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π§ This great Reddit thread popped up yesterday in the Substack Writers group, where folks are sharing how long it took them to reach 200 subscribers, and what strategies they used. I shared a few thoughts, and already got five new subscribers from my interactions there, so check it out and drop your two cents:
Folks in the thread have been asking me how I have achieved a nearly 20% conversion rate on paid subscribers, with 65-75% open rates. I have a lot to share, so I am working on a post documenting my journey.
If youβd like to receive it, sign up for my Substack at www.lizexplores.com, where I write about infertility, mental health, and adventure. Iβm hoping to share my strategies post in the coming week. (Very meta, I knowβ¦)
I agree, Heidi! Whether we like it or not, our brains are hardwired for comparison. I am always curious about other writersβ growth and how they made it it happen.
It's also great to read how other people approach things. There are so many ways to approach any goal and sometimes we get into a rut of only doing what we think of, but other people likely have very effective strategies that could help us.
Exactly! Iβm excited to share my piece about what is working for me, to help other writers get creative with their growth. And I always love hearing what is working for everyone else!
I saw your post last night and just subscribed. I write about my quest to detox from diet culture and help others stop measuring their self-worth from their appearance at https://www.almostsated.com.
Thank you so much, Kristi! Fancy meeting you here and over on Reddit. Your topic is so important! I have mercifully never been much of a dieter, though my weight seems to fluctuate annually by 10 or 20 pounds. π
200 in 3 months is a huge achievement. It'll take me a lot longer. But then Fiction is much more subjective than other types of newsletters on here... π
This is so great and so full of hope and possibilities, thank you for sharing! I love reading the comments, as I relate. I'm at 300 subscribers now after 3 months and I'm enjoying this so much. And hope and joy are what keeps me motivated every time I come to the platform. :)
Thank you! I write about health. I'm a doctor, and I'm all about prevention, emotional health and bringing empathy and hope back to the patient/doctor equation. :)
Cool I'll check it out. I started 10/8 and am at 210 70% open with weekly posts. But mostly they are my friends. I am curious about organic non friends. I'll check out your substack bc it seems we are likeminded. I write about similar things. I camper vanned alaska :)
Thanks, Liz. I went over to check it out and found some great discussions. Recommended everyone do the same. I laid out over there why I am not quite at 200 yet. BIG surprise, it is because I had life interference and quit writing for a while. As soon as I quit posting regularly, my subscriptions slowed to an anemic trickle. Everyone's said it, but you have to post regularly if you want to grow. It's true!
I was just over there poking around. Left a comment, too. I find that I'm doing a lot of what others are doing, but I'm writing FICTION, and for some reason, fiction is a slow climb. But I don't let it get me down. When I get depressed and think it's taking too long, I go to my Subscriber page. I look at the graph and see how it's a line going upwards, right from the first day. I remind myself it used to only go up to 100, and then when I broke 100, another tier was added; and then another. And now I look at it, and it's half way to 400. That's when I tell myself to relax, and don't sweat the small stuff.
I said a similar thing above. Fiction does take much longer to build compared to other types of newsletters on here, because it's so subjective. I've been trying a few different techniques but I'm always open to new ones. I find posting on Social Media regularly helps a lot, but you're right it is a very slow climb... π
Itβs so true, David. I stopped writing for two months last spring when I was going through fertility treatments, and my subscriptions slowed. Although I did notice that when I engaged with other writers on Substack, or shared previous posts, folks still trickled in, even when I wasnβt able to write.
Hey Liz, you've done great, well done. And I look forward to seeing your start post. But maybe I'm writing in too niche a space - a business space about consumer behaviours and customer experiences. (https://uncx.substack.com) I'll subscribe to you to make sure I see your follow up !
Thanks Michael, and thank you for subscribing! Having a clear niche can be really helpful; you just need to make sure youβre getting in front of the right people. You could pitch yourself for podcast interviews and guest blog posts in the business space, then be sure to drop the link to your Substack so people can check it out!
Wow Liz, your journey on Substack looks incredible! I'll be having a look at the Reddit thread you mentioned. I'll be looking forward to your post on Substack it too :). I have started a couple of months ago so the topic you just raised really interests me.
Thank you Liz! I write about the fashion industry from the perspective of an underrated professional - aka someone whose job is not glamorous - Black identities in Europe, and soon a little bit more about life. I am on a hiatus right now for personal reasons, but I'd love to integrate more things people can connect with like my experience with fibroids and grief.
Awesome, Emmanuelle! I am not much of a fashionista (youβll find me most days in fuzzy pink pajamas), but I would be fascinated to read about Black identities in Europe, fibroids, and grief. So you have my vote to add more personal stories to your Substack! π
Oh no worries about not being a fashionista, you won't find talks about new season collection, shopping guide or whatsoever, but really a look at fashion with a cultural eye.
Feel free to peruse the archive to see what I have written about Black identities in Europe. I've also written already a little bit about grief.
I'll be taking your advice on to share more personal stories on Substack π. Thank you!
Just starting off and looking for some guidance to grow your list? This should do the job, with plenty of links of other writers and sources to build grow.
Thanks! I love that you give Apple as an exampleβI think everyone, including the government, would benefit from following Apple's ultimate design strategy...
π§ With respect to the Β΄financial marketΒ΄ substack community, is it possible to highlight the stock symbols by using the $ sign on Notes as you already can do this when writing posts, which is a feature I really like. Also, maybe using the #hashtag sign to highlight anything to do with the financial markets (companies, data, indicators, stocks, futures, crypto, etc) on Notes and on the posts in order to connect more people both in the substack community and over the internet. Thank you!
I am about to begin but I can't download the app on my Imac. I would like to begin with a pay site. So how do I set up the pay app. I don't want to upload my landing page before I have the pay function set up so that if anyone wishes to subscribe on my opening promo they can. Appreciate any help. Howard Klein mootfowl7@aol.com
The app is for mobile devices only. If you're going to work exclusively on your iMac, just use the website.
If you want to enable paid subscriptions, you need to set up a Stripe account and link it to Substack. Substack's support section has the instructions. Stripe processes the payments and pays you. When you publish a post, you will have the option to make it accessible to everyone, or to paid subscribers only.
π§I'm probably really late but I do have feature request:
I know that for paid subscribers there is a paywall but I would like to see a subscriber wall option for all my post.
For my publication specifically I want a subscriber wall so that my subscribers can feel like their in a V.I.P club since there are times when I want to give my subscribers a certain gift as a thank you! I also just feel like it would be a great incentive for people to subscribe!β¨
π§ I have around 22 loyal Subscribers, I get a fair amount of views, 50-100, and I make sure to put subscribe buttons at the end of my posts, but a lot of the people who read my content donβt subscribe! I donβt know if anyone can help me fix this issue?
You might see an increase in subscribe rates if you use a real person's name for your Author persona (could be a pseudonym). People trust people more than 'brands'.
Also, put your first subscribe request near the top of your post ("above the fold"), say underneath the first paragraph. ... not everyone will scroll right to the bottom.
And, if you are not doing it yet, use Subscribe with caption, not subscribe buttons. In the caption explain what people will get when they sign up (e.g. "Subscribe now to get a hand-crafted story about XXX straight to your inbox each week. I don't use your email address for anything else.")
I'm having a similar issue myself. I'm finding it's mainly the Social Media traffic. They are happy to click links and read things, but don't really want to subscribe, because they know there'll be another link to click next time. It's still a fantastic achievement to be getting good viewing figures, though, because it means the work is wanted and being enjoyed which is great. Apparently, using Notes on here is a good way to reach more people and can help gain new subscribers, so that might be worth looking into... π
Sadly I donβt have social media. But thanks for the encouraging words about my views. I never thought of them like that. I guess if lots of people read my content, that means they do like it. But I guess I will just be patient and work on my strategies to gain new subscribers. Thanks. ππ»π
point is i cant find emojis nor am i inclined to. couldn't read your entire response as when i clicked on and tried to scroll to end nothing happened. i inadvertently created a writers page for myself. That i going to be non functional , id like it removed. do not see how to do.
how do i remove sandy substack page, its mine, im sandy .when answering an email from substack i unwittingly started a page. I cant find an emoji, how absurd to need one for attention.
You want to delete the substack? If you go your Sandy's Substack, click to go to the Dashboard, and then click "Settings," you should see the options to delete all the way down at the bottom.
no i do not see an option to delete. i do not see emojis. where to 'find' them how to apply them. i dont care to in any case. i inadvertently created a writers page for myself through an unbidden email from substack. it wont be used. see no way to remove this page
You don't need to use your newsletter production capability. You are signed up to receive the emails from others. If you delete your account, you couldn't receive emails from the writers you are subscribed to, and you couldn't post your Notes.
You need to go to the page. Then you need to click the "Dashboard" button. Then click "Settings." Scroll all the way down. At the bottom, you should see: Delete this publication
This permanently deletes your publication, posts, podcast, and subscriber list. Once you do this, there is no going back.
Any other Substack writers who live near State College, PA? I'm hosting a meet-up on December 13 and would love to see you there or co-host! See details here: https://lu.ma/lqn3f7es
I'm in London, so it would be a bit of a trek. Hope it goes well. I've met up with two writers (individually), these being @rebecca holden and @robert Urbaschek and it was very enjoyable, not least because neither of them turned out to be psychopathic murderers
A ringing endorsement if I've ever heard one! Whatever kind of writing we might expect from Rebecca and Robert, at least we are unlikely to die a violent death from their acquaintance.
Obviously, Robert's a writer with a sense of humor--or at least a sense of proportion. I'll have to look him up.
My thought is that we've set the bar of appropriate human behavior so low in this millennium that being able to leave this world without seriously injuring anyone intentionally might be the most honorable epitaph one can hope for.
But an honest and useful one. As a maladjusted herd animal supposedly descended from animals whose social skills I don't necessarily admire, I've made a crude science of low expectations--both of myself and others.
Thank you. I just read Robert's article about media microtargeting. In it there's a Facebook psychological profile I found disturbing, if only because I only understood maybe two thirds of the references. One of the most jarring insights of this profile was a supposed association between substandard IQs and ownership of (or perhaps interest in) Harley Davidson motorcycles. Do Facebook Geeks have any idea what kind of money you have to pull down to own a Harley? High school burger flippers at Mickey D's are not riding to work on a Road KIng, to be sure!
Iβm in the Seattle area and signed up to host a meet up. So far no bites. Writing can feel reclusive. Webinars are great but there nothing like in-person.
Thanks for the info! I will absolutely try to be there! Is it possible to get on a list for future meet ups if there are any? I'd love to meet other Seattle writers. I also write humor and am loving your Substack, btw!
Totally agree. This is the main stumbling block for me after leaving academe. I hear some saying that there's nothing they miss about higher ed, but the in-person part of it was what I loved the most. The hallway conversations, the students dropping by after class, the volunteer events. Still trying to duplicate that on the other side of my transition!
Good luck to you -- hopefully you'll find some other folks in Seattle. BTW, one of my LinkedIn contacts, Ashley Ruba, is based there. She also has a Substack. Maybe reach out to her?
π§ Iβve been on Substack for a bit over a year and I love it!
Iβm always lurking here during Office Hours but rarely end up posting.
Today, I just wanted to give a word of encouragement to any new Substackers out there.
Substack is a huge, vibrant, and diverse community.
Youβll run into highly successful writers on this platform and your first impulse might be to start comparing the metrics.
I know mine was!
When I had no subscribers, Iβd compare myself to those who had many. After Iβd reached a decent subscriber count, I started comparing engagement metrics like comments, etc.
Itβs only recently that I came to embrace the fact that all of that is pure noise. The beauty of Substack is that thereβs no RIGHT way to do it.
Some writers here have hundreds of thousands of subscribers, only a small portion of whom might engage beyond reading. Others have a more modest subscriber base which is highly engaged.
Some post on Notes and interact there every day. Others donβt use Notes at all.
Some collaborate with other writers regularly. Others fly solo.
Some want to build a community, while others just want to get their writing out thereβ¦
β¦and everything in between.
Metrics are fun to track, but they donβt come close to telling the full story.
So figure out what youβre here for and focus on what you truly enjoy doing.
I agree Julie, meaningful connection is the most important thing. I don't think my former self would have believed I could make such great friends in an online space!
Hey Donna! How you doooin'? (That's my Joey voice.) I'm putting up a new serial. I'm going to juggle between it, and my other one, (LOCKSLEY) but I'm going to put them both behind the Paywall and keep my SUNDAY stories FREE. I'm not starting the paywall for another 3 weeks so people can look at the new story and decided whether they like it or not. Come by and take a look. I think you'll like this one, too!
There's a skill and luck involved in finding your readership.
Some types of readers are prone to commenting, asking questions and interacting, and others are not. We need to accept our readers for who they are. π
So far I'm finding that more comments pop up with posts about the familiar than with the new subjects, but the sample size is not large enough to generalize.
Yes i feel very much in a βnew townβ as as yet i havenβt figured where my hang outs are.
A platform like Twitter, it was easy - Iβd just stick a hashtag in or go add a comment on a politician/famous personβs post and I immediately find like-minded people on there. On here that sort of thing is trickier to do. Iβve not worked out the lay out of this βtownβ yet.
It's a great way to pick up subscribers too! That, and here. With the Writer Office Hours, I always pick up one or two new subscribers. In fact, I picked up two today, which brings my average up to one a day per month!
I think this "new town" is pretty internal still. Probably the readers are more focused and less spontaneous than regular social media, making it harder to move them to your Stack. Perhaps the main issue is searchability. For my own stack, learning the right keywords, is a challenge.
(Finding the digestible balance of science and application is a crucial factor for making it useful to more people. )
Exactly. I feel itβs a platform very much focused on writers rather than readers.
I know most writers are avid readers but not all avid readers are writers. I would like to see more done to promote Substack outside writer circles. It feels a bit cliquey.
Hit the nail on the head, Julie. That's always been a source of astonishment for me: how come I, with a relatively small readership compared to the ones with thousands, get quite a few comments compared to them? Definitely about connection
What I like about the comments is what people have to say. I don't have a huge following (yet), and I'm absolutely gob-smacked by what the comments say. It's the best part about putting something up for my followers.
I think collaboration is what you make of it. I write FICTION, and that's a hard sell right from the get-go (almost as hard a poetry I would think), but if you find a writer you like, and you think they match your style, just ask them if they'd be interested. A lot of fiction writers are too busy with their own serials and stories, and they might ask if they can revisit it in the New Year, but they always leave that option open. I know I do.
To backing up @Julie Dee's comment, that's also why there are newsletter with 20k readers and few paid subscribers. Connection also converts free subscribers into people willing to pay to support a writer's work.
Hearing about connection and that, in addition to that value right there, it will also create a support to my work and allow me to do more of it is exciting to think about. Im hoping my voice journalling - podcasting will do just that. Building big visions! Just starting out, Im not a techy so navigating the inner workings of my account on the phone app has stymied my progress from the start. My inquiry elsewhere in the thread about that hopefully will get my productivity up snd running.
Exactly. Then again, I'm sure that some people are happy to have a one-way writer/reader relationship as well. Which is what's so great about Substack - it caters to both types of writers.
Hi Daniel, this is awesome advice. I would've loved to come across this when I first arrived on Substack. It's easy to get involved here and find your ideal Substack neighborhood. The people I've met are amazing and we are all different.
Love that I found my neighbourhood and you're in it Donna! :) Makes me want to sing Fred Roger's song 'it's a beautiful day in the neighbourhood' (insert music emoji here.)
I couldn't agree more. When I was working (in a past life now, it seems,) HARRY POTTER came out and someone at work said, Wow man, she just wrote a book, and look! How's that make you feel? I said great. She deserves it if she wrote it. II don't compare myself to other writers, because I don't write like other writers. I like to say I'm lost in the Novella Zone. I mean, who writes novellas?
My guess is that Daniel's topic, AI, was one of the big growing trends this past year (ChatGPT just celebrated its first birthday) so he collected readers newly interested in that topic.
Yup, a lot of it is really being in the right place at the right time, like Ollie pointed out. I started the Substack several months before ChatGPT became a viral hit (I was mostly interested in text-to-image tools). So it definitely helped that AI became so hyped after that.
I also picked up recommendations from several publications and I think around 25% of my subscribers are directly from those. I also shared a few image series on Facebook and Reddit that went viral and brought new subscribers.
The rest is organic traffic from people looking how to do certain stuff in Midjourney, Stable Diffusion, etc.
yay! ππ½ Helping a specific targeted niche audience with a specific need: basics of marketing 101 that I've always danced/struggled/hated/tried again! Give me strength to remain persistent.
I agree with you in that how you approach your Substack should depend entirely on what you want to get out of it. Rather than looking desperately for a guru with all the answers, each of us needs to visualize what we want to accomplish through this platform, who is the audience we want to reach, and then proceed accordingly. Once once you have answered your own individual "Why?" can you figure out an effective plan for "How?"
Exactly! You have to go to the beat of your own drummer. I write my stories for me first. If I don't like it, I'm not going to put it up. I like long stories. I break them up and put them up in shorter blurbs, but that also helps build an audience and allows me to work on other stories.
"So figure out what youβre here for and focus on what you truly enjoy doing. Trust that your audience will find you."
Thank you Daniel. I needed to hear that and I think I need to have that be my mantra for beginning to share my voice on Substack (I still have not created any . . . I been lurking on Substack for almost the whole of 2023)
Just do it Tom! Don't think about it too much. Just tell some close friends and start writing. Text them individually with a link and go! sabrinalabow.substack.com
Thank you for reminding us of this perspective! One of my main goals is to build community and I'm so encouraged by the possibility of that using Substack as a platform to connect. For those who are curious- I'm especially hoping to connect other creatives to each other for collaboration. I believe we all thrive together and have a heart for creating a space where people feel a sense of belonging. π
I can't tell you how much your words encouraged me today. I have been going in and out of a grieving process, losing seven family members in less than a year and a half. My son-in -laws funeral was Nov. 9th. I have found that it is difficult to focus and follow through at times, with my writing as well as other areas. Today was the first time I have been able to get on here in a long time. I realize I am starting over and needing to reach out to others, not to compare or to compete, just to enjoy the fact we all have the same passion to write. Thank you for taking time to write today, for truly it made a difference in my heart and comforted me.
Thanks Daniel! It's so easy to compare ourselves to others and lose sight of why we wanted to do this in the first place. I appreciate your encouraging words.
I'm happy it helps Colleen! I think it's human nature to occasionally doubt ourselves, and having those metrics to compare makes it easy. But it's also not particularly helpful.
This is amazing advice! There is no one right way. Also, not everyone wants hundreds of thousands of subscribers. Do what's best for you! And yes just keep at it! Enjoy it! I love coming up with fun topics and sharing them with whoever wants to read them. sabrinalabow.substack.com
That's exactly it. There is no right or wrong way. Your 'Stack is your own, and no one can tell you you're doing it wrong. You learn what works for you as you go along. If you put up a piece and it's 5000 words long, maybe some will read it, and maybe they won't? Cut it in half...maybe they will, maybe they won't? It's the "writing" itself that keeps them coming back. I changed my 'stack three different times before I settled on what worked for me. You can't write and put it out for the reader if you can't promise yourself to keep to that schedule. The readers that want to read you, will stick with you. That's all you can hope for.
Substack introduced tags earlier this year. Tags are great, but Substack's tagging system is different than most other platforms. When you add tags to a post, they don't show up automatically; you have to decide how you want to use them on your site.
Once I figure out where the windows icon and the period key (just the period two rows below the p key?), this will be a game changer! π€£ While working on the computer, I text myself the icons I want to use and copy and paste them from the messages app. Thanks, Brad.
If you use a PC, the Windows icon is between the Control and Alt keys just to the left of the space bar (not to be confused with that Star Wars cantina scene). The period is between the comma and / slash/? key.π€Good luck, Holly!
Thanks, Donna! Your kindness makes me want to NOT tell you about my first foray into adding emojis to my site.....let's just say it had something to do with a tiny paintbrush and the need to buy a new laptop!βΉ
I added the tags about a month ago, and added the icons about a week ago, and frankly never noticed what you just noticed! I can only figure it's another nagging little 'Stack glitch, as I did nothing different from one to another! I could, I guess, try other icons that might "take," but I just sigh and say, "Why should I need to?" I'll just leave it as it stands, although, for Stephen Michael Schwartz, I may see if a mic icon will "stick," as, apparently, the guitar one doesn't/can't.
I'm a complete newbie to Substack having just launched https://projectkin.substack.com on Monday and yes, I owe you a debt of thanks for your piece. I found it very helpful to understanding the concept and applying it to our use case. Super helpful.
Check everything out! That's my motto. If it doesn't work for you, no biggie. But that's how I got into doing my video readings. I just tried it out one day. It was so simple.
βοΈ - Does anyone else panic about their level of sharing when posting personal essays? I have mostly been writing about trauma, mental health crisis, and the like. When I first publish a piece, I feel deep satisfaction that I've said what I needed to say and represented myself in a true and vulnerable way. But then I often end up waking up at 3:00 AM in a cold sweat, thinking:
*Why the hell am I telling people about my darkest, most private thoughts?!?*
Anyone else do that? Any strategies for getting out of one's head about it? Or, sheesh, am I just an anxious-avoidant crazy person? π
Just remember that they don't know you personally and there is anonymity to that. I've shared deeply personal things here before, but I have such a small audience that I was able to have the courage to share it. Thing is that the deeply personal stuff is what people want to read. We want to see ourselves in others and be given examples of what it is actually like to be a human, which we rarely get in the polished, artificial atmosphere of the internet.
I understand the feeling . . . and my own version surely has to do with my not yet having published my "truth talk" . . .
and to add to Kerry Jane's caring reassuring comment . . . I am not responsible for how someone else will respond to me doing my best to share my experiences or my opinions . . . and I'm pretty sure you aren't eitherπ
There's a smattering of people that *do* know me in my sub list, which always concerns me a bit, but then that was my fault for sharing my Substack with them π€£
Sometimes my friends will send me a text after reading a particularly vulnerable letter and I'm always grateful! It's like they are letting me know they're checking on me and it's a good excuse to ask them how they're doing, too.
