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It should have a quick 'about' section and then links to all published posts - like an index. People keep telling me that it's the #1 thing they saw, and it's the one thing that made them subscribe (since they easily understood what my newsletter is about and where it is going).
Woah, what a great compliment! 🥰 I grew up on 8-bit retro games (Gameboy, SEGA, etc). It's so fun being able to use it for my professional newsletter ✨
Tom! I was late to office hours this morning. Thought I'd peek in. Glad I did. I have a start here page that for sure has boosted subscribes. And it kinda has an index. I've been wanting to update it but holding off until I had a better idea how. Your post and start here page sets me in the a direction I'm excited about. Thank you!
It's an index page so as long as you have something to index, you would get value from it, or you won't. It's really only good if you have a lot of posts you need to guide people though.
I DO have a lot of posts. I have to sort through it and figure it all out. When you write novellas and put them up a section at a time, things tend to get cluttered. Mine is getting cluttered. Take a look at it one day if you get the time...
I have a welcome post that does essentially what you describe - introducing myself with links to my writing about infertility, mental health, and adventure. Do you think this has the same effect, or do you recommend changing the language from "Welcome" to "Start Here"? This is what it looks like currently: https://www.lizexplores.com/p/welcome-to-liz-explores
I have worked on making my About honest – do you recommend copying all that, and adding more for the Start Here post? Or make it completely different? Thanks for the great idea.
I'm glad I jumped on this morning - what a good idea! I think one of the hardest things about having a newsletter is showing potential subscribers (briefly) what they can expect from the publication. Thanks for sharing!
I always tell people to work on their ABOUT page. People forget to update the page. If you start a project, put it on your ABOUT page. When someone comes to your 'stack and they want to see what you have to offer, that's where they're going to go.
Yes, thanks for your comment. I've updated my About page a few times as the publication has evolved. I did a bit of a "no-no" by changing the name of my publication 6 months in. It's like starting over. So I address it in the About section and I have a tab column at the top about the previous name.
🧠 I’m celebrating that my Substack has grown by nearly 400 subscribers in the past two months, from 198 to 584 and counting! 🥳 I’ve had two New York Times best-selling authors subscribe to read my writing, and I’ve gotten three new recommendations. All through engaging with the Substack platform!
I’m writing an article about what’s worked for me. If you’d like to receive it in your inbox, you can subscribe at www.lizexplores.com, where I share stories from my life about infertility, mental health, and adventure. I’m not a writing coach; I just want to answer the questions people have been asking me and help fellow newbies!
For context, I started my Substack a year ago with zero audience and zero publications to my name, so the perspective I offer is one of starting from scratch and writing for the sake of writing. I don’t sell anything to my audience other than my writing itself, with a handful of paywalled posts that are personal in nature. Most of my work, including the article I’m working on now, is free.
Two months ago, I was having the same issue, Ben. I'd been stuck for a while at just under 200 subscribers. Then I started building relationships on the Substack platform (as I'll explain in my article), and I was blown away by the rapid growth.
Rob, I am writing an article about how I tripled my audience by engaging with the Substack platform and building relationships. If you’d like to receive it in your inbox, you can subscribe at www.lizexplores.com.
I got up to 540 subscribers in a year, decided to set up a paid option (where the income went to charity), promised everyone that they would get the same newsletters whether paid or unpaid – and then 25+ people unsubscribed. Why? why? why? Am thinking of writing a blog about it - why should 5% of my subscribers run a mile when nothing was going to affect them?
Some subscribers only sign up so that you'll sign onto their stack, not because of true interest in your topic. That's an echo of what happens on social media.
Some subscribe to too many stacks, and when their email explodes, they do some cleaning out of the ones they don't have time to read.
For these reasons you'll frequently see a few subscribers drop off whenever you publish.
possible, but I don't think most of my subscribers are regular Substack readers. Most are gained when I write on other outlets and provide information on my books and my Substack at the end. But I do think a lot of people try out different newsletters and come and go. I know I certainly do.
🧠 Hi Ann, I'm so sorry about that. I've had a similar experience where people didn't unsubscribe, but the open rate halved! I couldn't work out why. I'm guessing the word "paid" scares some people. Perhaps they begin to feel somewhat guilty that they can't/won't commit to paying and so decide to either stop reading or unsubscribe. It is probably a sign that the audience is not for you and paves the way for your true audience to find you (and me, I guess).
Well, I go with the hypothesis that people run from the word "paid", but my husband came up with the guilt hypothesis. My open rate hasn't changed (c 60%), interestingly – you would think it would go up with the potential 'dead wood' having left. All I can do is plug on. I was/am still happy to have found 500+ subscribers and they are slowly creeping up again (I write for other outlets and people who like my writing often follow up the link).
Ann, ANYTIME I mention anything about subscriptions, free subscribers unsubscribe. I guess they think that I want them to start paying. I just don't do that stuff anymore.
25 subscribers is a huge dump. But how many of those 25 were actually engaging in your 'Stack? I lose two or three at a time, but tell myself those were readers who weren't opening my page and reading it in the first place.
I have no idea. I didn't look carefully when they went, but I looked quickly and it wasn't anyone I particularly recognised. Perhaps I announced it badly. See https://arichardson.substack.com/p/note-to-readers.
That's strange, Ann, and definitely worth exploring. Was your announcement about paid subscriptions sent as its own post, or was it mentioned as part of one of your regular posts? The only thing I'm thinking is maybe if people received that announcement without any other context to your writing, they didn't remember why they were subscribed in the first place? That must have felt so disappointing, when you were only trying to raise money for charity. I'm sorry that happened.
I wrote a special post on the same day as my regular posts go out, followed by a new post. See https://arichardson.substack.com/p/note-to-readers. How can I explore if I don't know who they are? I always thought I wrote very clearly, but perhaps it wasn't gentle enough – we can all make mistakes. But yes, very disappointing.
Perhaps they read it quickly and misunderstood. In any case, they likely weren't your most loyal readers, so perhaps a benefit is that your open rates and engagement rates will increase!
No increase in open rates, interestingly. Everyone says 'they weren't for you', but that isn't very satisfying. Reminds me of when I had a miscarriage (over 40 years ago) and people said "It's nature's way". Not much I can do but carry on. I post regularly once a fortnight (I'm a great believer in "less is more") and have no problem finding something to write about.
✏️ I started my Substack at the end of August, writing a minimum of one post per week. The downside is that edits on my latest book are suffering. Starting with no subscribers, there are now 79 total and 6 paid. I love that this venue enables writers to monetize, but I need to work on expanding my readership. All tips will be welcomed with open arms!
I will definitely spend some time reading your "Author Stack" guide for those of us who need a bit more indoctrination into Substack mentality! It's an SOP for writers...who knew?
Russell what do you mean “This is not so much an article as a guide referencing articles related to the topic of Substack growth, which is the topic I’m against about second most next to Kickstarter.”
Hi Russell, Thanks for your reply. But now I can’t seem to find my way back to your post! Oh well, tech is clearly not my thing, but at least I’m learning 😁
That's excellent growth, Betsy! It took me over 6 months to reach 100 subscribers. I'm writing an article about how I've added 400 new subscribers in the past two months. If you'd like to receive it when it's published, you can subscribe for free at www.lizexplores.com. Congratulations, and keep writing!
I haven’t settled on a title yet… It will probably be something simple like “How I’ve Grown my Substack Audience,” or perhaps I’ll come up with something more clever. Do you have any suggestions? What kind of title would catch your attention on this topic? 🤔
That's some damn impressive growth, Liz. I've stopped worrying so much about my growth over the last few months, but it is interesting to look at trends over time and wonder what drives the fits and starts that the curve has gone through so far.
Thanks, Nathan! It was an intentional effort on my part to engage with the Substack platform that led to this recent wave of growth. It is hard to sort out which subscribers came from where, though, since Substack’s metrics are rather vague.
I’d really be interested in reading your post! I’ve got a plan of what I want to start writing about and loads of ideas, but scared to start as Im starting from 0 people😵💫. Feeling kinda stuck
Definitely start writing, David! It will make it much easier to find readers when they can check out your Substack and get a feel for what it’s about. What are you planning to write about?
Exactly. I am always a bit frustrated by the “grow your Substack” advice from people who are already well-known writers. That’s why I want to share tips that specifically work for somebody starting from zero. Most of the strategies I will share are not scalable, but they are effective for getting the first 500 or so subscribers. At that point, things start to snowball!
Congrats. It's always good to see growth. And for those who don't have experienced it yet, just keep at it. Build networks, test content and you will find your tribe.
Thank you so much, Garry! I was pretty amazed myself at how quickly my subscriber numbers grew when I started to engage and build relationships on the Substack platform.
✏️ 🧠 Hey stackers! I took a smidgen of mushrooms and headed to the local pub the other night - and walked out with 8 subscribers! I was surprised how fun and frutiful face-to-face recruitment was.
Has anyone else had any luck with spreading word in-person? and has anyone got any tips?
I’ve had a lot of success with finding subscribers in person. I taped the QR code for my Substack on the back of my phone. If someone seems interested I have them get their phone, scan my QR code and usually they subscribe immediately
I use a QR code as well! I actually use the free version of the Popl app. You can save the QR code as a widget on your Home Screen, which I find pretty convenient. 👍
Remember when QR codes were "fringe?" 😅 Thanks for this excellent idea, Patty. Now, if I can just get over the Winter-Meets-Introvert Syndrome, I might actually put it to use. Gracias!! (Seriously -- thank you!)
Now that's an awesome idea! I'm going to nab that if you don't mind. That will save me staring into the URL box on people's phones. I had to recruit a URL guy, who was getting me to the URLs
Hi, June. There are QR code generators online. Just Google it and pick one you like, then save it to your computer and you can put it on the back of business cards and the like. Hope that helps! xo
It's pretty simple. And I believe, if you were going to go with VistaPrint, they might have a QR code generator. I'm sure most print companies would. It was 9 months ago, so I don't know where I generated mine, but it was easy. Good luck! xo
I do it all day at coffeehouses. It goes like this -- I lay a book with a compelling title and/or cover out on the table where I’m sitting in full view of those who pass by.
The vast majority who see it ask me about the book. I then tell ‘em that I read and review non fiction books for a living. “You do!”, they respond. “Where can I find your work,” they say.
I then show them my Substack page that just so happens to be already cued up. 100% sign up right on the spot, some as paid subscribers
That's an intriguing strategy Mister Scott. Cool initiative! As it happens, I've just discussed three nonfiction books - maybe you might like my post. Thanks for your tip!
Face-to-face recruitment has been a gamechanger for me! It's so easy to just casually mention you write about the things you're taking about, and people will ask how to follow your work.
It's like when you work in the service industry. The best clients are the ones from word of mouth and referrals. They are from the same type of people and you want to draw more of those rather than the randoms off the street (also some of the randoms are also good)
I agree, I'll be doing some face-to-face recruitment this year. I plan to visit my old alma mater and recommend both my Substack and media venture to college students!
Man that's good to hear. I think I'll go for it a bit more. I definitely had more of an air of desperation than you, it seems, but the results don't lie!
When I was on my road trip to Alaska last summer (which I wrote about on my Substack at www.lizexplores.com), I had magnets on my camper van with my URL, and I had business cards that I shared with folks I met along the way. I noticed that a much higher percentage of these in-person contacts became paying subscribers, probably because they'd met me and felt more invested in my story!
Hi! I’m traveling the world, so whenever I meet fellow travelers or chat with locals, I tell them that I have a newsletter where I share travel writing and fiction. Usually, people are pretty enthusiastic to read it. I think if you’re truly passionate when talking about your newsletter, people will grow curious and want to support you. Good luck!
That's really cool! Yes, I think passion definitely comes across. I was going for desperation, and that seemed to come across well enough. Good luck to you
Go give the bastards what for! I strongly suspect it is! Oh that’s cool. Business cards are a nice idea. I’ve always wanted some and now I guess I have a reason
OMG your blog is so funny. Without mushrooms...at the moment, mostly. I have been hunting for my annual spiritual dose to discuss the meaning of my life with God. This involves finding "spiritual" mushrooms as I don't want them to kick my ass--I want something someone has prayed to as they grew them. In my quest, I have been asking random people in Costa Rica for tested sources of adequate "godly" mushrooms. I found One guy who makes cashew cheese I bumped into in the local healthy-hippie grocery store who looked at me and told me he wasn't a "shroomer". What have I become? In the end, I ended up with something from Hawaii mixed in honey that I was told was "gentle", and a piece of chocolate called APE (albino penis envy)--which is supposed to be intense. I am afraid to take it. I think I need to read your series of penis articles first.
Thanks Terra! Thanks for giving it a read and subscribing.
oooh nice! I've never gone so deep as to have a chat with the bigman himself but I've definitely taken some advice from his shadowy accomplices.
That's really interesting! I've definitely found some more spiritual than others, like you're wanting to find your purpose, and just keep bouncing a motel sign-glare under your eyelids.
haha sourcing stuff is definitely tricky when you're out of the loop! I don't know where I'd start where I am.
Hmmm maybe just take a tiny bit, and test the waters! but you can never chat to god in the shallows, can you! haha yes please do check out my two part penis mythology series. I split it out, partly because nobody wants to read 1500 words, but also because it's fun having a two part penis series. Like damn, he couldn't contain his findings in one
Ha ha! Funny once again. I read part one. I will have to go search for part two. Oooohhhh the anticipation. And I don’t know. God may be very happy with the shallows and it is me who is always demanding that we need to talk. Here is an example: I had a New Years prayer come to me: “I want to be loved.” Whaaaat? I do feel loved. Then at a cacao ceremony a word comes to me: “Worthy.” Oh ok. I can work on that. Then I am in a breathwork ceremony, which is a bit like mushrooms in how it affects the brain. I am wondering about the I-want-to-be-loved-and-how-do-I-feel-worth-thing (I am sure in some way this is related to penis length and width, but I digress) and hacking up energy balls like a cat with a fur ball. I have been complimented in the past for my capacity to “process” energy balls so well. In the end, two people complain the ceremony was not peaceful or quiet enough for them. Someone else was much louder than me so he was the main target of their displeasure and I was sure my part had not gone unnoticed. “I want to be loved” and this is what I get? God owes me an explanation. Just saying.
Oooh I've never muddled around with that cacao. I'm super curious. haha a worthy digression! Wow, that sounds pretty intense for bit of choccy. Those judgy trippers sound a wee bit annoying, you can only do and feel what feels natural!
I reckon your long overdue a chat. Gobble down those mushies and get to knocking on the bigman's door, I say!
Thank you! I am going to read it now. I expect to be laughing in glee. Yes, I am preparing my date with God and a lot of mushrooms have been heading my way so the universe seems to be responding. I have never sat in nature for such an event and I hope to do so here. Costa Rica is so lovely and there is a lot of invitation to do what feels natural here for sure. Often clothing free. Hopefully God won’t mind if a middle aged naked woman is pounding on the door demanding answers. I figure that’s how he made me. Now he has to deal with the consequences.
I love this idea, accept for the mushrooms ;-) but sadly my face-to-face networking is usually for my new novel, or related to my day job as a reporter. I did get my first two paying subscribers through posting my newsletters on Facebook.
the mushrooms are key! I think without their dozy charms I don't think I would have cracked even the fourth pubgoer. That's a whole lot of networking already, I imagine! That's great, I haven't made the leap to paid. It's a bit scary!
I started off on friends of friends, and guilt tripped them in for the mere price of a drink, which is an agreeable CPA, I think you'll agree. Then we sat down next to some Oxford uni students, and my friends were teasing me, calling them potential subscribers. I sparked up a convo, and after being rightfully mocked for a few minutes, I bagged the lot. Well, 5 out 6. Not bad darts at alll! Thank you, I'm not so sure it's blogworthy, but I will continue floating about trying to spread the word - and I do have some similar stuff. Here's one I wrote about a time me and my friend built a shed on pills https://wrongchannel.substack.com/p/house-that-pills-built
oh thank you for subscribing! :) I will do my very best.
That's a wild idea! You know don't think I've ever written a love letter... in earnest or otherwise. I'm not sure they are worthy of my first attempt. One of them, in particular, was treating me like a drugged up fool trying to manipulate subscribership out of them - which couldn't be further from the truth!
Thanks Jen! It's the biggest uptick I've experienced. I was pretending to be a guy who asks strangers to subscribe in the pub - but then, all jokes aside, being pretty insistent.
I love that. Those mushrooms are magic. You inspired me and I installed the Popl app Macy Lu mentions below and just set it up on my phone. I will see how easy it is to share that way. I am always meeting people and telling them about my blog. This will be great!
I created one for each of my stacks in Canva, using the custom graphics SS provides in the Share Your Substack section. Saved them to my phone so I can bring them up anytime and share with folks in person. Thanks for the great tip!
Hi Katie, Can you please help me? I am only getting about 1/2 of the payments from new subscribers. Stripe says the problem is with Substack. I need someone at Substack to resolve this issue. Who can i contact? Thank you.
Hello, folks, we were able to submit a ticket on this and Substack got back to me right away. Apparently no money flows through Substack...it all goes to Stripe. I'm still not sure what's wrong, but it's apparently not an issue with Substack. Thanks to the Substack team for responding.
@Joyce@Substack I’m using the poetry block but when I preview the post, the indents are lost. The lines just appear within two faint gray lines. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!
Hi Suzanne, a response will show up in your notifications on your Substack site or in the app. Office Hours has become tricky because it's so busy. When you get a notification that someone responded and you go back in to read it you're taken to the overall big thread and have to scroll through it to find who is talking to you. It isn't very encouraging.
Whereas if you get a response on Notes or a post you're taken directly to that place. I can only assume it's because the tech interface can't handle so many responses at once, but I'm not a techie so I don't know🤣
Oh, if I click in the emails I get, or in the notifications, I get taken to the comment made (or liked). When I click return to thread, it takes me back to the comment that was replied to. You have to wait a bit, but then you're brought to where you can continue the conversation.
Thanks Arjan. I've found it depends on when I try to get back in. It seems to be mostly tricky during actual office hours but I noticed when I replied to someone from last week I had to scroll the whole thing.
Thanks for this Donna. I've also noticed that difficulty of having to scroll when trying to return to a message.
Also, I've just subscribed because I like what you're writing and we share something in our name! Mine is Bright Side Writings. A post of mine you might enjoy is:
Also Suzanne if you're wondering about a regular post you can see the responses in the comment section of your post and also in the statistics about each particular piece.
I struggle with this a little too. I actually get an email notification when someone replies to me, I think because I have that on in my settings. But it's hard to figure out how to follow most recent posts... I keep scrolling back through the whole thing.
