want to stray into dangerous perfectionist territory but I want to keep things consistent as I've set it up for now. I think, though (and reading all these different responses confirms it!) that for the most part readers just want to hear from us regularly and sine the community here is so lovely they'll understand if we say, "Sorry, guys, it'll be next week" or "I'm on holiday, I'll be back in a week!" 😊
Exactly, I think the ideal posting frequency depends on the topic as well as your style and just personal preference, but being consistent is important - you don't want people to forget about your publication! And I often put a little sentence in when it happens that I miss or have a post that's maybe shorter than usual, I think it keeps you human and gives people the opportunity to understand that there's real work going into writing!
Definitely! I plan on sharing more content, like I was saying above, but I don't want to burn myself out by doing too much so shorter/quicker ways of sharing ideas will hopefully help keep a balance. Notes is good for that too, just checking in with everyone back and fore. 😊
We've experimented with this a little. We started with a bi-weekly Ponytail Picks post series that goes out every other Friday. Since then, we've done other scheduled posts (a book club that went out Mondays and Saturdays, a movie review post that currently goes out basically every Tuesday) and also started a series that gets posted whenever it's ready—as long as there wasn't already a post being sent out that day—called Internet Farm Cat.
The original Ponytail Picks posts still get the most consistent open-rate. The book club didn't get enough traction to warrant the work, so we canned it. People are enjoying the Two-Movie Tuesday and Internet Farm Cat about equally.
I don't think sticking to a particular day helps or hinders much. Success seems to depend more about the type of content and sticking to whatever output-pace you choose. Starting with a clear schedule helped us stay consistent at the beginning and helped gain readers' trust by meeting their expectations. Once we had an albeit small core group, we could play with things a little. But the bi-weekly Friday posts still keep everything firmly on the ground.
That's really interesting - so good to hear about how thins have evolved over time! Think that's a great idea to have a core offering that goes out on a set day and then maybe have more flexibility with other additions. Your newsletter sounds great, heading over to subscribe!
Hey Charlene! I post every two weeks, on Friday. I recently committed to posting at a set time, too. We’ll see if that improves things. I’m also experimenting with Notes, haven’t yet cracked the code on that one.
Nice - it's good to have a regular day, I think, even just for yourself so that you can plan things! Notes is fun - I'd say it's a bit like this but less fast-paced, just get stuck in and say hello to people. If in doubt share a photo of a dog - that's my advice for most situations, to be fair. 😆
✏️Years of posting about my published articles have taught me to be as consistent as possible without ripping myself apart to do it. That is, I post The Business Technologist's Journal on Tuesday mornings and What Do You Want? on Friday mornings. Sometimes mornings are later than others. I find readers can adopt a habit of checking at the same time each week to find my latest. Seems to be working as well for my Substacks as my articles.
Life sometimes gets in the way, but I don't let it daunt me. I just catch up when I can.
I've been trying to develop a topics list for each Substack so I can write in advance and always be ready to post on time. Problem is that my Substacks have become very much a conversation with my audiences and I often feel the need to write about what's on my mind right now. That's not a bad thing, so again I try to be relaxed about it and just write when something hits me as important. My topics list will never be cast in stone.
Yes! I totally get that idea about the conversational side of it and wanting to share something you've been mulling over in recent days, I do that too. I think you're right as well about having at least one thing that goes out on the same day (ideally sinilar time) so that people get used to checking for it or expect it like their favourite newspaper. Love what you said about life getting in the way sometimes - so important not to pile the pressure on and make it unmanagable!
I also post a weekly newsletter on Sundays! Currently I schedule time to draft my post on Friday and as I'm quite a quick writer this is usually fine, but I want to get into the way of preparing a bit more in advance and having a bank of posts I can draw on if I need to. I'm been posting since December and so far I haven't missed a week, but as I'm starting to get a little more professional (using my substack to also talk about my embodiment coaching business) I want to add in a bit more buffer time for myself!
Ah, that's great! I'm going to head over and subscribe - I write about slow and creative living, everyday magic, that kind of thing and your letter sounds so calming and lovely! I'm with you on wanting a bit more of a buffer sometimes, I think it would be good to have a couple of pieces I could share if I'm not able to get a post written or life gets in the way for whatever reason. Look forward to reading your letters!
Hello Katie, I'm still not clear on how Notes can grow your audience if it only goes to your existing subscribers?? (Some people said last week how much extra subscriptions from notes but how/why?)
Hey Graham, if other publications recommend your publication you might show up in peoples "Home" tab that are not subscribed to you yet. Commenting on other people's notes can also help put you in front of new audiences.
Hi Graham, If you go to the Home tab in Notes, it shows "notes from writers you are subscribed to and writers they recommend, making up your extended network" (https://on.substack.com/p/notes). I've found new folks this way. Also, when people re-stacked a note I posted, it probably brought in more views and subscribers to my newsletter.
I’m also interested in this. I have a small readership now, most of which aren’t on SS much. But I want to expand my SS readership! My notes feel kinda suspended in a nowhere zone... I think having categories to post in would really help!
✏️ Hello lovelies! Looking forward to chatting with all of you today, especially on how we can build a mutually beneficial and supportive community and network. My ideas are much better when they've been tested in the fires of writers' opinions!
I love this idea! I wonder if Substack (or we) could start a "Drafts" thread where we post things we're working on and get feedback from others. Including an honor system where if you post something for feedback, you give feedback to at least 2 others. What do you think?
I think it's a good idea - I help to run a freelance writing community elsewhere, and we have a "critique and review" thread for exacthly this, to help new writers refine their style, approach, and content.
Great point. I've been on Substack just under 2 months and do not stress about when my next post will be. As I'm also writing a book - only 2 chapters to complete my first draft - I want to pay attention to both avenues of my writing. I have to tell myself all the time, "I'm doing great." Thank you for saying this.
🟧 Is there a way to submit my newsletter be featured in Substack Reads? We've had some publicity in the WSJ recently (SO EXCITING) and would love to keep the momentum going! Thanks!
🟧 I would really love it if Substack could make it easy to generate an index of posts. I'd like to (belatedly) start a few, and it's going to involve a lot of copying and pasting :-(
Thanks for the feedback, Terry. This is something we're thinking about. Could you tell me more about what you mean by and index, why you want to create an index, and what you're intending to include?
Hi, Dayne, thanks for answering my comment. By index I mean a list of articles with links, possibly sortable by Section, with date published. I have an index of articles for another website that I maintain for myself on a spreadsheet, and you can see what that looks like in this example I've set up: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1ug6n9s7lFml9_4ZQpi7AKgFjFm6gUUY5Hg70Rub-NvA/edit?usp=sharing
For Substack, I'd like to have a section called Index so that people can find stuff easily. I've done that for a few of my sections, but it's a bit labour intensive, especially when it comes to the older posts I never thought to index! It would be great if there was a way to generate an index at the click of a button.
Hi Terry, nice to see you here!:) I also think an index of posts (or a manual "greatest hits" list) would be cool. On the website version of substack I've seen a "most popular" list on the righthand side on some newsletters. Seems to be automatic too, so the reader can go straight to the writers most popular works. Idk if its like that for everyone, but I've seen it. Not the same as a manually curated list by the writer, though
Just guessing but I would imagine it goes by number of paid subscribers or number of total subscribers. Substack has access to those figures and they're the ones that would mean the most to them as a business.
I wish Substack enabled categories (maybe sections is kind of a proxy) and then you could have auto-generated archives by category/tag like blogging platforms used to have.
It is tedious to do it manually (which I did as well). The Archive is an index but it's organized by month which makes sense if you write about current events or news but not otherwise.
🟧 - Hi, I'm asking about reading someone's publication before subscribing: There was a button at the bottom of the screen that said, "Read First." It got replaced with "No Thanks." I want to bring back the "Read First" phrasing. It was friendlier. That's my vote. Thank you!
You can choose to change the text to "Read it first" in your settings. If you'd like to change it from the default, head to your Publication details on your Settings page. Enter up to 25 characters what readers will see and click when they choose not to subscribe at that moment.
They changed this a while back, but they've added a place to customize what you'd like that to say. Go to Settings > Publication Details > Opt out message on the welcome page.
✏️ Question for fellow newbie writers and more established folk. How do you encourage interaction on the Substack platform itself? I've started threads, but crickets so far. I do have a small following, but I've spoken to some and know the content resonates (on leadership - find me at Lead with Intention) but they are seemingly shy about jumping in. Any advice?
I learned what I call the "Conversational layup" from observing other writers, but particularly SE Reid's Wildroot Parables.
Her formula, intentional or not, is to Introduce a topic on one day, discuss the topic on the second day, and then do a personal essay on the topic on the third day. She keeps this cycle up every week.
I experimented with doing it on a monthly cycle and it seemed to work. Try to define a good cycle for you, and assign yourself topics to discuss. Prepare your audience, get their thoughts, and then satisfy them with a deep dive.
It might take time--it's not a guaranteed conversation starter--but you will start to get a feel for what things get your readers attention.
Oh thanks for this reminder of S.E.’s posting cycle! I remember taking note of it awhile back and had forgotten. Maybe because I’m subscribed to soooo many newsletters right now.
✏️ 🟧 This is a question for both fellow writers and Substackers...
What is the best way to work on posts and potentially publish them while on the go? Since the mobile app doesn't allow you to start a new post or work on an existing draft, I've been using the Chrome app on my iPhone to navigate to the website. This works OK, but is a little less stable than on my laptop and not quite optimized for this use. Any suggestions for third-party apps? Or is this a functionality that we'll get on the Substack app eventually?
Thanks for the feedback, Jeremy! This is something we've heard from a few writers, and definitely something we want to do. It's not on our immediate roadmap, but there's a fair chance we'll work in this within the next 12 months.
I would love more writer dashboard features in the app, that would be great. I write my draft posts in Google docs then copy and paste into Substack drafts when I'm ready to start adding photos, buttons etc. That might make it easier to use on the mobile since there's a Google Docs app? 😊
I may be in the minority, but I dislike this feature as well. I've actually unsubscribed from Substacks that require commenters on newsletter posts to be paid subscribers—it feels totally against the idea of creating a community. I'd rather have people involved in the discussion, be invested, and that is what tips them into subscribing.
My intentions is to leave comments for all, but give access to only paid subscribers via threads. The reason is that, I update threads on a daily and people ask questions directly affecting an opportunity on an individual basis, but comments is for the public. Don’t know if this is a great idea yet, but I’m just 3 weeks in and willing to experiment till I feel comfortable with the product I’ve built
I write about some very vulnerable things and don't want anonymous advice givers or haters. Having the option to limit comments to paying subscribers makes me feel far "safer." And if people truly can't afford a subscription and reach out, I gift it to them.
Well, this seems like a good reason to limit to paid subscribers.
Although I write some vulnerable things, I try to post things that I would feel good about the general public commenting on. Subscribers or not.
For now, the Substack community seems extraordinarily generous and not as toxic as YouTube comments or other internet media forums. I hope it stays that way.
I regularly read / follow around 25 to 30 Substacks currently, which in Australian dollars would be about $2400 a year, depending on the cost of each newsletter. Paying for all of those isn't going to happen, alas.
You’re not alone in that, though I haven’t gone so far as to unsubscribe if they limit comments to paid subscribers. I think there is a benefit to the option though. People are less likely to leave a spam comment or a unproductive comment if they have to put money into the access.
But it also means people who could leave comments that contribute meaningfully but can’t afford it won’t end up having them. You’re going to see a similar problem with this option.
I’m so proud of myself. Been struggling with how many days to publish for a long time and not be overwhelmed. In my going to 3 weeks on substack and writing to about 400 people build from zero using LinkedIn, I experimented several days, but I kept to the same time from day 1(7am GMT)
Now that I have found my days(Tuesdays and Saturday posting of curated opportunities, Wednesday and Thursday posting of personally written essays), I believe I’m on the journey to my first 1000. I will need alot of help, hence if you think my writings will benefit your audience, kindly reach out or recommend my substack https://gradinterface.substack.com/
I guess I hacked LinkedIn’s code. I posted on twice daily on LinkedIn, I refused to repost anyone’s content but could copy and mentioned those people(LinkedIn loves mentions). When I said twice daily, it doesn’t mean I live on LinkedIn, I only spend less than 30min-1hr there a day, you can schedule your post but turn on your creator mode.
In the first two months I did that, I wasn’t on substack, so my idea was to share scientific stuffs that people share on the internet, but when I posted funded opportunities, I noticed more people wanted to follow me. So I posted more of that(experiment your audience to see what they want- may not be what you desired)
LinkedIn will make at least two of your post to go viral (like 100-300 comments and likes level initially)in each 30 days(may be more if large accounts mentions or reshapes your contents) but could be more.
So three weeks ago, I started substack and kept my twice daily posting but now all links leads to my substack for any information that I post (hence try to share some actionable contents in your newsletter where you can use as bait on LinkedIn) or just tell people you can read more on my LinkedIn.
Today, I want to go to the viral posts I had and insert my substack link on them, cos they are still drawing traction even after a month.
I don’t know if this helps....bottom line....be consistent in sharing free useful info, link back to your substack or simple always include a request for people to check out your substack...like: “you can read more here” or “if you love this post you can read more here”
Home. I had to list mine under Climate (not ideal) because there is no Home section. Home design does have a big audience outside of Substack. Then again see the challenges of UX listing all these options in the navigation.
The best thing you can do as a new writer on Substack is:
1. Write quality, engaging material
2. Post regularly and consistently (I recommend 2-3 times per week but this is wildly variable; you want to hook people’s interest without exploding their email inbox)
3. Read other Substacks and comment on them; try to be courteous, thoughtful and positive.
4. Reach out to other writers who write similar material after you’ve been writing a while and ask to cross-post, collaborate, etc.
5. Remember that Substack is a writing community; support others.
6. Attend Substack Office Hours
7. Read, subscribe, and pay for my Substack, Sincere American Writing. *(This is required.) 😎😳😂
🟧 - I'm approaching my 1-year anniversary on Substack with "About Theme Parks." I love everything about it, but I'd really like to generate more subscribers. I'm not necessarily interested in getting a ton of paid subscribers (although that'd be great), but I'd like to have considerably more general subscribers. I was part of the Grow group (if that's what it was called) earlier this year, I've been reading emails from Substack as well as comments here, and have tried all kinds of strategies. Despite early encouraging subscriber growth for the first 3 months or so, the past 9 months has been a slog.
I think I need some hands-on help, and I'm wondering whether you have any thoughts or resources about consultants who may be able to assist me. I really want to make this work, but I'm frustrated by the slow progress. Are there folks out there who (for a fee, obviously) could help me rev up my subscriber base? Thanks for any suggestions.
I may have the name wrong. Substack presented a series of sessions over a number of weeks geared to helping writers grow their subscriptions. Many of the presenters were writers who had experienced great success. It was well done and helpful, but I haven't been able to replicate their growth.
Hi Arthur, thanks for your feedback. Growing a newsletter can be tough! I've heard of writers working with consultants to set up and manage their publication, but I'm not aware of anyone working with growth consultants.
Thanks Dayne. Well, it IS tough! I've been trying lots of strategies, but nothing seems to really take off. I get frustrated when I see other Substack writers cruise along and boast "Hundreds of paid subscribers" in their blurb in a matter of months. For some, growth seems to be natural and organic.
Many of them brought their own subscribers with them to Substack so it's rare to start from scratch and be able to boast 'hundreds of paid subscribers'. I'd love to know how many actually do it, but I'm guessing there aren't many.
Well, the ones who share their success stories often make it seem almost effortless. They could be in the minority. But there seems to be a surprising number of them.
Many writers come here with large followings already in place. They move their entire newsletter mailing list to Substack from somewhere else. Substack makes it easy to do.
✏️ Hello, fellow writers! Its not too much to say my life has changed since starting on Substack. I’m happy to be here and look forward to connecting with many of you! Writing in a community of writers has already had a positive impact on my writing.
Hi Priya! Im a subscriber of your newsletter after I saw it the last (and the first, by coincidence) time I browsed office hours a little while back. You probably dont know me lmao sorry! This feels kinda like meeting a celebrity. I really enjoy your newsletter was what I wanted to say:) Thank you!
Yes, I offer a PDF for all subscribers to use for themselves or their clients. As an experiment I am putting out an “on-demand” course for paid subscribers only, which I set up as a separate section that includes all the posts. So far, I only have beta testers through and I’m not sure how it will work for a wider audience, but I’m excited about it nonetheless.
Something that you share for free that your ideal customer/reader will want. To get it they have to register with their email address and agree to go on your marketing list.
I have a PDF list of 60 remote work websites with links and a short description of each, plus a webinar on how to become a project manager. 😀
Thanks for answering! That’s really interesting as I was thinking of writing a mini e-book to promote my newsletter and giving it away for free with new sign ups - now I know that’s an actual marketing thing I’ll definitely be following that up!
Happy to help. I think the key is to think about the goal or problem that your ideal reader has based on what questions you get asked the most and give them something that helps with that. Good luck with it!
Something that you share for free that your ideal customer/reader will want. I have a PDF list of 60 remote work websites with links and a short description of each, plus a webinar on how to become a project manager. 😀 That appeals to my audience and so they register for them and agree to be added to my marketing/newsletter list.
"A lead magnet is a free asset or special deal offered to customers in exchange for their contact details. It can be a discount code, webinar, white paper, ebook, template, or another resource. To gain access to the lead magnet, a consumer must provide their name, email address, and/or company information." (I had to google lol)
Something that you share for free that your ideal customer/reader will want. I have a PDF list of 60 remote work websites with links and a short description of each, plus a webinar on how to become a project manager. 😀 That appeals to my audience and so they register for them and agree to be added to my marketing/newsletter list.
