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🧠 Welcome to all new Substackers. I always want to help fellow Substackers to get on their feet and this ebook will help you to get started and grow. Feel free to reach out if you find it useful.
Which one is better, serializing on Substack or selling it on Amazon? If I want to publish on Amazon after I serializing on Substack, do you think that is okay?
Yep, me! I'm excerpting and serialising my memoir as an audiobook about intergenerational maternal trauma, mental health and the complex interplay between our mental health and the natural world. It's for my paid subscribers but Episode 1 launched last Sunday for everyone if you fancy a listen: https://lindsayjohnstone.substack.com/p/held-in-mind-an-excerpted-memoir#details
I had 16,000 subscribers when I first came to substack and lost nearly 7,000 of them. The problems with delivery are consistently showing up, as in one out of five will come through to the email address. I have a couple back up email addresses I used to test the delivery and it was horrid.
It gets much worse the more often you post until I wondered why they were not delivering to all the followers. Particular to this phenomena, since complaining on this platform, as a writer voicing my concerns, it got worse, not better.
That's completely bizarre. It would be so helpful if a substack staff member could offer some direction on this? Is there some other step we need to take?
✏️ How do I set up promo codes for 1 month free mode? I would like to set up 10 promo codes (1 month free from having to pay from $1 to $10 per month, it's the reader's choice). A Substack user gave me this great idea.
🟧 I am approaching 650 free subscribers after almost two years of mostly regular posting of quality content. I've added about 250 this year. I write for a small audience of covered calls and puts stock options investors.
And I have 5 pledges for about $512 total.
I figure that if I go paid at $240 a year after discounts and fees I might get 50 to 60 paid subscribers who would pay on a monthly basis. I don't want annual subs because if I have to refund subscribers' money if I have to quit in my old age, I don't want lose money on the 13% credit card and Substack commissions.
Just a thought which might help...if it came to you retiring from writing part way through some of the subscriber's one year term, maybe instead of refunding in cash (which as you mentioned would make a mess of finances on here), what about "gifting" something of equal value...say a new book from Amazon or two delivered to their door in the value of whatever was left of their year. Might be easier optically come tax time as well. Make sense?
🟧 - are there plans afoot to promote little or new stacks? I would love, for instance, to receive a 'Substack Reads' featuring smaller & new substacks so that they get their chance in the spotlight. Many of the Substack Kings & Queens dominate, making it hard to discover brilliant new writers with a small following. As with every platform, it's getting more challenging to sift through the noise as those that already have big platforms are always front and centre. Not that I don't love what they do! many thanks, Lucy
Many have asked this, and I am among the people who asked. I hope they'll do a 'Substack Reads' in that direction or change the settings of the 'explore' page with categories for newcomers and writers under 1000 followers.
We actually do make sure that a good chunk of lot of slots of Substack Reads are writers with smaller lists, and we avoid featuring writers multiple times to spread the love. But I hear you, and I'll make sure the team sees this and has the nudge to consider how we might do more.
And just as a reminder, writers collaborating with each other to grow (recommendations, cross-posts, notes) are a way more sustainable and powerful growth path than features from our team.
I appreciate this, Bailey. I will share that when I started writing on Medium (three years ago), I feel like I got a lot more attention from editors there early on, which really helped me to attract an initial following that then continued to build on itself. I believe that growth on Substack is more sustainable over time (followers on Medium have come to mean nothing, and the platform isn't built around email subscribers), which is why I launched a newsletter here about six months ago. I really appreciate Substack, but as I noted in a comment below, there's kind of a "cool kids" vibe that I've found intimidating, and the editors here seem to be less proactive about discovering and promoting new talent. Maybe I'm being impatient, but that's just my take as a relative newbie!
I want to jump in and say I’ve had similar experiences. Been here for several months and not sure how to connect to a larger audience outside of my own social media channels.
I agree wholeheartedly. There is an insider and outsider feel to this where there does seem to be manipulation through the delivery, as I am getting 1 in 5 posts on two identities that are subscribed compared to my own identity I write under. Delivery is suspect.