🟧 Hoping for some clarity... I finally found the courage to upload a creative writing piece and audio on the 'Experimental Writing' section of my 'Stack, gave the link to my subscribers but the section is empty... yet the piece and audio file link to that section. Any idea what it could be? Many thanks
It looks like the post "Love Letter 25: Welcoming 2024 Creatively" is actually in the section "Love and Decibels" and not "Experimental Writing." If you edit the post, you can change the section using the drop-down directly above the title.
'Love Letter 25' is in the right section. The audio file and creative writing piece have disappeared into oblivion, when they should have been in 'Experimental Writing'. Hide posts from homepage is not selected. The post has ended up as a podcast called 'Synthie's Surreality' and I can't work out where it is stored or how to make it appear under Podcasts and Experimental Writing sections. It is currently only visible here: https://loveanddecibels.substack.com/p/the-plastic-generation
Yet when you click on the podcast's image, it takes you to the 'Experimental Writing' section, which is empty...
You probably want to read section 3 or 4 of our guide, but the best ways are to start getting recommendations, which generally happens through commenting on notes and making friends, along with writing great content. https://www.theauthorstack.com/p/substack
Welcome Stephanie! Dive in to conversations on Notes, contribute in a meaningful way to other writer's publications and get to know people here and you will grow. Recommending other writers you enjoy is a great way to have them recommend you as well.
🧠 Hey, everybody. Andrei here. What I want to talk about today is patience. I’ve been writing here for about a year, having started with 10 subscribers who were all a bunch of family and friends who didn’t even open my emails. Yesterday, subscriber no. 426 joined my newsletter. The thing is, my goal for last year was to finish 2023 with 500 subscribers or more. By October, I had touched on 400. But then something happened. I got depressed. I wasn’t looking forward to writing anymore, because all I was thinking about was: “Will this post get me closer to my goal?” As a result, I couldn’t write. So I had to stop. I took a six-week break, during which I lost about 10 people, but I found I no longer cared. I rested, read and worked on other creative projects, including what I thought would be a novel. Then, Christmas came about and I got the urge to write again. So I did. I wrote a 2000 word short story that night and posted it the next day. People loved it! Then a week later, surprising even myself, I wrote another thing, an essay this time. It became my most liked post ever, with 50 likes and counting! People really, really liked it. But more importantly, writing it made me feel alive again.
What did I learn from this experience? To take it easy. To have goals, but to not cling to them so hard. To give myself time and space to relax, and just create because I love it.
I hope you have a nice week. And take it from me, the kettle can take only so much pressure before it bursts! 🤯
Really appreciate this, Andrei. I also took a break over the holidays and felt a lot of anxiety about it. Whenever I start getting obsessed with my stats and subscribers, I find that I lose sight of the real reason I'm doing this, which is that carving out time to write every day (okay, most days) is chicken soup for my soul. Sure, it's nice to get my stories out there and even nicer when people read them, but the writing is far more about my own processing and health as it is about external validation.
I know perfectly where you are. I was there a few months ago. I was stuck and without the will to write anything. I followed the flow and stopped until I regained writing will again.
In the meantime, I changed the name of my Newsletter from Weekly Balloon News to World Balloon News and explained to my audience I was abandoning any pretension of regular writing for the sake of keeping things on the happier side.
Thanks for your honesty. I too took a break when I couldn't write anymore. It's been hard regaining traction as when I started over a year ago I posted once a week. I just couldn't keep up the pace since I write about recovery from trauma so it's labor intensive. I fear I broke the trust of subscribers. But all we can do is get back on that horse. I appreciate you sharing your story.
Yeah, I agree. I also write personal essays exploring my past and a lot of different difficult topics, and each essay takes a lot out of me to write. So, this year I’m going to pace myself better.
Thanks for sharing, Andrei! I was also inconsistent last year because of mental health issues/burnout and I kept beating myself up about it. But I know that when I did write, it was more out of a sense of obligation and the work didn't feel like it was coming from me. I've since made a lot of changes to my life and feel much less stressed, which has rekindled my creativity. It's hard to avoid the pressure to keep putting out work, but it's just not realistic for many of us, so I really appreciate the reminder to take a step back. I don't want the writing to feel like a chore. I want to be able to have fun with it and be intentional with what I share.
I am in the same boat as you. I used to be focused on the numbers and it made me write from a different mindset that I didn’t enjoy. Being on Substack hours sort of makes me feel anxious about how much growth everyone is achieving and here I am with very slow growth. But I’m enjoying the act of writing when I don’t focus on “success”. Good job to you for taking the break and for going back to it when it felt right. I hope you continue to enjoy the process
I have had to do this kind of stuff now and then but for my Youtube channel. Its not good to force yourself to keep going, you subscribers will notice it.
Great to hear you find your creative boost once more! 😁
This is so inspiring and also very personally validating for me! I spent months trying to figure out what to put on my about page, but I think it just came time this morning and I wrote it all out in my notes app (no time to open a document on my computer!).
I’m intentionally working on annihilating “should”s from my vocabulary and my life this year! It can be so debilitating, and I see you’ve experienced!
Yikes, LOVE this. I had a similar backlash effect. Measurable Goals and all that can be effective, but chasing numbers (WAY out of my control) broke my heart and soul. So happy that the Universe (eg Substack) responded to your natural creative urges to write!
✏️🟧 If you could wave a magic wand and ask Substack one new/upgraded feature for writers in 2024, what would it be?
My ask is for more meaningful discovery capabilities within the Substack community — more seamless ways to find aligned writers, find essays based on the existing subset of essays we read, and more opportunities to engage with and learn from the community
I wish we had DM’s on substack. I used to have such great conversations in my instagram DM’s (no longer on there) -- sometimes people don’t want to leave a public comment.
that makes sense! I've been pleasantly surprised at folks who opt to hit reply on the email and write in privately :) perhaps experiment with writing a CTA to invite folks to leave a comment by responding to your Substack email?
I agree with this. Before I moved my newsletter to Substack I had so many people respond directly via email. I loved the intimacy of those conversations.
Totally agreed. DMs would be hugely helpful. We're using the platform to support a community and I've had members reach out to me to connect them. I'd recommend offering DMs only will full block/accept features users have come to expect on platforms like Twitter. I'd also recommend it only be available between subscribers of a given substack, much like chat.
I'm sure your 100K club of substackers aren't interested in DMs from any rando among their subscribers.
1) Make a section on your Substack that will not appear anywhere. I called mine the 'invisible' section.
2) Make a post in that section, problaby with the name of the person: thus 'To Von'. write 'hey @Von, this is our way of DM'ing. I was wondering if you could explain what you meant about women's rights' in the postPublish the post but do NOT have it send to anyone.
3) The person will get notified that you have tagged them, and can 'comment' on the 'post', which only you will see. To which you can reply, etc.
Very cool, @von! One quick question: Notifications on @names only go out after a post has been published, right? I totally see why this works and that it could be useful for the more technically astute.
This also highlights a reason why doesn't Substack support @naming in comments (I'm going to guess it's a way to manage randos creating noise for big publications... I'm asking it be an explicit setting, not a missing feature.) I hope they're 🟧 reading this to see why they need to implement it as an explict feature since we can work around it with your trick. (Try @naming Substack founders, that might work. 😉)
Yes. You have to publish it... without sending it to anyone! Definitely test your system before sending all sorts of private stuff. In fact, never send any truly private stuff this way, if you make a mistake or someone tries hard enough they can get int.
Yes, annoying that @naming doesn't work in comments. Very annoying.
Ironically seconds after I posted that one of my beta readers responded in her DM thread. It takes a while to set up the first one, but after that it is easy to keep going.
For me it’s the ability to draft and add hyperlinks in the app or on mobile. My newsletter is curative, but I am disabled and cannot use my laptop much. I have to have a friend help make my links into hyperlinks each month as there’s no easy way to do so on mobile.
Patreon app, for example, allows you to highlight text with thumbs and then link out from it.
But I'm good either way and happy to keep helping! Wait, that completely undermines your argument... YES IT'S SUCH A BURDEN I HATE IT MAKE IT STOP IT'S RUINING ME *WEEPS*
Thank you. :) But I should add before my Inbox fills up with requests to mow lawns, wash dishes etc. that I've known Jodi for a decade so this isn't just random altruism...
As I said in a different comment, I've tended to give mine a 7 day trial option, but I have reservations about that and am thinking of making my next one paid only. The only advice I can offer is not to be apologetic: good writing deserves to be valued, as does loads of research, experience etc.
a few folks I know who have experimented with 7-day trials found them to not be helpful with conversion. the assumption is that readers do the trial, read the paywalled posts, then lapse before going paid
one way that I've approached being unapologetic is reframing it as speaking my truth. I want to honor our people's truths and I certainly want to pave the way by speaking my own truth :)
Michael, I was playing about with voiceovers yesterday and after I recorded one there was a checkbox for sending it to RSS. I think that's new. Note this was on a test publication of mine which is paid, so not sure if it's possible on a free pub.
I would love there to be a way to only externally publish certain podcast episodes on Substack without going paid. Currently, there is no way to prevent sending every free episode straight to Spotify or Apple other than making it paid. I would like some sort of Private mode that prevents that, but I'm not sure that's possible.
I am planning on having a season style podcast with short episodes in the interim that I don't want to be included in the main list. So I either have to change my plan completely or just go paid and cut some people out of my content.
I want more customization on my end so that I can see what I want and not see what I don't want at any given time. For example, in "activity" I would love to be able to toggle on/off the likes, the restacks, etc. to see exactly what I want.
Also a single button to archive everything in the inbox at once would be magic for me.
I'm not a programmer so who knows but it seems like lots of tools have something similar (a "select all" then "archive" feature) so I'd love to see it happen.
I wish that it was easier to engage with a certain topic on notes, as with the hashtag feature on X. It just always feels like there is a broader conversation that could be happening.
The ability to highlight a portion of a post and restack it to Notes is an awesome feature, but it doesn't work for the poetry block, which really restricts engagement for poets. That would be my biggest feature request at the moment.
Second would be to have Poetry added as a unique category. 😊
I'd like to be able to store email headers for different sections of my newsletter and have Substack pull the right one based on that section.
Right now, I have to manually change out the header when I post a new essay, otherwise it defaults to whichever header I used last time. I do find engagement with my writing changes (at least a smidge) when I take the time to swap the headers out... It's a trifle, but it would make a difference for me!
Absolutely need to be able to search for blogs by category. I write snarky pieces on current events and politics, and would like to find similar ideas, that are not the already popular mainstream. So if someone types in "humor, politics, progressive, human rights, Harry & Meghan" then https://theindiaink.substack.com/ will pop up. I'd also like to be able to find more diverse writers this way.
Great suggestions. I would add that when scheduling two different posts I’d like to be able to save the two different custom headers I use for future posts. RN only 1 header at a time can be saved.
💯 yes, that’s my top wish too. I could use some pointers on getting found in google search too. Does everyone tag their posts with keywords? And if so, where?
I love this discoverability idea. My proposal is for an affiliate feature where we can share the wealth anytime someone helps us lock in a new paid subscriber.
I don’t really give any growth tips because there’s plenty of that happening around the platform. All of them focus on what do you have to do, but none focus on who you have to be.
Marc -- this may be a little "woo woo" for you. I have no idea. Your comment here resonates with me, so I popped over to your page to see what there was to see -- you know, kind of validate that you were as awesome as you seemed here. Then, appreciating what I saw, I tried to jump back to Office Hours to like your post. Magically (I swear I'm not making this up!) I clicked the 🧡 here and it registered as a subscription to Raising Myles. So, hi! And, gosh! And, I look forward to, uh, getting to know you. This is like the Substack version of bumping into someone on the subway that you later seem to see everywhere!
Haha! Pleasure to meet you. This is not “woo woo” looks like we were meant to find each other. And trust me, I know what it means to bump into strangers on the subway- that’s how I met my wife ❤️
Glad this put you a little at ease Christine. I looked at Substack. When I was stressing over growth in the beginning, my therapist told me not much people can even say they have 10 subscribers. You, Christine, have 100. That’s a 100 people, friends, family, and strangers that value what you have to say. More will come, just get the table ready for them.
🧠 I’m celebrating that my Substack has grown by nearly 400 subscribers in the past two months, from 198 to 584 and counting! 🥳 I’ve had two New York Times best-selling authors subscribe to read my writing, and I’ve gotten three new recommendations. All through engaging with the Substack platform!
I’m writing an article about what’s worked for me. If you’d like to receive it in your inbox, you can subscribe at www.lizexplores.com, where I share stories from my life about infertility, mental health, and adventure. I’m not a writing coach; I just want to answer the questions people have been asking me and help fellow newbies!
For context, I started my Substack a year ago with zero audience and zero publications to my name, so the perspective I offer is one of starting from scratch and writing for the sake of writing. I don’t sell anything to my audience other than my writing itself, with a handful of paywalled posts that are personal in nature. Most of my work, including the article I’m working on now, is free.
You have described the experience brilliantly. My very first Substack piece started with the words “I hate my fucking life!”--a culmination of the grief of multiple losses and the frustration of infertility. There was, and still is, so much anger:
In one of my anger outburst directly after the miscarriage, I said that I wish I had died that Friday. And the thing that scared me the most was that a part of me meant it.
I am so sorry you are part of this unfortunate club. Talking about it really does matter. I would love to collaborate! If you’re on Instagram, you can message me there at www.instagram.com/_lizexplores.
Although we are part of this club, and that is so unfortunate, we are still a club that must talk about it and heal.
The weekend after the miscarriage, I got two tattoos that are my reminders to embrace peace and stillness the same way I did when I saw the two lines. I thought "nothing matters" in a very liberating way - my unanswered emails, my noisy neighbour, nothing. It was me and the bundle of joy.
Hi Liz, thanks for sharing your journey, it helps other like me, with less impact, to keep going. And of course, congratulations for the achievement, 400 subscribers in 2 months is a lot! 👏
One thing that comes to my mind every time I read a post or comment like yours is: ok, yes, what you write might be super interesting but... The audience does not reach auto-magically into your Substack newsletter and find your incredible content. There might some trigger, some way the audience find you, more over when you start from zero.
Thanks Marcos! you’re right, unfortunately people don’t just magically find us when we start writing interesting things. What’s work best for me has been engaging and building relationships with readers and writers on the Substack platform. I’ve done that in a variety of different ways— too many to share in a comment— which is why I’ve decided to write an article about it! If you’d like to receive the article in your inbox, you can subscribe at www.lizexplores.com.
🧠 I experienced 100%+ increase in paid subscriber signups over the last 3 months.
With a focus on self-development, inner work, and education, I have strived to keep the majority of my content free. For a while, growth for paid subs was slow and rather stagnant. So I began testing different styles of limited paid offerings that would allow interested readers to deepen their engagement with my work.
In November, I released a recorded workshop for paid subscribers, which led to a huge jump. I was pleasantly surprised by the response. Since then, I have released 1 other recorded lecture and will be teaching a live class for paid subscribers this month. I’ve also created a section for these paid perks for easy access: https://alyssapolizzi.substack.com/s/paid-subscriber-lectures-and-workshops
The main lesson I took away was that:
- It takes time and experimentation to find the right configurations for paid offerings.
- Readers will show us (via engagement, feedback, signups) what they find most valuable.
- There’s no one way to grow your Substack (free or paid). Focus on designing a model that fits your work and readership best.
This is so useful, thank you. I’ve been here a couple of weeks and everything is free though I turned paid on. I’m planning to experiment with what is free or paid over the next few months. Wish me luck! 🤞
Thanks for sharing this! As an educator, I've considered doing this as well. I'd love to know more about how you set this up logistically so that it scaled for you and was of benefit to your subscribers, if you don't mind sharing more!
I record the classes on Zoom (I use a share screen and lecture with slides), edit them in iMovie, and then upload to Substack via the video post option. When the post is set to paid, I'm able to create a free preview, which I think helped potential members switch to being paid.
My plan is to do a mix of pre-recorded classes that I upload and live classes that members can attend for extra participation and a sense of community (of which a replay will be added to Substack afterwards). This will help me with scaling and managing this perk as it has some flexibility.
Hope that helps! Let me know if you have other questions.
The workshop was on blending tarot and working with dreams (2 subjects that I write about and that my readers are interested in). I think it also helped to give a preview of the class: https://alyssapolizzi.substack.com/p/tarot-and-dreamwork
✏️ To everyone reading on here who has collaborated with other writers as guest contributors and vice versa, what was your main approach to having those conversations? A cold email? Through Notes?
I put out calls for pitches on Twitter and got a good response! I directed them to an email address I have set up just for my Substack doings. Then we take it via email from there.
I've only collaborated with other writers who I mutually follow and have some level of rapport with. However, I have done cold emails for collaborations on other platforms and it has worked well! It's always worth a shot.
Thanks, Alyssa! I'll check out your newsletter in more detail later because reading the description it seems that we may have some mutual interests based on my latest series. Who knows, there may be a collab in the future!
Replying to their latest newsletter and starting a conversation about something they shared, then including a link to my newsletter so they can check it out.
Yes! i have done two "swaps" so far, where I contributed to another person's newsletter, and then they did the same for me. I have several more scheduled for this year, all from reaching out directly and asking. Someone who succeeds at this is Joanna Goddard – she's a master at it really – so I ask myself "WWJD?" :) whenever I'm reaching out to someone for a collaboration.
Usually it comes from mutually enjoying each other's work, and approaching them with an offer. We do at least one a week and it's been good for everyone, I think. https://www.theauthorstack.com/
Well, I have been involved in several 'letter exchanges', basically long form debate or discussion, back and forth between two different writers, linking to each other. I have found it tremendously helpful.
Our exchanges usually got started when I suggested it after an exchange on notes or comments on my post.
NB I am still open to having a lot more letter exchanges!
Thanks, Von! I remember when Substack folks talked about the letter exchanges. I'm glad to see that it has worked for you. I have to look into that and see if that format makes sense for my publication. I appreciate your comment!
It takes a while at first and can be quite frustrating to build up your connections. You may feel like you're into a void. But eventually you hit your stride. Go for it. I've made genuine friendships there.
Loving this letter exchange idea. Dang, I changed settings so I don't get newsletters in my inbox. perhaps set up a new account for all things Substack per @Caitlin Cowen
I love the idea of letter exchanges on a fiction format. I was thinking of love letters between a man at the front during WW I, and his girl back home. But it seems everyone wants to write essays about politics and culture. Fiction, it seems, is a hard sell.