That's an extremely helpful lead magnet - saves the audience time, effort, and hassle - and is super-relevant to their interests. It looks like we write in related areas, and I'm very intersted in combining the areas of project management and content creation - when my Substack is a bit more established, I'd be delighted to collaborate with you on some posts.
I'm struggling to find my responses to other people's notes. I might want to go back to a thread to see replies from others. Not sure if I'm missing something.
Agreed! I've gotten a lot of new subscribers over the past week and suddenly feel as though I don't know my readers as well. This tab is super helpful in that regards!
I am a firm believer in freedom of speech. That said, I am more than a little concerned about the recent reports of hate and extremism that have been taking root on Substack. How do you, Substack, moderate content? Are there any guidelines put forth by Substack?
I'm new to Substack, and I was wondering about that too.
From what I've read, it sounds like it's up to the author to monitor. The positive for the Substack owner/author doing the monitoring is that we have the control to block people we don't want to access or comment in our Substacks. Does that sound right? I really don't know.
From my limited perspective, I believe that Substack is taking a neutral stance on content moderation. What you say is fine for comment monitoring. I am referring to Substack authors who are espousing extremist rhetoric on the far right. I have not heard of any far left Substack authors yet. I am more of a centrist and extremism on the right or left does nothing to begin to heal this already divided country.
ive seen this too recently... in the notes reply section. someone asked "whats you guys' least favourite words?"... i saw a couple not very nice comments there that was about more than just words:( When i tried to report I got an error message that my message has the wrong value input? I tried to shorter my text but idk if it worked. Then i closed substack for the day as it made me very upset and sad to see those comments.
I understand the deletion of comments. However, I am not sure about blocking anyone. I have not had to resort to that as well. I do know that some authors do not allow comments on certain posts if you are not a paid subscriber.
No I haven't looked into it, I felt so sad and defeated that contacting substack or the help section didnt occur to me. It wasnt even in the replies to my own note, but to another writer so I dont know what I can do to keep such comments away from - at the very least, if not all of substack - my feed. I hope my report went through as there is nothing else for me to do than block the users who wrote the comments. Thanks Marco
✏️ - Hi writers! I want to start spending a little more time exploring Substack and connecting with other writers. Until now I've just subscribed to a few newsletters I've found in passing, but mainly I only come here to work on my own.
I'm just curious if any of you specifically allocate time in your week to reading other writers' work?
I find myself getting into an all-or-nothing approach with this type of thing unless I actually schedule it - either falling down a wormhole until 2am or forgetting to read anything at all!
I try to read as soon as I get them in my inbox on Substack app. I am noticing that I read some newsletters more promptly than others. This will be a way for me to filter out which ones I want to keep reading and which ones to unsubscribe. Not because I don't like them but there is just too much good stuff out there to keep track of. I get easily distracted and I don't want to ignore working on my own newsletter!!
I actually don't have the app, I mainly use desktop and have been looking at newsletters through email, but maybe my news feed could become a handier way to keep track than the inbox!
I use the Substack app to read a lot of the newsletters I subscribe to. I just find it easier than going through my email. Sometimes I just read whats in my inbox, but other times I find a new newsletter or I go to one Ive already subscribed to and I go through and click "save" on interesting posts. Then its the matter of going to my saves, pick some posts, and actually read them. I like to do this because then I support their older content too, and not just theyve posted after I subscribed- in fact, its the already existing posts that made me want to subscribe! So thats how I do it. I try to be on here just about every day, but its only once or twice a week I hit up my saved posts as they take a little more energy to find lol
Honestly the quality of work I find when scrolling through new posts in my inbox each day is better than when I scroll through [insert online newspaper here].
I love the app! I dont know if it's because im used to other social media apps or what it is but I do really like it. But one can also save posts on the desktop version i think, if you hit the three little dots or smth... but it's definitely nice to have older posts to read from my fave newsletters in my saves, and the posts from after i subscribed in my inbox. the saved ones is like a little treat!
✏️ Hi all! Quick question for those who’ve managed to establish their own communities here - what was your most effective method of gaining new subscribers? I’m trying the usual kinds of things like social media etc., but is there anything that you tried that was quite unconventional but worked really well?
Yes, I definitely agree with engaging with others who are in the same niche as you. I commented on 3 travel newsletters and got 2 new subscribers in return just yesterday. :)
✏️ What tools and platforms (esp since Twitter is a v different place these days!) have been most effective in sharing your Substack with people outside your existing network?
I write about American national security and defense for Normal People. Sadly, so much of my universe is fellow natsec-types. My Substack is a preview of a book of the same title, style and focus I’m writing so growing and engaging with an audience is a priority for me.
I don’t have Tiktok (non-negotiable), and haven’t logged in to Facebook for years. I use Twitter, Post, Mastadon, and LinkedIn but have a gut feeling I need to do things a little differently. Any recommendations?
I use Instagram and Pinterest (like we did for blogs back in the day!). I usually make a post with the photo from the newsletter and then also share in stories - I save to a highlight as well so people can find the links to previous posts. I find the best place to connect with people is within Substack, though - through other newsletters, comments, now Notes etc. 😊
Of course! Here's a link to my Pinterest https://www.pinterest.co.uk/haverandsparrow/_created/ - if you scroll down you can see the different types of pins I've made, some are "idea pins", some are more like reels, and others I've made in Canva with the photo and title of the newsletter. It's a fun experiment, not sure if many people do it but I figured if it brings people over to blogs then why not?! Also gives me a chance to play with Canva and fonts etc too.😊
✏️ - I write fantasy and science fiction short stories. Maybe you do, too, and that's pretty alright by me. So alright that I created a community where we can gather, be nerds, and celebrate each other's writing on Substack. It's the called the Lunar Awards, and we just finished our first award season.
✏️ FELLOW WRITERS - What are some ways in which you converted free subscribers to paid subscribers? Did you do promotions? Offer a specific type of content?
Share whatever worked for you. I'm looking for ways to up my free-to-paid reader percentage. Thanks in advance!
Hi Joe, I'm trying a "50% off annual subscriptions forever" option for the first time this week (expires Sunday; if people use it before then, they lock in the discount forever). It's been helpful for getting more conversions than usual! I "advertised" it in my weekly post/email, and some longtime free subscribers transitioned to paid in response.
That's a great idea! (And congrats on your growth.) How did you set it so the rate will lock in for people upon renewal? I didn't know that was an option.
Thank you, Joe! If you go into Settings from the newsletter dashboard and scroll down to the various payment/subscriber options, it has a section on special offers. You can add one and set all the terms!
I have seen it quite often mentioned that you need to added extra for your paid subscribers but I’m not sure what that is?? Considering I just like to write, I can’t imagine me starting to offer classes or videos or some other incentive!!
This is going to sound really silly but I only discovered today (as I subscribe to myself under a different email address to check what my posts look like) that once someone has subscribed, that if you add the subscribe button and they are already subscribed, it becomes a pledge button. I think there needs to be more around how to promote pledges as this is kind of a half-way house that lets you know if people are willing to pay for your writing...
Had a discussion about this with a bunch of people a few weeks ago. Some said they posted multiple things a week, I was leaning more towards max 1 per week. We ultimately concluded it depends on the type of content and audience to a large extent. I think if you do shorter posts, then multiple a week could work, but personally I would rather send a few posts less than a few too many.
When I receive more than one email a week from a sender (whether it's a brand's newsletter, a Substack, etc.), it can put them on my radar in a not good way. I agree that for some Substacks it will vary so it's definitely a know-your-audience type of thing!
I second that. I'm happy with once or twice a week, but when I get more than I often just delete the email without looking because I can't manage constant 'shoulder-tapping'.
But what if the emails are about different topics? In my case, I do a Start the week post at, er, the start of the week, a letter to Rebecca Holden every other week, and an experiment in style once a week, plus occasional ad hoc posts. So they're not all about the same thing. But you'd still delete me? 😨😨
I think if I knew you and how you post and I like your stuff, I might stick with it. If you were new to me and I was just seeing if I wanted to stay, a lot of emails would put me off. Maybe it's just me?
That's me personally—everyone's different! But I do think it's important to remember I'm not just posting online, I'm going into someone's inbox, which is way more personal.
Once a week is about right I reckon, and there were some discussions here a few months ago (from memory) from established writers who saw higher unsubscribe rates with more than once per week posting.
@EveArnold ran a post frequency experiment (unfortunately paywalled) where she noticed the same thing in a really significant way. Her post is here:
I think It depends. A few things I learnt about content marketing that I apply to newsletters: Longevity of post, and actionability or both. I post about scholarships in each post my letter contains about 20 to 30 new opportunities, and my pitch to my readers is that I will bring them information to apply faster than anyone on the internet. Speed of action and the fact that scholarships have expiry date would make my newsletter operate like a news blog, hence I will need to post almost everyday to be very much relevant.
Hence, I post on Wednesday and Thursday various essays that could increase one’s chance of being admitted more evergreen stuffs.
But I keep my posting time from day one at 7am GMT because I figured with that, I will be in most people’s inbox on or before 10am their time and among the first emails they receive for the day.
My point is: short lifespan contents, you need high frequency e.g news, information that is short lived etc
Long lifespan contents, you need low frequency (I started a second newsletter where I write specifically to current graduate students called Gradschoolhacks, and I post there once a week because what I post there doesn’t require urgency but every graduate student will benefit even in the next 10 years
I am a once a week person. I still have this slight anxiety about overwhelming my subscribers and am not sure what they can see in notes either so am not wanting to post there too much. I think when it comes to raising my profile, I tend to go the opposite way and think people don’t want to see too much of me!
I understand that, Deborah, because I'm exactly the same when it comes to social media and meetings. I tend to be pretty quiet. I just seem to write a lot!
I'm going for once a week at the moment and then a round up style post at the end of each month. I'm going to be adding in more paid content (shorter or quicker format - voice note, video etc) midweek in the coming months but just aiming for a consistent flow with what I'm doing right now and spending some time on Notes inbetween too. How are you doing things just now, Terry?
Thanks, Charlene. Well, I'm (too?) prolific. I'm posting about 4 times a week. The feedback is that people find it hard to keep up, but really like my writing. I came up with a new schedule that was more manageable (for my readers!), and because of circumstances it went out of the window within two days 😱 I tend to write about several different things, so keeping to one post a week might be hard. I'm going to try a schedule whereby some topics are covered in alternate weeks and paid subscribers get an extra one a week. I do a kind of round-up post called Start the Week and that is quite popular. I shall have a look at yours now. Thanks.
That's amazing! I'd love to share more but currently juggling with work since this isn't (yet!) my full time job. Do you use the sections to divide your work into categories? From what I understand that gives subscribers the chance to opt out of emails from the sections they're less into - that might cut down on overload but folk would still find the content when they come onto your page?
Sections are a great idea, if I could depend on Substack for (a portion of) my income then I would definitely increase my posting frequency (this is also what I have explained to my subscribers as something that they can contribute to by going paid) and sectioning topics is a great way to make sure people stay interested. Especially for someone like me, who tends to post about lots of different things!
Hey Terry, I read about how someone else (maybe Michael Spencer from AI Supremacy??) solves this problem by creating multiple 'post only' posts per week, that only go to the web, they are not emailed to inboxes. This prevents inbox overwhelm.
You can link to them in your next email as well of course.
I have a running 'news' section that is only ever published to the web and never emailed. I embed it into my weekly posts so people who are interested can click through.
Thanks Karen. I tried that a few months ago but found that engagement (opens and comments) on the web only posts was much lower than when I emailed them. I was putting the links in my Start the Week p osts. maybe I'll try that again. But just out of interest, do your web only posts get much traction, or as much as the emailed ones? If actually forgotten about that option tbh but perhaps I should try it again because I do have a lot more subscribers than I did when I tried it originally. Thanks very much!
Yes good point, the web-only posts don't get nearly as many reads.
But does that actually matter? As with all things Substack, you have to go back to your goals for the publication.
My goal is growing my paid subscriptions, so if most people don't read the web-only posts it isn't an actual problem (this is for my other publication, a B2B food safety pub). My web-only news posts are a 'value add' that people like knowing are there if they ever want them.
For publications like yours, perhaps web-only posts meet a need for your raving fans, when they want to 'binge' your content. Your less engaged fans won't read them and maybe that just doesn't matter? Depends on your goal of course. It could be better (perhaps) to have fewer eyeballs on some posts than more unsubscribes (which = fewer eyeballs on ALL your posts (?))
That makes a lot of sense, Karen. I will have a look at what I can make web only, and try again. Just subscribed to yours by the way. Thanks for your insights
For questions like these, I'm a huge fan of trying different options, collecting data, and seeing what works for your audience. What is your open rate and subscriber growth like if you publish once a week for a month? What about twice a week, or three times? Take careful notes of what you're sending and when, then look at your stats to see how your audience are engaging.
Thanks, Paul. Yes, good idea. I started doing that in the early days (early for me I mean) and got bored looking at data. Sounds terrible I know. My stats seem quite healthy, and the posts get quite a few comments as a rule.
Hi Terry! Good question. I'm still figuring that out myself, but so far once a week has produced pretty decent open rates (50-60%). I'm planning to start an interview podcast to complement my travel newsletter, which is definitely going to affect my posting frequency, so the open rates may change.
I think your posting frequency depends on your audience and your relationship with them. If you consistently post 2x a week and they know to EXPECT 2 emails a week from you, it shouldn't annoy them. It's important to let them know from the beginning (such as in the welcome email) how often to expect your emails, so it doesn't feel like spam. Hope this helps. : )
Hi, Macy Thanks very much. That's a great open rate. Mine is around 40-50% It's taken me a year to (almost) get into a rhythm so that I know what I'm going to be writing about and when. Yes, I shall have to amend my welcome email to reflect that soon.
Yes. They were consistently in the 70s+ but have decreased to 60s as subscribers have grown. Trying to tease out if that is inevitable as subscribers increase or if my signal/noise ratio is off for readers.
✏️🖊️✏️🖊️✏️ hey y’all....looking to hear some tips for growth...I know I need to post more frequently, but would appreciate some additional suggestions from fellow Substackers on growing one’s audience !! ❤️
I also promote my Substack posts on IG and LinkedIn, plus have a sign-up form on my professional website. I get folks from those outside places, as well as from Medium (where I'm no longer active, but keep a post up saying I've left Medium...find me here instead).
✏️ When I publish a new post (newsletter), is it a good idea to announce it via a Note or would it be kinda annoying to my subscribers as they get too many notifications?
What I often do for important posts is creating an IG story using visuals and language of a “soon dropping a story” to create a sense of expectation and buildup.
I think of Notes as a different audience. I see a lot of people doing that. I don't think it's something I would do for every post, but would definitely consider if there was a post I was excited about publishing, or something that I think is important for people to see.
I see that too. The Notes is like for Substack writers. In time, I hope this will change as more people use it. But Twitter is a hard sell for most casual social media people ... "I don't understand it" is the most common complaint I hear. And Notes, while it is different, will probably always be compared to Twitter.
✏️ what do you think about changing your newsletter name when expanding your topics? How did you choose your name? Any tips for creating an evocative and unique newsletter name?! Haha ❤️
Hey Amani! I asked similar questions just two weeks ago. Back in March, I started off as "Your Local Macy" (inspired by my Insta handle) but recently I changed my name to "Macy Sees The World" to give people a clearer idea of what my newsletter is about (travel).
Here are some factors I considered when choosing my new name:
- Does it clearly communicate the purpose of the newsletter?
- Does it inform people about the niche you write in?
It's a brand--I don't think there's any way you can go wrong as long as you are happy with it. Make it yours, and once you pick it don't change it. It might feel weird at first but once you've got a chunky archive then it will take on a life of its own.
I see that you write about books, and I do too. Since I write about other things as well, I don't want to limit my substack name to just about books, I gave it a broader name that could be just about anything and everything so that I don't feel limited in my writing. I hope that's helpful and always happy to connect more to help you brainstorm!
I chose my name at the beginning, and tried to choose something slightly evocative that would stand out a little - while hopefully making it clear what my newsletter is focused on. In terms of how to create a good name, my best friend has always been the thesaurus - and a notepad by the bed for those 3AM inspirations! I jot down all of the ideas related to the topic I am interested in, then open up a thesaurus and start going through to find words I like the sound of. I then create a shortlist and sleep on it, until I find the name that just "feels" right. It's as much an art as a science.
One of my middle names is Webb that was given to me from my mother. It is my ode to her and a way to include her in my life (she is no longer in the land of the living). Fun, personalized names always grab my attention.
I have this problem too, My newsletter was originally meant for everything graduate school, but I noticed that graduate school admission seekers where more interested in reading than current students.
What I have done( don’t know yet if it’s best or not): I opened a second substack publication for the graduate student contents only. Will post there once daily, and contents for admission seekers will be more frequent (4 times a week) because the opportunities are time dependent.
I initially left it as one publication buy adding contents for graduate students as subcategory, but I noticed that due to low open rates, it was affecting my general open rates.
I don’t know if I’m doing it right, but at least one of my KPI(key performance indicators) which is open rate has been saved.
Please I also need to know if I’m right or already wrong, it’s early to find another way
Are you looking to change your name? I initially came up with 10 different names, emailed them like a survey to friends and family. One came up as the winner. Aging Gratefully.