This is lovely sentiment, and I'm going to screenshot it and keep it on my desktop for when I'm freaking out. I don't have much engagement on my posts, so I'm not sure who that one person is yet-- but I hope they're out there! I hope something I'm saying is resonating.
I write humor but the essays that went deeper also left me sleepless. Itβs nerve racking opening up your heart. To me itβs fear of judgment and my job is to let go of that. Iβll bet you had wonderful, supportive responses tho. π
There may always be people who judge you, but F them. Most people who have been able to impart some wisdom to others were judged harshly. Don't censor yourself! sabrinalabow.substack.com
Exactly! I put up the most personal thing I've ever written last year, and have had nothing but support. It was hard to do, because it was so fresh, but it was the best thing I could have done for myself. And that's what it's for. Don't worry what others think, that's for them. And most people aren't going to leave a negative comment anyway because of the backlash they'll get for being a dick
Hi again CK! Nice to see ya here! You're right-- I am scared that I will be judged, or that the ghosts of my past (namely my absent father) will resurrect themselves to resume torturing me. I did get some nice messages from former classmates who shared that they went through the same thing. So hopefully, that's an opening.
Hi doll. Are you worried about absent dad literally showing up? Some of the most beautiful writing can be Theraputic for the author. Iβm not surprised you have readers who relate. I find one subject in a piece can resonate with me even though I canβt relate to the topic.
He's not an actual ghost or dead-- just a metaphorical ghost to me. Sorry that was really confusing! π I do indeed worry about him showing back up because (a) he's a cop, and (b) the reason he disappeared in the first place was to try to prevent me "outing" his violence to the world. He thought he could hide.
this resonates! I similarly write about psychological wellness & introspection and have found writing to be the channel that helps me process and integrate the inner work I'm doing. I journal the rawest parts of the process and write with an intent to publish for the aspects that feel integrated in me
a barometer that I've used is asking myself: would I get activated if someone was to question this aspect of my essay? if not, it feels ready to release to the world! if so, I use it as a signal to spend more time processing it solo
I just subscribed-- your Substack looks so interesting, Cissy! I also started the Substack because I found it useful for processing. Journaling privately wasn't doing it for me anymore, and Substack helped me compose my thoughts in a more structured way.
Thank you for these questions that I can use to assess my readiness. Writing this down in the notes on my phone to revisit!
right back at ya, Alexandra! I'm glad to hear you've found Substack to be meaningful in helping you process and work through your thoughts in a more structured way. your words are powerful π€
hope that framework brings some easy to the editing & publishing process!
Post-publication anxiety is real! But those pieces often wind up being everyone's favorites. In general, I think the more vulnerable you can be in a post, the better. But the harder too! Lean in to it and remember that you can always protect yourself by locking commenting if you'd like!
Geez, I learn something new every time I pop into office hours-- had no idea you could lock comments. Genius! Thank you for the reassurance. Into the fray!
Iβm afraid this will sound unkind but I donβt mean it that way: I think you have to accept that as part of the process. Or not, of course, & decide itβs not worth it.
Iβm working in memoir & it causes what Iβve started to think of as side effects: weird dreams, random memories bubbling up, anxiety about a bit in a post, etc. Itβs not always pleasant but keeping at it has shown that it ebbs & flows, & overall, I think itβs worth it. Now, Iβm working on riding out the unpleasant bits with a little more grace lol. Weβll see.
That's not unkind at all! That might be exactly what I needed to hear... If it's necessary to the work (or the journey to actualizing the work), I can live with that. And it's nice to know (well, not "nice"-- but comforting in a kind of backwards way) that I'm not the only one who experiences it. I think you're right: time to buck up lol.
I often have 3am cold sweats! Well, some might be due to perimenopause, but I write very personal stories and am never quite sure if and when I've crossed a line. I just finished a story about parenting my adolescent daughter, and this has been very much on my mind. I started writing about parenting when my kids were really little and didn't think much about sharing stories from their lives. But now I wonder if I can keep writing about my own parenting journey while respecting my kids' privacy. I never refer to them by name and don't share public photos of them, but still.
There is also someone very close to me struggling mightily with addiction and mental illness. There is so much I want to write about, but I know this person will see anything I write and it's very hard to know how to approach it.
I hear you! Just be sure not to mention any names. I have a 13 year old daughter and I write about her sometimes. She almost never reads my stuff. As far as the others, perhaps make them into a composite character. They do that in films all the time. So the character is based on more than one individual. sabrinalabow.substack.com
Do you use pseudonyms ever for non-family members? I keep saying "my friend" but eventually that's going to become "my other friend," "my other OTHER friend," "not that friend, but a different one," etc. as I continue to write about the people in my life, past and present.
Oooh, that's a good point you brought up! I actually have in the past wrote stories about my life and wrote either the whole story as if I was telling a story about someone else, or I'd mention a part like, "there's a person" and keep it SUPER vague. No names, genders, etc. and that sometimes makes me feel a bit better.
Oof, that's my current struggle, too. Other people are sometimes implicated in what I'm writing, and I find myself fretting about their reactions and/or trying to soften facts. I have a piece that's sitting in drafts about giving up a friendship that just isn't working anymore, but I know that person is going to recognize himself in the title alone. It's hard to figure out how to tell the truth without hurting people in the process... but also, our lives and our participation in collective experience (be it parenting or friendship) matter, too.
I think that's the nature of writing. If it's not making you feel vulnerable, then you're not doing it right ;) (<generalisation, of course, but if you're writing personal essays then I'd say it's absolutely normal if you're sweating about it π§‘)
My substack is research-based comics about shame--Iβm a giant nerd super fascinated by shame after doing lots of healing work...and dang, I feel you on the 3am feels. This week I stirred up some shame by reading about shame π« I find my comics-making process allows me to lean into the feelings--and if I allow them, rather than resist them, it helps me find compassion for those small scared parts of myself. And, when I look around, I know everyone feels like this sometimes. I wonder if your writing process might have the potential to also lean into your feelings so that you can use the process as a way to know when the work is ready to share.
Omg YES! ππ»ββοΈ Every. Single. Post. I write about my miscarriages, so itβs deeply personal and I always get nervous/question if I should be broadcasting everything online. I try to focus on the mission behind my publication (fighting the stigma and making others feel less alone) and that helps me keep going when this type of anxiety hits. And also, I just hit publish and try not to think about it too much...lol π
The point of my Substack is to show, that the very personal can be very public.
The answer to the "why the hell" should be the point of yours.
...and btw, up to this day, one of my most cherished theatre experiences is an avant-garde staging of "The Three Sisters". Maybe I should write about it, with my recent meeting with the brother of the director, talking about his death.....
You are SO NOT ALONE. Brene Brown taught us the power of vulnerability, of showing our real selves. She also named this 2am experience a Vulnerability Hangover. I call it Monkey Business - the monkeys in my mind attempt to grab the wheel and stop me from doing scary risky things. I want to create/share work that resonates with others who face challenges born of trauma. We NEED each other to show up. ππΌ Thank you for being brave
Ah, a hangover is exactly what it feels like (even though I quit drinking a million years ago lmao). But Monkey Business is such an adorable name for this otherwise ugly feeling. Love it.
Thank you for sharing this with me and for being brave yourself! It's motivating to see how many other people on here are leaning into vulnerability.
I have a bit of trauma, not a parent thing, or anything like that, but I've had to sort it out. I'll never get over it, but I've learned to accept it. But still, I have triggers. But to get through to where I could see the light at the end of the tunnel, I quoted Milton to myself: "The mind is its own place and in itself can make a hell of heaven, or a heaven of hell." I'm paraphrasing of course, but I believe in it a lot. That, and humour.
I write memoirs, and to some degree I worry that I share too much. But the process of writing about my experiences, reflecting on them and eventually being vulnerable nurtures growth.
> Any strategies for getting out of one's head about it?
Truth be told, people are preoccupied with their own lives and may not scrutinize or judge your vulnerability as harshly as you fear, some might even relate. And handful might care. The thing is, that being brave enough to acknowledge, write and communicate those thoughts, fosters growth and healing.
I started writing about my personal struggles too on substack. I feel exposed at some times. But then I tell myself that perhaps its helping other people in some ways to relate to me. Maybe itβs comforting for others to see that not everyone is normal and almost every is struggling with some mental issues.
I've definitely had the vulnerability hangover, especially about stuff that feels a little raw still or I'm in the middle of processing. I recently wrote "How do we feel safe in an unsafe world?" after being officially diagnosed with PTSD and didn't get much response. I also worry that sharing my struggles might have a negative effect somehow but the intention is to make others feel less alone.
It's hard to stand by our choice to be brave and share honestly but I really DO believe it can foster connection and to me that's the most important thing.
Good luck! I did this to my small substack the other day and added a βbuy me a coffeeβ page and was very pleased to gain new paid subscriptions and βcoffeesβ. It felt good to be so appreciated.π₯°
Haha that's a good point! I'm gonna soon try to help people commit (...but who am I to keep a simple one-and-done option away from the people, too?!), ahaha!
For may paid newsletter (different Substack account), I'm going to do a wrap of NOT my publication's year but a wrap of what happened in the industry niche in 2023. My audience there doesn't give a rats about what I did as a writer in 2023 or how many subscribers I got or whatever.
I'm also going to buy some Oxfam/World Vision Christmas virtual gifts and "gift" them to my readers. Since I'm in the food space I can gift food-related gifts, like goats (milk) or ducks (eggs), which the charity gives to needy families in developing countries.
For my free Pubstack publication, it will be completely different. My readers love to hear about my journey as a Substack writer and I will do an end of year wrap with milestones, etc. for them.
I don't think it's saturated if you do it well! I just got a Christmas card letter from my Aunt and really enjoyed reading it. You could try writing it in that style with a bit of humor? I agree in making it less Substack featured, I think THAT is getting really overdone. At first the graphs were cool but now I'm just like blah, blah, blah...
I am in a way, I'm wrapping up the year kinda reflecting on how much I've changed and grown since losing my mom, after being her caregiver for 8 years. How much the Substack's changed reflecting that (hopefully I'll be done with some rebranding elements by then!)... I wouldn't say it's ever too "saturated." Your community will want to hear from you and your take on the past year. I love and oftentimes forget to reflect on what was done and learned in the past and find a lot of good to that. Do it (if you want)!
I like this idea. I wasn't going to do anything about the New Year (I've always been of the opinion that's it's just another day). But maybe my READERS will want to know what I'm hoping to do?
Thank you! I bet they'd like to see your excitement around what's coming up for Scribbler, and what you've learned from over the past year. I know I personally love me some inspo and reflection. :)
You should give it a go if you want, and see how it's received! I feel it helps humanize us, and reminds us that hey! There's an actual person running this thing!
I have seen a lot of backlash against auto play videos on here.
Wouldnβt the solution be having the option - to be able to select or deselect auto play video content on here? Curate oneβs own feed according to personal taste?
Same for me, Olivia. When I read about it, my initial reaction was, "Oh no! Where does one have to go to have some peace from video noise?". Perhaps we will be positively surprised with time.
I agree, I think making autoplay the default option, much less the only option, is a bad idea. I'm sure that a lot of our readers read in environments where quiet is expected, like when they're taking a 5-minute break at their desk at work. Same argument against using audio in eBay listings, something I remember from years ago.
Here's another "hell-yeah" to making it an option. Adding options always complicates development and user interfaces, and they may have just been testing us... but here's one where it's a very reasonable toggle.
That said... here's a tip as to why I would toggle it ON with my own content. First, I start my recordings with a quiet, if very short title slide (never screaming music as in TikTok or IG Reels)
Second, because there IS an autoplay, you get this marvelous β and I think engaging β animation sequence when your mouse hovers over any video in a list of posts. It's really sweet. That's one of the first things that caught my eye in their implementation. I think it's pretty genius.
For those of you who use Reader (Readwise's read later app), I've been using the "Listen" feature to help me finalize drafts before publishing β it's been super helpful in catching typos & weird sentence structures!
1. In your Substack draft, hit "Preview" -> "Test" -> Copy Secret draft link
Zissner on his book "On writing well" recommends exactly that; in his words:
> If all your sentences move at the same plodding gait, which even you recognize as deadly but donβt know how to cure, read them aloud. (I write entirely by ear and read everything aloud before letting it go out into the world.)
ditto, I've been surprised at how weirdly structured some of my sentences are! and to think, I used to never read my essays out loud before hitting publish π«
Yesss! I was so (maybe too?!) astounded hearing someone read in their closet and leaving in their little trip ups and hearing kids in the background. I loved it!
There are three dots at the bottom right of Cissyβs comment. That will give you an option to share the comment. You can email it to yourself or copy the link (which is what I did and added it to a my google doc with substack tips). Hope that helps CK! π
I'd like to understand whether there will be a "live" component to the new video features: can we record content live, or can we only upload pre-recorded content? I'm trying to understand whether I can host classes (webinar-style) on the platform.
Hi there! Currently, Our video feature allows you to upload pre-recorded videos or record videos using your computer or mobile device's camera. However, it doesn't support live streaming or webinar-style classes. We have had writers ask for this, however, and I've shared your feedback with the team. Hopefully soon!
πββοΈ I would love to have a live option for videos. Iβm interested in offering body doubling sessions for paid subscribers. It would be so fun to get stuff done with my community and itβs such a helpful skill for adhdβers.
I'm putting a call out for Anthony Hopkins to come by and read for me. I say that because I heard he's in town. Do you think, with 6 degrees of separation, he might get the message?
Please @substack. No to autoplay. Give us a choice. I choose not to open video now, and often will just delete posts that are just video and no text. I come here for the writing - those words on the screenpage. Please don't force video onto me.
I believe thereβs a way to cherry pick what you want from someone you subscribe to. Ie-- if someone only wants to see my novel chapters thereβs a way they can achieve this. Hopefully a subscriber can do this with video. Iβm going to test it out on my stack. It will be a short funny video.
Yep there is a way to let subscribers "opt out" of video. You do it by using sections. Put all your video posts into a 'section' of your publication, then tell your readers how to opt out of the video section.
To opt out they click "unsubscribe" at the bottom of the email and are then given a choice to opt out of one section if they want. Bit clunky but it would work.
As a reader I don't think there's any way to opt out of video posts from other publications, apart from encouraging the sender to use sections as described above.
I have video. I post it with the story I'm reading. If you want to listen, you can, if you want to read it, same-same, but different. (Just don't hit the video button.) I don't want autoplay either. Just because I make one, doesn't mean I want to watch a dozen of them.
These features are fine for people who are digitally more than competent. I find them confusing and occasionally like I'm missing out. I came to Substack because I thought it was a bout writing (words on screenpage) and reading (those words on a screenpage). With all this, it may as well be Instagram with a link to a file. Somebody convince me this is necessary for people who want to read and write?
Im interested in the voice feature, vs video. Can voice be added to my Welcome page?
I am finding myself immediately tripping over the starting line... discovering that the phone app doesnβt have access to my inner acct workings to upload content and designing on my account, unless Im doing something wrong? I function mostly on-the-go so my iPhone is my method of access. Iβve asked about acct via app in the thread (π§). So far, all I know is I have to go on Google to access the Substack website for uploading content / voice episodes.
Thanks. Yes, youβre right of course. I just get a bit fixated with the stuff I donβt need! Substack doesnβt have to be my personal platform, tailored just to me !
But it CAN be! You can make your 'Stack whatever you want it to be. I'm currently using the video App. I've been using it since September. I read out my story every Sunday. I record it whenever I want, and schedule the time for Sunday, @ 8pm. I also put the text up if the reader wants to "read" it. I plan to continue reading it, because I know there are people out there who like to listen. I'm not saying I sound great, or even good, and once I got passed the idea of being on screen, well, it was pretty easy going. All the stuff that I don't need, I don't use. I tried CHAT once, no one showed up, so I don't bother with it. I use NOTES all the time to help market myself (when I remember). I don't do podcasts. The point is, there are a lot who do. And it's nice to have options.
I think writing is the main thing, but some people prefer talking or talking head videos. So it's nice to have the option, but I tend to regard these features as just that: options. I wish Substack would do a couple of thiings to the writing b it. I shall post that separately
Oh, never! There's nothing like the written word. There's nothing like opening a book and reading a good story, or opening your phone App. Video and writing are more like kissing cousins.
June, don't stress it, these features are completely unnecessary if you just want to read and write.
In fact I tell the new Substackers I work with to ignore all the features for at least the first 10 posts. After that, if you feel like exploring and trying the fancy stuff you can. Otherwise, if you don't want to use any of the features, just don't. It's completely possible to have a beautiful, successful Substack without using any of the extras.
Thank you, Karen. I get it really, I just want Substack to stay different from the rest, I guess. Also I am a digital Luddite so feel like I'm being left behind!
Haha, I'm right there with you, Martin. I'm a rank newbie at Substack, building a community for technology neophytes interested in sharing Family History stories at https://projectkin.substack.com/about. Virtual events are a huge part of what brings our community together.
After every event everyone yearns for the recording, resources and what I call "Project Recipes." I already had an elaborate process of inhaling video recorded on Google Meet (yep, not Zoom, happy to explain why) pulling them into Vimeo (free-level account) then pasting into Substack. (You'll have to subscribe to see it Β―\_(γ)_/Β―)
I did that for last Tuesday's event now...π₯ boom, the new video features.
I'm super impressed with them... with one exception: Transcripts. That's a fabulous features but I'm still getting "no transcript" message about an hour later. Perhaps a bug? I take the "beta" seriously, but I know my members will REALLY appreciate the feature so I'm leaving it in there in case it catches up. Maybe if I turn it off and back on?
What was your experience testing it out? I'm brainstorming how to incorporate it for my newsletter and I'm struggling to think of ideas beyond just reading my content lol.
Hey Terry, you can paywall a section. I do that in my food safety substack (published under a different account). The section is called 'For paying subscribers' and it's linked on the navigation menu. Every post in that section is locked.
When I publish a post that is just for my paying subscribers I assign it to be 'paid only' and add assign it to the relevant section.
Thanks, Karen. I do that too, but I was thinking more specifically about the overall paywall that you can set to apply to articles after (say) two weeks. It would be really handy, I think, to be able to apply that to some sections and not others rather than to all of them or none of them -- unless I'm missing something (I frequently do because there are so many features: a nice problem to have!)
Oh yeah, that WOULD be a nice feature. Sort of tiered paywalls which can be activated at different times for different sections? I like that idea. As far as I know that's not possible right now.
yes! No it isn't. Kate@substack (I think), a few OHs ago, said she liked the idea ands would pass it along. I guess they have a huge bucket list to get through!
I have just one thing...the ability to highlight text easily. I can do it now if I use Canva of course but it is a bit of a process. I know...first world probs
Hi all! Hoping to hit 400 subscribers before 2024 and trying not to worry that Iβm not growing faster. In your experience, is it hardest to get the first 500 subscribers?
It took me half a year to get to 700 readers, after starting almost from scratch (I brought over about 70 readers from my old Mailchimp newsletter). Those first few months felt very experimental - as well as trying to learn who my readers were and where they hung out, I was also trying to discover what my newsletter was about, and how to make anyone care! I think that's why it *feels* hardest at first when you have a few hundred folk, but you also have a lot of freedom to test stuff out, see what works, experiment madly - and do things that won't scale later when your audience is bigger, like trying to get everyone onto a Zoom call, or offering free 1-to-1 chats, that sort of thing....
In short: when you're smaller, it can feel like things are slow, but I reckon there's less pressure to conform because fewer people are watching - so you can turn on a dime and go in all sorts of weird directions, just to see what happens!
"trying to discover what my newsletter [is] about, and how to make anyone care" -- still true for me at about 1,700 readers. It's also hard when the thing you initially wrote about (leaving academe, in my case) is not necessarily the thing you want to keep writing about in perpetuity! I'm presently trying to decide if I can use my literary and journalistic writing as proof of concept for my coaching/editing services and produce a content stream that is simultaneously creative and entrepreneurial. Time will tell.
I think it's remarkable, looking over your home page, just how you've woven together the elements of your newsletter... I was thinking that this week when I checked in! You do have disparate threads, but your experience is the commonality that draws them together. Well done!
Ah, thank you, Alison! I feel like I still should make more choices to simplify. But you're right that one man's experience is one way of making sense of it π
I will have to check your substack out because I have recently left my job as an in-house graphic designer and I am thinking about delving into my journey more, but I also have some many other topics I want to cover!
Yeah, Iβve been thinking about the upsides to the βsmallβ stage, like the possibility of more direct online interactions. Maybe I should do more to take advantage of that!
Mary, I've not read all of the other comments, so apologies for any redundancy, but I'd recommend teaming up with some other writers. Interview each other, participate in a series with a few other writers, or publish a curated email exchange. Alison Acheson and I did that recently, exchanging emails over about a month, then editing that into a written conversation. We even recorded our lines separately, and I spliced it all together for a voiceover! It's fun to experiment, but more fun to do it with others.
I like your approach Mike. I have been trying to figure out what I want to write and therefore have not published! I have so many topics I want to cover - last diagnosis ADHD, graphic design/substack tips, living a happy life etc etc. I might lean into the experimenting a bit more! Thanks!
Thank you, Anu! If you decide my newsletter's rubbish and unsubscribe again, I totally understand. π #BritishSelfDeprecation
I've had half an idea what I wanted to write for a long while - something about science and curiosity that gave me an excuse to learn new things that make me go "wow!", because I know from my former time as a travel writer that those "wow" moments are really infectious and make people share your work around. But it took me a while to discover a format that felt exciting enough, and a way of marketing it that let me use social media to do a boiled-down version of it. I now work in seasons, which lets me have a different theme each time - always something science-based and something that filled me with wonder and excitement when I first learned about it. So I write like a student (which I am, with 95% of what I write about), and I tell shortened versions of those stories on social media, formerly on Twitter (where one of those stories went viral and blew up my newsletter following: https://on.substack.com/p/grow-series-7) and now on Threads and elsewhere...