This gets brought up ever week in office hours but I don't see it happening in real life. I see tons of "Welcome to Substack!" for big name people who bring in thousands of their own subs. But not for people who are starting from zero. Seems a little out of balance and as someone else said, a "cool kids" club.
100%. Every week. Yet to see “Welcome to Substack (little known writers)”. Seems obvious to me that writers switching platforms with thousands of subscribers don’t need a shout out.
I made peace with the capitalist economy. While they don't need the shout-out they bring more money to the platform. It's self perpetuating. If your work is good it will grow, maybe slowly but I see that as a positive to have time to be thoughtful.
After 700 plus posts, some well over ordinary fair, even short books, and coming with 14,000 followers to see it drop to 9500 since moving here three years ago. I have published nearly 6 million words or more, Grammerly says 9,750,000 words checked, but not once a notice or feature, even a note of achievement other than the standard notice wii get. Pictures, How to, creating houses out of salvage, villages out of people with skills and intentions to create a better world. Solutions versus conflict and it appears, Wii become invisible here too. Time to find new soil to plant words in... ideas may flourish with good light.
Yes, but how do I find writers on substack publishing on similar subjects? There's no directory, and it would be easy to build. All you'd have to do is ask substack writers a few questions and a massive searchable database would be created within a month.
Thanks Bailey! One category that could really use some love promoting smaller accounts is Science; about half of the top ten on the leaderboard are very popular anti-vaxx and misinformation publications. Controversy and angry posts definitely attract more engagement compared to well-written and thoughtful science and medical journalism by experts. I would be happy to provide a list of some great accounts to promote (besides myself, obviously 😝)
I think there has to be a popular kids vibe because SubStack needs to make money. So they have to promote the big kids to make people want to come here. We have to learn enough tech to make their search engine find us, I guess. I am leaning towards the alternative search and social routes, because Google can wipe a person out in a day or less. Relying on a single platform and single engine is not the best way to grow. Getting subscribers is a LOT of work, and a commitment to learn tech and media is required..... so I am studying hard.
Something that tends to be forgotten (or not noticed) is that the popular kids sort of pave the way for the rest of us; they don't actually take attention away. I have noticed that I get subscriptions from complete strangers who are already subscribed to Substacks by more famous writers, while close friends who don't know about Substack won't even support me in that way. So I conclude that the popular kids draw new readers to platform, which in turn gets them accustomed to Substack and makes it more likely that they'll subscribe to more Substacks.
I agree. I also have received subscriptions from those who read and comment on those with rather large followings on Substack. I am gratified to occasionally see, for example, that a person subscribes to Robert Reich's substack and to mine!
But this only works if you're subscribed to the popular ones and actively engaging with them. I'm not interested in most of the big ones, they just don't write what I want to read. This is not a complaint, just saying.
I think you're off to the side of my point. If you can find readers of other Substack writers through means other than interacting with their blogs, they're more likely to subscribe to you than people who don't know about Substack at all. The fact that there are famous writers who have drawn them here purely through their personal following works to your advantage because they're already comfortable with the platform.
Truth! Most people usually need some "established" reason to try the new platform. Adding new subscriptions is easy once they get on board.
It's typical / normal that the people close to you won't sign up. They see you personally, and can't see you professionally. That happens to everyone, no matter the profession...
YES - and my little Procrastinator Monkey 🙈 and Impatient Monkey 🙈 HATES all the time it takes to learn new systems! My heart gets happy when I'm willing...
I get that too; does seem to be a clickish dynamic. On the other hand, I’ve found that the popular kids here are actually pretty approachable, relative to other platforms. I do get friendly engagement from popular authors on the various goofy comments I scatter around here, and I think that speaks more to the good attitude of the writers than to my commenting talents or lack thereof.
So I say we start an “unpopular kids” grow and go head on. We start by subscribing to one another’s stack and then promote only the unpopular posts. Who’s with me?