✏️❤️ Hello fellow writers! I'd love to start a thread right here where we share one of our posts that we are really proud of! That way we can show-off a bit (I've discovered that writers almost always could use the confidence boost), find like-minded writers, and just read some good writing!
Really proud of my latest post, talked about what lessons we as a society can draw from HG Wells' the Time Machine novella, and discussed how the book is connected to the eugenics + social Darwinism movement. Even included thoughts from a fellow Substack writer, Sam W, who had recently written about eugenics. Research, interviews, moral and ethical questions about who we are and where we're going, what's not to like :D https://roberturbaschek.substack.com/p/where-were-going-we-dont-need-roads
Sounds amazing! And like it's going to take me a minute to fully wrap my mind around... I think this one I'll save for Saturday morning with a cup of coffee!
I'm enthusiastic about ChatGPT's potential for writers. I recently joined Substack with the aim of writing a couple of serial fiction series using ChatGPT, while sharing my creative process using the AI technology.
I'll start 😁 so proud of this post from last week. It feels accessible but deep! I think anyone can learn something from it (I learned so much writing it!)
The Resilience Experiment: If you can learn from “failure” without self-judgment, you can be resilient.
Love this! Also, for what it is worth, I just turned on paid subscriptions after reaching 300 subscribers, and a few of my old subscribers decided to go paid even though everyone receives the same content. They just want to support the mission. Admittedly I'm in the fortunate position that I'm not currently relying on this income (though I hope to one day). But I thought it was interesting that people decided to go paid just 'cause...
Sorry I didn't see this in the influx on notifs I got from last week's office hours. But yeah, it is interesting that some chose to go paid even if it doesn't bring them any special edition post or whatever. That must mean they really like your writing and want to support you:) Congrats on the 300 subs btw!! I'm happy for you!:)
I feel a bit bad posting this here because its behind a paywall... Tbh i dont really know why I put it there bc I dont have paying subscribers. But maybe it will inspire some to upgrade to paid? one can only hope....
But what I do have is FREE TRIAL!!! so if you're interested in reading this post, you can sign up for the free trial by becoming a paid subscriber and I wont be mad at all if you just cancel that subscription right after!:) in fact I would love if thats an okay method for you guys if it means you'll have a look at the full post. Maybe soon i'll just take the paywall away actually...
I just wanted to say THANK YOU to the team at Substack for adding the feature that allows posts in individual sections to be excluded from the home page. This small change makes a huge difference!
I'm in the travel niche, and I'm thinking of starting an interview podcast to complement my newsletter. Currently, the newsletter focuses on stories and lessons from my travels. The podcast will feature the travelers and locals I'm meeting to give my audience a more holistic view of my journey.
If you run a podcast, I'm interested in your opinion on these questions.
1. Currently, I've been promoting my newsletter on my personal Insta and Twitter. Do you think I should create a separate account just for the podcast?
2. What has been your most effective strategy for growing your listener count?
3. If you could go back to when you'd just started and give yourself one piece of advice, what would it be?
I dabbled in podcasting and am taking a pause right now. I do not think you should create a separate account for the podcast. Keep it all under one roof. People want to read what you have to say and hear what you have to say--don't make them go to two different places for it!
I can't speak effectively to the other stuff, but I'm a big advocate of consolidation. Podcasts integrate so seamlessly with the newsletters, it would be a shame to divide them!
Hi Macy, I’m interested in learning more about podcasting too. Your travel podcast and interviewing locals sounds very interesting! Where all will you be going?
I'm headed to Dallas and Austin next week, then back home to Southern CA for a few weeks, then China for 2-3 months this summer! I haven't seen my grandparents, aunts, cousins, haha basically all my relatives for 10 years, so I'm thrilled. :))
I don't do podcasts (yet), but I do a weekly LinkedIn audio event with a guest speaker and live audience. I record it and include a recording in a short article with key highlights on my substack. It goes out weekly and so far it seems to be driving good engagement.
I just think podcasts take too much effort. So I don't want to get into it without first "testing" a topic with a live audience. If it works, I might then do a podcast on that topic.
So far I am very busy with writing and managing my weekly live audio events.
Hi Naveen! A live audio event sounds like a fantastic idea. I have a friend who does something similar on his Instagram and it seems to be quite a hit with his audience as well. I might give this a spin. Thanks!
✏️ Has anyone sent out a survey to subscribers that gave you valuable information on how to increase conversion on subscriptions from free to paid? What did you ask? Thanks for sharing.
✏️ Any novice writers here still trying to figure out their niche?
With notes, there is more insight into what people are doing with Substack which is both good and bad for me.
I see myself comparing to people who have been writing professionally for years and have an established audience when I am _just_ getting started. Not sure if this is a question or just a stream of consciousness.
Im in the same boat as you, Asmita. I have a niche but the niche is still broad. Its visual arts and literature - might as well say I just talk about culture! I just launched my substack a month or so ago, perhaps two now if you take into account when my first podcast episode aired. Maybe my "niche" is too broad, but at the same time if you narrow your niche too much you'll miss out on subscriptions. Thats why I chose a slightly broader field to explore, and I'll try to mention a little bit of everything. Im sure over time I'll develop a better view of what my readers (currently... barely 5) want and like. Then I can see if thats viable to get more subscribers! It takes time and Im okay with that. Im just happy to interract and share something I enjoy lots and lots!:)
I dont think being experimental is a bad thing, and if you have few subscribers (whatever that means to you) there is also a low risk of losing people. Besides, one can always be open in the description of the newsletter that one is experimenting and looking for a niche! something they're passionate about! but in the meantime its about XYZ!:) You'll figure it out Asmita I believe in you!:)
✏️Would love to hear people’s opinions on posting frequency. Recently talked to a writer who grew quickly and he held the opinion that quality is better than quantity and that quantity doesn’t necessarily lead to quality.
I’ve always thought that quantity is how you ultimately get to quality.
I think it depends on what you write about and the kind of audience you have, and how long the posts tend to be. Had a discussion about this with a bunch of others a couple of weeks ago, and opinions were divided on post frequency. But I think if you do long posts, then max once a week, but you can always do more smaller posts throughout the week. With regard to quality, I would say go for quality each and every time, everything you write is kind of like your calling card, the thing that might attract people (or put them off). But yeah, in the long run the quantity improves your quality, but I wouldn't rush it.
I decided to publish 2x per week. I think whatever frequency you decide, it is very important to sustain it consistently over a long period of time without sacrificing quality. In fact less is more because that keeps your audience waiting if they like your stuff. I agree that you have to write a lot to get better, but keeping our word to your subscribers is more important. Over time I am hoping to get enough quantity and practice.
I feel like its easy for established writers who have been writing professionally for some time to say quality over quantity because they already have quality in their works, and forget that quantity is a method to improve. I say write with quality in mind - strive for quality in every work you do, long or shortform. Write posts you dont share with anyone cuz its still practice. Write posts and revise them a week, or several later. Maybe even months! Every time you write, do your utter best. When people say quality over quantity, they tend to mean that a quickly written post (say to meet a posting quote or goal) undermines the quality because you focus on the amount you can write in a short time rather than what you're actually putting into the world. Find a posting schedule that works for you, maybe with enough time on the side to practice writing even if no one is going to see it. Not everything you write has to be a post. That's my advice, from a fellow struggling writer:)
🟧 I would like an explanation of what the difference between Notes, versus Chat, versus Notifications. It seems that there is a crossover of notifications on multiple channels. Is there a way to declutter the same things coming via multiple channels? Also, are the developers working on a better connection from the notifications back to the original thread? Right now, I might receive a comment from someone but have zero clue what Note they are responding to... I know it takes time. :)
🟧 Aside from my first note, which I think you highlighted for my subscribers, I’ve gotten almost no feedback for my subsequent notes. Just wanted to mention that!
Getting crickets is common on any social platform. Long ago I stopped caring. It’s really the silent traffic (views) that is important as it’s exposed to your message over time and helps you build your authority.
🟧 Am wondering how to manage Sales Taxes on my newsletter for paid subscribers. I am based in Quebec, Canada and the rules are:
- I should be charging and collecting sales tax based on the province of residence of the buyer for Canadian sales
- I should not be charging and collecting sales tax for sales outside Canada
The best I've come up with so far has been to have Stripe automatically calculate and charge tax to all transactions so I can meet my obligations. However, this is suboptimal because the buyer doesn't see they will be charged tax until they are charged and I am charging tax to international customers where I shouldn't be.
Is there anything in the works for Substack to manage this? Am I missing something?
I've configured this as it is listed in the article. It gives me the result as outlined in my original post (user doesn't know they will pay tax up front and am charging tax to users I don't need to).
We're going to try something new this week! Start your comment with an emoji to signal who you are looking to talk with at Office Hours.
✏️ - when asking questions or seeking feedback from fellow writers
🟧 - when asking a question you hope the Substack team can help answer
Use your emoji keyboard or simply copy and paste the emoji at the beginning of your comment.
✏️ This is how I would start a comment I hope a fellow writer would reply to
OK.
🟧 This is how I would start a comment I hope that a Substack team member might reply to
I'm on my laptop. I'm emoji-challenged.
If you're on a mac, hold down: control, command, space to bring up emojis
Seth, you're my today hero!! :D
😀 I did it! Haha. Thx!
thank you for this, Seth, i'd completely forgotten the combination!
This blew my mind LOL--I've had my macbook for years and never knew this. Thank you!😁🕺💃🏻
:-o !
PC equivalent?
Press 🪟 + ;
If it doesn't work, don't worry!
Try highlighting it, then copy/paste to see if that works! I'm on my laptop too and find it easier than pulling up the emoji keyboard.
Control command space! I just learned! Woohoo. It's for Mac. Thx.
I just hi-lighted it and dragged it into place. I didn't think it would work, but it did.
Duh. Silly me. Brain blip.
My brain seems to be blipping a lot!
You can also just press the button in the lower left hand corner that has the globe on it. One button convenience! (If you have a Mac)
Me too! I just cut and pasted.
Pay now
Great idea, Katie. I hope it works. Here goes...
I wish that too. The app is very very nice and I find myself using it with pleasure
Put me on that list
Oh yes good question, I thought I must be doing something wrong as I couldn’t figure out how to do it! Glad to know it’s not a feature yet 🤣
I have recently added a Substack for a French audience Solvsten ✏️
✏️It's a beautiful language and I also write in English. Safe trip home Solvsten ☺️
Loved notes! Only issue is that I've spent so much time on it 😉
Well said!
🟧 I am liking notes more over time. It's been fun to explore! The first few days it felt odd and then I realized the algorithm was not working for me. I was seeing things I wasn't interested in so I started hiding some of those posts and it got better.
Will there be a way to bookmark subs that one likes? There are so many good ones and I would like to subscribe to all of them but I know I won't end up reading them. It would be disingenuous to sign up and then not open emails which doesn't help the authors either. But I would like to bookmark and read some of these occasionally when I have time. Is bookmarking a feature that may be available in the future?
Also I see Notes doesn't have a way to choose "Less of this". Sometimes someone is posting too much. I like their posts but too many can be overwhelming and it would be nice to adjust it without removing them alltogether.
I agree with what you say!
My name is Sabrina LaBow. At first I thought you were me!
🟧 :)
A couple of weeks ago, I'd set some of my Love Letters to Free and some to Paid, yet both my partner and i who have full access to them all, could only see some posts listed on the newsletter home page. Shouldn't i, as author, at least be able to see them all?
Any chance of having Substack newsletter visibility less "open"? Because i see that people do look at the posts from outside of Substack, but don't seem to have an incentive to subscribe since they can view them without a subscription anyway. (just a thought :))
Hi Jo, thanks for the feedback! Setting a post to Paid should not remove it from the homepage. Could you send me an example of a post missing from your homepage?
Posts for "free subscribers only" never appear on the homepage. But posts for everyone do appear on the homepage. A weird quirk of Substack.
Hi Dayne, thanks for your reply. I set them all back to "Everyone" and they are now all visible. I'll see if i can do it again now and if it happens again i will send you one. I didn't want them to all be visible to the public; only to subscribers, free or paid.
I think i may have been unclear; sorry, Dayne.
I've now set Love Letter 14 to Free subscribers only. It is invisible to the public, now, which is what I wanted, but it is also invisible both in the Archive and on the Home page. https://loveanddecibels.substack.com/
Re: visibility you could try paywalling more posts. Did you know that you can set the position of the paywall in the post? https://support.substack.com/hc/en-us/articles/4407989020308-How-do-I-publish-a-free-preview-of-a-paid-post-on-Substack-
thank you for this. It seems when i paywalled some of my newsletters, i may have scared people off, because new subscriptions had stopped, so i did not use paywalling, anymore.
Excellent idea!
🟧 - is it possible to have in-app / desktop views added to the stats information of a post? I can see that some of my readers have read my posts (they've liked/commented) but their email count is 0. I assume this must be because they have seen the post within the app/website "Inbox" page. Having those stats populate would help me better understand engagement.
Would also love to see the actual Stats page show a hierarchy of most-viewed posts.
Thanks for all the hard work!
Where are "emojis" to copy? I have a desktop, not a MAC
Press 🪟 + ;
🟧To the Substack Team: When will we get the option to write blog posts from within the iOS/Android app?
"...to signal whoM you are looking to talk with....." Easy ways to remember: "Who" is followed by a verb. If you have preposition entanglements, use "whom."
🟧 I posted a question about post analytics today https://substack.com/profile/45217823-ben-wakeman/note/c-15028994
Words are powerful. Be careful what you write, because you can subconsciously become that. I used to title my blog, "a struggling mom" until I realized that the title may be self-fulfilling. I changed my substack to "A Thriving Mom" and I definitely identify with that more. Remember the power of words!!
Great idea. I'll bet you see a difference already. Mine is Aging Gratefully. :)
Such a great name! And great writing.
Thx. Right back at ya.
Hi Marissa,
You're so right about that! I'm a parent and former teacher, and I also write on topics related to education, culture, and parenting. I noticed you wrote an article on "improving our relationship with social media"... I just wrote this week on the same topic. https://raisingamericans.substack.com/p/under-the-spell-of-social-media. Hope you'll check it out!
I will check it out! Thank you :)
Uh oh! I'm destined to become Chicken Scratch. LOL! https://elizabethbeggins.substack.com/
Yes - getting the framing right is vital for setting up expectations - both for yourself and for your readers. I'm so happy you had the opportunity to come at it from both directions.
I love this, Marissa!!!
Yeah, that’s right. Positive affirmations really do make a difference.
Excellent point on framing and self-fulfilling prophecy!
Great advice!
I most heartily agree. A person sees what they look for, and our phrasing determines the direction we look.
Love the new wording!
Love this, Marissa!
This is a great insight! I'm considering a name change. I also write about parenting - currently i'm focused on the early years, but as my children grow older I'm feeling the desire the evolve my content 😊
I just wrote a post called Revolving or Evolving. The latter always a good thing. Change is good!
Yes! NLP says the same thing and you are right, Marissa. That's what i've been trying to get my readers to understand about the power of our words. Perhaps i should also tell them that the written word is just as powerful.
The title is so important. Mine is stream unconsciousness which is a riff on stream of consciousness. I am literally streaming my unconscious and just letting it flow. Then I go back and edit but not too much:)
That is so true! Glad you changed it!
I love that. I am Grateful Bookies because we are grateful to read books and share them and talk about them with great people.
✏️ Hello all, and happy Office Hours! Here's a little bit of encouragement from one small newsletter to all of you:
I think we can all agree that no matter who you are, life will sometimes get in the way of writing the way we want to write. Hardships happen. Stress happens. Grief happens. We can lack the time, space, privacy, emotional stability, or energy to sit down and put words on the page (or screen), and it's really easy to feel guilty about that.
But here's what I say: sometimes, your hardships will inspire you to write. Maybe differently than you're used to, maybe with a different tone, rhythm, or focus. Or, sometimes a season of hardship is a cue to take a break and refill, stock up on inspiration, and don't worry about output for a while. But the only bad option is to punish yourself. You're not a failure if you need a change of creative pace! Just roll with it and see what happens!
Most importantly: keep going, keep writing, and DON'T GIVE UP! 🌿
I've found that vulnerability can be an incredibly powerful place to write from - not just for the writer, but from the reader who recognizes and reacts to the authenticity of what you're going through.
Writing from a vulnerable place takes time. I started this page of mine in June. I started by posting old stories I had. Having gone through a traumatic incident at work, I was, as you say, vulnerable. I was unable to write anything until October'ish. The incident happened in January. It's a powerful place to write from, but it's also a place you have to try and distance yourself from. Writing about your own vulnerability might lead to triggering other peoples' trauma even as you try to work through your own. (Look up: It was an accident, Steve, in my Scribbler feed.)
Agreed, it is risky and kind of scary, but wow how much you can get back for it from the people who read it.
👌👌👌
As always, 👏. Beating ourselves up when life gets in the way is not being kind to ourselves. And we need to be self-kind, to feel the right stuff and show up with the right energy...
Also: sometimes breaking your publishing rhythm is what's best for you AND your audience. Surprise them! Our job is to set expectations, but it's also to cut through the noise. If you need a break, maybe THEY'D appreciate a break, and be delighted when you show up a bit differently than usual.
Totally agree Mike. My post for Saturday speaks on having energy. Funny how we all share similar thoughts, as I too have considered pulling back a bit but haven't yet. Have I subscribed to your work?
'Set expectations and also cut through the noise' is a great line that fits for so many things. Life in general really! Thanks Mike.
I've been wondering this Mike, so thanks for posting that. I've been striving to hit a weekly cadence, but maybe shaking things up slightly on occasion is the way to go...?