But mainly, it's just me discovering sciencey things I'm excited to learn more about, and then doing that learning in front of my audience, telling them about it in the form of newsletters! So far it's working nicely.
Simply βwowβ, Mike!:) Enjoy your wondrous journey and thanks for sharing! Agree π― that itβs that spark that special inspiration triggers that does not let one put that proverbial pen down!
I started by texting close friends individually with a link to my substack. Most subscribed. Now I have been including my link in places like these:) sabrinalabow.substack.com
Should I refer off-substack contacts to my davidbmiller75.substack.com or to the name of my series I have settled into, Global Challenge? How do people not on Substack find me?
I'm just stack-surfing while I'm reading through these comments and I checked out your article about the latest chemical treatments. Lotta serious energy in your stuff, kid. Not necessarily butterfly and rainbow energy, but energy nonetheless. Kind of summons to mind a more convoluted Mark Vonnegut, if he was actually a better writer. I hope you enjoy yourself on your Substack adventure, if that indeed is your goal. Please remember that no one actually became a better poet by listening to Lou Reed.
(1) The fact that Kurt Vonnegut has a son who writes is news to me. In Googling him, I'm discovering that he referred to his father's fame as "unfortunate." Yowza! Kinda interesting since I was just having a debate with someone about whether the son/daughter of a famous artist can supersede their parent's success.
(2) Can I get a notarized letter for my former graduate cohort so that they, too, will finally realize that owning Lou Reed on vinyl does not a poetic genius make?
Mary, Are you on FB? Total coincidence, but I started my substack the day before my birthday, and as I announced it on FB many of my "friends" crowding my page to wish me a happy birthday also signed up for my substack. It helped me get about 50 subscribers overnight (after a year, I have over 700.) Try it with a landmark anniversary or whatever, and mention your substack at the same time, and see how it works out.
Hi Mauraβwhat a great idea! I also found that when I was super close to a βbig numberβ announcing it on Twitter got me more extra subscribers than I needed!
Hi Mary, I think I read the first 500 are the hardest to get and then it goes faster. I believe it's more likely that every publication is different. I have found slow, gradual growth all along (which I am very thankful for). Congrats on almost 400 subscribers!
I often remind myself to stick to my own lane. It's easy for me to get wound up in other people's numbers and it makes me not feel so good so I make an effort to avoid that.
I heard it was 250, but that wasn't true for me. It seems like I'm growing slightly faster now, but it's still a lesson in patience and learning how to not be so hung up on numbers. I think it will ultimately make me a better writer, but as a performance marketer, it's very hard.
I have 21 and counting! So far it feels like it's hand-to-hand combat, but then every reader counts and it's nice to see a lot of people I know committing to read me.
Absolutely, Sybil, what you said re: every reader counting, is so true. I get excited about each new subscriber and feel such deep gratitude that even one person has been touched by what I write. Progress can be slow, but patience pays off.
Me too, and I tried disabling the βemailed disabledβ notifications but I couldnβt not know. I want to get to a point where I donβt worry about who subscribed and who disabled.
That is the best feeling. I only have something like 65 or so but they all open my newsletter right away which makes me think I'm doing something right! sabrinalabow.substack.com
My first 500 flew in. It's slower for me, since, with a certain amount of churn now happening. Trend is upward but nothing like the growth rate of year 1. I imagine everyone is different though
Yes! This is something new we rolled out to help readers share excerpts they love.
To make these, highlight any text within a post you're reading and select βshare quoteβ to generate a shareable image. You can customize the background and sizing so that itβs ready to use on the social platform of your choice.
Thanks! Is there a way to do this on a post of your own? I've tried but the preview text shows nothing when I've looked up the shareable images interface.
I just checked .... and my shareable images interface has changed. The results look like this sample now. You can toggle preview text on and off, and you can choose the image background, white, or your theme color. Looks like a nice update! (The preview text though is automatically selected.)
Ah, okay; I've got the image background and the white or theme color part, but the preview text button doesn't seem to do anything for me. Maybe it's a rolling update? Hm.
I can't imagine any scenario where my Substack doesn't become so popular and famous that I become the first-ever write-in candidate that wins the United States Presidential Election. As President, obviously, all my communication needs to have top flight security clearance. So my question is: Will the Secret Service allow me to Substack?
As long as nothing that you say in your substack is true or even helpful. Then you should be fine. You'll have many years of precedent behind you, if nothing else.
As a gigantic fan of the gentleman you speak of and his speaking style, I wholeheartedly agree that it works somehow. Like you, however, I wish there were a social lubricant available--like a "Be Nice and Be Fair" pill--that would make this kind of rhetoric unnecessary. Even if the classic Donaldesque Bull-in-the-china-shop' style of governance doesn't appeal to you, his proximity to Washington DC makes his seemingly scattershot claim of "loser" against any opposition statistically almost certain. If you're actually living in Washington DC and just throw a rock blindfolded in any direction, the chances that you'll be hitting a loser in the head are very high.
Look, it took me two weeks to solve the Taylor Swift issue. As a future President and potential Ruler of the Earth, I have to be cognizant of the demands on my time!
I was under the impression that Rulers of the Earth had minions to outsource all their labor to soooo....
Also, you're telling me TayTay finally left you alone? Because I'm pretty sure I saw you two canoodling on the field after the most recent Chiefs game. Tsk Tsk.
No no no that wasn't me. It was probably an incredibly handsome football player or movie star, so I can understand the confusion. It happens all the time. "No no no, that was NOT me in Fight Club" is like, my every day.
Minions. Not a bad idea. Maybe I can even rule THROUGH substack. "Hey," I'll post. "Somebody go fix the economy. And while you're at it, fetch me a bourbon." I'll be a kind and benevolent ruler.
Well, you know what they say, "Aim for the moon, and at least you'll probably be arrested for discharging firearms into the air." Or something like that.
I tried going with βLife isnβt about the breaths you take, itβs about the moments that take someone elseβs breath away because you choked them out for posting too many generic motivational memesβ but was told thatβs too clunky.
π§ This great Reddit thread popped up yesterday in the Substack Writers group, where folks are sharing how long it took them to reach 200 subscribers, and what strategies they used. I shared a few thoughts, and already got five new subscribers from my interactions there, so check it out and drop your two cents:
Folks in the thread have been asking me how I have achieved a nearly 20% conversion rate on paid subscribers, with 65-75% open rates. I have a lot to share, so I am working on a post documenting my journey.
If youβd like to receive it, sign up for my Substack at www.lizexplores.com, where I write about infertility, mental health, and adventure. Iβm hoping to share my strategies post in the coming week. (Very meta, I knowβ¦)
Are there other fiction writers out there who'd like to connect or who have advice about how to build a fiction-centered community? Also, feel free to drop your best/most recent stories for us to read!
Grateful for all this! I intend to revise a novel manuscript I adore. Serializing could be a cool way to share as I go. Still, I've heard fiction is a tough 'sell' around here...
Hi Macy! I'm sharing serialized fiction here (amongst other things) and have followed you. I highly recommend subscribing to and getting involved with ficitonistas if you haven't yet: https://fictionistas.substack.com/
I've been thinking about bringing some of my fiction to Substack. My current Substack, "The Art of Unintended Consequences" is basically Non-Fiction, but I kind of push the limits of each story into Fiction territory. Can't help it. <g>
Also, as I'm sure you've seen a ton of creators are requesting that you get rid of the revision to our post's visual assets that shows the first paragraph of the post, instead of just the post title and subtitle as you did before. Because the first paragraph of most posts is usually welcome and throat-clearing, the visuals look clunky and unprofessional now.
In terms of removing the first paragraph, when I went to see the image assets created for a post, it took me to another window. There you can edit the size of the picture, as well as the color. There is also a button that says βremove previewβ and that will remove text from the first paragraph from the image asset.
Agree. I tended not to use them before, even less now, because they're not really 'shares', you still have to physically add a link. I can't see the point.
It's just a picture. You still have to go to the relevant post and grab the url so, hey, who needs that? Give us an 'asset' pic that takes you o the post by clicking on it - THAT would be something.
My thinking is that because the links can't be hyperlinked inside the image, that's why there isn't any link. With visual assets you always need to rely on LinkTree or add a link in IG stories or what have you so that the link becomes live and useable. They do include the site name of the creator's Substack-- but the link itself would require someone copying it down and retyping it in manually.
I complained about this as well a week or two ago. Finally I found, somewhere deep in the settings, a way to remove the preview text. If only that were the default!
βοΈI had no idea you could do this - thank you! I will try that. Because I appreciate the ready-to-go social posts but the first 'graf doesn't make sense... or ends in ellipses....
i've used Substack video a few times, when sharing song demos! i don't have a lot of subscriptions which use video very much but i honestly welcome the focus on it.
how is everyone doinggggg? are we all going to take breaks over Christmas or are we gonna schedule it, or just power through and keep writing during the holidays?
Hold up, hold up, are you a lit and poetry person? Because if so, I think we were destined to meet. I did my undergrad degree in Lit, my MFA in poetry, and taught writing to a bunch of ungrateful, non-reading college students for eight years! I'm cruising through your Substack right now, and am delighted that someone else is reading poetry!
I have three planned posts left to write, and then during my Christmas break I plan to start working ahead through January and part of February. Have to take advantage of the non-teaching time when I can!
I already schedule as much as I can, holidays or no. I publish 2/week so it's good to have a backlog in case one week is busier than the others. I try not to think in terms of taking a break from writing. If you're trying to keep a regular schedule, the discipline of writing regularly is too important to give up.
I use the Susbtack Video app to read out my stories every weekend on SHORT STORIES AFTER 8. It's a great tool to use. I've since decided that I will continue to read out my STORIES AFTER 8, and "Paywall" my Serial novel, which I put out on Wednesdays. I don't know if it will work, but I'm committed to making it work. You have the choice of either listening and reading along to my stories, or breaking the Paywall down and reading my novel.
Fellow singer/songwriter here too! I come from jazz and gospel (not folk), and love improv. I'm gonna use Substack video as incentive to expand looping and freestyling. Enjoy your holiday whatever you choose!
π§ Shameless Self Promo here. I would love to be featured as a humor writer. I just started interviewing Funny AF Women. There are so many funny gals I may have to post twice a week to keep up with the plethora of interviews.
π§I got an email today from a Substack which said "You've been invited to subscribe to xxx". It was sent to my personal email address not my Substack address. The subject line was βPlease confirm your email for xxxβ. There was a link in it with the words βis this spam?β but it just went to a blank Support page.
There is small print saying βYou received this email because you asked to be notified when added to a mailing list. Change your settings here.β But I couldnβt see anything relevant. And anyway, I donβt want to be added to a mailing list unless I ask to. I know I havenβt subscribed to this (itβs only 2 days old).
I donβt want random Stacks to βinviteβ me β how do I make it stop? How did they get my email address? And why are you allowing this? Itβs a serious privacy issue.
I've had two pubs add me without permission in the past few weeks, so I went into my settings and clicked the box that requires that I be contacted before adding (guess this is the type of email invite you received).
I'm just glad they can no longer subscribe me without permission. But if they find my email, there's really no way to stop them from trying (same as anywhere else, outside of Substack). One person who I reported on Substack then emailed me saying Substack removed their pub due to me. I did not respond, but it's highly disturbing that this (random spammy stranger) is emailing me. Not sure that Substack can fix this, but very unsettling.
My read rates increase in the holidays, even (so weird) for my "for work" publication (published under a different account).
When I asked, readers told me they use holidays to catch up on stuff they have been meaning to get around to reading. Or, if they are stuck at work during holiday periods they often have fewer ordinary tasks and can catch up on emails.
My lowest free-to-paid periods seem to be late August, early September, which I assume is due to the pressures of the new school/work year in the Northern Hemisphere... people maybe don't have as much time to read.
that's super interesting β I can remember poking around for things to read during the holiday lull in December. the end of summer dip makes sense too as everyone's getting back to school, etc.
I've only been writing for 6 months, however I posted my last story on Thanksgiving Day, hoping people wanted a break from their racist uncle at the dinner table, and was pleasantly surprised to see a lot of emails opened that day, or the next. I might not post on New Year's day, as people will be hung over, but I want to assume the holidays presents some free time for people to read.
I haven't noticed anything. Summer is the real killer, but holidays for me last year were pretty good. I think it's because people have more down time for general reading.
βοΈ Just happy to join this community. A month ago I started what I think might be a pretty niche publication about our desire for the perfect cure and have about 55 subscribers. I am also looking at views - more than 1180 in my first month. Feels good to use my journalist's research skills + my real voice. I love engaging with other writers too. Y'all are amazing. This is hard work. Looking forward to more, including collaborating with others.
Yay to meet you, Niche-pal! I'm doing a research-based Graphic Medicine comic on shame (throwing in trauma, ACE, etc just for fun). Have only shared a taste of it here on Substack. I'll look into your work...
I think a great feature to have would be the ability to create our own lists in Notes of people we want to follow. Being able to refine it ourselves to "Musicians", "Poets", or whatever would be amazing.
Thanks for writing in and sharing your thoughts and ideas with us. Weβre working hard to make Substack better and part of that is hearing from folks like you!Β Iβll be sure to pass your feedback along to the Product team for discussion.
Iβve been seeing a lot of people write about, or allude to, experiences within toxic workplaces. While itβs truly heartbreaking to read about what some people have been through, itβs also very empowering to see such experiences discussed openly.
Iβm wondering... how do you guys balance the fine line between authentically sharing what happened and avoiding saying something that could result in legal repercussions?
Yeah, that is always challenging when you are trying to be authentic. How far can you go? A few initial thoughts.
1. The BIG NUMBER 1... never mention the company's or anyone else's name or actual position.
2. Write under a screen name and see #1 above.
3. Not as powerful, but write as if you are telling stories of other people, with a very subtle wink and a nod that it is really you. Can be effective if done right and told with passion.
But really, the best approach is to be yourself, be authentic, be passionate, and see #1 above.
Love this question because I've written--and then refrained from publishing--true stuff that I was afraid someone in the piece would see...even though I didn't use names. I think that light fictionalization helps; pseudonyms help; disguising an industry helps. The emotional honesty can still be very real.
Amy, I feel you on the fear aspect. I'm kind of in a similar boat. Yeah, I think the light fictionalization can be useful in these cases, especially to still do justice to the event. Appreciate your insights!
This is a good question. Iβve been a blogger for a long time. My about page has my journey as a blogger/writer and being vulnerable to write what I feel took time. Yeah, surely we donβt want to end up in any legally issue when we write about work, but that doesnβt mean we should shy away from our right to write. This is where I think satire and creative non-fiction helps. Readers are smart enough to read between the lines.
Oh, for sure! I think the reading between the lines aspect plays a major role in sharing stories like these -- what we don't say often conveys more than what's actually said. Thanks for sharing your thoughts!
π§ So I'm turning on my PAYWALL -- not yet, but in three weeks from now. I've decided that I'm going to read out my SHORT STORIES AFTER 8 ever Sunday night, and that my serial work on Wednesdays is going behind the paywall. I'm doing this to generate income so I'll be able to print up my stories and mail them to all of my PAID subscribers. It's something I've been thinking about for some time now. I feel if people want my novellas in book form, they can sign up for one. All they have to do is send me a post card with their address on it. I need 65-70 PAID subscribers though. So I dropped the price of a yearly subscription down to $30 (Can), which is dirt cheap. ($21 American.) I don't expect a lot of people will take me up on this, because I don't have a huge following, but hopefully some will.
I think it depends on where you live. I live in Canada. But when you go to your subscriber page and go onto your settings, on the left there is a "contents" section. Go to the PAYMENTS. That's where you can make changes to what you want to charge. $5/month, or $50/year. You can change the $50 to its lowest setting, which is $30/year. The $5/month is already the lowest setting.
I have a public radio and theater background and would be delighted to read selected pieces. Hadn't thought about it. Don't want to steal thunder from professional voiceover artists--which I am not.
I think some support around video makes a lot of sense to me. I love reading and writing essays, but sometimes there is something that calls for a video/audio supplement. I think that's the thing everyone needs to keep in mind: these are tools for you to use at your discretion.
Yes! I just uploaded it to a regular post, scrolled a bit to choose a thumbnail and copied/pasted in the transcript from an AI transcription service I started paying for. Although, now I understand that I can cancel that and just use Substack's built-in one, so I'm pretty happy for that $14/month savings. :)
I would love the option to disable notes. I know. Iβm a Luddite. Iβm a sensitive soul who canβt handle social media. Iβd love to be able to disable that feature when I need to and only access my inbox.
It would be nice to be able to filter so I just see people I follow. That would keep it less of an endless scroll, but still introduce me to new writers through the interactions of those I follow.
That is smart! I just discovered that the Substack app on my (oldish) ipad somehow still has the old interface--no notes! But I can still stack posts and interact with any engagement on what Iβve stacked through notifications, so itβs the best of both worlds. So Iβm just going to hope that my iPad never dies and never updates, then Iβll be fine π
I see the value of notes, but I very much would like them separated from the reading experience for the same reason. In my dream world, only my inbox would be available in the app, but I could access notes from the webapp when I'm working!
I see the value of it too, and probably wouldnβt keep it disabled all the time. Before coming onto Substack I deactivated all my social media and itβs been so good for my mental health. At first Substack was the perfect option for me--limited social media in the comments sections of posts. But notes is starting to impact me the way every other social media platform has--for the worse--and Iβm not sure what to do with that:).
π§ I'd love it if the image asset that accompanies a post could just include the headline and subhead. Including additional text leading into the piece seems awkward and detracts from the headline itself. It doesn't necessarily function as a teaser.
The current iteration shows the headline and subhead (even if "preview text" is toggled off). If you turn the preview text on, more text shows, but the other elements stay either way.
π₯βοΈ I am wondering if/when Substack will introduce an AI writing app built-in to the text editor, and whether people would actually like this. I use another platform that does that and I think (a) the quality of the output is rubbish (thank goodness!), and (b) it is fundamentally dishonest, and (c) I write so much as it is I don't need help from an AI bot. But I wondered what people's thoughts on the idea are
I can't say I'm keen on the idea. I suspect that we are going to be swamped with AI-generated content as it is, much of it rubbish. I'm pretty sure people come to Substack partly for the connection they get with the human writer.
That is precisely the reason, or at least one of the top reasons they come to substack. It is an exploration of the human condition. sabrinalabow.substack.com
my thoughts too, Melanie, I just thought I'd flag it up because two platforms I use have gone down that route and it's not a selling point as far as I'm concerned
NO. AI seriously waters down the quality and thus the intention here. I tried chat GPT several times to edit posts (more funny, shorter, etc). NOT my voice, not my monkeys.
I would not like that. People can just go to ChatGPT if they want to use AI. But to have it as a platform offering seems antithetical to the grassroots nature of writing. I think it would encourage too many people to start "writing" in the hopes of making money, but the quality will be too poor, and downgrade the entire platform. AI also sounds very assembly-line, so I feel it would dilute the quality offered on Substack. Just my two cents!
Man, I just quit teaching over the proliferation of Chat GPT and indifference of administrators to it. I'm gonna lose my mind if Substack decides to let my nemesis AI mosey over here, too. πππ
π§ -I recently started doing voiceovers for my posts (since Substack doesn't like me and won't do automatic ones :). Is there any way for me to find out how often people listen to them?
I started guest posting too lately and love it. My stack is ready for guest posts if you find it fitting. The Marinade is diverse in its content and readership so most content should fit. Cheers!
I'm curious how you reach out to Substackers you want to do a guest post for. Via notes? A comment on a story? Or do they reach out to you? I've been thinking about this lately and am just wondering how to best approach it.
Yeah itβs been a challenge because there is no messaging interface in substack, I donβt know if we need one because itβs another way for spammers too. Anyway I have been giving my insta handle to connect @rajofftherecord or raj@13apples.com to collaborators here.
π§ Two suggestions I would make for the Substack team to think about for the future, and I know it probably won't be any time soon. I would love to be able to combine my website with my Substack in one of two ways:
- Substack offers the ability to create a basic website into which I can integrate my Substack newsletter/main page
- I can somehow embed the latter into my existing website in place of my blog (which offers the exact same articles at the moment)
I know y'all want to keep it free and that's fine but I would pay extra for this.
π§ - I had some fun with the voiceover feature this week as part of a collaboration with Alison Acheson. Scheduling live interviews is hard, and sometimes writers want to get the words right. So we opted for an email exchange over about a month that we edited into a written conversation. Then we each recorded our lines, doing a little acting to make it feel less canned, and I combined the two recordings into a single file for the voiceover.
This isn't groundbreaking, but I mention it because it can be a real timesaver compared to podcasting. If you're recording lines instead of speaking extemporaneously, you don't have much editing to do. All you do is create a voice memo, press record once, and create pauses between segments or when you mess up and want to start over. The result makes your content accessible to more readers and gives someone the option of pressing "play" while making dinner or doing something else with their hands.
I'm kicking myself for not using it earlier for poems. Even essays don't take that much time. One limitation of the Substack recording feature is that you have to get a perfect take to make it usable. Audacity allows for continuous recording, so you just pause, start over at the beginning of a sentence or paragraph instead of at the very beginning, and keep going until you get it right. I'm planning to use it regularly for everything that doesn't include video going forward.
Thanks for clarifying: You record in voice memo, edit breaks in Audacity, then post and share via Voiceover? I tried voiceover months ago - frustrated by lack of edits.
Exactly. You can waste a ton of time doing multiple takes with the built-in recorder to get it right. You can record in voice memo or directly in audacity, just leave the recording rolling, and pause between segments or when you mess up. Instead of starting at the very beginning for a second take, as you have to do with Substack's recorder, you can just start at the beginning of the previous sentence or paragraph.
This is a great question Kristina. I am doing a series on creating change that moves us toward wholeness (as opposed to fixing something that's broken), I plan to do a live presentation for my paid subscribers that will involve Q&A, I will be offering guest posts, audio and video for them. The main thing I find is building community through heart centered relationships.
