1005 Comments

Hey everyone Broc, Sylvia, and I are here to help answer your questions over the next hour.

To help organize the conversation, please use one of the following emojis when you start a new comment.

🧠 - when sharing strategy or advice for fellow writers

✏️ - when asking questions or seeking feedback from fellow writers

🟧 - when asking a question you hope the Substack team can help answer

Use your emoji keyboard or simply copy and paste the emoji at the beginning of your comment.

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🟧 Not a question but I just want to show my appreciation of how Substack, unlike IG and other social media platforms, remains to be a free and therefore a safe space for artists and writers to express whatever it is they want to express without concerns of the algorithm. I hope it remains that way. :)

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Thanks for being here, Angelica!

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🧠 For newcomers of Substack, I have a full guide written on how to grow your Subscribers (or any social platform) focusing on 3 key aspects, you can access it here. Hope it helps you to grow on Substack. These principles apply to any social media, not just Substack and when you grow your other Socials, you can as well drive traffic to Substack.

https://raisini.substack.com/p/from-zero-to-100000-subscribers-the

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I don't think you really have 100,000 subscribers. Your profile shows a couple of hundred at most. Prove it.

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Sure. If you take a minute to glance over the article, I do say in the first line that maybe 100K is little exaggerated for the average user....however, the principles apply to all social media platforms, not just substack or Facebook. I grew my Twitter to 30K in 2 months until I had to go private mode for being harassed.

Moreover, my Substack is rather new, I have just started a couple months back, wi try little content, and am waiting for my new website to go live in 2 weeks, so I intentionally haven’t done any campaigns to grow my Substack.

Come December, my target would be to at least reach the 30K mark and by March I expect to cross 100K.

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Who cares how many followers you have?

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I do. It helps to know. Thanks for the guide.

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Why envy? 😊

Sure, here you go:

https://www.facebook.com/iamraisini

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not envy, my man, just arguing for truth in advertising. At the very least, you should clarify your post so that you don't appear to be misleading readers about where your subscribers are. Facebook is not Substack.

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Yes, I've come across a few like this where the claims don't tally with the actual reader numbers

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Again, neither of you bothered to open the post but jumped to assumptions.

1- There is no claim in the post that I have 100K

2- the post doesn’t say that it’s specifically for Substack.

Before you talk crap, at least bother to open the post.

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Bowen, where do you find that number? Substack gives a checkmark for at least 100 subscribers but Raisini has no checkmark. When the featured writer received 100 subscribers, Substack congratulated her for receiving the checkmark for hundreds of subscribers. So Substack also exaggerates.

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https://substack.com/@raisini → the "See followers" link... which would cite a number of it was > 100. I'm not sure if that's the exact threshold number, but that's where you'll see "1K+ subscribers" on my own profile, for example, and other profiles I've visited that have small numbers of subscribers only have that "See followers" link, instead of a number.

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I'm not arguing for or against Raisini or anything else here. I just wanted to clarify that “see followers” means the author turned off the subscriber count’s visibility. It has nothing to do with how many followers or subscribers you have. You can change it in the settings. Some people choose not to have the number visible on the profile.

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Correct. I have turned that off, it’s a dumb feature by Substack. And you get a ‘light’ check mark once you cross 1000 paid subscribers and a ‘darker’ check mark if you cross certain numbers. That’s clear evidence that I haven’t crossed such numbers and my post is not about MY subscribers, rather tips on how one can grow theirs.

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You are welcome 🙏🏻

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💯 🔥

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🟧Can we submit one for our newsletters and see if you could post the "best under 5,000" per Alex Steele's suggestion? sabrinalabow.substack.com

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While #s of subscribers is always a metric of interest, I think just as much (or more) attention should be on the "open rate" metric. Here's an index of posts focused on ways to get more readers to open your posts. https://gratitudemojo.substack.com/p/enter-index-of-posts ... Pay attention to the Big 6 .;.. AND ENGAGE WITH NOTES.

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🟧 1. When I try to cut and paste a caption, I am unable to do so. Is that a known issue? 2. Are tables a feature that will be added soon? Thank you for all the new features that you roll out constantly. Much appreciated!

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Yep, cut and paste captions fail is definitely a problem we all experience.

Tables: yep I would love them too but getting them to render properly on desktop, tablets and phones is a not-insignificant technical challenge (somewhat of outside Substack's control), and your reader's experience might not be so good. My work around is to add an image of a table, so that people reading on their phones can click the image and zoom in.

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I make images but it is tedious when you have to edit them and paste them in every time. Tables are not an easy implementation but Ghost has responsive tables. It's probably not as important as other functionality and they've rolled out a lot of excellent features.