Also, it feels weirdly old-school already to be in an Office Hours comments thread instead of looking at replies on Notes.
But I like it. It's warm and fuzzy.
that's very true, Mike. This is what Livio was going through not that long ago, perhaps you saw that conversation in Office Hours too...
I don't think I did! Maybe? Not sure. Would love to see it...
i found them. Shall i e-mail them to you at everythingisamazing@substack.com ?
Happy to read them here, if you post the link! But I'm also at hunter.sowden AT gmail.com. Thank you, Jo!
You're very welcome, Mike. Here they are:
https://on.substack.com/p/office-hours-67/comments#comment-15040724 and https://on.substack.com/p/office-hours-69/comments#comment-13038830
You might like to scroll down past a few comments on No. 67 till the conversation starts.
It was either February 23rd or the week before. If i can find it i'll send you the link.
That makes logic to me. I appreciate your advice.
So true! I rebranded my whole newsletter after my mom passed cause my past writings didn't have the same energy. But I still wanted to write. Still finding my footing with how I wanna write but haven't punished myself for *that*.... Just other stuff I've gotten a bit better about, ahaha.
I feel you. I lost mine too. It's hard but hang in there.
I'm sorry for you loss! It's slowly getting better, but whew! The first few months were filled with a despair I never knew. I love my new newsletter name now, though: Losing Orbit. Documenting re-discovering myself after losing my center of gravity (I was caregiving for her for 8 years full time before she passed, right after I graduated college. So life's really anew for me now!).
8 years lovely! I did same with my Mom and actually brought her back laughing, joking and even swimming once again. It was one of, if not the proudest thing I ever accomplished and I miss her every day
That's inspiring De. Thank you for sharing. It makes me sad and happy reading these posts.
It's to know that our loved ones near or 'far' are always with us ☺️
Oh that's beautiful! I absolutely love that you were able to do that!
I actually published a poem this past week about how Spring I constantly wonder if Spring would've saved my mom.
I remember her last 3 months were intense, and I knew everything was bringing her down, including the shorter, darker days. I ended up wondering if we could JUST make it to Spring, if that would have saved her when nothing else could: https://losingorbit.substack.com/p/i-wonder-if-spring-couldve-saved
I'm sorry that's really hard. Yes it's difficult, the feelings come and go in waves. I was going through a lot of stuff with my house (which is what my Sub is about) so I couldn't be there for her as much as I wanted to. 8 years is a long time for you. Here's to a new beginning.
I will check out your sub. I am trying limit how much I subscribe to as i can only consume so much (subscribing and not reading is bad in my opinion) but I will bookmark and try to read when I can.
It's overwhelming sometimes! So many great newsletters but so little time and then there's the tech stuff that I have to delve into. I just focus on the writing.
Right on Reno, I'm starting a 🌟 system for Articles I read most or can't resist
Please share! I visit your newsletter page and read a few posts at a time.
I find myself causally thinking of things she'd like or want all the time. Like I have a YouTube video playing and this chick was talking about these terrycloth bands for the wrists so water doesn't drip down your arms and I was like, "mom would've loved that!"
And thank you, a VERY new beginning indeed!
Also, I TOTALLY get that! I'm gonna have to parse down on who I've subscribed to when I first got on Substack cause I want to be able to look at my list and feel like I can digest what comes from them. Absolutely understand being selective 100%. I really appreciate you even bookmarking me!
That is a very sweet memory. Thank you for sharing it with us.
In the beginning, when you join Substack, you get excited and subscribe. Later you get overwhelmed so I decided to cut down. I'm glad I limited how many I can consumer otherwise I'd be unsubscribing from them.
"Just roll with it and see what happens!"
--Good advice whether in grief or gladness.
Thanks, SE!
You have to show yourself compassion before you can show it to anyone else. I find that everything ultimately serves as kindling to my writing. Every hardship, every moment of concern, every great happiness and every great sadness. The thing that attracted me most to Substack, and the thing I love most about it is that I finally get to write specifically and solely for my readers. Not for sponsors, not for clients, just for my readers. Content that I work hard to be of value to them. This makes writing cathartic again for the first time in several years. I become totally immersed in the writing. I cry sometimes over what the words mean to me.
Sometimes it gets so overwhelming that I do need to step away, and I've stopped punishing myself for that. I just accept that I'm human, and hope my readers will understand that too.
So thank you, Substack, for really "getting it" and giving us the outlet we've long needed to let us focus where writers most need to. On our readers.
Howard reading your words likely makes every one of us feel we have landed in the right place...together. How lucky are we?!
beautiful words, Howard. You almost made me cry!
Thank you for this. This is exactly what happened to me a couple of months ago. Wrote about it here: https://roberturbaschek.substack.com/p/stress-happiness-and-motivation
After reflecting and readjusting my priorities, I feel more motivated and energised than ever! Taking a step back to process your thoughts and feelings and do some honest and kind introspection can work wonders, both for the writing process and for your life.
I focus on humor but foresee future poignant essays. Thx for supportive words.
Thank you for the kind words!
I sat and wrote about the rain today for about 30 mins, partly because it was raining and partly to switch my mind away from an afternoon of interviewing. A welcome distraction fuelled by my mind going to a better place
Writing about the rain sounds lovely!
True little time i got
wise words as always, Sarah. Balsam for the soul! Thank you!
That's spot on! Keep writing. Don't worry about it being perfect. There is no such thing!
I had to stop for a month. I just had too much going on (more critical things) and too much stress in my life. I felt guilty but only one or two people unsubbed. I don't know whether it was because of my stopping but it doesn't matter. Subs will come and go and it's not personal. Prioritize yourself first.
✏️ 🟧 Just saying have a nice weekend to everybody!
You too Jolene!!!
Thanks, Katie!
*crowd roars in approval*
THIS IS THE CONTENT THE PEOPLE NEED.
Mike! 😄
JOLENE! 🎵🎵🎵🍰🍰🍰
Don't get me started on the ear worms Mike 😁
🤣 never gets old
It's Saturday morning here now. A lovely message to see over a coffee. You too, Jolene! :D
Thanks, Nathan, have a wonderful weekend!
Best 48 hours of the week!
👍 😂
Thank you and you, too!💛
Thanks, Asmita!
Happy weekend 🍹
You too, George!
thank you, lovely lady! And to you, too!
Thanks, Jo! You too!
thanks Jolene!
✏️ - I have one general tip for anyone going paid with their newsletter (which I previously posted in a Paid Subscriptions thread, and it was well-received, so hopefully it's useful here too?)...
It's this:
>*Send each of those new paid subscribers a personal email of thanks.*<
I bet few people do this, and certainly nobody beyond a certain level of success when they have thousands of subscribers, because that could get insanely time-consuming.
But early on, when you're just getting a few dozen paid subs, or anything up to a hundred? Try saying thanks by personal email, and go that extra step towards appearing human and approachable to them.
(And if you can spare the time, write that email entirely 'by hand', not using some copy & paste template - and maybe even Google their email address to see if you can find out something about them. If you say thanks and then "ps. I think you're in Montana? Is that right? Gorgeous part of the world - I'm jealous!" then you will look *amazingly* human. And you can't look too human in this line of work.)
A personalized welcome email sounds like a fantastic idea, Mike! I'm definitely not at the stage, where I can turn on paid yet, but I'll store this idea in my back pocket for when I do get there. (Fingers crossed)
Great writing is a conversation between writer and reader, right? So your idea about sending a personal email to each subscriber is right on!! Don't be surprised if writing those emails brings new content ideas. Great idea!!! Thanks!!!!
✏️ Have wanted to do such with subs from areas of the country I like but thought it might seem a bit creepy?? Mike
This is such lovely advice! Always good to have a real, human connection and this is such a simple way to do that. Thanks for sharing, Mike!💫
Subscribed!
I like the idea, but I have also heard from others that they would not appreciate suddenly getting personal emails. So not sure myself.
I hear you - there's certainly a line where it becomes a bit creepy and intrusive. But I reckon a simple, slightly personalised thank-you stays on the right side of that line, and the goodwill generated is worth the very small amount of risk that it's taken the wrong way. (But also, if they went paid, surely they'd *want*, or at least appreciate, that extra bit of personalised effort?)
✏️I took the plunge and went paid with my French Substack. No takers yet but will consider Thank you notes if paid subs appear. I'm kinda giving potentials free previews and such currently Not blocking or pushing too much. Mike
How is this different from a really heartfelt thank you in the paid subscriber auto-email? That it's more personal ? (also , wouldn't that be two emails already?)
Yes, it might be! but the auto-email...well, I suspect everyone can tell it's an auto-email. I guess in a way, it's like the difference between an FAQ and AMA? An automated component and a live component...
There's a brilliant service that some friends have been using with their online acting school: every time they got a paid signup, they recorded a ten-second video "Hi [name], thank you so much! etc." recorded from their phones wherever they were that day. They got so many of those people writing back to say how lovely it was to get a message like that.
Hm yes. I will think about it, haven't yet made up my mind about the whole thing. I can see how recording thank you messages can work, although I'm not sure whether that would be a good fit for me. I will definitely keep all of this in mind, though.
Use the personal thankyou email to offer the new paying person something extra - that way getting a second one won't feel too overwhelming to them.
For example, when I first turned on paid (on my main publication, not this one), I offered a one hour "Ask me Anything" session to new subscribers in a personalised thank you email.
People loved it and it was a great way for me to find out more about my subscribers and build connections.
I actually had to stop doing it when I got too busy, but it wasn't something I had promised publicly so that was easy.
How did you organise / conduct the AMA? Did you just say 'send me an email in this time slot', or was it a chat or something.
I shared a link to my calendly so they could book a time that would suit us both and when the subscriber booked a slot I emailed them a Zoom link
Started to do this, Mike. Nice touch. Thanks,
I actually try to do this to free subscribers too. I see them as just as relevant to build a relationship with. At the moment my growth is perhaps 2-8 subscribers a day and it feels doable
✏️😅 too human Well for me I'd like to have a few more other animal traits esp of dogs
That is such a thoughtful way to approach it. I'm slightly wary that someone might unsubscribe because I stalked them.
I like Sam Harris’ model; offer a free subscription to anyone who reaches out and asks, if they are financially strapped. Most of the time I’ve found that people really want to help and support your writing.
🟧 Loving Notes so far, but I have a question:
Will there be a way to organize notes like a topic feed?
I don't think hashtags may be the answer, since that would just be turning Notes into more like Twitter, but maybe give the option of adding 3-5 pre-selected tags at the end of a Note? The topics could be the same list provided by the Substack newsfeed. Could tags also be applied to stories as well?
Great question! We're thinking a lot about this. One of the first things we are trying is the "my subscribers" tab to help you see notes from your subscribers. I imagine we could do something like that is reader facing so readers could see notes for all the readers of their favorite publications.
Related: I'm wondering whether having a way to show/hide your own posts when looking at My Subscribers would be useful.
I saw someone else talking about this and second the suggestion. If the Substack "Discovery" categories allowed us to look at the Notes activity going on within them, we could find not only topically related information but active newsletters and active communities.
Especially for people who have varied interests. I like politics, but not 24/7. I also want to read humor, travel, cooking, life lessons, philosophy, music, and sports. Organizing into discover feeds without hashtags could be a great way to continue community building without (hopefully) turning into Twitter style dogpiles.
Definitely a good point.
I write humor too but I am a politics-free zone. Too much out there. I tend to unsubscribe if there are political posts. I'd love a tab that says no-politics.
Oh, I have no politics. I just write stories. They're long, literary pieces I put up once a week. (Oh yeah, and I'm serializing a novel for my 7 PAID followers that I put up on Wednesdays.) You might actually like some of them. https://benwoestenburg.substack.com
Will subscribe.
That's where Sections comes in. My newsletters are kind of eclectic and I write about politics in both sometimes, but I keep it in separate sections so my subscribers can opt out of any section they don't want to read, while still reading those they do.
I think it's a great plan!
Political but with a philosophical distance from the fray? Try my Slouching Towards Bethlehem.
✏️ interesting title Graham can you give me a few details?
Hello De, Slouching Towards Bethlehem is a line from W B Yeats' poem The Second Coming.
In my Substack: http://grahamcunningham.substack.com/ (which most people would probably see a a 'political' one), rather than a 'news'-obsessed focus, I try to dig deeper - and broader - to the longer-term philosophical undercurrents shaping (and re-shaping) our Western culture.
I do grant Politics is so intertwined with everything and difficult to completely 'separate' it from Philosophy
✏️ or box symbols come up in emojis on phone and are placed in front so don't have to search, paste or other
I really like this idea - would give an additional outlet for notes, and allow for "quick thoughts" from authors to have a chance of discovery and engagement.
✏️ sounds great well thought out as usual Scoot
I can't make any promises, but I can tell you: the Notes team is very actively looking at this entire area, and other teams are doing interesting work on tags, too. We definitely hear this!
Thanks for the response! And happy to hear. Lot of potential with this.
Good idea!
🟧 - Hi, I'd love to see an option to include a first name in email to subscribers, to make the readers experience more personal. Like, in the email headers that you can set-up in the settings. Would that be possible?
Good q!
Love this idea.
Hi Becca, thanks for your response. Looking forward to the developments! Love the writing on Substack, keep up the good work!
Personalisation would be so great for open rates, and put Substack ahead of some competitors too. I am way more likely to open an email with my name in it!
🟧 notes is fun and all but I am not seeing any major traction from it yet. Would be great if we can have analytics on the best times of the day to post.
It's a little buried right now but you can use the subscriber filters to see Subscription source (free) is from "substack-notes"
Here is a magic link to filter your subscribers to see: https://your.substack.com/publish/subscribers?fs=%5B%7B%22column%22:%22free_attribution%22,%22relation%22:%22_string_is%22,%22value%22:%22substack-notes%22%7D%5D&_no_an=true
Thanks for sharing this - was wondering if it was possible to see this status.
Ah I see. Again, most of my traffic is from substack network but not notes so far, this is interesting either way. Thank you.
Thanks! I’m surprised that I don’t have as many people subscribing from Notes. It’s still the same paths as always.
that would depend on where each writer's audience lives, though, wouldn't it?
I would love to know this as well.
Hi! Any tips on how to utilize Notes if you have a smaller audience on the Substack app?
The quick answer is to... ugh... be "authentic." I use Notes to take a break from posting humor and satire on my newsletter and look to make genuine connections and share my day-to-day activities.
Here's what I do:
1. I restack quotes from my own stories to promote them.
2. Share other articles.
3. Ask my audience questions. (I.e., sharing what music I'm listening to and asking what others are playing.)
4. Comment on other posts, leave genuine feedback, engage in good faith debate.
So far it's going well. I've gained 20 new subs in the first week of using notes and I'm a fairly small account.
I have been using it to share interesting posts from fellow substackers (there are so many amazing posts out there, wow!), as well as to get in contact with fellow writers. I also plan to use it more to debunk smelly things floating around in the mainstream media pool, depending on what stinks the most.
This week, I tried using it as a discussion starting point. Wow, honestly. I was surprised by the people taking the time to leave well-argued and thought-out responses. I started out with a bunch of open questions about free speech online. You can check it out (and add to the discussion!) here if you like https://substack.com/profile/47938040-robert-urbaschek/note/c-14893989
Just threw my two cents in! Great discussion.
Thanks, look forward to my reply once I have the time to sit down and read it!
Just read some of the thread. Great conversation. Love that everyone behaved.:)
These are great! Thank you so much :) Awesome about the 20 extra subs too.
Thank you! Glad I could help.
What's the reception been like for restacking your own quotes?
I've been worried that this would come across as too "promotional" and self-serving, despite wanting to try it, but perhaps that's just my paranoia.
I haven't gotten any bad feedback from it. I think it's fine as long as they aren't the only or majority of the posts you're doing.
Thanks for helping everyone and me TGFTI
gREAT tIPS! esp #1...thx
Great ideas
I've been keeping an eye on Home and simply commenting on anything I find genuinely interesting. Because you're seeing subscribers/subscribed and their subscribers/subscribed (I think) then you get a reasonable amount of reach. It's been interesting to see topics/Substacks/authors pop up that I never would have come across.
✏️ Hi everyone! I'm always interested to hear how other writers plan and organise their content: Do you have set days of the week to write/publish? Do you have a bank of content or write each piece at the time? How has the way you do things evolved as you've spent more time here?
At the moment I post a weekly letter on Sunday (write on Saturdays, usually) and a monthly round-up of favourite newsletters/books/audio/TV etc. I'm going to be offering more in the coming months (new occasional writing series, more photography, video content and voice notes) but for now I'm keeping it simple and getting into a flow. You can also find me on Notes proably sharing a photo of dog/cat/tea.👋
A couple of months ago, I started more seriously planning my content. Chose a weekday, partly at random partly based on my schedule, to publish 'main' posts. Am now rigidly sticking to that. It has been working out, and has allowed me to plan ahead better. Now I am going to start experimenting with adding other, probably shorter, posts in between.
That's really interesting, Robert, I think the consistency side of it is really key, isn't it? I think I might go for midweek for my shorter/additional content (for paid subsribers) and keep the free content on Sundays like it is now. Definitely good to plan ahead!
Yes I think so. I'm not sure whether to make it explicit to my readers ('Expect a post on Saturday' or something), I figured that if I didn't I would still have the freedom to move it by one day if the need arises, but at least they know to expect a new post every two weeks (in the weekend for those paying attention to when). How do others do this? Do you make your posting days known?