It should be on your navigation bar on your home page OR if you click on your little profile image (top right) and hit home, it'll take you to an explore page. Those are notes.
I hope so! I was happy when I got to three digits, honestly. And even now I find it strange and a little uncomfortable to self-promote (especially since I don't really use social media) so I've resigned myself to residing in my tiny corner of the internet.
I'm in the same place, Jen. I.m gradually weaning myself off of social media for the promises of being discovered on Substack without having to do a ton of self promotion. I was burned out doing self promotion for my former business practice on social media. Now that I've been here for about six months, I'm seeing greater headwinds than I imagined, and there're people who give expert advice about growing your audience outside of Substack, even using paid advertisements. This is actually the opposite of what I wanted to do. I need help!
And there is nothing wrong with that! I write for fun but it would be nice to make money. I just turned on the option for paid. I'm lucky to have another job to make money but it would be nice to do this full time. I'm getting more and more subscribers by interacting with all of you and with Notes. Just keep writing. If you build it they will come even if "they" aren't en masse! sabrinalabow.substack.com
That’s a good idea. And with basic info deets - what your substack is about. It would also be helpful if these sun stacks were organised into categories - food, travel, space, current affairs etc
They don't feature us with much more either if they do not like our content of empowerment it appears. Been here for years. 9,000,000 words published on here, yet crickets. There is a click, paid for with big dollars, and then there is us... the writers self paid and promoted by us alone it appears. Sad, but I think there is a problem as many of my followers do not get all my posts. Some only 1/5 of them. Never have I been contacted or appreciated except their weekly counts of words and scores. Great for their paid for stars I guess.
I’d also like Notes to go back to being less algorithm-y. I see the same posts everyday and know I’m missing a lot from the folks I follow and vice versa!
Substack does make writers “feature publications.” And they do this to publications of all sizes. It happened to my non-fiction publication about 8 months after launch. I was pretty small. I think the reason they tend not to do it for BRAND NEW writers is because most newsletters fold within 3 months of launch. They probably want to be sure you won’t fizzle out
Good point, Cole, and I agree. In my case, I've been publishing quite steadily for over 2 years, so I hope I appear unlikely to fold! I'd also love to be able to add one of those "Featured Publication" badges to all of my newsletter outreach :-)
I do a digest every Friday of awesome writing here that's all related to my niche of art and mental health ... I do include bigger writers but I also include lots of small stacks. I love that we can all co-exist side by side in that way, sharing our wisdom.
Substack paid for, bought writers rather than promote us, the writers who have written millions of words. Not sure how this is supposed to help except for their chosen people they pay to bring. The problems and loss of subscribers by coming here is troubling and the repeated failure to deliver to the followers is troubling as I have two ID followers who are not getting but a fifth of the output. My concerns are for the the promotion of their paid writers over those of us who helped them get up and running. Its about time to move on if the admin is just here to promote their favorites.
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.
🧠 Welcome to all new Substackers. I always want to help fellow Substackers to get on their feet and this ebook will help you to get started and grow. Feel free to reach out if you find it useful.
https://open.substack.com/pub/raisini/p/from-zero-to-100000-subscribers-the?r=aegif&utm_medium=ios&utm_campaign=post
Thanks for the e-book
💯
🔥🔥🔥
💯
Very helpful, thanks!
💯
@RAISINI have you ever used quizzes for list growth?
🟧Maybe you could put together some sort of contest where we could vote on smaller and newer substacks. sabrinalabow.substack.com
Hi Sabrina! Thanks for sharing this idea. We're always looking to improve, so we appreciate the note.
Substackers could have friends and family stuff the ballot box.
✏️ has anyone used substack to write a serial book?
I’m going to serialize my novel (fiction) . I’ve heard nonfiction does better but I’m excited to try anyway.
Go for it. You'll never know until you do.
Which one is better, serializing on Substack or selling it on Amazon? If I want to publish on Amazon after I serializing on Substack, do you think that is okay?
Yes, people are serializing on Substack. Fiction and nonfiction both. What are you interested in?