I hear you. Do you follow @Talebones? It's great that this platform supports both, and it's a conundrum. Marketing wisdom is NOT do what others do, but it's hard to be discovered. PS I've got a few novels (first drafts) in my desk drawers that I'd love to serialize here... someday (sigh)
Serializing is actually a lot easier than you might think. Don't let that big wall of doubt stop you. My first try was a NaNoWriMo I did in 2022. I didn't have a clue as to what I was doing. A BEGINNER'S GUIDE TO TIME TRAVEL. It's not 50,000 words, but more like 90,000. I put up a section a week. You put one piece up, work on the next, and before you know it, you have people following you, commenting. It's great.
Combo ... sometimes I've reached out with a cold email. More often I've had exchanges in comments on their posts or notes first and then gone from there. I also have a post inviting collaboration:
Mine was actually through an earlier version of this chat and I left my email as a comment on one of his recent posts. It was still public but I figured a bit less out there than doing it here haha
🧠 For anyone who feels like they're stuck in the slog or having a hard timing with their writing and publishing practice, this is a reminder that taking a long break from sending your newsletter can be INCREDIBLE for you, your soul, your creativity, your life. Your loyal subscribers will be ready and excited to read your posts when you're ready to come back. It will show in your writing.
I haven't published in 3 weeks and have used the time to just write small things in my journal, read several books, and just live life without this added pressure. I'm now working on my next piece and it's been so dang fun and fulfilling to write.
I also decided I'm going to be more flexible with my publish schedule. I will still post on Fridays but maybe it's each week or every other week. With being a mom and wife, hosting a podcast and starting up yoga teacher training, I don't want to be in a rush or stressed out. Heck, I may publish 1x every 3 weeks if my life feels like it can only withstand that.
Thank you for suggesting this! I landscape, so I have more time to write in the winter than in the summer. I started my Substack recently and was worried that the lack of my writing in the summer might affect my numbers. I'll consider a steadier pace this summer. :)
Funny. My schedule is opposite where I tend to have a lot of writing energy in the summer and Fall but less in the Winter and Spring. Good to know your own flow 🌊
Yes, indeed. There's a lot of advice that says you must do this or that and one of the things you must do is publish consistently, but I'm with you. Take a break if you want.
I usually publish weekly, but I also take a week or two off sometimes. Or even longer. I took a break for the month of December, for instance.
Hi Victor! Longer breaks are so needed if our bodies and minds call for it. How was your December break? How do you feel getting back into it in January?
Actually, I wrote a lot in December. And visited with family. It was a good month. January's coming along, haven't got my stories exactly planned yet, but I have items ready and generally decide closer to my pub day, Tuesday :)
Yes, for sure! I've been in a good creative flow the past month, so when I feel those energies start to wane, I'll step back for a bit. Probably during the springtime when there's more to do and I won't have as much of an excuse to stay inside :)
Yes yes. Important to be in the world. Take time to live, play, notice things, make unusual connections, make sense of them, find the words, say what you mean.
For many writers, the relentless pursuit of productivity, optimisation and bigger targets diminishes our creativity and dims our joy.
Definitely looking forward to collaborating and adding interviews. So if anyone is interested please comment. My newsletter is a curated list of entertainment (podcasts, TV, film, and good reads).
• explore writing about topics I care deeply about including topics where I feel out of my depth
• continue deepening my craft by writing with an intent to publish consistently (as of now, weekly)
💌 SUBSTACK INTENTIONS
• build community and deepen my relationship with other writers on Substack
• find ways to collaborate with folks who are interested in redefining modern day human flourishing and raising the baseline for our psychological well-being
🧪 EXPERIMENTS
• explore new content & topics and formats of publishing (serializing my first book via Substack!)
• collaborating with other writers
• building relationships with other writers on Substack
👋🏼 If you write about human flourishing and psychological wellness, would love to hear what you write about :)
Thanks for this! My intentions are also to help fellow humans with their mental health and well-being (I’m a therapist). 👋
Substack intentions are to write weekly and I hope grow my subscribers.
I’ll experiment with different topics in my field and work out what will be free and what paid once I’ve been in for a few more weeks, and see where it takes me! 🤞🩷
Um, "human flourishing and psychological wellness" is basically the air I breathe! I'm open to collabs or general fellow writer buddies :).
I am a holistic career coach, psychology-nerd, and mother who writes a combination of tips & reflective pieces, all geared around how to thrive more at work and at home.
To work on my stories as they come up. I want to print them out and READ them to my followers. I've started using the video option on the page and have been enjoying it.
SUBSTACK INTENTIONS:
I want to grow my page and expand. Sitting at almost 400 to start the year, I'm hoping I might double it, or break the magic 1000 plateau. I also want to grow the "PAYWALL" portion of my 'Stack by writing my SERIALS.
🔬EXPERIMENTS:
I want to build a following and connect with my fellow writers
I want to do a collaboration, maybe fictitious letters...
I want to CROSS-POST those I feel my readers will be interested in reading
I want to get more recommendations
😘DREAMS & FORECASTS
If you like to read long stories in bed while drinking a cup of coffee, then I might have what you're looking for. I want to write at least three NOVELLAS this year and maybe go from 2 posts a week to 3...but I'll ask my readers first.
• ask more from my readers about what topics they want to learn about
• follow up on some of the series posts I have created and make it easier to get from one to the next even though there are other posts in between them
💌 SUBSTACK INTENTIONS
• find and recommend more writers in the perinatal space
• revamp my guest post series to feature more stories from Nature-loving families
🧪 EXPERIMENTS
• I started a year-long curriculum in my Founding Members tier that will take me until Fall to complete
I spent too much time in 2023 floundering, trying to imitate other people's models rather than embracing what felt most natural to me. I've come to realize that autonomy matters more to me than maximizing growth or income. I'd like my Substack to be a natural expression of my inner life, not a transactional service that I try to leverage for payment. So in this post I returned to the mode that served me well initially: radical vulnerability.
💯 for a long time, I wanted to write with an intent to publish, but struggled to figure out what I'd write about, for who, etc
in 2023, I came to the realization writing is an act of self-expression for me – when I focused on self-expression > growth and doing all the things that aren't pouring my words onto a page, that's when I truly felt a shift in my relationship with writing to publish & Substack
I’m hoping to keep posting consistently, once a week for as long as I can. I’m also hoping to use more video to capture these moments between my son and I that I can’t put into words.
My intentions for my writing are to remain consistent but also to work on my craft. My goal is to reach 50 paid subscribers this year (starting with 4).
I hope to experiment with a women in wellness interview series and experiment in general with the platform as a home for both my writing but also my yoga teaching.
I hope to find a thriving community of women who are interested in living well 🙂 and by that I mean dedicated to evolving, growing, learning, being and enjoying.
I write about yoga, spirituality, nature, motherhood, feminism, philosophy, science, health, and life! Sounds like we’re on the same page!
• lean into vulnerability and share more personal stories (about my mental health, cultural struggles as a first-generation Indian-American, travel anecdotes)
• protect my daily writing time (first thing in the morning) and avoid cluttering my headspace with notifications (email, texts, etc.) until after I'm done
💌 SUBSTACK INTENTIONS
• collaborate with other writers on the platform and feel more integrated within the Substack community
• re-start my interview series (with mental health professionals and fellow writers, but pretty open-ended... you can check out https://thetuesdaytapestry.substack.com to get an idea of the types of people I've interviewed previously & definitely reach out if you think you might be a good fit!)
• host a meetup possibly?
🧪 EXPERIMENTS
• publishing weekly (bandwidth permitting) and see how that goes
• continue writing on Medium and seeing how that impacts Substack growth
- observe and live more of life so I can have things to reflect on and write about
- SHARE SHARE SHARE! Stop sitting on things that flow out of you and just put it out there!
- start on one of my book ideas (whether that’s research, drafting, etc)
SUBSTACK:
- find my writing topic/schedule groove
- be more intentional about creating paid subscribers and growing my community in a sustainable way--would love to give subbies a free and paid balance I LOVE
- show up more on Notes and just on Substack in general every week!
EXPERIMENTING:
- I want more media added to my work, so I want to get better at photography of more candid life happenings to enhance writings
- also want to play with “podcasts”/voice memos to post on Substack
In fact, long term, and even though I just started, that would be my goal, too, which would be comparable to 9-to-5 jobs (which I never want again) I've had in the past! Though paid subscriptions, I should say. I see on here people with some good numbers themselves!
YESSSS. Got some hints in today's Twilight Time (aka laying in bed in a partial dream state, cause I woke up too early to write). I'll reach out in email.
🟧 - I am a broken record but is there any news on fixing the error that causes photo captions to be deleted when moving an image within a post? The captions also can't be copied/or pasted out, which is a bummer.
Hi Caitlin! Thanks for your patience. This feedback has been passed directly along to our team. We're always looking to improve, so we appreciate the note.
🟧 I love that Substack is a place for me to share a fun, pretty photo as I talk about creativity and poetry. However, I really wish I could do a quick photo crop in Substack when I drop in a photo. I would love to see that functionality! Even just an option for a quick square crop would be better than nothing!
- I'm not sure, but I'm easily at arount 10 daily.
- I recently had to change my system. I subscribe to all substacks that offer original poetry that run into. That is a big number. I had to remove the backlog from my inbox, because I did not make time every day to read. I do now, also diving a bit into my backlog. I had more that 2000 posts waiting for me. I think I deleted around 1000. So far, I think I've read about 300 posts in the past 2 weeks. All poetry. I'm almost where I want to be.
I was just thinking about this! I'm at 33 but I still fall way short of reading through all of them which is a bummer because there's SO much great content. I'd say I probably fully read 5-7 stories from people I'm subscribed to each week, then another 5-7 for new ones I discover (with many more that I just skim). I've set aside an "engagement time" towards the end of the day where I catch up on reading/commenting here and on Medium.
Yeah, I felt like I was a pretty good community member on Medium and then I started a Substack and started feeling totally overwhelmed! I'm also on the computer most of the day for my job that pays the bills so I get pretty screened-out, too. I love the idea of a concentrated engagement time, it helps me feel less flooded and more in control.
I subscribe to a lot. Haven’t counted but it feels like maybe 40? I try to keep up but if I’m too busy with my own work I may have to either delete their post or save it for later.
This is so hard! There are many more than I have the capacity to read. I’m mostly staying in my niche--comics--and gosh, I’m not sure of exact number per week. I like to save the posts for when I have a little downtime and want some reading joy. Then it feels like a treat--instead of a book.
Currently 16. There are a few writers that I stop what I'm doing to check it out or make a note to go back to. I try to sit down about once a week to read some of my favorites. Some writers I really enjoy and I read occasionally when their pieces connect with my current mood.
I used the setting to deliver to Substack app instead of email, so very few actually land in my inbox anymore. I wish I could choose some that DID always go to email, but having them all go there got too overwhelming. I’ve heard of some folks using a separate email to subscribe with, but that seems like a pain to me.
To avoid overwhelm to my email inbox (since I rarely read in the Substack app), I have a rule which sends all newsletters to a special inbox folder where I can read them in 'batches' at set times instead of letting them drip in to my inbox at distracting moments.
Great questions. To be honest I follow about 10-20 other writers. I just read when I can. Understandably it’s easy to get overwhelmed but I would try to time block, setting an alarm to read for only an hour or however amount of free time you have. The only system I have is to like, comment, or share posts once I finish them so I that if I can’t contribute financially, I at least engage and promote.
I recently changed the setting to not receive emails and I only read what I subscribe to in the app (the problem is I don’t really know how I did this 😂 I clicked something somewhere in settings I think or there might be a certain option when you subscribe to not have it sent to email.) Then I set aside time each day in my schedule to go to the app and scroll through to see what’s new and read/engage with what I feel called to that day. It was getting to be too much in my inbox.
I currently follow 20 substacks and I probably read about 10/week.
I'd love to find a forum to ask questions about Substack. Something available 24/7, not just a couple hours at random times. Yes, I get that I might not get an answer for a day or two, and that's fine. But I'm having a hard time finding a place to ask my newbie questions.
For me Reddit is really nice because I don't have to continually be on their to engage with people. I can just pop in and I'll get great engagement on what I'm sharing. One of the things you have to be careful about on Reddit is self-promotion because it's greatly discouraged. Reddit is all about what you can add to the community!
I use it the same as Office Hours, to be honest, and it is great at getting responses to specific questions about mechanics and suggestions on growth and going paid, etc. It just doesn't have the reach of Office Hours.
I agree! I feel like these office hours are really one of the best ways to find and interact with other Substackers, and when they randomly skip weeks or I join the party too late, I feel much less connected to the community!
Reddit and other forums might be the answer here, but I do get this a 100%. I would love something that is available 24/7, not just a couple hours at random times with a confusing interface.
🧠 Unexpected, very welcome benefits of creating an annotated directory of Substacks focused on addiction recovery and sobriety have included genuine connections, recommendations, and subscriber growth. We're now at 98 SoberStackers and counting! An idea for others to try in other niches: https://danaleighlyons.substack.com/p/sober-substack-addiction-recovery-sobriety
I currently have 56 publications recommending my own, and this is mostly a result of creating that directory plus engaging in the wider community. So far, writer recommendations have brought 381 new subscribers to Sober Soulful and tons of good, grateful feelings.
🧠 - A feature idea. Would love if there was an option for subscribers to just subscribe to a "weekend only summary post" from all the articles of the week. Epoch Times does this when you unsubscribe from their daily emails. They ask if you'd prefer just a "weekend summary" which keeps subscription numbers while also keeping the reader happy.
Say you have your main newsletter and then a "weekend only" section. When they go to unsubscribe, they will see the option to unsubscribe from both the main section and the weekend section. They can choose to unclick one or both!
You can create a weekly digest. I have one for my publication. Anyone can do it. You do have to curate it yourself though. https://www.theauthorstack.com/
Great question. I think before you ask for a recommendation try to build a relationship first with the writer. I’ve only asked 3 writers to ever do this for me because we were in the same niche. But this is a really powerful tool. I have 50 people recommending these letters to my son, and I think a large part of that is because of the community I’ve built with them.
I can't speak to the morality of it, but if someone asked me to do that I would wnat to know why... ie what is it about your newsletter that you think my (couple of) readers would be interested in?
I think you can do that, once you've established some sort of relationship with that creator. And it has to be more than just "you have more subscribers, so I want to put my name out to them". Are you writing about the same thing, have you interacted with that writer before, in comments. Are they reading your substack?
I have a recommendations list that is all about poetry, for example. If I don't know you and you ask me out of the blue if I can recommend you, I would ignore your request.
If I have interacted with your posts, written in them how I love your writing, and you ask me if I would be so kind as to add you to my list of recommendations, I would feel obliged.
(Still, because I focus on poetry, I might not want to do it, but there's poetry in food, so I might make an exception.)
The best thing is maybe first to ask yourself: how would I respond to such a request. I tihnk that's your best guide.
I actually really like sharing quotes from other publications, and I am thinking of, if possible, finding the writers' Instagram accounts and tagging them!
I just opened up a paid option for my subscribers to start the new year! I'm very interested in patrons, not customers - folks who want to support what I'm doing and have the means to do so. I don't want a hard sell of any sort, so I've just been inserting the little "subscribe" buttons that say you can upgrade. I write every day, but I don't think I want to write a post asking folks to pay.
For folks who have offered this, what are some other things that have worked for you thus far? Substack folks, I have read the "going paid" article previously, but feel free to refer me to any pertinent sections over there.
I got up to 540 subscribers in a year, decided to set up a paid option (where the income went to charity), promised everyone that they would get the same newsletters whether paid or unpaid – and then 25+ people unsubscribed. Why? why? why? Am thinking of writing a blog about it - why should 5% of my subscribers run a mile when nothing was going to affect them?
I don't think it's anything to do with you. The same thing happened to me, too, when I went paid. Its hard to know why. But I think its more to do with them. Maybe they felt they had been excluded by offering paid content. Or maybe they felt guilty for not paying. Or maybe they were outraged that you valued your work instead of giving it all away for free. Who knows? 🤷♀️ Try not to worry about it and just move on. Plenty of people do and will appreciate you and your work. 💕
First of all, good for you—the charitable angle is thoughtful and generous. As for the attrition, I don't know your readers or their motives, but here's my speculation: Your announcement came at around the same time as the tempest over white nationalists on Substack. It may be that some readers don't wish to support any writer with a financial connection to Substack. In other words: nothing to do with you, everything to do with the platform.
I'd guess perhaps they had subscribed to too many, and were downsizing their inbox. But if they were not regular readers, I wouldn't worry about them. 540 is a good number!
No, not simply downsizing. Running from the word ‘paid’. I have no idea if they were regular readers - I don’t keep track of who reads what. But very disappointing.
Option began this month. Everyone who has subscribed has been either a friend or a relative, although most of my subscribers are people I don't know. Only three, with a fourth (my brother) expected shortly. Not what I hoped. Especially as I tend to get over 60% viewing rate, which should be good.
I tried to do it gently, but perhaps not gently enough. See https://arichardson.substack.com/p/note-to-readers. Since I have spent much of my working life being hired to write for other people, I assume I write well, but we can all go wrong from time to time.
My guess is that folks opening the email read "I would like to tell all my subscribers of a change that I will be making to my Substack arrangements, starting in the New Year", and that was the last thing most of those unsubscribes read. I wouldn't sweat it too much, frankly.
However, maybe that first sentence could include some kind of reassurance that all of your subscribers get to keep what they have now, and they're all important to you.
Feel free to take the above with a healthy grain of salt (or not at all!). I hope you can get some momentum going this year!
I have 280 subscribers and 5 paid - in 10 months. I came to Substack with no previous experience and no email lists etc. I just started writing. I have a paid option (annually it's very cheap) but I don't provide anything extra for paid. My open rate is about 50%, give or take, and I'm happy. Yes, it would be nice if more people wanted to support me and yes, it would be nice to reach a few more people, but if I top out around 300 I'll still be happy as long they are reading what I'm writing. It's 300 more than were reading my blog on another platform!
I feel the same way. Where else am I gonna be able to have conversations about things I care about every day? I'm like, "here's something from inside my brain; what do you think?", and then people actually tell me what they think!
✏️ - Perhaps others have different experiences, but even though I have reasonably good stats for engagement, I find it difficult to gather meaningful data from my readers in polls or surveys. This means that I'm perpetually guessing about my audience.
I find this odd, because for nearly twenty years I honed my sense of audience at literary magazines and was very successful at securing acceptances there. This was because my mentor, Ted Kooser, was an excellent stand-in for other discerning literary readers.