I think I wrote in my first post that I was planning to share every Sunday but otherwise it just says "weekly letters and monthly round up" on the homepage when people subscribe. I think having some flexibility is good and hopefully readers know that we're all human and it might move by a day here and there. I've heard Farrah Stor talk reguarly about the importance of being regular - like the weekend supplements in a newspaper, for example - so I try to think of it like that for the most part.
I post on Sunday nights with my FREE stories AFTER 8, and on Wednesday for my PAID. I used to post Tuesdays & Thursdays in addition to my Sundays, and it was just too much to keep up with. My stories are long, so I can break them into pieces and post them as a serial for five-six weeks while I work on another story. I write my serial novel and try to keep at least four of five weeks ahead on that as well. So far, it's working, but I just started this new format a couple of weeks ago. https://benwoestenburg.substack.com
Sunday and Wednesday is what I'm thinking (when I add the weekday content) - seems like a good balance between emails and time -wise for writing too. Love the idea of serialising longer pieces too - it's great that this can be a space for fiction as well as essay-style writing.
Sounds like a good idea, I have communicated my frequency but not the weekday (wasn't sure yet at the time anyway). I think it would be a good idea to mention it in an upcoming post, then.
I'm curious: do you plan your content/topics in advance as well or just the publishing dates?
Hi Bryce! I have a list of ideas, some sentences/thoughts that have come to me on some of those, and I add to that back and fore. Sometimes I have an idea I feel I need to write about that week but if I'm not sure I go to the list and might pick from there or at least get some inspiration! I split the ideas into categories (creativity, personal, reading, etc) to keep it organised. It's an evolving system at the minute but that's how it is for now! 😀 Love hearing how everyone else does it too - so many different approaches!
Thanks for sharing how you do it, Charlene! My approach is similar except I haven't started to categorize. I probably should.
No problem, glad it was useful! 🙌🏻
Hello Charlene! Great questions :)
I'm documenting my travels around the world, so I tend to write one piece at a time for timeliness' sake. To be honest, it can be a bit stressful meeting my own "deadline", which is why I'm starting an interview podcast to complement my newsletter. That way I can take a break from writing every other week.
I think any system that allows you to post consistently without burning yourself out is a good system. Definitely will take a bit of experimenting to figure it out. :)
Your substack sounds great, I just subscribed! :)
Aww, thank you Sarah! Will check out yours in a second.
That's brilliant - totally agree about keeping it manageable and giving yourself some flexibility when circumstances change. Love the idea of a podcast, that's on my list of ideas to come as well - just want to make sure I pace myself with the offerings, such an exciting platform and I want to do all of it! Haha. Will take a look at your travel writing, it sounds great! 💫
"such an exciting platform and I want to do all of it"
Totally feel this, Charlene! There is SO much to try on here, it's hard not to get ahead of myself, hah.
I typically send my newsletters out the same day each week and write whenever I'm moved to. I have a lot of drafts and sort of assess what is the best one to pursue for the coming week and focus on that one.
Where do you write and keep your drafts - in Substack as draft posts or somewhere outside Substack? I'm still trying to find the best approach here.
I compose my Substack pieces in Substack, mainly because I love the Version History feature in draft mode. If I make a mistake or want to add something I've taken out I can go back and pull up an earlier version. Then I can either highlight and pull out certain phrases or paragraphs or I can exchange the entire draft for an earlier version.
Substacks editor gives me everything I need to get to a completed draft so it works for me!
I didn't realize it had a version history! Thanks for sharing this and making me smarter. 😊
✏️Use your draft section like a filing cabinet or drawing board just hit New post and write on it and shove it back into drafts section. Only draw back I found with this method is no way to organize drafts. Have to scroll down to find what ya want. Bryce
It's in the lower right corner of your draft, along with a word count. I find both of them invaluable.
I use Evernote for ideas, and MS Word for drafts. (I use scrivener for my book writing).
Glad you mentioned draft history tool as post content seems to disappearing off the page lately Ramona. Has other functions great! will see that
I do that too, Theresa, I write bits and pieces and keep a running list of ideas that I add to then sit and write a longer proper draft on the Saturday before I send it out. Tricky to balance it with other work but I love it!
Only thing is, I just saw someone's comment in this thread about how some of their drafts sometimes disappear? (!!) Sooooo I definitely need to be better about backing up my drafts in G Drive or Scrivener!
That might have been me Theresa. History Version that sits to the Left on your screen catches everything if that disappearing act happens. But hey backups always good. #1 thing techys mention
Oooh, no! I was just saying to someone else that I write all my drafts in Google Docs (partly so I can access them on my phone if I need to since that's not a feature in the Substack app yet) but now it seems like a doubly good idea! Your newsletter sounds lovely - I write about creatve living, everyday magic and little moments so it's right up my street! Heading over to Subscribe. 😊✨
Access drafts on phone. How are you having troubles there Charlene?? I just log in to my site and everything is there. I do a lot of work right on the phone to lessen screen light on Desktop and relax a bit ☺️ I find working on my phone helps with Editing too
I'm not having any trouble, I can access it on my phone just fine. 😊
I used to have a Spreadsheet (google sheet) where I wrote topic ideas. I organized the sheet into Ideas, Planned, Scheduled, Published.
Recently, however, I started using notion.io. I use it for both video and written content, plus to share information with my team (music: my girlfriend (photographer, graphic designer), a producer I'm working with, and a couple musicians who perform with me at times.
It allows for a nice hierarchy of pages and information - multimedia, etc.
It's great to hear how others organize their work and what tools they use.
I currently use a Trello board organized like your Google Sheet:
ideas | in process | published
I wrote about it earlier this year.
Here: https://brycepayne.substack.com/p/trello-and-this-is-us (had to go find the URL)
Arrogant Sage?....interesting title
It's only manifested because of my amazing intellect and willingness to offer advice to people. ;-)
Actual origin: I was helping a friend with a couple technical issues... Then, they asked if I could help them write something - which I did. Right after they asked me some a parenting question. When I offered my advice, they said, "You are quite the sage."
I replied, "I know! We all know!"
She said, "An arrogant one!"
And my band, which had been seeking a name, suddenly had one. I've kept the moniker ever since.
Sounds like what you really need is: https://grahamcunningham.substack.com/
My fiance LOVES Notion - I need to give it a go, it sounds great!
Ahh this is one of my favourite things to think about.
I launched my publication (Unzen) last week. The plan is to publish Monday, Wednesday, Friday.
I’ll draft each piece for the week on the weekend before and do edits the day of publication.
All my work starts as small, bite-sized notes I take as I read literally anything. Each note is tagged with different topics.
Unzen is about Buddhism, psychology and philosophy so, when it comes time to write, I start clicking around tags related to each topic until I find a little thread of notes I like.
I smoosh the notes together over the weekend, stringing them together to write a draft. From there, it’s a matter of adding info and editing.
Basically, my process exists to remove as much “how do I start” thinking as possible. That means setting a schedule and having a simple (and repeatable) way of generating article ideas.
Personally, I like the once per week cadence. I have a general outline in my mind for the next couple of weeks at a time, but the order has shifted around a bit at times.
I know some writers are far more organised, with the next few months already planned. Some even have a stack of posts already scheduled for the next month!
That sounds like a good balance of planning and flow, it's so important to find what works for you, isn't it? I know, I've heard of other writers keeping a bank of content but maybe it depends on the type of thing you write - as well as the time you might have to do it - can't see myself having the chance to do that even if I wanted to! 😂
I have setup a content calendar, and expect to publish three times a week (although that may vary). I have an ongoing series (on task management for creative people) where I will be making once post a week, then I have an experiment I am running on starting publications on Medium vs. Substsack, together with results from that, which I will be publishing every two weeks. The other days, I will leave open for new ideas as they occur - one of those posts will probably be pretty short and to the point, while the other will be a deep dive.
In any case, I'll be collecting data on what does well, and tweaking my content and publishing schedule to take advantage.
Great idea.
I struggle with this as my content takes a long time to write. Probably because I spend a lot of time refining it to make sure it has relevant information to get the ideas across.
I find it's helpful to plan out a flexible content calendar, and understand the lead time I need to have a draft written, polished, and published. That way, if I know a couple of weeks ahead of time, I can do the work to get everything ready for my deadline dates.
Wow, that's a lot to juggle - sounds so organised too! I think part of the juggle for me is balancing working and writing since this isn't my full time job (yet!).
It can be - I have a previous life as a project manager and analyst, so it fits how I work. But, it's just a case of experimenting and figuring out what works for you. You certainly do not need to have a perfect system straight away - instead try counting basic subscription or view stats to begin with, and then build up there as you find other things you're curious about.
Definitely, I think some flexibility is a sensible move - we're only human! I have a content calendar as well with the dates I'm scheduled to post and then have a two tick system (draft / published) next to the date. I don't pre-plan the topics but I have a list of ideas in categories and various sentences/paragraphs I've jotted that I can develop into fuller ideas. I like to have some room to choose the topic that moves me at the time as well so don't know if I'd like to plan it too far in advance but I might do that for some content outwith the regular letters. 😊
While I'm walking, I usually think of an article to write. I also never write anything ahead of time.
What I am thinking, though, after reading todays thread overall, is that I need to get a bit intentional about Notes, so that I take the time to share others’ work, thoughts and quotes, etc, in a time efficient way. Like maybe take 15 min a day to do that.
That's a great idea - I think enjoying it but also having some intention behind it, especially reguarly sharing other people's work we enjoy, is such a huge part of community building. Love that about Substack. 🥰
Great question! I publish twice a week (just started the second offering two weeks ago); an essay on Tuesdays, and a round up of things on Fridays. My ideas for the Tuesday essay usually come to me in the week prior, as I’m reading and reflecting and paying attention to what I’m hearing and experiencing around me (this method works for what I do). Then, on Monday morning I begin taking notes and fleshing it out. If I’m lucky, I start a draft. Then on Tuesday morning I finish it and post - by Noon if I can. Then, for my “Friday Notes”, I write them (takes 90 min) on Thursday afternoon, and schedule to publish Friday at 9 am. So far this is working well. I keep a running file in Evernote of ideas, and am also planning on some essays that will require more advance research.
It sounds like you've really got a work flow that suits you, Jessica - mine is still a work in progress in terms of additional offerings but my weekly letters feel like a solid habit at the moment and I'm looking forward to sharing another monthly favourites list next week. So good to have a place to kepe ideas as well, isn't it? Mine are mainly in a document that I add to but I scribble them in random places and record ideas in a voice note app too so I somtimes have to spend some time collating them all. Always good to have plenty of them though, I guess! Thank you for sharing! 😊✨
Sounds great! I love learning about other people's processes, too. Sometimes I'm like, "oooh! Hadn't thought of that. Going to try that out!"
Me too! 😀✨
I decided early on to *try to* keep a forthnightly schedule, but I put a disclaimer in my about page that sometimes I may, ahem, miss. The idea was both to keep myself accountable but also give people enough time in between issues so that they wouldn't become boring - this applies to what I wore about of course, which is data stories witht hand-drawn visualisations. I have a backlog of topics as I have started doing my visualisations years ago before starting the newsletter, but it's still a challenge to be on time! I may use your idea of the monthly round-up post, sounds good!
Yes, love a chance to share all the tabs I've had open that month and to recommend things to people - I love reading those kinds of posts so thought I should write one too! 😆 Definitely a good idea to give yourself some flexibility but also some accountability - it's so tricky to get that balance right, isn't it? I don't want to stray into dangerous perfectionist territory but I want to keep things consistent as I've set it up for now. I think, though (and reading all these different responses confirms it!) that for the most part readers just want to hear from us regularly and sine the community here is so lovely they'll understand if we say, "Sorry, guys, it'll be next week" or "I'm on holiday, I'll be back in a week!" 😊
Exactly, I think the ideal posting frequency depends on the topic as well as your style and just personal preference, but being consistent is important - you don't want people to forget about your publication! And I often put a little sentence in when it happens that I miss or have a post that's maybe shorter than usual, I think it keeps you human and gives people the opportunity to understand that there's real work going into writing!
Definitely! I plan on sharing more content, like I was saying above, but I don't want to burn myself out by doing too much so shorter/quicker ways of sharing ideas will hopefully help keep a balance. Notes is good for that too, just checking in with everyone back and fore. 😊
We've experimented with this a little. We started with a bi-weekly Ponytail Picks post series that goes out every other Friday. Since then, we've done other scheduled posts (a book club that went out Mondays and Saturdays, a movie review post that currently goes out basically every Tuesday) and also started a series that gets posted whenever it's ready—as long as there wasn't already a post being sent out that day—called Internet Farm Cat.
The original Ponytail Picks posts still get the most consistent open-rate. The book club didn't get enough traction to warrant the work, so we canned it. People are enjoying the Two-Movie Tuesday and Internet Farm Cat about equally.
I don't think sticking to a particular day helps or hinders much. Success seems to depend more about the type of content and sticking to whatever output-pace you choose. Starting with a clear schedule helped us stay consistent at the beginning and helped gain readers' trust by meeting their expectations. Once we had an albeit small core group, we could play with things a little. But the bi-weekly Friday posts still keep everything firmly on the ground.
That's really interesting - so good to hear about how thins have evolved over time! Think that's a great idea to have a core offering that goes out on a set day and then maybe have more flexibility with other additions. Your newsletter sounds great, heading over to subscribe!
Very interesting, I will remember what you told me.
Hey Charlene! I post every two weeks, on Friday. I recently committed to posting at a set time, too. We’ll see if that improves things. I’m also experimenting with Notes, haven’t yet cracked the code on that one.
Nice - it's good to have a regular day, I think, even just for yourself so that you can plan things! Notes is fun - I'd say it's a bit like this but less fast-paced, just get stuck in and say hello to people. If in doubt share a photo of a dog - that's my advice for most situations, to be fair. 😆
✏️Years of posting about my published articles have taught me to be as consistent as possible without ripping myself apart to do it. That is, I post The Business Technologist's Journal on Tuesday mornings and What Do You Want? on Friday mornings. Sometimes mornings are later than others. I find readers can adopt a habit of checking at the same time each week to find my latest. Seems to be working as well for my Substacks as my articles.
Life sometimes gets in the way, but I don't let it daunt me. I just catch up when I can.
I've been trying to develop a topics list for each Substack so I can write in advance and always be ready to post on time. Problem is that my Substacks have become very much a conversation with my audiences and I often feel the need to write about what's on my mind right now. That's not a bad thing, so again I try to be relaxed about it and just write when something hits me as important. My topics list will never be cast in stone.
Yes! I totally get that idea about the conversational side of it and wanting to share something you've been mulling over in recent days, I do that too. I think you're right as well about having at least one thing that goes out on the same day (ideally sinilar time) so that people get used to checking for it or expect it like their favourite newspaper. Love what you said about life getting in the way sometimes - so important not to pile the pressure on and make it unmanagable!
I also post a weekly newsletter on Sundays! Currently I schedule time to draft my post on Friday and as I'm quite a quick writer this is usually fine, but I want to get into the way of preparing a bit more in advance and having a bank of posts I can draw on if I need to. I'm been posting since December and so far I haven't missed a week, but as I'm starting to get a little more professional (using my substack to also talk about my embodiment coaching business) I want to add in a bit more buffer time for myself!
Ah, that's great! I'm going to head over and subscribe - I write about slow and creative living, everyday magic, that kind of thing and your letter sounds so calming and lovely! I'm with you on wanting a bit more of a buffer sometimes, I think it would be good to have a couple of pieces I could share if I'm not able to get a post written or life gets in the way for whatever reason. Look forward to reading your letters!
Oh lovely, I'll check yours out too, it sounds right up my street!
Thanks, Sarah, hope you enjoy it! Love finding new people on here. ✨💫😊
Great question! At the risk of honking my own horn here, I described my process in this post: https://newsletter.visualstorytell.com/p/from-idea-to-inbox-discover-the-process
Thanks, will take a look!
Hello Katie, I'm still not clear on how Notes can grow your audience if it only goes to your existing subscribers?? (Some people said last week how much extra subscriptions from notes but how/why?)
Sorry can't find you red square emoji!
Hey Graham, if other publications recommend your publication you might show up in peoples "Home" tab that are not subscribed to you yet. Commenting on other people's notes can also help put you in front of new audiences.
Hi Graham, If you go to the Home tab in Notes, it shows "notes from writers you are subscribed to and writers they recommend, making up your extended network" (https://on.substack.com/p/notes). I've found new folks this way. Also, when people re-stacked a note I posted, it probably brought in more views and subscribers to my newsletter.
✏️Thanks Dana,will try this
Good luck, De!
I’m also interested in this. I have a small readership now, most of which aren’t on SS much. But I want to expand my SS readership! My notes feel kinda suspended in a nowhere zone... I think having categories to post in would really help!
Good question!
✏️ Hello lovelies! Looking forward to chatting with all of you today, especially on how we can build a mutually beneficial and supportive community and network. My ideas are much better when they've been tested in the fires of writers' opinions!
I love this idea! I wonder if Substack (or we) could start a "Drafts" thread where we post things we're working on and get feedback from others. Including an honor system where if you post something for feedback, you give feedback to at least 2 others. What do you think?
I think it's a good idea - I help to run a freelance writing community elsewhere, and we have a "critique and review" thread for exacthly this, to help new writers refine their style, approach, and content.
Wow, thanks Garrett! So excited to have you!
✏️'In the fires of writers' gotta love that Paul. Send me your site details please
De, my Substack is ironcladcreative.substack.com - the forum I help to run is https://www.reddit.com/r/freelanceWriters/
✏️ Sending a thought that may help a lot as you grow your Substack:
There’s no rush.
