Have questions about publishing, growing, or going paid on Substack?
The Substack team, and your fellow writers, are here to help! Today, the Substack app team will be here to help answer any questions about the new Home experience in the app. Drop your questions in the discussion thread by leaving a comment, and weโll do our best to share knowledge and tips.
Our team will be answering questions and sharing insights with you in the threadย today from 10 a.m.โ11 a.m. PST / 1 p.m.โ2 p.m. EST.
Some product updates and reminders from the Substack team:
A new front page for Substack: This week we unveiled a new Home experience for the Substack app that puts new posts in an elegant reading queue at the top of the screen and pairs it with a feed that showcases the vitality of the Substack network.
If youโre enjoying the new app, invite your subscribers to read with you in the app by including the โGet the appโ button in your next post.
In case you missed it: Over the past month, weโve shared a series of posts that dive into our philosophy for building a great home for reading and how, ultimately, we believe this will help writers grow their audiences. We hope these posts make our intentions clear to both you and your readers.
Join us on our AMA tour: To celebrate this universe of great minds writing on Substack, weโre gathering a lineup of experts including Hunter Harris,Emily Oster, Joe Posnanski and more to host ask-me-anything sessions on a variety of topics ranging from parenting to pop culture, coming directly to the Explore feed in the Substack app. The first AMA is happening immediately following Office Hours today with Erik Hoel. Join us.
Got questions about Substack or feedback about a feature or tool? Youโre in the right place! Leave a comment in this thread.
๐ง Help - not sure if this is covered anywhere in your FAQs: If there are two authors collaborating on a piece, is there a way that we can simultaneously publish on both of our substacks, or does it only work with a "main" publisher and a cross-post?
Luma is so great. I think I learned about it from a Substack event! I wonder what other cool software yโall use to make life easier! ๐ Feel free to share any others!
It's what the people who run SubStack called thesemeetings (which are like their "office hours") with prominent people who write here. I think it stands for "ask me anything".
๐ง โ๏ธ Hi @katie & fellow writers - I'm trying to set up Stripe Tax and need to select a pre-set tax code from the dropdown menu (the default is General - Electronically Supplied Services). Does anyone know which is right for us, please?
I have a related question about whether other people use Stripe for separate invoicing? I'm thinking of selling merch on my site, or selling access to webinars or on-demand courses using a Stripe checkout link. If anyone else has done that and can comment, I'd be grateful for any mistakes to avoid.
Related to this, I wonder if I ought to be charging sales tax in those Stripe invoices? Thanks in advance for any input.
I only use Stripe because it's the designated payment processor for Substack, Kickstarter and Backerkit. For in-person sales and the Ramen Sandwich website, I was already using Square, which integrates with a lot of major hosting sites. It works well enough, and I recall that they are set up for selling services online. The main issue I have had is that Square/Weebly (we originally signed up for Weebly, before Square acquired it) tweaks its editing functionality without any warning, so if you don't update your site frequently you may be surprised at changes.
I have used Stripe to process theatre bookings for a European theatre group. The benefit over Paypal was immediate payout of sums less commission, instead of having to remember to request transfers to account. Rates of course vary according to currency and payment type. Also SF-based: it's where it's at, it seems. I would confirm that writing content is the supply of a service provided electronically. For NACE, it's number 58.41, publishing (but under four times a week), physical or electronic doesn't matter.
Sage advice RAISINI. As an introvert, self promotion or marketing for that matter is no easy task. Will take onboard some of your advice in your article. Thank you
Just want to say that the updated app looks great!! & would love to see features that are geared more for writers (for example, I think can only access my drafts through the web browser version of Substack, unless Iโm totally missing something).
I agree, but I wonder if a writers app and a readers' app shouldn't be different things. The nice thing about the new app (that I love) is that it's clean, uncluttered, and designed for discovery. As much as I'd love to be able to edit out a typo in the app, I would hate to clutter the experience for everyone.
I like the idea that the app is designed for one thing, and does it beautifully.
I dont have that many subscribers so I've been checking that out over the past few months from the new subscribers notification. I have a surprising amount of subscribers who have not yet posted anything but read quite a few different Stacks.
Wouldn't those people, mostly, just follow you, rather than Subscribe? I'd like to have a separate count for Followers I've been collecting, just for a sort of reference point. You know, I got 450 Subscribers and 123 followers. But that's a total of 570'ish people reading your work.
A bit like what we see on LinkedIn, a separation of Connections and Followers. However, there is a subset of LinkedIn members who have an automatic "Follow Me" button that gets triggered the moment you click on "Connect", then you have to "Unfollow" if you didn't mean to follow... blah blah blah, so you end up not putting any serious value on the concept of "following"
Cause I'm out and about and not carrying my Mac with me. I used to keep all my work in Grammarly and they don't have a phone version. I hated not having access to stuff I was working on until I got home.
I have been speaking the first vomit draft into a voice-to-text while I am driving or what-have-you. Then I email that to myself and when I get home, I run it through Grammarly for an edit. Sounds cumbersome, but it's the best way I know of having new shit for my writers Zoom group on the weekends. By the way, y'all are invited. I try to keep it to 4 or 5 people and we each get 15 mins of reading our stuff and feedback.
If this is an example of Substack's Writing app, it is painfully slow. I am constantly overrunning and having to pause, or if I pause to think, it goes to sleep and takes a while to wake up, interrupting the thinking flowing out through my fingers.
How do I sync notes from Google Keep to my Mac?
Here's how to add your Google account to Mac and save notes to it:
1. Open System Preferences and click Internet Accounts.
2. If you have already added a Google account, select it from the left sidebar and check Notes. ...
3. Use your Google username and password to complete the sign-in. ...
4. Now go back to the System Preferences window.
More items...
โขIt is too late and I am too old,(80), so I will pause here for the night. If you have questions, reply this on the Substack app and I will try to help.
good question. I don't like writing on my phone. However, I have sometimes found, having gone out, that I am inspired to write an article. I can write it in another app and copy and paste, but I think a dedicated app for Substack would be quite useful in that situation.
l'll raise my hand to also vote for a separate reader's app. Better to brand and market Substack as a global universal magazine for virtually any reader of anything anywhere anytime. There is much for us writers that would just be distracting to readers.
It's funny how we each experience things differently because I find this new version to be very cluttered ... which is exactly why I would love to see the option to turn on and off all features to customize the app to exactly what you want as a user.
It's true how much our own experience shapes our relationship to these kind of apps. I started out my career flying aiplanes, and by comparison, this app is so clean. But without that experience, I'm not sure how I'd feel about it.
Oh that's so interesting! It's our experience and also the way we learn, the senses that are primary to each of us, issues of neurodiversity ... so many factors that it really seems absurd to have an app that only looks one way for everyone!
That's another good point. My son is neurodiverse and seeing how he interacts with technology is mindblowing.
There used to be more of a design for inclusion push in tech. When I worked at one company, we had an intern from MIT who was really focused on designing apps for inclusion and usability. I wonder what happened there
That's a really good question and I'd love if anyone has more insights into that. I'm currently trying to create a job for myself as a mental health expert consultant for museums and galleries, incorporating mental wellness and neurodiversity concerns into both internal and external facing aspects of art spaces and there's really not a good model for that so someone was telling me to try exploring the DEI space as it relates to art museums. Not quite the same thing but it does seem like there was a lot of emphasis on that in various industries for a while and now maybe less so?
I definitely agree, Rebecca. The updated app is much easier to use, and so nice to look at! Being able to use the app, or an app, for writing posts would be the cherry on the cake.
The request for writer tools in the app is very much on our radar. Unfortunately our mobile team is very small at the moment (we are hiring iOS engineers!) and we haven't been able to start work on it yet, but definitely understand the need.
In the interim, we're excited about how building a home for readers can support writers too.
Thanks for this update, Jasmine. Appreciate it's early days (and you've been rolling out new products at a blistering pace), but - I bet there's a lot of call for a Substack writing app out there now.
Here's one I can vouch for: I have a friend who is suffering from a really tough health issue which makes sitting up at her laptop really physically draining, so - if there was eventually a writing app or writing functionality in the existing app for Substackers, that would free her to get writing on her phone in a way she's find really difficult right now.
(She can use the Web version of the dashboard on mobile, but doing some things in the editor like adding links is either a bit of a nightmare for her or just impossible).
โHahas and ahasโ One of my favorite little phrases as I encouraged my speech students to use humor in their introโs, especially. My Masterโs in Speech Communication was titled โThe Use of Humor to Reduce Speech Anxiety.โ
From your profile, I gather that we have a lot in common, so I thought Iโd check out your โstack. However, I am 80, half blind, a retired addiction counselor (The governor assured us we would get our reward in Heaven), living on SS, so your paid version is too rich for my blood (thinned as is these days after being prescribed very expensive blood thinning meds, and Iโm going to be in the Coverage Gap the rest of the year), so โNoMun, NoFun, or NixKix for JoJo.โ
Sweet, Pete. I was a comic and an addict so yes we do have a lot in common. Well aren't you fancy living on SS! I'm actually getting 480 a month from the gov, so growing this as a retirement plan. LOVE writing for a crowd. n
I was working on my fallback plan to supplement my SS, rehearsing my greeting, โWelcome to Walmart! Would you like a cart today?โ But my stroke has rendered any employment plans null and void. Unless I can build a subscriber base and/or do a Life Coach gig online.
Mike, I just saw this. I'm sure you know that there are lots of keyboards you can use with mobile iPhones. I also have a 6" iPad that I never use. It has a black case with an integrated keyboard, so she could lie down and be in another position and it might do the trick. Or forget the keyboard and just type right on the email iPad vertically within the desktop OS like a slightly bigger phone -- keys, screen etc. It might not be as easy as typing on the phone, but it might do the trick and/or serve as a stopgap. If so, she is welcome to it. I can send photos. It's in perfectly good (excellent) condition. I received it as a gift and it just really isn't part of my workflow. @Sowden
Hi Mike! You are amazingly helpfulW I commented at the top earlier about using Google's Keep Note app that I have been using in conjunction with talking-to-text via Textra.
If this is an example of Substack's Writing app, it is painfully slow. I am constatnly overrunning and having to pause or if I pause, it goes to sleep and takes a while to wake up, interrupting the thinking flowing out hrough my fingers.
A test of my assertion: The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy brown dog, who lifted his head and nipped off the t******s of the insouciant little b*****d. (The first time it hung up on the "L" in lazy. The second test was discontinued after it hung up on the first "T."
The "W" after "helpful" was supposed to read "helpful! I am a fast, but not particularly accurate. typist, so I would like to correct typos without replying to self.
Since my stroke I am also bling in my left eye and blurry with both, so I miss more mistakes than I used to. So the comma after "typist" was supposed to be after "accurate," rather than after typist. I didn't see either until just now when, I returned from a short walk.
If a writers app does come to fruition, it would be great if it kept in mind accessibility features such as providing a way to dictate by speaking into the app as well as the ability to type. I am loving the reader app (new to this space ).
I use MS Word to write. Over the years, I have grown use to the efficiency of spell checker. Then a couple of days ago I saw an ad for Grammarly. I thought this sounded great. I at once subscribed to it. I did not even get to use it before I got a pop-up notifying me of the MS Editor extension. I added it to my writing tools. It is GREAT! And it is FREE!
I just used Bing AI to learn how to get Editor and it gave me the following answer: โTo get started with Microsoft Editor, you can visit the official Microsoft Editor website 1. From there, you can download the browser extension for your preferred browser or explore the features available with a Microsoft 365 subscription.โ 1. microsoft.com
I also Bing AIed [new word?] speech-to-text applications. I got the following: There are several speech-to-text apps available that can help you convert spoken words into written text. Here are some of the best ones:
Dragon Anywhere: Dragon Anywhere is a mobile speech-to-text app developed by Nuance. It offers high-quality speech recognition and syncs with the desktop Dragon software1.
Google Gboard: If you have an Android device, you can use Google Gboard for speech-to-text transcription1.
Just Press Record: Just Press Record is a dedicated dictation app that allows you to transcribe your voice into text2.
Speechnotes: Speechnotes is another popular speech-to-text app that provides a simple and user-friendly interface for transcribing your voice1.
These are just a few examples, and there are many more speech-to-text apps available for different platforms and devices. You can explore these apps further to find the one that best suits your needs.
Please note that the availability and features of these apps may vary depending on your device and operating system.โ 1. techradar.com2. imore.com3. ahrefs.com4. pcmag.com
Hi Jasmine. Just want to highlight the discussion above about a separate writers' app. I don't know if that's something the team would consider, but I'd be happy to help in any way I can (definitely now an iOS engineer)
Disliking change when I'm not completely au fait with the existing app meant I was negative/anxious on roll-out day. I'm getting there though now - and am using it more than previously. I'm a laptop Substack user, so the sudden big difference really threw me.I think I shall like it.
I also agree on a 'writers' app or at least a function that keeps the editing tools (Style-B-I-Strikethrough, images, buttons etc.) at the top of the page under the web address for formatting ease on the mobile browser.
If you need your weekly boost, here's some words to live by:
Your goals and dreams are the ONLY north star you need to keep you on track. You don't need to compare yourself to others, compete against people who aren't even playing the same game as you are, or worry that you're not where you're supposed to be.
You are EXACTLY where you're supposed to be!
If you're here, you're growing.
So keep going!
Don't give up. Don't give in. Follow your goals, ask good questions, realign where necessary, and always KEEP WRITING. ๐ฟ
I couldn't agree with you more, S.E. On more than one occasion I've realized that my writing has really saved my life, giving me a path back to reason. As M. Scott Peck so famously opened, "Life is difficult." We each need an anchor, a "north star" as you say, something to reach to when it gets particularly difficult. Writing has been that for me for all of my life and I am eternally grateful.
Love all of your encouragement! Thank you for the regular reminders to stay in our lane and focus on our work instead of falling into the comparison trap, which is so damn easy to do!!
With all due respect, I have often believed that the admonition that one should not compare oneself to others was akin to the right-wing and capitalistic notion that one should quit complaining about one's poverty.
Capitalists would prefer that we be mum about experiences of persecution, ostracism and discrimination, and when we experience instances of these affronts, they think we should amiably endure them and refrain from noting that other people are doing better.
Just as a worker should wonder why a CEO's income is 500 times his income, a writer should wonder why his newsletter is read by 200 people and someone else's newsleter, which might be relatively vacuous and trivial, is read by 20,000 people.
Hey, schools, firms, and the government compare us to others, why shouldn't we al;so make comparisons to buttress and fortify our lives against assaults on our endeavors
And if we have to play the comparisons game (which is *really* difficult to stop doing) - we can compare with who we were and what we were doing yesterday, or last week, or last year. Measuring your progress against yourself is a really encouraging thing, and it keeps things super-real.
Yesss!! Thank you. Recently, I was talking to my daughter about an essay I was thinking about posting. She told me she thought it was great; it would make me feel more real. I was like, How did you know?!! Turns out she was meaning more real to readers. ;).
I know I'm following my north star as writing and sharing what I'm writing is making me feel more and more real to myself--more and more like the real me.
And also, hi Shinjini!! Just saw that I actually replied to you about YOUR mixed media. I went over to check out Anastasia--who is witty and fun and looking for work besties. I recommend checking her page lissen! out. Now I've found your stack, Studio Diaries, and it's gorgeous! Glad to have found you both.
Hi, Anastasia! My daughter is into mixed media art, and I love the breadth of creativity it allows for. I visited her recently. We made art together, and I was inspired to loosen up (a little) by her enthusiasm and ease. I had painted a leaf and was pressing it delicately onto the canvas. "Hit it with something," she encouraged. "Like this!" She slapped her own leaf onto her canvas multiple times. :). She also does digital art stuff. Excited to check out your mixed media art journals. :)
I write essays from the Rolling Desk--on thinking and sometimes living outside and outside the box and on taking leaps forward to becoming who you deeply are and deeply desire to be. (I currently live in a van called Ruby.) Would love you to check it out if that appeals. Here's a link to a short piece on that art making experience. https://hollystarley.substack.com/p/whatcha-making-call-for-1st-saturday/comments
Hi Anastasia! I write about the complex relationship between art and mental health - art as therapy but also the shadow side of how mental health impacts artists. If that's of interest, come join me and say hi!
Love this. Especially the often overlooked negative effects creating can have on artists. The insecurity I get from publishing and sharing my writing is like no other, and it's even worse with music! Will definitely come and say hello
Yes thatโs a perfect example. I spent a long time learning about the benefits of art/craft and I super value that but we are missing out on a more complete understanding by not addressing how complex it can be.
Ooh, thanks, I'll have to check that out. I was on a deep dive earlier this year into Plath and not just her writing or even the writing about her but the works inspired by her writing that go deeper into mental health. It is a bit on the back burner right now since I just started grad school again and have a ton of school reading to do but it remains a deep interest.
Thanks! I'm adjusting to grad school ... the reading is a lot but enjoyable ... the classes are also enjoyable but it's been a very long time since I had to regularly be on someone else's schedule so that's the biggest adjustment!
Hey anastasia! I write on cultural commentary and interpersonal explorations of self. My latest substack recounts my travels through europe and how it made me realize my self sabotaging tendencies. Hope you enjoy! https://denisemasiel.substack.com/p/lessons-on-self-sabotaging
Most people never acknowledge their self-sabotage. They are too heavily invested in finding culpable parties in every third person they know. I hope I remember to check out your material.
Hy Anastasia! lovely to e-meet you <3 I just moved to Substack from ConvertKit this week and so I'm still getting the hang of Substack. I launched The Good Life newsletter, the place where the worldโs top chefs & hoteliers reveal their favorite spots in their home cities.
From what I've seen, I think that Substack's recommendation feature is super powerful, and Convert Kit's Creator network ( a similar feature to Substack's recommendations) isn't nearly as strong.
Honestly, our modern world has made it pretty easy because 90% of what people read are opinions, not information. So I've made an effort to avoid the toxic conversation and focus on things like Company A buys Company B etc. And honestly, that stuff is actually how the world works. :)
You might want to have a really good editor scour your content and show you where opinion snuck in even though you didn't mean for it to. In my experience, it's almost unavoidable to avoid bias. But the effort alone is worthwhile!
Hello Anastasia and everyone reading this thread (thanks for starting it Anastasia, btw!),
I've been in dire need to connect to other writers on Substack and in general.
I'm a fiction novel, poetry and short story writer, and illustrator. I also like taking photographs of strange places and putting them with my writing. I mostly upload my poetry/retrospective nonfiction on Substack, although I do share my short stories sometimes.
Hey. I'm June and I write about all kinds of stuff. Mostly me and life , including nature, the garden, reading, my knitting! Sometimes I drop in a memoir essay about training to be a nurse almost 50 years ago. Come and say hi!
Nobody in the world is so good that they couldnโt get better! I find it so exciting, finding things to write about that challenge me and my ways of expressing myself.
Hi Anastasia :) I've got a few newsletters up but still setting my Substack up, so I still consider myself fairly new. I'm using my own experiences to help other artists - especially highly sensitive ones - whoโve lost their creative mojo and feel a bit stuck, giving them encouragement to go for it again, the way I did. Would love you to take a look... or if you know an artist who needs a helping hand. Just in the process of moving countries right now, but I'll be back very soon!
Hey Anastasia! We write stories, embarrassments, musings, & essays (yes - essays not dissimilar to early-00s TV actresses with a book deal). We love signal boosting other writers. A "when the tide comes in, all boats rise" sort of approach to things. So your post is right up our alley.
Hi, Anastasia. My Substacks aim to ignite a new world of community, connection, and conversation one book at a time. Itโs my full-time passion, obsession, and income pipeline.
Hi Anastasia! I like your โf*ck minimalismโ post! ๐ Iโm still sometimes tempted to purge belongings in an effort to get everything tidy-looking (esp since we live in a small space), but itโs nice to say โto hell with itโ where some things are concerned.
thank you so much! and oh my god I should post an update about that. We've added plants and sort of made our previously very minimalist space more "cluttered" since I wrote that. and you know what it looks BETTER. it's way more forgiving. we just organised storage better!
I love this!! And I love the idea of a space being more โforgivingโ. (Plants are so awesomeโI stole some cuttings from a hallways spider plant and Iโm so happy to watch them thrive in my flat!)
before I always had a sense that our apartment was messy, even when I spent hours cleaning. now it feels lovely most of the time... of course with two young kids it's still a lot of maintenance, but it's so nice.
๐ง Hey, all! Quick word of warning. When you pay someone to help you with your Substack, make sure theyโve helped others and have gotten results. Courses too!
Ask for numbers. How many people have they helped and how? More subscribers? More paid subscribers? They should have data to show.
I want you to be smart and always get your moneyโs worth.
For instance, the writers Iโve worked with have doubled and tripled their subscribers, seen a sharp increase inย realย engagement, and been chosen as Featured Substacks. Most importantly, theyโve found purpose in their writing and direction in their careers.