I'm interested in nonfiction.
lots of people. I recommend looking up Fictionistas or Erika Drayton who has a list of all the fiction on Substack, or The Link Library.
thank you Russell.
yes, several others have as well, and I've serialized my memoir here → https://bowendwelle.substack.com/memoir
Congratulations Bowen
Yep, me! I'm excerpting and serialising my memoir as an audiobook about intergenerational maternal trauma, mental health and the complex interplay between our mental health and the natural world. It's for my paid subscribers but Episode 1 launched last Sunday for everyone if you fancy a listen: https://lindsayjohnstone.substack.com/p/held-in-mind-an-excerpted-memoir#details
Thanks Lindsay and congratulations. Will check out your audio book.
Thanks so much, Kathleen!
I’m planning to serialize a Middle Grade novel after Christmas.
Yes, I did. I released several thousand words each week...
well alrighty then. good going
I'm serializing (5 episodes) one of my short mysteries: https://susanwittigalbert.substack.com/s/short-fiction Have another already scheduled for Jan-Feb and another in the works. I benefitted from the work of Simon Jones, who regularly posts on the subject: https://simonkjones.substack.com/s/how-to-write-serialised-fiction
excellent. and congratulations. thanks for responding.
Thank you Garrett. You've been busy. Nice shout outs. And congrats to all of you.
Thanks for the mention, Garrett! 🙏
Thanks for the mention, Garret. I really appreciate it.
I don't even know how to the emojis.
You can copy/paste by highlighting from Katie's text, or if on PC you can press WindowsKey and . to bring up the in-built emoji menu.
Katie-When I tried to email subscribers with a new post earlier today the email function did not work. Am I missing something? Thanks.
I think there are occasional hicupps like that. The bold heading functions & block quote functions also sometimes don't seem to work.
I had 16,000 subscribers when I first came to substack and lost nearly 7,000 of them. The problems with delivery are consistently showing up, as in one out of five will come through to the email address. I have a couple back up email addresses I used to test the delivery and it was horrid.
this also happened to me. some people received it, but not everyone. I didn't even receive my own post via email???
I got my email right after I posted the newsletter. https://djincometrader.substack.com/p/12-berkshire-hathaway-buys-for-covered?utm_campaign=email-post&r=2l7h7&utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email
Yes, that's how it should work. I got an email on my first two posts but the third time I posted no email??
It gets much worse the more often you post until I wondered why they were not delivering to all the followers. Particular to this phenomena, since complaining on this platform, as a writer voicing my concerns, it got worse, not better.
That's completely bizarre. It would be so helpful if a substack staff member could offer some direction on this? Is there some other step we need to take?
✏️ How do I set up promo codes for 1 month free mode? I would like to set up 10 promo codes (1 month free from having to pay from $1 to $10 per month, it's the reader's choice). A Substack user gave me this great idea.
You go to DASHBOARD>SETTINGS>PAYMENTS>MANAGE SPECIAL OFFERS+
I talk about it in my 50,000 word guide, at the bottom of this part. https://authorstack.substack.com/p/worldclasssubstack
🟧What about having the writers with more followers sponsor another who has fewer? sabrinalabow.substack.com
🟧 I am approaching 650 free subscribers after almost two years of mostly regular posting of quality content. I've added about 250 this year. I write for a small audience of covered calls and puts stock options investors.
And I have 5 pledges for about $512 total.
I figure that if I go paid at $240 a year after discounts and fees I might get 50 to 60 paid subscribers who would pay on a monthly basis. I don't want annual subs because if I have to refund subscribers' money if I have to quit in my old age, I don't want lose money on the 13% credit card and Substack commissions.
Does this make sense?
Just a thought which might help...if it came to you retiring from writing part way through some of the subscriber's one year term, maybe instead of refunding in cash (which as you mentioned would make a mess of finances on here), what about "gifting" something of equal value...say a new book from Amazon or two delivered to their door in the value of whatever was left of their year. Might be easier optically come tax time as well. Make sense?