We’re all just writers at work.
You’re doing great.
https://serialize.substack.com/
Great point. I've been on Substack just under 2 months and do not stress about when my next post will be. As I'm also writing a book - only 2 chapters to complete my first draft - I want to pay attention to both avenues of my writing. I have to tell myself all the time, "I'm doing great." Thank you for saying this.
https://allyne.substack.com/
LOVE this, Sarah! 🥰💫✨🙌
Thank you, Sarah. 🙂
🟧 Is there a way to submit my newsletter be featured in Substack Reads? We've had some publicity in the WSJ recently (SO EXCITING) and would love to keep the momentum going! Thanks!
A monthly submission for different categories would be cool.
There's currently no way to submit your newsletter, but thanks for the suggestion! Congratulations on getting mentioned in WSJ!
🟧 I would really love it if Substack could make it easy to generate an index of posts. I'd like to (belatedly) start a few, and it's going to involve a lot of copying and pasting :-(
Thanks for the feedback, Terry. This is something we're thinking about. Could you tell me more about what you mean by and index, why you want to create an index, and what you're intending to include?
Hi, Dayne, thanks for answering my comment. By index I mean a list of articles with links, possibly sortable by Section, with date published. I have an index of articles for another website that I maintain for myself on a spreadsheet, and you can see what that looks like in this example I've set up: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1ug6n9s7lFml9_4ZQpi7AKgFjFm6gUUY5Hg70Rub-NvA/edit?usp=sharing
For Substack, I'd like to have a section called Index so that people can find stuff easily. I've done that for a few of my sections, but it's a bit labour intensive, especially when it comes to the older posts I never thought to index! It would be great if there was a way to generate an index at the click of a button.
Hi Terry, nice to see you here!:) I also think an index of posts (or a manual "greatest hits" list) would be cool. On the website version of substack I've seen a "most popular" list on the righthand side on some newsletters. Seems to be automatic too, so the reader can go straight to the writers most popular works. Idk if its like that for everyone, but I've seen it. Not the same as a manually curated list by the writer, though
Has anyone figure out how Substack decides which are the most popular? Is it by views or comments or likes or ...?
i dont really know! i would suppose a mix of all three? perhaps views the most?
Dunno. They seem to like engagement as shown by comments I think
Just guessing but I would imagine it goes by number of paid subscribers or number of total subscribers. Substack has access to those figures and they're the ones that would mean the most to them as a business.
Thanks Kode. I think it would be good to be able to list all posts in different ways
Such a good idea - I think I am going to do a contents page - considering it in “about” but can’t decide.
Thanks, Claire. My comment was picked up by a Substack person, who said they've been thinking about such a feature. So fingers crossed!
I wish Substack enabled categories (maybe sections is kind of a proxy) and then you could have auto-generated archives by category/tag like blogging platforms used to have.
Quite
Oh great!! I might wait then...
I think it might be worth it. If they can come up with a button to generate an index, that would save us a lot of work.
Gotta go folks, sorry I came late to the scrum but had thought it was to be on Thursdays and juice running out too and of course it's playoffs too ☺️
Or at least allow us to sort the archive in different ways!
Yes, that would work. I have a couple of Squarespace blogs and you can do that in them
It is tedious to do it manually (which I did as well). The Archive is an index but it's organized by month which makes sense if you write about current events or news but not otherwise.
Exactly
It would be nice if the Archive had different options for organization such as chronological, topical, popular etc.
🟧 - Hi, I'm asking about reading someone's publication before subscribing: There was a button at the bottom of the screen that said, "Read First." It got replaced with "No Thanks." I want to bring back the "Read First" phrasing. It was friendlier. That's my vote. Thank you!
You can choose to change the text to "Read it first" in your settings. If you'd like to change it from the default, head to your Publication details on your Settings page. Enter up to 25 characters what readers will see and click when they choose not to subscribe at that moment.
Thank you. Super helpful.
I noticed that too. I find the "No Thanks" disorienting because it made me think that I was clicking on saying I didn't want to read the article.
They changed this a while back, but they've added a place to customize what you'd like that to say. Go to Settings > Publication Details > Opt out message on the welcome page.
I believe you can change that wording to your liking! I recently did that myself.
Hi Shinay, you can edit that yourself in settings if you don’t want to use the (new) default wording.
✏️ Question for fellow newbie writers and more established folk. How do you encourage interaction on the Substack platform itself? I've started threads, but crickets so far. I do have a small following, but I've spoken to some and know the content resonates (on leadership - find me at Lead with Intention) but they are seemingly shy about jumping in. Any advice?
I learned what I call the "Conversational layup" from observing other writers, but particularly SE Reid's Wildroot Parables.
Her formula, intentional or not, is to Introduce a topic on one day, discuss the topic on the second day, and then do a personal essay on the topic on the third day. She keeps this cycle up every week.
I experimented with doing it on a monthly cycle and it seemed to work. Try to define a good cycle for you, and assign yourself topics to discuss. Prepare your audience, get their thoughts, and then satisfy them with a deep dive.
It might take time--it's not a guaranteed conversation starter--but you will start to get a feel for what things get your readers attention.
What a great example Scoot thank you! I love this idea and in it for the long haul, so that's just fine. I'm going to save this advice thank you!
Helpful share!
Oh thanks for this reminder of S.E.’s posting cycle! I remember taking note of it awhile back and had forgotten. Maybe because I’m subscribed to soooo many newsletters right now.
Thanks for sharing this. It's an intriguing framework.
No answer as I'm a newbie here... But I'm an organisational psychologist and have just subbed to Lead With Intention. Sounds like my cup of tea!
Oh thanks so much Amber, let me know what you think!
I’d like to hear more about this too. I recently started my first thread and same, crickets. Thank you for your question, Loise. 🙂
Same for me.
Do you mean Chat threads or Notes?
✏️ 🟧 This is a question for both fellow writers and Substackers...
What is the best way to work on posts and potentially publish them while on the go? Since the mobile app doesn't allow you to start a new post or work on an existing draft, I've been using the Chrome app on my iPhone to navigate to the website. This works OK, but is a little less stable than on my laptop and not quite optimized for this use. Any suggestions for third-party apps? Or is this a functionality that we'll get on the Substack app eventually?
Thanks for the feedback, Jeremy! This is something we've heard from a few writers, and definitely something we want to do. It's not on our immediate roadmap, but there's a fair chance we'll work in this within the next 12 months.
If and when you do this, might make sense to have a distinct "author" app and "reader" add so the UI doesn't get too overwhelming.
Also, would be great if it could support multiple accounts.
I would love more writer dashboard features in the app, that would be great. I write my draft posts in Google docs then copy and paste into Substack drafts when I'm ready to start adding photos, buttons etc. That might make it easier to use on the mobile since there's a Google Docs app? 😊
Yes! please! I tend to prefer working on my pc, but sometimes you are just very busy / travelling, or doing edits, and that would save a lot of time..
I use the web version of Substack on my phone and am able to do everything I need to.
My husband uses safari on phone and it honestly seems totally fine!
I figured the paid option was coming. Makes total sense for the platform although I enjoy being able to talk to anyone regardless of the status.
I may be in the minority, but I dislike this feature as well. I've actually unsubscribed from Substacks that require commenters on newsletter posts to be paid subscribers—it feels totally against the idea of creating a community. I'd rather have people involved in the discussion, be invested, and that is what tips them into subscribing.
My intentions is to leave comments for all, but give access to only paid subscribers via threads. The reason is that, I update threads on a daily and people ask questions directly affecting an opportunity on an individual basis, but comments is for the public. Don’t know if this is a great idea yet, but I’m just 3 weeks in and willing to experiment till I feel comfortable with the product I’ve built
By threads, do you mean Chat?
I write about some very vulnerable things and don't want anonymous advice givers or haters. Having the option to limit comments to paying subscribers makes me feel far "safer." And if people truly can't afford a subscription and reach out, I gift it to them.
Well, this seems like a good reason to limit to paid subscribers.
Although I write some vulnerable things, I try to post things that I would feel good about the general public commenting on. Subscribers or not.
For now, the Substack community seems extraordinarily generous and not as toxic as YouTube comments or other internet media forums. I hope it stays that way.
I regularly read / follow around 25 to 30 Substacks currently, which in Australian dollars would be about $2400 a year, depending on the cost of each newsletter. Paying for all of those isn't going to happen, alas.
Mine's Free!
You’re not alone in that, though I haven’t gone so far as to unsubscribe if they limit comments to paid subscribers. I think there is a benefit to the option though. People are less likely to leave a spam comment or a unproductive comment if they have to put money into the access.
But it also means people who could leave comments that contribute meaningfully but can’t afford it won’t end up having them. You’re going to see a similar problem with this option.
One potential benefit of having Notes though is that you can leave your own comment on Notes with a link to an article and tag the person in the Note.
I’m so proud of myself. Been struggling with how many days to publish for a long time and not be overwhelmed. In my going to 3 weeks on substack and writing to about 400 people build from zero using LinkedIn, I experimented several days, but I kept to the same time from day 1(7am GMT)
Now that I have found my days(Tuesdays and Saturday posting of curated opportunities, Wednesday and Thursday posting of personally written essays), I believe I’m on the journey to my first 1000. I will need alot of help, hence if you think my writings will benefit your audience, kindly reach out or recommend my substack https://gradinterface.substack.com/
Congrats! That's a huge number in 3 weeks! I've been posting on LInkedIn and it's crickets. What's your secret? What do you say in your post?
I guess I hacked LinkedIn’s code. I posted on twice daily on LinkedIn, I refused to repost anyone’s content but could copy and mentioned those people(LinkedIn loves mentions). When I said twice daily, it doesn’t mean I live on LinkedIn, I only spend less than 30min-1hr there a day, you can schedule your post but turn on your creator mode.
In the first two months I did that, I wasn’t on substack, so my idea was to share scientific stuffs that people share on the internet, but when I posted funded opportunities, I noticed more people wanted to follow me. So I posted more of that(experiment your audience to see what they want- may not be what you desired)
LinkedIn will make at least two of your post to go viral (like 100-300 comments and likes level initially)in each 30 days(may be more if large accounts mentions or reshapes your contents) but could be more.
So three weeks ago, I started substack and kept my twice daily posting but now all links leads to my substack for any information that I post (hence try to share some actionable contents in your newsletter where you can use as bait on LinkedIn) or just tell people you can read more on my LinkedIn.
Today, I want to go to the viral posts I had and insert my substack link on them, cos they are still drawing traction even after a month.
I don’t know if this helps....bottom line....be consistent in sharing free useful info, link back to your substack or simple always include a request for people to check out your substack...like: “you can read more here” or “if you love this post you can read more here”
I hope I tried
Looks like I can follow.
Can I Link In with you to view a sample?
Sure: https://www.linkedin.com/in/abasifreke-benson-709b318a
🟧Hey! Any new categories planned? Can I suggest "Gaming" ? Thanks
Thanks for suggesting, JB. We're keeping our eyes on topical themes as they grow to add to our categories.
Please add a category for Nature writing.
Can we get a Creative Writing category? Thanks.
And On Writing? Pretty please!
Heck yeah! And personal development while you're at it!
I would love a "law" or a "legal"
I’d love a Photography category! 📸
Ooh yeah! Can I suggest visual arts/ art / painting?
Agreed. Gaming is popular and distinct from Tech.
Home. I had to list mine under Climate (not ideal) because there is no Home section. Home design does have a big audience outside of Substack. Then again see the challenges of UX listing all these options in the navigation.
Oooh interested in the Substack response to this as well
OFFICE HOURS
The best thing you can do as a new writer on Substack is:
1. Write quality, engaging material
2. Post regularly and consistently (I recommend 2-3 times per week but this is wildly variable; you want to hook people’s interest without exploding their email inbox)
3. Read other Substacks and comment on them; try to be courteous, thoughtful and positive.
4. Reach out to other writers who write similar material after you’ve been writing a while and ask to cross-post, collaborate, etc.
5. Remember that Substack is a writing community; support others.
6. Attend Substack Office Hours
7. Read, subscribe, and pay for my Substack, Sincere American Writing. *(This is required.) 😎😳😂
Michael Mohr
‘Sincere American Writing’
https://michaelmohr.substack.com/
🟧 - I'm approaching my 1-year anniversary on Substack with "About Theme Parks." I love everything about it, but I'd really like to generate more subscribers. I'm not necessarily interested in getting a ton of paid subscribers (although that'd be great), but I'd like to have considerably more general subscribers. I was part of the Grow group (if that's what it was called) earlier this year, I've been reading emails from Substack as well as comments here, and have tried all kinds of strategies. Despite early encouraging subscriber growth for the first 3 months or so, the past 9 months has been a slog.
I think I need some hands-on help, and I'm wondering whether you have any thoughts or resources about consultants who may be able to assist me. I really want to make this work, but I'm frustrated by the slow progress. Are there folks out there who (for a fee, obviously) could help me rev up my subscriber base? Thanks for any suggestions.
What is the Grow group?
I may have the name wrong. Substack presented a series of sessions over a number of weeks geared to helping writers grow their subscriptions. Many of the presenters were writers who had experienced great success. It was well done and helpful, but I haven't been able to replicate their growth.
Ah. I missed it, I guess. Thank you for sharing.
Hi Arthur, thanks for your feedback. Growing a newsletter can be tough! I've heard of writers working with consultants to set up and manage their publication, but I'm not aware of anyone working with growth consultants.
Thanks Dayne. Well, it IS tough! I've been trying lots of strategies, but nothing seems to really take off. I get frustrated when I see other Substack writers cruise along and boast "Hundreds of paid subscribers" in their blurb in a matter of months. For some, growth seems to be natural and organic.
Many of them brought their own subscribers with them to Substack so it's rare to start from scratch and be able to boast 'hundreds of paid subscribers'. I'd love to know how many actually do it, but I'm guessing there aren't many.
Well, the ones who share their success stories often make it seem almost effortless. They could be in the minority. But there seems to be a surprising number of them.
Many writers come here with large followings already in place. They move their entire newsletter mailing list to Substack from somewhere else. Substack makes it easy to do.
✏️ Hello, fellow writers! Its not too much to say my life has changed since starting on Substack. I’m happy to be here and look forward to connecting with many of you! Writing in a community of writers has already had a positive impact on my writing.
Hi Priya! Im a subscriber of your newsletter after I saw it the last (and the first, by coincidence) time I browsed office hours a little while back. You probably dont know me lmao sorry! This feels kinda like meeting a celebrity. I really enjoy your newsletter was what I wanted to say:) Thank you!
Thank you for your kind comment. It’s much appreciated!
✏️ Is anyone else using a lead magnet to bring people to their newsletter?
I've added about 20 new subscribers this afternoon from sharing 2 different lead magnets on Facebok and LinkedIn.
Happy to explain how if it helps anyone else.
Would love to learn which lead magnets methods you used?
Hi, I have a PDF list of remote work websites and a webinar on becoming a project manager.
Yes, I offer a PDF for all subscribers to use for themselves or their clients. As an experiment I am putting out an “on-demand” course for paid subscribers only, which I set up as a separate section that includes all the posts. So far, I only have beta testers through and I’m not sure how it will work for a wider audience, but I’m excited about it nonetheless.
Yes, lead magnets are great!
COngrats! Can you give an example?
I have a PDF list of 60 remote work websites with links and a short description of each, plus a webinar on how to become a project manager. 😀
Lead magnets sound interesting!
...what are they? 😅
Something that you share for free that your ideal customer/reader will want. To get it they have to register with their email address and agree to go on your marketing list.
I have a PDF list of 60 remote work websites with links and a short description of each, plus a webinar on how to become a project manager. 😀
Thanks for answering! That’s really interesting as I was thinking of writing a mini e-book to promote my newsletter and giving it away for free with new sign ups - now I know that’s an actual marketing thing I’ll definitely be following that up!
Happy to help. I think the key is to think about the goal or problem that your ideal reader has based on what questions you get asked the most and give them something that helps with that. Good luck with it!
What’s a lead magnet?
Something that you share for free that your ideal customer/reader will want. I have a PDF list of 60 remote work websites with links and a short description of each, plus a webinar on how to become a project manager. 😀 That appeals to my audience and so they register for them and agree to be added to my marketing/newsletter list.
Yes please!
What’s a “lead magnet”?
"A lead magnet is a free asset or special deal offered to customers in exchange for their contact details. It can be a discount code, webinar, white paper, ebook, template, or another resource. To gain access to the lead magnet, a consumer must provide their name, email address, and/or company information." (I had to google lol)
I thought it was a hook.
Something that you share for free that your ideal customer/reader will want. I have a PDF list of 60 remote work websites with links and a short description of each, plus a webinar on how to become a project manager. 😀 That appeals to my audience and so they register for them and agree to be added to my marketing/newsletter list.
Lead magnets are a great idea if you use them in the right channels and the right way. I'd really like to hear more about how you made yours work.
I have a PDF list of 60 remote work websites with links and a short description of each, plus a webinar on how to become a project manager.
These were the things that people asked me about most often.
I share them on my social media sites where my ideal readers/customers hangout.
😀 They appeal to my audience and so they register for them and agree to be added to my marketing/newsletter list.
That's an extremely helpful lead magnet - saves the audience time, effort, and hassle - and is super-relevant to their interests. It looks like we write in related areas, and I'm very intersted in combining the areas of project management and content creation - when my Substack is a bit more established, I'd be delighted to collaborate with you on some posts.
What host/extension site do you use to collect those emails that send those new subscribers the lead magnet asset directly?