I can show you stats and point you to the Substacks Iโve helped succeed. You deserve that!
And yes, Iโm partly writing this because of course I want you to subscribe to Writers at Work, where I give away as much advice as I can away for free. All the guidance I offer is based on the advice Substack gave me.
But I also want us all to succeed and not get hoodwinked! Substack is unlike any other platform and is the hardest to succeed in. Get the right helpโand draw on Office Hours and your fellow writers.
I don't like to part with money when I don't have to, but why do you adamently oppose the idea of ever hiring someone to assist with substack.
If we took your argument to its logical conclusion, we would have to say that one should never hire someone to help one tutor one's child , never hire a coach to help boost athletic performance, and never hire a dietician to improve food selections.
You may contend that the answers are all provided in substack's help pages, but some people are so poorly acclimated to the digital world that they don't even understand the terminology of the explanatory pages on substack. Some people came of age in an era -- that I am increasingly nostalgic for -- when digital communications were only a dream that existed in the mind of a few scientists
All of that said, one must always keep one's guard up. We live in a "Hyper-capitalistic" society, and thieves and scoundrels in the guise of entrepreneurs abound.
Help me, David, could you, looking for some guidance here:
How, as a writer, would you say, "It sounds awfully like a self-promotional plug vaunting credentials that, for confidentiality reasons, obviously can never be revealed in the detail, and a bit of an oversell at that," and still remain within the bounds of due propriety and deferential respect? Any notions?
Agreed. Some people want and/or need help and others can do it on their own. There is nothing wrong with either approach. I've encountered the most scoundrels in the construction trade (which unfortunately I am having to live through again as I write about it)
Such great points. True, you can spend years on here trying to figure Substack out (I did before I met with them). Or a couple sessions based on Substack's guidance. Like you said, you can try every combination of food or just meet with a dietician.
I'd like to think everyone means well but maybe they aren't thinking of the people they work with and just want more (?). I definitely would have stopped if I didn't see results in the writers I work with.
Bob, I'll agree to a point, which is when the helper becomes a reviewer. We see frequent posts announcing some other writer's Substack and fawning over how wonderful it is. I can't help but wonder if that's meant to promote the writer, or the 'trainer' who is providing the review. Seems all you'd need to do is book sessions with that trainer to get some wonderful promotion on Substack. I don't think that's what the team had in mind.
Howard, if you're doing well, you don't need help, which is awesome! As you know, I try to champion as many people as possible--free, paid, and those I meet with. I can't read all 17,000 Substacks. I'm lucky that I have Substack's support.
Not sure why you felt the need to respond to this comment, Sarah. Inside and outside of Substack there are all too many writers who spend all their time teaching others how to write, and charging some pretty hefty fees to do it. Same in my former life in IT. Plenty of "coaches" some of whom never worked in the industry a day in their life. I don't know enough about you yet to refer to you in that comment. I've subscribed to you because I've heard you say some valuable things that will help me figure out what I consider to be a new medium for me in Substack. You are by no means the only one teaching, but I am encouraged by the fact that teaching has not stopped you from producing your own content. To me, that's your best validation. Having friends in the company is pretty easy to achieve if that's what you want, but continuing to be a working writer while sharing your insights and experiences with others, that keeps you credible.
I must say, I agree with you, Bob. Perhaps my thinking is outdated, but I continue to experience the "Do it yourself if you want it done right" on a daily basis. Thank you for the invaluable advice, though, Sarah.
How can you see what she's accomplished? Am I missing something? Isn't your growth sort of private? Like, no one can really see my subscriptions free and paid, right?
I work with writers who tell me, e.g., Heather Hausenblas got 1000 subscribers in a month while working with me, Kate Hill's gross revenue skyrocketed (putting the graph on my meet-with-me page now!), and two writers have been chosen for Substack Reads. We track their progress. Otherwise, it's not worth the money. Some writers want subscribers, some want paid, some want to sell backlisted books. That's what we do.
I think you're making a mistake if you keep your accomplishments private. Your best promotion is sharing the fact that others find your content valuable. Not details, just stats. Think about how major novelists etc. promote themselves. It has a lot to do with number of readers and copies sold. Sarah does a laudable job of promoting her accomplishments along with those of her students.
I can see that you have around 1k subscribers. Or less than 2k might be a better way to put it bc it only shows round numbers, iirc. IDK how many are paid but the average is around 10%, again iirc, so I can make an informed guess.
Getting this out of the way: I'm not fond of the changes that have been made to Notes. Shoving random top posts into my feed is intrusive and goes against the whole reason I use the 'following' feed exclusively. At the very least let me set it to only show posts from people I actually follow, or just turn it off. Though if it showed posts from the backlog of publications I'm subscribed to or brand new substacks, then I might be interested.
Also I'd greatly prefer an option for chronological scrolling. I want to see things as they happen, not in some order that's obscured to me. What I'm after is conversation with fellow writers and chronological order is the one that's best for that, algorithm order makes it like overhearing bits and pieces of a conversation.
Moving on, I've recently had the realization of how easy it is to not know about things on substack. I saw people on notes say it'd be interesting to see serialized novels or public domain works on substack when that's the entire reason I came here. Made me appreciate just how vast the range of substack is.
And for an attempt at some S.E Reid style encouragement, have you thought about what exactly you're after with your substack or in general? I've been writing a post where I tried to dig deeper into some long held desires of mine, and had the realization that I already did the things I wanted to do without fully realizing it.
So if this also leads you to realize you've already met a goal of yours, take some time to celebrate the fact that you achieved something important so smoothly you didn't even think about it. If you write, you are a writer. We try to put tons of disclaimers on things, but if you want to educate people on a subject and you've educated two people on it, you have in fact educated people on that subject.
I think the best solution would be to give us the tools to modify these feeds as we would like, instead of it being decided for us. Don't want to see posts from people you don't follow? Go for it. Want to see more posts that mention Kangaroos? Yes, please, right now.
Definitely. I have for years been arguing for a democratisation of social media platforms, giving users more control of all the dials and levers & making the mysterious workings of algorithms transparent for and accountable to all.
Yes. There is also the mere contemplation - and possibly scientific fact - that the more we have things done for us, the less we end up using our brains! ๐
Depends on the platform, I don't think there is one ready-made solution. But in essence the idea is to move away from centralised to decentralised control. That could be sort of like a reddit style thing only everyone in a subreddit controls that part of the site, or the people who do can only do so after consulting with everyone. Basically the way a cooperative company often works, by consent. But it could also be in ways that users get to control the algorithm on a social networking site, that is run decentrally/peer to peer on people's computers, maybe in part on an individual and in part on a communal basis, creating these sort of online neighbourhoods that you could be a part of, where people can get to know each other. Also, check out search engines like YaCy, which are also peer to peer run. Just thinking out loud on some of these ideas, btw. The main thing is that you have a say over the systems that have an influence over you (the same thing could be said for the way corporations are structured).
The first option has been in Notes since day one and what I've stuck with, only sometimes venturing into the 'home' or whatever option before going back to people I follow. Unless you mean like setting it to not even show restacks.
More options is good so I made a point of phrasing my complaints as 'I'd like this option' rather than removing things outright. A lot of people seem to love the changes that have been made so let those people keep it, but for me I'm scratching my head wondering what about this isn't a downgrade. If this trend keeps up with no alternatives I might have to accept Notes is no longer intended for people like me.
Now I'm remembering how the 'my subscribers' feed got quietly killed. Not a good sign.
We all have different needs (and always subject to change!), giving us the power to 'modify' for what we need is the definition of democratized media! "The Algorithm" runs so (too) much of our lives, and I believe that is the reason many of us are here...
For instance, unlike William up there, I love being exposed to people/stacks I do not know about on Notes. But like William, I appreciate chronology over popularity. Fine lines, fine lines...
I think it would get us out of this false choice of either letting these algorithms go rampant, spreading lies and pitting people against each other, or censoring and controlling what people can and can't say to fight something as nebulous and vague as 'disinformation'. In the end it is the profit (and other) motive(s) that is driving many of these problems, and these platforms are not designed to be beneficial to us, much less giving us any kind of say in how they function.
Totally agree with your concern about notes. I feel like every time I open the app I see a "notification"-like dot above notes but then I scroll and I'm like, "wait, what? where did all this come from?" It's not necessary bad stuff but I'm super picky about what I flow in front of my face and am not really into an anonymous algorithm deciding that for me. It's what I like about substack, but this feature seems to run counter to that...?
Exactly. At least it's possible to stop using Notes while keeping your subscriptions, but thinking 'well at least this doesn't impact all of substack' for new updates is not a good sign.
Hi William, thanks for the feedback. Giving readers and writers control over their experience is always something we want to work toward. This is just a first version, and there are plenty of improvements to come.
Right now, there is still a "Following" feed in the Explore toggle that only shows notes from people you subscribe to or follow. That feed is totally chronological. In addition, if you want a focused reading space, we've made the full chronological inbox more powerful tooโnow with simple saved/audio filters and multiple appearance settings. We're hoping to add more ways for you to navigate that too, e.g. a search function.
Noted that you don't love the top posts modules. We're planning to introduce more controls around whether & which you see, so stay tuned.
Thank you for the response, I know that these changes took some hard work and it isn't the best feeling when people are sour on your hard work.
On another look the Notes feed is chronological again, I remember for a while it definitely didn't look chronological there was a whole thing about it, but it looks like I didn't notice when it did become chronological. My bad. Though I swear I saw posts in non chronological order just yesterday, ah well it's settled now anyway.
I appreciate hearing you have controls for the top posts module on the way. After seeing some other comments on Notes, I think top posts might also be helped by more granular categories. Like having novels, short stories, and poetry as distinct categories to avoid the issue of the fiction category containing both fiction and posts about fiction.
I'm seeing the same new-to-Substack best-selling authors in Top Posts, Recommended Posts, and Just Launched, two days in a row. I'll be using the browser.
Very cool that you've already done things you set out to do without really realizing it. I think this happens, it sneaks up on us. If we are consistently showing up, plodding along, things happen (hopefully). I appreciate this reminder William.
I hear you. I've rather abandoned Notes, for various reasons. But random "top" posts would be one of the larger ones.
As for your question, I know exactly what I'm doing on Substack. I'm publishing my stories on my own schedule because I got tired of waiting for answers from traditional routes. And I appreciate the opportunity.
One of the most important things for me to remember is that I can control what I write, when I write it, when I publish it, and other aspects of the process. But I cannot control what happens after that, whether people engage, subscribe, etc. That's out of my hands.
Not saying I always remember that - because I'm a human being with my own set of faulty wiring - but I try.
Love the S.E. Reid style encouragement. A lovely reminder. Yes, I am doing much of what I've set out to do. Also yes, engaging in conversation with other writers is one of the things I'm here for. :)
Yes, its sometimes too easy to confuse "volume" with "attainment." There are so many things we do that are valuable even if we only impact one other life.
+1 for chronological scrolling on Notes! I largely like the changes that Substack has been rolling out and appreciate the teamโs continued work, but I feel like Notes has gotten a little weird lately. Maybe I just feel that way because I took about 2 months away from it and itโs grown since, but the algorithm seems to have made it a little less friendly and a bit more like the Platform Formerly Known as Twitter.
Absolutely agree about the "not knowing about things", which is really just discoverability. An individual algorithm feed should surface the unknown as well as the popular, but unfortunately that is a hard problem to solve, so popularity is used as a proxy for quality.
When people comment, on writers office hours, re their experiences on substack, 99 percent of the time they laud, praise and seem ready to lick the boots of substack personnel.
It is refreshing to encounter someone like Mr. Edwards who has the balls to actually level a criticism.
I, for one, am a decidely low tech guy. I just write articles and am deaf and dumb as to how I might peddle them to potential readers.
In any event, can you please refer me to web addresses that explain "notes" in detail. I have found fragments of information about notes all over substack but I have not be able to find one place where all of this material is put together comprehenisvely and coherently.
Just stopping by to say I really, really like what the Substack team has done with the new app. Of course weโll have to wait and see how it works over time, but Iโm really excited about the potential for discovery it offers. Great work, everyone!
And I really love the sheer speed and volume of the updates that Substack rolls out. Ridiculously hard working pace, and since it's World Gratitude Day, well - thanks for that, Substack.
โ๏ธ - howdy everyone -- there's a lot of talk about how to increase visibility and subscribers via the substack app but how are you all engaging and growing with people who DON'T have the app and are exclusively email readers?
This is an excellent question. I have many readers who are primarily receiving my work via email.
I try to talk to them, via email, as if we are just having a chat. I encourage them to email me back and have found this connection has diminished a little bit since I got on Substack but that's OK.
I would like to get a little creative to find ways to engage those folks more as my strongest desire is to build community and make them feel like they belong. I look forward to what other have to say on this.
I have found a few people email me back as well. It's always a surprise and really wonderful. Which makes me think maybe I should start doing that for other writers, even though I'm on the app.
This is an excellent reminder Latham. I have been planning on investing time into emailing my new paid subs, my people that comment regularly and contribute to community etc. I need to make it a priority.
I like the idea of encouraging them to email. And yes to build community and ensure everyone feels like they belong. Always wise to remember what the primary focus is.
definitely agree with the value of email conversations for those who don't use substack. i would like to see more replies coming in and i'm currently trying to gear my newsletter to include more calls for participation/comments!
I don't. I have no social media and only work on meeting people here! It seems to have worked well enough for me (and keeps me from being stressed about all of the other things!) Plus, there are some stats about how people who are already subscribed to one Substack are more likely to subscribe to and pay for another, I'll have to find where that was mentioned!
that's also good to hear, Elle! i've been putting in a bit more work into my newsletter as of late and that's included being more visible in notes and office hours. you are right that it seems that people who subscribe to one substack will happily subscribe to more. and wow, no social media does seem to be working for you!!!
Whenever I post and substack encourages me to share on social media I feel bad for not following its directions. But I'm okay with my limited social media. Just wondering if this means my substack will never really grow.
i know alexandra franzen has written a bit about 'marketing without social media,' which could be applied to growing your newsletter audience? have a look at one of her articles: https://www.alexandrafranzen.com/2021/01/30/marketing/
If it helps, I have grown to 11,000 subscribers with no social media! You donโt have to have it to grow. But you do have to engage with the community here and get to know people in the comments ๐ฅฐ
It is still going, it was a great place to meet before we were able to communicate more freely with one another on Notes/Chat. But it was always for community and not for driving subscribers!
I'm from Australia! I'm not sure if it's related to nationality or just that at my core I tend to be a rule follower so ignoring all the current advice on using social media to drive engagement feels wrong. But only ever posting on social media to say 'look at my new post!' also feels wrong and I don't want to increase my social media time so... teeny tiny audience (for now?) it is!
When I first came to Substack in Feb this year I used Twitter to share my posts (I have quite a few Twitter followers) but it didn't necessarily turn into subs. Mostly because my Twitter following is strongly related to my professional background and I dont really do that on here. Now that I'm loving writing on here and building up a new community, I am leaving my old tribe behind. I still have a Twitter account but I rarely post there except to share my substack and if Twitter becomes paid then I shall leave altogether. I have Fb account but never use it. And I'm still on LinkedIN from work days but never use it except to lob out a substack post now and again. Most of my growth, (it's small but growing), has been through Substack.
I used to use Twitter a lot more, and it was all related to my professional life. I've left that part of my life now so it feels like I'm trying to find a new community.
After 6 months on here I'm finally working out who I want to pay money to to read. I think it's easy to get over-excited in the beginning and maybe end up with paid subs that turn out not be the best for you. It's not cheap to paid sub and I think I can probably afford about 3-5 simultaneously so it needs to be quite a discriminating process! I'm more likely to pay to people whose writing I like AND who have engaged with me as a free subscriber.
I asked this during the last office hours and didn't get much of a response. The people who did comment were basically like I leave my house and tell people what I'm doing and they are enthralled and want to sign up. If we could only be so lucky lol.
You have the "sourdough starter" for your reader base already. It's the community of people you already know. There is no medium, including Substack, that can be the be-all end-all of promotion. I recently posted an article titled, "Networking Eats Marketing for Lunch" (https://biztechjournal.substack.com/p/mps4msps-networking-eats-marketing) even though I'm a veteran marketer. I truly believe that.
Talk to the people you know. Ask them how they're doing. Tell them what you're up to. At some point either they'll offer, or you could simply ask them to spread the word about your Substack. Grow your base organically and it can expand geometrically. If the content is worthwhile and your friends are willing to help spread the word, the people they tell will tell other people, who will tell other people, and so on.
Every great salesperson I've ever known has built their customer base this way. Referrals. Word-of-mouth. Nothing is more powerful, or simpler. Just call friends and say hi. Just commit to calling more and more friends every day. Make it a scheduled part of your routine. Networking works.
The best way to get the word out about your Substack and receive subscribers is to subscribe to other people's Substacks. Be a regular commenter on their posts. Interact with people on Writer Office Hours. Contact writers offline (i.e. email them). Go on Notes and post on there.
These are the ways I got subscribers. I had none when I started.
Hi Kerry. Lenny (author of Lenny's Newsletter, the #1 business newsletter with more than 500,000 subscribers) recently wrote about how he got to that huge number of subscribers. Although his newsletter is business focused, his advice is good for everyone. https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/500000
Other ideas: add your newsletter (linked) under your name on all of your emails, along with a super brief description and an invitation to check it out. Send an invite to your Facebook friends with a link and description.
Have you connected with @Elle Griffin? She's awesome and may have some ideas for you since you publish fiction.
Substack is a great place to be. Lots of kind people who are willing to help.
haha i see! i managed to get my initial subscriber base from 2 things, one being my instagram followers and then another being a grant i got awarded which pushed my newsletter a bit in the announcement.
i'm a musician so i bring a pad of paper to take emails for the mailing list but maybe i am not shoving it under people's noses enough lol
mine was simply engaging with everyone on office hours, and trying to find writers that I wanted to follow on here. I also have a YouTube channel so there were a couple of people from there who subscribed when I started. My question is, where are the people who like to read lol. The people on Facebook and Instagram and YouTube do not have the attention span for the written word.
I like your author picture, Andrea. I scrolled past it a few times and noticed I was drawn to it. Then it occurred to me it's the mirror of the pose I'm taking as I sit here reading and responding. :)
I ask them to share the newsletter and say it is the best way to support my project (because it is). I value shares more than money because it helps me break out of my bubble. But yeah, my engagement rate is like 90% outside of Substack, so my network here is pretty limited.
that's great, i think maybe it's a bit hard if you get too stuck in the substack bubble as its maybe a big fish, small pond thing? or maybe it's not that at all...... sharing definitely helps. i don't think i've had many shares on recent emails but am adding more calls to action to reply/share this month, will see how it goes.
i'm a small fish in a small pond haha. and yes, you are correct, I'm not sure how effective it is, but it's free, so why not? I think like everyone here, I'm just throwing stuff at the wall and seeing what sticks.
I have a number who are email only and Itry to encourage engagement by email. For example I ask them in my welcome email to email and tell me what they're currently reading. Not many do, but those that have, have gone on to 'chat' via email later.
Via e-mail, mostly, or via whatsapp. On the app itself, I find people are still a little shy about participating in conversations. The biggest way of connecting with readers and other writers - for me - has been this thread, actually.
Just want to say hi to everyone here. It's been a long, tiring week and it can be tough to stay both on schedule and in touch with what you need. Combining jobs and studying and having a life in between and all that. The good news is, I have been having tons of inspiration to write, only need the time/energy to actually do it! More motivated than ever to make this all work. Glad to connect with you all here.
Oh, yes. I sooooo relate. So much inspiration, so little time. May the energy and time balloon for us both, for us all! Thanks, Robert! Let us know how it goes next week. :)
I have had the reverse more often I think, or at least I didn't have as many avenues to channel it into. In the summer I even made some progress with the plot of my novel, which is really itching to get written now :)
Any update on our ability to turn off the public display of our subscriber lists?
Itโs really not a solution to say that each individual subscriber can opt-out. How about a switch at the publicationโs level for those of us who wish to respect our subscriberโs privacy? That would be great. Thanks.
Yikes! I don't have many subscribers, but just like including fifty recipients in the "To" of an email (instead of bcc-ing them), no one should want their personal information revealed by being publicly listed as a subscriber to a particular pub. Think "unwanted eyes on"!
Funny, I went to my site via my wife's account and do not see what I saw on Faith C. Bergevin's site! I'm relieved. For the sake of others, this feature should be deleted immediately!
The opt-out doesn't happen at the time of subscribing. After subscribing, if you want to opt-out, you have to edit your profile to turn off the setting in your "reads" list for each publication that you wish to opt-out from.
In my my view, this is completely backwards. A publication ought to have the ability to turn off the whole list at their end in order to honor their subscriber's privacy. So far however, it seems Substack has little or no interest in making this happen.