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Katie, Broc, and Sylvia. I would like to know if there is a way I can talk with one of you on the phone or outside of this time period. I would like to start a Substack and am computer challenged in different ways. I have never used an emoji and don't know what to do here.

I would appreciate your help. Thank you.

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David, I help people start Substacks and learn the platform. Click my photograph to learn more.

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🟧 - Hi Katie, I know as a private company, sharing product roadmaps is a sticky proposition. However, I still wonder if you can share what's on the immediate horizon for Substack, and if a search for all Notes (not just those in my feed) will be forthcoming?

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Is office hours not happening today?

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thanks for all your amazing work Katie, Broc and Sylvia. I find this so helpful! I always bookmark for reference later.

+ I have a message on this thread about Invoicing, which is unanswered, when you get a chance can you please respond? Thanks :)

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Appreciate the assistance but there’s a lot of info all over the place. It’s hard to know where to start as a newbie. Has Substack considered doing a webinar or a zoom drop in clinic where it could be more organised & succinct? Trying to get hold of anyone by email is impossible. I reckon it would be easier & faster to get through to Wills & Kate at Kensington Palace… the time it has taken for anyone at Substack to reply to my queries.

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Hi Annie, it's overwhelming isn't it! I do one-on-one Zoom clinics for newbies. Click my image to learn more.

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🟧 Would Substack ever consider sharing a "best under 5,000" list to give a little nod to writers with small audiences?

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Hey Alex, thank you for the idea. We do aim to feature writers of all sizes but I see where it could be helpful to specifically call out writers at certain size. I'll share with the team for consideration.

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Hi Katie! I think this idea could really engender some community among newer, "smaller" writers as well. Seeing people on those lists would help us find each other, share strategies with each other, etc.

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For what it's worth, this by @Alex is a *FANTASTIC* idea.

For me, one of the big points of friction in coming back and posting is trying to get the rock moving off the top of the hill.

Anything Substack could do to facilitate the growth of (quality and consistent) publications below a certain number would be amazing.

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And it would need to be broken down into a large number of newsletter TYPES (or 'niches' if you like) I think. For example my Substack is in the 'Politics' area under 'Explore' but very few people are looking for 'Politics' per se. There's left-leaning and right-leaning of course. But there's lots of other distinctions: like 'news-based', 'zeitgeist', 'behind the news', 'investigative', 'satirical'....and many many more potential tabs. I think this would be HUGELY helpful.

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That's the only way i and the likes of me could be seen, A great idea!

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Thank you Katie! If you have any recent features of readers with smaller audiences, will you please link them? I'd love to check them out.

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If you're interested in fiction, S.E.Reid set up a newsletter - Talestack News - sharing announcements, publishing updates etc from the Fiction side of Substack, this does include a lot of newsletters with smaller audiences.

I am in the process of doing something similar for Poetry and Music with my Stave and Stanza newsletter. (I set it up back in the summer, but life took over, so I'm preparing to properly kick it off at the end of the month).

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If you consider this, I even think another best of list of 1000 and smaller would be great too. As someone at this for a year and less than 300, I noticed people around my size doing great consistent writing I think it’s a major hurdle to get to your first 1k

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🙌🏻 I hope you do showcase small projects too. Sometimes as writers we want to write substantial pieces for readers but don’t know how to reach like minded readers. This can be really helpful for writers like me.

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Love this idea. Gosh is 5,000 considered small?? Lol. How about for best under 1,000? :D

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I'm here for the best under 100

:-D

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Nothing wrong with that! I wish Substack would give more love to folks that don't have a large following, and best under 100 would be an amazing start.

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Here for the best under 5

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Lol same

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That’s where I’m at right now. Looking for ways to go without using the social mega-platforms.

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And even then, there is no guarantee of getting traction on the social mega-platforms. It's wasted effort unless you get lucky and "go viral" or you deliberately try to stir things up just to get attention, which can backfire in all sorts of ways. So I agree with you.

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I just hit my 100 subscribers mark yesterday and felt like a big deal, until I remembered how huge most of the other substacks are. To me, 5,000 seems massive!

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Congratulations @Heidi Turner! I am about to hit the 100 subscribers mark so I feel you. I have been thinking though not to compare myself to others to avoid feeling the discrepancy and discouraged. Maybe it's a matter to ask Substack to highlight writers independtly from their subscribers number. I do feel such an approach can sometimes condition people to think a newsletter isn't that great because they have 30, 50, 100 or 200 subscribers when the quality is actually there. Not everyone wants to grow their Substack or even go paid, some just desire to create community and conversation and their newsletters need to be pushed too.