Katie, I have none of those emojis. How do I get them?
I just copy/paste them.
🟧 - are there plans afoot to promote little or new stacks? I would love, for instance, to receive a 'Substack Reads' featuring smaller & new substacks so that they get their chance in the spotlight. Many of the Substack Kings & Queens dominate, making it hard to discover brilliant new writers with a small following. As with every platform, it's getting more challenging to sift through the noise as those that already have big platforms are always front and centre. Not that I don't love what they do! many thanks, Lucy
Many have asked this, and I am among the people who asked. I hope they'll do a 'Substack Reads' in that direction or change the settings of the 'explore' page with categories for newcomers and writers under 1000 followers.
Oh I like the idea of an explore page with categories allowing searches for us smaller fish!! Brilliant, Emmanuelle!
Glad you like the idea Holly! Hope the Substack team will hear us!
Spotlight for the one with under 1000 subscribers is a great idea!
I really don’t know why they haven’t done it already. It’s pretty basic stuff, really
Such a great idea!
Great ideas.
We actually do make sure that a good chunk of lot of slots of Substack Reads are writers with smaller lists, and we avoid featuring writers multiple times to spread the love. But I hear you, and I'll make sure the team sees this and has the nudge to consider how we might do more.
And just as a reminder, writers collaborating with each other to grow (recommendations, cross-posts, notes) are a way more sustainable and powerful growth path than features from our team.
I appreciate this, Bailey. I will share that when I started writing on Medium (three years ago), I feel like I got a lot more attention from editors there early on, which really helped me to attract an initial following that then continued to build on itself. I believe that growth on Substack is more sustainable over time (followers on Medium have come to mean nothing, and the platform isn't built around email subscribers), which is why I launched a newsletter here about six months ago. I really appreciate Substack, but as I noted in a comment below, there's kind of a "cool kids" vibe that I've found intimidating, and the editors here seem to be less proactive about discovering and promoting new talent. Maybe I'm being impatient, but that's just my take as a relative newbie!
I want to jump in and say I’ve had similar experiences. Been here for several months and not sure how to connect to a larger audience outside of my own social media channels.
See if there is one in your city.
Sing in to substack 703
I agree wholeheartedly. There is an insider and outsider feel to this where there does seem to be manipulation through the delivery, as I am getting 1 in 5 posts on two identities that are subscribed compared to my own identity I write under. Delivery is suspect.
This gets brought up ever week in office hours but I don't see it happening in real life. I see tons of "Welcome to Substack!" for big name people who bring in thousands of their own subs. But not for people who are starting from zero. Seems a little out of balance and as someone else said, a "cool kids" club.
100%. Every week. Yet to see “Welcome to Substack (little known writers)”. Seems obvious to me that writers switching platforms with thousands of subscribers don’t need a shout out.
I made peace with the capitalist economy. While they don't need the shout-out they bring more money to the platform. It's self perpetuating. If your work is good it will grow, maybe slowly but I see that as a positive to have time to be thoughtful.
Would still love to be featured on Substack Reads !
After 700 plus posts, some well over ordinary fair, even short books, and coming with 14,000 followers to see it drop to 9500 since moving here three years ago. I have published nearly 6 million words or more, Grammerly says 9,750,000 words checked, but not once a notice or feature, even a note of achievement other than the standard notice wii get. Pictures, How to, creating houses out of salvage, villages out of people with skills and intentions to create a better world. Solutions versus conflict and it appears, Wii become invisible here too. Time to find new soil to plant words in... ideas may flourish with good light.
Yes, but how do I find writers on substack publishing on similar subjects? There's no directory, and it would be easy to build. All you'd have to do is ask substack writers a few questions and a massive searchable database would be created within a month.
Thanks Bailey! One category that could really use some love promoting smaller accounts is Science; about half of the top ten on the leaderboard are very popular anti-vaxx and misinformation publications. Controversy and angry posts definitely attract more engagement compared to well-written and thoughtful science and medical journalism by experts. I would be happy to provide a list of some great accounts to promote (besides myself, obviously 😝)
Many thanks for youre reply Bailey — I will also push harder on the other growth tools such as recommendations, notes, cross-posts etc.