I use mailchimp for the landing page.
I'm struggling to find my responses to other people's notes. I might want to go back to a thread to see replies from others. Not sure if I'm missing something.
Could not find these either. Only normal notes posts.
You can go to your profile page and find these under the Notes tab on the page.
Sorry to paste my page but it will help orient you to where you need to look. Scroll down to latest
https://substack.com/profile/113650296-renoqueen?
Same thing there, only the main notes, not the replies.
Sorry I did not answer the question properly. I see that in my Home Feed within Notes but no way to filter it.
The new "My Subscribers" tab is a good innovative feature, thanks.
Agreed! I've gotten a lot of new subscribers over the past week and suddenly feel as though I don't know my readers as well. This tab is super helpful in that regards!
I am a firm believer in freedom of speech. That said, I am more than a little concerned about the recent reports of hate and extremism that have been taking root on Substack. How do you, Substack, moderate content? Are there any guidelines put forth by Substack?
I'm new to Substack, and I was wondering about that too.
From what I've read, it sounds like it's up to the author to monitor. The positive for the Substack owner/author doing the monitoring is that we have the control to block people we don't want to access or comment in our Substacks. Does that sound right? I really don't know.
From my limited perspective, I believe that Substack is taking a neutral stance on content moderation. What you say is fine for comment monitoring. I am referring to Substack authors who are espousing extremist rhetoric on the far right. I have not heard of any far left Substack authors yet. I am more of a centrist and extremism on the right or left does nothing to begin to heal this already divided country.
Got it. Thanks for the clarification.
ive seen this too recently... in the notes reply section. someone asked "whats you guys' least favourite words?"... i saw a couple not very nice comments there that was about more than just words:( When i tried to report I got an error message that my message has the wrong value input? I tried to shorter my text but idk if it worked. Then i closed substack for the day as it made me very upset and sad to see those comments.
I do not know how you can block these types of comments. Have you looked at the help section or contacted Substack directly?
It's very easy to delete their comments, Marco. Haven't had to block anyone yet, so not sure how to do that.
I understand the deletion of comments. However, I am not sure about blocking anyone. I have not had to resort to that as well. I do know that some authors do not allow comments on certain posts if you are not a paid subscriber.
Oh, right. That can turn people off, of course. But you mean it shows it's possible.
No I haven't looked into it, I felt so sad and defeated that contacting substack or the help section didnt occur to me. It wasnt even in the replies to my own note, but to another writer so I dont know what I can do to keep such comments away from - at the very least, if not all of substack - my feed. I hope my report went through as there is nothing else for me to do than block the users who wrote the comments. Thanks Marco
✏️ - Hi writers! I want to start spending a little more time exploring Substack and connecting with other writers. Until now I've just subscribed to a few newsletters I've found in passing, but mainly I only come here to work on my own.
I'm just curious if any of you specifically allocate time in your week to reading other writers' work?
I find myself getting into an all-or-nothing approach with this type of thing unless I actually schedule it - either falling down a wormhole until 2am or forgetting to read anything at all!
I try to read as soon as I get them in my inbox on Substack app. I am noticing that I read some newsletters more promptly than others. This will be a way for me to filter out which ones I want to keep reading and which ones to unsubscribe. Not because I don't like them but there is just too much good stuff out there to keep track of. I get easily distracted and I don't want to ignore working on my own newsletter!!
Good luck
I actually don't have the app, I mainly use desktop and have been looking at newsletters through email, but maybe my news feed could become a handier way to keep track than the inbox!
Strongly recommend using the app - much better reading experience. I don't use it for writing. Also good for Notes.
Thanks, I'll check it out!
Yup, a couple times a week! It's a nice pre-game when I'm about to sit down and write my own.
I use the Substack app to read a lot of the newsletters I subscribe to. I just find it easier than going through my email. Sometimes I just read whats in my inbox, but other times I find a new newsletter or I go to one Ive already subscribed to and I go through and click "save" on interesting posts. Then its the matter of going to my saves, pick some posts, and actually read them. I like to do this because then I support their older content too, and not just theyve posted after I subscribed- in fact, its the already existing posts that made me want to subscribe! So thats how I do it. I try to be on here just about every day, but its only once or twice a week I hit up my saved posts as they take a little more energy to find lol
Honestly the quality of work I find when scrolling through new posts in my inbox each day is better than when I scroll through [insert online newspaper here].
This is another shout out for the app, I'll definitely download it. Once or twice a week sounds more manageable than my current 'browsing' approach!
I love the app! I dont know if it's because im used to other social media apps or what it is but I do really like it. But one can also save posts on the desktop version i think, if you hit the three little dots or smth... but it's definitely nice to have older posts to read from my fave newsletters in my saves, and the posts from after i subscribed in my inbox. the saved ones is like a little treat!
I just sort of pursue the stack of writers in and out throughout the day and subscribe to some as I go
I allocate 8 hours a week to read other writers' Substack posts.
✏️ Hi all! Quick question for those who’ve managed to establish their own communities here - what was your most effective method of gaining new subscribers? I’m trying the usual kinds of things like social media etc., but is there anything that you tried that was quite unconventional but worked really well?
Thanks!
I can't say I have established my own community so much as plugged into an existing one.
Find people that write in the same space as you, and be active on their substacks.
Write consistently on your topic.
...thats really it. As long as you are predictable, readers will trickle in. Slowly at first, but there's a multiplier effect that we can't see.
Yes, I definitely agree with engaging with others who are in the same niche as you. I commented on 3 travel newsletters and got 2 new subscribers in return just yesterday. :)
✏️ What tools and platforms (esp since Twitter is a v different place these days!) have been most effective in sharing your Substack with people outside your existing network?
I write about American national security and defense for Normal People. Sadly, so much of my universe is fellow natsec-types. My Substack is a preview of a book of the same title, style and focus I’m writing so growing and engaging with an audience is a priority for me.
I don’t have Tiktok (non-negotiable), and haven’t logged in to Facebook for years. I use Twitter, Post, Mastadon, and LinkedIn but have a gut feeling I need to do things a little differently. Any recommendations?
Honestly LinkedIn kinda slaps, I'm always surprised by people who sign up from there and/or share my posts about newsletters.
*Same*
I use Instagram and Pinterest (like we did for blogs back in the day!). I usually make a post with the photo from the newsletter and then also share in stories - I save to a highlight as well so people can find the links to previous posts. I find the best place to connect with people is within Substack, though - through other newsletters, comments, now Notes etc. 😊
Pinterest! What a move!
It's really just to justify the time I spend there pinning pictures of kitchens. Stand by it though. 😆🙈
Do you happen to have a link/screenshot to one of your pins for your Substack? I’m super curious what kind of images work best.
Of course! Here's a link to my Pinterest https://www.pinterest.co.uk/haverandsparrow/_created/ - if you scroll down you can see the different types of pins I've made, some are "idea pins", some are more like reels, and others I've made in Canva with the photo and title of the newsletter. It's a fun experiment, not sure if many people do it but I figured if it brings people over to blogs then why not?! Also gives me a chance to play with Canva and fonts etc too.😊
Your Substack looks interesting, and it's the kind of stuff I also sometimes write about. Subscribing.
Thanks!
✏️ - I write fantasy and science fiction short stories. Maybe you do, too, and that's pretty alright by me. So alright that I created a community where we can gather, be nerds, and celebrate each other's writing on Substack. It's the called the Lunar Awards, and we just finished our first award season.
Nerd out with us!
https://lunarawards.substack.com
My order of importance is my website, linkedin, ig, networking sites, fb, and twt.
✏️ FELLOW WRITERS - What are some ways in which you converted free subscribers to paid subscribers? Did you do promotions? Offer a specific type of content?
Share whatever worked for you. I'm looking for ways to up my free-to-paid reader percentage. Thanks in advance!
Hi Joe, I'm trying a "50% off annual subscriptions forever" option for the first time this week (expires Sunday; if people use it before then, they lock in the discount forever). It's been helpful for getting more conversions than usual! I "advertised" it in my weekly post/email, and some longtime free subscribers transitioned to paid in response.
That's a great idea! (And congrats on your growth.) How did you set it so the rate will lock in for people upon renewal? I didn't know that was an option.
Thank you, Joe! If you go into Settings from the newsletter dashboard and scroll down to the various payment/subscriber options, it has a section on special offers. You can add one and set all the terms!
Settings -> Payments -> Special offers -> Manage special offers
You can see how I shared it here: https://danaleighlyons.substack.com/p/well-this-is-weird
I have seen it quite often mentioned that you need to added extra for your paid subscribers but I’m not sure what that is?? Considering I just like to write, I can’t imagine me starting to offer classes or videos or some other incentive!!
This is going to sound really silly but I only discovered today (as I subscribe to myself under a different email address to check what my posts look like) that once someone has subscribed, that if you add the subscribe button and they are already subscribed, it becomes a pledge button. I think there needs to be more around how to promote pledges as this is kind of a half-way house that lets you know if people are willing to pay for your writing...
✏️ Has anyone worked out what is a good frequency of posting?
Had a discussion about this with a bunch of people a few weeks ago. Some said they posted multiple things a week, I was leaning more towards max 1 per week. We ultimately concluded it depends on the type of content and audience to a large extent. I think if you do shorter posts, then multiple a week could work, but personally I would rather send a few posts less than a few too many.
When I receive more than one email a week from a sender (whether it's a brand's newsletter, a Substack, etc.), it can put them on my radar in a not good way. I agree that for some Substacks it will vary so it's definitely a know-your-audience type of thing!
I second that. I'm happy with once or twice a week, but when I get more than I often just delete the email without looking because I can't manage constant 'shoulder-tapping'.
Shoulder-tapping is a great way to describe that feeling!
But what if the emails are about different topics? In my case, I do a Start the week post at, er, the start of the week, a letter to Rebecca Holden every other week, and an experiment in style once a week, plus occasional ad hoc posts. So they're not all about the same thing. But you'd still delete me? 😨😨
I think if I knew you and how you post and I like your stuff, I might stick with it. If you were new to me and I was just seeing if I wanted to stay, a lot of emails would put me off. Maybe it's just me?
Well I will have a look at yours because I do a lot of eclectic writing myself! I think you might like mine too!
Not in a good way? 😱 Thanks, Theresa
That's me personally—everyone's different! But I do think it's important to remember I'm not just posting online, I'm going into someone's inbox, which is way more personal.
Yes, very true. I've found, as a reader, I only become frustrated when a person posts more than once a day.
I agree with this! I don't want to crowd my readers' inboxes. I want them to look forward to the next, not think "oh jeez, another one already??"
Once a week is about right I reckon, and there were some discussions here a few months ago (from memory) from established writers who saw higher unsubscribe rates with more than once per week posting.
@EveArnold ran a post frequency experiment (unfortunately paywalled) where she noticed the same thing in a really significant way. Her post is here:
https://evearnoldwrites.substack.com/p/456-increase-in-revenue
Thanks Karen
Thanks, Robert. I guess there is no such thing as one size fits all in this area
I think It depends. A few things I learnt about content marketing that I apply to newsletters: Longevity of post, and actionability or both. I post about scholarships in each post my letter contains about 20 to 30 new opportunities, and my pitch to my readers is that I will bring them information to apply faster than anyone on the internet. Speed of action and the fact that scholarships have expiry date would make my newsletter operate like a news blog, hence I will need to post almost everyday to be very much relevant.
Hence, I post on Wednesday and Thursday various essays that could increase one’s chance of being admitted more evergreen stuffs.
But I keep my posting time from day one at 7am GMT because I figured with that, I will be in most people’s inbox on or before 10am their time and among the first emails they receive for the day.
My point is: short lifespan contents, you need high frequency e.g news, information that is short lived etc
Long lifespan contents, you need low frequency (I started a second newsletter where I write specifically to current graduate students called Gradschoolhacks, and I post there once a week because what I post there doesn’t require urgency but every graduate student will benefit even in the next 10 years
Those are really good criteria, and make a lot of sense. Thanks very much.
I am a once a week person. I still have this slight anxiety about overwhelming my subscribers and am not sure what they can see in notes either so am not wanting to post there too much. I think when it comes to raising my profile, I tend to go the opposite way and think people don’t want to see too much of me!
Plus, it is very unlikely someone will unsubscribe when they DON'T hear from you, I think.
I had 1-2 as I had to pause for a month due to some life challenges but it was a tiny drop.
I understand that, Deborah, because I'm exactly the same when it comes to social media and meetings. I tend to be pretty quiet. I just seem to write a lot!
Well therein lies an interesting question - do the loudest people write the best things?
PS I just subscribed to yours so I will let you know 😅
And likewise so let's keep a check on each other!!
😅 definitely! Thank you very much!
Yes! 😅
Depending on your topic (timely or evergreen) and your audience. I publish every Sunday with bi-weekly news commentary for paid subs.
I'm going for once a week at the moment and then a round up style post at the end of each month. I'm going to be adding in more paid content (shorter or quicker format - voice note, video etc) midweek in the coming months but just aiming for a consistent flow with what I'm doing right now and spending some time on Notes inbetween too. How are you doing things just now, Terry?
Oh, I like the idea of a round up issue at month end.
Yeah, its a fun way to recommend things to people and to share what I'm enjoying. Always love seeing what others reccomend too!
I have been doing that weekly in my Start the Week posts. People seem to like it
May want to do something similar
Thanks, Charlene. Well, I'm (too?) prolific. I'm posting about 4 times a week. The feedback is that people find it hard to keep up, but really like my writing. I came up with a new schedule that was more manageable (for my readers!), and because of circumstances it went out of the window within two days 😱 I tend to write about several different things, so keeping to one post a week might be hard. I'm going to try a schedule whereby some topics are covered in alternate weeks and paid subscribers get an extra one a week. I do a kind of round-up post called Start the Week and that is quite popular. I shall have a look at yours now. Thanks.
That's amazing! I'd love to share more but currently juggling with work since this isn't (yet!) my full time job. Do you use the sections to divide your work into categories? From what I understand that gives subscribers the chance to opt out of emails from the sections they're less into - that might cut down on overload but folk would still find the content when they come onto your page?
Yes, and I wrote an article telling people how to subscribe/unsubscribe to sections, which I remind people of every so often. https://terryfreedman.substack.com/p/controlling-which-emails-you-receive-ace
I'd love Substack to be my full-time job!
Same here!
Sections are a great idea, if I could depend on Substack for (a portion of) my income then I would definitely increase my posting frequency (this is also what I have explained to my subscribers as something that they can contribute to by going paid) and sectioning topics is a great way to make sure people stay interested. Especially for someone like me, who tends to post about lots of different things!
I think I might adopt your argument for going paid, especially as that's my position too.
Hey Terry, I read about how someone else (maybe Michael Spencer from AI Supremacy??) solves this problem by creating multiple 'post only' posts per week, that only go to the web, they are not emailed to inboxes. This prevents inbox overwhelm.
You can link to them in your next email as well of course.
I have a running 'news' section that is only ever published to the web and never emailed. I embed it into my weekly posts so people who are interested can click through.
Thanks Karen. I tried that a few months ago but found that engagement (opens and comments) on the web only posts was much lower than when I emailed them. I was putting the links in my Start the Week p osts. maybe I'll try that again. But just out of interest, do your web only posts get much traction, or as much as the emailed ones? If actually forgotten about that option tbh but perhaps I should try it again because I do have a lot more subscribers than I did when I tried it originally. Thanks very much!
Yes good point, the web-only posts don't get nearly as many reads.
But does that actually matter? As with all things Substack, you have to go back to your goals for the publication.
My goal is growing my paid subscriptions, so if most people don't read the web-only posts it isn't an actual problem (this is for my other publication, a B2B food safety pub). My web-only news posts are a 'value add' that people like knowing are there if they ever want them.
For publications like yours, perhaps web-only posts meet a need for your raving fans, when they want to 'binge' your content. Your less engaged fans won't read them and maybe that just doesn't matter? Depends on your goal of course. It could be better (perhaps) to have fewer eyeballs on some posts than more unsubscribes (which = fewer eyeballs on ALL your posts (?))
That makes a lot of sense, Karen. I will have a look at what I can make web only, and try again. Just subscribed to yours by the way. Thanks for your insights
For questions like these, I'm a huge fan of trying different options, collecting data, and seeing what works for your audience. What is your open rate and subscriber growth like if you publish once a week for a month? What about twice a week, or three times? Take careful notes of what you're sending and when, then look at your stats to see how your audience are engaging.
Thanks, Paul. Yes, good idea. I started doing that in the early days (early for me I mean) and got bored looking at data. Sounds terrible I know. My stats seem quite healthy, and the posts get quite a few comments as a rule.
I love to experiment fast and learn.
Hi Terry! Good question. I'm still figuring that out myself, but so far once a week has produced pretty decent open rates (50-60%). I'm planning to start an interview podcast to complement my travel newsletter, which is definitely going to affect my posting frequency, so the open rates may change.
I think your posting frequency depends on your audience and your relationship with them. If you consistently post 2x a week and they know to EXPECT 2 emails a week from you, it shouldn't annoy them. It's important to let them know from the beginning (such as in the welcome email) how often to expect your emails, so it doesn't feel like spam. Hope this helps. : )
Hi, Macy Thanks very much. That's a great open rate. Mine is around 40-50% It's taken me a year to (almost) get into a rhythm so that I know what I'm going to be writing about and when. Yes, I shall have to amend my welcome email to reflect that soon.
I'm curious: has you seen your open rates decrease as you've grown?
Yes. Why, has that happened to you?