Yes, they replied that it was up to each individual subscriber to opt-out. They also mentioned they might look into it, but it seemed kind of vague. I was hoping they had an update on the progress of this issue.
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 peopleโs 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 youโve 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.)
For me, the most important word you used in this useful list is "community." The community of writers I've found here is by far the MOST rewarding thing about being part of Substack. You can regularly recognize things that have been confronting you reflected in the comments of others and it quells the loneliness. Many here have said "we're all in this together" and indeed we are.
To get started, recruit a few readers from your community of friends and ask them to be brutal in their criticism of your work. You have to reach out before they start reaching in.
An easy option is not necessarily the right option. You can't expect anyone to do anything. You need to reach out and connect with them. One by one. As many each day as you can fit into your available time. You have to build a network person by person. Over time each of those people will start to help expand your network, as long as they appreciate the value of your content.
I love notes because there are several hundred (probably thousands) of you that I want to follow, but my inbox simply canโt handle that many subscriptions, nor will I ever get to them all. So what Iโve been doing is going through all the mentions and lists of Substackers and following all the accounts that are writing, sharing and talking about things I want to have in my news feed every day. However, Iโm also frustrated with notes because when I filter by โfollowingโ, the notes donโt appear to be in chronological order and I donโt know if anyone Iโm following is showing up in that feed. Some posts are from 4 days ago on the top and I have to scroll quite a ways down to find something posted 30 minutes ago. I wish there was a way to additionally filter by the newest notes (I believe you can do that with the comments here). I think I speak for many people who are weary of social media when I say that I'd like this platform to not be like everything else, where the only things you can find is whatโs popular and all youโre getting is what an algorithm has decided you should see. Anyway, if you made it this far, thanks for reading my long comment.
P.S. If you have a Substack with serialized fiction, journal entries (things that are reflective or thought provoking), philosophy, etc. comment below, Iโd like to follow you.
My "Global Challenge" is a fictionalized presentation of factual and often peer-reviewed information that points to Earth's loss of water. I'm building slowly and gently since most people who think of our ocean have a hard time believing that de-glaciation and weather patterns that lead to desertification (expanding deserts) (and numerous other observed phenomena) are other than "climate change."
I canโt decide if I love or not that Office Hours has become a community noticeboard, but ... I think weโre a fit. Iโm working on launching serialized fiction in 2024. Itโs a fictional newsletter that immerses you into another world. At the core is a Regency-era Arthurian quest to avoid ecological collapse, with sea dragons. Until I launch Iโm writing about writing and research rabbit holes. I just got started here on Substack, but the book has made it to the typing in phase!
I just dropped my second chapter. The night before dropping the first one, I couldn't sleep. I was so friggin nervous. My readers are used to my humor essays so this is a change and one that I think most enjoy. I do ask for feedback and love getting constructive criticism. I am beyond appreciative! I try to keep chapters under 2k words. Ch 2 was at 2400-- more than I wanted. Are you considering serializing?
I try to write about reflective or thought provoking things that help us to be introspective and grow from the inside! I just published a presentation that is filled with no-cost tools we can use to shift our mindset. If that's up your alley check it out!
I write about creativity & art (and also share pages from my mixed media art journal). If thatโs interesting & thought provoking for you, Iโd love for you to say hi!
It looks like I'm already following you! probably saw the tarot part and was enticed, I don't see a lot of tools of divination on here (I'm a numerologist).
I do not, but I used numerology to help design the novel that I'm publishing here. I do, however, post a monthly video on my YouTube channel, which is mostly where I talk about numerology. In general, its a platform on consciousness, and numerology is just one of my tools that I take authority on.
I don't write fiction but I post about me and life, usually reflective in some way, and I occasionally post memoir which is always reflective. Come and take a look!
This past week, I got a sub from someone who subscribes to over 220 Substacks! I have no idea how you could possibly keep up with that many. I am in awe of that person.
Yeah, I got some of those. I check quite frequently who is engaging on that 'star' chart thingy. One of the reassuring things about that is that the people who have been with me the longest engage more frequently and more consistently. I'm hoping that's positive and not just mindless opening of emails!! Where people have no stars in spite of having subscribed 6 months ago, say, I do wonder about sending them a little reminder....
I subscribe to hundreds of substacks. I love it - and I feel no compulsion to โkeep upโ with all of them. Some days I feel like reading about home decor and fashion, so I read the stacks on that. Some days I am more interested in writing craft, so I will read those ones.
I only read in the app, which I treat like a lovely, personalized magazine.
I send all the emails to a separate folder, which I donโt open.
I am definitely not a bot. I am pretty new here and I am sure there will be lots of amazing writers that I would enjoy reading, so I am sampling wide so I have a good chance of finding them all
This! I care about quality first which is subjective and reflects what I am interested in. My connections come second which come from quality content. Whatโs popular is last to me. Algos often reward those with reach which means high engagement by default.
I keep subscirptions open because what I read depends on my mood. I delete a lot of substacks I subscribe to, but then I'll randomly read it when I have time. That makes it worthwhile.
That wouldn't work for me because if I was subscribed to 700 people, some of which post twice a week, it would get lost in a sea of emails and I would never know what they are doing. However, by following them I hope to quickly scan what everyone is doing and have a general idea of what's going on. That way I can slowly find 75-100 that I will dedicate my time to while still being able to support the writers that I'm not able to follow completely. Also I feel bad for unsubscribing ๐ I'm loyal like that I guess lol
I think you just made a very good case for instituting a tip jar, something that was brought up in the comments to Jasmine's post yesterday. If you could just leave a tip once in a while to someone you follow when you spot something they wrote that you really like, I think it would increase the overall level of support for the small, individual Substacks. It's less than a paid sub, but it's much more than nothing.
I save posts I'm unsure about subscribing to, so I can come back to read the post that was of interest to me and check out other content. I do need to utilize the following tool more.
There is a problem with being over-subscribed. I went through that a few months ago. I had so much in my inbox and not enough time to read them all. It's tricky to balance community with real-life time constraints.
๐ง Approaching 24k subscribers in 125 countries. Happy to collaborate with others/cross promote. I write about motivation, inspiration, personal growth, and self-help so it needs to be a fit. Check me out.
Congrats! What a milestone! I write humor and am serializing my novel in progress and personally have experienced huge, humongous, stratospheric personal growth. Like, a lot. You've inspired me to write a humorous motivation piece. Will subscribe. I'm all about this movement.
๐ง โ๏ธ Hi folks, I write personal essays about films and have been using Canva for my graphics so far. I took a break for the last couple of months to finish my PhD (which I did today!!!) and when I come back next week I wanted to change up my graphics.
Does anyone know the legalities of using still from films in blog posts? I've done multiple searches to try and find a definitive answer and nothing. I'm prepared to sign up to a paid service for licence use rights but I also haven't found one like Shutterstock just for film! Any advice would be dearly welcome!!!
I think it falls under "fair use." As long as you're not manipulating the image and the image is a representation of a smaller part of the whole (so you're not posting screenshots of every frame of the film) then you're likely fine. I'd google Fair Use with film screenshots and see what comes up :)
Congrats. My Substack, The Cottage, is a content curation newsletter featuring film, TV, podcasts, and good reads. I'm interested in reading more of your work.
I can speak from the musical side of things - the issue of copyrighted material is under massive evaluation right now, so you can either ask the creator or their management for permission of use, or at the very least credit them in writing while explicitly stating that you are not the original owner/creator and that should there be a copyright issue, that they please get in touch.
Thanks Jo for sharing. I have written a piece that incorporates lyrics from a song and so I am glad to know this information. Obviously for a major piece we need to contact their management or the artist. But I have been wondering so I appreciate you sharing.
Perhaps you know of flim.ai - a database of film stills. I'm not sure if they provide the legal coverage that you're looking for, but I would think it is in their interests to do so, so... perhaps.
For my newsletter, I often include academic articles and books. It would be great if using a DOI (which is a persistent identifier), Substack can generate citation.
I'd like something like that. My series "Global Challenge) cites or copies news articles as well as (often peer-reviewed) papers that substantiate Earth's slow but inexorable loss of water to Space. I'd prefer to be certain that I'm not violating copyright, and that, for instance, my posting of US government-sourced documents is indeed freely permitted.
I realize that there are reasons for the changes and am aware that I'm someone who is always slow to adapt to updates. So it's not that I want to complain about the update per se but rather to say that it's not ideal for me and to explain that what I really want from any app is to be able to toggle and customize and choose whether or not I want these options.
Ultimately, I want my version of the app and someone elseโs version of the app to look entirely different based on the choices we make about what we do and donโt want to see.
We all learn differently, experience differently, and want different things from these tools. Itโs frustrating that we are fed a certain way of looking at it and thatโs usually it.
Going back to earlier days of Instagram, as a simple example, I liked the chronological feed and would have loved the option to toggle between chronological and algorithmic. Here on Substack, a simple change I would love would be in activity to toggle on and off โmentionsโ and โrestacksโ etc to rid myself of some of the noise there. With this new change on the Substack app, Iโd love to be able to turn off all of the new visual clutter that just distracts me but might be of great benefit or pleasure to someone else.
It canโt be that challenging to create such filters and toggles. So to not do so is a choice that companies make. I want to see that choice shift to give US more choice.
Hi Kathryn, thanks for the feedback. This is a first version of the new app, so there are plenty of changes/improvements yet to come. (Not having filters is a "choice" insofar as we have a pretty small mobile engineering team right now!)
It's useful to know that you're interested in the ability to toggle off mentions and restacks. We're also planning on adding more controls around things like the "Top posts" units soon, so keep an eye out.
I do appreciate that you've got a small team and are working hard to make the best thing possible. Nothing you do will please everyone for sure. But the more opportunities each app/site user has to customize what the experience to what works for them, the more people can be pleased.
And I appreciate your response! It can't be easy to put all of this out there and deal with hundreds of opinions on it. <3
Oh wow! Okay I knew that you were still small but I'm surprised to hear there's only one ... you're still based in San Francisco right? There's got to be a decent pool of folx here even with everyone who moved out during the pandemic. I'll ask around!
Primitive caveperson writers like me who prefer desktop for everything would appreciate any updates on Notes. We've been hearing a lot of interesting things, but our hearing isn't all that good any more.
Another primitive caveperson who prefers notebooks and fountain pens to desktop and desktop to mobile (still getting up the chutzpah to downgrade from an iPhone to a 90s era fliphone). I second Andrew's request.
I've been threatening to do it for about a year now. But then I'd have to remember how to get places without Google Maps. Which seems intimidating all of a sudden.
Do you remember the good old days of street directories and printed maps? And getting lost. Ah, those were the days. Maps and having a much better camera than the old Nokia are two big reasons why I haven't downgraded. Honestly at this point, my phone is really a camera and satnav that can make phone calls.
Fellow cave person here... except I don't even use Notes. I saw that it was thing but then felt overwhelmed by the bajillion features and decided to just stick to writing on the same boring old substack every couple of weeks. Maybe I should look to see what Notes is...
I like it, for what it's worth. I feel license to be a little more goofy or silly than in my regular writing, but you can meet other writers and gradually get to know their work, too.
I guess I'm in the camp of "I don't know what I don't know."
I've heard the app has made a ton of improvements, and that some of those same changes are coming to the desktop interface. I think I'm kind of like a Notes power-user right now, but I don't really have any specific asks, other than to understand what's in the works, Jasmine. Hope that makes sense!
It's also possible I'm conflating more than one announcement here, but I could have sworn that there was something about the Notes feed that was theoretically being updated, but... crap, I need a nap.
๐ง ๐ง -- Brains are weird. I woke up at the crack of much-too-early and had a thought out of nowhere: Are there ways Substack could do more to protect content from plagiarism? Pretty much everything we post is easy to download. Photos are especially vulnerable, I think. I often post original images, and I imagine this is of even greater concern to fine artists and photographers. Thoughts are welcome! Thanks.
Sorry Elizabeth, I can't help with your question but wanted to tell you that your first two sentences gave me a smile. I too have woken up at the crack of much-too-early and thought my brain was weird๐คฃ
Ha! Mine is definitely more cat than dog. Wants everything on its own terms, demands attention regardless of what else might be going on, and apt to hack up a hairball at the most inopportune times. ๐
Fun! Thanks, Donna. Come on over ;) I feel very pleased with it myself. When it landed, it felt like it fit just right, along with space to grow into and explore.
Yes, I get that we are, by nature of the beast, vulnerable. But, making it harder to download full resolution images from our 'Stacks doesn't seem like an impossibility. Admittedly, it might not resolve anything, either.
Yes, that's true. But many of the images I find elsewhere online download in very low resolution. Substack's appear to come through unscathed. At least the lowered resolution is something of a hindrance. Ish.
๐ง - Congrats on the app re-launch! I think the new app provides a slick new user experience and cuts down on clutter.
However, I really miss the estimated reading times on each post. That's how I prioritize which posts to read when. Any hope we can get that feature back?
Hi Chris! Yes, the inbox. Thatโs where Iโm spending most of my time on the app, because it gives me a fuller picture of what posts are available to read. (I actually missed the times on the reading queue. ๐ )
โ๏ธ ๐ง I feel kinda awkward asking this, but does anyone have any advice specifically for autistic writers to grow their audience? I don't have a following on social media--I've never been good at building a following or networking (or, to be perfectly honest, making friends) because I struggle so much with social interaction due to my autism. However, I love to write, and I would love to share my writing with others (and ideally maybe earn a little bit of money from it one day). Are there any fellow autistic writers here who have any tips on how to grow their audience when one is completely hopeless at being social lol?
In the same boat. I just commented somewhere and I am dying inside because I realised I have made yet another socially inept comment. But I am liking Substack so much more than any other platform because so many people here are discussing ideas rather than performing socially (like IG). I canโt understand the social performing, so social media has been a dificult experience. But I can talk about ideas! So I comment when a topic engages me. Re-stacking is nice to do, too. It lets the people know you appreciate their work, but avoids the back-and-forth chit chat of comments, which can stress me out sometimes
Iโm pretty new to Substack and Iโm still learning how everything works, but I do appreciate that it seems quite different from other platforms. I always end up lurking instead of interacting on social media because I just donโt know what to do on those sites.
While I don't have any firsthand experience here, I recently ran across Amanda Hinton's wonderful publication The Editing Spectrum: https://theeditingspectrum.substack.com/ Dropping a link here in case it's useful, and wishing you the best of luck! ๐ค
๐ง I noticed a new "Publication introduction" section in the Dashboard Settings, where we can add a 50-100-word intro. Could you please let me know where this appears (since it's not on the Welcome page)? Thank you, Substack Team!
Hey everyone! I am loving the new app update! I started my movie/music/pop culture blog about two months ago, and it has a steady following. I am looking to rise to the next step, hoping to reach out to new readers and further mark my presence on Substack. I know it's sort of a broad topic that varies from different publications, but any tips are appreciated! :)
The updated app is pretty, but Iโll actually use it less now. It seems more difficult to find things now, like the app is shouting at me. I like Substack because itโs about writing. Cramming the top of the app with images makes it far less useful for some of us.
Hi Michelle, thanks for the feedback. With the reading queue we're hoping to make your favorite posts easier to find by prioritizing the publications you read the most. Maybe our ranking isn't working well if you're finding it hard to find things.
But if that format doesn't work for you, we've done our best to make the Inbox tab even more powerful. It's completely chronological, has Saved/Audio filters, and now a "classic" vs. "compact" appearance setting (the latter will remove the post images and is more text-focused). We plan to keep improving this and would love to know any requests you have.
Thank you, Jasmine. Maybe I just need to explore it a bit more. I will probably just skip to the inbox when I open the app. The inbox looks great and is easy on the eyes like the old days:)
I think it's too heavy for my phone haha. My scrolling function is very sticky on my cheapish Motorola. I'm 90% sure it's my phone, but a lot of people have similar phones to me.
Ha! Thanks. It's a pretty good phone except for the camera (but I like photography so I don't prioritize phone cameras). I think it was like $350 which is pretty cheap compared to other models. But yeah, sticky scroll lol
Hey team! First of all, i want to say a big congrats on the app update launch. I've already shared my praise, but as a product designer of 11+ years, it's really exciting, and a user experience that is already becoming one of my favourites right now. I particularly love your new search and alert icons. Great job team!
I'm writing practical design and UX advice in my newsletter https://www.designingfutures.co/, my question this week is, do you have any rough guidance on the varying Substack categories regarding how long it took them to get to 1,000 subscribers?
I love what i write about, but i also want this to be a business i can eventually support myself on, so i can continue serving my small but growing audience.
โ๏ธ By the way, I've been up for 3 months, have 1030 subscribers and 22 paid. Is that good?
Also, I'm publishing my memoir here and would love to connect with other writers who are publishing book episodes. Is Substack a boon to traditional publishers or are they threatened by it?
Hello Vanda, I am also writing a memoir and looking at ways to publish here. Right now I am publishing more personal essays, but Iโm working on shifting to more โepisodicโ installments where readers can follow along.
๐ง Hi Substack team! I was wondering if there will ever be the option to have one post that can be accessed via a one time payment. Like perhaps a longer length research paper or a short book manuscript?
Also, on the website version of Substack, there are many tabs visible in the navigation bar on many newsletters that arenโt accessible via the app. Is there a way to make them accessible in the app or is this something that could he considered for the future?
Hi Dylan! We tend to prioritize subscription revenue since we view it as more predictable/sustainable over time, but we're open to the idea of sometime introducing one-off payments as a supplement.
Ah yeah I don't think the sections tabs are in the app yet, but that's a product gap we'll want to deal with.
๐ง โ๏ธ I am enjoying many of the updates you've made recently and the resource series on building an editorial strategy. Substack has showcased very tactical examples of what is working well for other writers in gaining subscribers and building their brand voice. Is there a way we can learn from other writers who may not necessarily have as big of a following? While inspirational, it's also overwhelming. I'd like to learn from writers who built their audience completely on Substack slowly and steadily.
๐ง Is there any chance we are going to get memoir as its own category soon?
I think discoverability is an issue in general here, & I understand that yโall are working on it, but categories seems to me a really easy place to start. I ask as a writer because I want people to be able to find the memoir I am serializing here, ofc, but also as a reader, because I would love a memoir leaderboard that I can peruse. I know there is good memoir stuff here that I am not managing to stumble on!
๐ง ๐ HAPPY ONE YEAR! We're celebrating our first anniversary! It seemed a bit self indulgent at first but a needed boost for another year. CELEBRATE WITH US! What are some milestones you've hit recently, big or small?
โ๏ธ ๐ง We are still trying to figure out how to take advantage of SOCIAL MEDIA! We have our brand/posts down, but still having trouble (1) growing a social media presence and (2) converting into subscribers. We are happily taking advantage of the new Substack tools/mission, but we want to only have an insular Substack audience. We love our Substack friends, but want to reach everyone! What social media strategies do you love? What seemed to help you engage and grow your readers?
๐ง last question promise -- anyone using the tagging feature? Anyway to select articles and bulk add tags, really tough to go back and tag 19 months worth of writing....
Tags are very helpful if your writing falls into distinct categories. For the Strategy Toolkit, the posts are either for paid subscribers (long length) or for everyone (brief length). After much time, the two became commingled and the archives hard to navigate. Yes, it was laborious to go to each one and tag it individually, but worth it. The archives are much easier to navigate now.
It is one of many things that I have put on the backburner. It would take an entire day for me to update everything. I have no idea how much the tags help people find your work, especially when they have such limited categories in the discover feature. Good question.
Yes! I have a series of posts called โThings That Workedโ that basically consists of sample materials/advice for publications, grant applications, job applications, etc (mostly in academia). Because I figured itโs a series people might like to find all in one place I started tagging, and I love it. But I donโt think Iโll tag everything.
Emily, hopping on to say a couple of things: I stumbled across your writing a few weeks ago, and it's absolutely beautiful. Thank you for sharing with the world!
As for your question: I've just started dipping my toes in the collaboration waters. I'll tag you in a Note I wrote recently on the subject, in case it's useful.
I'd never pitched my writing anywhere before, so I was nervous to begin. I started by keeping my eyes peeled for guest-post opportunities on publications I already read, so I could be confident that there was common ground. (And I pitch even when I'm nervous about it! So far, people have been lovely.)
I also created a space for guest posts on my own publication, whichโwho knowsโmight facilitate more collaborations in the long-term. It's all an experiment!
๐ง Suggestion for the inbox on the app. I like having a chronological list of everything so that I know what Iโm missing or whatโs been happening, so as a way of staying organised and not miss certain posts I would like to have an option to categorise my newsletters, so I can decide โhm I want to see what all my politics newsletters have been up toโ etc. I do the same for youtube channels, it helps me find things based on mood and interest.