I offer different downloads based on subscriber tier. Free gets a protocol, paid gets workshops and courses that I pre-recorded, and founding memberβs get a google drive of research resources. So, the bulk of my paid content is already created and not something I have to write in addition to my weekly free content.
Oh, I love this! Yes, one of my concerns was not being able to come up with consistent offerings for my paid tiers. I love the idea of research resources! Going to be adding something like that. Thank you!
Awesome! I hope it goes well for you. Itβs fun for me because it feels like the people in those tiers are working along with me as βfriends in the workβ and seeing a more behind-the-scenes view of everything I put into my publication.
Repurposing previously written articles - You can either do a "season of reruns" or a "season of updates" where you take your old posts and either beef them up with new information, or you comment on them with how things have changed in some way. Mike Sowden does this with Everything Is Amazing. Between seasons he will rereleases episodes from his archive, which I think is really smart.
Repurposing things you said on social media - Kathryn Vercillo blew my mind when she tagged me on a βThings I Said in Substack Notes This Week and Have More To Say Aboutβ post. This is an ingenious way to repurpose work you have already done.
Voicemails - Either record voicemails for your subscribers or get voicemails from them and do a roundup of them. Meg Conley does this on her Homeculture publication.
Best of lists - This can be compiled by somebody else, like a VA or even AI, if you give them the format. You can also just pull a bunch of quotes about a subject and line them up together, as well. Resilience, Courage, Love, whatever you want. This is also a great way to build SEO with your target audience.
Q and A - If you do take voicemails, you can use them as a Q and A segment where the audience is making most of the content except for your answer. Tara McMullin does this weekly on her Substack.
Hire a "monthly intern" or "guest editor" - Rusty Foster from Today in Tabs has a monthly intern they bring in to write articles.
Asynchronous interviews - Lots of people do asynchronous interviews, where you send a series of similar questions to people and then post their responses. Scott Neumyer does them. Gareth L. Powell does them. Jane Ratcliffe does them. Sari Botton does them.
Cross-posting - One of the easiest things you can do is to cross-post interesting articles to your audience from other Substacks. This takes almost no time, and is criminally underused. Itβs a great way to beef up your publication while also promoting other people. I will usually only cross-post work that I've written, but I have been cross-posted before and it's great.
Guest posting - This takes longer if youβre the one writing it, but itβs an amazing way to get more content, especially if you have a publication with some traction.
π§ don't be afraid to stop writing after this next week. I have found that posting less has only increased my subscriber count while allowing me to focus on what I want to do. Plus its the holidays, people will be busy.
On the screen where you see those things, look at the upper right hand. You should see several parallel horizontal lines along with a little image. Click the image that drop downs should have 'activity' as a choice.
Yes Von is correct. You can go to activity and see notes and comments. I dread this part of the deal. A lot of technological components. Ugh! sabrinalabow.substack.com
π§ I'm a physician and much of my writing will be medical commentaries. I haven't set my banner up. Do you recommend me including a photo of me in my "official" white coat on my banner.
I have literally zero idea what you're talking about. It sounds like you are spouting nonsense and trying to pick a fight, and I'm not interested. A Substack meetup a day after a holiday starts does nothing to support or detract from that holiday.
What is Substack doing to deal with the increasing presence of extreme right wing authors? I am all for free speech however some of what I am reading and hearing about is not pretty.
βοΈ Hello fellow writers, I am looking ahead to the spring of 2024 and would like some ideas to celebrate the 5th anniversary of the publication of my book, "Tap, Taste, Heal: Used Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT) to Eat Joyfully and Love Your Body," which was released by North Atlantic Books in April 2019:
I'm envisioning the event to be a few weeks to a month long. My goals with the event would be to sell copies of the book and to build my audience here on Substack.
My ideas include
β’ Interviews with the people who endorsed the book
β’ Interviews with experts I mention in the book
β’ Reprinting excerpts of the book on my Substack
β’ Hosting a giveaway of book copies
β’ Essay(s) by me about what has changed for me since the publication of the book
Sounds like a wonderful book! Maybe a Zoom Q&A with you would be nice too. I attended an online book launch party for an author a few months ago but she called it a book christening party and the participants are like fairy godmothers bringing blessings for the book.
I just read a few of your lovely posts - about your Tibetan teacher, and officiating the wedding in the labyrinth. Looking forward to more reading later!
π§ Hello Substack brass. Was wondering if you've considered implementing a feature where subscribers or non-subscribers are prompted to pay for a specific post. Seems like it's working well for Patreon, Passes, and other subscription content services. Thanks!
I agree that would be an improvement. They're announced to be at a certain time on Thursday, but then some Thursdays they don't happen at all, and on other Thursdays at various random times. I'm never sure if or when it happens, but just try to roll with it....
It took me several months to figure out that Office Hours are always (?) on Thursdays from 1-2pm Eastern time. I still can't read half of what's posted, and I'm not sure how to post anything to ask questions I need answers for. And I don't know of a FAQ page provided by Substack.
It took me several months to figure out that Office Hours are always (?) on Thursdays from 1-2pm Eastern time. I still can't read half of what's posted, and I'm not sure how to post anything to ask questions I need answers for. And I don't know of a FAQ page provided by Substack.
π§ I was wondering how Recommendations, Staff Picks and the various topical Leaderboards are chosen. I've been posting weekly for almost a year, am pretty confident my stuff is solidly readable, and yet none have appeared in any of those three lists. Just wondering. Thanks.
Hi Jonathan! 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.
I imagine that makes a certain amount of sense, but itβs also pretty self-reinforcing. If at least in recommendations you highlighted worthy but lesser known writers it might lift some of their numbers and the site overall. Just a thought. Garrison Keillor doesnβt really need the help.
π§ When I'm in Substack editing a post, sometimes the tool bar across the top disappears. I can type text, but can't add a line, select a quote block, etc. The only way I can get it back is to refresh the screen. Happens too often! Please help. Thanks.
Hi Andi! Sorry to hear about this issue. If this keeps happening and you need further assistance, please submit a help request here and someone from our support team will be with you as soon as they're available: https://support.substack.com/hc/en-us/requests/new
Good friend of mine, and one of your regular contributors, has recently passed away. Steve Combs, who was the author of the Friday Letter , died over the Thanksgiving week.
Wanted you to be aware. Everyone will miss Steveβs insights to the political world.
So excited for the new video features! I recently checked out my stats and my video posts have significantly higher new subscriber conversion rates than my text posts. So I will be doing a lot more with video in 2024. Thank you, Substack!
I teach classes, so I publish recorded slideshow presentations. Sometimes I record by myself and other times I teach the class live and then publish the replay on my Substack.
To help organize the conversation, please use one of the following emojis when you start a new comment.
π§ - when sharing strategy or advice for fellow writers
βοΈ - when asking questions or seeking feedback from fellow writers
π§ - 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.
π§ This great Reddit thread popped up yesterday in the Substack Writers group, where folks are sharing how long it took them to reach 200 subscribers, and what strategies they used. I shared a few thoughts, and already got five new subscribers from my interactions there, so check it out and drop your two cents:
https://www.reddit.com/r/Substack/s/nvKKb70ccn
Folks in the thread have been asking me how I have achieved a nearly 20% conversion rate on paid subscribers, with 65-75% open rates. I have a lot to share, so I am working on a post documenting my journey.
If youβd like to receive it, sign up for my Substack at www.lizexplores.com, where I write about infertility, mental health, and adventure. Iβm hoping to share my strategies post in the coming week. (Very meta, I knowβ¦)
Thanks for sharing that Liz! It's great to read other people's experiences.
I agree, Heidi! Whether we like it or not, our brains are hardwired for comparison. I am always curious about other writersβ growth and how they made it it happen.
It's also great to read how other people approach things. There are so many ways to approach any goal and sometimes we get into a rut of only doing what we think of, but other people likely have very effective strategies that could help us.
Exactly! Iβm excited to share my piece about what is working for me, to help other writers get creative with their growth. And I always love hearing what is working for everyone else!
Hi Liz,
I saw your post last night and just subscribed. I write about my quest to detox from diet culture and help others stop measuring their self-worth from their appearance at https://www.almostsated.com.
Would love for you and others to check it out@
Thank you so much, Kristi! Fancy meeting you here and over on Reddit. Your topic is so important! I have mercifully never been much of a dieter, though my weight seems to fluctuate annually by 10 or 20 pounds. π
Oh I'm going to check out that thread. I just hit 200 today. It took me 3 months. I'm interested in other people's journeys!
200 subscribers in 3 months is impressive, Kristi! Congratulations! π₯³
200 in 3 months is a huge achievement. It'll take me a lot longer. But then Fiction is much more subjective than other types of newsletters on here... π
Thanks for sharing, Liz!
Youβre welcome, Priya! I hope this is helpful!
Thanks for sharing your experiences!
Absolutely, Vince! Iβm working on a post about my Substack growth that Iβll be sharing this week at www.lizexplores.com.
Thank you so much for sharing this βΒ just popped over to have a look at the thread and your substack! Love it. You now have one extra subscriber
Fantastic Lucy, thank you so much! π
This is so great and so full of hope and possibilities, thank you for sharing! I love reading the comments, as I relate. I'm at 300 subscribers now after 3 months and I'm enjoying this so much. And hope and joy are what keeps me motivated every time I come to the platform. :)
That is amazing growth, Mariana! What do you write about? π
Thank you! I write about health. I'm a doctor, and I'm all about prevention, emotional health and bringing empathy and hope back to the patient/doctor equation. :)
Thatβs also all so important, Mariana!
Cool I'll check it out. I started 10/8 and am at 210 70% open with weekly posts. But mostly they are my friends. I am curious about organic non friends. I'll check out your substack bc it seems we are likeminded. I write about similar things. I camper vanned alaska :)
Thatβs amazing, Nessa! When were you in Alaska? π
Thanks for sharing
Youβre welcome!
Thanks, Liz. I went over to check it out and found some great discussions. Recommended everyone do the same. I laid out over there why I am not quite at 200 yet. BIG surprise, it is because I had life interference and quit writing for a while. As soon as I quit posting regularly, my subscriptions slowed to an anemic trickle. Everyone's said it, but you have to post regularly if you want to grow. It's true!
I was just over there poking around. Left a comment, too. I find that I'm doing a lot of what others are doing, but I'm writing FICTION, and for some reason, fiction is a slow climb. But I don't let it get me down. When I get depressed and think it's taking too long, I go to my Subscriber page. I look at the graph and see how it's a line going upwards, right from the first day. I remind myself it used to only go up to 100, and then when I broke 100, another tier was added; and then another. And now I look at it, and it's half way to 400. That's when I tell myself to relax, and don't sweat the small stuff.
I am also a little bit too obsessed with my subscriber graph, though it is encouraging to see the ever upward trend! It motivates me to keep writing.
I said a similar thing above. Fiction does take much longer to build compared to other types of newsletters on here, because it's so subjective. I've been trying a few different techniques but I'm always open to new ones. I find posting on Social Media regularly helps a lot, but you're right it is a very slow climb... π
Itβs so true, David. I stopped writing for two months last spring when I was going through fertility treatments, and my subscriptions slowed. Although I did notice that when I engaged with other writers on Substack, or shared previous posts, folks still trickled in, even when I wasnβt able to write.
Oh my gosh, thank you SO much for sharing, Liz! I canβt wait to see the Reddit thread and see your work as well!
Of course! The more voices in the discussion, the better!
Hey Liz, you've done great, well done. And I look forward to seeing your start post. But maybe I'm writing in too niche a space - a business space about consumer behaviours and customer experiences. (https://uncx.substack.com) I'll subscribe to you to make sure I see your follow up !
Thanks Michael, and thank you for subscribing! Having a clear niche can be really helpful; you just need to make sure youβre getting in front of the right people. You could pitch yourself for podcast interviews and guest blog posts in the business space, then be sure to drop the link to your Substack so people can check it out!
I will check out the reddit and your substack. Thank you for this info! sabrinalabow.substack.com
Youβre welcome, Sabrina! Please do share in the Reddit thread about your own growth!
Wow Liz, your journey on Substack looks incredible! I'll be having a look at the Reddit thread you mentioned. I'll be looking forward to your post on Substack it too :). I have started a couple of months ago so the topic you just raised really interests me.
Thank you, Emmanuelle, and thanks for subscribing. Congratulations on launching your Substack! What do you write about? π
Thank you Liz! I write about the fashion industry from the perspective of an underrated professional - aka someone whose job is not glamorous - Black identities in Europe, and soon a little bit more about life. I am on a hiatus right now for personal reasons, but I'd love to integrate more things people can connect with like my experience with fibroids and grief.
Awesome, Emmanuelle! I am not much of a fashionista (youβll find me most days in fuzzy pink pajamas), but I would be fascinated to read about Black identities in Europe, fibroids, and grief. So you have my vote to add more personal stories to your Substack! π
Oh no worries about not being a fashionista, you won't find talks about new season collection, shopping guide or whatsoever, but really a look at fashion with a cultural eye.
Feel free to peruse the archive to see what I have written about Black identities in Europe. I've also written already a little bit about grief.
I'll be taking your advice on to share more personal stories on Substack π. Thank you!
Itβs a good one! I found it because someone shared it with me in Office Hours, and it would be great for more people to jump on board.
dang! I've already made a few emoji-less comments π‘
That's ok :)
π
There's always one :-)
π
π€£π€£
I didnt' see the directions this time, but I went back and edited.
Oh, that's a good idea. Thanks!
Me too! Forgot all about it!
And I just went back and fixed it, too!
Me too!
π§ Hello Substackers π·
Just starting off and looking for some guidance to grow your list? This should do the job, with plenty of links of other writers and sources to build grow.
https://open.substack.com/pub/raisini/p/from-zero-to-100000-subscribers-the?r=aegif&utm_medium=ios&utm_campaign=post
Thanks! I love that you give Apple as an exampleβI think everyone, including the government, would benefit from following Apple's ultimate design strategy...
Only if they did that π
π₯π₯π₯
π£π£π£ π
I was going to ask, "How do you add an emoji?" Then I read your instructions. Imagine that! A writer who actually reads!
π§ With respect to the Β΄financial marketΒ΄ substack community, is it possible to highlight the stock symbols by using the $ sign on Notes as you already can do this when writing posts, which is a feature I really like. Also, maybe using the #hashtag sign to highlight anything to do with the financial markets (companies, data, indicators, stocks, futures, crypto, etc) on Notes and on the posts in order to connect more people both in the substack community and over the internet. Thank you!
Hey there, thanks for the feature request. I will share it with our team for consideration.
π§ - I am having trouble with un-pausing my paid subscriptions and i sent two messages to support no one has gotten back to me!
where will I see a reply?
how can one post anonymously on substack?
π§I am new and want to get started right! I have had problems loading and editing photos. Can you help me with this?
I am about to begin but I can't download the app on my Imac. I would like to begin with a pay site. So how do I set up the pay app. I don't want to upload my landing page before I have the pay function set up so that if anyone wishes to subscribe on my opening promo they can. Appreciate any help. Howard Klein mootfowl7@aol.com
The app is for mobile devices only. If you're going to work exclusively on your iMac, just use the website.
If you want to enable paid subscriptions, you need to set up a Stripe account and link it to Substack. Substack's support section has the instructions. Stripe processes the payments and pays you. When you publish a post, you will have the option to make it accessible to everyone, or to paid subscribers only.
π§I'm probably really late but I do have feature request:
I know that for paid subscribers there is a paywall but I would like to see a subscriber wall option for all my post.
For my publication specifically I want a subscriber wall so that my subscribers can feel like their in a V.I.P club since there are times when I want to give my subscribers a certain gift as a thank you! I also just feel like it would be a great incentive for people to subscribe!β¨
π§ I have around 22 loyal Subscribers, I get a fair amount of views, 50-100, and I make sure to put subscribe buttons at the end of my posts, but a lot of the people who read my content donβt subscribe! I donβt know if anyone can help me fix this issue?
Hi A.M.,
You might see an increase in subscribe rates if you use a real person's name for your Author persona (could be a pseudonym). People trust people more than 'brands'.
Also, put your first subscribe request near the top of your post ("above the fold"), say underneath the first paragraph. ... not everyone will scroll right to the bottom.
And, if you are not doing it yet, use Subscribe with caption, not subscribe buttons. In the caption explain what people will get when they sign up (e.g. "Subscribe now to get a hand-crafted story about XXX straight to your inbox each week. I don't use your email address for anything else.")
This might help convert readers to subscribers.
Thank you! I don't want to change my brand, but I'll use the other tips.
I'm having a similar issue myself. I'm finding it's mainly the Social Media traffic. They are happy to click links and read things, but don't really want to subscribe, because they know there'll be another link to click next time. It's still a fantastic achievement to be getting good viewing figures, though, because it means the work is wanted and being enjoyed which is great. Apparently, using Notes on here is a good way to reach more people and can help gain new subscribers, so that might be worth looking into... π
Sadly I donβt have social media. But thanks for the encouraging words about my views. I never thought of them like that. I guess if lots of people read my content, that means they do like it. But I guess I will just be patient and work on my strategies to gain new subscribers. Thanks. ππ»π
point is i cant find emojis nor am i inclined to. couldn't read your entire response as when i clicked on and tried to scroll to end nothing happened. i inadvertently created a writers page for myself. That i going to be non functional , id like it removed. do not see how to do.
how do i remove sandy substack page, its mine, im sandy .when answering an email from substack i unwittingly started a page. I cant find an emoji, how absurd to need one for attention.
(The emojis just help the official substack team to scan the comments for people needing help. There are a LOT of comments on this weekly thread!)
You want to delete the substack? If you go your Sandy's Substack, click to go to the Dashboard, and then click "Settings," you should see the options to delete all the way down at the bottom.
no i do not see an option to delete. i do not see emojis. where to 'find' them how to apply them. i dont care to in any case. i inadvertently created a writers page for myself through an unbidden email from substack. it wont be used. see no way to remove this page
You don't need to use your newsletter production capability. You are signed up to receive the emails from others. If you delete your account, you couldn't receive emails from the writers you are subscribed to, and you couldn't post your Notes.
You need to go to the page. Then you need to click the "Dashboard" button. Then click "Settings." Scroll all the way down. At the bottom, you should see: Delete this publication
This permanently deletes your publication, posts, podcast, and subscriber list. Once you do this, there is no going back.
Any other Substack writers who live near State College, PA? I'm hosting a meet-up on December 13 and would love to see you there or co-host! See details here: https://lu.ma/lqn3f7es
I'm in London, so it would be a bit of a trek. Hope it goes well. I've met up with two writers (individually), these being @rebecca holden and @robert Urbaschek and it was very enjoyable, not least because neither of them turned out to be psychopathic murderers
A ringing endorsement if I've ever heard one! Whatever kind of writing we might expect from Rebecca and Robert, at least we are unlikely to die a violent death from their acquaintance.
"π€£A ringing endorsement if I've ever heard one!" Funnily enough, that's what Robert said in response to an article I wrote about it!
Obviously, Robert's a writer with a sense of humor--or at least a sense of proportion. I'll have to look him up.
My thought is that we've set the bar of appropriate human behavior so low in this millennium that being able to leave this world without seriously injuring anyone intentionally might be the most honorable epitaph one can hope for.
Re: epitaph: what a sad indictment of our behaviour!
But an honest and useful one. As a maladjusted herd animal supposedly descended from animals whose social skills I don't necessarily admire, I've made a crude science of low expectations--both of myself and others.
https://roberturbaschek.substack.com/ He writes serious stuff; he and I are going to collaborate. Rebecca and I write a letter to each other wednesday and have a mega laugh https://rebeccaholden.substack.com/
Thank you. I just read Robert's article about media microtargeting. In it there's a Facebook psychological profile I found disturbing, if only because I only understood maybe two thirds of the references. One of the most jarring insights of this profile was a supposed association between substandard IQs and ownership of (or perhaps interest in) Harley Davidson motorcycles. Do Facebook Geeks have any idea what kind of money you have to pull down to own a Harley? High school burger flippers at Mickey D's are not riding to work on a Road KIng, to be sure!
Just normal murderers then?
π€£
Phew! Although if they had been murderers, I suppose the pain would have long been over.
π€£ True!
Iβm in the Seattle area and signed up to host a meet up. So far no bites. Writing can feel reclusive. Webinars are great but there nothing like in-person.
Iβm in Seattle! Where do we find info on meetups? I would love to go! Thanks for offering to host!
A Substack person sent me a link to a meet up on Dec. 6. I'm going! Hope you can make it. Here it is: https://lu.ma/dneb1k0o
Thanks for the info! I will absolutely try to be there! Is it possible to get on a list for future meet ups if there are any? I'd love to meet other Seattle writers. I also write humor and am loving your Substack, btw!
I decided to cancel a Seattle meet up for Jan since there is one next week.
Youβre a funny gal too? I would love for you to be part of my interview series Funny AF Women.
Glad youβre enjoying my Substack.
That would be AMAZING!! π€©
We had eight folks at our Austin meetup, but I co-hosted with two others, and we did a lot of promotion here on Substack and other channels.
I'm up here in Vancouver (Canada, not Washington). I'd like to see one up here some day.
I know of a couple of awesome BC gals. @donnamcarthur and @kimvanbruggen
I don't know Kim, but I know Donna. And she lives east of here...picture the distance between Idaho and Seattle.
Oh. Haha. A bit of a drive.
Totally agree. This is the main stumbling block for me after leaving academe. I hear some saying that there's nothing they miss about higher ed, but the in-person part of it was what I loved the most. The hallway conversations, the students dropping by after class, the volunteer events. Still trying to duplicate that on the other side of my transition!
Good luck to you -- hopefully you'll find some other folks in Seattle. BTW, one of my LinkedIn contacts, Ashley Ruba, is based there. She also has a Substack. Maybe reach out to her?
I will look her up! Thx.
It would be fun. I miss in person interactions at times. Unfortunately, I'm in central Mexico, so it's too far. All the best. Hope it goes well.
π§ Iβve been on Substack for a bit over a year and I love it!
Iβm always lurking here during Office Hours but rarely end up posting.