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Really. Those of us who were on substack a long time ago do not care how many followers you have. This is NOT Twitter!

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That's a great idea @Emmanuelle Marechal! I absolutely want to build community but I started my Substack with no followers (I didn't come with a pre-existing email list) so the initial growth has been slow. Steady, but slow.

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I'm the same as you Heidi. I came with 0 followers and I am at 98 now, just 2 away from the big 100! It's rewarding to get each one!

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Congratulations on being so close to 100, Kate! It's a great accomplishment. And yes, I still celebrate each new subscriber.

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This is how substack works!

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Same here, I didn't have a list too when I started, and many are in the same case. Steady, but slow is great, too. The trust built with readers is the most important.

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Congratulations on being so close to 100 @Emmanuelle! It's such an accomplishment. I agree, I think I'm building trust and long-term loyalty. At least, that's what I tell myself.

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It is a big deal! Congratulations

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huge deal!! congratulations!!

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Congrats on you milestone! 🥳

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That's true don't compare with anyone

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You are preaching to the choir, Heidi.

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I read an article the other day where the writer called a person's Substack following of 15K "modest" and almost passed away

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Yeah, it's all perspective and context. When someone famous or well-known in some field jumps onto Substack and has immediate recognition, they will get traction very quickly. But most of us (I include myself) are unknown as writers in any world, and having 50 subscribers is actually pretty damn cool!

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Cosign on the under 1000.

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Same here! I'm on a 100 and hopefully will keep growing but that's a long way before 1000 or 5000. A way to help the small ones get seen would be fantastic.

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100 is still a big deal! Congrats on getting there and (holding up my imaginary beer), I'm cheersing to you the long road ahead for us to reach 1000...

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I was just browsing through your Substacks and wow! All the best with your memoir, and writing about your brother's story is so inspiring. Looking forward to keep reading you! :)

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Thank you so much. I appreciate that, and thank you for subscribing too!

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Absolutely! I celebrate them all and I'm proud too for getting here. Definitely inspired to keep going! Cheers! To a 1000 and beyond 🍻🎉

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What about under 20 😉

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Under 20, yeah, that's me so far...SO FAR! A small voice trying to cry out loud. Like a baby in the night.

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Ha, 5000 is definitely a huge goal for me. Just trying to get Substack to pay attention to us smaller fish :) I'm around 1100 readers after sending hundreds of issues (every single week for 4.5 years).

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I’m similar-ish to you kinda stuck at 900 and keep fluctuating. Maybe us under 5000s should take matters into our own hands and start our own publication. Looking at the likes you got here I think it would be a hit 🤩

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Fantastic! Congrats to you! :)

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Obviously it takes time. This is not Twitter.

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Yes, I think all newsletter writers understand that growth happens at a fraction of the speed here because our "posts" (I still call them newsletters) come out probably weekly, not daily or hourly like on other platforms. That's why I'm hoping Substack will hear us and share some of the really cool smaller publications out there, even if we don't have big numbers. Not just to grow our followings, but to be able to connect with people who are trying to find in niche newsletters to enjoy.

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Haha that was my thought too! An audience of less than 500 would be more appropriate for me!

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Me too!

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Anyone with a following of 10,000 or under is considered a micro-influencer today.

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This is a great idea!!! It's very hard to find an audience as it seems the big names (which I keep seeing again and again) have created an ecosystem to support each other

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It's so true. Sometimes I feel like the "popular girls" just keep getting more and more popular, like in high school haha. When I read the On Substack article about Joanna Goddard joining the platform (i LOVE her btw), and it was all about how she has this huge audience and how she's created something so unique.... and then ended with "hey, want to start your own substack? join us!" that ruffled my feathers a little. I really hope Substack hasn't forgotten about us with smaller but very loyal readership.

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I feel this way too! I am still under 100 subscribers on two Substack publications, but I have to keep reminding myself that we all start somewhere. I didn't have a following before I came to Substack, and that's a huge part of it. I'm truly a beginner, and in order to reach those major milestones, I have to be the beginner first. Still, I agree about most things with content creation feeling like a popularity contest (I even talked about this on my Substack/podcast a couple weeks ago). It can be disheartening, but the one thing we can do is keep lifting each other up and sharing each other's work with our smaller audiences. I think that will build momentum, but when we're small, we often get stuck in the mindset of needing to just focus on our own thing first. But if we all just shared each other's work or commented even once a week...I bet that would make a difference over time.