Good suggestion. I'm a really eclectic subscriber so being able to categorise on my own terms rather than use Substack's categories would be brilliant. If that's even possible....
๐ง can you guys look into the very slow/laggy Substack editor? It's difficult to type pieces within Substack because it is so slow. Several other writers had this issue too, I asked about it on Notes.
Chrome, but tried Edge. Every once in awhile it types/inputs normally, but %95 percent of the time it can be so slow that a while sentence will take several seconds to begin to appear. I've also tried running it in a freshly restarted computer with no other tabs and it still has the input lag.
oh dear, I'm about to be 82, do not have anything but a landline, and hoped this would be a place where I could find out how the hell to post an essay, as it seems to be beyond me, except for the one I somehow magically got up there. Do I need to have and an APP/? I HAVE NO IDEA IF I CAN HAVE AN APP WITHOUT A CELL/SMART PHONE. Didn't mean those caps
Post your essays via computer not the app. Log in to your Substack and go to Dashboard. There you will find an icon that says, New Post. Click and post! If I can figure this out you can too!
๐ง could you change the language between readers and paying subscribers? I think itโs really confusing for people to think theyโre subscribed-- because they have a free subscription-- and they donโt see quite what upgrading means... for example if you go to the NYT website youโre not a subscriber, youโre a reader.
๐ง โ๏ธ - I've heard some differing advice about how best to pitch readers on upgrading to a paid subscription. Some say that enumerating all of the different kinds of content, to show how much value there is in the archive, is good. Numbers might be persuasive. So, I might say that paying members have access to 15 longform interviews with academics transitioning to industry, 50+ thought pieces on higher ed, etc.
Others suggest that a more modest list -- like mentioning 2 or 3 paywalled articles that an upgrade would open -- is more effective.
I expect that there's no "right" answer, since each of our newsletters is unique and readers aren't necessarily predictable, but I'd be curious about others' thoughts based on their experiences as either readers or as Substack writers.
I think you are right, there is no "right" answer. Writers have found success with a variety of approaches, including offering everything for free and putting everything behind a paywall. It starts with knowing your audience and what they value.
At first, I thought there wasn't any sort of gaming community here, but I keep finding new gaming Substacks all the time. I subscribe to Monte Cook's Substack and several others. And of course, I now write about games and gaming on Substack. :-D
We aren't rewarded based on quantity. Thatโs the beauty. Itโs all about quality and your relationship with your subscribers. AND whoโs recommending you. That helps a teeny bit. Thereโs no way to game the system. Just produce great work. As Substack told me, even the guy doing the algorithm doesnโt know how it works. They keep tweaking it to get us the best results. Promise.
I also thought I read what was listed below. They want you writing more. And I haven't seen examples of Substack promoting writers with less reach. All I see are the ppl with massive followers and ppl that were enticed to come over that already had huge followers pre-Substack.
That's true. I don't like it either. They promote their big guns, but they do want all of us to succeed. There are 17,000 writers on this platform. They can't promote all of us and are trying to make a name for ourselves. We have to promote each other. That's how this works. Become a subscriber (free or paid) to Writers at Work to understand more. I know them and all my guidance comes from advice they gave me: https://www.writersatwork.net/ Watch my interview with Substack's Head of Writer Relations here: https://www.writersatwork.net/p/live-q-and-a-with-substacks-sophia
I interpreted the reference to "frequency" to mean that if you just give up blogging they start to regard you as inactive and won't give you much consideration. I have noticed โ without any surprise at all โ that some Substacks just trail off after a while, and it really looks like the author gave up on it. Not a reference to how many times a week/month you post or the regularity with which you post.
I'm on the leaderboard for 'Fiction' as probably no. 250 and I only started last year from 0. I publish twice a month at the most. So depending on which categories you selected for your publications, you might make it on that category's list or not. Publishing once a week is a great frequency. I wouldn't worry so much about the listing in a category. Unless you're in top 10 I don't think many people scroll down the whole list to subscribe. ๐คฃ
Exactly--all that matters is your relationship with your subscribers. This isn't social media. Who cares if a thousand people see you if they don't subscribe and stay.
I started in Feb with no list to bring over and from 0 subscribers. And no writing experience other than academic writing which is very different indeed. I post once a week and the first 6 weeks or so I was cutting my teeth and exploring and trying to find a groove (so mostly posting not very well written, not very well polished pieces). I have just over 200 now and I love it when people subscribe. Keep putting it out there. Keep engaging where you can - comments, Notes etc etc.
Thanks for the encouragement, June. I launched at the beginning of September and have almost 100 subs already. It feels so promising and I'm LOVING it here. I've been writing on Medium for over 4 years and the difference between here and there is enormous. I love the community here!
'All of our categories except "Staff Picks" are automated based on a writer's performance on Substack with factors including total number of paid and free subscribers and frequency of publishing. '
Most importantly, and I know you know this, the main thing is to serve your subscribers, not the algorithm. If they want you six days a week, great. If they want you once a week, that's what matters.
This is NOT THE ALGORITHM. This is the leaderboards. It's about how the top Substacks are ranked in each category. That is not saying we're rewarded for publishing more often. Your category sets the standard for frequency. You're in literature/fiction, not journalism. Very few people are publishing more than once or twice a week. That's all it says. Of the top publications, they're ranked according to many factors, including subscribers and frequency.
And we have to keep reading: "Subscribers are the most important and with Recommendations, this cross-promotion tool helps writers to directly endorse each otherโs publications on Substack and gain new subscribers."
I work in tech and what I see in that article is that Substack's ranking in the Categories is based on a combination of:
- Total no. subscribers
- Total no. of paid subscribers
- Publishing frequency
I also noticed that every time I publish a new article, my ranking goes up. In between publishing articles, my ranking goes down. I also noticed that people in my category who have less subscribers than me but publish more frequently and have their subscriptions turned on rank higher.
The ranking formula used by Substack (the algorithm) has obviously a logic along the lines of what is mentioned in that article I found online.
I agree that this doesn't matter. I will not start publishing more often to rank higher. Recommendations on Substack are superior in terms of visibility on Substack than being listed in the Categories (unless you're in top 10). And the community that we can find here is more uplifting than any algorithm. I am an example of someone who started at 0 and was lifted by the community. So all-in-all, you're absolutely right about Substack.
I've never heard that. My understanding is that they've only said that the publications (note: publications, not all individuals) that make the most money publish 21-30 times per month.
Thatโs a great question Jill. To my recent surprise, my metrics now indicate that Google is the third largest source of new subscribers for โGreat Books Great Mindsโ Substack. Who would have thought ๐ญ
Honestly, SEO is a paradoxical mystery to me Jill. My focus is two fold (1) Focus on producing good quality content (2) Connect and Engage like my hair is on fire. Thatโs the wrap.
Funny enough, Iโve done nothing more than focus on producing quality content. Google algorithms are a mystery so I donโt try to directly influence them.
It performs terribly haha. I set up Google Search Console because it's free and it generated like three subscriptions, which is cool but not anything to write home about.
๐ง Katie@Substack - The #1 book category on Amazon is Personal Growth. Would you all consider making this a category on Substack? Health and Wellness just doesn't really fit.
I write about the fun of being retired. Which probably is not going to be of interest to most of you (yet!). But in case you or someone you know are pondering that next stage, Iโd love to hear from you.
I second Oldster, as Elle recommends. I'm also retired and it figures in my Substack. There's also https://arichardson.substack.com who writes The Granny Who Stands On Her Head.
๐ง Substack is not a zero sum game. "Cooperative" recommending among those who publish aligned newsletters increases subscribership for both. So, find others who write something akin to your topic or style and recommend away. An even dirtier little secret is that getting on On Substack's recommended list for a few days provides a very nice boost. People who might not otherwise find you suddenly are willing to give you a shot.
Is there any secret to getting recommended on On Substack? To me, it sounds suspiciously like Kickstarter's "Projects We Love" thing, in which some creators get to put that badge on their campaigns, and no one else does. I'm a little bitter about it because, in 7 years and 20 campaigns, I have never been chosen โ probably because my production values are not glamorous enough, but by the same token I'm not "alternative" enough to get their attention as a scrappy outsider. If the Substacks that get chosen solely by subjective individuals at Substack who pick based on what they think is cool, I'm probably just as doomed here.
The only secret I know came two or three weeks ago when they asked in one of these forums for nominations or recommendations of Substacks worth reading. I nominated myself. I don't know how the selection occurred but I was listed among the On Substack recommendations for two days and saw some nice growth. That coincided with the start of American football season, which is what I cover, so that may have been a contributor.
That sounds a lot like what I was told about Kickstarter โ that in order to become a Project We Love, you just have to ask. But I have never learned who to ask, or how. Anyway, I'm glad to hear that you have met with some success writing about sports here! One of my projects for my Substack is to write substantial reviews of all of the dice-and-chart sports games that I have played through the years.
I'm interested in meeting in the entertainment industry: writers, producers, assistants, coordinators, location managers, stunt performers, intimacy coaches, construction crew, photographers, set design, makeup, sound design.... the list goes on.
These jobs bring so much value and I would enjoy chatting.
Here is my Substack, The Cottage featuring a curated list of new entertainment: podcast, TV, film, vlogs, digital series, music, books, and kids content.
๐ง How do I make sure a paid subscription doesn't renew? I bought a year subscription for someone who no longer posts. I would like to be sure it doesn't renew automatically. Thx!
There is a setting for this and from memory I think I found it via computer not the app. I googled how to cancel my subscription to figure out how to do this. I hope that helps.
Hi all! I write a newsletter about cross-cultrual living and books that help me make sense of the world. I'd love to connect with any writers who write about the immigrant experience, intercultural learning, and/or book reviews on similar themes. Comment below and I'll follow you!
โ๏ธ Hi, writers! I'm new here and have three posts under my belt. I want to create paid content for my readers, but am having a hard time getting creative. My creative writing centers around Mental Health Advocacy and Journaling Prompts. How do I create content in that niche that's worth subscribing to?
Hi Nikki, there are many writers here doing great work around mental health. In particular I would suggest checking out Kathryn Vercillo at https://createmefree.substack.com/ for excellent, creative ways to grow and create community.
The first step is to visualize your audience. Who would be interested in what you want to write about? What are they interested in learning, how do they think, what can you offer that would help them? Once you get a sense of the people who are looking for a blog like yours, you can figure out how to serve them as a writer, and that tells you what to write for them.
๐ง Does anyone know where the "Publication introduction" displays? I've tried viewing my Substack in a private browser and still never see it. The box note says "Describe your publication in 50-100 words as if you were introducing it to a reader with absolutely no context as to what your publication is about" but has no link to where it displays. Thanks!
To help organize the conversation, please use one of the following emojis when you start a new comment.
๐ง - when sharing strategy or advice for fellow writers
โ๏ธ - when asking questions or seeking feedback from fellow writers
๐ง - 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.
Thank you Substack for adding the different views for analytics related to posts. It's helpful to see how each post performs relative to the others.
+1
๐ง Help - not sure if this is covered anywhere in your FAQs: If there are two authors collaborating on a piece, is there a way that we can simultaneously publish on both of our substacks, or does it only work with a "main" publisher and a cross-post?
๐ง Will the SubStack AMA be on the app, or just on that third party host called Luma?
Hey there, we'll host in the app. Luma is just the RSVP tool we use so you can save the date and get up to date information.
Luma is so great. I think I learned about it from a Substack event! I wonder what other cool software yโall use to make life easier! ๐ Feel free to share any others!
Thanks. Will try to find it in the app. Supposedly mine is up to date. Maybe I have to find the announcement within the app and track it from there.
Is AMA an acronym EVERYBODY but me knows? LOL
It's what the people who run SubStack called thesemeetings (which are like their "office hours") with prominent people who write here. I think it stands for "ask me anything".
Thanks, Weedom! And for that small generosity, I offer you my undying loyalty as a subscriber.
I like your directness, which is also expressed in your SubStack. ๐
I like your weed wisdom. At first I thought you might be a little guy who is into s and m. A "wee dom". Sorry.
๐ง โ๏ธ Hi @katie & fellow writers - I'm trying to set up Stripe Tax and need to select a pre-set tax code from the dropdown menu (the default is General - Electronically Supplied Services). Does anyone know which is right for us, please?
I have a related question about whether other people use Stripe for separate invoicing? I'm thinking of selling merch on my site, or selling access to webinars or on-demand courses using a Stripe checkout link. If anyone else has done that and can comment, I'd be grateful for any mistakes to avoid.
Related to this, I wonder if I ought to be charging sales tax in those Stripe invoices? Thanks in advance for any input.
I'm going to hang around to see if you get answers. I'd like to know about Stripe invoicing, as well.
I only use Stripe because it's the designated payment processor for Substack, Kickstarter and Backerkit. For in-person sales and the Ramen Sandwich website, I was already using Square, which integrates with a lot of major hosting sites. It works well enough, and I recall that they are set up for selling services online. The main issue I have had is that Square/Weebly (we originally signed up for Weebly, before Square acquired it) tweaks its editing functionality without any warning, so if you don't update your site frequently you may be surprised at changes.
I have used Stripe to process theatre bookings for a European theatre group. The benefit over Paypal was immediate payout of sums less commission, instead of having to remember to request transfers to account. Rates of course vary according to currency and payment type. Also SF-based: it's where it's at, it seems. I would confirm that writing content is the supply of a service provided electronically. For NACE, it's number 58.41, publishing (but under four times a week), physical or electronic doesn't matter.
Here for the answers as well. Thank you for asking.
Me too.
p.s. I didn't know we could sell merch on our Subs, is this new?
Not knew. I follow a couple if people who sell t-shirts. I was considering this myself.
thanks CK.
Serious? There's a store? Where?
No store. You can offer merch in every post if you want.
NO. I don't use emoji's. They are puerile.
I am not a kid.
But...I don't see many organizational emojis in the thread or have I only been getting nothing but that category โ๏ธof a thread?
๐ง Would a possibility to reset referral awards each month be added? It helps to bring urgency. Thanks
Sage advice RAISINI. As an introvert, self promotion or marketing for that matter is no easy task. Will take onboard some of your advice in your article. Thank you
๐ฏ๐ฏ
Just want to say that the updated app looks great!! & would love to see features that are geared more for writers (for example, I think can only access my drafts through the web browser version of Substack, unless Iโm totally missing something).
I agree, but I wonder if a writers app and a readers' app shouldn't be different things. The nice thing about the new app (that I love) is that it's clean, uncluttered, and designed for discovery. As much as I'd love to be able to edit out a typo in the app, I would hate to clutter the experience for everyone.
I like the idea that the app is designed for one thing, and does it beautifully.
I'd really like to get an idea of how many people come to Substack just to read.
I've been wondering this too.
I dont have that many subscribers so I've been checking that out over the past few months from the new subscribers notification. I have a surprising amount of subscribers who have not yet posted anything but read quite a few different Stacks.
Same.
Wouldn't those people, mostly, just follow you, rather than Subscribe? I'd like to have a separate count for Followers I've been collecting, just for a sort of reference point. You know, I got 450 Subscribers and 123 followers. But that's a total of 570'ish people reading your work.
A bit like what we see on LinkedIn, a separation of Connections and Followers. However, there is a subset of LinkedIn members who have an automatic "Follow Me" button that gets triggered the moment you click on "Connect", then you have to "Unfollow" if you didn't mean to follow... blah blah blah, so you end up not putting any serious value on the concept of "following"
I still don't fully understand what a "follower" is
I think they only 'follow' on Notes. They don't necessarily subscribe to your newsletter.
Me, too.
Followers can be subscribers, too. I follow some people I subscribe to just so I'll see them on Notes.
Me too.
I am deaf and we need more transcripts.
Yes, I think a separate app would be easier to use, and kinder to people who onlky want to read, not write
Possibly but it can be hard enough getting people to download one app let alone two.
well, there is that, Martin! ๐
Okay, no judging, but not having a phone, I like the browser. My question is, why would anyone want to write on their phone?
Cause I'm out and about and not carrying my Mac with me. I used to keep all my work in Grammarly and they don't have a phone version. I hated not having access to stuff I was working on until I got home.
Works for me. If I did have a phone, it would have to have a big key pad, because those things are really a challenge for me to type on.
I have been speaking the first vomit draft into a voice-to-text while I am driving or what-have-you. Then I email that to myself and when I get home, I run it through Grammarly for an edit. Sounds cumbersome, but it's the best way I know of having new shit for my writers Zoom group on the weekends. By the way, y'all are invited. I try to keep it to 4 or 5 people and we each get 15 mins of reading our stuff and feedback.
If this is an example of Substack's Writing app, it is painfully slow. I am constantly overrunning and having to pause, or if I pause to think, it goes to sleep and takes a while to wake up, interrupting the thinking flowing out through my fingers.
How do I sync notes from Google Keep to my Mac?
Here's how to add your Google account to Mac and save notes to it:
1. Open System Preferences and click Internet Accounts.
2. If you have already added a Google account, select it from the left sidebar and check Notes. ...
3. Use your Google username and password to complete the sign-in. ...
4. Now go back to the System Preferences window.
More items...
โขIt is too late and I am too old,(80), so I will pause here for the night. If you have questions, reply this on the Substack app and I will try to help.
This was in reply to Vanda, but I will try to help anyone else out. You can dictate through that Keep app and then copy it to text.
Because, shortly after they exited the uterus, they started texting pretty much the same time that they started talking.
Sorry no laugh emoji here. Laugh.
Laugh.
good question. I don't like writing on my phone. However, I have sometimes found, having gone out, that I am inspired to write an article. I can write it in another app and copy and paste, but I think a dedicated app for Substack would be quite useful in that situation.
๐ฏ
+1 focus on the one main use case / targer user at a time
l'll raise my hand to also vote for a separate reader's app. Better to brand and market Substack as a global universal magazine for virtually any reader of anything anywhere anytime. There is much for us writers that would just be distracting to readers.
It's funny how we each experience things differently because I find this new version to be very cluttered ... which is exactly why I would love to see the option to turn on and off all features to customize the app to exactly what you want as a user.
It's true how much our own experience shapes our relationship to these kind of apps. I started out my career flying aiplanes, and by comparison, this app is so clean. But without that experience, I'm not sure how I'd feel about it.
Oh that's so interesting! It's our experience and also the way we learn, the senses that are primary to each of us, issues of neurodiversity ... so many factors that it really seems absurd to have an app that only looks one way for everyone!
That's another good point. My son is neurodiverse and seeing how he interacts with technology is mindblowing.
There used to be more of a design for inclusion push in tech. When I worked at one company, we had an intern from MIT who was really focused on designing apps for inclusion and usability. I wonder what happened there
That's a really good question and I'd love if anyone has more insights into that. I'm currently trying to create a job for myself as a mental health expert consultant for museums and galleries, incorporating mental wellness and neurodiversity concerns into both internal and external facing aspects of art spaces and there's really not a good model for that so someone was telling me to try exploring the DEI space as it relates to art museums. Not quite the same thing but it does seem like there was a lot of emphasis on that in various industries for a while and now maybe less so?
I definitely would like to edit typos in the app. That's one of the frustrating things.
I definitely agree, Rebecca. The updated app is much easier to use, and so nice to look at! Being able to use the app, or an app, for writing posts would be the cherry on the cake.
I second this! If we could see our analytics in the app that would be wonderful!
Hi Rebecca! Glad you like the new app design.
The request for writer tools in the app is very much on our radar. Unfortunately our mobile team is very small at the moment (we are hiring iOS engineers!) and we haven't been able to start work on it yet, but definitely understand the need.
In the interim, we're excited about how building a home for readers can support writers too.
Thanks for this update, Jasmine. Appreciate it's early days (and you've been rolling out new products at a blistering pace), but - I bet there's a lot of call for a Substack writing app out there now.
Here's one I can vouch for: I have a friend who is suffering from a really tough health issue which makes sitting up at her laptop really physically draining, so - if there was eventually a writing app or writing functionality in the existing app for Substackers, that would free her to get writing on her phone in a way she's find really difficult right now.
(She can use the Web version of the dashboard on mobile, but doing some things in the editor like adding links is either a bit of a nightmare for her or just impossible).
Oooooh writing on one's phone....
โHahas and ahasโ One of my favorite little phrases as I encouraged my speech students to use humor in their introโs, especially. My Masterโs in Speech Communication was titled โThe Use of Humor to Reduce Speech Anxiety.โ
From your profile, I gather that we have a lot in common, so I thought Iโd check out your โstack. However, I am 80, half blind, a retired addiction counselor (The governor assured us we would get our reward in Heaven), living on SS, so your paid version is too rich for my blood (thinned as is these days after being prescribed very expensive blood thinning meds, and Iโm going to be in the Coverage Gap the rest of the year), so โNoMun, NoFun, or NixKix for JoJo.โ
Sweet, Pete. I was a comic and an addict so yes we do have a lot in common. Well aren't you fancy living on SS! I'm actually getting 480 a month from the gov, so growing this as a retirement plan. LOVE writing for a crowd. n
I was working on my fallback plan to supplement my SS, rehearsing my greeting, โWelcome to Walmart! Would you like a cart today?โ But my stroke has rendered any employment plans null and void. Unless I can build a subscriber base and/or do a Life Coach gig online.