What I find lacking among the Substack resources -- including advice-for-hire -- is a way to meaningfully measure or define one's readership if a great deal of readers prefer to simply read silently. Sometimes I'll be texting with a friend or exchanging emails, and they'll casually mention really enjoying one of my posts -- but I'd never have known otherwise, because they don't comment or respond to the user-research tools.
So I'm left with anecdotal feedback, which doesn't work terribly well for defining an audience approaching 2,000 readers. There are also rumors about traffic dropping during holidays (though some say theirs increases) or through the summer. But most gurus will also tell you that there's nothing universal or standard about any of this -- it's all highly relative to each individual writer.
So my Substack audience remains an enigma.
I find that my choices are these:
* Continue studying metrics in the dashboard and drawing whatever conclusions I can from them. My readers seem to reward radical honesty and vulnerability. More of that? Even so, if feels like flying blind.
* Simply trust my own sensibility and stop worrying about intentionally trying to reach a particular reader. I don't like this approach, because I devoted nearly twenty years to teaching students to *not* write purely for themselves, but to learn craft tools that would help make their work a better "house guest" for a reader. I still believe that craft can help a writer's work become more welcoming to readers by casting a stronger narrative spell. But perhaps I need to start thinking about craft with the Substack platform in mind, specifically?
* I'm beginning to wonder if the kind of performative spontaneity that Whitman used to great effect in LEAVES OF GRASS (he revised heavily in order to make his poetry feel LESS polished) might resonate more with Substack readers than the writing I was trained to produce, in which not a word was wasted. Maybe we need a new Strunk and White for Substack?
I have noticed that many "big" Substacks have a discernible model of building community around critique, or around a social grievance of some kind. This seems to be one way of building a loyal following and driving traffic. It's not for me. That's probably OK.
The same goes for service-oriented Substacks: those that deliver a predictable product that solves a particular problem. I'm not interested in being a one-trick writer, so I'm OK with ruling this out, as well.
I am less familiar with Substacks that are driven by eclectic interests and a deep commitment to craft, but that still attract sizable followings. If anyone has suggestions for these models, I think they might be useful in helping me identify the kinds of readers I'd like to reach?
If you've made it this far, thanks for reading :).
polls and surveys are useless. The only way to know what hits is to release things and see what gets the best reads and leads to the most subscribers. Then, what leads to the most paid subs. https://www.theauthorstack.com/p/substack
✏️Hi all, enjoy reading about your writing journeys. I have been writing here for about 1.5 years on my platform called "unintended consequences" at https://profvictoria.substack.com/, while I went from zero subscribers to 300, with a few paid subscribers, and I would like to grow my list. Any advice? Thanks in advance.
It's a game of patience. I try to ignore the numbers (not very successfully), and try to concentrate on the writing. I also try to interact with people on Notes. I think it's a good way to get yourself out there. As long as you're polite, encouraging, and supportive. I restack, urge people to CROSS-POST if I think my readers will be interested in what I've stumbled across. I don't hesitate to CROSS-POST. I try to give back to the community, rather than think the community owes me something. I don't sweat the small stuff. I take breaks. I'm at least five or six weeks ahead of myself. Because I write long fiction, I can break my stories into sections and get at least 6-7 weeks where I can work on other projects. I tell myself I'm here for the long haul...but I'm also retired, so I can spend all day here if I want.
You answered my question about cross-posting, thank you! I wasn't sure if there was an etiquette to it or not. I see a lot of great articles I think my audience would like, but I hesitate to cross-post in case it is rude somehow.
Hi Julia, I think you are referring to "views" and "opens."
Views: This is the total number of times your post was viewed across different platforms – as an email, on the web, or in the Substack app.
Opens: This refers to the number of times subscribers have opened the email or notification for your post. An open is recorded when the images in the email are loaded or when a post is opened via a notification from the Substack app.
Hello Katie. Actually, under “Events” with some subscribers’ profiles it states the word “post seen “ for some of my articles and “opened email” on other articles. Some subscribers have no information whatsoever. I am trying to understand how to tidy up my subscriber list but now realize that the data may not be accurate and I accidentally deleted about 135 subscribers over the past year. My open rate is 65% but it appears what really counts is the number of subscribers! Please, can you assist with all this? Thank you!
🟧 Hi Katie, in the publishing settings before sending a newsletter out, I would love to have a cropping option when selecting the thumbnail. Essentially, a photo that works nicely in the body of the newsletter sometimes must be cropped to function well as a thumbnail. Any chance this will happen?
🟧 A paid subscriber disputed a charge with their bank and I “lost” the “unchallengeable dispute” before ever hearing there was a dispute. Stripe took the money out of my account to refund the subscriber AND took out an additional $10 fee for the dispute. There must be some recourse to writers who have done nothing wrong in these situations. We don’t even handle the collecting of payments. We just write! This sounds like a Substack-Stripe issue. Help?
🧠 - Before I joined Substack, I remember clicking on a link to a publication and seeing a pop-up that asked for an email address. I thought, "Is this like those news sites where they make you enter your email before reading?"
It took me longer than I'd like to admit to figure out that clicking "No, thank you" (in tiny letters under the email field) was how you got through to the publication. 🤦♀️
That was one of the first things I customised (once I finally figured out how to do it!!)
Go to your Settings, under "Publication details," look for "Opt-out message on the welcome page." (You only get 25 letters).
Yes, this feature has confused and turned off several of my readers. I’m glad there is now the option to turn off the “welcome” page popup on an article by article basis.
Yes, I think the other CTAs are enough and I do a lot of re-sharing of my articles and include subscribe buttons in posts. If I want to send with the welcome page I send my regular url and not a specific post.
🧠 Just a quick shoutout for doing Video on Substack. I'm having lots of fun with this - and it 'speaks' to my theme of unleashing your wild AF authentic voice.
If I could subscribe for $1/mo, I'd happily support 50-100 writers. Why not set up a system maybe similar to a tip jar where the funds only get processed when the total ($5 or whatever) meets the Substack/Stripe arrangement?
🟧 When I post a newsletter, Substack produces some linkable images. One of them contains some of the text from the beginning of the essay. I love it but how do I control that? Is there a fixed amount of text? Is there some way I can mark up the text to control what goes in that image?
My goal is to know before the image is produced, exactly what text is going to be on it.
🧠 - Make this the keyword of your 2024 >> COLLABORATION. Collabs are what has consistently driven the strongest growth in my two Substacks. The latest collab, published just yesterday, has already driven close to 70 new subscriptions, a few of them paid.
Collaboration drives community, builds relationships (and friendships!), and gives back in multifaceted ways. But it's not enough just to write guest posts or interview people. You also need to engage with the people who comment and repost/restack your work. Collaboration is an ongoing dance, not just a single winning move.
Love this! My goal for this year is to collaborate with more writers! Incidentally, I write a newsletter about Food in Film, and am always looking for food writers that appreciate all of the senses... I just checked out your chocolate newsletter and I am loving the post about the Seven Senses!
Via your premise FASCINATES me. I'm a huge foodie (I know it's hard to tell) and a former film industry professional (did my time in Hollywood and the indies). Let me know if you ever do a film about chocolate!
Wow, what a small world! I am a huge foodie and a (mostly post-production and archival but a bit of everything) cog in the film industry machine myself by day/
I am actually planning to do a post on the film "Chocolat" ahead of Valentine's Day, and ahead of the release of a couple other big connected films this year.
In that post, I'll most certainly recommend The Cacao Muse! (I've now only read two of your posts in between engaging in this office hour, but I'm already hooked!) If you'd like, I'd be happy to include a comment you have about the film! You can email me at << FilmFlavorVia [at] gmail.com >> if you've seen the film and are at all interested in sharing your two cents!
If not, let's still definitely stay in touch! Great minds think alike, after all!
Would be delighted, will email you! Chocolat is one film that immediately comes to mind. My favorite was Like Water for Chocolate. And thank you for the kind words... I have a feeling you'll love the rest of the Tour, especially Boss Cat's cameo appearances :P
Thank you. Love this. As a high extrovert, this could be really fun - to dream into cool ideas to collaborate. I need to gamify marketing and sharing efforts, or my heart and soul wither... PS I learned cacao ceremony and combined it with singing circles, pre-covid.
Extroverts do really really well with collaborations... it's in our blood! (I'm a hybrid introvert/extrovert). And absolute YES to gamification—that's what we did as kids, naturally, until life/school/work bled it out of us. Time to play!
Not as difficult as you might think Sarah! I'd start with people you already know and respect here on Substack, but you can also approach writers you haven't worked with. I've done both successfully. A few important tips:
Think through what the substance and intention of the collab should be. It should align with the purpose and substance of your own newsletter, as well as those of the other writer (I'm doing a 3-way collab this quarter, so that takes this bit of advice up a notch haha).
Important to put yourself in the shoes of the person you're contacting. Respect their time. Be sure you're clear on how the proposed collab benefits them, and tell them why you've decided to reach to them vs someone else.
Also be clear on what the ask is: are you asking them to write a guest post for you? Or are you pitching a guest post for them? Or are you proposing to interview them for your publication? Three very different things.
Finally, have a publication date in mind, be reasonable with word limits, and be sure to give enough time for the collab (at least 2-3 months).
Above all, never do a collab whose primary purpose is to gain subscribers—that's only the result of a great collaboration.
I love this!! Thank you!! I've been doing interviews for most of my newsletters and didn't even think that that's absolutely a collaboration lol. And definitely love the reminder that the primary purpose is NOT numbers. That way lies madness!
p.s. Silly me I forgot the most important tip: make it fun, make it enjoyable! The Holiday Tour I did was the most fun I had writing literally the entire year, and I wrote a lot last year. I allowed the pieces to go a little wild, given it was, you know, CHOCOLATE, and people loved it. ❤️🍫
🟧 - Hi! I appreciate that Substack is making strides to get rid of some of the harmful far-right content, because it violates existing standards that protect people from credible threats of violence. It's a great start.
I was wondering if there are any plans to further look at standards? Many of my fellow writers have decided to leave, or are wrestling with their conscience. And there's abundant evidence that we do not NEED to give far-right views a space for debate. Not only is there research showing this behavior lends those bad views legitimacy (https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/17447143.2020.1743296), allowing them in this space creates a social media environment that is off-putting to marginalized groups--which in the long term could result in loss of valuation for Substack itself. As an example it is easy to see that X, with its extreme position of 'free speech' has lost both legitimacy as a platform, users, and market value to an extreme degree.
I would further argue that the free speech argument is, on its face, illegitimate. Free speech is a property of governments, not of companies. Companies are free to create their own cultural and moral norms, and by allowing far-right speech to proliferate, and people who produce it to make money, Substack is stating their moral norms: that far-right speech is ok. If, as the founders note, it is NOT ok, it is up to the company to establish control over that speech.
A summary of me: In FOR MY SAKE!-THE PODCAST, I want to make sure that people's stories are heard. Especially regarding personal struggles, how we handle them (or struggle to), and, in a nutshell, what made you the person you are today. For the sake of others.
Hi Katrin! I'd be interested in a collaboration! I'm new to Substack and do not have a lot of followers, but if you'd like me to write something, I'd love to! Check out my Substack at https://gardenmuse.substack.com/ if you are interested as well. Thank you for this opportunity!
✏️ I'm seeking publications about mountain activities and would like to connect with you!
I write about my experiences in the mountains, introspectively, focusing on the why.
From my About page:
> A blog for the curious seeking more than just the summit. In this space, I share my experiences and reflections on the mental and physical aspects of being in the mountains. It's not just the how, but also the why that matters.
Here is an excerpt from my blog:
> The awe that sunsets inspire in me is only surpassed by the rare beauty of a starry sky, an experience I had the privilege of enjoying tonight. It was a magical moment that took me back to my first year of university. With cycling taking a backseat, I had the time to delve into various interests. I found myself engrossed in "The Scale of the Universe" by Salman Khan and Carl Sagan's "Cosmos." Every time I look up at the night sky, a sense of awe surrounds me, reminding me of a profound truth I once heard:The soul becomes as beautiful as what it sees.
Not today but we've heard this request before and our team has been exploring other monetization options, including tipping, outside of paid subscriptions.
✏️ -Greetings! So far I have made all of my Paid posts available for a 7 day trial. I think that encourages some people to do a sort of smash and grab, so I'm thinking of making all of my paid posts from now on available only to paying subscribers, ie with no free trial. I was wondering if anyone has any views or experience in these matters. Thanks
I don't mean ending my own- I mean subscribing to other people's. Some of the people who write here are more prolific than others and they don't all work on a set schedule, and it can get frustrating trying to keep up with them all.
I go by how often I read them. If I read 90-100% of their essays I’m usually a paid subscriber. If I read 60-90 percent of their essays I’ll stay subscribed. If I realize I’m skipping 50 percent or more of their essays without reading them I unsubscribe or just follow them on notes.
I love this way of categorizing subscriptions. I'm finding I'm overwhelmed by newsletters now, and many of them I don't read but I don't want to unsubscribe because I keep telling myself I'll get caught up eventually.
You can also turn off emails and check in on the app when you see newsletters highlighted that you want to read from those you subscribe to. (I use the "smart" option and see very few newsletters in my box..... but I read a lot directly from the app.)
I try to be disciplined about how many I subscribe too otherwise it's too much. If I hardly ever skip past someone's post then I stay subscribed. If I find myself deleting lots of posts because I haven't opened them then I unsubscribe. I have to say, it doesn't take long to realise who you never miss and who you don't mind missing! I can only afford a very few paid subscriptions and I make sure I have free subscribed for a while and have consistently opened posts before I commit a paid sub. I prefer to sub for a year rather than monthly, although monthly obviously is easier to pull out of.
New year. New rules. Looking to collaborate and cross promote with other writers if it makes sense so we can grow together. I have nearly 24k subscribers on my Substack with a 12-17 percent open rate.
I'm working on a graphic novel in a similar vein as your Stack (I checked YOU out :) However, I'm newbie here (tiny subscriber list.) Hmm... I'll connect via your stack.
✏️- Hey fellow writers, I have a question for someone who writes about personal growth and self awareness. Since joining in 2023, I have slowly grown my Subtack to over 120 subscribers, but the most traction I get is from when I comment on the newsletters that I love reading. Any tips for growing my audience naturally? How do I ensure that my Substack shows in recommendations for other readers who might be genuinely interested in my work?
I’m in a similar field as you. I am still figuring this out myself. But you can tag people in Notes as well as in the newsletter itself. Based on people I have found - they seem to write well and it gets restacked.
I am considering offering a "bonus" piece of material (in my case, a guide to something my audience would be interested in) to those who sign up for my newsletter, all currently free.
For new subscribers to receive this special opt-in/sign-up/bonus material, I know I can add it to the "welcome" email all subscribers receive after they sign up.
My question is: How can I "give" this bonus material to my current subscribers WITHOUT making it publicly available to anyone who visits my Substack's URL? (Ex: If I send it out in a normal newsletter post, it will be available to all.)
Thank you for any advice in advance! With gratitude, - Via
Hey there! You're on the right track with using the welcome email for new subscribers. For your current subscribers, you can send out a special newsletter with the bonus material attached or linked behind a paywall within an email. Or you can send it via the subscriber dashboard to select subscribers (folks who, say, subscribed after a certain date. learn more about that tool here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ORhE-tmom50&embeds_referring_euri=https%3A%2F%2Fon.substack.com%2F&feature=emb_title).
If you want to be extra cautious about sharing, you could consider creating a downloadable file and sharing a direct download link in the email. This won't prevent sharing, but it won't be as easily accessible as a public post.
🧠 - This is my first time participating in one of these “Writer Office Hours”, I never looked into what it really was.. I’m pleasantly surprised and kind of kicking myself for waiting so long to check it out! I guess my question is, does posting on here help elevate your interactions with other writers? Does it help you gain subscribers? Because I know my first inclination was to peep on the profiles of others commenting and I have found at LEAST 3 new newsletters I subscribed to! I can’t be the only one..
I found a few great writers that way, too! I've gotten a few subs via Office Hours, but not a lot. It's tricker to promote yourself on Office, vs Notes.
✏️ I'm BRAND new here- and will be starting sharing my Healing Letters to Self + Meditations that I'll be cross posting on Insight-Timer (audibly recorded). I feel so aligned with it and it feels intuitive, but because I've never used this platform before, I'd love tips on how to approach this (both technically and mentally/emotionally) when just starting out. Thank you! :)
This is not the only way to add something to the navigation strip, but you can create a "section" in which posts related to that live. That will then show in the navigation. More information: https://on.substack.com/p/a-guide-to-publication-sections
Note that when you create a section, you are also segmenting your mailing list. Tags might work better in this case, allowing you to organize posts without splitting up your email list https://on.substack.com/i/118842922/tags
✏️I’m a newbie interested in learning how to encourage people to go paid. Also, I am a therapist sharing useful insights and tools, and hope to add a paywall at tye end of posts for people to work on self improvement. Would a paywall put people off reading the post, which I intend to also be useful and nourishing?
✏️ Just set up my Substack and feeling inspired to get it started! I'm definitely overthinking this, but any tips or things to keep in mind for your first post? What would you do differently if you could go back to writing your first post?
Although I cover a lot of topics — current events to politics to Scientology, I kept my first post more neutral. It was a humor piece on discrimination in Graphic Design job listings. It had my POV, but was a more general topic that people would agree with, upon reading. After that, I went all out on the political stuff, but I'm glad I kept the first one more general so it had a broader reach.
Don’t sweat your first post at all! Introduce yourself, what you’ll be writing about (or experimenting with!), and what’s to come! Talk about yourself a little bit after you explain what the newsletter will be about!
As long as you JUST START! Haha I know how that paralysis can feel!
Worry a liiiittle more about the things that can get quite a bit if traffic once you’ve gained more footing with your writing here: about page, welcome snippet, welcome email, etc.
✏️ - I wonder how a subscriber can comment on posts with ease? The process seems daunting because one has to sign up every time a subscriber needs to comment, and you need to specifically go to the comments icon to comment.
🟧 - I have gotten many subscribers who are neurodivergent, as well as many who do not have the patience to log in every time to comment on posts. Please make the process easier.
Happy New Year to all!
To help organize the conversation, please use one of the following emojis when you start a new comment.
🧠 - when sharing strategy or advice for fellow writers
✏️ - when asking questions or seeking feedback from fellow writers
🟧 - when asking a question you hope the Substack team can help answer
Use your emoji keyboard or simply copy and paste the emoji at the beginning of your comment.
🧠 Probably my BEST growth advice:
Pin a "Start Here" post to the top of your Substack homepage.