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The biggest surges of growth I've experienced have been: 1. when someone with a larger audience sings my praises and asks their people to subscribe to my thing (this has happened 1 or 2 times in 5 years); 2. when I've paid to place ads encouraging people to subscribe.

Keep at it! I can't say for certain that "readers will come if you just keep churning out awesome newsletters," but I believe that the number of readers is much less important than the meaning of our work and the connections we create through the process.

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Hi Alex, can I ask where you had success with paid advertising? I'm considering it myself

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I write a women's lifestyle newsletter, so I advertised in A Thing or Two with Claire and Erica, because our audiences overlap. I also placed an ad in Recomendo, which was much cheaper, and I got a handful of readers there as well. I don't track these things very closely, I'm more interested in deepening relationships with readers than checking metrics (I know my wheelhouse haha). I think the keys to success with ads are: 1. writing a terrific ad 2. placing your ad in front of people who would love your newsletter 3. talking to your new subscribers and asking them why they clicked your ad, then rinse+repeat! Hope this helps.

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I just want to encourage you to work at getting yourself more than 5,000 subscribers. Substack, in this respect, is like any other publisher. They are a business in business to make money. They're going to most recognize those writers who bring in more paid subscribers. Emotional appeals will never top the profit motive. That's just a reality of the writing life.

And getting more than 5,000 subscribers will serve you far better than any recognition.

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I suspect that quite a few Substack users have an account without any intention of ever going to Paid Subscribers, whether they are vanity projects or for whatever reason. It would seem reasonable to me to pay Substack a small annual fee for the privilege.

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Me too! Delighted to have discovered your substack — just subscribed. If you ever want a curated list with a Turkish twist, hit me up :) x

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I felt the same way when I saw her come on here!

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This. Spot on.

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I wish! We could really use this. Or to at least have someone canvassing small writers and sharing what they found worthwhile. Idk 🤷🏼‍♀️

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This is a clever idea—so many readers are into niche topics, it could be helpful on both ends of the community.

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I know! Who would've ever thought that FICTION would be a niche market!

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Ha, it's true! I say this as a fiction writer (and reader) myself.

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It’s weird.

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+1 on this one. Writers should be encouraged to have niche audiences as they contribute to making this platform so much more valuable!

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This is a great idea! I am new to Substack and just here trying to learn more.

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I love this idea! Erik Hoel of The Intrinsic Perspective is also on his second review of his subscribers' content... not exactly what your question asks but I think he is doing a cool thing: https://www.theintrinsicperspective.com/p/the-intrinsic-perspectives-subscriber-b78?utm_source=post-email-title&publication_id=332996&post_id=136229420&utm_campaign=email-post-title&isFreemail=true&r=2efjq4&utm_medium=email

It probably serves to drive his own engagement as well because writers who he features/links are likely more inclined to feature/link/recommend his work.

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Yes, I would definitely like to do this!

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Alex, you might check out what Ben Kerschberg is working on over here: https://heftymatters.substack.com/p/five-piece-you-will-love-on-this

It's not Substack's official recommendation or anything, but it's a really good localized effort I'm trying to do my best to support for exactly the same reasons we both think it's a good idea in the first place.

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++ they should!

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This is a great idea! Especially for newbies.

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seconded! Great idea, hope it's accepted!

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I agree. This is a great idea!

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Great idea!

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Or, alternatively, “newest niche” publications with growing audiences like mine -- East Wing Magazine: America’s First Ladies present and past and their power.

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🟧 Hi Substack. I love it here. Writing on Substack, and the growth tools here, have helped me get 2,300+ readers, close to my first bestseller badge, and a literary agent in under two years. So please receive this as constructive feedback:

We know you care about writers, but there's a feeling lately that you care *most* about the people who are already explosively popular. That makes sense. Big names bring business. But people don't become big names without support, and I think a lot of smaller writers could use more support from the platform here as it continues to grow.

Why not designate someone on the Substack team to curate "the best posts from emerging writers" on Substack Reads? How about a "new to Substack" section in the official Substack newsletter? Invite "smaller" writers to participate in Substack Reads or Substack advice posts? Can you explain what's currently being done/in the works to help the "little guy" on Substack gain more traction here?

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I've suggested something like this before, as the Substack homepage highlights the top blogs, and does very little to promote upcoming writers. Great idea!

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We're such a big number that I as well try to shout out smaller Substacks I'm loving when possible. During the shoutouts Substack holds, I'll look at smaller creators and mention some as well. I don't hold back but until and when/if Substack does something like that, we've gotta work on sharing other small writers and why we like them as well. It should come naturally, but it's a start.