Mike, I just saw this. I'm sure you know that there are lots of keyboards you can use with mobile iPhones. I also have a 6" iPad that I never use. It has a black case with an integrated keyboard, so she could lie down and be in another position and it might do the trick. Or forget the keyboard and just type right on the email iPad vertically within the desktop OS like a slightly bigger phone -- keys, screen etc. It might not be as easy as typing on the phone, but it might do the trick and/or serve as a stopgap. If so, she is welcome to it. I can send photos. It's in perfectly good (excellent) condition. I received it as a gift and it just really isn't part of my workflow. @Sowden
Hi Mike! You are amazingly helpfulW I commented at the top earlier about using Google's Keep Note app that I have been using in conjunction with talking-to-text via Textra.
If this is an example of Substack's Writing app, it is painfully slow. I am constatnly overrunning and having to pause or if I pause, it goes to sleep and takes a while to wake up, interrupting the thinking flowing out hrough my fingers.
A test of my assertion: The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy brown dog, who lifted his head and nipped off the t******s of the insouciant little b*****d. (The first time it hung up on the "L" in lazy. The second test was discontinued after it hung up on the first "T."
The "W" after "helpful" was supposed to read "helpful! I am a fast, but not particularly accurate. typist, so I would like to correct typos without replying to self.
Since my stroke I am also bling in my left eye and blurry with both, so I miss more mistakes than I used to. So the comma after "typist" was supposed to be after "accurate," rather than after typist. I didn't see either until just now when, I returned from a short walk.
And I didn't mean to imply that I had jewelry in left eye.
If a writers app does come to fruition, it would be great if it kept in mind accessibility features such as providing a way to dictate by speaking into the app as well as the ability to type. I am loving the reader app (new to this space ).
I use MS Word to write. Over the years, I have grown use to the efficiency of spell checker. Then a couple of days ago I saw an ad for Grammarly. I thought this sounded great. I at once subscribed to it. I did not even get to use it before I got a pop-up notifying me of the MS Editor extension. I added it to my writing tools. It is GREAT! And it is FREE!
I just used Bing AI to learn how to get Editor and it gave me the following answer: โTo get started with Microsoft Editor, you can visit the official Microsoft Editor website 1. From there, you can download the browser extension for your preferred browser or explore the features available with a Microsoft 365 subscription.โ 1. microsoft.com
I also Bing AIed [new word?] speech-to-text applications. I got the following: There are several speech-to-text apps available that can help you convert spoken words into written text. Here are some of the best ones:
Dragon Anywhere: Dragon Anywhere is a mobile speech-to-text app developed by Nuance. It offers high-quality speech recognition and syncs with the desktop Dragon software1.
Google Gboard: If you have an Android device, you can use Google Gboard for speech-to-text transcription1.
Just Press Record: Just Press Record is a dedicated dictation app that allows you to transcribe your voice into text2.
Speechnotes: Speechnotes is another popular speech-to-text app that provides a simple and user-friendly interface for transcribing your voice1.
These are just a few examples, and there are many more speech-to-text apps available for different platforms and devices. You can explore these apps further to find the one that best suits your needs.
Please note that the availability and features of these apps may vary depending on your device and operating system.โ 1. techradar.com2. imore.com3. ahrefs.com4. pcmag.com
Hi Jasmine. Just want to highlight the discussion above about a separate writers' app. I don't know if that's something the team would consider, but I'd be happy to help in any way I can (definitely now an iOS engineer)
I like the idea of a writers app. Sort of analogous to Uber and Lyft providing separate apps to Riders and Drivers.
Yep, have seen the discussion, thanks for sharing!
Disliking change when I'm not completely au fait with the existing app meant I was negative/anxious on roll-out day. I'm getting there though now - and am using it more than previously. I'm a laptop Substack user, so the sudden big difference really threw me.I think I shall like it.
Oh thatโs great to hear!
Agreed! Loving this new, sleek app!
I also agree on a 'writers' app or at least a function that keeps the editing tools (Style-B-I-Strikethrough, images, buttons etc.) at the top of the page under the web address for formatting ease on the mobile browser.
Thank you substack team!
Here here. Love the new app.
This would be amazing
๐ง Morning all! โ Happy Office Hours!
If you need your weekly boost, here's some words to live by:
Your goals and dreams are the ONLY north star you need to keep you on track. You don't need to compare yourself to others, compete against people who aren't even playing the same game as you are, or worry that you're not where you're supposed to be.
You are EXACTLY where you're supposed to be!
If you're here, you're growing.
So keep going!
Don't give up. Don't give in. Follow your goals, ask good questions, realign where necessary, and always KEEP WRITING. ๐ฟ
I couldn't agree with you more, S.E. On more than one occasion I've realized that my writing has really saved my life, giving me a path back to reason. As M. Scott Peck so famously opened, "Life is difficult." We each need an anchor, a "north star" as you say, something to reach to when it gets particularly difficult. Writing has been that for me for all of my life and I am eternally grateful.
So well put, Howard. I myself feel the same about writing. It has helped save my life for sure. Nice to hear your thoughts!
While I completely disagree with Mr. Peck's phrase, it's wonderful to hear that writing has been your northern star, Howard.
Brilliant, as always.
I try to remind myself to stay in my own lane and that I am, as you say, exactly where I am supposed to be.
Thank you S.E.!
Love all of your encouragement! Thank you for the regular reminders to stay in our lane and focus on our work instead of falling into the comparison trap, which is so damn easy to do!!
With all due respect, I have often believed that the admonition that one should not compare oneself to others was akin to the right-wing and capitalistic notion that one should quit complaining about one's poverty.
Capitalists would prefer that we be mum about experiences of persecution, ostracism and discrimination, and when we experience instances of these affronts, they think we should amiably endure them and refrain from noting that other people are doing better.
Just as a worker should wonder why a CEO's income is 500 times his income, a writer should wonder why his newsletter is read by 200 people and someone else's newsleter, which might be relatively vacuous and trivial, is read by 20,000 people.
Hey, schools, firms, and the government compare us to others, why shouldn't we al;so make comparisons to buttress and fortify our lives against assaults on our endeavors
Well said.
And if we have to play the comparisons game (which is *really* difficult to stop doing) - we can compare with who we were and what we were doing yesterday, or last week, or last year. Measuring your progress against yourself is a really encouraging thing, and it keeps things super-real.
Yesss!! Thank you. Recently, I was talking to my daughter about an essay I was thinking about posting. She told me she thought it was great; it would make me feel more real. I was like, How did you know?!! Turns out she was meaning more real to readers. ;).
I know I'm following my north star as writing and sharing what I'm writing is making me feel more and more real to myself--more and more like the real me.
This meme has a similar vibe: https://i.kym-cdn.com/entries/icons/original/000/038/812/cover5.jpg
Great meme!
Love your boosts. I might add, Trust the unknown.
Balsam for all our senses ๐ Thanking you so much.
Needed the read this. Thanks ๐
Beautiful words. Thank you for sharing. Have a wonderful day!
How much could a Substack stack if a Substack could stack subs?
Easy: a fat stack of subs like a Substack does stack since a Substack can stack subs
Love it! Even better: How many subs could a Substack stack if a Substack could stack subs?
You win the internet today ๐๐
A Substack would stack as many subs as a Substack could stack if a Substack could stack subs
Delightful
Haha!
7?
Many. Many. So many!
Also, now I will have that song in my head all day Matthew๐คฃ
I used to play it on the piano when I was a kid.
Hey everyone! Some amazing updates recently, thank you for continuing to support this community (:
Looking forward to discovering some new writers ๐คญ
Hi Anastasia! I write about art and creativity and share short process videos + pages from my mixed media art journals.
And also, hi Shinjini!! Just saw that I actually replied to you about YOUR mixed media. I went over to check out Anastasia--who is witty and fun and looking for work besties. I recommend checking her page lissen! out. Now I've found your stack, Studio Diaries, and it's gorgeous! Glad to have found you both.
Hi, Anastasia! My daughter is into mixed media art, and I love the breadth of creativity it allows for. I visited her recently. We made art together, and I was inspired to loosen up (a little) by her enthusiasm and ease. I had painted a leaf and was pressing it delicately onto the canvas. "Hit it with something," she encouraged. "Like this!" She slapped her own leaf onto her canvas multiple times. :). She also does digital art stuff. Excited to check out your mixed media art journals. :)
I write essays from the Rolling Desk--on thinking and sometimes living outside and outside the box and on taking leaps forward to becoming who you deeply are and deeply desire to be. (I currently live in a van called Ruby.) Would love you to check it out if that appeals. Here's a link to a short piece on that art making experience. https://hollystarley.substack.com/p/whatcha-making-call-for-1st-saturday/comments
Ha! Your daughter sounds like a girl after my own heart!! Off to check out your post.
Nice to see this. I'm all for discovering new art and finding a way to express yourself.
Love process videos! Will be sure to check it out!
Hi Anastasia! I write about the complex relationship between art and mental health - art as therapy but also the shadow side of how mental health impacts artists. If that's of interest, come join me and say hi!
Love this. Especially the often overlooked negative effects creating can have on artists. The insecurity I get from publishing and sharing my writing is like no other, and it's even worse with music! Will definitely come and say hello
Yes thatโs a perfect example. I spent a long time learning about the benefits of art/craft and I super value that but we are missing out on a more complete understanding by not addressing how complex it can be.
Sounds interesting Kathryn! Will checkout your work :)
๐ฆ๐๐ฆ
This is fascinating, Kathryn. Subscribed!
Reminds me of this book I picked up a little while ago (and have yet to read!), "Sounds from the Bell Jar: Ten Psychotic Authors"
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6519.Sounds_from_the_Bell_Jar
Example of a favorite find: https://createmefree.substack.com/p/the-last-confessions-of-sylvia-p
Ooh, thanks, I'll have to check that out. I was on a deep dive earlier this year into Plath and not just her writing or even the writing about her but the works inspired by her writing that go deeper into mental health. It is a bit on the back burner right now since I just started grad school again and have a ton of school reading to do but it remains a deep interest.
Oooh! I love this. An inspiration loop! I will dive into your deep dive. Thank you for sharing (and diving!).
Good luck with your grad school hustle.
Thanks! I'm adjusting to grad school ... the reading is a lot but enjoyable ... the classes are also enjoyable but it's been a very long time since I had to regularly be on someone else's schedule so that's the biggest adjustment!
Hey anastasia! I write on cultural commentary and interpersonal explorations of self. My latest substack recounts my travels through europe and how it made me realize my self sabotaging tendencies. Hope you enjoy! https://denisemasiel.substack.com/p/lessons-on-self-sabotaging
Thanks Denise! Iโm looking forward to checking it out! Self sabotage is a big one for me too ๐
Most people never acknowledge their self-sabotage. They are too heavily invested in finding culpable parties in every third person they know. I hope I remember to check out your material.
Saved this to read later.
Hi Anastasia, I make limp stabs at humour writing on anything that comes to mind. Still struggling with a description of what exactly that is
Hey, me too! Us funny people should stick together ;)
Hy Anastasia! lovely to e-meet you <3 I just moved to Substack from ConvertKit this week and so I'm still getting the hang of Substack. I launched The Good Life newsletter, the place where the worldโs top chefs & hoteliers reveal their favorite spots in their home cities.
Ooooh what a great concept. Welcome! What made you make the switch?
Thank you so much <3
From what I've seen, I think that Substack's recommendation feature is super powerful, and Convert Kit's Creator network ( a similar feature to Substack's recommendations) isn't nearly as strong.
I do "the news stories you missed" with zero opinions. No really, zero opinions. That's my selling point.
How do you resist??๐คญ
Honestly, our modern world has made it pretty easy because 90% of what people read are opinions, not information. So I've made an effort to avoid the toxic conversation and focus on things like Company A buys Company B etc. And honestly, that stuff is actually how the world works. :)
You might want to have a really good editor scour your content and show you where opinion snuck in even though you didn't mean for it to. In my experience, it's almost unavoidable to avoid bias. But the effort alone is worthwhile!
I know. I worked as a reporter/editor for 10 years. :)
Hello Anastasia and everyone reading this thread (thanks for starting it Anastasia, btw!),
I've been in dire need to connect to other writers on Substack and in general.
I'm a fiction novel, poetry and short story writer, and illustrator. I also like taking photographs of strange places and putting them with my writing. I mostly upload my poetry/retrospective nonfiction on Substack, although I do share my short stories sometimes.
Anyways, it's nice to meet you สษ โบห โธโธ
Hey. I'm June and I write about all kinds of stuff. Mostly me and life , including nature, the garden, reading, my knitting! Sometimes I drop in a memoir essay about training to be a nurse almost 50 years ago. Come and say hi!
Hey there! I write non fiction (technology) newsletter. I see that I've a lot to learn to become a better writer.
Nobody in the world is so good that they couldnโt get better! I find it so exciting, finding things to write about that challenge me and my ways of expressing myself.
thank you for the kind words.
Hi Anastasia :) I've got a few newsletters up but still setting my Substack up, so I still consider myself fairly new. I'm using my own experiences to help other artists - especially highly sensitive ones - whoโve lost their creative mojo and feel a bit stuck, giving them encouragement to go for it again, the way I did. Would love you to take a look... or if you know an artist who needs a helping hand. Just in the process of moving countries right now, but I'll be back very soon!
Hey Anastasia! We write stories, embarrassments, musings, & essays (yes - essays not dissimilar to early-00s TV actresses with a book deal). We love signal boosting other writers. A "when the tide comes in, all boats rise" sort of approach to things. So your post is right up our alley.
You said, "Hey everyone! Some amazing updates recently," What updates are you referring to. I want to examine them.
Hi, Anastasia. My Substacks aim to ignite a new world of community, connection, and conversation one book at a time. Itโs my full-time passion, obsession, and income pipeline.
That's a pretty dope aim!
Hi Anastasia! I like your โf*ck minimalismโ post! ๐ Iโm still sometimes tempted to purge belongings in an effort to get everything tidy-looking (esp since we live in a small space), but itโs nice to say โto hell with itโ where some things are concerned.
thank you so much! and oh my god I should post an update about that. We've added plants and sort of made our previously very minimalist space more "cluttered" since I wrote that. and you know what it looks BETTER. it's way more forgiving. we just organised storage better!
I love this!! And I love the idea of a space being more โforgivingโ. (Plants are so awesomeโI stole some cuttings from a hallways spider plant and Iโm so happy to watch them thrive in my flat!)
before I always had a sense that our apartment was messy, even when I spent hours cleaning. now it feels lovely most of the time... of course with two young kids it's still a lot of maintenance, but it's so nice.
๐ง Hey, all! Quick word of warning. When you pay someone to help you with your Substack, make sure theyโve helped others and have gotten results. Courses too!
Ask for numbers. How many people have they helped and how? More subscribers? More paid subscribers? They should have data to show.
I want you to be smart and always get your moneyโs worth.
For instance, the writers Iโve worked with have doubled and tripled their subscribers, seen a sharp increase inย realย engagement, and been chosen as Featured Substacks. Most importantly, theyโve found purpose in their writing and direction in their careers.
I can show you stats and point you to the Substacks Iโve helped succeed. You deserve that!
And yes, Iโm partly writing this because of course I want you to subscribe to Writers at Work, where I give away as much advice as I can away for free. All the guidance I offer is based on the advice Substack gave me.
https://www.writersatwork.net/
And I want you to book a meeting, so I can help you in the most efficient way possible:
https://www.writersatwork.net/p/opportunities-to-meet-1-to-1
But I also want us all to succeed and not get hoodwinked! Substack is unlike any other platform and is the hardest to succeed in. Get the right helpโand draw on Office Hours and your fellow writers.
Here's an idea: never, ever pay anyone to "help you with your Substack."
I've helped a lot of writers. Don't deny anyone help. That's silly.
Why should you not do this for free?
I don't like to part with money when I don't have to, but why do you adamently oppose the idea of ever hiring someone to assist with substack.
If we took your argument to its logical conclusion, we would have to say that one should never hire someone to help one tutor one's child , never hire a coach to help boost athletic performance, and never hire a dietician to improve food selections.
You may contend that the answers are all provided in substack's help pages, but some people are so poorly acclimated to the digital world that they don't even understand the terminology of the explanatory pages on substack. Some people came of age in an era -- that I am increasingly nostalgic for -- when digital communications were only a dream that existed in the mind of a few scientists
All of that said, one must always keep one's guard up. We live in a "Hyper-capitalistic" society, and thieves and scoundrels in the guise of entrepreneurs abound.
Agree. I am so far from being a digital native I am positively a digital alien. ๐ฝ
Help me, David, could you, looking for some guidance here:
How, as a writer, would you say, "It sounds awfully like a self-promotional plug vaunting credentials that, for confidentiality reasons, obviously can never be revealed in the detail, and a bit of an oversell at that," and still remain within the bounds of due propriety and deferential respect? Any notions?
Agreed. Some people want and/or need help and others can do it on their own. There is nothing wrong with either approach. I've encountered the most scoundrels in the construction trade (which unfortunately I am having to live through again as I write about it)
Such great points. True, you can spend years on here trying to figure Substack out (I did before I met with them). Or a couple sessions based on Substack's guidance. Like you said, you can try every combination of food or just meet with a dietician.
I'd like to think everyone means well but maybe they aren't thinking of the people they work with and just want more (?). I definitely would have stopped if I didn't see results in the writers I work with.
Some people can navigate by themselves and others need help with navigating.
Bob, I'll agree to a point, which is when the helper becomes a reviewer. We see frequent posts announcing some other writer's Substack and fawning over how wonderful it is. I can't help but wonder if that's meant to promote the writer, or the 'trainer' who is providing the review. Seems all you'd need to do is book sessions with that trainer to get some wonderful promotion on Substack. I don't think that's what the team had in mind.
Howard, if you're doing well, you don't need help, which is awesome! As you know, I try to champion as many people as possible--free, paid, and those I meet with. I can't read all 17,000 Substacks. I'm lucky that I have Substack's support.
What is doing well?
Does it really matter how many followers you have or how much you make.
Writing is writing if it's good someone will find it!
Not sure why you felt the need to respond to this comment, Sarah. Inside and outside of Substack there are all too many writers who spend all their time teaching others how to write, and charging some pretty hefty fees to do it. Same in my former life in IT. Plenty of "coaches" some of whom never worked in the industry a day in their life. I don't know enough about you yet to refer to you in that comment. I've subscribed to you because I've heard you say some valuable things that will help me figure out what I consider to be a new medium for me in Substack. You are by no means the only one teaching, but I am encouraged by the fact that teaching has not stopped you from producing your own content. To me, that's your best validation. Having friends in the company is pretty easy to achieve if that's what you want, but continuing to be a working writer while sharing your insights and experiences with others, that keeps you credible.
I must say, I agree with you, Bob. Perhaps my thinking is outdated, but I continue to experience the "Do it yourself if you want it done right" on a daily basis. Thank you for the invaluable advice, though, Sarah.
Absolutely! The main thing is that you take guidance and do what's right for you and your Substack.
Thank you, Sarah ๐
And I hope that every free subscriber of Writers at Work gets a lot of what they need. I try to give away as much as possible!
Good reminder!
And I'll boost this recommendation by saying the regular workshops Sarah offers are fabulous and worth the subscription alone. :)
This is great advice. I also appreciated the list of food writing teachers you gave your subscribers this week, very helpful.
Thank you! Iโll look more deeply into this.
I will be booking with you, Sarah. I've followed your Substack for months and see what you've accomplished. Looking forward to working with you.
How can you see what she's accomplished? Am I missing something? Isn't your growth sort of private? Like, no one can really see my subscriptions free and paid, right?
I work with writers who tell me, e.g., Heather Hausenblas got 1000 subscribers in a month while working with me, Kate Hill's gross revenue skyrocketed (putting the graph on my meet-with-me page now!), and two writers have been chosen for Substack Reads. We track their progress. Otherwise, it's not worth the money. Some writers want subscribers, some want paid, some want to sell backlisted books. That's what we do.
I think you're making a mistake if you keep your accomplishments private. Your best promotion is sharing the fact that others find your content valuable. Not details, just stats. Think about how major novelists etc. promote themselves. It has a lot to do with number of readers and copies sold. Sarah does a laudable job of promoting her accomplishments along with those of her students.
I can see that you have around 1k subscribers. Or less than 2k might be a better way to put it bc it only shows round numbers, iirc. IDK how many are paid but the average is around 10%, again iirc, so I can make an informed guess.