>> See an example here: marketingideas.com <<
It should have a quick 'about' section and then links to all published posts - like an index. People keep telling me that it's the #1 thing they saw, and it's the one thing that made them subscribe (since they easily understood what my newsletter is about and where it is going).
Let me know if you have any questions 💯
Wow! so many generous fun ideas! Did the Universe tell you how badly I need this shot of inspiration for Heart, Soul, & Monkeys? Thank you Tom!
I worked on my ABOUT page by looking at other pages and seeing what "worked" by its catching my eye. Take and borrow from everyone!
The same approach helped me as well.
This!
Huh, thank you Christine! Glad you liked my newsletter :)
Great idea. Love your graphic style, too.
Woah, what a great compliment! 🥰 I grew up on 8-bit retro games (Gameboy, SEGA, etc). It's so fun being able to use it for my professional newsletter ✨
Amy definitely *knows things* about graphic style. If you haven't already, take a peek at her page. Her illustrated life is a marvel!
Hah. Thank you Elizabeth. And Tom - seriously cool. When I opened your Start Here, the moment of nostalgia was real!
Tom! I was late to office hours this morning. Thought I'd peek in. Glad I did. I have a start here page that for sure has boosted subscribes. And it kinda has an index. I've been wanting to update it but holding off until I had a better idea how. Your post and start here page sets me in the a direction I'm excited about. Thank you!
You made me happy!
That's a cool idea! I'll stick that on my to-do list
Thanks! DM me once you do it, I'd love to take a look and subscribe ✌️
thanks mate, I will do!
It's interesting that you don't link the Start Here on your menu. I found doing both the pinned and the menu were a potent combo.
Great idea! I'll definitely try that
Ahh, ok. I’ve been putting this off for a while. Added to my to-do’s for this week. Thanks for the encouragement and testimony for this tactic.
I was just looking at it. I don't have the 'creds' you do, and I'm afraid my page would be one line....START HERE.
That's not true Ben!
It's an index page so as long as you have something to index, you would get value from it, or you won't. It's really only good if you have a lot of posts you need to guide people though.
I DO have a lot of posts. I have to sort through it and figure it all out. When you write novellas and put them up a section at a time, things tend to get cluttered. Mine is getting cluttered. Take a look at it one day if you get the time...
That's a fantastic idea, thanks for sharing it Tom!
Glad you liked it Heidi!
I have a welcome post that does essentially what you describe - introducing myself with links to my writing about infertility, mental health, and adventure. Do you think this has the same effect, or do you recommend changing the language from "Welcome" to "Start Here"? This is what it looks like currently: https://www.lizexplores.com/p/welcome-to-liz-explores
I love this idea. will have to look more at yours to get some good ideas. Thanks for sharing!
How did you organize your index? By topic??
Yup, exactly. For me, topic = the goal of the marketing idea.
So the index is organized by Buzz Generation, Brand Awareness, Monetization, Retention, etc...
Also I subscribed tooooo.
Thanks for this advice, Tom. So you found that the "About" section doesn't suffice...?
Correct. People rarely look there. But a pinned post with a captivating headline + image is a massive attention grabber
I have worked on making my About honest – do you recommend copying all that, and adding more for the Start Here post? Or make it completely different? Thanks for the great idea.
I'm glad I jumped on this morning - what a good idea! I think one of the hardest things about having a newsletter is showing potential subscribers (briefly) what they can expect from the publication. Thanks for sharing!
I always tell people to work on their ABOUT page. People forget to update the page. If you start a project, put it on your ABOUT page. When someone comes to your 'stack and they want to see what you have to offer, that's where they're going to go.
Yes, thanks for your comment. I've updated my About page a few times as the publication has evolved. I did a bit of a "no-no" by changing the name of my publication 6 months in. It's like starting over. So I address it in the About section and I have a tab column at the top about the previous name.
Ahh, I did that! But I just added an extra line to the original name: SCRIBBLER--THE GOLDEN YEARS. It seemed like a good idea at the time.
One of my hardest things about having a newsletter is knowing what I can expect to write on the publication! Ha ha! :-)
100% agree - I couldn't have said it better
This is excellent advice!
Thank you ✨
Yes!! I have my best reads listed and pinned to the top, but once I write more I’ll create a start here one instead!
You did it really well!
Thank you so much!
Love the "start here" idea, but I really really love your newsletter. You've gained a new subscriber, my friend!
Wow, thank you! 🙌
100%.
Ah. Got it. Sorry for my “I’m old and confused” post. Terrific idea.
🧠 I’m celebrating that my Substack has grown by nearly 400 subscribers in the past two months, from 198 to 584 and counting! 🥳 I’ve had two New York Times best-selling authors subscribe to read my writing, and I’ve gotten three new recommendations. All through engaging with the Substack platform!
I’m writing an article about what’s worked for me. If you’d like to receive it in your inbox, you can subscribe at www.lizexplores.com, where I share stories from my life about infertility, mental health, and adventure. I’m not a writing coach; I just want to answer the questions people have been asking me and help fellow newbies!
For context, I started my Substack a year ago with zero audience and zero publications to my name, so the perspective I offer is one of starting from scratch and writing for the sake of writing. I don’t sell anything to my audience other than my writing itself, with a handful of paywalled posts that are personal in nature. Most of my work, including the article I’m working on now, is free.
That's amazing! I'm sitting on the bubble of breaking 400, but just can't seem to make it "pop." Congrats!
I know that feeling. I was on 397, then lost 2 today and then gained 1. As you can tell I'm keeping a close eye on it lol!
It always seems to go slowly (or go in reverse!) right at the thresholds.
I notice that too, Nathan!
Two months ago, I was having the same issue, Ben. I'd been stuck for a while at just under 200 subscribers. Then I started building relationships on the Substack platform (as I'll explain in my article), and I was blown away by the rapid growth.
How does one do this??
Rob, I am writing an article about how I tripled my audience by engaging with the Substack platform and building relationships. If you’d like to receive it in your inbox, you can subscribe at www.lizexplores.com.
Liz.,
5 subscribed to your Stack, unpaid at this point as I am just getting started myself.
Question: Do I need to be a paid subscriber to get the new article when it is published.
If so, I will gladly do so.
Have a wonderful day from chilly Colorado!
Rob
that's amazing growth, Liz. I know I've said it to you before, but it still blows me away!
Me too, Jo! Thank you for celebrating with me!
I got up to 540 subscribers in a year, decided to set up a paid option (where the income went to charity), promised everyone that they would get the same newsletters whether paid or unpaid – and then 25+ people unsubscribed. Why? why? why? Am thinking of writing a blog about it - why should 5% of my subscribers run a mile when nothing was going to affect them?
Some subscribers only sign up so that you'll sign onto their stack, not because of true interest in your topic. That's an echo of what happens on social media.
Some subscribe to too many stacks, and when their email explodes, they do some cleaning out of the ones they don't have time to read.
For these reasons you'll frequently see a few subscribers drop off whenever you publish.
possible, but I don't think most of my subscribers are regular Substack readers. Most are gained when I write on other outlets and provide information on my books and my Substack at the end. But I do think a lot of people try out different newsletters and come and go. I know I certainly do.
Then take a look at mine! As long as you like fiction. Long fiction. I even read it out on the video App.
🧠 Hi Ann, I'm so sorry about that. I've had a similar experience where people didn't unsubscribe, but the open rate halved! I couldn't work out why. I'm guessing the word "paid" scares some people. Perhaps they begin to feel somewhat guilty that they can't/won't commit to paying and so decide to either stop reading or unsubscribe. It is probably a sign that the audience is not for you and paves the way for your true audience to find you (and me, I guess).
Well, I go with the hypothesis that people run from the word "paid", but my husband came up with the guilt hypothesis. My open rate hasn't changed (c 60%), interestingly – you would think it would go up with the potential 'dead wood' having left. All I can do is plug on. I was/am still happy to have found 500+ subscribers and they are slowly creeping up again (I write for other outlets and people who like my writing often follow up the link).
Ann, ANYTIME I mention anything about subscriptions, free subscribers unsubscribe. I guess they think that I want them to start paying. I just don't do that stuff anymore.
25 subscribers is a huge dump. But how many of those 25 were actually engaging in your 'Stack? I lose two or three at a time, but tell myself those were readers who weren't opening my page and reading it in the first place.
I have no idea. I didn't look carefully when they went, but I looked quickly and it wasn't anyone I particularly recognised. Perhaps I announced it badly. See https://arichardson.substack.com/p/note-to-readers.
That's strange, Ann, and definitely worth exploring. Was your announcement about paid subscriptions sent as its own post, or was it mentioned as part of one of your regular posts? The only thing I'm thinking is maybe if people received that announcement without any other context to your writing, they didn't remember why they were subscribed in the first place? That must have felt so disappointing, when you were only trying to raise money for charity. I'm sorry that happened.
I wrote a special post on the same day as my regular posts go out, followed by a new post. See https://arichardson.substack.com/p/note-to-readers. How can I explore if I don't know who they are? I always thought I wrote very clearly, but perhaps it wasn't gentle enough – we can all make mistakes. But yes, very disappointing.
Perhaps they read it quickly and misunderstood. In any case, they likely weren't your most loyal readers, so perhaps a benefit is that your open rates and engagement rates will increase!
No increase in open rates, interestingly. Everyone says 'they weren't for you', but that isn't very satisfying. Reminds me of when I had a miscarriage (over 40 years ago) and people said "It's nature's way". Not much I can do but carry on. I post regularly once a fortnight (I'm a great believer in "less is more") and have no problem finding something to write about.
Congratulations! That's great growth!
Thank you, Amy! I'm excited about it!
✏️ I started my Substack at the end of August, writing a minimum of one post per week. The downside is that edits on my latest book are suffering. Starting with no subscribers, there are now 79 total and 6 paid. I love that this venue enables writers to monetize, but I need to work on expanding my readership. All tips will be welcomed with open arms!
I wrote a whole guide on that. Maybe it will help. https://www.theauthorstack.com/p/substack
I will definitely spend some time reading your "Author Stack" guide for those of us who need a bit more indoctrination into Substack mentality! It's an SOP for writers...who knew?
Russell what do you mean “This is not so much an article as a guide referencing articles related to the topic of Substack growth, which is the topic I’m against about second most next to Kickstarter.”
“against about” ?
I have rewritten the top, but it's a link to a bunch of other articles that are in an easily referenced order.
Hi Russell, Thanks for your reply. But now I can’t seem to find my way back to your post! Oh well, tech is clearly not my thing, but at least I’m learning 😁
That's excellent growth, Betsy! It took me over 6 months to reach 100 subscribers. I'm writing an article about how I've added 400 new subscribers in the past two months. If you'd like to receive it when it's published, you can subscribe for free at www.lizexplores.com. Congratulations, and keep writing!
That sounds great. What will its title be, so I can watch for it?
I haven’t settled on a title yet… It will probably be something simple like “How I’ve Grown my Substack Audience,” or perhaps I’ll come up with something more clever. Do you have any suggestions? What kind of title would catch your attention on this topic? 🤔
Oh, I think that title is just fine and straight to the point. Yes, if you burst that much, I’d like to hear more!
Congrats
Thank you. I subscribed to yours as well.
Wonderful, thank you Ifediri! It’s lovely to connect with you.
Thank you so much, Ifediri! What do you write about?
Thanks for your comment Liz. I am the author of 'Protect the Children,' a newsletter on how to protect kids online.
For anyone looking for ways to protect kids/family online, Join Us. derijones.substack.com
I checked out your Substack and subscribed! This is such an important topic you’re writing about.
Congrats!!
Thank you for celebrating with me, Kathryn!
That's some damn impressive growth, Liz. I've stopped worrying so much about my growth over the last few months, but it is interesting to look at trends over time and wonder what drives the fits and starts that the curve has gone through so far.
Thanks, Nathan! It was an intentional effort on my part to engage with the Substack platform that led to this recent wave of growth. It is hard to sort out which subscribers came from where, though, since Substack’s metrics are rather vague.
I’d really be interested in reading your post! I’ve got a plan of what I want to start writing about and loads of ideas, but scared to start as Im starting from 0 people😵💫. Feeling kinda stuck
Definitely start writing, David! It will make it much easier to find readers when they can check out your Substack and get a feel for what it’s about. What are you planning to write about?
✏️ So many wonderful Ideas! It will take me a few hours to peruse it all. Thank you, Liz, and thank you to all the posters! Great group!
This bit: "zero audience and zero publications to my name." Yes! 👏🏾
Exactly. I am always a bit frustrated by the “grow your Substack” advice from people who are already well-known writers. That’s why I want to share tips that specifically work for somebody starting from zero. Most of the strategies I will share are not scalable, but they are effective for getting the first 500 or so subscribers. At that point, things start to snowball!
Congrats. It's always good to see growth. And for those who don't have experienced it yet, just keep at it. Build networks, test content and you will find your tribe.
Arian can you elaborate a bit about how you build networks?
It's about building connections. In the comments, in notes and chat.
Thank you Arjan. I guess I’ve made a start then today!
Certainly. Office hours is a great place to meet fellow substackers and connect.
Exactly, Arjan! It's important to keep going, keep writing, and keep engaging.
This is amazing, and reassuring. Congratulations on the growth, Liz!
Thank you so much, Garry! I was pretty amazed myself at how quickly my subscriber numbers grew when I started to engage and build relationships on the Substack platform.
Congratulations, thank you for sharing.
Thanks Jonathan! I hope my article will help others who are feeling stuck with their subscriber growth.
✏️ 🧠 Hey stackers! I took a smidgen of mushrooms and headed to the local pub the other night - and walked out with 8 subscribers! I was surprised how fun and frutiful face-to-face recruitment was.
Has anyone else had any luck with spreading word in-person? and has anyone got any tips?
I’ve had a lot of success with finding subscribers in person. I taped the QR code for my Substack on the back of my phone. If someone seems interested I have them get their phone, scan my QR code and usually they subscribe immediately
This is probably smarter than business cards. Once you allow the chance for people to do it later, it usually doesn't happen. :-D
haha yeah the classic "will do" response
I use a QR code as well! I actually use the free version of the Popl app. You can save the QR code as a widget on your Home Screen, which I find pretty convenient. 👍
again! Brilliant. Noting this down to try it later.
Thanks Macy Lu! I just set this up!
Good luck ☺️
Remember when QR codes were "fringe?" 😅 Thanks for this excellent idea, Patty. Now, if I can just get over the Winter-Meets-Introvert Syndrome, I might actually put it to use. Gracias!! (Seriously -- thank you!)
WOW I love taping the QR code to the back of my phone! I'm going to do this.
Hey stephanie! Great to see you here!
Farrah!!! I loved your last piece on posting on IG. It's all part of growing up and realizing what works for you now.
Smart!!
Now that's an awesome idea! I'm going to nab that if you don't mind. That will save me staring into the URL box on people's phones. I had to recruit a URL guy, who was getting me to the URLs
Genius. Ruthless conversion 🤣 QR codes, it's truly your time.
Wow, what a great idea! Making a note in my planner to work on this.
I love this but as a non-tech old person, how do I get a QR code for my Substack?
Hi, June. There are QR code generators online. Just Google it and pick one you like, then save it to your computer and you can put it on the back of business cards and the like. Hope that helps! xo
Thanks so much. I'll give it a go. I can manage most things if the instructions are clear!
It's pretty simple. And I believe, if you were going to go with VistaPrint, they might have a QR code generator. I'm sure most print companies would. It was 9 months ago, so I don't know where I generated mine, but it was easy. Good luck! xo
great idea - going to tape a QR code on the back of my phone too. Thank you :-)
Very brilliant! I had buttons made from Stickermule with a QR code to my publication. I hope it works!
So I have little 4x6 flyers but the QR code on the phone is great!
Oh, this is great!
what a fabulous idea, Patty!
That's a great tip. I will try to look for something similar.
Great idea! 💕
I do it all day at coffeehouses. It goes like this -- I lay a book with a compelling title and/or cover out on the table where I’m sitting in full view of those who pass by.
The vast majority who see it ask me about the book. I then tell ‘em that I read and review non fiction books for a living. “You do!”, they respond. “Where can I find your work,” they say.
I then show them my Substack page that just so happens to be already cued up. 100% sign up right on the spot, some as paid subscribers
That's an intriguing strategy Mister Scott. Cool initiative! As it happens, I've just discussed three nonfiction books - maybe you might like my post. Thanks for your tip!
https://matthewcurlewis.substack.com/p/three-view-changing-nonfiction-books
You can spark up some interesting conversations when you have a book nearby! This is a good way to meet people who have the same interest.
That is plain devious!
Face-to-face recruitment has been a gamechanger for me! It's so easy to just casually mention you write about the things you're taking about, and people will ask how to follow your work.
Most of my followers have come through word-of-mouth publicity, and I believe in growth that lasts longer and lingers!
It's like when you work in the service industry. The best clients are the ones from word of mouth and referrals. They are from the same type of people and you want to draw more of those rather than the randoms off the street (also some of the randoms are also good)
I like the sound of that! But I don't like the sound of lingering growth, it gives me the heeby jeebies for some reason
I agree, I'll be doing some face-to-face recruitment this year. I plan to visit my old alma mater and recommend both my Substack and media venture to college students!
Hit them right where it hurts! In the faces
I haven’t mastered the causal mention, I’m pretty heavy handed by nature. They can see crowbarring it in from a mile off but I try and style it off
Man that's good to hear. I think I'll go for it a bit more. I definitely had more of an air of desperation than you, it seems, but the results don't lie!
When I was on my road trip to Alaska last summer (which I wrote about on my Substack at www.lizexplores.com), I had magnets on my camper van with my URL, and I had business cards that I shared with folks I met along the way. I noticed that a much higher percentage of these in-person contacts became paying subscribers, probably because they'd met me and felt more invested in my story!
I'm loving all of these face-to-face recruitment success stories! Definitely going to double down on it myself this year.
Aha! Proof that person-to-person connections have not been fully replaced by internet connections. 😁
I've gotten most of the 60 or so subscribers I have so far from in-person solicitations!
That's awesome!
Hi! I’m traveling the world, so whenever I meet fellow travelers or chat with locals, I tell them that I have a newsletter where I share travel writing and fiction. Usually, people are pretty enthusiastic to read it. I think if you’re truly passionate when talking about your newsletter, people will grow curious and want to support you. Good luck!
That's really cool! Yes, I think passion definitely comes across. I was going for desperation, and that seemed to come across well enough. Good luck to you
I am still psyching myself up for it. Maybe this week will be the week... I did hand some business cards out while on a recent trip.