Yes. They were consistently in the 70s+ but have decreased to 60s as subscribers have grown. Trying to tease out if that is inevitable as subscribers increase or if my signal/noise ratio is off for readers.
I wonder if it's a case of the law of averages at work
Glad to help. :) Best of luck to you, Terry!
You too, Macy. I've just subscribed to yours, and am about to read your miracles post!
Awww! Hope it encourages you :))
I don't need much encouragement, but thanks! 😅
NOW. POST NOW. HURRY!
LOL
✏️🖊️✏️🖊️✏️ hey y’all....looking to hear some tips for growth...I know I need to post more frequently, but would appreciate some additional suggestions from fellow Substackers on growing one’s audience !! ❤️
Hey Ash. I always check out people's newsletters if they leave a comment on my posts. I don't always subscribe, but I consider it.
I also promote my Substack posts on IG and LinkedIn, plus have a sign-up form on my professional website. I get folks from those outside places, as well as from Medium (where I'm no longer active, but keep a post up saying I've left Medium...find me here instead).
thank you! I have yet to promote on my LinkedIn...solid suggestion!!
A few easy tactics:
Add value content here, your newsletter and notes
Submit your newsletter to newsletter directories.
Create a newsletter digest on LinkedIn with previews.
Partner up with other writers
Feature your subscribers.
LinkedIn is the best so far, even better than Twitter for me
Have the same questions🆘
✏️ When I publish a new post (newsletter), is it a good idea to announce it via a Note or would it be kinda annoying to my subscribers as they get too many notifications?
I think notes doesn't give email notifications, so at least it wouldnt overflow the inbox!
What I often do for important posts is creating an IG story using visuals and language of a “soon dropping a story” to create a sense of expectation and buildup.
I think of Notes as a different audience. I see a lot of people doing that. I don't think it's something I would do for every post, but would definitely consider if there was a post I was excited about publishing, or something that I think is important for people to see.
I see that too. The Notes is like for Substack writers. In time, I hope this will change as more people use it. But Twitter is a hard sell for most casual social media people ... "I don't understand it" is the most common complaint I hear. And Notes, while it is different, will probably always be compared to Twitter.
I have the same question!
✏️ what do you think about changing your newsletter name when expanding your topics? How did you choose your name? Any tips for creating an evocative and unique newsletter name?! Haha ❤️
Hey Amani! I asked similar questions just two weeks ago. Back in March, I started off as "Your Local Macy" (inspired by my Insta handle) but recently I changed my name to "Macy Sees The World" to give people a clearer idea of what my newsletter is about (travel).
Here are some factors I considered when choosing my new name:
- Does it clearly communicate the purpose of the newsletter?
- Does it inform people about the niche you write in?
- Does it flow and is it memorable?
- Is the name available as a social media handle?
Hope this helps you. :)
It's a brand--I don't think there's any way you can go wrong as long as you are happy with it. Make it yours, and once you pick it don't change it. It might feel weird at first but once you've got a chunky archive then it will take on a life of its own.
I see that you write about books, and I do too. Since I write about other things as well, I don't want to limit my substack name to just about books, I gave it a broader name that could be just about anything and everything so that I don't feel limited in my writing. I hope that's helpful and always happy to connect more to help you brainstorm!
I chose my name at the beginning, and tried to choose something slightly evocative that would stand out a little - while hopefully making it clear what my newsletter is focused on. In terms of how to create a good name, my best friend has always been the thesaurus - and a notepad by the bed for those 3AM inspirations! I jot down all of the ideas related to the topic I am interested in, then open up a thesaurus and start going through to find words I like the sound of. I then create a shortlist and sleep on it, until I find the name that just "feels" right. It's as much an art as a science.
One of my middle names is Webb that was given to me from my mother. It is my ode to her and a way to include her in my life (she is no longer in the land of the living). Fun, personalized names always grab my attention.
Your newsletter name is so fun!! I love it!
I have this problem too, My newsletter was originally meant for everything graduate school, but I noticed that graduate school admission seekers where more interested in reading than current students.
What I have done( don’t know yet if it’s best or not): I opened a second substack publication for the graduate student contents only. Will post there once daily, and contents for admission seekers will be more frequent (4 times a week) because the opportunities are time dependent.
I initially left it as one publication buy adding contents for graduate students as subcategory, but I noticed that due to low open rates, it was affecting my general open rates.
I don’t know if I’m doing it right, but at least one of my KPI(key performance indicators) which is open rate has been saved.
Please I also need to know if I’m right or already wrong, it’s early to find another way
Are you looking to change your name? I initially came up with 10 different names, emailed them like a survey to friends and family. One came up as the winner. Aging Gratefully.
✏️❤️ Hello fellow writers! I'd love to start a thread right here where we share one of our posts that we are really proud of! That way we can show-off a bit (I've discovered that writers almost always could use the confidence boost), find like-minded writers, and just read some good writing!
Really proud of my latest post, talked about what lessons we as a society can draw from HG Wells' the Time Machine novella, and discussed how the book is connected to the eugenics + social Darwinism movement. Even included thoughts from a fellow Substack writer, Sam W, who had recently written about eugenics. Research, interviews, moral and ethical questions about who we are and where we're going, what's not to like :D https://roberturbaschek.substack.com/p/where-were-going-we-dont-need-roads
Sounds amazing! And like it's going to take me a minute to fully wrap my mind around... I think this one I'll save for Saturday morning with a cup of coffee!
With all of the concern about ChatGPT and AI writers, I wrote a post on how professional writers can prepare themselves and be more resistent as the technology advanaces - I hope you like it: https://ironcladcreative.substack.com/p/write-against-the-machine
I'm enthusiastic about ChatGPT's potential for writers. I recently joined Substack with the aim of writing a couple of serial fiction series using ChatGPT, while sharing my creative process using the AI technology.
I think it will show that the writer is still very much in charge of the process. But it's an experiment, so I'm not sure what I'll find in the end. Here's my first article in which I describe my project: https://open.substack.com/pub/cherylrodgers/p/ai-gpt-4-powered-creativity?r=298twi&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
BTW - I copied this long link from my page. How did you get the nice clean link for your write-agaist-the-machine article?
On your post, click the "share" button on the top right. Then should be able to "copy link", and it'll look like this: https://cherylrodgers.substack.com/p/ai-gpt-4-powered-creativity
Thanks Sue!
SO important! Thanks for sharing Paul! Taking a look right now...
I'll start 😁 so proud of this post from last week. It feels accessible but deep! I think anyone can learn something from it (I learned so much writing it!)
The Resilience Experiment: If you can learn from “failure” without self-judgment, you can be resilient.
https://theluminist.substack.com/p/22-the-resilience-experiment
Wow, what a great read - poignant, beautiful, helpful - lovely work.
Aww thank you Paul!
Just wanted to come back and say that I took away the paywall, so the full story is now available to everyone:)
https://open.substack.com/pub/kodeworldofthearts/p/in-pursuit-of-a-slower-life?r=1hp10d&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
Love this! Also, for what it is worth, I just turned on paid subscriptions after reaching 300 subscribers, and a few of my old subscribers decided to go paid even though everyone receives the same content. They just want to support the mission. Admittedly I'm in the fortunate position that I'm not currently relying on this income (though I hope to one day). But I thought it was interesting that people decided to go paid just 'cause...
Sorry I didn't see this in the influx on notifs I got from last week's office hours. But yeah, it is interesting that some chose to go paid even if it doesn't bring them any special edition post or whatever. That must mean they really like your writing and want to support you:) Congrats on the 300 subs btw!! I'm happy for you!:)
I feel a bit bad posting this here because its behind a paywall... Tbh i dont really know why I put it there bc I dont have paying subscribers. But maybe it will inspire some to upgrade to paid? one can only hope....
But what I do have is FREE TRIAL!!! so if you're interested in reading this post, you can sign up for the free trial by becoming a paid subscriber and I wont be mad at all if you just cancel that subscription right after!:) in fact I would love if thats an okay method for you guys if it means you'll have a look at the full post. Maybe soon i'll just take the paywall away actually...
https://open.substack.com/pub/kodeworldofthearts/p/in-pursuit-of-a-slower-life?r=1hp10d&utm_medium=ios&utm_campaign=post
Hello Sue. Nice to meet you! The Resilience Experiment certainly sounds like something I need to read right now. Will give it look in a second.
I document stories and lessons from my travels around the world. Here's my most recent post if you're interested: https://macyseestheworld.substack.com/p/paparazzi-duck-pics-and-rock-n-roll
Hope you enjoy. :))
Thanks for sharing Macy, and nice to meet you! I'm definitely intrigued by the "duck pics" 😆
They certainly are cute!
I just wanted to say THANK YOU to the team at Substack for adding the feature that allows posts in individual sections to be excluded from the home page. This small change makes a huge difference!
✏️ Hello everyone, new writer here!
I'm in the travel niche, and I'm thinking of starting an interview podcast to complement my newsletter. Currently, the newsletter focuses on stories and lessons from my travels. The podcast will feature the travelers and locals I'm meeting to give my audience a more holistic view of my journey.
If you run a podcast, I'm interested in your opinion on these questions.
1. Currently, I've been promoting my newsletter on my personal Insta and Twitter. Do you think I should create a separate account just for the podcast?
2. What has been your most effective strategy for growing your listener count?
3. If you could go back to when you'd just started and give yourself one piece of advice, what would it be?
Looking forward to hearing your thoughts. :)
I dabbled in podcasting and am taking a pause right now. I do not think you should create a separate account for the podcast. Keep it all under one roof. People want to read what you have to say and hear what you have to say--don't make them go to two different places for it!
I can't speak effectively to the other stuff, but I'm a big advocate of consolidation. Podcasts integrate so seamlessly with the newsletters, it would be a shame to divide them!
Thank you, Scoot! Yes, it makes sense to consolidate to avoid confusing people. Good luck with your own podcasting!
Hi Macy, I’m interested in learning more about podcasting too. Your travel podcast and interviewing locals sounds very interesting! Where all will you be going?
I'm headed to Dallas and Austin next week, then back home to Southern CA for a few weeks, then China for 2-3 months this summer! I haven't seen my grandparents, aunts, cousins, haha basically all my relatives for 10 years, so I'm thrilled. :))
I just subscribed! Blessings on your travels. Can’t wait to hear your podcast!
Yay, excited to share this adventure with you.
It's coming out May 1!
I don't do podcasts (yet), but I do a weekly LinkedIn audio event with a guest speaker and live audience. I record it and include a recording in a short article with key highlights on my substack. It goes out weekly and so far it seems to be driving good engagement.
I just think podcasts take too much effort. So I don't want to get into it without first "testing" a topic with a live audience. If it works, I might then do a podcast on that topic.
So far I am very busy with writing and managing my weekly live audio events.
Good luck!
Hi Naveen! A live audio event sounds like a fantastic idea. I have a friend who does something similar on his Instagram and it seems to be quite a hit with his audience as well. I might give this a spin. Thanks!
✏️ Has anyone sent out a survey to subscribers that gave you valuable information on how to increase conversion on subscriptions from free to paid? What did you ask? Thanks for sharing.
Winston Malone at the StoryLetter did and he wrote an article about it.
https://storyletter.substack.com/p/deposing-the-imposter-survey-results
I hope this helps!
Brilliant, Thanks!
✏️ I have a question on the Notes thread!
Which examples of great embeds of Notes into articles have you seen?
Share, share, share!!! 📝
Let's continue there: https://on.substack.com/p/office-hours-notes-75/comment/15040302
As in "Don't think twice it's alright"....Dylan?
I was a teenage devotee in Dylan's 1960s heyday. I'll be posting one of my articles on him quite soon.... on: http://grahamcunningham.substack.com/
One can embed Notes into ones article!? Wow gotta learn how to do that
Yes, Kode. Just copy and paste. And you can enrich with multimedia content.
I’ve used a GIF here, for example: https://open.substack.com/pub/livmkk/p/everything-subsides
oh! Well that was easy. Thank you Livio
✏️ Any novice writers here still trying to figure out their niche?
With notes, there is more insight into what people are doing with Substack which is both good and bad for me.
I see myself comparing to people who have been writing professionally for years and have an established audience when I am _just_ getting started. Not sure if this is a question or just a stream of consciousness.
Im in the same boat as you, Asmita. I have a niche but the niche is still broad. Its visual arts and literature - might as well say I just talk about culture! I just launched my substack a month or so ago, perhaps two now if you take into account when my first podcast episode aired. Maybe my "niche" is too broad, but at the same time if you narrow your niche too much you'll miss out on subscriptions. Thats why I chose a slightly broader field to explore, and I'll try to mention a little bit of everything. Im sure over time I'll develop a better view of what my readers (currently... barely 5) want and like. Then I can see if thats viable to get more subscribers! It takes time and Im okay with that. Im just happy to interract and share something I enjoy lots and lots!:)
Thank you for sharing your experience, Kode.
I am in a similar boat; trying to figure out what I want to explore through my newsletter.
I dont think being experimental is a bad thing, and if you have few subscribers (whatever that means to you) there is also a low risk of losing people. Besides, one can always be open in the description of the newsletter that one is experimenting and looking for a niche! something they're passionate about! but in the meantime its about XYZ!:) You'll figure it out Asmita I believe in you!:)
That is very sweet of you!! I believe in us!
💛💛💛
✏️Would love to hear people’s opinions on posting frequency. Recently talked to a writer who grew quickly and he held the opinion that quality is better than quantity and that quantity doesn’t necessarily lead to quality.
I’ve always thought that quantity is how you ultimately get to quality.
What are your thoughts?
I think it depends on what you write about and the kind of audience you have, and how long the posts tend to be. Had a discussion about this with a bunch of others a couple of weeks ago, and opinions were divided on post frequency. But I think if you do long posts, then max once a week, but you can always do more smaller posts throughout the week. With regard to quality, I would say go for quality each and every time, everything you write is kind of like your calling card, the thing that might attract people (or put them off). But yeah, in the long run the quantity improves your quality, but I wouldn't rush it.
Yeah: long posts = once/week. Shorter pieces (500 words, say), 2-3
I decided to publish 2x per week. I think whatever frequency you decide, it is very important to sustain it consistently over a long period of time without sacrificing quality. In fact less is more because that keeps your audience waiting if they like your stuff. I agree that you have to write a lot to get better, but keeping our word to your subscribers is more important. Over time I am hoping to get enough quantity and practice.
Good luck
Good luck to you, too!
I feel like its easy for established writers who have been writing professionally for some time to say quality over quantity because they already have quality in their works, and forget that quantity is a method to improve. I say write with quality in mind - strive for quality in every work you do, long or shortform. Write posts you dont share with anyone cuz its still practice. Write posts and revise them a week, or several later. Maybe even months! Every time you write, do your utter best. When people say quality over quantity, they tend to mean that a quickly written post (say to meet a posting quote or goal) undermines the quality because you focus on the amount you can write in a short time rather than what you're actually putting into the world. Find a posting schedule that works for you, maybe with enough time on the side to practice writing even if no one is going to see it. Not everything you write has to be a post. That's my advice, from a fellow struggling writer:)
🟧 I would like an explanation of what the difference between Notes, versus Chat, versus Notifications. It seems that there is a crossover of notifications on multiple channels. Is there a way to declutter the same things coming via multiple channels? Also, are the developers working on a better connection from the notifications back to the original thread? Right now, I might receive a comment from someone but have zero clue what Note they are responding to... I know it takes time. :)
🟧 Hi all! Newbie here and loving the site/app so much. Are there any plans to add the writer’s dashboard to the app?
There was some functionality but it’s gone. My husband logs in via safari on iPhone and it works great.
🟧 Aside from my first note, which I think you highlighted for my subscribers, I’ve gotten almost no feedback for my subsequent notes. Just wanted to mention that!
Getting crickets is common on any social platform. Long ago I stopped caring. It’s really the silent traffic (views) that is important as it’s exposed to your message over time and helps you build your authority.
Thanks for the feedback, Josh. We recently published a post with a guide to growth and collaboration on Notes https://on.substack.com/p/notes-collaboration-growth-guide
Hi WO, can you clarify the difference between when a subscription from direct and a subscription from Substack network?
What’s direct? How did those subscribers find us?
Thanks
Mike McCormick
✏️ hey fellow writers!
I’m 4 months into consistently writing my weekly newsletter that’s focused on natural wine.
I was wondering if you guys had some feedback you could send my way?
Thanks ❤️
I would have to try the wine first...
Link to my publication - https://open.substack.com/pub/naturalswill?r=1a6uyt&utm_medium=ios
🟧 Am wondering how to manage Sales Taxes on my newsletter for paid subscribers. I am based in Quebec, Canada and the rules are:
- I should be charging and collecting sales tax based on the province of residence of the buyer for Canadian sales
- I should not be charging and collecting sales tax for sales outside Canada
The best I've come up with so far has been to have Stripe automatically calculate and charge tax to all transactions so I can meet my obligations. However, this is suboptimal because the buyer doesn't see they will be charged tax until they are charged and I am charging tax to international customers where I shouldn't be.
Is there anything in the works for Substack to manage this? Am I missing something?
Hi Joel, thanks for your feedback and question. We recently added an integration to Stripe Tax, though I'm not sure if Canada is supported. Please try it out and let me know if it works for you: https://support.substack.com/hc/en-us/articles/12282257442580-Does-Substack-integrate-with-Stripe-Tax-
Thanks for your answer Dayne.
I've configured this as it is listed in the article. It gives me the result as outlined in my original post (user doesn't know they will pay tax up front and am charging tax to users I don't need to).