Getting this out of the way: I'm not fond of the changes that have been made to Notes. Shoving random top posts into my feed is intrusive and goes against the whole reason I use the 'following' feed exclusively. At the very least let me set it to only show posts from people I actually follow, or just turn it off. Though if it showed posts from the backlog of publications I'm subscribed to or brand new substacks, then I might be interested.
Also I'd greatly prefer an option for chronological scrolling. I want to see things as they happen, not in some order that's obscured to me. What I'm after is conversation with fellow writers and chronological order is the one that's best for that, algorithm order makes it like overhearing bits and pieces of a conversation.
Moving on, I've recently had the realization of how easy it is to not know about things on substack. I saw people on notes say it'd be interesting to see serialized novels or public domain works on substack when that's the entire reason I came here. Made me appreciate just how vast the range of substack is.
And for an attempt at some S.E Reid style encouragement, have you thought about what exactly you're after with your substack or in general? I've been writing a post where I tried to dig deeper into some long held desires of mine, and had the realization that I already did the things I wanted to do without fully realizing it.
So if this also leads you to realize you've already met a goal of yours, take some time to celebrate the fact that you achieved something important so smoothly you didn't even think about it. If you write, you are a writer. We try to put tons of disclaimers on things, but if you want to educate people on a subject and you've educated two people on it, you have in fact educated people on that subject.
Thanks for the feedback!
I think the best solution would be to give us the tools to modify these feeds as we would like, instead of it being decided for us. Don't want to see posts from people you don't follow? Go for it. Want to see more posts that mention Kangaroos? Yes, please, right now.
Echoing that - customization of all tools that we can toggle on and off to suit us individually.
Definitely. I have for years been arguing for a democratisation of social media platforms, giving users more control of all the dials and levers & making the mysterious workings of algorithms transparent for and accountable to all.
Yes yes yes.
Yes. There is also the mere contemplation - and possibly scientific fact - that the more we have things done for us, the less we end up using our brains! ๐
Sounds great. How would that work tho?
Depends on the platform, I don't think there is one ready-made solution. But in essence the idea is to move away from centralised to decentralised control. That could be sort of like a reddit style thing only everyone in a subreddit controls that part of the site, or the people who do can only do so after consulting with everyone. Basically the way a cooperative company often works, by consent. But it could also be in ways that users get to control the algorithm on a social networking site, that is run decentrally/peer to peer on people's computers, maybe in part on an individual and in part on a communal basis, creating these sort of online neighbourhoods that you could be a part of, where people can get to know each other. Also, check out search engines like YaCy, which are also peer to peer run. Just thinking out loud on some of these ideas, btw. The main thing is that you have a say over the systems that have an influence over you (the same thing could be said for the way corporations are structured).
Thx for explanation. Love these ideas.
The first option has been in Notes since day one and what I've stuck with, only sometimes venturing into the 'home' or whatever option before going back to people I follow. Unless you mean like setting it to not even show restacks.
More options is good so I made a point of phrasing my complaints as 'I'd like this option' rather than removing things outright. A lot of people seem to love the changes that have been made so let those people keep it, but for me I'm scratching my head wondering what about this isn't a downgrade. If this trend keeps up with no alternatives I might have to accept Notes is no longer intended for people like me.
Now I'm remembering how the 'my subscribers' feed got quietly killed. Not a good sign.
YES to this, Robert! Love this.
We all have different needs (and always subject to change!), giving us the power to 'modify' for what we need is the definition of democratized media! "The Algorithm" runs so (too) much of our lives, and I believe that is the reason many of us are here...
For instance, unlike William up there, I love being exposed to people/stacks I do not know about on Notes. But like William, I appreciate chronology over popularity. Fine lines, fine lines...
I think it would get us out of this false choice of either letting these algorithms go rampant, spreading lies and pitting people against each other, or censoring and controlling what people can and can't say to fight something as nebulous and vague as 'disinformation'. In the end it is the profit (and other) motive(s) that is driving many of these problems, and these platforms are not designed to be beneficial to us, much less giving us any kind of say in how they function.
Totally agree with your concern about notes. I feel like every time I open the app I see a "notification"-like dot above notes but then I scroll and I'm like, "wait, what? where did all this come from?" It's not necessary bad stuff but I'm super picky about what I flow in front of my face and am not really into an anonymous algorithm deciding that for me. It's what I like about substack, but this feature seems to run counter to that...?
I would second the request to turn off the dots. I especially hate the ones in chats that are only for paid subscribers so I can't view them.
I was told by a stack guru that what we see in our notes feed are those who we interact with the most.
That's my understanding too.
Exactly. At least it's possible to stop using Notes while keeping your subscriptions, but thinking 'well at least this doesn't impact all of substack' for new updates is not a good sign.
Hi William, thanks for the feedback. Giving readers and writers control over their experience is always something we want to work toward. This is just a first version, and there are plenty of improvements to come.
Right now, there is still a "Following" feed in the Explore toggle that only shows notes from people you subscribe to or follow. That feed is totally chronological. In addition, if you want a focused reading space, we've made the full chronological inbox more powerful tooโnow with simple saved/audio filters and multiple appearance settings. We're hoping to add more ways for you to navigate that too, e.g. a search function.
Noted that you don't love the top posts modules. We're planning to introduce more controls around whether & which you see, so stay tuned.
Thank you for the response, I know that these changes took some hard work and it isn't the best feeling when people are sour on your hard work.
On another look the Notes feed is chronological again, I remember for a while it definitely didn't look chronological there was a whole thing about it, but it looks like I didn't notice when it did become chronological. My bad. Though I swear I saw posts in non chronological order just yesterday, ah well it's settled now anyway.
I appreciate hearing you have controls for the top posts module on the way. After seeing some other comments on Notes, I think top posts might also be helped by more granular categories. Like having novels, short stories, and poetry as distinct categories to avoid the issue of the fiction category containing both fiction and posts about fiction.
Iโd like it to remember the toggle setting and not default back ... I have to repeatedly set it to โfollowingโ every time.
I'm seeing the same new-to-Substack best-selling authors in Top Posts, Recommended Posts, and Just Launched, two days in a row. I'll be using the browser.
Very cool that you've already done things you set out to do without really realizing it. I think this happens, it sneaks up on us. If we are consistently showing up, plodding along, things happen (hopefully). I appreciate this reminder William.
I hear you. I've rather abandoned Notes, for various reasons. But random "top" posts would be one of the larger ones.
As for your question, I know exactly what I'm doing on Substack. I'm publishing my stories on my own schedule because I got tired of waiting for answers from traditional routes. And I appreciate the opportunity.
One of the most important things for me to remember is that I can control what I write, when I write it, when I publish it, and other aspects of the process. But I cannot control what happens after that, whether people engage, subscribe, etc. That's out of my hands.
Not saying I always remember that - because I'm a human being with my own set of faulty wiring - but I try.
We have the same agenda for substack, I definitely feel that.
Love the S.E. Reid style encouragement. A lovely reminder. Yes, I am doing much of what I've set out to do. Also yes, engaging in conversation with other writers is one of the things I'm here for. :)
Beautiful!
Yes, its sometimes too easy to confuse "volume" with "attainment." There are so many things we do that are valuable even if we only impact one other life.
+1 for chronological scrolling on Notes! I largely like the changes that Substack has been rolling out and appreciate the teamโs continued work, but I feel like Notes has gotten a little weird lately. Maybe I just feel that way because I took about 2 months away from it and itโs grown since, but the algorithm seems to have made it a little less friendly and a bit more like the Platform Formerly Known as Twitter.
Absolutely agree about the "not knowing about things", which is really just discoverability. An individual algorithm feed should surface the unknown as well as the popular, but unfortunately that is a hard problem to solve, so popularity is used as a proxy for quality.
HATS OFF TO WILLIAM EDWARDS !!!!
When people comment, on writers office hours, re their experiences on substack, 99 percent of the time they laud, praise and seem ready to lick the boots of substack personnel.
It is refreshing to encounter someone like Mr. Edwards who has the balls to actually level a criticism.
I, for one, am a decidely low tech guy. I just write articles and am deaf and dumb as to how I might peddle them to potential readers.
In any event, can you please refer me to web addresses that explain "notes" in detail. I have found fragments of information about notes all over substack but I have not be able to find one place where all of this material is put together comprehenisvely and coherently.
Just stopping by to say I really, really like what the Substack team has done with the new app. Of course weโll have to wait and see how it works over time, but Iโm really excited about the potential for discovery it offers. Great work, everyone!
I am glad you are excited, we are too!
Well said and me too!
And I really love the sheer speed and volume of the updates that Substack rolls out. Ridiculously hard working pace, and since it's World Gratitude Day, well - thanks for that, Substack.
Thanks Terrell!
I have had a very full week so no time to explore. I like this Terrell! Makes me excited to take a look and dive in.
Me too!
โ๏ธ - howdy everyone -- there's a lot of talk about how to increase visibility and subscribers via the substack app but how are you all engaging and growing with people who DON'T have the app and are exclusively email readers?
This is an excellent question. I have many readers who are primarily receiving my work via email.
I try to talk to them, via email, as if we are just having a chat. I encourage them to email me back and have found this connection has diminished a little bit since I got on Substack but that's OK.
I would like to get a little creative to find ways to engage those folks more as my strongest desire is to build community and make them feel like they belong. I look forward to what other have to say on this.
Thanks Olivia.
"...my strongest desire is to build community and make them feel like they belong."
๐ This!
I have found a few people email me back as well. It's always a surprise and really wonderful. Which makes me think maybe I should start doing that for other writers, even though I'm on the app.
i think an email reply really stands out -- i've only ever received a few email replies but i really appreciate them.
I've also given out my personal email. I love getting to know my readers.
Like meeeee!!! So glad!
Doesn't the substack email automatically forward to your personal email? If not, I've been labouring under a misconception!
I receive email replies but they tend to be just from people I already know in real life. It's been a nice way to stay in touch with friends!
This is an excellent reminder Latham. I have been planning on investing time into emailing my new paid subs, my people that comment regularly and contribute to community etc. I need to make it a priority.
Oh this is good to hear. Thanks, Latham.
I like the idea of encouraging them to email. And yes to build community and ensure everyone feels like they belong. Always wise to remember what the primary focus is.
definitely agree with the value of email conversations for those who don't use substack. i would like to see more replies coming in and i'm currently trying to gear my newsletter to include more calls for participation/comments!
I don't. I have no social media and only work on meeting people here! It seems to have worked well enough for me (and keeps me from being stressed about all of the other things!) Plus, there are some stats about how people who are already subscribed to one Substack are more likely to subscribe to and pay for another, I'll have to find where that was mentioned!
that's also good to hear, Elle! i've been putting in a bit more work into my newsletter as of late and that's included being more visible in notes and office hours. you are right that it seems that people who subscribe to one substack will happily subscribe to more. and wow, no social media does seem to be working for you!!!
Whenever I post and substack encourages me to share on social media I feel bad for not following its directions. But I'm okay with my limited social media. Just wondering if this means my substack will never really grow.
i know alexandra franzen has written a bit about 'marketing without social media,' which could be applied to growing your newsletter audience? have a look at one of her articles: https://www.alexandrafranzen.com/2021/01/30/marketing/
appreciate this link Olivia
Oh interesting, thank you for the link!
If it helps, I have grown to 11,000 subscribers with no social media! You donโt have to have it to grow. But you do have to engage with the community here and get to know people in the comments ๐ฅฐ
I seem to remember that you have or had a discord. Is that still going? If so, is it effective?
It is still going, it was a great place to meet before we were able to communicate more freely with one another on Notes/Chat. But it was always for community and not for driving subscribers!
Thanks, Elle. I remember it has being a robust community!
11,000 subscribers is amazing!
Are you from Canada Jen? I am, and a Canadian would say, and feel, that we feel bad not following Substack's suggestion! I can relate for sure.
I'm from Australia! I'm not sure if it's related to nationality or just that at my core I tend to be a rule follower so ignoring all the current advice on using social media to drive engagement feels wrong. But only ever posting on social media to say 'look at my new post!' also feels wrong and I don't want to increase my social media time so... teeny tiny audience (for now?) it is!
When I first came to Substack in Feb this year I used Twitter to share my posts (I have quite a few Twitter followers) but it didn't necessarily turn into subs. Mostly because my Twitter following is strongly related to my professional background and I dont really do that on here. Now that I'm loving writing on here and building up a new community, I am leaving my old tribe behind. I still have a Twitter account but I rarely post there except to share my substack and if Twitter becomes paid then I shall leave altogether. I have Fb account but never use it. And I'm still on LinkedIN from work days but never use it except to lob out a substack post now and again. Most of my growth, (it's small but growing), has been through Substack.
I used to use Twitter a lot more, and it was all related to my professional life. I've left that part of my life now so it feels like I'm trying to find a new community.
After 6 months on here I'm finally working out who I want to pay money to to read. I think it's easy to get over-excited in the beginning and maybe end up with paid subs that turn out not be the best for you. It's not cheap to paid sub and I think I can probably afford about 3-5 simultaneously so it needs to be quite a discriminating process! I'm more likely to pay to people whose writing I like AND who have engaged with me as a free subscriber.
I asked this during the last office hours and didn't get much of a response. The people who did comment were basically like I leave my house and tell people what I'm doing and they are enthralled and want to sign up. If we could only be so lucky lol.
You have the "sourdough starter" for your reader base already. It's the community of people you already know. There is no medium, including Substack, that can be the be-all end-all of promotion. I recently posted an article titled, "Networking Eats Marketing for Lunch" (https://biztechjournal.substack.com/p/mps4msps-networking-eats-marketing) even though I'm a veteran marketer. I truly believe that.
Talk to the people you know. Ask them how they're doing. Tell them what you're up to. At some point either they'll offer, or you could simply ask them to spread the word about your Substack. Grow your base organically and it can expand geometrically. If the content is worthwhile and your friends are willing to help spread the word, the people they tell will tell other people, who will tell other people, and so on.
Every great salesperson I've ever known has built their customer base this way. Referrals. Word-of-mouth. Nothing is more powerful, or simpler. Just call friends and say hi. Just commit to calling more and more friends every day. Make it a scheduled part of your routine. Networking works.
Well, this is just very good advice for more reasons than just growing your subscriber lists. :) Thank you, Howard!
this is very valuable advice, Howard! hope everyone reading this thread sees it.
The best way to get the word out about your Substack and receive subscribers is to subscribe to other people's Substacks. Be a regular commenter on their posts. Interact with people on Writer Office Hours. Contact writers offline (i.e. email them). Go on Notes and post on there.
These are the ways I got subscribers. I had none when I started.
These are great ideas. Itโs all about building and engaging with a *community*.
This is a good way, Matthew!
Hi Kerry. Lenny (author of Lenny's Newsletter, the #1 business newsletter with more than 500,000 subscribers) recently wrote about how he got to that huge number of subscribers. Although his newsletter is business focused, his advice is good for everyone. https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/500000
Other ideas: add your newsletter (linked) under your name on all of your emails, along with a super brief description and an invitation to check it out. Send an invite to your Facebook friends with a link and description.
Have you connected with @Elle Griffin? She's awesome and may have some ideas for you since you publish fiction.
Substack is a great place to be. Lots of kind people who are willing to help.
Five. Hundred. Thousand.
Go Lenny!
haha i see! i managed to get my initial subscriber base from 2 things, one being my instagram followers and then another being a grant i got awarded which pushed my newsletter a bit in the announcement.
i'm a musician so i bring a pad of paper to take emails for the mailing list but maybe i am not shoving it under people's noses enough lol
mine was simply engaging with everyone on office hours, and trying to find writers that I wanted to follow on here. I also have a YouTube channel so there were a couple of people from there who subscribed when I started. My question is, where are the people who like to read lol. The people on Facebook and Instagram and YouTube do not have the attention span for the written word.
The library and bookstores.
Excellent point!
Haha.
Haha! I'm envisioning enthralled crowds trailing behind. Sign me up! ;0)
I think we asked v similar questions at the same time lol, also wondering this!
I like your author picture, Andrea. I scrolled past it a few times and noticed I was drawn to it. Then it occurred to me it's the mirror of the pose I'm taking as I sit here reading and responding. :)
I ask them to share the newsletter and say it is the best way to support my project (because it is). I value shares more than money because it helps me break out of my bubble. But yeah, my engagement rate is like 90% outside of Substack, so my network here is pretty limited.
Agreed. Shares / and here restacks--I crave them. ;0)
that's great, i think maybe it's a bit hard if you get too stuck in the substack bubble as its maybe a big fish, small pond thing? or maybe it's not that at all...... sharing definitely helps. i don't think i've had many shares on recent emails but am adding more calls to action to reply/share this month, will see how it goes.
i'm a small fish in a small pond haha. and yes, you are correct, I'm not sure how effective it is, but it's free, so why not? I think like everyone here, I'm just throwing stuff at the wall and seeing what sticks.
There is a reason I am at this office hours :P
Ha, well I clicked on your substack based on this comment and subscribed.
Then 100% worth the effort. I'll subscribe to yours as well. Intriguing title.
Thanks for the sub! I liked how short your posts were, and that it was interesting (not going to lie, hackers in Vegas was also a great hook).
definitely a fan of the throwing things at the wall and seeing what sticks!!! and thanks for the sub! hope you enjoy the 'sletter :)
Subscribed!
I have a number who are email only and Itry to encourage engagement by email. For example I ask them in my welcome email to email and tell me what they're currently reading. Not many do, but those that have, have gone on to 'chat' via email later.
Never thought about whether my readers have the app or not. How would you know? My open rate hovers at 50%. Maybe do a survey in your next post?
Via e-mail, mostly, or via whatsapp. On the app itself, I find people are still a little shy about participating in conversations. The biggest way of connecting with readers and other writers - for me - has been this thread, actually.
Just want to say hi to everyone here. It's been a long, tiring week and it can be tough to stay both on schedule and in touch with what you need. Combining jobs and studying and having a life in between and all that. The good news is, I have been having tons of inspiration to write, only need the time/energy to actually do it! More motivated than ever to make this all work. Glad to connect with you all here.
Good to see you Robert!
Hi Robert, Nice to see you.:) Glad you've had inspiration! Love those jolts.
You got this Robert. Stay in the flow brotha.
You actually have a life?? Hey, what's THAT like? :)
Hang in there. I hope your energy returns soon!
Oh, yes. I sooooo relate. So much inspiration, so little time. May the energy and time balloon for us both, for us all! Thanks, Robert! Let us know how it goes next week. :)
I have had the reverse more often I think, or at least I didn't have as many avenues to channel it into. In the summer I even made some progress with the plot of my novel, which is really itching to get written now :)
Totally get this.
Any update on our ability to turn off the public display of our subscriber lists?
Itโs really not a solution to say that each individual subscriber can opt-out. How about a switch at the publicationโs level for those of us who wish to respect our subscriberโs privacy? That would be great. Thanks.
Yikes! I don't have many subscribers, but just like including fifty recipients in the "To" of an email (instead of bcc-ing them), no one should want their personal information revealed by being publicly listed as a subscriber to a particular pub. Think "unwanted eyes on"!
Funny, I went to my site via my wife's account and do not see what I saw on Faith C. Bergevin's site! I'm relieved. For the sake of others, this feature should be deleted immediately!
I have never seen the opt-out option when I have subscribed. I would always choose opting-out.
The opt-out doesn't happen at the time of subscribing. After subscribing, if you want to opt-out, you have to edit your profile to turn off the setting in your "reads" list for each publication that you wish to opt-out from.
In my my view, this is completely backwards. A publication ought to have the ability to turn off the whole list at their end in order to honor their subscriber's privacy. So far however, it seems Substack has little or no interest in making this happen.
I saw this as a comment last week, too. Did someone from Substack reply, that you know?
Yes, they replied that it was up to each individual subscriber to opt-out. They also mentioned they might look into it, but it seemed kind of vague. I was hoping they had an update on the progress of this issue.
I'm with you. I imagine many of my subscribers have no idea about these lists.
I did not know about this. Are you saying people can see our subscriber lists?
Yes, indeed. Everybody's are now public. Not the emails (usually), but the names. Under your profile, right beneath your name.
https://substack.com/@faithcbergevin
Thanks Victor. I did not notice this. I did notice it only has Substack subscribers and not everyone who actually subscribes to my publication.
I keep asking for this. It needs to be turned off at writers discretion, at least. ASAP.
๐ง Took a month off. Came back and had an even bigger open rate and a ton of new subscriptions. So take a break when you need it.
Lovely reminder. Thank you.
That's great! I ended up taking two months due to server issues and a very stressful period, and i really felt the void of not being on Substack ๐
Well this is awesome! Thanks for the heads up that it IS possible. What I mean is it's nice to hear this actually works, well done.
๐ง
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 peopleโs 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 youโve 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 just hit 1,000 subscribers!