Go give the bastards what for! I strongly suspect it is! Oh that’s cool. Business cards are a nice idea. I’ve always wanted some and now I guess I have a reason
OMG your blog is so funny. Without mushrooms...at the moment, mostly. I have been hunting for my annual spiritual dose to discuss the meaning of my life with God. This involves finding "spiritual" mushrooms as I don't want them to kick my ass--I want something someone has prayed to as they grew them. In my quest, I have been asking random people in Costa Rica for tested sources of adequate "godly" mushrooms. I found One guy who makes cashew cheese I bumped into in the local healthy-hippie grocery store who looked at me and told me he wasn't a "shroomer". What have I become? In the end, I ended up with something from Hawaii mixed in honey that I was told was "gentle", and a piece of chocolate called APE (albino penis envy)--which is supposed to be intense. I am afraid to take it. I think I need to read your series of penis articles first.
Thanks Terra! Thanks for giving it a read and subscribing.
oooh nice! I've never gone so deep as to have a chat with the bigman himself but I've definitely taken some advice from his shadowy accomplices.
That's really interesting! I've definitely found some more spiritual than others, like you're wanting to find your purpose, and just keep bouncing a motel sign-glare under your eyelids.
haha sourcing stuff is definitely tricky when you're out of the loop! I don't know where I'd start where I am.
Hmmm maybe just take a tiny bit, and test the waters! but you can never chat to god in the shallows, can you! haha yes please do check out my two part penis mythology series. I split it out, partly because nobody wants to read 1500 words, but also because it's fun having a two part penis series. Like damn, he couldn't contain his findings in one
Ha ha! Funny once again. I read part one. I will have to go search for part two. Oooohhhh the anticipation. And I don’t know. God may be very happy with the shallows and it is me who is always demanding that we need to talk. Here is an example: I had a New Years prayer come to me: “I want to be loved.” Whaaaat? I do feel loved. Then at a cacao ceremony a word comes to me: “Worthy.” Oh ok. I can work on that. Then I am in a breathwork ceremony, which is a bit like mushrooms in how it affects the brain. I am wondering about the I-want-to-be-loved-and-how-do-I-feel-worth-thing (I am sure in some way this is related to penis length and width, but I digress) and hacking up energy balls like a cat with a fur ball. I have been complimented in the past for my capacity to “process” energy balls so well. In the end, two people complain the ceremony was not peaceful or quiet enough for them. Someone else was much louder than me so he was the main target of their displeasure and I was sure my part had not gone unnoticed. “I want to be loved” and this is what I get? God owes me an explanation. Just saying.
I will leave it here in your lap should you so need it! https://wrongchannel.substack.com/p/3-myths-dicks
Oooh I've never muddled around with that cacao. I'm super curious. haha a worthy digression! Wow, that sounds pretty intense for bit of choccy. Those judgy trippers sound a wee bit annoying, you can only do and feel what feels natural!
I reckon your long overdue a chat. Gobble down those mushies and get to knocking on the bigman's door, I say!
Thank you! I am going to read it now. I expect to be laughing in glee. Yes, I am preparing my date with God and a lot of mushrooms have been heading my way so the universe seems to be responding. I have never sat in nature for such an event and I hope to do so here. Costa Rica is so lovely and there is a lot of invitation to do what feels natural here for sure. Often clothing free. Hopefully God won’t mind if a middle aged naked woman is pounding on the door demanding answers. I figure that’s how he made me. Now he has to deal with the consequences.
Not much luck, no, but I forgot the mushrooms 🤦🏽♂️💡😆
I love this idea, accept for the mushrooms ;-) but sadly my face-to-face networking is usually for my new novel, or related to my day job as a reporter. I did get my first two paying subscribers through posting my newsletters on Facebook.
the mushrooms are key! I think without their dozy charms I don't think I would have cracked even the fourth pubgoer. That's a whole lot of networking already, I imagine! That's great, I haven't made the leap to paid. It's a bit scary!
Laura I just subscribed!
I LOVE this idea. I haven't tried getting writers in person but this is really really smart. I'm going to borrow this tactic :)
Who knew! Also friends who dodged my DMs. When you get them in person, you can nail them to the wall and force them
hahahahah will also swipe that tactic from ya 😉
haha yeah they can't squirm out of your grasp, when they're right in front of you
and they say mushrooms are bad for us 😉 way to go!
Who says that! They're telling porkiepies
I would love to hear about this, too! Also, please write a publication about this!
I started off on friends of friends, and guilt tripped them in for the mere price of a drink, which is an agreeable CPA, I think you'll agree. Then we sat down next to some Oxford uni students, and my friends were teasing me, calling them potential subscribers. I sparked up a convo, and after being rightfully mocked for a few minutes, I bagged the lot. Well, 5 out 6. Not bad darts at alll! Thank you, I'm not so sure it's blogworthy, but I will continue floating about trying to spread the word - and I do have some similar stuff. Here's one I wrote about a time me and my friend built a shed on pills https://wrongchannel.substack.com/p/house-that-pills-built
hahaha epic! Pretty please, subscribing and hoping for exactly this mushroom-pub-new subscribers story.
A creative twist? Write it is as a love letter to them. :)
oh thank you for subscribing! :) I will do my very best.
That's a wild idea! You know don't think I've ever written a love letter... in earnest or otherwise. I'm not sure they are worthy of my first attempt. One of them, in particular, was treating me like a drugged up fool trying to manipulate subscribership out of them - which couldn't be further from the truth!
HAHAHA. That's awesome.
Thanks Jen! It's the biggest uptick I've experienced. I was pretending to be a guy who asks strangers to subscribe in the pub - but then, all jokes aside, being pretty insistent.
I love that. Those mushrooms are magic. You inspired me and I installed the Popl app Macy Lu mentions below and just set it up on my phone. I will see how easy it is to share that way. I am always meeting people and telling them about my blog. This will be great!
I created one for each of my stacks in Canva, using the custom graphics SS provides in the Share Your Substack section. Saved them to my phone so I can bring them up anytime and share with folks in person. Thanks for the great tip!
Nothing to add but Happy New Year also!
Bonne année.
Happy new year man!
Thank you!
Hi Katie, Can you please help me? I am only getting about 1/2 of the payments from new subscribers. Stripe says the problem is with Substack. I need someone at Substack to resolve this issue. Who can i contact? Thank you.
Hey there, I see you submitted a ticket with our support team. They will investigate and get back to you shortly.
Hello, folks, we were able to submit a ticket on this and Substack got back to me right away. Apparently no money flows through Substack...it all goes to Stripe. I'm still not sure what's wrong, but it's apparently not an issue with Substack. Thanks to the Substack team for responding.
🟧 Is there a way to indent in copy blocks? I’m hoping for full indent capabilities for a new poetry Substack I’m releasing soon. Thanks!
@Joyce@Substack I’m using the poetry block but when I preview the post, the indents are lost. The lines just appear within two faint gray lines. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks!
🟧How to participate here? When I post how would I know if it gets a response?
Hi Suzanne, a response will show up in your notifications on your Substack site or in the app. Office Hours has become tricky because it's so busy. When you get a notification that someone responded and you go back in to read it you're taken to the overall big thread and have to scroll through it to find who is talking to you. It isn't very encouraging.
Whereas if you get a response on Notes or a post you're taken directly to that place. I can only assume it's because the tech interface can't handle so many responses at once, but I'm not a techie so I don't know🤣
Oh, if I click in the emails I get, or in the notifications, I get taken to the comment made (or liked). When I click return to thread, it takes me back to the comment that was replied to. You have to wait a bit, but then you're brought to where you can continue the conversation.
Thanks Arjan. I've found it depends on when I try to get back in. It seems to be mostly tricky during actual office hours but I noticed when I replied to someone from last week I had to scroll the whole thing.
Oh, really?
Hmm.
That'not good.
It took me a while to realise I had to wait. But I never really tried to go back to previous office hours.
Thanks for sharing.
Thanks for this Donna. I've also noticed that difficulty of having to scroll when trying to return to a message.
Also, I've just subscribed because I like what you're writing and we share something in our name! Mine is Bright Side Writings. A post of mine you might enjoy is:
https://matthewcurlewis.substack.com/p/its-all-about-the-view
Cheers!
Also Suzanne if you're wondering about a regular post you can see the responses in the comment section of your post and also in the statistics about each particular piece.
I struggle with this a little too. I actually get an email notification when someone replies to me, I think because I have that on in my settings. But it's hard to figure out how to follow most recent posts... I keep scrolling back through the whole thing.
🟧 Hoping for some clarity... I finally found the courage to upload a creative writing piece and audio on the 'Experimental Writing' section of my 'Stack, gave the link to my subscribers but the section is empty... yet the piece and audio file link to that section. Any idea what it could be? Many thanks
Hey Jo,
It looks like the post "Love Letter 25: Welcoming 2024 Creatively" is actually in the section "Love and Decibels" and not "Experimental Writing." If you edit the post, you can change the section using the drop-down directly above the title.
I hope this helps!
Hi Peter and thank you for getting back to me.
'Love Letter 25' is in the right section. The audio file and creative writing piece have disappeared into oblivion, when they should have been in 'Experimental Writing'. Hide posts from homepage is not selected. The post has ended up as a podcast called 'Synthie's Surreality' and I can't work out where it is stored or how to make it appear under Podcasts and Experimental Writing sections. It is currently only visible here: https://loveanddecibels.substack.com/p/the-plastic-generation
Yet when you click on the podcast's image, it takes you to the 'Experimental Writing' section, which is empty...
Happy new year, Katie and all at Substack!
Happy New Year to you as well! 😎
You probably want to read section 3 or 4 of our guide, but the best ways are to start getting recommendations, which generally happens through commenting on notes and making friends, along with writing great content. https://www.theauthorstack.com/p/substack
Thanks for the guidance!
Welcome Stephanie! Dive in to conversations on Notes, contribute in a meaningful way to other writer's publications and get to know people here and you will grow. Recommending other writers you enjoy is a great way to have them recommend you as well.
Thank you - appreciate the helpful feedback.
🧠 Hey, everybody. Andrei here. What I want to talk about today is patience. I’ve been writing here for about a year, having started with 10 subscribers who were all a bunch of family and friends who didn’t even open my emails. Yesterday, subscriber no. 426 joined my newsletter. The thing is, my goal for last year was to finish 2023 with 500 subscribers or more. By October, I had touched on 400. But then something happened. I got depressed. I wasn’t looking forward to writing anymore, because all I was thinking about was: “Will this post get me closer to my goal?” As a result, I couldn’t write. So I had to stop. I took a six-week break, during which I lost about 10 people, but I found I no longer cared. I rested, read and worked on other creative projects, including what I thought would be a novel. Then, Christmas came about and I got the urge to write again. So I did. I wrote a 2000 word short story that night and posted it the next day. People loved it! Then a week later, surprising even myself, I wrote another thing, an essay this time. It became my most liked post ever, with 50 likes and counting! People really, really liked it. But more importantly, writing it made me feel alive again.
What did I learn from this experience? To take it easy. To have goals, but to not cling to them so hard. To give myself time and space to relax, and just create because I love it.
I hope you have a nice week. And take it from me, the kettle can take only so much pressure before it bursts! 🤯
Really appreciate this, Andrei. I also took a break over the holidays and felt a lot of anxiety about it. Whenever I start getting obsessed with my stats and subscribers, I find that I lose sight of the real reason I'm doing this, which is that carving out time to write every day (okay, most days) is chicken soup for my soul. Sure, it's nice to get my stories out there and even nicer when people read them, but the writing is far more about my own processing and health as it is about external validation.
I know perfectly where you are. I was there a few months ago. I was stuck and without the will to write anything. I followed the flow and stopped until I regained writing will again.
In the meantime, I changed the name of my Newsletter from Weekly Balloon News to World Balloon News and explained to my audience I was abandoning any pretension of regular writing for the sake of keeping things on the happier side.
A lot less stress since!
I love that you gave yourself a break.
Thanks for your honesty. I too took a break when I couldn't write anymore. It's been hard regaining traction as when I started over a year ago I posted once a week. I just couldn't keep up the pace since I write about recovery from trauma so it's labor intensive. I fear I broke the trust of subscribers. But all we can do is get back on that horse. I appreciate you sharing your story.
Yeah, I agree. I also write personal essays exploring my past and a lot of different difficult topics, and each essay takes a lot out of me to write. So, this year I’m going to pace myself better.
Yes, we need to take care of ourselves when sharing difficult topics from our past. Because ultimately all we have is ourselves. Thanks for sharing :)
Thanks for sharing, Andrei! I was also inconsistent last year because of mental health issues/burnout and I kept beating myself up about it. But I know that when I did write, it was more out of a sense of obligation and the work didn't feel like it was coming from me. I've since made a lot of changes to my life and feel much less stressed, which has rekindled my creativity. It's hard to avoid the pressure to keep putting out work, but it's just not realistic for many of us, so I really appreciate the reminder to take a step back. I don't want the writing to feel like a chore. I want to be able to have fun with it and be intentional with what I share.
I like to keep little notes for times when I have no inspiration and motivation!
It helps me tremendously when feeling stuck.
I just revisited my year end goals and found I made it to about 80% of what I had set out to do last year.
Generous of you to add this. Thank you!
If it helped in any way, I'm glad!
I am in the same boat as you. I used to be focused on the numbers and it made me write from a different mindset that I didn’t enjoy. Being on Substack hours sort of makes me feel anxious about how much growth everyone is achieving and here I am with very slow growth. But I’m enjoying the act of writing when I don’t focus on “success”. Good job to you for taking the break and for going back to it when it felt right. I hope you continue to enjoy the process
Likewise! And good job to you for making all those realizations. I'm sure it will help you stay sane in the long run!
Ahhh I love this so much. Proof that following the JOY and our internal nudges is where it’s at. Kudos to you!✨
Much appreciated, and yes, you’re so right!
I have had to do this kind of stuff now and then but for my Youtube channel. Its not good to force yourself to keep going, you subscribers will notice it.
Great to hear you find your creative boost once more! 😁
This is so inspiring and also very personally validating for me! I spent months trying to figure out what to put on my about page, but I think it just came time this morning and I wrote it all out in my notes app (no time to open a document on my computer!).
I’m intentionally working on annihilating “should”s from my vocabulary and my life this year! It can be so debilitating, and I see you’ve experienced!
This is so awesome! I love spontaneous bursts of inspiration!
They're the best!
Such good advice, Andrei. Glad you're back.
Thank you, June! Nice to BE nack.
Thx for sharing. Glad you’re back. 🥰
😍
So smart to flush the brain and reboot. Glad you got good results.
I took a 2 week holiday, and it definitely helped in multiple ways.
Yikes, LOVE this. I had a similar backlash effect. Measurable Goals and all that can be effective, but chasing numbers (WAY out of my control) broke my heart and soul. So happy that the Universe (eg Substack) responded to your natural creative urges to write!
✏️🟧 If you could wave a magic wand and ask Substack one new/upgraded feature for writers in 2024, what would it be?
My ask is for more meaningful discovery capabilities within the Substack community — more seamless ways to find aligned writers, find essays based on the existing subset of essays we read, and more opportunities to engage with and learn from the community
I wish we had DM’s on substack. I used to have such great conversations in my instagram DM’s (no longer on there) -- sometimes people don’t want to leave a public comment.
that makes sense! I've been pleasantly surprised at folks who opt to hit reply on the email and write in privately :) perhaps experiment with writing a CTA to invite folks to leave a comment by responding to your Substack email?
I agree with this. Before I moved my newsletter to Substack I had so many people respond directly via email. I loved the intimacy of those conversations.
There’s a substack email? I’ve missed this!
It's for subscribers for get your essays in their inbox! they can hit reply directly to respond :)
oh didn't realize it led to a direct response! learned something new.
Yaaa, there are lots of reasons not to leave a public comment, like spotting a link or format error and privately giving a heads up.
Totally agreed. DMs would be hugely helpful. We're using the platform to support a community and I've had members reach out to me to connect them. I'd recommend offering DMs only will full block/accept features users have come to expect on platforms like Twitter. I'd also recommend it only be available between subscribers of a given substack, much like chat.
I'm sure your 100K club of substackers aren't interested in DMs from any rando among their subscribers.
I have invented a kind of hacking way to do DM's.
I'm listening!
1) Make a section on your Substack that will not appear anywhere. I called mine the 'invisible' section.
2) Make a post in that section, problaby with the name of the person: thus 'To Von'. write 'hey @Von, this is our way of DM'ing. I was wondering if you could explain what you meant about women's rights' in the postPublish the post but do NOT have it send to anyone.
3) The person will get notified that you have tagged them, and can 'comment' on the 'post', which only you will see. To which you can reply, etc.
Very cool, @von! One quick question: Notifications on @names only go out after a post has been published, right? I totally see why this works and that it could be useful for the more technically astute.
This also highlights a reason why doesn't Substack support @naming in comments (I'm going to guess it's a way to manage randos creating noise for big publications... I'm asking it be an explicit setting, not a missing feature.) I hope they're 🟧 reading this to see why they need to implement it as an explict feature since we can work around it with your trick. (Try @naming Substack founders, that might work. 😉)
Yes. You have to publish it... without sending it to anyone! Definitely test your system before sending all sorts of private stuff. In fact, never send any truly private stuff this way, if you make a mistake or someone tries hard enough they can get int.
Yes, annoying that @naming doesn't work in comments. Very annoying.
interesting, Von!
oh wowwww that is very cool! might be above my paygrade (i am an artist/ not very computery lol) but that's super smart. thanks for the explainer!
Ironically seconds after I posted that one of my beta readers responded in her DM thread. It takes a while to set up the first one, but after that it is easy to keep going.
Me too! I hate having to toggle over to LinkedIn just to connect with someone in order to message them
Chat feature?
For me it’s the ability to draft and add hyperlinks in the app or on mobile. My newsletter is curative, but I am disabled and cannot use my laptop much. I have to have a friend help make my links into hyperlinks each month as there’s no easy way to do so on mobile.
Patreon app, for example, allows you to highlight text with thumbs and then link out from it.
👆 Yep to this! (Bias alert: I am that friend.)
Can confirm that Mike is, in fact, THAT FRIEND.
(And probably wants to stop hyperlinking every month. Substack: help Mike stop helping!)
STOP THE MENACE THAT IS MIKE HELPING.
But I'm good either way and happy to keep helping! Wait, that completely undermines your argument... YES IT'S SUCH A BURDEN I HATE IT MAKE IT STOP IT'S RUINING ME *WEEPS*
You're funny and loveable just as you are, Mike. DONT GO CHANGIN (ps my neurodivergency cannot perceive irony haha)
😭(THANK YOU CHRISTINE)
what a lovely gesture from Mike.