Today, I just wanted to give a word of encouragement to any new Substackers out there.
Substack is a huge, vibrant, and diverse community.
Youβll run into highly successful writers on this platform and your first impulse might be to start comparing the metrics.
I know mine was!
When I had no subscribers, Iβd compare myself to those who had many. After Iβd reached a decent subscriber count, I started comparing engagement metrics like comments, etc.
Itβs only recently that I came to embrace the fact that all of that is pure noise. The beauty of Substack is that thereβs no RIGHT way to do it.
Some writers here have hundreds of thousands of subscribers, only a small portion of whom might engage beyond reading. Others have a more modest subscriber base which is highly engaged.
Some post on Notes and interact there every day. Others donβt use Notes at all.
Some collaborate with other writers regularly. Others fly solo.
Some want to build a community, while others just want to get their writing out thereβ¦
β¦and everything in between.
Metrics are fun to track, but they donβt come close to telling the full story.
So figure out what youβre here for and focus on what you truly enjoy doing.
Trust that your audience will find you.
Just keep at it!
Yes. I have to stay true. Organic attraction is underrated. Iβm not really a collaborator, more of a lone wolf ππ
I have seen stacks with 20k readers and maybe only 35 likes and 10 comments. Itβs all about meaningful connection isnβt it? Not vanity stats.
I agree Julie, meaningful connection is the most important thing. I don't think my former self would have believed I could make such great friends in an online space!
it's definitely a friendly space on the whole, isn't it Donna
It really is an overall friendly and encouraging space!
I have found it to be very friendly in the best possible way because everyone is so interesting!
Hey Donna! How you doooin'? (That's my Joey voice.) I'm putting up a new serial. I'm going to juggle between it, and my other one, (LOCKSLEY) but I'm going to put them both behind the Paywall and keep my SUNDAY stories FREE. I'm not starting the paywall for another 3 weeks so people can look at the new story and decided whether they like it or not. Come by and take a look. I think you'll like this one, too!
There's a skill and luck involved in finding your readership.
Some types of readers are prone to commenting, asking questions and interacting, and others are not. We need to accept our readers for who they are. π
So far I'm finding that more comments pop up with posts about the familiar than with the new subjects, but the sample size is not large enough to generalize.
Yes i feel very much in a βnew townβ as as yet i havenβt figured where my hang outs are.
A platform like Twitter, it was easy - Iβd just stick a hashtag in or go add a comment on a politician/famous personβs post and I immediately find like-minded people on there. On here that sort of thing is trickier to do. Iβve not worked out the lay out of this βtownβ yet.
Feel free to dive into conversations on Notes. If you find a topic or post you're interested in, add your thoughts. It's a great way to meet people.
It's a great way to pick up subscribers too! That, and here. With the Writer Office Hours, I always pick up one or two new subscribers. In fact, I picked up two today, which brings my average up to one a day per month!
I think this "new town" is pretty internal still. Probably the readers are more focused and less spontaneous than regular social media, making it harder to move them to your Stack. Perhaps the main issue is searchability. For my own stack, learning the right keywords, is a challenge.
(Finding the digestible balance of science and application is a crucial factor for making it useful to more people. )
Exactly. I feel itβs a platform very much focused on writers rather than readers.
I know most writers are avid readers but not all avid readers are writers. I would like to see more done to promote Substack outside writer circles. It feels a bit cliquey.
I don't see much external SubStack promotion, perhaps because of not using legacy social media. But I do try to educate people about it offline.
Hit the nail on the head, Julie. That's always been a source of astonishment for me: how come I, with a relatively small readership compared to the ones with thousands, get quite a few comments compared to them? Definitely about connection
What I like about the comments is what people have to say. I don't have a huge following (yet), and I'm absolutely gob-smacked by what the comments say. It's the best part about putting something up for my followers.
I appreciate the lone wolf comment element of your comment.
(I think sorting out "how" to collaborate in an authentic way is still a bit unclear.)
The amount of βcollaborationsβ on here is a little cringey imo.
It feels like those βa paid partnership withβ things on Insta. Overkill is most definitely *a thing*.
I think collaboration is what you make of it. I write FICTION, and that's a hard sell right from the get-go (almost as hard a poetry I would think), but if you find a writer you like, and you think they match your style, just ask them if they'd be interested. A lot of fiction writers are too busy with their own serials and stories, and they might ask if they can revisit it in the New Year, but they always leave that option open. I know I do.
To backing up @Julie Dee's comment, that's also why there are newsletter with 20k readers and few paid subscribers. Connection also converts free subscribers into people willing to pay to support a writer's work.
Hearing about connection and that, in addition to that value right there, it will also create a support to my work and allow me to do more of it is exciting to think about. Im hoping my voice journalling - podcasting will do just that. Building big visions! Just starting out, Im not a techy so navigating the inner workings of my account on the phone app has stymied my progress from the start. My inquiry elsewhere in the thread about that hopefully will get my productivity up snd running.
Exactly. Then again, I'm sure that some people are happy to have a one-way writer/reader relationship as well. Which is what's so great about Substack - it caters to both types of writers.
That is exactly right! I feel the same way. I'm all about organic attraction. If you build it they will come! Sabrinalabow.substack.com
Metrics are whatever. Focus on your work helping other people. One thank you email is more important to me than 100 likes.
Hi Daniel, this is awesome advice. I would've loved to come across this when I first arrived on Substack. It's easy to get involved here and find your ideal Substack neighborhood. The people I've met are amazing and we are all different.
Love that I found my neighbourhood and you're in it Donna! :) Makes me want to sing Fred Roger's song 'it's a beautiful day in the neighbourhood' (insert music emoji here.)
I'm singing it with you (although silently in my head because my out loud singing voice leaves a lot to be desiredπ€£)
Comparing ourself to others, is our own worst enemey.
I couldn't agree more. When I was working (in a past life now, it seems,) HARRY POTTER came out and someone at work said, Wow man, she just wrote a book, and look! How's that make you feel? I said great. She deserves it if she wrote it. II don't compare myself to other writers, because I don't write like other writers. I like to say I'm lost in the Novella Zone. I mean, who writes novellas?
I'd be dead interested in how you acquired 4000 subscribers in a year. That seems pretty impressive.
My guess is that Daniel's topic, AI, was one of the big growing trends this past year (ChatGPT just celebrated its first birthday) so he collected readers newly interested in that topic.
That's a very good point, Ollie. Thanks
Yup, a lot of it is really being in the right place at the right time, like Ollie pointed out. I started the Substack several months before ChatGPT became a viral hit (I was mostly interested in text-to-image tools). So it definitely helped that AI became so hyped after that.
I also picked up recommendations from several publications and I think around 25% of my subscribers are directly from those. I also shared a few image series on Facebook and Reddit that went viral and brought new subscribers.
The rest is organic traffic from people looking how to do certain stuff in Midjourney, Stable Diffusion, etc.
yay! ππ½ Helping a specific targeted niche audience with a specific need: basics of marketing 101 that I've always danced/struggled/hated/tried again! Give me strength to remain persistent.
Thanks, Daniel. Well done
I agree with you in that how you approach your Substack should depend entirely on what you want to get out of it. Rather than looking desperately for a guru with all the answers, each of us needs to visualize what we want to accomplish through this platform, who is the audience we want to reach, and then proceed accordingly. Once once you have answered your own individual "Why?" can you figure out an effective plan for "How?"
Yup. And the answers to those questions are very individual, so comparing metrics does more harm than good.
Exactly! You have to go to the beat of your own drummer. I write my stories for me first. If I don't like it, I'm not going to put it up. I like long stories. I break them up and put them up in shorter blurbs, but that also helps build an audience and allows me to work on other stories.
"So figure out what youβre here for and focus on what you truly enjoy doing. Trust that your audience will find you."
Thank you Daniel. I needed to hear that and I think I need to have that be my mantra for beginning to share my voice on Substack (I still have not created any . . . I been lurking on Substack for almost the whole of 2023)
Just do it Tom! Don't think about it too much. Just tell some close friends and start writing. Text them individually with a link and go! sabrinalabow.substack.com
Would be curious to see what you end up with once you finally take the plunge!
Beautifully said, Daniel... you lurker, you! π
Well said Daniel - So true.
Thank you for reminding us of this perspective! One of my main goals is to build community and I'm so encouraged by the possibility of that using Substack as a platform to connect. For those who are curious- I'm especially hoping to connect other creatives to each other for collaboration. I believe we all thrive together and have a heart for creating a space where people feel a sense of belonging. π
Thank you for your encouraging words βΒ it can be hard to stay motivated to keep going!
We've all been there! Enjoy the weekend!
Because of comments like yours is that I feel like Substack makes my day. THANK YOU!!!!! :D
Happy to have made a small part of your day that much better! :)
I can't tell you how much your words encouraged me today. I have been going in and out of a grieving process, losing seven family members in less than a year and a half. My son-in -laws funeral was Nov. 9th. I have found that it is difficult to focus and follow through at times, with my writing as well as other areas. Today was the first time I have been able to get on here in a long time. I realize I am starting over and needing to reach out to others, not to compare or to compete, just to enjoy the fact we all have the same passion to write. Thank you for taking time to write today, for truly it made a difference in my heart and comforted me.
Hugs! (I'm brand new and trying to find the overview of this place.) I hope you find all the right people to comfort you!
I am so sorry to hear you're going though such a rough patch, Brenda.
It's completely understandable that you've been away and unable to focus.
But it's amazing to see that you found the strength to come back here and try to return to doing what you love.
I'm happy that my words resonated. Hopefully you'll find joy and comfort in writing and the Substack community!
Great advice. While Iβm not a βcelebrityβ thereβs always a party in the comments. I wish I could serve up my favorite brownies. π
Thanks Daniel! It's so easy to compare ourselves to others and lose sight of why we wanted to do this in the first place. I appreciate your encouraging words.
I'm happy it helps Colleen! I think it's human nature to occasionally doubt ourselves, and having those metrics to compare makes it easy. But it's also not particularly helpful.
This is amazing advice! There is no one right way. Also, not everyone wants hundreds of thousands of subscribers. Do what's best for you! And yes just keep at it! Enjoy it! I love coming up with fun topics and sharing them with whoever wants to read them. sabrinalabow.substack.com
That's exactly it. There is no right or wrong way. Your 'Stack is your own, and no one can tell you you're doing it wrong. You learn what works for you as you go along. If you put up a piece and it's 5000 words long, maybe some will read it, and maybe they won't? Cut it in half...maybe they will, maybe they won't? It's the "writing" itself that keeps them coming back. I changed my 'stack three different times before I settled on what worked for me. You can't write and put it out for the reader if you can't promise yourself to keep to that schedule. The readers that want to read you, will stick with you. That's all you can hope for.
Substack introduced tags earlier this year. Tags are great, but Substack's tagging system is different than most other platforms. When you add tags to a post, they don't show up automatically; you have to decide how you want to use them on your site.
I wrote up a guide called Using Tags, that might be helpful to anyone who hasn't started using tags yet: https://www.mostlypython.com/p/using-tags
Here's what tags look like as top-of-home-page categories: https://bradkyle.substack.com/
This looks great Brad. How did you add the icons?
With scissors and glue, silly! I just did the usual keyboard shortcut: Windows icon + period key, and up pops the emojis box.
Once I figure out where the windows icon and the period key (just the period two rows below the p key?), this will be a game changer! π€£ While working on the computer, I text myself the icons I want to use and copy and paste them from the messages app. Thanks, Brad.
Generally (e.g, in a browser) a right-click will also pop up a window with "Emoji" at the top as an option.
If you use a PC, the Windows icon is between the Control and Alt keys just to the left of the space bar (not to be confused with that Star Wars cantina scene). The period is between the comma and / slash/? key.π€Good luck, Holly!
Haha! Well they looked much fancier than the usual emojis so apparently you're a very good emoji pickerπ€£
Thanks for your sharing your tags.
Thanks, Donna! Your kindness makes me want to NOT tell you about my first foray into adding emojis to my site.....let's just say it had something to do with a tiny paintbrush and the need to buy a new laptop!βΉ
Oh darn. I've had that happen to me to only it was a tiny paperclipπ¬
This is great Brad! I'm gonna have to take another look at my page and see what works!
Go get 'em, Ben, and good luck!
Thanks, man!
I like how you used icons as part of your tags. Do you know why some of the icons show up on the tag page and some don't?
I added the tags about a month ago, and added the icons about a week ago, and frankly never noticed what you just noticed! I can only figure it's another nagging little 'Stack glitch, as I did nothing different from one to another! I could, I guess, try other icons that might "take," but I just sigh and say, "Why should I need to?" I'll just leave it as it stands, although, for Stephen Michael Schwartz, I may see if a mic icon will "stick," as, apparently, the guitar one doesn't/can't.
Wow thanks for making this resource, Eric! (Should you be working at Substack!?)
Thanks. I could use help with tags.
I'm a complete newbie to Substack having just launched https://projectkin.substack.com on Monday and yes, I owe you a debt of thanks for your piece. I found it very helpful to understanding the concept and applying it to our use case. Super helpful.
This is awesome Eric, thank you!
Thank you
Very helpful guide to Tags. Thanks.
Hah, nice, didn't realise they automatically had their own secret page.
Thanks. I am trying to understand what tags are all about and how to use them. I'll read your guide for sure.
Thanks Eric! I haven't even touched tags yet. I'll check out your post.
I understand nothing about tags and not sure I want to but I will try to check it out.
Either way, thanks for sharing the info! sabrinalabow.substack.com
Check everything out! That's my motto. If it doesn't work for you, no biggie. But that's how I got into doing my video readings. I just tried it out one day. It was so simple.
I want to star this one and come back to it when I have more time. Those tags still allude me, but I want to know more.
Thank you! They are a bit of a mystery
I categorize my tags with a directory of posts: https://alyssapolizzi.substack.com/p/directory
Really useful for subscribers to find content they are interested in.
I was just there. Your page looks amazing!
Thanks :)
thanks, Eric.
Cool, thanks!
βοΈ - Does anyone else panic about their level of sharing when posting personal essays? I have mostly been writing about trauma, mental health crisis, and the like. When I first publish a piece, I feel deep satisfaction that I've said what I needed to say and represented myself in a true and vulnerable way. But then I often end up waking up at 3:00 AM in a cold sweat, thinking:
*Why the hell am I telling people about my darkest, most private thoughts?!?*
Anyone else do that? Any strategies for getting out of one's head about it? Or, sheesh, am I just an anxious-avoidant crazy person? π
Just remember that they don't know you personally and there is anonymity to that. I've shared deeply personal things here before, but I have such a small audience that I was able to have the courage to share it. Thing is that the deeply personal stuff is what people want to read. We want to see ourselves in others and be given examples of what it is actually like to be a human, which we rarely get in the polished, artificial atmosphere of the internet.
That's super reassuring. I often worry that I'm scaring people; but I really do hope that I'm doing the opposite!
I understand the feeling . . . and my own version surely has to do with my not yet having published my "truth talk" . . .
and to add to Kerry Jane's caring reassuring comment . . . I am not responsible for how someone else will respond to me doing my best to share my experiences or my opinions . . . and I'm pretty sure you aren't eitherπ
There's a smattering of people that *do* know me in my sub list, which always concerns me a bit, but then that was my fault for sharing my Substack with them π€£
Sometimes my friends will send me a text after reading a particularly vulnerable letter and I'm always grateful! It's like they are letting me know they're checking on me and it's a good excuse to ask them how they're doing, too.
Ah that's so lovely :)
That is so true! Also it separates us from AI! People really do want to share the human experience now more so than ever! sabrinalabow.substack.com
Just try to focus on the one person whose day you made better with the post. :)
This is lovely sentiment, and I'm going to screenshot it and keep it on my desktop for when I'm freaking out. I don't have much engagement on my posts, so I'm not sure who that one person is yet-- but I hope they're out there! I hope something I'm saying is resonating.
I'm glad my thought helped :)
I write humor but the essays that went deeper also left me sleepless. Itβs nerve racking opening up your heart. To me itβs fear of judgment and my job is to let go of that. Iβll bet you had wonderful, supportive responses tho. π
There may always be people who judge you, but F them. Most people who have been able to impart some wisdom to others were judged harshly. Don't censor yourself! sabrinalabow.substack.com
Perfectly stated. :)
Exactly! I put up the most personal thing I've ever written last year, and have had nothing but support. It was hard to do, because it was so fresh, but it was the best thing I could have done for myself. And that's what it's for. Don't worry what others think, that's for them. And most people aren't going to leave a negative comment anyway because of the backlash they'll get for being a dick
Hi again CK! Nice to see ya here! You're right-- I am scared that I will be judged, or that the ghosts of my past (namely my absent father) will resurrect themselves to resume torturing me. I did get some nice messages from former classmates who shared that they went through the same thing. So hopefully, that's an opening.
Apologies. I reread. You said βghosts.β
Hi doll. Are you worried about absent dad literally showing up? Some of the most beautiful writing can be Theraputic for the author. Iβm not surprised you have readers who relate. I find one subject in a piece can resonate with me even though I canβt relate to the topic.
He's not an actual ghost or dead-- just a metaphorical ghost to me. Sorry that was really confusing! π I do indeed worry about him showing back up because (a) he's a cop, and (b) the reason he disappeared in the first place was to try to prevent me "outing" his violence to the world. He thought he could hide.
Oh wow. Yeah. Restraining order?
this resonates! I similarly write about psychological wellness & introspection and have found writing to be the channel that helps me process and integrate the inner work I'm doing. I journal the rawest parts of the process and write with an intent to publish for the aspects that feel integrated in me
a barometer that I've used is asking myself: would I get activated if someone was to question this aspect of my essay? if not, it feels ready to release to the world! if so, I use it as a signal to spend more time processing it solo
I love this question you ask yourself! I'm gonna jot it down somewhere. Thank you for sharing.
hope it's helpful in helping you build the confidence to hit publish (or shelf it for another day)!
Thank you so much! I'm sure it'll help PLENTY!
Good discernment! Has this experience been fully digested yet? Yikes now I'm wanting to make a poo metaphor π©
hahah, Christine β I love the poop metaphor. gotta metabolize your inner work before sharing it with the world!
I just subscribed-- your Substack looks so interesting, Cissy! I also started the Substack because I found it useful for processing. Journaling privately wasn't doing it for me anymore, and Substack helped me compose my thoughts in a more structured way.
Thank you for these questions that I can use to assess my readiness. Writing this down in the notes on my phone to revisit!
right back at ya, Alexandra! I'm glad to hear you've found Substack to be meaningful in helping you process and work through your thoughts in a more structured way. your words are powerful π€
hope that framework brings some easy to the editing & publishing process!
Post-publication anxiety is real! But those pieces often wind up being everyone's favorites. In general, I think the more vulnerable you can be in a post, the better. But the harder too! Lean in to it and remember that you can always protect yourself by locking commenting if you'd like!
Geez, I learn something new every time I pop into office hours-- had no idea you could lock comments. Genius! Thank you for the reassurance. Into the fray!
Iβm afraid this will sound unkind but I donβt mean it that way: I think you have to accept that as part of the process. Or not, of course, & decide itβs not worth it.
Iβm working in memoir & it causes what Iβve started to think of as side effects: weird dreams, random memories bubbling up, anxiety about a bit in a post, etc. Itβs not always pleasant but keeping at it has shown that it ebbs & flows, & overall, I think itβs worth it. Now, Iβm working on riding out the unpleasant bits with a little more grace lol. Weβll see.
That's not unkind at all! That might be exactly what I needed to hear... If it's necessary to the work (or the journey to actualizing the work), I can live with that. And it's nice to know (well, not "nice"-- but comforting in a kind of backwards way) that I'm not the only one who experiences it. I think you're right: time to buck up lol.
I often have 3am cold sweats! Well, some might be due to perimenopause, but I write very personal stories and am never quite sure if and when I've crossed a line. I just finished a story about parenting my adolescent daughter, and this has been very much on my mind. I started writing about parenting when my kids were really little and didn't think much about sharing stories from their lives. But now I wonder if I can keep writing about my own parenting journey while respecting my kids' privacy. I never refer to them by name and don't share public photos of them, but still.
There is also someone very close to me struggling mightily with addiction and mental illness. There is so much I want to write about, but I know this person will see anything I write and it's very hard to know how to approach it.
I hear you! Just be sure not to mention any names. I have a 13 year old daughter and I write about her sometimes. She almost never reads my stuff. As far as the others, perhaps make them into a composite character. They do that in films all the time. So the character is based on more than one individual. sabrinalabow.substack.com
Do you use pseudonyms ever for non-family members? I keep saying "my friend" but eventually that's going to become "my other friend," "my other OTHER friend," "not that friend, but a different one," etc. as I continue to write about the people in my life, past and present.
Oooh, that's a good point you brought up! I actually have in the past wrote stories about my life and wrote either the whole story as if I was telling a story about someone else, or I'd mention a part like, "there's a person" and keep it SUPER vague. No names, genders, etc. and that sometimes makes me feel a bit better.
Also, OOPS, too late for my ex-boyfriend. He got named. π
Well, if he's an ex, who cares, right?π€£
Oof, that's my current struggle, too. Other people are sometimes implicated in what I'm writing, and I find myself fretting about their reactions and/or trying to soften facts. I have a piece that's sitting in drafts about giving up a friendship that just isn't working anymore, but I know that person is going to recognize himself in the title alone. It's hard to figure out how to tell the truth without hurting people in the process... but also, our lives and our participation in collective experience (be it parenting or friendship) matter, too.
I think that's the nature of writing. If it's not making you feel vulnerable, then you're not doing it right ;) (<generalisation, of course, but if you're writing personal essays then I'd say it's absolutely normal if you're sweating about it π§‘)
My substack is research-based comics about shame--Iβm a giant nerd super fascinated by shame after doing lots of healing work...and dang, I feel you on the 3am feels. This week I stirred up some shame by reading about shame π« I find my comics-making process allows me to lean into the feelings--and if I allow them, rather than resist them, it helps me find compassion for those small scared parts of myself. And, when I look around, I know everyone feels like this sometimes. I wonder if your writing process might have the potential to also lean into your feelings so that you can use the process as a way to know when the work is ready to share.