Michael Mohr
โSincere American Writingโ
https://michaelmohr.substack.com/
For me, the most important word you used in this useful list is "community." The community of writers I've found here is by far the MOST rewarding thing about being part of Substack. You can regularly recognize things that have been confronting you reflected in the comments of others and it quells the loneliness. Many here have said "we're all in this together" and indeed we are.
I second this!
Yup. Iโve too have found this to be the honey nectar of success on Substack.
Congrats on your first thousand!
Congrats on your excellent subscriber count! Well deserved!
Congrats on 1k! Well done! What's your secret to posting 2-3 x per week? Do you sleep? Eat?
How do you even know you write "quality & engaging" material?
Ask your readers. They're the only ones who know.
Not easy when they dont engage with the post ๐คท
To get started, recruit a few readers from your community of friends and ask them to be brutal in their criticism of your work. You have to reach out before they start reaching in.
perhaps a feedback poll is an easy option?
Already tried that, people dont even click the link to help out.
An easy option is not necessarily the right option. You can't expect anyone to do anything. You need to reach out and connect with them. One by one. As many each day as you can fit into your available time. You have to build a network person by person. Over time each of those people will start to help expand your network, as long as they appreciate the value of your content.
I love notes because there are several hundred (probably thousands) of you that I want to follow, but my inbox simply canโt handle that many subscriptions, nor will I ever get to them all. So what Iโve been doing is going through all the mentions and lists of Substackers and following all the accounts that are writing, sharing and talking about things I want to have in my news feed every day. However, Iโm also frustrated with notes because when I filter by โfollowingโ, the notes donโt appear to be in chronological order and I donโt know if anyone Iโm following is showing up in that feed. Some posts are from 4 days ago on the top and I have to scroll quite a ways down to find something posted 30 minutes ago. I wish there was a way to additionally filter by the newest notes (I believe you can do that with the comments here). I think I speak for many people who are weary of social media when I say that I'd like this platform to not be like everything else, where the only things you can find is whatโs popular and all youโre getting is what an algorithm has decided you should see. Anyway, if you made it this far, thanks for reading my long comment.
Thanks for the feedback
P.S. If you have a Substack with serialized fiction, journal entries (things that are reflective or thought provoking), philosophy, etc. comment below, Iโd like to follow you.
My "Global Challenge" is a fictionalized presentation of factual and often peer-reviewed information that points to Earth's loss of water. I'm building slowly and gently since most people who think of our ocean have a hard time believing that de-glaciation and weather patterns that lead to desertification (expanding deserts) (and numerous other observed phenomena) are other than "climate change."
I canโt decide if I love or not that Office Hours has become a community noticeboard, but ... I think weโre a fit. Iโm working on launching serialized fiction in 2024. Itโs a fictional newsletter that immerses you into another world. At the core is a Regency-era Arthurian quest to avoid ecological collapse, with sea dragons. Until I launch Iโm writing about writing and research rabbit holes. I just got started here on Substack, but the book has made it to the typing in phase!
I love it ๐
And I just read your reply to another author. I have no idea what a LifePath number is but your concept intrigues. Off to check it out!
Thank you ๐ Most of my content on that is on Youtube. Feel free to ask me any questions if they arise.
Hi Kerry; I'm serializing my novel. I drop a chapter once per month. The other three weeks I do humor.
How long is each chapter, and how well is it working for you, both in terms of keeping your readers engaged and in terms of your writing flow?
I just dropped my second chapter. The night before dropping the first one, I couldn't sleep. I was so friggin nervous. My readers are used to my humor essays so this is a change and one that I think most enjoy. I do ask for feedback and love getting constructive criticism. I am beyond appreciative! I try to keep chapters under 2k words. Ch 2 was at 2400-- more than I wanted. Are you considering serializing?
Yes, and it's good to know that 2k is your benchmark. I my try stories that run to 10k, so I will probably break them by natural pauses.
๐๐ผโโ๏ธ
Hi Kerry,
I try to write about reflective or thought provoking things that help us to be introspective and grow from the inside! I just published a presentation that is filled with no-cost tools we can use to shift our mindset. If that's up your alley check it out!
followed!
Thank you so much!
I write about creativity & art (and also share pages from my mixed media art journal). If thatโs interesting & thought provoking for you, Iโd love for you to say hi!
https://shinjinim.substack.com
It looks like I'm already following you! probably saw the tarot part and was enticed, I don't see a lot of tools of divination on here (I'm a numerologist).
Oh, wonderful! The tarot posts are on a different publication. Do you write about divination & numerology?
subscribed!
I do not, but I used numerology to help design the novel that I'm publishing here. I do, however, post a monthly video on my YouTube channel, which is mostly where I talk about numerology. In general, its a platform on consciousness, and numerology is just one of my tools that I take authority on.
Oooh! This sounds very interesting! Iโve not heard of numerology being used to design a novel. Iโve mostly heard people using tarot for that.
I don't write fiction but I post about me and life, usually reflective in some way, and I occasionally post memoir which is always reflective. Come and take a look!
I write serialized erotic historical fiction, if that's your wheelhouse.
Thanks so much for the perspective and support!
Ooooh
This past week, I got a sub from someone who subscribes to over 220 Substacks! I have no idea how you could possibly keep up with that many. I am in awe of that person.
I had a subscriber who also reads 498. Made me wonder if it was a bot.
Yeah, I got some of those. I check quite frequently who is engaging on that 'star' chart thingy. One of the reassuring things about that is that the people who have been with me the longest engage more frequently and more consistently. I'm hoping that's positive and not just mindless opening of emails!! Where people have no stars in spite of having subscribed 6 months ago, say, I do wonder about sending them a little reminder....
I subscribe to hundreds of substacks. I love it - and I feel no compulsion to โkeep upโ with all of them. Some days I feel like reading about home decor and fashion, so I read the stacks on that. Some days I am more interested in writing craft, so I will read those ones.
I only read in the app, which I treat like a lovely, personalized magazine.
I send all the emails to a separate folder, which I donโt open.
I am definitely not a bot. I am pretty new here and I am sure there will be lots of amazing writers that I would enjoy reading, so I am sampling wide so I have a good chance of finding them all
Good to know. Thx for sharing.
Ahhh, yes. The yin and the yang of Substack. Itโs a tough balancing act for sure.
This! I care about quality first which is subjective and reflects what I am interested in. My connections come second which come from quality content. Whatโs popular is last to me. Algos often reward those with reach which means high engagement by default.
This rings true for subscribing to many other writers and then not finding time to read all the newsletters. Speaking from personal experience :)
I keep subscirptions open because what I read depends on my mood. I delete a lot of substacks I subscribe to, but then I'll randomly read it when I have time. That makes it worthwhile.
That wouldn't work for me because if I was subscribed to 700 people, some of which post twice a week, it would get lost in a sea of emails and I would never know what they are doing. However, by following them I hope to quickly scan what everyone is doing and have a general idea of what's going on. That way I can slowly find 75-100 that I will dedicate my time to while still being able to support the writers that I'm not able to follow completely. Also I feel bad for unsubscribing ๐ I'm loyal like that I guess lol
I think you just made a very good case for instituting a tip jar, something that was brought up in the comments to Jasmine's post yesterday. If you could just leave a tip once in a while to someone you follow when you spot something they wrote that you really like, I think it would increase the overall level of support for the small, individual Substacks. It's less than a paid sub, but it's much more than nothing.
I save posts I'm unsure about subscribing to, so I can come back to read the post that was of interest to me and check out other content. I do need to utilize the following tool more.
There is a problem with being over-subscribed. I went through that a few months ago. I had so much in my inbox and not enough time to read them all. It's tricky to balance community with real-life time constraints.
Yes, I get this too. It improved on the For You bit, but Following is still late.
I wish notes added tags for discovery.
๐ง Approaching 24k subscribers in 125 countries. Happy to collaborate with others/cross promote. I write about motivation, inspiration, personal growth, and self-help so it needs to be a fit. Check me out.
I write about creativity and art. Let me know if thatโs a fit with your publication? Would love to collaborate.
Will check it out and circle back.
congrats on your 24K
Thank you, you rock.
Congratulations! That's wonderful. I write essays about thinking and living outside and outside the box. My most recent post, "Treasure Troves All" is on a leap of faith I'm recently engaged in (https://hollystarley.substack.com/p/treasure-troves-all). I love what you say about such leaps toward "the nexus point" (great way to say it) in "Have You Found Your Nexus Point?" (https://youtopianjourney.substack.com/p/its-2023-have-you-found-your-nexus?utm_source=profile&utm_medium=reader2). It is necessary for life!
Thank you so much, you rock.
Congrats! What a milestone! I write humor and am serializing my novel in progress and personally have experienced huge, humongous, stratospheric personal growth. Like, a lot. You've inspired me to write a humorous motivation piece. Will subscribe. I'm all about this movement.
That is great, thank you so much.
Would love to. Please hit me up at greatbooksgreatbrands@substack.com so we can explore.
You got it.
๐ง โ๏ธ Hi folks, I write personal essays about films and have been using Canva for my graphics so far. I took a break for the last couple of months to finish my PhD (which I did today!!!) and when I come back next week I wanted to change up my graphics.
Does anyone know the legalities of using still from films in blog posts? I've done multiple searches to try and find a definitive answer and nothing. I'm prepared to sign up to a paid service for licence use rights but I also haven't found one like Shutterstock just for film! Any advice would be dearly welcome!!!
I think it falls under "fair use." As long as you're not manipulating the image and the image is a representation of a smaller part of the whole (so you're not posting screenshots of every frame of the film) then you're likely fine. I'd google Fair Use with film screenshots and see what comes up :)
Thanks Theresa, that's what I thought but I wasn't sure!
For sure! I'm not a lawyer though so this is not legal advice lol, just a random girl on the internet!
Wow Aisling, congratulations on finishing your PhD. Well done!!
Thank you!
Hi Aisling! ๐ Just wanted to say congrats on finishing your PhD!
Thank you!!
congrats!!
Congrats. My Substack, The Cottage, is a content curation newsletter featuring film, TV, podcasts, and good reads. I'm interested in reading more of your work.
Great to connect, I'll check it out!
Just wanted to congratulate you on finishing your PhD!
Thank you!
Congratulations on finishing your PhD, Aisling!
I can speak from the musical side of things - the issue of copyrighted material is under massive evaluation right now, so you can either ask the creator or their management for permission of use, or at the very least credit them in writing while explicitly stating that you are not the original owner/creator and that should there be a copyright issue, that they please get in touch.
Thanks Jo, great advice!
my pleasure.
Thanks Jo for sharing. I have written a piece that incorporates lyrics from a song and so I am glad to know this information. Obviously for a major piece we need to contact their management or the artist. But I have been wondering so I appreciate you sharing.
my pleasure, Faith.
Congratulations! I work as a journalist and usually follow the rule that unless it's on Wikipedia it is a copyright violation.
Yea, that's more or less what I was suspecting, once you put the CC filter on google image search it reduces the pool considerably!
Perhaps you know of flim.ai - a database of film stills. I'm not sure if they provide the legal coverage that you're looking for, but I would think it is in their interests to do so, so... perhaps.
Thanks Graeme, I'll check them out.
Congrats on finishing your PhD!!!!
Wow! Completing a PhD is a real achievement. Congratulations!
For my newsletter, I often include academic articles and books. It would be great if using a DOI (which is a persistent identifier), Substack can generate citation.
I will share your request with the team for considerations.
Good idea.
And am the only one that would like to have more formatting options? Or is it a limitation of Markdown?
I would really like to see table functionality. Currently I have to create tables in Evernote and then paste in the image which is tedious.
I know there are options to include LaTex blocks, but the nerd in me wants to be able to create whole posts in LaTex.
I'd like something like that. My series "Global Challenge) cites or copies news articles as well as (often peer-reviewed) papers that substantiate Earth's slow but inexorable loss of water to Space. I'd prefer to be certain that I'm not violating copyright, and that, for instance, my posting of US government-sourced documents is indeed freely permitted.
+100
That would be great
I realize that there are reasons for the changes and am aware that I'm someone who is always slow to adapt to updates. So it's not that I want to complain about the update per se but rather to say that it's not ideal for me and to explain that what I really want from any app is to be able to toggle and customize and choose whether or not I want these options.
Ultimately, I want my version of the app and someone elseโs version of the app to look entirely different based on the choices we make about what we do and donโt want to see.
We all learn differently, experience differently, and want different things from these tools. Itโs frustrating that we are fed a certain way of looking at it and thatโs usually it.
Going back to earlier days of Instagram, as a simple example, I liked the chronological feed and would have loved the option to toggle between chronological and algorithmic. Here on Substack, a simple change I would love would be in activity to toggle on and off โmentionsโ and โrestacksโ etc to rid myself of some of the noise there. With this new change on the Substack app, Iโd love to be able to turn off all of the new visual clutter that just distracts me but might be of great benefit or pleasure to someone else.
It canโt be that challenging to create such filters and toggles. So to not do so is a choice that companies make. I want to see that choice shift to give US more choice.
Hi Kathryn, thanks for the feedback. This is a first version of the new app, so there are plenty of changes/improvements yet to come. (Not having filters is a "choice" insofar as we have a pretty small mobile engineering team right now!)
It's useful to know that you're interested in the ability to toggle off mentions and restacks. We're also planning on adding more controls around things like the "Top posts" units soon, so keep an eye out.
I do appreciate that you've got a small team and are working hard to make the best thing possible. Nothing you do will please everyone for sure. But the more opportunities each app/site user has to customize what the experience to what works for them, the more people can be pleased.
And I appreciate your response! It can't be easy to put all of this out there and deal with hundreds of opinions on it. <3
Thanks for the understanding! And if you know any iOS engineers.... send them our way at substack.com/jobs haha. (We only have one.)
Oh wow! Okay I knew that you were still small but I'm surprised to hear there's only one ... you're still based in San Francisco right? There's got to be a decent pool of folx here even with everyone who moved out during the pandemic. I'll ask around!
Excellent suggestions Kathryn!
Kathryn, you expressed that all so well. (slow to adapt to updates here, too! I'm so glad, because I thought i was alone...).
Not fond of the facebook integration, I must say.
The personalities of the people I cross paths with here in Vegas can change on a dime. So I appreciate the nuances of Substackโs evolution. ๐
Primitive caveperson writers like me who prefer desktop for everything would appreciate any updates on Notes. We've been hearing a lot of interesting things, but our hearing isn't all that good any more.
I prefer my desktop, too. I hate using my phone as a computer. The keyboard is for dolls and it just doesn't feel right.
Tiny lil' adorable doll fingers!
*holds up ridiculously big thumbs*
Oh, that image! ๐ฒ
Thanks for your feedback, Andrew.
Another primitive caveperson who prefers notebooks and fountain pens to desktop and desktop to mobile (still getting up the chutzpah to downgrade from an iPhone to a 90s era fliphone). I second Andrew's request.
I had a colleague as few years ago who downgraded to a 'dumb' phone. It seemed like such a great idea. I still miss my old Nokia some days.
I've been threatening to do it for about a year now. But then I'd have to remember how to get places without Google Maps. Which seems intimidating all of a sudden.
Do you remember the good old days of street directories and printed maps? And getting lost. Ah, those were the days. Maps and having a much better camera than the old Nokia are two big reasons why I haven't downgraded. Honestly at this point, my phone is really a camera and satnav that can make phone calls.
Proud analog person here. Notes alludes me. I try to post but usually get crickets.
I used to, but don't any more. Follow me if you'd like!
Fellow cave person here... except I don't even use Notes. I saw that it was thing but then felt overwhelmed by the bajillion features and decided to just stick to writing on the same boring old substack every couple of weeks. Maybe I should look to see what Notes is...
I like it, for what it's worth. I feel license to be a little more goofy or silly than in my regular writing, but you can meet other writers and gradually get to know their work, too.
Hi Andrewโany specific desktop Notes features you're looking for in particular?
I guess I'm in the camp of "I don't know what I don't know."
I've heard the app has made a ton of improvements, and that some of those same changes are coming to the desktop interface. I think I'm kind of like a Notes power-user right now, but I don't really have any specific asks, other than to understand what's in the works, Jasmine. Hope that makes sense!
Sure! Well we definitely want to make the web experience as good as the one in the appsโit's something we're actively working on.
It's also possible I'm conflating more than one announcement here, but I could have sworn that there was something about the Notes feed that was theoretically being updated, but... crap, I need a nap.
IJBOL. :-p
๐ง ๐ง -- Brains are weird. I woke up at the crack of much-too-early and had a thought out of nowhere: Are there ways Substack could do more to protect content from plagiarism? Pretty much everything we post is easy to download. Photos are especially vulnerable, I think. I often post original images, and I imagine this is of even greater concern to fine artists and photographers. Thoughts are welcome! Thanks.
Sorry Elizabeth, I can't help with your question but wanted to tell you that your first two sentences gave me a smile. I too have woken up at the crack of much-too-early and thought my brain was weird๐คฃ
Ha! Mine is definitely more cat than dog. Wants everything on its own terms, demands attention regardless of what else might be going on, and apt to hack up a hairball at the most inopportune times. ๐
loving this little thread. Your wording also gave me a smile, and I have a cat brain too!
Claire, I love the name of your Substack. It makes me want to go right over there and see what's going on.
Fun! Thanks, Donna. Come on over ;) I feel very pleased with it myself. When it landed, it felt like it fit just right, along with space to grow into and explore.
Haha, cat brain! I think mine alternates between the tortoise and the hare.
Welcome to the internet.
Yes, I get that we are, by nature of the beast, vulnerable. But, making it harder to download full resolution images from our 'Stacks doesn't seem like an impossibility. Admittedly, it might not resolve anything, either.
That's the nature of the internet in general. If we see an image on a website, whether Substack or any other, we can download it.
Some people use watermarking. That's one way to handle it, I suppose.
Yes, that's true. But many of the images I find elsewhere online download in very low resolution. Substack's appear to come through unscathed. At least the lowered resolution is something of a hindrance. Ish.
๐ง - Congrats on the app re-launch! I think the new app provides a slick new user experience and cuts down on clutter.
However, I really miss the estimated reading times on each post. That's how I prioritize which posts to read when. Any hope we can get that feature back?
Thanks for the feedback. We have them in the reading queue at present -- are you thinking in the inbox?
Hi Chris! Yes, the inbox. Thatโs where Iโm spending most of my time on the app, because it gives me a fuller picture of what posts are available to read. (I actually missed the times on the reading queue. ๐ )
โ๏ธ ๐ง I feel kinda awkward asking this, but does anyone have any advice specifically for autistic writers to grow their audience? I don't have a following on social media--I've never been good at building a following or networking (or, to be perfectly honest, making friends) because I struggle so much with social interaction due to my autism. However, I love to write, and I would love to share my writing with others (and ideally maybe earn a little bit of money from it one day). Are there any fellow autistic writers here who have any tips on how to grow their audience when one is completely hopeless at being social lol?
In the same boat. I just commented somewhere and I am dying inside because I realised I have made yet another socially inept comment. But I am liking Substack so much more than any other platform because so many people here are discussing ideas rather than performing socially (like IG). I canโt understand the social performing, so social media has been a dificult experience. But I can talk about ideas! So I comment when a topic engages me. Re-stacking is nice to do, too. It lets the people know you appreciate their work, but avoids the back-and-forth chit chat of comments, which can stress me out sometimes
Iโm pretty new to Substack and Iโm still learning how everything works, but I do appreciate that it seems quite different from other platforms. I always end up lurking instead of interacting on social media because I just donโt know what to do on those sites.
While I don't have any firsthand experience here, I recently ran across Amanda Hinton's wonderful publication The Editing Spectrum: https://theeditingspectrum.substack.com/ Dropping a link here in case it's useful, and wishing you the best of luck! ๐ค
Thank you!
I'm totally in the same boat as you.
And so far I have not found any good solution. More than just keep going. (and break down when that really bad negativity mind hits)
Thank you! At least I know Iโm not alone!
๐ง I noticed a new "Publication introduction" section in the Dashboard Settings, where we can add a 50-100-word intro. Could you please let me know where this appears (since it's not on the Welcome page)? Thank you, Substack Team!
Me too! Following.
Hey everyone! I am loving the new app update! I started my movie/music/pop culture blog about two months ago, and it has a steady following. I am looking to rise to the next step, hoping to reach out to new readers and further mark my presence on Substack. I know it's sort of a broad topic that varies from different publications, but any tips are appreciated! :)
The updated app is pretty, but Iโll actually use it less now. It seems more difficult to find things now, like the app is shouting at me. I like Substack because itโs about writing. Cramming the top of the app with images makes it far less useful for some of us.
Thanks for your feedback, Michelle, I am sharing with the team.
Hi Michelle, thanks for the feedback. With the reading queue we're hoping to make your favorite posts easier to find by prioritizing the publications you read the most. Maybe our ranking isn't working well if you're finding it hard to find things.