I love this idea. I'm still new-ish to Substack and there's definitely a "popular kids" vibe to it that's a little intimidating!
I think there has to be a popular kids vibe because SubStack needs to make money. So they have to promote the big kids to make people want to come here. We have to learn enough tech to make their search engine find us, I guess. I am leaning towards the alternative search and social routes, because Google can wipe a person out in a day or less. Relying on a single platform and single engine is not the best way to grow. Getting subscribers is a LOT of work, and a commitment to learn tech and media is required..... so I am studying hard.
Something that tends to be forgotten (or not noticed) is that the popular kids sort of pave the way for the rest of us; they don't actually take attention away. I have noticed that I get subscriptions from complete strangers who are already subscribed to Substacks by more famous writers, while close friends who don't know about Substack won't even support me in that way. So I conclude that the popular kids draw new readers to platform, which in turn gets them accustomed to Substack and makes it more likely that they'll subscribe to more Substacks.
I agree. I also have received subscriptions from those who read and comment on those with rather large followings on Substack. I am gratified to occasionally see, for example, that a person subscribes to Robert Reich's substack and to mine!
But this only works if you're subscribed to the popular ones and actively engaging with them. I'm not interested in most of the big ones, they just don't write what I want to read. This is not a complaint, just saying.
I think you're off to the side of my point. If you can find readers of other Substack writers through means other than interacting with their blogs, they're more likely to subscribe to you than people who don't know about Substack at all. The fact that there are famous writers who have drawn them here purely through their personal following works to your advantage because they're already comfortable with the platform.
Truth! Most people usually need some "established" reason to try the new platform. Adding new subscriptions is easy once they get on board.
It's typical / normal that the people close to you won't sign up. They see you personally, and can't see you professionally. That happens to everyone, no matter the profession...
YES - and my little Procrastinator Monkey 🙈 and Impatient Monkey 🙈 HATES all the time it takes to learn new systems! My heart gets happy when I'm willing...
I need to study too! I keep putting it off:( sabrinalabow.substack.com
I get that too; does seem to be a clickish dynamic. On the other hand, I’ve found that the popular kids here are actually pretty approachable, relative to other platforms. I do get friendly engagement from popular authors on the various goofy comments I scatter around here, and I think that speaks more to the good attitude of the writers than to my commenting talents or lack thereof.
Yes I hear you there
So I say we start an “unpopular kids” grow and go head on. We start by subscribing to one another’s stack and then promote only the unpopular posts. Who’s with me?
Clique with the un-clique clique.
Omg--yes! Feels like high school sometimes! 🫤
Yes. Many have asked for this. It’s a good idea. Maybe feature writers with 1,000 or less subs
1,000 subscribers still seems like a pipe dream at this stage!
We will get there. Engaging with others and Notes, Notes, Notes! It's really great! It's gotten me the most new subscribers. sabrinalabow.substack.com
I am 3 years in and I only have 450 subscribers. Marketing always fall on the creator.
I don’t see Notes as an option! How do I access it?
Notes is available in the app. Everyone has use of it inside the app and it really is fantastic for engagement and bringing in new readers.
Is that the same section as home- explore/following?
It should be on your navigation bar on your home page OR if you click on your little profile image (top right) and hit home, it'll take you to an explore page. Those are notes.
Agreed — but we will get there!
I hope so! I was happy when I got to three digits, honestly. And even now I find it strange and a little uncomfortable to self-promote (especially since I don't really use social media) so I've resigned myself to residing in my tiny corner of the internet.
I'm in the same place, Jen. I.m gradually weaning myself off of social media for the promises of being discovered on Substack without having to do a ton of self promotion. I was burned out doing self promotion for my former business practice on social media. Now that I've been here for about six months, I'm seeing greater headwinds than I imagined, and there're people who give expert advice about growing your audience outside of Substack, even using paid advertisements. This is actually the opposite of what I wanted to do. I need help!