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Great idea....but f course the devil would be in the details. Substack is great but (as I've tried to flag many times) potential readers are always looking really for a quite specific NICHE and at the moment the categuories are too broad. For instance, as I said above, nobody is looking for 'Politics' per se....they're looking for something much more SPECIFIC eg leftish, rightish, newsy, calm reflections etc etc.

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This was exactly what I posted as well. Maybe we'll have some strength in numbers!!

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It's possible that with hundreds of thousands of publications, Substack's own team don't actually have a good way of finding high quality "emerging writers" to showcase.

I love the idea of showcasing emerging writers, and I reckon Substack do to... just wondering if they have the physical ability/tools/time to trawl through the (perhaps) millions of posts published each week to find good ones to share.

You would need either a lot of human eyes or a very sophisticated algorithm to find high quality posts from new creators. It could be an actual technical challenge or resourcing challenge for the Substack team... just sayin'

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A v good point!

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Yes, I've only just started, and I see it's devilishly hard to get something off the ground here!

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Agree!! In the 7 months or so I’ve been on the platform, this has become more and more apparent. Big names seem to be the only names appearing anywhere in my feed, on my notes, and shared by substack... it’s a little demoralising at times for sure.

Love the swell of support for smaller writers 🙌

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Absolutely! Can an algorithm do more in helping us connect with potential readers? I had such high expectations for my first post, but barely anyone has read it!! Help meeeee!

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I’m my experience, barely anyone reads the earlier posts unless you come here with readership already. You have to just keep posting consistently to find an audience. My first post has a couple hundred views, my most recent has 7K. It’s been almost 2 years of consistent posting! It’s a marathon not a sprint :)

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🧠 I just crossed the 1,000 subscriber mark. All the usual things have been part of that journey, but most of all, just writing—and the support of my readers. Least of all, but still valuable in some cases—and although I'd love to do more of it—has been collaboration with other writers here on Substack. Sounds good on paper, but hard to do in practice. What's mattered most for me is telling the truth—and my own personal growth along the way ⬇️

https://bowendwelle.substack.com/p/the-love-of-strangers-1000

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Congrats, and thanks for sharing Bowen!

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thanks Katie!

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Congrats! This has also been my experience in (slowly) growing my Substack. For me, what has worked best is delivering a mix of other writers' profiles/stories, and content around marketing or building your following + other writer woes.

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thanks Claire! my first book is a memoir as well, which I serialized here as a work in progress. I'd love for you to check it out! → https://anordinarydisaster.com

Also, since you love memoir, you might like my post about my Fifty Favorite Memoirs

https://open.substack.com/pub/bowendwelle/p/43-favorite-memoirs-youve-never-heard

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Oo, thank you for sharing that! Wonder if any of our favs will overlap! :)

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do you have a list?

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I do! I see lots of overlap in our favs. I wrote this one earlier this year. https://clairetak.substack.com/p/memoir-picks-true-gems-about-friendship

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As also a lover of memoir, excited to check out both of your lists!

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The only way I could do collaboration is if someone has the same smartass wacky sense of humor I have. 98% of Substack is writing on politics, social issues, gender studies...you know, boring stuff.

I'd need to collaborate with someone who would try to out-gross me with THEIR child stories.

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Man I feel the same. I sometimes feel I'm in the wrong place. I haven't found anyone who is as silly or as disgusting as me. Here's me putting my grossest foot forwards https://wrongchannel.substack.com/p/men-are-disgusting

I actually have a 5 part series about times I've shit my pants coming. I'm gutted I didn't have that to apply with

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Holy shit you have a new sub

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Like wise man! Let's stay in touch. Seems we have a similar wordview

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I’d like to get in on this humor-writers bromance. Subscribing to you both.

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Come on in. Don’t wipe your feet at the door!

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I’d like to get in on this humor-writers bromance. Subscribing to you both.

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Okay but I want to make clear that I prefer to be the inside spoon

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Wouldn’t have it any other way

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We hear a lot on these threads about strategies that worked for people but does anyone have a mistake we can learn from so we don’t repeat it?

Something they tried but had them losing readers or their readers reading fewer posts. Thanks in advance.

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I've noticed I lose subscribers if I don't publish regularly. I always aim for weekly but I had a baby last year and I became more sporadic. If I posted after two/three weeks off, I'd always get a unsubscribes. Maybe they forgot about me and weren't expecting an email? So yeah, consistently posting at around the same time on the same day each week is ideal.

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Congratulations on the baby. I always find it odd to think people are actually waiting to hear from me.

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I know, me too! It's a funny one.

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I was born in Reno 1938 HS class 1956 I still have friends there. All the best of every good fortune for the good.

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