And I also wanted to say--thanks for being vulnerable and posting this question here. It takes guts π
Yep!! I sit with it in edit for longer...
What ends up happening as a result of longer revision time? Do you edit out parts that feel uncomfortable?
Omg YES! ππ»ββοΈ Every. Single. Post. I write about my miscarriages, so itβs deeply personal and I always get nervous/question if I should be broadcasting everything online. I try to focus on the mission behind my publication (fighting the stigma and making others feel less alone) and that helps me keep going when this type of anxiety hits. And also, I just hit publish and try not to think about it too much...lol π
I do the same. Lol. I donβt read it twice and just hit publish and just dont think about it. Its not healthy but totally helps with overthinking.
The point of my Substack is to show, that the very personal can be very public.
The answer to the "why the hell" should be the point of yours.
...and btw, up to this day, one of my most cherished theatre experiences is an avant-garde staging of "The Three Sisters". Maybe I should write about it, with my recent meeting with the brother of the director, talking about his death.....
You are SO NOT ALONE. Brene Brown taught us the power of vulnerability, of showing our real selves. She also named this 2am experience a Vulnerability Hangover. I call it Monkey Business - the monkeys in my mind attempt to grab the wheel and stop me from doing scary risky things. I want to create/share work that resonates with others who face challenges born of trauma. We NEED each other to show up. ππΌ Thank you for being brave
Ah, a hangover is exactly what it feels like (even though I quit drinking a million years ago lmao). But Monkey Business is such an adorable name for this otherwise ugly feeling. Love it.
Thank you for sharing this with me and for being brave yourself! It's motivating to see how many other people on here are leaning into vulnerability.
Thank you! We have lots in common, including screenwriting, teaching, and the fear of outing our Dads for the b*llshit they've done. More to come!
I have a bit of trauma, not a parent thing, or anything like that, but I've had to sort it out. I'll never get over it, but I've learned to accept it. But still, I have triggers. But to get through to where I could see the light at the end of the tunnel, I quoted Milton to myself: "The mind is its own place and in itself can make a hell of heaven, or a heaven of hell." I'm paraphrasing of course, but I believe in it a lot. That, and humour.
Well said, Milton (and you :) Self-compassion is a form of heaven, yet not an easy place to get to!
I write memoirs, and to some degree I worry that I share too much. But the process of writing about my experiences, reflecting on them and eventually being vulnerable nurtures growth.
> Any strategies for getting out of one's head about it?
Truth be told, people are preoccupied with their own lives and may not scrutinize or judge your vulnerability as harshly as you fear, some might even relate. And handful might care. The thing is, that being brave enough to acknowledge, write and communicate those thoughts, fosters growth and healing.
It's brave to be vulnerable.
I started writing about my personal struggles too on substack. I feel exposed at some times. But then I tell myself that perhaps its helping other people in some ways to relate to me. Maybe itβs comforting for others to see that not everyone is normal and almost every is struggling with some mental issues.
I've definitely had the vulnerability hangover, especially about stuff that feels a little raw still or I'm in the middle of processing. I recently wrote "How do we feel safe in an unsafe world?" after being officially diagnosed with PTSD and didn't get much response. I also worry that sharing my struggles might have a negative effect somehow but the intention is to make others feel less alone.
It's hard to stand by our choice to be brave and share honestly but I really DO believe it can foster connection and to me that's the most important thing.
We turned on our paid subscriptions today! We are so nervous but so excited to be part of the Substack community and are nearing 1,000 subscribers!
Good luck! I did this to my small substack the other day and added a βbuy me a coffeeβ page and was very pleased to gain new paid subscriptions and βcoffeesβ. It felt good to be so appreciated.π₯°
I love Buy Me a Coffee! And always forget to use it! Haha!
First time I used it. I think itβs cool because itβs non commital and for commitment phobes like myself it works well - and there are manyπ
Where's that? And how did I miss that?
https://www.buymeacoffee.com/faq
Haha that's a good point! I'm gonna soon try to help people commit (...but who am I to keep a simple one-and-done option away from the people, too?!), ahaha!
Yay!
great to hear Julie! Best of luck to you as well on your writing journey
Thank youπ₯°
That's great news! What is your #1 tip? sabrinalabow.substack.com
congratulations!! Wishing you much success.
Thanks Jo! Maybe someday we'll be picked for Substack Reads lol
Looking forward to it already! π
Woohoo, that's exciting β good luck π
Thanks Cissy! Trying to keep our nervous system in check today lol
Congratulations!
βοΈAre people planning "end of year" wrap posts? Or will that idea be saturated?
For may paid newsletter (different Substack account), I'm going to do a wrap of NOT my publication's year but a wrap of what happened in the industry niche in 2023. My audience there doesn't give a rats about what I did as a writer in 2023 or how many subscribers I got or whatever.
I'm also going to buy some Oxfam/World Vision Christmas virtual gifts and "gift" them to my readers. Since I'm in the food space I can gift food-related gifts, like goats (milk) or ducks (eggs), which the charity gives to needy families in developing countries.
For my free Pubstack publication, it will be completely different. My readers love to hear about my journey as a Substack writer and I will do an end of year wrap with milestones, etc. for them.
I don't think it's saturated if you do it well! I just got a Christmas card letter from my Aunt and really enjoyed reading it. You could try writing it in that style with a bit of humor? I agree in making it less Substack featured, I think THAT is getting really overdone. At first the graphs were cool but now I'm just like blah, blah, blah...
I am in a way, I'm wrapping up the year kinda reflecting on how much I've changed and grown since losing my mom, after being her caregiver for 8 years. How much the Substack's changed reflecting that (hopefully I'll be done with some rebranding elements by then!)... I wouldn't say it's ever too "saturated." Your community will want to hear from you and your take on the past year. I love and oftentimes forget to reflect on what was done and learned in the past and find a lot of good to that. Do it (if you want)!
I like this idea. I wasn't going to do anything about the New Year (I've always been of the opinion that's it's just another day). But maybe my READERS will want to know what I'm hoping to do?
Thank you! I bet they'd like to see your excitement around what's coming up for Scribbler, and what you've learned from over the past year. I know I personally love me some inspo and reflection. :)
That's an excellent strategy. I try to remove myself from my posts, but maybe this would be a good excuse to write a personal essay.
You should give it a go if you want, and see how it's received! I feel it helps humanize us, and reminds us that hey! There's an actual person running this thing!
I have seen a lot of backlash against auto play videos on here.
Wouldnβt the solution be having the option - to be able to select or deselect auto play video content on here? Curate oneβs own feed according to personal taste?
It sounds a simple way of pleasing everyone.
sounds like a good idea. i think autoplay might just make notes a bit too noisy for my eyes
Yes. I get that and I think it would be a shame if Substack became like all other social media.
I canβt see why personalising a feed, canβt be done.
Same. Autoplay would be a little much.
Are videos going to appear in Notes now?! (I definitely don't want auto-play if that's the case. That feels waaay too Insta for me.)
Same for me, Olivia. When I read about it, my initial reaction was, "Oh no! Where does one have to go to have some peace from video noise?". Perhaps we will be positively surprised with time.
I agree, I think making autoplay the default option, much less the only option, is a bad idea. I'm sure that a lot of our readers read in environments where quiet is expected, like when they're taking a 5-minute break at their desk at work. Same argument against using audio in eBay listings, something I remember from years ago.
Here's another "hell-yeah" to making it an option. Adding options always complicates development and user interfaces, and they may have just been testing us... but here's one where it's a very reasonable toggle.
That said... here's a tip as to why I would toggle it ON with my own content. First, I start my recordings with a quiet, if very short title slide (never screaming music as in TikTok or IG Reels)
Second, because there IS an autoplay, you get this marvelous β and I think engaging β animation sequence when your mouse hovers over any video in a list of posts. It's really sweet. That's one of the first things that caught my eye in their implementation. I think it's pretty genius.
That is a great idea.
Many poeple out there with slow internet, a auto play would ruin it for them.
π§ Listen to your final draft before publishing
For those of you who use Reader (Readwise's read later app), I've been using the "Listen" feature to help me finalize drafts before publishing β it's been super helpful in catching typos & weird sentence structures!
1. In your Substack draft, hit "Preview" -> "Test" -> Copy Secret draft link
2. Save the draft to your Reader (https://read.readwise.io/)
3. To listen, open the essay on your phone or tablet via Reader
4. Tap the "Listen" button at the top right of the page
Shout out to Leo Hepis who originally passed along the wisdom!
Cissy this is great, thank you so much!
you're very welcome, Donna! has made the final editing process a lot more enjoyable for me :)
100%
I frequently read aloud.
Zissner on his book "On writing well" recommends exactly that; in his words:
> If all your sentences move at the same plodding gait, which even you recognize as deadly but donβt know how to cure, read them aloud. (I write entirely by ear and read everything aloud before letting it go out into the world.)
love this practice β thanks for sharing, Thanos :)
Lovely! I've used this kind of feature in GoogleDocs but to have it supported natively here, (even with this little workaround) is very nice indeed.
oh, Gdocs is smart!
hearing my words out loud right before publishing makes the editing process that more enjoyable :)
Thank you! Iβve been reading my out loud because Iβm thinking of narrating them and I find plenty of wonky places in my writhing!
ditto, I've been surprised at how weirdly structured some of my sentences are! and to think, I used to never read my essays out loud before hitting publish π«
I've gasped enough at my essays now to do it MUCH more often! And me too! I should've *been* reading them; it's so helpful!
there's also something very special about hearing your words being read aloud π₯Ή
Yesss! I was so (maybe too?!) astounded hearing someone read in their closet and leaving in their little trip ups and hearing kids in the background. I loved it!
Great advice. I took a snap shot of instructions but wonder if thereβs a way to email myself this one section.
There are three dots at the bottom right of Cissyβs comment. That will give you an option to share the comment. You can email it to yourself or copy the link (which is what I did and added it to a my google doc with substack tips). Hope that helps CK! π
Perfect. Thx!
hope this process is helpful, CK!
love that you have a Substack tips doc, Mika :)
I'd like to understand whether there will be a "live" component to the new video features: can we record content live, or can we only upload pre-recorded content? I'm trying to understand whether I can host classes (webinar-style) on the platform.
Hi there! Currently, Our video feature allows you to upload pre-recorded videos or record videos using your computer or mobile device's camera. However, it doesn't support live streaming or webinar-style classes. We have had writers ask for this, however, and I've shared your feedback with the team. Hopefully soon!
That's awesome! I stay tuned, then. Thanks!
πββοΈ I would love to have a live option for videos. Iβm interested in offering body doubling sessions for paid subscribers. It would be so fun to get stuff done with my community and itβs such a helpful skill for adhdβers.
I'm putting a call out for Anthony Hopkins to come by and read for me. I say that because I heard he's in town. Do you think, with 6 degrees of separation, he might get the message?
Thx!
I'd love to learn more about this too.
Please @substack. No to autoplay. Give us a choice. I choose not to open video now, and often will just delete posts that are just video and no text. I come here for the writing - those words on the screenpage. Please don't force video onto me.
I believe thereβs a way to cherry pick what you want from someone you subscribe to. Ie-- if someone only wants to see my novel chapters thereβs a way they can achieve this. Hopefully a subscriber can do this with video. Iβm going to test it out on my stack. It will be a short funny video.
Yep there is a way to let subscribers "opt out" of video. You do it by using sections. Put all your video posts into a 'section' of your publication, then tell your readers how to opt out of the video section.
To opt out they click "unsubscribe" at the bottom of the email and are then given a choice to opt out of one section if they want. Bit clunky but it would work.
As a reader I don't think there's any way to opt out of video posts from other publications, apart from encouraging the sender to use sections as described above.
Thx! Makes me a bit nervous to tell a subscriber to hit "unsubscribe." Hehehe.
I know, right! That's the worst feature of sections for sure. I refuse to tell people to hit that button.
I put my videos into a separate section of my substack, but so far, everyone has stayed onboard with all my sections including video.
You'll convince me it's a good idea, I'm sure!
I have video. I post it with the story I'm reading. If you want to listen, you can, if you want to read it, same-same, but different. (Just don't hit the video button.) I don't want autoplay either. Just because I make one, doesn't mean I want to watch a dozen of them.
I'm sure I might get to it one day. I'm just a Substack luddite!
Hello Everyone!
In celebration of the new Substack Video feature it would have been rude not to give it a go.
In the first of a series of How To Substack posts I used the new tool to take you through how to optimise your Welcome Page.
I'd love to know what you think and the pain points you'd like me to cover in a future video.
https://neverstoplearning1.substack.com/p/how-to-substack-refining-your-welcome
These features are fine for people who are digitally more than competent. I find them confusing and occasionally like I'm missing out. I came to Substack because I thought it was a bout writing (words on screenpage) and reading (those words on a screenpage). With all this, it may as well be Instagram with a link to a file. Somebody convince me this is necessary for people who want to read and write?
Hi June - I get that but I think the great thing about Substack is you can dive in to as many or as few of the features as you want to.
I would say there are some basic things everyone should be able to do but beyond that its all nice add ons that you can take or leave.
I wouldn't feel pressure to move away from what you're doing.
Im interested in the voice feature, vs video. Can voice be added to my Welcome page?
I am finding myself immediately tripping over the starting line... discovering that the phone app doesnβt have access to my inner acct workings to upload content and designing on my account, unless Im doing something wrong? I function mostly on-the-go so my iPhone is my method of access. Iβve asked about acct via app in the thread (π§). So far, all I know is I have to go on Google to access the Substack website for uploading content / voice episodes.
We can't upload content from the phone app. I'm not sure if you could do it from the web browser on your phone, I've never tried that.
Thank you. Itβs a bit of labor, but somewhat possible.
I would love the capability to work through the app on my phone!
Thanks. Yes, youβre right of course. I just get a bit fixated with the stuff I donβt need! Substack doesnβt have to be my personal platform, tailored just to me !
But it CAN be! You can make your 'Stack whatever you want it to be. I'm currently using the video App. I've been using it since September. I read out my story every Sunday. I record it whenever I want, and schedule the time for Sunday, @ 8pm. I also put the text up if the reader wants to "read" it. I plan to continue reading it, because I know there are people out there who like to listen. I'm not saying I sound great, or even good, and once I got passed the idea of being on screen, well, it was pretty easy going. All the stuff that I don't need, I don't use. I tried CHAT once, no one showed up, so I don't bother with it. I use NOTES all the time to help market myself (when I remember). I don't do podcasts. The point is, there are a lot who do. And it's nice to have options.
Yeah. I get it really. I might have a little go at the weekend.
Hi June; I think thereβs room for all of it. The audience who wants videos might not be your ideal subscriber.
Hi. You're right. I'm just grumpy.
Haha. It's early December. Probably muddy in UK too. Cause for grumpiness. Hope your family is doing well. ππ»
I think writing is the main thing, but some people prefer talking or talking head videos. So it's nice to have the option, but I tend to regard these features as just that: options. I wish Substack would do a couple of thiings to the writing b it. I shall post that separately
Absolutely. Itβs like writing is the poor relation!
Oh, never! There's nothing like the written word. There's nothing like opening a book and reading a good story, or opening your phone App. Video and writing are more like kissing cousins.
π
June, don't stress it, these features are completely unnecessary if you just want to read and write.
In fact I tell the new Substackers I work with to ignore all the features for at least the first 10 posts. After that, if you feel like exploring and trying the fancy stuff you can. Otherwise, if you don't want to use any of the features, just don't. It's completely possible to have a beautiful, successful Substack without using any of the extras.
Thank you, Karen. I get it really, I just want Substack to stay different from the rest, I guess. Also I am a digital Luddite so feel like I'm being left behind!
seems pretty good. What did you use to record your screen, out of interest?
Hi Terry - its a first go so hopefully I'll refine it a little as I go.
I actually used MS Stream but there are probably better packages out there that are better for editing.
Thanks, Martin
Haha, I'm right there with you, Martin. I'm a rank newbie at Substack, building a community for technology neophytes interested in sharing Family History stories at https://projectkin.substack.com/about. Virtual events are a huge part of what brings our community together.
After every event everyone yearns for the recording, resources and what I call "Project Recipes." I already had an elaborate process of inhaling video recorded on Google Meet (yep, not Zoom, happy to explain why) pulling them into Vimeo (free-level account) then pasting into Substack. (You'll have to subscribe to see it Β―\_(γ)_/Β―)
I did that for last Tuesday's event now...π₯ boom, the new video features.
I'm super impressed with them... with one exception: Transcripts. That's a fabulous features but I'm still getting "no transcript" message about an hour later. Perhaps a bug? I take the "beta" seriously, but I know my members will REALLY appreciate the feature so I'm leaving it in there in case it catches up. Maybe if I turn it off and back on?
I looked at it briefly and liked what I saw. I'll go back later and look at the whole thing.
Nice work!
That was so helpful. Thank you! (I had no idea how to view my Welcome Page!)
What was your experience testing it out? I'm brainstorming how to incorporate it for my newsletter and I'm struggling to think of ideas beyond just reading my content lol.
π§ βοΈGreetings, Substack team! May I submit three feature requests please? I don't know what others think:
* coloured text
* text wrap
* ability to Paywall particular sections rather than everything or nothing
Thanks!
I'm flummoxed there is no text wrap. Would love to see that.
I think it makes the appearance better. Also, it would be more integral to the text instead of looking like an add-on
We'll pass those along! Thanks, Terry!
Thanks, Hannah!
Hey Terry, you can paywall a section. I do that in my food safety substack (published under a different account). The section is called 'For paying subscribers' and it's linked on the navigation menu. Every post in that section is locked.
When I publish a post that is just for my paying subscribers I assign it to be 'paid only' and add assign it to the relevant section.
Thanks, Karen. I do that too, but I was thinking more specifically about the overall paywall that you can set to apply to articles after (say) two weeks. It would be really handy, I think, to be able to apply that to some sections and not others rather than to all of them or none of them -- unless I'm missing something (I frequently do because there are so many features: a nice problem to have!)
Oh yeah, that WOULD be a nice feature. Sort of tiered paywalls which can be activated at different times for different sections? I like that idea. As far as I know that's not possible right now.
yes! No it isn't. Kate@substack (I think), a few OHs ago, said she liked the idea ands would pass it along. I guess they have a huge bucket list to get through!
like these: more formatting options within the same simple tool set... I celebrate a couple hundred readers and plan to outlast the rest
the riley rock report: listen smarter
https://rileyrockreport.substack.com
LOL Well done, Tim
Oooh, I'd love to play with paywalling only certain sections! Open (or closed, if the option was there) comments and teasing the "censored" parts.
I'd love that, indeed.
Exactly, Cierra
Love these.
Thanks, Carissa :-)
I have just one thing...the ability to highlight text easily. I can do it now if I use Canva of course but it is a bit of a process. I know...first world probs
π
Love every one of these ideas! Fingers crossed.
Thanks, Donna!
Hi all! Hoping to hit 400 subscribers before 2024 and trying not to worry that Iβm not growing faster. In your experience, is it hardest to get the first 500 subscribers?
It took me half a year to get to 700 readers, after starting almost from scratch (I brought over about 70 readers from my old Mailchimp newsletter). Those first few months felt very experimental - as well as trying to learn who my readers were and where they hung out, I was also trying to discover what my newsletter was about, and how to make anyone care! I think that's why it *feels* hardest at first when you have a few hundred folk, but you also have a lot of freedom to test stuff out, see what works, experiment madly - and do things that won't scale later when your audience is bigger, like trying to get everyone onto a Zoom call, or offering free 1-to-1 chats, that sort of thing....
In short: when you're smaller, it can feel like things are slow, but I reckon there's less pressure to conform because fewer people are watching - so you can turn on a dime and go in all sorts of weird directions, just to see what happens!
"trying to discover what my newsletter [is] about, and how to make anyone care" -- still true for me at about 1,700 readers. It's also hard when the thing you initially wrote about (leaving academe, in my case) is not necessarily the thing you want to keep writing about in perpetuity! I'm presently trying to decide if I can use my literary and journalistic writing as proof of concept for my coaching/editing services and produce a content stream that is simultaneously creative and entrepreneurial. Time will tell.
I think it's remarkable, looking over your home page, just how you've woven together the elements of your newsletter... I was thinking that this week when I checked in! You do have disparate threads, but your experience is the commonality that draws them together. Well done!
Ah, thank you, Alison! I feel like I still should make more choices to simplify. But you're right that one man's experience is one way of making sense of it π
I will have to check your substack out because I have recently left my job as an in-house graphic designer and I am thinking about delving into my journey more, but I also have some many other topics I want to cover!
Happy to chat more if it would you, Mika! Best of luck.
I'd say you have proof of concept there Joshua, it seems there is always a need for coaching/editorial help.
Thank you, Donna!
Yeah, Iβve been thinking about the upsides to the βsmallβ stage, like the possibility of more direct online interactions. Maybe I should do more to take advantage of that!
Mary, I've not read all of the other comments, so apologies for any redundancy, but I'd recommend teaming up with some other writers. Interview each other, participate in a series with a few other writers, or publish a curated email exchange. Alison Acheson and I did that recently, exchanging emails over about a month, then editing that into a written conversation. We even recorded our lines separately, and I spliced it all together for a voiceover! It's fun to experiment, but more fun to do it with others.
https://joshuadolezal.substack.com/p/should-a-workshop-be-a-safe-space
Thanks, Joshuaβthese are some really cool ideas! And itβs nice to be reminded that there are lots of creative approaches left for me to try!
I like your approach Mike. I have been trying to figure out what I want to write and therefore have not published! I have so many topics I want to cover - last diagnosis ADHD, graphic design/substack tips, living a happy life etc etc. I might lean into the experimenting a bit more! Thanks!