And there is nothing wrong with that! I write for fun but it would be nice to make money. I just turned on the option for paid. I'm lucky to have another job to make money but it would be nice to do this full time. I'm getting more and more subscribers by interacting with all of you and with Notes. Just keep writing. If you build it they will come even if "they" aren't en masse! sabrinalabow.substack.com
Glad I'm not alone...
No estas sola, aquí en el otro lado del mundo también me gustaria que sepan de mi!!!!
Yes, may I suggest one Substack Reads featuring posts from those newsletters with less than 1000 subscribers...
That’s a good idea. And with basic info deets - what your substack is about. It would also be helpful if these sun stacks were organised into categories - food, travel, space, current affairs etc
They don't feature us with much more either if they do not like our content of empowerment it appears. Been here for years. 9,000,000 words published on here, yet crickets. There is a click, paid for with big dollars, and then there is us... the writers self paid and promoted by us alone it appears. Sad, but I think there is a problem as many of my followers do not get all my posts. Some only 1/5 of them. Never have I been contacted or appreciated except their weekly counts of words and scores. Great for their paid for stars I guess.
I’d also like Notes to go back to being less algorithm-y. I see the same posts everyday and know I’m missing a lot from the folks I follow and vice versa!
Substack does make writers “feature publications.” And they do this to publications of all sizes. It happened to my non-fiction publication about 8 months after launch. I was pretty small. I think the reason they tend not to do it for BRAND NEW writers is because most newsletters fold within 3 months of launch. They probably want to be sure you won’t fizzle out
Good point, Cole, and I agree. In my case, I've been publishing quite steadily for over 2 years, so I hope I appear unlikely to fold! I'd also love to be able to add one of those "Featured Publication" badges to all of my newsletter outreach :-)
I hope you get picked, Joan :)
Thanks Nathan!
I wish I could tell you what got me picked.
This has been asked many times. I would love to see this for my stack (obviously) and many others I subscribe to.
I too would vote for this. Both as an avid reader and as someone with a smaller following so far.
🟧Maybe they could do some sort of contest where we could vote on smaller and newer substacks. sabrinalabow.substack.com
This is a really good idea!
Looking forward to checking out your stack as I see it's all about creativity!
Definitely would love to see that from Substack.
I do a digest every Friday of awesome writing here that's all related to my niche of art and mental health ... I do include bigger writers but I also include lots of small stacks. I love that we can all co-exist side by side in that way, sharing our wisdom.
Following you! YAY 🙌🏽 Art & mental health are such good partners. (that's my world too - Creative Healing).
<3 <3 <3
Yes many have asked for this previously. I hope so too.
I support this! Great request Lucy.
So true about the Kings and Queens and those coming to Substack with substantial followings already.
Substack paid for, bought writers rather than promote us, the writers who have written millions of words. Not sure how this is supposed to help except for their chosen people they pay to bring. The problems and loss of subscribers by coming here is troubling and the repeated failure to deliver to the followers is troubling as I have two ID followers who are not getting but a fifth of the output. My concerns are for the the promotion of their paid writers over those of us who helped them get up and running. Its about time to move on if the admin is just here to promote their favorites.
Agree on this! Also a Spotify type playlist like "New Music Friday" that showcases some new substack writers and their publications.
Agree. Love this idea!
The key to gaining consistent subscribers I’ve found is:
1. Write quality material and post regularly but not too often (I recommend 1-3 times per week)
2. Read other Stacks and leave comments on their posts
3. RESTACK other writers’ work and add a personal note
4. Use Notes to help attract attention but don’t post Notes constantly
5. Figure out your audience and what’s original/unique about your writing
6. Be patient
7. Don’t come off as desperate for growth. Self-promote but with thoughtfulness
My piece on the purpose of Substack: https://michaelmohr.substack.com/p/what-is-the-point-of-substack-making
Michael Mohr
Sincere American Writing
https://michaelmohr.substack.com/