Thank you. :) But I should add before my Inbox fills up with requests to mow lawns, wash dishes etc. that I've known Jodi for a decade so this isn't just random altruism...
😄
definitely! Plus the ability to make some sections Paid, instead of having to make individual posts paid
Never having gone paid, I didn't know you couldn't do that :)
This is needed!
Cheers, Gary
ah, that's a good one! I'm about to post my first paid essay this upcoming week – any advice? :)
As I said in a different comment, I've tended to give mine a 7 day trial option, but I have reservations about that and am thinking of making my next one paid only. The only advice I can offer is not to be apologetic: good writing deserves to be valued, as does loads of research, experience etc.
a few folks I know who have experimented with 7-day trials found them to not be helpful with conversion. the assumption is that readers do the trial, read the paywalled posts, then lapse before going paid
LOVE the unapologetic advice ⚡️
Thanks, Cissy. Regarding apology, it's a tough one to overcome I've found.
one way that I've approached being unapologetic is reframing it as speaking my truth. I want to honor our people's truths and I certainly want to pave the way by speaking my own truth :)
I would love to have my voice-overs pushed to RSS be tracked the same way as the podcasts. Right now they just go off into the ether.
Michael, I was playing about with voiceovers yesterday and after I recorded one there was a checkbox for sending it to RSS. I think that's new. Note this was on a test publication of mine which is paid, so not sure if it's possible on a free pub.
The send to RSS is over a year old and how I do it on all mine. The issue is it will not track download stats that way.
You can put a voice over on AND upload it to the podcast and you can get stats from the podcast but if you push your voiceover to RSS... no stats.
This!
Yes, I second that, Michael.
Does anyone have a clear guide on setting up podcasts? I've made a complete mess of it.
I would love to have more font options and font color. I'm just a visual person, and would love a little more color on my posts.
Agreed. Help us differentiate our Voices, Substack!
The graphic designer in me would love this tooooo!
Same, Jael!
I would love there to be a way to only externally publish certain podcast episodes on Substack without going paid. Currently, there is no way to prevent sending every free episode straight to Spotify or Apple other than making it paid. I would like some sort of Private mode that prevents that, but I'm not sure that's possible.
I have the same concern. I do not plan on going paid and to keep my content accessible and these concerns worry me to even create pod content.
I am planning on having a season style podcast with short episodes in the interim that I don't want to be included in the main list. So I either have to change my plan completely or just go paid and cut some people out of my content.
You could make your internal ones "Voiceovers" and include them in free posts?
https://support.substack.com/hc/en-us/articles/7265784112916-How-do-I-add-a-voiceover-to-my-Substack-post-?utm_source=pocket_saves
I like this!
For me I think I would want a paywall but instead of it being for paid subscribers it would be for your regular subscribers!✨
Yes!!!!
That's a good one.
I want more customization on my end so that I can see what I want and not see what I don't want at any given time. For example, in "activity" I would love to be able to toggle on/off the likes, the restacks, etc. to see exactly what I want.
Also a single button to archive everything in the inbox at once would be magic for me.
That magic button would be a dream, Kathryn. I wonder how easy (or otherwise) that would be to programme.
I'm not a programmer so who knows but it seems like lots of tools have something similar (a "select all" then "archive" feature) so I'd love to see it happen.
I wish that it was easier to engage with a certain topic on notes, as with the hashtag feature on X. It just always feels like there is a broader conversation that could be happening.
Great feedback, I've shared it with the Notes team.
The ability to highlight a portion of a post and restack it to Notes is an awesome feature, but it doesn't work for the poetry block, which really restricts engagement for poets. That would be my biggest feature request at the moment.
Second would be to have Poetry added as a unique category. 😊
I'd like to be able to store email headers for different sections of my newsletter and have Substack pull the right one based on that section.
Right now, I have to manually change out the header when I post a new essay, otherwise it defaults to whichever header I used last time. I do find engagement with my writing changes (at least a smidge) when I take the time to swap the headers out... It's a trifle, but it would make a difference for me!
Absolutely need to be able to search for blogs by category. I write snarky pieces on current events and politics, and would like to find similar ideas, that are not the already popular mainstream. So if someone types in "humor, politics, progressive, human rights, Harry & Meghan" then https://theindiaink.substack.com/ will pop up. I'd also like to be able to find more diverse writers this way.
I would enable cut-ins for photographs instead of the clunky, inflexible way of showing photos that exists now.
Great suggestions. I would add that when scheduling two different posts I’d like to be able to save the two different custom headers I use for future posts. RN only 1 header at a time can be saved.
💯 yes, that’s my top wish too. I could use some pointers on getting found in google search too. Does everyone tag their posts with keywords? And if so, where?
I love this discoverability idea. My proposal is for an affiliate feature where we can share the wealth anytime someone helps us lock in a new paid subscriber.
🧠
I don’t really give any growth tips because there’s plenty of that happening around the platform. All of them focus on what do you have to do, but none focus on who you have to be.
Be kind.
Be open.
Be yourself.
Your work is enough,
because you are enough.
Marc -- this may be a little "woo woo" for you. I have no idea. Your comment here resonates with me, so I popped over to your page to see what there was to see -- you know, kind of validate that you were as awesome as you seemed here. Then, appreciating what I saw, I tried to jump back to Office Hours to like your post. Magically (I swear I'm not making this up!) I clicked the 🧡 here and it registered as a subscription to Raising Myles. So, hi! And, gosh! And, I look forward to, uh, getting to know you. This is like the Substack version of bumping into someone on the subway that you later seem to see everywhere!
https://elizabethbeggins.substack.com/p/god-freakin-help-you
Synchronicity is REAL y’all
Haha! Pleasure to meet you. This is not “woo woo” looks like we were meant to find each other. And trust me, I know what it means to bump into strangers on the subway- that’s how I met my wife ❤️
Okay, now that is really something. 😊
Ha! Best comment ever! 🪄
Marc you're a rockstar! This is the best advice.
Appreciate you, Donna!
Beautiful antidote to the capitalist growth drive. My shoulders just dropped 2 inches.
Glad this put you a little at ease Christine. I looked at Substack. When I was stressing over growth in the beginning, my therapist told me not much people can even say they have 10 subscribers. You, Christine, have 100. That’s a 100 people, friends, family, and strangers that value what you have to say. More will come, just get the table ready for them.
Important reminders, Marc, thank you for sharing.
Of course, Arian.
🧠 I’m celebrating that my Substack has grown by nearly 400 subscribers in the past two months, from 198 to 584 and counting! 🥳 I’ve had two New York Times best-selling authors subscribe to read my writing, and I’ve gotten three new recommendations. All through engaging with the Substack platform!
I’m writing an article about what’s worked for me. If you’d like to receive it in your inbox, you can subscribe at www.lizexplores.com, where I share stories from my life about infertility, mental health, and adventure. I’m not a writing coach; I just want to answer the questions people have been asking me and help fellow newbies!
For context, I started my Substack a year ago with zero audience and zero publications to my name, so the perspective I offer is one of starting from scratch and writing for the sake of writing. I don’t sell anything to my audience other than my writing itself, with a handful of paywalled posts that are personal in nature. Most of my work, including the article I’m working on now, is free.
Wow! Congratulations!
One more subscriber just got added!
And a little note, thank you for talking about infertility. As a woman who recently had a miscarriage, this. conversation. matters.
I would love for us to collaborate on a podcast episode on this!
Seconded on the importance of talking about infertility and loss. There's so much more to say that hasn't been said!
Yes yes yes! When I had my miscarriage, I felt so lost, so... not-knowing-where-to-start.
The self-healer in me was lost.
The psychologist in me was lost.
The woman in me was broken.
The child in me was confused.
The anger in me was building.
It felt like the parts of myself were colliding.
I wish I had known about this publication in October already.
We must must must talk about it.
I can completely relate to this feeling. It's one reason why I started my project here. This is a bit more about that, if it helps to have a reminder that you're not alone: https://ryanroseweaver.substack.com/p/initiation-1-started-again-imperfectly
By the way, what’s your name?
Katrin :)
Nice to meet you, Katrin! 😁
You have described the experience brilliantly. My very first Substack piece started with the words “I hate my fucking life!”--a culmination of the grief of multiple losses and the frustration of infertility. There was, and still is, so much anger:
https://www.lizexplores.com/p/a-new-years-epithet
So. true.
In one of my anger outburst directly after the miscarriage, I said that I wish I had died that Friday. And the thing that scared me the most was that a part of me meant it.
The grief had overconsumed me.
Thank you for your piece!
I feel that way with every loss. It seems like a hole I’ll never claw my way out of. Yet somehow, someday, I do. 🤗
I am so sorry you are part of this unfortunate club. Talking about it really does matter. I would love to collaborate! If you’re on Instagram, you can message me there at www.instagram.com/_lizexplores.
Although we are part of this club, and that is so unfortunate, we are still a club that must talk about it and heal.
The weekend after the miscarriage, I got two tattoos that are my reminders to embrace peace and stillness the same way I did when I saw the two lines. I thought "nothing matters" in a very liberating way - my unanswered emails, my noisy neighbour, nothing. It was me and the bundle of joy.
Already send you a message!
That is exactly how it feels, for quite a while: nothing matters. You nailed it.
Hi Liz, thanks for sharing your journey, it helps other like me, with less impact, to keep going. And of course, congratulations for the achievement, 400 subscribers in 2 months is a lot! 👏
One thing that comes to my mind every time I read a post or comment like yours is: ok, yes, what you write might be super interesting but... The audience does not reach auto-magically into your Substack newsletter and find your incredible content. There might some trigger, some way the audience find you, more over when you start from zero.
What are your thoughts about this?
Thanks Marcos! you’re right, unfortunately people don’t just magically find us when we start writing interesting things. What’s work best for me has been engaging and building relationships with readers and writers on the Substack platform. I’ve done that in a variety of different ways— too many to share in a comment— which is why I’ve decided to write an article about it! If you’d like to receive the article in your inbox, you can subscribe at www.lizexplores.com.
I know. You’ve posted this every weeYou’ve found your growth strategy. Happy it’s working for you.
🧠 I experienced 100%+ increase in paid subscriber signups over the last 3 months.
With a focus on self-development, inner work, and education, I have strived to keep the majority of my content free. For a while, growth for paid subs was slow and rather stagnant. So I began testing different styles of limited paid offerings that would allow interested readers to deepen their engagement with my work.
In November, I released a recorded workshop for paid subscribers, which led to a huge jump. I was pleasantly surprised by the response. Since then, I have released 1 other recorded lecture and will be teaching a live class for paid subscribers this month. I’ve also created a section for these paid perks for easy access: https://alyssapolizzi.substack.com/s/paid-subscriber-lectures-and-workshops
The main lesson I took away was that:
- It takes time and experimentation to find the right configurations for paid offerings.
- Readers will show us (via engagement, feedback, signups) what they find most valuable.
- There’s no one way to grow your Substack (free or paid). Focus on designing a model that fits your work and readership best.
This is so useful, thank you. I’ve been here a couple of weeks and everything is free though I turned paid on. I’m planning to experiment with what is free or paid over the next few months. Wish me luck! 🤞
Yayy!! Well done Alyssa.
Thanks for sharing this! As an educator, I've considered doing this as well. I'd love to know more about how you set this up logistically so that it scaled for you and was of benefit to your subscribers, if you don't mind sharing more!
I record the classes on Zoom (I use a share screen and lecture with slides), edit them in iMovie, and then upload to Substack via the video post option. When the post is set to paid, I'm able to create a free preview, which I think helped potential members switch to being paid.
I created a section for the classes so paid members can easily access them: https://alyssapolizzi.substack.com/s/paid-subscriber-lectures-and-workshops. I also put a link to this in their welcome email.
My plan is to do a mix of pre-recorded classes that I upload and live classes that members can attend for extra participation and a sense of community (of which a replay will be added to Substack afterwards). This will help me with scaling and managing this perk as it has some flexibility.
Hope that helps! Let me know if you have other questions.
Thank you so much!
Alyssa, I’m curious what your workshop was about...
The workshop was on blending tarot and working with dreams (2 subjects that I write about and that my readers are interested in). I think it also helped to give a preview of the class: https://alyssapolizzi.substack.com/p/tarot-and-dreamwork
Congrats, and thanks for sharing your experience here. Very valuable.
I've personally just started an experiment to get more paid subscribers. Your message is very encouraging.
love your approach to experimentation, Alyssa – thanks for sharing :)
really resonate with the freedom that is the million ways that can support growth & finding the readers that most align with you
✏️ To everyone reading on here who has collaborated with other writers as guest contributors and vice versa, what was your main approach to having those conversations? A cold email? Through Notes?
Thank you.
I put out calls for pitches on Twitter and got a good response! I directed them to an email address I have set up just for my Substack doings. Then we take it via email from there.
That's actually a pretty cool strategy! I hadn't come across this one before. Thank you.
I've only collaborated with other writers who I mutually follow and have some level of rapport with. However, I have done cold emails for collaborations on other platforms and it has worked well! It's always worth a shot.
ROTFL wheras I only do it when I disagree :)
Thanks, Alyssa! I'll check out your newsletter in more detail later because reading the description it seems that we may have some mutual interests based on my latest series. Who knows, there may be a collab in the future!
following this thread 👀 curious to see what collabs folks have been most proud of!
what worked well? what would you do differently?
Replying to their latest newsletter and starting a conversation about something they shared, then including a link to my newsletter so they can check it out.
I appreciate your insights! That makes sense to me. Have you done this?
Yes! i have done two "swaps" so far, where I contributed to another person's newsletter, and then they did the same for me. I have several more scheduled for this year, all from reaching out directly and asking. Someone who succeeds at this is Joanna Goddard – she's a master at it really – so I ask myself "WWJD?" :) whenever I'm reaching out to someone for a collaboration.
Thank you so much, Alex. I'll check out Joanna Goddard as well.
Possible to link to examples of what this looks like in the wild? I'm suuuuuper curious.
https://alexsteele.substack.com/t/guest-curators
Usually it comes from mutually enjoying each other's work, and approaching them with an offer. We do at least one a week and it's been good for everyone, I think. https://www.theauthorstack.com/
I've noticed that lately on your newsletter. Glad to hear it's been mutually beneficial. Russell. Thank you so much for your comment as well.
You’re welcome. Hope you have been enjoying the new perspectives
I certainly have. Perhaps there could be a potential collab in the future!
Also interested in this!
Well, I have been involved in several 'letter exchanges', basically long form debate or discussion, back and forth between two different writers, linking to each other. I have found it tremendously helpful.
Our exchanges usually got started when I suggested it after an exchange on notes or comments on my post.
NB I am still open to having a lot more letter exchanges!
Thanks, Von! I remember when Substack folks talked about the letter exchanges. I'm glad to see that it has worked for you. I have to look into that and see if that format makes sense for my publication. I appreciate your comment!
I reached out via Notes with an idea for a collaboration, and shifted to email once we agreed to work together.
I like this approach.
I chatted with people on Notes and saw where there was an organic connection, and that's where collaborations came from
That makes perfect sense. I need to give Notes a better try in general.
It takes a while at first and can be quite frustrating to build up your connections. You may feel like you're into a void. But eventually you hit your stride. Go for it. I've made genuine friendships there.
Thank you for that encouragement. I truly appreciate it.
Loving this letter exchange idea. Dang, I changed settings so I don't get newsletters in my inbox. perhaps set up a new account for all things Substack per @Caitlin Cowen
I love the idea of letter exchanges on a fiction format. I was thinking of love letters between a man at the front during WW I, and his girl back home. But it seems everyone wants to write essays about politics and culture. Fiction, it seems, is a hard sell.
I hear you. Do you follow @Talebones? It's great that this platform supports both, and it's a conundrum. Marketing wisdom is NOT do what others do, but it's hard to be discovered. PS I've got a few novels (first drafts) in my desk drawers that I'd love to serialize here... someday (sigh)
Serializing is actually a lot easier than you might think. Don't let that big wall of doubt stop you. My first try was a NaNoWriMo I did in 2022. I didn't have a clue as to what I was doing. A BEGINNER'S GUIDE TO TIME TRAVEL. It's not 50,000 words, but more like 90,000. I put up a section a week. You put one piece up, work on the next, and before you know it, you have people following you, commenting. It's great.
Such an insightful question! Following!
Being willing to speak on each others' podcasts has been a great strategy for me!
Combo ... sometimes I've reached out with a cold email. More often I've had exchanges in comments on their posts or notes first and then gone from there. I also have a post inviting collaboration:
https://createmefree.substack.com/p/opportunities-for-create-collaboration
Thanks so much, Kathryn. I like your flexible approach and also having a post inviting collaboration.
Mine was actually through an earlier version of this chat and I left my email as a comment on one of his recent posts. It was still public but I figured a bit less out there than doing it here haha
I did a few, and it was always started in the comment sections, then taken private in some channel of choice.
🧠 For anyone who feels like they're stuck in the slog or having a hard timing with their writing and publishing practice, this is a reminder that taking a long break from sending your newsletter can be INCREDIBLE for you, your soul, your creativity, your life. Your loyal subscribers will be ready and excited to read your posts when you're ready to come back. It will show in your writing.
I haven't published in 3 weeks and have used the time to just write small things in my journal, read several books, and just live life without this added pressure. I'm now working on my next piece and it's been so dang fun and fulfilling to write.
I also decided I'm going to be more flexible with my publish schedule. I will still post on Fridays but maybe it's each week or every other week. With being a mom and wife, hosting a podcast and starting up yoga teacher training, I don't want to be in a rush or stressed out. Heck, I may publish 1x every 3 weeks if my life feels like it can only withstand that.
GO AHEAD AND TAKE A DAMN BREAK, WRITERS!
Thank you for suggesting this! I landscape, so I have more time to write in the winter than in the summer. I started my Substack recently and was worried that the lack of my writing in the summer might affect my numbers. I'll consider a steadier pace this summer. :)
I love the idea of looking at the ebb and flow of your art mediums. One part of the year it works better for one medium and then the other.
Funny. My schedule is opposite where I tend to have a lot of writing energy in the summer and Fall but less in the Winter and Spring. Good to know your own flow 🌊
Yes, indeed. There's a lot of advice that says you must do this or that and one of the things you must do is publish consistently, but I'm with you. Take a break if you want.
I usually publish weekly, but I also take a week or two off sometimes. Or even longer. I took a break for the month of December, for instance.