But if that format doesn't work for you, we've done our best to make the Inbox tab even more powerful. It's completely chronological, has Saved/Audio filters, and now a "classic" vs. "compact" appearance setting (the latter will remove the post images and is more text-focused). We plan to keep improving this and would love to know any requests you have.
Thank you, Jasmine. Maybe I just need to explore it a bit more. I will probably just skip to the inbox when I open the app. The inbox looks great and is easy on the eyes like the old days:)
In regards to the app Inbox, I would like a delete function for items I don't want to read. It currently feels like endless scrolling.
Try swiping left to archiveโthat's how I clear my inbox of posts I finished reading or don't want to read.
I can see how that would remove it from the inbox.
However, Archive implies you want to save for future reference.
I think it's too heavy for my phone haha. My scrolling function is very sticky on my cheapish Motorola. I'm 90% sure it's my phone, but a lot of people have similar phones to me.
Okay but can we all talk about how awesome it is that you are a Motorola holdout? Respect.
Ha! Thanks. It's a pretty good phone except for the camera (but I like photography so I don't prioritize phone cameras). I think it was like $350 which is pretty cheap compared to other models. But yeah, sticky scroll lol
Good point.
Hey team! First of all, i want to say a big congrats on the app update launch. I've already shared my praise, but as a product designer of 11+ years, it's really exciting, and a user experience that is already becoming one of my favourites right now. I particularly love your new search and alert icons. Great job team!
I'm writing practical design and UX advice in my newsletter https://www.designingfutures.co/, my question this week is, do you have any rough guidance on the varying Substack categories regarding how long it took them to get to 1,000 subscribers?
I love what i write about, but i also want this to be a business i can eventually support myself on, so i can continue serving my small but growing audience.
Thank you!
Hey Joshua, we're so glad you like the new app.
The grow interviews series is a great place to hear writers stories on how they found their first subscribers and starting to earn revenue.
Here's the grow series: https://on.substack.com/t/writer-stories
How would anyone have found out about this except that I happen to have just scrolled past it on Office Hours?
Thanks Katie!
โ๏ธ By the way, I've been up for 3 months, have 1030 subscribers and 22 paid. Is that good?
Also, I'm publishing my memoir here and would love to connect with other writers who are publishing book episodes. Is Substack a boon to traditional publishers or are they threatened by it?
Hi, I publish memoir essays on my Substack. They are linear and would be part of chapters in a memoir. Happy to connect!
Hello Vanda, I am also writing a memoir and looking at ways to publish here. Right now I am publishing more personal essays, but Iโm working on shifting to more โepisodicโ installments where readers can follow along.
Yeah, my episodes are for paid peeps and I do unrelated essays for my unpaid gang. I'll subscribe!
๐ง Hi Substack team! I was wondering if there will ever be the option to have one post that can be accessed via a one time payment. Like perhaps a longer length research paper or a short book manuscript?
Also, on the website version of Substack, there are many tabs visible in the navigation bar on many newsletters that arenโt accessible via the app. Is there a way to make them accessible in the app or is this something that could he considered for the future?
Hi Dylan! We tend to prioritize subscription revenue since we view it as more predictable/sustainable over time, but we're open to the idea of sometime introducing one-off payments as a supplement.
Ah yeah I don't think the sections tabs are in the app yet, but that's a product gap we'll want to deal with.
Thanks for the suggestions!
Thatโs great. Thanks for your reply Jasmine!
Hi, I add a Buy Me A Coffee link ti my posts. It hasn't worked very well yet!
๐ง โ๏ธ I am enjoying many of the updates you've made recently and the resource series on building an editorial strategy. Substack has showcased very tactical examples of what is working well for other writers in gaining subscribers and building their brand voice. Is there a way we can learn from other writers who may not necessarily have as big of a following? While inspirational, it's also overwhelming. I'd like to learn from writers who built their audience completely on Substack slowly and steadily.
Hey Maki, we have lots of great stories of how writers have grown on Substack in our grow interview series: https://on.substack.com/t/writer-stories
Here are a couple you might like in particular:
https://on.substack.com/p/grow-series-6
https://on.substack.com/p/grow-series-20-anne-kadet
๐ง Is there any chance we are going to get memoir as its own category soon?
I think discoverability is an issue in general here, & I understand that yโall are working on it, but categories seems to me a really easy place to start. I ask as a writer because I want people to be able to find the memoir I am serializing here, ofc, but also as a reader, because I would love a memoir leaderboard that I can peruse. I know there is good memoir stuff here that I am not managing to stumble on!
๐ง ๐ HAPPY ONE YEAR! We're celebrating our first anniversary! It seemed a bit self indulgent at first but a needed boost for another year. CELEBRATE WITH US! What are some milestones you've hit recently, big or small?
โ๏ธ ๐ง We are still trying to figure out how to take advantage of SOCIAL MEDIA! We have our brand/posts down, but still having trouble (1) growing a social media presence and (2) converting into subscribers. We are happily taking advantage of the new Substack tools/mission, but we want to only have an insular Substack audience. We love our Substack friends, but want to reach everyone! What social media strategies do you love? What seemed to help you engage and grow your readers?
๐ง last question promise -- anyone using the tagging feature? Anyway to select articles and bulk add tags, really tough to go back and tag 19 months worth of writing....
Tags are very helpful if your writing falls into distinct categories. For the Strategy Toolkit, the posts are either for paid subscribers (long length) or for everyone (brief length). After much time, the two became commingled and the archives hard to navigate. Yes, it was laborious to go to each one and tag it individually, but worth it. The archives are much easier to navigate now.
It is one of many things that I have put on the backburner. It would take an entire day for me to update everything. I have no idea how much the tags help people find your work, especially when they have such limited categories in the discover feature. Good question.
Yes! I have a series of posts called โThings That Workedโ that basically consists of sample materials/advice for publications, grant applications, job applications, etc (mostly in academia). Because I figured itโs a series people might like to find all in one place I started tagging, and I love it. But I donโt think Iโll tag everything.
โ๏ธ Iโd love to explore guest posting and cross posting. Any tips on pitching other writers on how you might serve their audience?
Emily, hopping on to say a couple of things: I stumbled across your writing a few weeks ago, and it's absolutely beautiful. Thank you for sharing with the world!
As for your question: I've just started dipping my toes in the collaboration waters. I'll tag you in a Note I wrote recently on the subject, in case it's useful.
I'd never pitched my writing anywhere before, so I was nervous to begin. I started by keeping my eyes peeled for guest-post opportunities on publications I already read, so I could be confident that there was common ground. (And I pitch even when I'm nervous about it! So far, people have been lovely.)
I also created a space for guest posts on my own publication, whichโwho knowsโmight facilitate more collaborations in the long-term. It's all an experiment!
Hi Maddie. I'd love to do a collaborative soon if you're interested.
The redesigned app looks amazing.
Onward,
Russell
On my Stack, you'll find essays, prose poetry, novel chapters, short stories, noir prose poems, flash fiction, art, life, freedom of thought.
Is that a noir prose poem, "Kettle's on the boil"? Sweet...
๐ง Suggestion for the inbox on the app. I like having a chronological list of everything so that I know what Iโm missing or whatโs been happening, so as a way of staying organised and not miss certain posts I would like to have an option to categorise my newsletters, so I can decide โhm I want to see what all my politics newsletters have been up toโ etc. I do the same for youtube channels, it helps me find things based on mood and interest.
Good suggestion. I'm a really eclectic subscriber so being able to categorise on my own terms rather than use Substack's categories would be brilliant. If that's even possible....
thanks for sharing Robert
๐ง can you guys look into the very slow/laggy Substack editor? It's difficult to type pieces within Substack because it is so slow. Several other writers had this issue too, I asked about it on Notes.
Thanks for the feedback. Which browser are you using?
Chrome, but tried Edge. Every once in awhile it types/inputs normally, but %95 percent of the time it can be so slow that a while sentence will take several seconds to begin to appear. I've also tried running it in a freshly restarted computer with no other tabs and it still has the input lag.
Awful! I'll pass this on to the team.
Thank you!
I've noticed this on my mobile in google chrome too!
I've noticed mine is slow lately as well. I though it was just me!
oh dear, I'm about to be 82, do not have anything but a landline, and hoped this would be a place where I could find out how the hell to post an essay, as it seems to be beyond me, except for the one I somehow magically got up there. Do I need to have and an APP/? I HAVE NO IDEA IF I CAN HAVE AN APP WITHOUT A CELL/SMART PHONE. Didn't mean those caps
Post your essays via computer not the app. Log in to your Substack and go to Dashboard. There you will find an icon that says, New Post. Click and post! If I can figure this out you can too!
THANK YOU!
You can do it! :)
๐ง could you change the language between readers and paying subscribers? I think itโs really confusing for people to think theyโre subscribed-- because they have a free subscription-- and they donโt see quite what upgrading means... for example if you go to the NYT website youโre not a subscriber, youโre a reader.
Thanks for the feedback, Diana! I will share it with our team.
Great advice. Me likey.
๐ง โ๏ธ - I've heard some differing advice about how best to pitch readers on upgrading to a paid subscription. Some say that enumerating all of the different kinds of content, to show how much value there is in the archive, is good. Numbers might be persuasive. So, I might say that paying members have access to 15 longform interviews with academics transitioning to industry, 50+ thought pieces on higher ed, etc.
Others suggest that a more modest list -- like mentioning 2 or 3 paywalled articles that an upgrade would open -- is more effective.
I expect that there's no "right" answer, since each of our newsletters is unique and readers aren't necessarily predictable, but I'd be curious about others' thoughts based on their experiences as either readers or as Substack writers.
I think you are right, there is no "right" answer. Writers have found success with a variety of approaches, including offering everything for free and putting everything behind a paywall. It starts with knowing your audience and what they value.
We rounded up our best advice here: https://on.substack.com/p/free-vs-paid
Thanks Katie!
The app update looks great! I am a game developer with 5k+ followers on LinkedIn!
The gaming community is very active & huge over there & on Medium as well
Although I find it a bit difficult to find a gaming community on Substack :( It feels content here is more related to tech & finance!
So finding a bit difficult to connect over here ๐ But I am planning to use Substack as a newsletter.
Any tips you would suggest to grow a super niche audience here?
You should follow @warthogreport
Thank you for the suggestion !
At first, I thought there wasn't any sort of gaming community here, but I keep finding new gaming Substacks all the time. I subscribe to Monte Cook's Substack and several others. And of course, I now write about games and gaming on Substack. :-D
Thank you for the suggestions!
It can be easy to miss communities on substack, but I've seen some gaming substacks.
Retro XP: https://retroxp.substack.com/
Arcade Press: https://www.thearcadepress.com/
this guy^ idk why I cant mention you here lol
Thank you for the suggestion William!
How does Substack perform in SEO?
How do you get higher ranked in a category on Substack? Is it purely subscription based or is it related to how much you publish?
We aren't rewarded based on quantity. Thatโs the beauty. Itโs all about quality and your relationship with your subscribers. AND whoโs recommending you. That helps a teeny bit. Thereโs no way to game the system. Just produce great work. As Substack told me, even the guy doing the algorithm doesnโt know how it works. They keep tweaking it to get us the best results. Promise.
I also thought I read what was listed below. They want you writing more. And I haven't seen examples of Substack promoting writers with less reach. All I see are the ppl with massive followers and ppl that were enticed to come over that already had huge followers pre-Substack.
That's true. I don't like it either. They promote their big guns, but they do want all of us to succeed. There are 17,000 writers on this platform. They can't promote all of us and are trying to make a name for ourselves. We have to promote each other. That's how this works. Become a subscriber (free or paid) to Writers at Work to understand more. I know them and all my guidance comes from advice they gave me: https://www.writersatwork.net/ Watch my interview with Substack's Head of Writer Relations here: https://www.writersatwork.net/p/live-q-and-a-with-substacks-sophia
I'll read those, Sarah, thanks for sharing. But I have to say I do feel sometimes that there's a bit of a Matthew effect going on!
Wait... what's a "Matthew effect"?
To those that have shall be given
Well. I just discovered that those categories have a purpose....I wish there was one that suited me better...
I interpreted the reference to "frequency" to mean that if you just give up blogging they start to regard you as inactive and won't give you much consideration. I have noticed โ without any surprise at all โ that some Substacks just trail off after a while, and it really looks like the author gave up on it. Not a reference to how many times a week/month you post or the regularity with which you post.
Substack writes in one of their articles that the algorithm looks at the no. of subscribers and frequency of publishing. Hope this helps.
That kind of sucks for brand newbies who stick to a weekly schedule lol.
I'm on the leaderboard for 'Fiction' as probably no. 250 and I only started last year from 0. I publish twice a month at the most. So depending on which categories you selected for your publications, you might make it on that category's list or not. Publishing once a week is a great frequency. I wouldn't worry so much about the listing in a category. Unless you're in top 10 I don't think many people scroll down the whole list to subscribe. ๐คฃ
Thank you so much for your insight Claudia!
It's just not true. No one is rewarded for frequency on here.
Okay good because until I launch paid, I'm sticking to once a week. I don't want to piss people off early ๐
Exactly--all that matters is your relationship with your subscribers. This isn't social media. Who cares if a thousand people see you if they don't subscribe and stay.
I started in Feb with no list to bring over and from 0 subscribers. And no writing experience other than academic writing which is very different indeed. I post once a week and the first 6 weeks or so I was cutting my teeth and exploring and trying to find a groove (so mostly posting not very well written, not very well polished pieces). I have just over 200 now and I love it when people subscribe. Keep putting it out there. Keep engaging where you can - comments, Notes etc etc.
Thanks for the encouragement, June. I launched at the beginning of September and have almost 100 subs already. It feels so promising and I'm LOVING it here. I've been writing on Medium for over 4 years and the difference between here and there is enormous. I love the community here!
Trust me, I work with a ton of writers who write once a week and have thousands of subscribers and started with 0.
Great strategy, Kristi. I agree.
I'd love to see where it says that. Please let me know.
It's here: https://support.substack.com/hc/en-us/articles/5999320475412-What-are-Substack-leaderboards-#:~:text=Substack%20leaderboards%20are%20designed%20so,All%22%20publications%20in%20that%20category.
'All of our categories except "Staff Picks" are automated based on a writer's performance on Substack with factors including total number of paid and free subscribers and frequency of publishing. '
It actually says on the leaderboard how often each publication publishes so you can see.
Most importantly, and I know you know this, the main thing is to serve your subscribers, not the algorithm. If they want you six days a week, great. If they want you once a week, that's what matters.
This is NOT THE ALGORITHM. This is the leaderboards. It's about how the top Substacks are ranked in each category. That is not saying we're rewarded for publishing more often. Your category sets the standard for frequency. You're in literature/fiction, not journalism. Very few people are publishing more than once or twice a week. That's all it says. Of the top publications, they're ranked according to many factors, including subscribers and frequency.
And we have to keep reading: "Subscribers are the most important and with Recommendations, this cross-promotion tool helps writers to directly endorse each otherโs publications on Substack and gain new subscribers."
I work in tech and what I see in that article is that Substack's ranking in the Categories is based on a combination of:
- Total no. subscribers
- Total no. of paid subscribers
- Publishing frequency
I also noticed that every time I publish a new article, my ranking goes up. In between publishing articles, my ranking goes down. I also noticed that people in my category who have less subscribers than me but publish more frequently and have their subscriptions turned on rank higher.
The ranking formula used by Substack (the algorithm) has obviously a logic along the lines of what is mentioned in that article I found online.
I agree that this doesn't matter. I will not start publishing more often to rank higher. Recommendations on Substack are superior in terms of visibility on Substack than being listed in the Categories (unless you're in top 10). And the community that we can find here is more uplifting than any algorithm. I am an example of someone who started at 0 and was lifted by the community. So all-in-all, you're absolutely right about Substack.
I've never heard that. My understanding is that they've only said that the publications (note: publications, not all individuals) that make the most money publish 21-30 times per month.
Hey Jill,
I have just written a series on SEO for Substack. Check it out it may be of help:
https://boodsy.substack.com/p/the-essential-guide-to-substack-seo
Thatโs a great question Jill. To my recent surprise, my metrics now indicate that Google is the third largest source of new subscribers for โGreat Books Great Mindsโ Substack. Who would have thought ๐ญ
Do you do anything specific on SEO?
Honestly, SEO is a paradoxical mystery to me Jill. My focus is two fold (1) Focus on producing good quality content (2) Connect and Engage like my hair is on fire. Thatโs the wrap.
Dang. I gotta get my stack onto Google. I'm so friggin analogue. I need to join 2023.
Funny enough, Iโve done nothing more than focus on producing quality content. Google algorithms are a mystery so I donโt try to directly influence them.
It performs terribly haha. I set up Google Search Console because it's free and it generated like three subscriptions, which is cool but not anything to write home about.
๐ง Katie@Substack - The #1 book category on Amazon is Personal Growth. Would you all consider making this a category on Substack? Health and Wellness just doesn't really fit.
Thanks for your consideration.
Hi yโall!
I write about the fun of being retired. Which probably is not going to be of interest to most of you (yet!). But in case you or someone you know are pondering that next stage, Iโd love to hear from you.
Have you read Oldster? You might love that newsletter if you don't already! https://oldster.substack.com/
I second Oldster, as Elle recommends. I'm also retired and it figures in my Substack. There's also https://arichardson.substack.com who writes The Granny Who Stands On Her Head.
Thank you!
Sounds interesting to me!
๐ง Substack is not a zero sum game. "Cooperative" recommending among those who publish aligned newsletters increases subscribership for both. So, find others who write something akin to your topic or style and recommend away. An even dirtier little secret is that getting on On Substack's recommended list for a few days provides a very nice boost. People who might not otherwise find you suddenly are willing to give you a shot.
Is there any secret to getting recommended on On Substack? To me, it sounds suspiciously like Kickstarter's "Projects We Love" thing, in which some creators get to put that badge on their campaigns, and no one else does. I'm a little bitter about it because, in 7 years and 20 campaigns, I have never been chosen โ probably because my production values are not glamorous enough, but by the same token I'm not "alternative" enough to get their attention as a scrappy outsider. If the Substacks that get chosen solely by subjective individuals at Substack who pick based on what they think is cool, I'm probably just as doomed here.
The only secret I know came two or three weeks ago when they asked in one of these forums for nominations or recommendations of Substacks worth reading. I nominated myself. I don't know how the selection occurred but I was listed among the On Substack recommendations for two days and saw some nice growth. That coincided with the start of American football season, which is what I cover, so that may have been a contributor.
That sounds a lot like what I was told about Kickstarter โ that in order to become a Project We Love, you just have to ask. But I have never learned who to ask, or how. Anyway, I'm glad to hear that you have met with some success writing about sports here! One of my projects for my Substack is to write substantial reviews of all of the dice-and-chart sports games that I have played through the years.
โ๏ธ Let's network
I'm interested in meeting in the entertainment industry: writers, producers, assistants, coordinators, location managers, stunt performers, intimacy coaches, construction crew, photographers, set design, makeup, sound design.... the list goes on.
These jobs bring so much value and I would enjoy chatting.
Here is my Substack, The Cottage featuring a curated list of new entertainment: podcast, TV, film, vlogs, digital series, music, books, and kids content.
https://bspeaks.substack.com
๐ง How do I make sure a paid subscription doesn't renew? I bought a year subscription for someone who no longer posts. I would like to be sure it doesn't renew automatically. Thx!
There is a setting for this and from memory I think I found it via computer not the app. I googled how to cancel my subscription to figure out how to do this. I hope that helps.
Perfect. Thx.
This is a bummer๐ข
Hi all! I write a newsletter about cross-cultrual living and books that help me make sense of the world. I'd love to connect with any writers who write about the immigrant experience, intercultural learning, and/or book reviews on similar themes. Comment below and I'll follow you!
โ๏ธ Hi, writers! I'm new here and have three posts under my belt. I want to create paid content for my readers, but am having a hard time getting creative. My creative writing centers around Mental Health Advocacy and Journaling Prompts. How do I create content in that niche that's worth subscribing to?
Hi Nikki, there are many writers here doing great work around mental health. In particular I would suggest checking out Kathryn Vercillo at https://createmefree.substack.com/ for excellent, creative ways to grow and create community.
The first step is to visualize your audience. Who would be interested in what you want to write about? What are they interested in learning, how do they think, what can you offer that would help them? Once you get a sense of the people who are looking for a blog like yours, you can figure out how to serve them as a writer, and that tells you what to write for them.
I don't have a smartphone or use apps, so could never install this, but I guess it's a handy update for those that do. :-)
๐ง Does anyone know where the "Publication introduction" displays? I've tried viewing my Substack in a private browser and still never see it. The box note says "Describe your publication in 50-100 words as if you were introducing it to a reader with absolutely no context as to what your publication is about" but has no link to where it displays. Thanks!