Congratulations, Mike! So how did you figure out that sweet spot of what youβd like to settle with, to write? I just subscribed, but the way:)
Thank you, Anu! If you decide my newsletter's rubbish and unsubscribe again, I totally understand. π #BritishSelfDeprecation
I've had half an idea what I wanted to write for a long while - something about science and curiosity that gave me an excuse to learn new things that make me go "wow!", because I know from my former time as a travel writer that those "wow" moments are really infectious and make people share your work around. But it took me a while to discover a format that felt exciting enough, and a way of marketing it that let me use social media to do a boiled-down version of it. I now work in seasons, which lets me have a different theme each time - always something science-based and something that filled me with wonder and excitement when I first learned about it. So I write like a student (which I am, with 95% of what I write about), and I tell shortened versions of those stories on social media, formerly on Twitter (where one of those stories went viral and blew up my newsletter following: https://on.substack.com/p/grow-series-7) and now on Threads and elsewhere...
But mainly, it's just me discovering sciencey things I'm excited to learn more about, and then doing that learning in front of my audience, telling them about it in the form of newsletters! So far it's working nicely.
Simply βwowβ, Mike!:) Enjoy your wondrous journey and thanks for sharing! Agree π― that itβs that spark that special inspiration triggers that does not let one put that proverbial pen down!
In my experience, it's hard to get the first 25. ;)
I started by texting close friends individually with a link to my substack. Most subscribed. Now I have been including my link in places like these:) sabrinalabow.substack.com
Should I refer off-substack contacts to my davidbmiller75.substack.com or to the name of my series I have settled into, Global Challenge? How do people not on Substack find me?
It really, really is!
I'm just stack-surfing while I'm reading through these comments and I checked out your article about the latest chemical treatments. Lotta serious energy in your stuff, kid. Not necessarily butterfly and rainbow energy, but energy nonetheless. Kind of summons to mind a more convoluted Mark Vonnegut, if he was actually a better writer. I hope you enjoy yourself on your Substack adventure, if that indeed is your goal. Please remember that no one actually became a better poet by listening to Lou Reed.
(1) The fact that Kurt Vonnegut has a son who writes is news to me. In Googling him, I'm discovering that he referred to his father's fame as "unfortunate." Yowza! Kinda interesting since I was just having a debate with someone about whether the son/daughter of a famous artist can supersede their parent's success.
(2) Can I get a notarized letter for my former graduate cohort so that they, too, will finally realize that owning Lou Reed on vinyl does not a poetic genius make?
Mary, Are you on FB? Total coincidence, but I started my substack the day before my birthday, and as I announced it on FB many of my "friends" crowding my page to wish me a happy birthday also signed up for my substack. It helped me get about 50 subscribers overnight (after a year, I have over 700.) Try it with a landmark anniversary or whatever, and mention your substack at the same time, and see how it works out.
Hi Mauraβwhat a great idea! I also found that when I was super close to a βbig numberβ announcing it on Twitter got me more extra subscribers than I needed!
Hi Mary, I think I read the first 500 are the hardest to get and then it goes faster. I believe it's more likely that every publication is different. I have found slow, gradual growth all along (which I am very thankful for). Congrats on almost 400 subscribers!
Thanks, Donna! Itβs helpful to be reminded that slow but steady is a good thing.
I often remind myself to stick to my own lane. It's easy for me to get wound up in other people's numbers and it makes me not feel so good so I make an effort to avoid that.
Man, itβs so annoying when I realise I still have to learn the very same lessons Iβm teaching my kidβ¦. ππβ€οΈ
Haha, yes I hate it when that happens (again!).
I heard it was 250, but that wasn't true for me. It seems like I'm growing slightly faster now, but it's still a lesson in patience and learning how to not be so hung up on numbers. I think it will ultimately make me a better writer, but as a performance marketer, it's very hard.
I have 21 and counting! So far it feels like it's hand-to-hand combat, but then every reader counts and it's nice to see a lot of people I know committing to read me.
Absolutely, Sybil, what you said re: every reader counting, is so true. I get excited about each new subscriber and feel such deep gratitude that even one person has been touched by what I write. Progress can be slow, but patience pays off.
I know, right? Iβm almost *more* excited/nervous when someone I know subscribes!
Me too, and I tried disabling the βemailed disabledβ notifications but I couldnβt not know. I want to get to a point where I donβt worry about who subscribed and who disabled.
That is the best feeling. I only have something like 65 or so but they all open my newsletter right away which makes me think I'm doing something right! sabrinalabow.substack.com
Iβm hoping to hit half that. 58 to hit 200. Seems tough but fingers crossed.
Slow and steady wins the race (at least that's what I tell myself Raj!).
I know, and to think that I had a goal of 1000 at the beginning of the year... I must have been out of my senses.
Congrats!
Thank you!
Well they say "the first 1000 is the hardest" :)
ππ
My first 500 flew in. It's slower for me, since, with a certain amount of churn now happening. Trend is upward but nothing like the growth rate of year 1. I imagine everyone is different though
This is definitely the sense Iβm getting!
Is there a way to preview a specific quote or line and/or embed that quote in a promo image from a post, and if so, how?
Example: https://substack.com/@simonkjones/note/c-43844260
^. I like that. How do I do that?
Yes! This is something new we rolled out to help readers share excerpts they love.
To make these, highlight any text within a post you're reading and select βshare quoteβ to generate a shareable image. You can customize the background and sizing so that itβs ready to use on the social platform of your choice.
Here's more info: https://on.substack.com/p/office-hours-92/comments
Thanks! Is there a way to do this on a post of your own? I've tried but the preview text shows nothing when I've looked up the shareable images interface.
I just checked .... and my shareable images interface has changed. The results look like this sample now. You can toggle preview text on and off, and you can choose the image background, white, or your theme color. Looks like a nice update! (The preview text though is automatically selected.)
Ah, okay; I've got the image background and the white or theme color part, but the preview text button doesn't seem to do anything for me. Maybe it's a rolling update? Hm.
Yes this is great! I would like to know this too.
I can't imagine any scenario where my Substack doesn't become so popular and famous that I become the first-ever write-in candidate that wins the United States Presidential Election. As President, obviously, all my communication needs to have top flight security clearance. So my question is: Will the Secret Service allow me to Substack?
Doubtful! Love the confidence though! sabrinalabow.substack.com
As long as nothing that you say in your substack is true or even helpful. Then you should be fine. You'll have many years of precedent behind you, if nothing else.
I plan on writing about how "beautiful" my leadership is and how everyone who disagrees with me is a "loser". I've heard that works somehow.
As a gigantic fan of the gentleman you speak of and his speaking style, I wholeheartedly agree that it works somehow. Like you, however, I wish there were a social lubricant available--like a "Be Nice and Be Fair" pill--that would make this kind of rhetoric unnecessary. Even if the classic Donaldesque Bull-in-the-china-shop' style of governance doesn't appeal to you, his proximity to Washington DC makes his seemingly scattershot claim of "loser" against any opposition statistically almost certain. If you're actually living in Washington DC and just throw a rock blindfolded in any direction, the chances that you'll be hitting a loser in the head are very high.
You again! Well, the Queen took away Megan Markle's blog, so the odds are looking bad. You can only choose one form of global domination.
Look, it took me two weeks to solve the Taylor Swift issue. As a future President and potential Ruler of the Earth, I have to be cognizant of the demands on my time!
I was under the impression that Rulers of the Earth had minions to outsource all their labor to soooo....
Also, you're telling me TayTay finally left you alone? Because I'm pretty sure I saw you two canoodling on the field after the most recent Chiefs game. Tsk Tsk.
No no no that wasn't me. It was probably an incredibly handsome football player or movie star, so I can understand the confusion. It happens all the time. "No no no, that was NOT me in Fight Club" is like, my every day.
Minions. Not a bad idea. Maybe I can even rule THROUGH substack. "Hey," I'll post. "Somebody go fix the economy. And while you're at it, fetch me a bourbon." I'll be a kind and benevolent ruler.
Jajaja. Good luck!
This is a very important question! Way to aim big Joseph!
Well, you know what they say, "Aim for the moon, and at least you'll probably be arrested for discharging firearms into the air." Or something like that.
Gotta be careful with those aphorisms: I once had my reach exceed my grasp, and got slapped with a restraining order. Live and loin, I say.
I tried going with βLife isnβt about the breaths you take, itβs about the moments that take someone elseβs breath away because you choked them out for posting too many generic motivational memesβ but was told thatβs too clunky.
π§ This great Reddit thread popped up yesterday in the Substack Writers group, where folks are sharing how long it took them to reach 200 subscribers, and what strategies they used. I shared a few thoughts, and already got five new subscribers from my interactions there, so check it out and drop your two cents:
https://www.reddit.com/r/Substack/s/nvKKb70ccn
Folks in the thread have been asking me how I have achieved a nearly 20% conversion rate on paid subscribers, with 65-75% open rates. I have a lot to share, so I am working on a post documenting my journey.
If youβd like to receive it, sign up for my Substack at www.lizexplores.com, where I write about infertility, mental health, and adventure. Iβm hoping to share my strategies post in the coming week. (Very meta, I knowβ¦)
I'll chime in that The Sample is a useful tool to add a few dozen followers of decent quality. https://thesample.ai/?ref=f259
Awesome, Kevin, thanks for sharing! Iβve never heard of that one. Iβm going to check it out!
βοΈ Hi everyone! I recently started sharing fiction on Substack. Here's my first story: https://macyseestheworld.substack.com/p/sparrow-bones-part-i
Are there other fiction writers out there who'd like to connect or who have advice about how to build a fiction-centered community? Also, feel free to drop your best/most recent stories for us to read!
Check out The Library https://thelinklibrary.substack.com/
Wowo such a helpful resource! Excited to check out all the writers on there. :)
Grateful for all this! I intend to revise a novel manuscript I adore. Serializing could be a cool way to share as I go. Still, I've heard fiction is a tough 'sell' around here...
There are a lot. You should look up Talebones, Erica Drayton, The Link Library, and Fictionistas. https://theauthorstack.com
Yes! Fictionistas is a community of fiction writers on Substack https://fictionistas.substack.com/
I also write both short fiction (https://www.elysian.press/t/short-fiction) and serialized fiction (https://www.elysian.press/t/oblivion).
Nice to meet you, and good luck!
I too write fiction. Although I write other things such as essays and observations, my stack is exclusively fiction. Here's a recent one:
https://dcreed.substack.com/p/how-clouds-became-his-cradle
When you say:
"To me, one of the most magical things about being human is our infinite imagination,"
I say yes! A great of putting it. All the best and welcome!
Awesome! I'll be checking it out soon. π€
Hi Macy! I'm sharing serialized fiction here (amongst other things) and have followed you. I highly recommend subscribing to and getting involved with ficitonistas if you haven't yet: https://fictionistas.substack.com/
Just what I'm looking for. Thanks Kerry!
I've been thinking about bringing some of my fiction to Substack. My current Substack, "The Art of Unintended Consequences" is basically Non-Fiction, but I kind of push the limits of each story into Fiction territory. Can't help it. <g>
Also, as I'm sure you've seen a ton of creators are requesting that you get rid of the revision to our post's visual assets that shows the first paragraph of the post, instead of just the post title and subtitle as you did before. Because the first paragraph of most posts is usually welcome and throat-clearing, the visuals look clunky and unprofessional now.
i saw an option to "turn off preview", that should work. I don't like the first paragraph on my images either.
Was that option in the settings of the post Juliet?
In terms of removing the first paragraph, when I went to see the image assets created for a post, it took me to another window. There you can edit the size of the picture, as well as the color. There is also a button that says βremove previewβ and that will remove text from the first paragraph from the image asset.
Thanks!
You can access the images through settings if thatβs what you mean!
Hi Courtney. Sorry about this! Yes, we heard writer feedback and made a change. You can now toggle to decide if you want to show the paragraph or not!
Whew! Glad about being able to turn that first paragraph off - or I was going to have to really start re-thinking how I was going to write it πΈ
That's awesome to hear, thanks Bailey!
Totally with you there Courtney. We should at least have the option to edit the text.
Oh, gee, this is exactly the request I just posted. π
Agree. I tended not to use them before, even less now, because they're not really 'shares', you still have to physically add a link. I can't see the point.
I'm glad u said that, June because I've spent months thinking I was missing something obvious
Well, unless I am too....
It's just a picture. You still have to go to the relevant post and grab the url so, hey, who needs that? Give us an 'asset' pic that takes you o the post by clicking on it - THAT would be something.
My thinking is that because the links can't be hyperlinked inside the image, that's why there isn't any link. With visual assets you always need to rely on LinkTree or add a link in IG stories or what have you so that the link becomes live and useable. They do include the site name of the creator's Substack-- but the link itself would require someone copying it down and retyping it in manually.
that would be the obvious and the ideal thing. When I do repost to Twitter etc (I mainly don't bother) I just select my own graphic
I complained about this as well a week or two ago. Finally I found, somewhere deep in the settings, a way to remove the preview text. If only that were the default!
βοΈI had no idea you could do this - thank you! I will try that. Because I appreciate the ready-to-go social posts but the first 'graf doesn't make sense... or ends in ellipses....
π§ I agree! If we could customize a quote to put in that space, that would be much better.
π§ New to Substack? This guide will help you all the way.
https://open.substack.com/pub/raisini/p/from-zero-to-100000-subscribers-the?r=aegif&utm_medium=ios&utm_campaign=post
i've used Substack video a few times, when sharing song demos! i don't have a lot of subscriptions which use video very much but i honestly welcome the focus on it.
how is everyone doinggggg? are we all going to take breaks over Christmas or are we gonna schedule it, or just power through and keep writing during the holidays?
In theory I'm going to schedule ahead, but as I love writing and hate parties I might just continue as per usual as far as I can!
You could do what I do and write AT parties. Decorum and good social manners be damned!
LOL Well, I often write in my head and go on automatic pilot in social gatherings, but I have to say I like your style!
Hold up, hold up, are you a lit and poetry person? Because if so, I think we were destined to meet. I did my undergrad degree in Lit, my MFA in poetry, and taught writing to a bunch of ungrateful, non-reading college students for eight years! I'm cruising through your Substack right now, and am delighted that someone else is reading poetry!
I bet your holiday parties would totally LOVE a spontaneous poetry slam!
A good reason not to party!
Quite!
I'm scheduling it all out.
i think i'm gonna do a hybrid, schedule a bit and keep writing in the quiet holiday time.
I have three planned posts left to write, and then during my Christmas break I plan to start working ahead through January and part of February. Have to take advantage of the non-teaching time when I can!
I gonna take a break over Christmas and New year.
We all need a break now and then :)
I already schedule as much as I can, holidays or no. I publish 2/week so it's good to have a backlog in case one week is busier than the others. I try not to think in terms of taking a break from writing. If you're trying to keep a regular schedule, the discipline of writing regularly is too important to give up.
I use the Susbtack Video app to read out my stories every weekend on SHORT STORIES AFTER 8. It's a great tool to use. I've since decided that I will continue to read out my STORIES AFTER 8, and "Paywall" my Serial novel, which I put out on Wednesdays. I don't know if it will work, but I'm committed to making it work. You have the choice of either listening and reading along to my stories, or breaking the Paywall down and reading my novel.
Fellow singer/songwriter here too! I come from jazz and gospel (not folk), and love improv. I'm gonna use Substack video as incentive to expand looping and freestyling. Enjoy your holiday whatever you choose!
Hi Olivia, I didn't realise you were a songwriter! Musician, writer and songwriter here too, saying hello.
Are you taking a break over Christmas? I think I'll just keep going.
π§ Shameless Self Promo here. I would love to be featured as a humor writer. I just started interviewing Funny AF Women. There are so many funny gals I may have to post twice a week to keep up with the plethora of interviews.
π§I got an email today from a Substack which said "You've been invited to subscribe to xxx". It was sent to my personal email address not my Substack address. The subject line was βPlease confirm your email for xxxβ. There was a link in it with the words βis this spam?β but it just went to a blank Support page.
There is small print saying βYou received this email because you asked to be notified when added to a mailing list. Change your settings here.β But I couldnβt see anything relevant. And anyway, I donβt want to be added to a mailing list unless I ask to. I know I havenβt subscribed to this (itβs only 2 days old).
I donβt want random Stacks to βinviteβ me β how do I make it stop? How did they get my email address? And why are you allowing this? Itβs a serious privacy issue.
I've had two pubs add me without permission in the past few weeks, so I went into my settings and clicked the box that requires that I be contacted before adding (guess this is the type of email invite you received).
I'm just glad they can no longer subscribe me without permission. But if they find my email, there's really no way to stop them from trying (same as anywhere else, outside of Substack). One person who I reported on Substack then emailed me saying Substack removed their pub due to me. I did not respond, but it's highly disturbing that this (random spammy stranger) is emailing me. Not sure that Substack can fix this, but very unsettling.
Darn, that sucks a lot.
Yes, very. And probably violating several data protection laws. Substack needs to sort this out pronto.
yes, definitely not cool.
Don't do anything that seems suspicious! That sounds like a scam! sabrinalabow.substack.com
π§ Engagement metrics: What does reader engagement look like throughout the year? Does readership dip through the holidays?
Hi Cissy! It really depends on your publication, content and audience. You can see your publication stats in your writer dashboard and see what days, months, etc your readers are more active. I suggest you check out our guide to Substack metrics: https://support.substack.com/hc/en-us/articles/5320347155860-A-guide-to-Substack-metrics
thanks, Bruno β appreciate you flagging the post!
My read rates increase in the holidays, even (so weird) for my "for work" publication (published under a different account).
When I asked, readers told me they use holidays to catch up on stuff they have been meaning to get around to reading. Or, if they are stuck at work during holiday periods they often have fewer ordinary tasks and can catch up on emails.
My lowest free-to-paid periods seem to be late August, early September, which I assume is due to the pressures of the new school/work year in the Northern Hemisphere... people maybe don't have as much time to read.
that's super interesting β I can remember poking around for things to read during the holiday lull in December. the end of summer dip makes sense too as everyone's getting back to school, etc.
thanks, Karen :)
I've only been writing for 6 months, however I posted my last story on Thanksgiving Day, hoping people wanted a break from their racist uncle at the dinner table, and was pleasantly surprised to see a lot of emails opened that day, or the next. I might not post on New Year's day, as people will be hung over, but I want to assume the holidays presents some free time for people to read.
great to hear you had some Thanksgiving readers, Yamuna! this thread has convinced me to post through the holidays β appreciate you sharing :)
I haven't noticed anything. Summer is the real killer, but holidays for me last year were pretty good. I think it's because people have more down time for general reading.
Mine certainly dips on Weekends and at night.
Good question. I've been on Substack only since August, so I'm a bit curious about that, too.
βοΈ Just happy to join this community. A month ago I started what I think might be a pretty niche publication about our desire for the perfect cure and have about 55 subscribers. I am also looking at views - more than 1180 in my first month. Feels good to use my journalist's research skills + my real voice. I love engaging with other writers too. Y'all are amazing. This is hard work. Looking forward to more, including collaborating with others.
This looks fascinating! Iβm intrigued by your niche--Iβm making research-based comics about shame on my substack--also pretty niche. Good luck!
Yay to meet you, Niche-pal! I'm doing a research-based Graphic Medicine comic on shame (throwing in trauma, ACE, etc just for fun). Have only shared a taste of it here on Substack. I'll look into your work...
Ooh, that sounds awesome. There's a bunch of new work on shame in graphic medicine--I'm so happy to see it.
Feels weird to celebrate Shame, but we're so glad it's out of the closet!
Thank you! I love yours. You have a new subscriber.
I write about circadian and quantum health in the childbearing year - and Iβve been wondering if I am maybe too niche? Is that possible?
I think a great feature to have would be the ability to create our own lists in Notes of people we want to follow. Being able to refine it ourselves to "Musicians", "Poets", or whatever would be amazing.
Thanks for writing in and sharing your thoughts and ideas with us. Weβre working hard to make Substack better and part of that is hearing from folks like you!Β Iβll be sure to pass your feedback along to the Product team for discussion.
Thanks!
π§ Fantastic idea. RN itβs an algorithm that decides for us.
Well actually, it's just who you follow, and who they follow. It's two degrees of separation!
@substack once mentioned it's an algorithm that brings up who you engage with most. Hmmm.
βοΈ Hi, all!
Iβve been seeing a lot of people write about, or allude to, experiences within toxic workplaces. While itβs truly heartbreaking to read about what some people have been through, itβs also very empowering to see such experiences discussed openly.
Iβm wondering... how do you guys balance the fine line between authentically sharing what happened and avoiding saying something that could result in legal repercussions?
Yeah, that is always challenging when you are trying to be authentic. How far can you go? A few initial thoughts.
1. The BIG NUMBER 1... never mention the company's or anyone else's name or actual position.
2. Write under a screen name and see #1 above.
3. Not as powerful, but write as if you are telling stories of other people, with a very subtle wink and a nod that it is really you. Can be effective if done right and told with passion.
But really, the best approach is to be yourself, be authentic, be passionate, and see #1 above.
Oh, absolutely on #1! Yes, the authenticity and passion is key. Thanks for sharing!
hey Brina, you could consider writing via another stack or telling your story anonymously etc.
It doesn't always have to be in the first person...
That's so true! I think that would be a useful avenue to explore. Thanks for bringing that up!
Love this question because I've written--and then refrained from publishing--true stuff that I was afraid someone in the piece would see...even though I didn't use names. I think that light fictionalization helps; pseudonyms help; disguising an industry helps. The emotional honesty can still be very real.
Amy, I feel you on the fear aspect. I'm kind of in a similar boat. Yeah, I think the light fictionalization can be useful in these cases, especially to still do justice to the event. Appreciate your insights!
This is a good question. Iβve been a blogger for a long time. My about page has my journey as a blogger/writer and being vulnerable to write what I feel took time. Yeah, surely we donβt want to end up in any legally issue when we write about work, but that doesnβt mean we should shy away from our right to write. This is where I think satire and creative non-fiction helps. Readers are smart enough to read between the lines.
Oh, for sure! I think the reading between the lines aspect plays a major role in sharing stories like these -- what we don't say often conveys more than what's actually said. Thanks for sharing your thoughts!
Totally, Iβll subscribe to your stories for sure.
π§ So I'm turning on my PAYWALL -- not yet, but in three weeks from now. I've decided that I'm going to read out my SHORT STORIES AFTER 8 ever Sunday night, and that my serial work on Wednesdays is going behind the paywall. I'm doing this to generate income so I'll be able to print up my stories and mail them to all of my PAID subscribers. It's something I've been thinking about for some time now. I feel if people want my novellas in book form, they can sign up for one. All they have to do is send me a post card with their address on it. I need 65-70 PAID subscribers though. So I dropped the price of a yearly subscription down to $30 (Can), which is dirt cheap. ($21 American.) I don't expect a lot of people will take me up on this, because I don't have a huge following, but hopefully some will.
Congrats!πΎππ
How did you do that? It seems like the default minimum you can set for an annual subscription is $50. I haven't been able to change that.
I think it depends on where you live. I live in Canada. But when you go to your subscriber page and go onto your settings, on the left there is a "contents" section. Go to the PAYMENTS. That's where you can make changes to what you want to charge. $5/month, or $50/year. You can change the $50 to its lowest setting, which is $30/year. The $5/month is already the lowest setting.
It's the 4th one from the top.
π§ Anyone interested in lending voiceovers to fellow stacks. This is another way of guest posting that may be lucrative for both. Thoughts?
I have a public radio and theater background and would be delighted to read selected pieces. Hadn't thought about it. Don't want to steal thunder from professional voiceover artists--which I am not.
Thank you Amy, I will connect with you on this. The idea is to have more options for substackers to collaborate and cross promote.
amy@amywrites.live
You mean that you would do a voiceover for someone else's article??
Yes, and vice versa. Here is an example of a post I wrote and a fellow writer here gave an awesome voiceover. https://rajofftherecord.substack.com/p/the-last-black-man-in-san-francisco
I love his voice. A British accent should be required for voiceovers :)
Iβm British. My voice is open for guesting. I adore this idea.
Well, I certainly wouldn't turn anyone down that wanted to do voicovers for my posts :)
Some would say Scottish and Irish are good too! Dulcet tones abound.
Yes yes and yes. My substack is a diverse one and diverse voice is welcome with all our imperfections π
Oh, I'm an American. It's all British to me ;)
Think Sean Connery, Daniel Day Lewis and Catriona Balfe...
I do reaally crappy remixed UK accents, tossing in some Aussie and Kiwi for fun. My speech therapist daughter is horrified, which I enjoy π
Oh, interesting. I do some voice work already, I am a trained clinical hypnotherapist..
Please connect with me and letβs work it out. Iβm a big fan of accents and would love to work with you. Raj@13apples.com
So... I guess that you would then make a link with 'voiceover by'??
It sounds like a cool idea.
I think some support around video makes a lot of sense to me. I love reading and writing essays, but sometimes there is something that calls for a video/audio supplement. I think that's the thing everyone needs to keep in mind: these are tools for you to use at your discretion.
Here's my first video in case anyone is curious. I embedded it into an essay with a transcript for accessibility. https://theeditingspectrum.substack.com/p/video-3-quotes-i-loved-this-week
Video link didnβt work but my internet is slow this morning. Was it fairly easy to post? Did you record earlier and post later or was it βlive.β
Yes! I just uploaded it to a regular post, scrolled a bit to choose a thumbnail and copied/pasted in the transcript from an AI transcription service I started paying for. Although, now I understand that I can cancel that and just use Substack's built-in one, so I'm pretty happy for that $14/month savings. :)
Awesome!
I would love the option to disable notes. I know. Iβm a Luddite. Iβm a sensitive soul who canβt handle social media. Iβd love to be able to disable that feature when I need to and only access my inbox.
Maybe more relevant filters rather than just Explore and Following would help so make sure notes is more than a popularity contest of a feed.
It would be nice to be able to filter so I just see people I follow. That would keep it less of an endless scroll, but still introduce me to new writers through the interactions of those I follow.
I don't think you can actually disable it, but you can avoid it.
My Substack bookmark in my browser used to go to https://substack.com - When logged in, that *used* to bring me to my inbox.
A while back, Substack changed it so that https://substack.com goes to Notes instead.
I changed my bookmark to https://substack.com/inbox
That is smart! I just discovered that the Substack app on my (oldish) ipad somehow still has the old interface--no notes! But I can still stack posts and interact with any engagement on what Iβve stacked through notifications, so itβs the best of both worlds. So Iβm just going to hope that my iPad never dies and never updates, then Iβll be fine π
I heard that iPads live forever...:)
I see the value of notes, but I very much would like them separated from the reading experience for the same reason. In my dream world, only my inbox would be available in the app, but I could access notes from the webapp when I'm working!
I see the value of it too, and probably wouldnβt keep it disabled all the time. Before coming onto Substack I deactivated all my social media and itβs been so good for my mental health. At first Substack was the perfect option for me--limited social media in the comments sections of posts. But notes is starting to impact me the way every other social media platform has--for the worse--and Iβm not sure what to do with that:).
SAME!!!! I have no other social media so Substack was a breath of fresh air for me. But notes is still a struggle for me!
π§ I'd love it if the image asset that accompanies a post could just include the headline and subhead. Including additional text leading into the piece seems awkward and detracts from the headline itself. It doesn't necessarily function as a teaser.
You can turn it off. There's a "preview text" toggle button now.
I like the asset options--I just want the autoformat to only provide headline and subhead. I'm guessing that's not something I can manipulate.
The current iteration shows the headline and subhead (even if "preview text" is toggled off). If you turn the preview text on, more text shows, but the other elements stay either way.
Any Irish Substackers on here???
Laura Kennedy? https://lkennedy.substack.com/
Thanks Mike! How did I not know she was on Substack???
My pleasure! She is absolutely the best of folk, and her Substack is so beautifully written.
I suspect you are one of the best of folk too, Mike, you are so encouraging and supportive of other writers. π
Thank you, Ali. βΊοΈ Nah, I'm an idiot. Just ask my bank manager...
π€£π€£π€£
See Sharon Thompson Your Writing Space https://sharonthompson.substack.com/
Thanks Mr. Troy!
Michael is a great one! https://edinburghguardian.substack.com/
Thanks Bailey, he does have a great Substack, and he has a great story of his success here, but he's based in Scotland. π
Omg that's embarrassing !!! Major error!!!
π€£
Galway via Zaragoza, Howya!
Hey, great to meet you, love your Substack, working remotely from a warmer country for part of the year is my and my husband's dream!
π₯βοΈ I am wondering if/when Substack will introduce an AI writing app built-in to the text editor, and whether people would actually like this. I use another platform that does that and I think (a) the quality of the output is rubbish (thank goodness!), and (b) it is fundamentally dishonest, and (c) I write so much as it is I don't need help from an AI bot. But I wondered what people's thoughts on the idea are
I can't say I'm keen on the idea. I suspect that we are going to be swamped with AI-generated content as it is, much of it rubbish. I'm pretty sure people come to Substack partly for the connection they get with the human writer.
That is precisely the reason, or at least one of the top reasons they come to substack. It is an exploration of the human condition. sabrinalabow.substack.com
indeed
my thoughts too, Melanie, I just thought I'd flag it up because two platforms I use have gone down that route and it's not a selling point as far as I'm concerned
I hope it never happens here. If it does they're going to have to change their motto about 'good writing'.
very true, Ramona
NO. AI seriously waters down the quality and thus the intention here. I tried chat GPT several times to edit posts (more funny, shorter, etc). NOT my voice, not my monkeys.
I agree, although it's sometimes useful for kick-starting ideas. Not that I have any trouble in that department
I would not like that. People can just go to ChatGPT if they want to use AI. But to have it as a platform offering seems antithetical to the grassroots nature of writing. I think it would encourage too many people to start "writing" in the hopes of making money, but the quality will be too poor, and downgrade the entire platform. AI also sounds very assembly-line, so I feel it would dilute the quality offered on Substack. Just my two cents!
"antithetical to the grassroots nature of writing": well put, Yamuna
Not keen at all.
me neither
please, no...
Just the kind of response I was hoping for. I hope the Substack people read these comments
Noooooooooooooo.
π€£π±
No, just no :(
Being creative is more fun!
Totally agree, Jezz
Man, I just quit teaching over the proliferation of Chat GPT and indifference of administrators to it. I'm gonna lose my mind if Substack decides to let my nemesis AI mosey over here, too. πππ
I've met that sort of indifference/denial as well
I agree with your thoughts on this. Even the AI art is hilarious. @cafeanne posted an example where the woman was missing a hand.
faces are often not too great either! Mind you, I think AI art is, on the whole, much better than AI writing
π§ -I recently started doing voiceovers for my posts (since Substack doesn't like me and won't do automatic ones :). Is there any way for me to find out how often people listen to them?
Unfortunately, that's not possible at the moment. Iβll be sure to pass this along to the Product team for discussion.
i am trying to write as many guest posts as possible, I have had good success with growing my audience via cannibalizing other audiences
how do I find new Substacks to guest post on?
I started guest posting too lately and love it. My stack is ready for guest posts if you find it fitting. The Marinade is diverse in its content and readership so most content should fit. Cheers!
I'm curious how you reach out to Substackers you want to do a guest post for. Via notes? A comment on a story? Or do they reach out to you? I've been thinking about this lately and am just wondering how to best approach it.
Yeah itβs been a challenge because there is no messaging interface in substack, I donβt know if we need one because itβs another way for spammers too. Anyway I have been giving my insta handle to connect @rajofftherecord or raj@13apples.com to collaborators here.
Good to know, thanks! I know, I often wish there was a messaging interface but then think about all the spamming opportunities that could open up.
Btw your first name is the name of the state in India that Iβm from. Thought you should know. π
I'm named after it! My father studied drumming there before I was born, and I had the opportunity to visit myself a while ago. Such a beautiful place!
I have been approached, and also approached others, by our Substack email. Also by Instagram dm but that's hard for me because I rarely check it.
I love collabs! I'll look into your stack as well - divergent thinkers UNITE! ππ½
Thank you, looking forward to it. Iβll check and subscribe to yours as well.
Hi Raj, that sounds interesting. I'll have a sneaky peek at your Stack and see if we're a good match.
Perfect, let me know. I have subscribed to your stack now to check it out as well. Looking fwd to collaborating.
Thanks Raj. I'll be in touch.
Do you do 'letter exchanges'?
Maybe try these paths, if you happen to have not already done so!
1. Check out the Discover page (https://substack.com/browse) to search for new writers based on categories you're interested in, or use search.
2. Visit your Subscriber report to learn about your audience and where you overlap with other publishers on Substack.
Hey Christopher I'd be happy to collaborate. Lets see how many you can cannibalize :-)
Find other stacks that may have a similar audience.
I started a Funny AF Women interview series. Itβs been surprisingly easy to find funny women. ππ
π§ Two suggestions I would make for the Substack team to think about for the future, and I know it probably won't be any time soon. I would love to be able to combine my website with my Substack in one of two ways:
- Substack offers the ability to create a basic website into which I can integrate my Substack newsletter/main page
- I can somehow embed the latter into my existing website in place of my blog (which offers the exact same articles at the moment)
I know y'all want to keep it free and that's fine but I would pay extra for this.
π§ - I had some fun with the voiceover feature this week as part of a collaboration with Alison Acheson. Scheduling live interviews is hard, and sometimes writers want to get the words right. So we opted for an email exchange over about a month that we edited into a written conversation. Then we each recorded our lines, doing a little acting to make it feel less canned, and I combined the two recordings into a single file for the voiceover.
This isn't groundbreaking, but I mention it because it can be a real timesaver compared to podcasting. If you're recording lines instead of speaking extemporaneously, you don't have much editing to do. All you do is create a voice memo, press record once, and create pauses between segments or when you mess up and want to start over. The result makes your content accessible to more readers and gives someone the option of pressing "play" while making dinner or doing something else with their hands.
Here's the result: https://joshuadolezal.substack.com/p/should-a-workshop-be-a-safe-space
What a fun use case for voiceovers! I love when posts end up in my inbox with a voiceover, it might be my favorite feature.
I'm kicking myself for not using it earlier for poems. Even essays don't take that much time. One limitation of the Substack recording feature is that you have to get a perfect take to make it usable. Audacity allows for continuous recording, so you just pause, start over at the beginning of a sentence or paragraph instead of at the very beginning, and keep going until you get it right. I'm planning to use it regularly for everything that doesn't include video going forward.
Thanks for clarifying: You record in voice memo, edit breaks in Audacity, then post and share via Voiceover? I tried voiceover months ago - frustrated by lack of edits.
Exactly. You can waste a ton of time doing multiple takes with the built-in recorder to get it right. You can record in voice memo or directly in audacity, just leave the recording rolling, and pause between segments or when you mess up. Instead of starting at the very beginning for a second take, as you have to do with Substack's recorder, you can just start at the beginning of the previous sentence or paragraph.
Power of the Pause!
βοΈ would love tips on how to *easily* offer more things for paid subscribers
This is a great question Kristina. I am doing a series on creating change that moves us toward wholeness (as opposed to fixing something that's broken), I plan to do a live presentation for my paid subscribers that will involve Q&A, I will be offering guest posts, audio and video for them. The main thing I find is building community through heart centered relationships.
Thank you! I def have to explore this platform a bit more...I could see myself offering videos or live video meditations for paid subscribers perhaps.
Live meditations would be wonderful. Sarah Blondin does something similar here for her paid subs.
I offer different downloads based on subscriber tier. Free gets a protocol, paid gets workshops and courses that I pre-recorded, and founding memberβs get a google drive of research resources. So, the bulk of my paid content is already created and not something I have to write in addition to my weekly free content.
Oh, I love this! Yes, one of my concerns was not being able to come up with consistent offerings for my paid tiers. I love the idea of research resources! Going to be adding something like that. Thank you!
Awesome! I hope it goes well for you. Itβs fun for me because it feels like the people in those tiers are working along with me as βfriends in the workβ and seeing a more behind-the-scenes view of everything I put into my publication.
I wrote about how to expand content easily here. https://theauthorstack.com/p/growth-or-something-like-it
Repurposing previously written articles - You can either do a "season of reruns" or a "season of updates" where you take your old posts and either beef them up with new information, or you comment on them with how things have changed in some way. Mike Sowden does this with Everything Is Amazing. Between seasons he will rereleases episodes from his archive, which I think is really smart.
Repurposing things you said on social media - Kathryn Vercillo blew my mind when she tagged me on a βThings I Said in Substack Notes This Week and Have More To Say Aboutβ post. This is an ingenious way to repurpose work you have already done.
Voicemails - Either record voicemails for your subscribers or get voicemails from them and do a roundup of them. Meg Conley does this on her Homeculture publication.
Best of lists - This can be compiled by somebody else, like a VA or even AI, if you give them the format. You can also just pull a bunch of quotes about a subject and line them up together, as well. Resilience, Courage, Love, whatever you want. This is also a great way to build SEO with your target audience.
Q and A - If you do take voicemails, you can use them as a Q and A segment where the audience is making most of the content except for your answer. Tara McMullin does this weekly on her Substack.
Hire a "monthly intern" or "guest editor" - Rusty Foster from Today in Tabs has a monthly intern they bring in to write articles.
Asynchronous interviews - Lots of people do asynchronous interviews, where you send a series of similar questions to people and then post their responses. Scott Neumyer does them. Gareth L. Powell does them. Jane Ratcliffe does them. Sari Botton does them.
Cross-posting - One of the easiest things you can do is to cross-post interesting articles to your audience from other Substacks. This takes almost no time, and is criminally underused. Itβs a great way to beef up your publication while also promoting other people. I will usually only cross-post work that I've written, but I have been cross-posted before and it's great.
Guest posting - This takes longer if youβre the one writing it, but itβs an amazing way to get more content, especially if you have a publication with some traction.
Thank you for sharing these extensive tips! Going to come back to this later tonight :)
π§ don't be afraid to stop writing after this next week. I have found that posting less has only increased my subscriber count while allowing me to focus on what I want to do. Plus its the holidays, people will be busy.
Great point.
A feature by which one could go back as see notes and comments would be nice!
Not sure what you mean. You can go to 'activty' and go back and see notes and comments, and you can go to your own profile and see your own notes.
Where is "activity?" I see :
Home
Posts
Podcast
Subscribers
Stats
Recommendations
Settings
On the screen where you see those things, look at the upper right hand. You should see several parallel horizontal lines along with a little image. Click the image that drop downs should have 'activity' as a choice.
Yes Von is correct. You can go to activity and see notes and comments. I dread this part of the deal. A lot of technological components. Ugh! sabrinalabow.substack.com
π§ I'm a physician and much of my writing will be medical commentaries. I haven't set my banner up. Do you recommend me including a photo of me in my "official" white coat on my banner.
Hell yes.
I am hosting a Substack meetup in Long Beach on 12/8 at the Hangar @ LBX. https://lu.ma/t2e7t0j7
Good luck. Hannukkah starts on December 7, which is also Pearl Harbor Day. Question is: is it also Hamas get-to-know-you day too?
Well, this is the 8th. So, it's not the same day.
How will the world change?
I have literally zero idea what you're talking about. It sounds like you are spouting nonsense and trying to pick a fight, and I'm not interested. A Substack meetup a day after a holiday starts does nothing to support or detract from that holiday.
What is Substack doing to deal with the increasing presence of extreme right wing authors? I am all for free speech however some of what I am reading and hearing about is not pretty.
βοΈ Hello fellow writers, I am looking ahead to the spring of 2024 and would like some ideas to celebrate the 5th anniversary of the publication of my book, "Tap, Taste, Heal: Used Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT) to Eat Joyfully and Love Your Body," which was released by North Atlantic Books in April 2019:
https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/595395/tap-taste-heal-by-marcella-friel/
I'm envisioning the event to be a few weeks to a month long. My goals with the event would be to sell copies of the book and to build my audience here on Substack.
My ideas include
β’ Interviews with the people who endorsed the book
β’ Interviews with experts I mention in the book
β’ Reprinting excerpts of the book on my Substack
β’ Hosting a giveaway of book copies
β’ Essay(s) by me about what has changed for me since the publication of the book
β’ What else?
Thanks for taking time to respond.
Sounds like a wonderful book! Maybe a Zoom Q&A with you would be nice too. I attended an online book launch party for an author a few months ago but she called it a book christening party and the participants are like fairy godmothers bringing blessings for the book.
That's sweet! Maybe I could do a birthday party. Thanks for that suggestion!
Youβre welcome, Marcella. I use EFT in my coaching session too. Congratulations on your book!
Thanks so much! I look forward to reading your material.
I just read a few of your lovely posts - about your Tibetan teacher, and officiating the wedding in the labyrinth. Looking forward to more reading later!
What about a book birthday celebration, maybe with cake and a reading of some of your favorite parts of the book?
Yes that's what I got from the post above. Great minds think alike!
Check out https://createmefree.substack.com/p/how-to-do-a-virtual-book-tour-on
π§ Hello Substack brass. Was wondering if you've considered implementing a feature where subscribers or non-subscribers are prompted to pay for a specific post. Seems like it's working well for Patreon, Passes, and other subscription content services. Thanks!
π§ Will these office hours ever be at a consistent time? I find them valuable, but I miss them frequently because the timing seems random.
Hi Kevin! Office Hours usually happen on Thursdays. Keep an eye out for dates/times here: https://on.substack.com/s/office-hours
I agree that would be an improvement. They're announced to be at a certain time on Thursday, but then some Thursdays they don't happen at all, and on other Thursdays at various random times. I'm never sure if or when it happens, but just try to roll with it....
It took me several months to figure out that Office Hours are always (?) on Thursdays from 1-2pm Eastern time. I still can't read half of what's posted, and I'm not sure how to post anything to ask questions I need answers for. And I don't know of a FAQ page provided by Substack.
I just checked my email today and was like "already" !?! Haha
It took me several months to figure out that Office Hours are always (?) on Thursdays from 1-2pm Eastern time. I still can't read half of what's posted, and I'm not sure how to post anything to ask questions I need answers for. And I don't know of a FAQ page provided by Substack.
It's a bit frustrating. I stand by for the email notification every Thursday, but I wish they would pick a time and stick to it.
Seriously π
π§ I was wondering how Recommendations, Staff Picks and the various topical Leaderboards are chosen. I've been posting weekly for almost a year, am pretty confident my stuff is solidly readable, and yet none have appeared in any of those three lists. Just wondering. Thanks.
Hi Jonathan! 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.
I imagine that makes a certain amount of sense, but itβs also pretty self-reinforcing. If at least in recommendations you highlighted worthy but lesser known writers it might lift some of their numbers and the site overall. Just a thought. Garrison Keillor doesnβt really need the help.
Me too.
π§ When I'm in Substack editing a post, sometimes the tool bar across the top disappears. I can type text, but can't add a line, select a quote block, etc. The only way I can get it back is to refresh the screen. Happens too often! Please help. Thanks.
Happens to me ALL THE TIME, too! Drives me crazy with worry wondering how much of my work will still be there when I refresh.
Hi Andi! Sorry to hear about this issue. If this keeps happening and you need further assistance, please submit a help request here and someone from our support team will be with you as soon as they're available: https://support.substack.com/hc/en-us/requests/new
Yes Iβve had this I just refresh
Good friend of mine, and one of your regular contributors, has recently passed away. Steve Combs, who was the author of the Friday Letter , died over the Thanksgiving week.
Wanted you to be aware. Everyone will miss Steveβs insights to the political world.
Bob Shealor
Blessings.
Gabe Hudson too. π RIP.
So excited for the new video features! I recently checked out my stats and my video posts have significantly higher new subscriber conversion rates than my text posts. So I will be doing a lot more with video in 2024. Thank you, Substack!
What was your video strategy? Did you just make it a visual podcast?
I teach classes, so I publish recorded slideshow presentations. Sometimes I record by myself and other times I teach the class live and then publish the replay on my Substack.
That's a really good strategy. And I like the idea of including slideshows.
Ooo great tip!!