Hi Victor! Longer breaks are so needed if our bodies and minds call for it. How was your December break? How do you feel getting back into it in January?
Actually, I wrote a lot in December. And visited with family. It was a good month. January's coming along, haven't got my stories exactly planned yet, but I have items ready and generally decide closer to my pub day, Tuesday :)
I took a few weeks off during the holidays.
Felt good because I got new ideas to write about and also could focus more on my art courses 😊
YES! Thank you for the reminder, Stephanie!
You're welcome. Do you plan on taking a break sometime? It might be nice to schedule it. Or just do it whenever you dang well feel like it :)
Yes, for sure! I've been in a good creative flow the past month, so when I feel those energies start to wane, I'll step back for a bit. Probably during the springtime when there's more to do and I won't have as much of an excuse to stay inside :)
Thanks, Stephanie. We do need a break at times. There's only so much gas in the tank - or e in the hood
Yes, exactly! When you're low on gas, pull over and fill up. Stick around and have a snack, take a pee break, hehe :)
I’m entering my third year here and so far every winter has seen a significant drop in my posting schedule. Seems to go with the time of year!
Yes yes. Important to be in the world. Take time to live, play, notice things, make unusual connections, make sense of them, find the words, say what you mean.
For many writers, the relentless pursuit of productivity, optimisation and bigger targets diminishes our creativity and dims our joy.
✏️ Happy 2024, everyone! Would love to hear what intentions y'all are putting out into the world this year :)
- What are your intentions for your writing and Substack in 2024?
- What new experiments do you hope to run? What do you hope to learn?
Definitely looking forward to collaborating and adding interviews. So if anyone is interested please comment. My newsletter is a curated list of entertainment (podcasts, TV, film, and good reads).
https://bspeaks.substack.com/?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=web&utm_campaign=substack_profile
I'll start!
✍🏼 WRITING INTENTIONS
• explore writing about topics I care deeply about including topics where I feel out of my depth
• continue deepening my craft by writing with an intent to publish consistently (as of now, weekly)
💌 SUBSTACK INTENTIONS
• build community and deepen my relationship with other writers on Substack
• find ways to collaborate with folks who are interested in redefining modern day human flourishing and raising the baseline for our psychological well-being
🧪 EXPERIMENTS
• explore new content & topics and formats of publishing (serializing my first book via Substack!)
• collaborating with other writers
• building relationships with other writers on Substack
👋🏼 If you write about human flourishing and psychological wellness, would love to hear what you write about :)
Thanks for this! My intentions are also to help fellow humans with their mental health and well-being (I’m a therapist). 👋
Substack intentions are to write weekly and I hope grow my subscribers.
I’ll experiment with different topics in my field and work out what will be free and what paid once I’ve been in for a few more weeks, and see where it takes me! 🤞🩷
hi Kate! love these intentions – good luck :) similarly focused on writing about psychological wellness. excited to follow your journey!
Um, "human flourishing and psychological wellness" is basically the air I breathe! I'm open to collabs or general fellow writer buddies :).
I am a holistic career coach, psychology-nerd, and mother who writes a combination of tips & reflective pieces, all geared around how to thrive more at work and at home.
me too, Lydia, I would like to connect....my very new Substack is called Beyond the Box. only one post so far.
me too means those are the topics I breathe too
amazing, Lydia! excited to hear you're into human flourishing and to follow your journey :)
And I'll follow...
✍🏼WRITING INTENTIONS:
To work on my stories as they come up. I want to print them out and READ them to my followers. I've started using the video option on the page and have been enjoying it.
SUBSTACK INTENTIONS:
I want to grow my page and expand. Sitting at almost 400 to start the year, I'm hoping I might double it, or break the magic 1000 plateau. I also want to grow the "PAYWALL" portion of my 'Stack by writing my SERIALS.
🔬EXPERIMENTS:
I want to build a following and connect with my fellow writers
I want to do a collaboration, maybe fictitious letters...
I want to CROSS-POST those I feel my readers will be interested in reading
I want to get more recommendations
😘DREAMS & FORECASTS
If you like to read long stories in bed while drinking a cup of coffee, then I might have what you're looking for. I want to write at least three NOVELLAS this year and maybe go from 2 posts a week to 3...but I'll ask my readers first.
Ooh dreams & forecasts, yesss, I love this
beautiful intentions. love the dreams & forecasts addition 😉
✍🏼 WRITING INTENTIONS
• ask more from my readers about what topics they want to learn about
• follow up on some of the series posts I have created and make it easier to get from one to the next even though there are other posts in between them
💌 SUBSTACK INTENTIONS
• find and recommend more writers in the perinatal space
• revamp my guest post series to feature more stories from Nature-loving families
🧪 EXPERIMENTS
• I started a year-long curriculum in my Founding Members tier that will take me until Fall to complete
• working with video
👋🏼 If you write about the perinatal experience - preconception/conscious conception/fertility, pregnancy, birth, postpartum, family - I’d love to connect and meet you! I’m at https://www.brighterdaysdarkernights.com and nikko@brighterdaysdarkernights.com.
love this, Nikko! good luck with breathing life into your intentions this year ✨
I'm on a proper computer keyboard, and don't have the fancy emojis lol
WRITING INTENTIONS:
Finish the second novel in my series
Write occasional more personal reflective pieces
SUBSTACK INTENTIONS
Keep up my minimum one newsletter per week
Write more creative pieces for my "escape zone" section
Hopefully pick up another "donation" or two along the way
EXPERIMENTS
Maybe once novel two is out, work on serializing my first for this platform
Look for opportunities to collaborate with other writers
love the intentions – good luck!
I shared most of my intentions in my year-end post: https://joshuadolezal.substack.com/p/the-recovering-academic-in-2023.
I spent too much time in 2023 floundering, trying to imitate other people's models rather than embracing what felt most natural to me. I've come to realize that autonomy matters more to me than maximizing growth or income. I'd like my Substack to be a natural expression of my inner life, not a transactional service that I try to leverage for payment. So in this post I returned to the mode that served me well initially: radical vulnerability.
💯 for a long time, I wanted to write with an intent to publish, but struggled to figure out what I'd write about, for who, etc
in 2023, I came to the realization writing is an act of self-expression for me – when I focused on self-expression > growth and doing all the things that aren't pouring my words onto a page, that's when I truly felt a shift in my relationship with writing to publish & Substack
I’m hoping to keep posting consistently, once a week for as long as I can. I’m also hoping to use more video to capture these moments between my son and I that I can’t put into words.
Yes, I’m always slowing down in the winter so this year my goal is to keep up the schedule but just post shorter things. We’ll see how it goes!
wow, excited to see how your video project evolves! that's beautiful
Hi 👋!
My intentions for my writing are to remain consistent but also to work on my craft. My goal is to reach 50 paid subscribers this year (starting with 4).
I hope to experiment with a women in wellness interview series and experiment in general with the platform as a home for both my writing but also my yoga teaching.
I hope to find a thriving community of women who are interested in living well 🙂 and by that I mean dedicated to evolving, growing, learning, being and enjoying.
I write about yoga, spirituality, nature, motherhood, feminism, philosophy, science, health, and life! Sounds like we’re on the same page!
Hi Ashley! Great to meet you. I’m also in the nature, motherhood, wellness thread. Glad to bump into your post here.
Can't wait to follow along and learn more about your work!
love this, Ashley! good luck with your intentions this year ⚡️
Love this question, Cissy!
Here are mine:
✍🏼 WRITING INTENTIONS
• lean into vulnerability and share more personal stories (about my mental health, cultural struggles as a first-generation Indian-American, travel anecdotes)
• protect my daily writing time (first thing in the morning) and avoid cluttering my headspace with notifications (email, texts, etc.) until after I'm done
💌 SUBSTACK INTENTIONS
• collaborate with other writers on the platform and feel more integrated within the Substack community
• re-start my interview series (with mental health professionals and fellow writers, but pretty open-ended... you can check out https://thetuesdaytapestry.substack.com to get an idea of the types of people I've interviewed previously & definitely reach out if you think you might be a good fit!)
• host a meetup possibly?
🧪 EXPERIMENTS
• publishing weekly (bandwidth permitting) and see how that goes
• continue writing on Medium and seeing how that impacts Substack growth
love these intentions, particularly the interview series and meet up! good luck, Brina ⚡️!
✍🏼 WRITING & SUBSTACK INTENTIONS
-write weekly
-give myself grace when I’ve got too much on my plate 🥰
-find a fun way to engage with Notes
🧪 EXPERIMENTS
-share bits of my book-to-be process
-figure out next steps for my newsletter after I’m done making comics about research on shame 🧐🤓
And I’m hoping to grow subscriptions to 1k, and turn on paid at some point, when that feels right
"give myself grace when I’ve got too much on my plate 🥰" LOVE LOVE LOVE
My main focus is to become a better artist and share it to the world.
And also work more with my mental health.
For my writing and Substack, nothing much, I just let it flow 😁
thanks for sharing! here's to letting it flow 🌊
Love these questions, Cissy!!
WRITING:
- become a better and more succinct storyteller
- observe and live more of life so I can have things to reflect on and write about
- SHARE SHARE SHARE! Stop sitting on things that flow out of you and just put it out there!
- start on one of my book ideas (whether that’s research, drafting, etc)
SUBSTACK:
- find my writing topic/schedule groove
- be more intentional about creating paid subscribers and growing my community in a sustainable way--would love to give subbies a free and paid balance I LOVE
- show up more on Notes and just on Substack in general every week!
EXPERIMENTING:
- I want more media added to my work, so I want to get better at photography of more candid life happenings to enhance writings
- also want to play with “podcasts”/voice memos to post on Substack
love this, Cierra! particularly becoming a better storyteller and sharing :)
time to do the damn thing!
I’m having a ton of luck with paid sponsors for my podcast. Being very creative with that.
I want to grow by 1,000 subscribers a month minimum. https://www.theauthorstack.com/
woo! good luck, Russell. what are some of your favorite growth tactics?
In fact, long term, and even though I just started, that would be my goal, too, which would be comparable to 9-to-5 jobs (which I never want again) I've had in the past! Though paid subscriptions, I should say. I see on here people with some good numbers themselves!
Yes, I've recently shared with my audience my roadmap for 2024. I see this important for them to understand my intentions
https://optimistengineer.substack.com/p/new-initiatives-for-2024
love the roadmap!
Thanks!
I just started and my intention is for my mission to get to and begin helping (and healing) more and more people!
good luck! :)
Cool idea!
Writing intentions = coverage of 2024 elections around the world and their consequences for democracy
Substack intentions = engage more on Notes and through Substack itself.
Experiments = I would like to expand into video, especially for my history content, but I never feel confident enough to make the jump.
good luck! also trying to do more with notes :)
To continue this work on Substack as long as I can with particular emphasis on interviews and collaboration that will grow this library of information on how wellness and creativity intersect ... https://createmefree.substack.com/p/my-2024-intentions-word-of-the-year
good luck, Kathryn!⚡️
Continue to grow, continue to provide counterintuitive insights across domains and disciplines
https://www.polymathicbeing.com
thanks for sharing – good luck, Michael!
🧠✏️ Dropping by to let people know that I'm seeking collaboration (interviews, guest posts, more) in the niche of where art meets mental health.
Details: https://createmefree.substack.com/p/opportunities-for-create-collaboration
And also a shoutout this week to @therobinreardon and @perfectlight for their interviews with me this week
yay 🙌🏽 I'm brainstorming ways to collaborate with you (co-create a posthumous promotion party? Kind of a magical realism vibe...)
Yes yes yes!
ooh I'm so glad you like it! My Monkeys said 'hmm...that's more fictional.' Pesky little buggers. 🙉🙊🙈
Fiction always contains so much truth. Let's make this happen.
YESSSS. Got some hints in today's Twilight Time (aka laying in bed in a partial dream state, cause I woke up too early to write). I'll reach out in email.
Twilight Time sounds like a wonderful time for all of us to gather <3
Art meets mental health is a great concept! All for it!
You've got my wheels turning on how we might be able to collaborate around the film industry. More to come!
Looking forward to hearing from you on this!!
🟧 - I am a broken record but is there any news on fixing the error that causes photo captions to be deleted when moving an image within a post? The captions also can't be copied/or pasted out, which is a bummer.
Hi Caitlin! Thanks for your patience. This feedback has been passed directly along to our team. We're always looking to improve, so we appreciate the note.
+1 This is very annoying.
This would be a much appreciated fix.
I found a workaround for caption copy-pasting:
1. Copy the caption to your device clipboard like normal.
2. Paste it to another document: word, google, notepad
3. Re-copy it to the clipboard.
4. This 'fresh' version can be pasted into the blank caption space for the moved/new image.
🟧 I love that Substack is a place for me to share a fun, pretty photo as I talk about creativity and poetry. However, I really wish I could do a quick photo crop in Substack when I drop in a photo. I would love to see that functionality! Even just an option for a quick square crop would be better than nothing!
Hey Allison,
I agree that this would be a great feature to add! I'll go ahead and pass this on to our team for discussion.
Yes, that would be so great!
OMG yes. Let me crop. I am an editor. It's what we do. Refinement is in the blood.
✏️ I'm just curious to hear from other Stackers:
- How many Substacks do you subscribe to?
- On average, about how many posts by other Stackers do you read per week?
- Do you have any sort of system you follow to keep yourself from getting totally overwhelmed by all the great content out there?
Ouch.
- Too many to count.
- I'm not sure, but I'm easily at arount 10 daily.
- I recently had to change my system. I subscribe to all substacks that offer original poetry that run into. That is a big number. I had to remove the backlog from my inbox, because I did not make time every day to read. I do now, also diving a bit into my backlog. I had more that 2000 posts waiting for me. I think I deleted around 1000. So far, I think I've read about 300 posts in the past 2 weeks. All poetry. I'm almost where I want to be.
Wow! Way to tackle that backlog. I just get post paralysis and then end up reading nothing.
I was just thinking about this! I'm at 33 but I still fall way short of reading through all of them which is a bummer because there's SO much great content. I'd say I probably fully read 5-7 stories from people I'm subscribed to each week, then another 5-7 for new ones I discover (with many more that I just skim). I've set aside an "engagement time" towards the end of the day where I catch up on reading/commenting here and on Medium.
Yeah, I felt like I was a pretty good community member on Medium and then I started a Substack and started feeling totally overwhelmed! I'm also on the computer most of the day for my job that pays the bills so I get pretty screened-out, too. I love the idea of a concentrated engagement time, it helps me feel less flooded and more in control.
I subscribe to a lot. Haven’t counted but it feels like maybe 40? I try to keep up but if I’m too busy with my own work I may have to either delete their post or save it for later.
I have subscribed to 35 and I plan to ruthlessly reduce this number to about 10.
Yes, I think some ruthless reduction is in my future, too!
This is so hard! There are many more than I have the capacity to read. I’m mostly staying in my niche--comics--and gosh, I’m not sure of exact number per week. I like to save the posts for when I have a little downtime and want some reading joy. Then it feels like a treat--instead of a book.
- Maybe around 20 or so.
- Oh I not sure, I'm reading when my brain allow me. (ADHD and Dyslexia)
- I think second answer apply here too 😁
Currently 16. There are a few writers that I stop what I'm doing to check it out or make a note to go back to. I try to sit down about once a week to read some of my favorites. Some writers I really enjoy and I read occasionally when their pieces connect with my current mood.
https://bspeaks.substack.com/?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=web&utm_campaign=substack_profile
Sometimes that once a week is like once every two weeks.
I subscribe to several stacks, not sure how many exactly, but less than 15. I want to be able to be a reader of these stacks, not just a subscriber.
There's other stacks that I read fairly regularly without subscribing. I do bookmarks to land on their stack again and take it from there.
I used the setting to deliver to Substack app instead of email, so very few actually land in my inbox anymore. I wish I could choose some that DID always go to email, but having them all go there got too overwhelming. I’ve heard of some folks using a separate email to subscribe with, but that seems like a pain to me.
To avoid overwhelm to my email inbox (since I rarely read in the Substack app), I have a rule which sends all newsletters to a special inbox folder where I can read them in 'batches' at set times instead of letting them drip in to my inbox at distracting moments.
Great questions. To be honest I follow about 10-20 other writers. I just read when I can. Understandably it’s easy to get overwhelmed but I would try to time block, setting an alarm to read for only an hour or however amount of free time you have. The only system I have is to like, comment, or share posts once I finish them so I that if I can’t contribute financially, I at least engage and promote.
I recently changed the setting to not receive emails and I only read what I subscribe to in the app (the problem is I don’t really know how I did this 😂 I clicked something somewhere in settings I think or there might be a certain option when you subscribe to not have it sent to email.) Then I set aside time each day in my schedule to go to the app and scroll through to see what’s new and read/engage with what I feel called to that day. It was getting to be too much in my inbox.
I currently follow 20 substacks and I probably read about 10/week.
400 ish.
https://www.theauthorstack.com/
I'd love to find a forum to ask questions about Substack. Something available 24/7, not just a couple hours at random times. Yes, I get that I might not get an answer for a day or two, and that's fine. But I'm having a hard time finding a place to ask my newbie questions.
You might try the Substack community on Reddit. I think you would find some of what you are looking for there.
I'd love to hear from writers who use the reddit forum! What works about it? what doesn't? How do you use it?
For me Reddit is really nice because I don't have to continually be on their to engage with people. I can just pop in and I'll get great engagement on what I'm sharing. One of the things you have to be careful about on Reddit is self-promotion because it's greatly discouraged. Reddit is all about what you can add to the community!
I use it the same as Office Hours, to be honest, and it is great at getting responses to specific questions about mechanics and suggestions on growth and going paid, etc. It just doesn't have the reach of Office Hours.
Thx for this info. I had no idea there was a community on Reddit.
I agree! I feel like these office hours are really one of the best ways to find and interact with other Substackers, and when they randomly skip weeks or I join the party too late, I feel much less connected to the community!
Same. I love my Thursday mornings with fellow writers. ✍️
Reddit and other forums might be the answer here, but I do get this a 100%. I would love something that is available 24/7, not just a couple hours at random times with a confusing interface.
It could be a crowdsourced Chat, whether Office Hours or a new Help stack chat just for newbies. Anyone who has suggestions can answer.
could you experiment with having a pinned post called "Ask Me Anything" and direct folks to comment there?
So, like a post... you comment, they reply?
🧠 Unexpected, very welcome benefits of creating an annotated directory of Substacks focused on addiction recovery and sobriety have included genuine connections, recommendations, and subscriber growth. We're now at 98 SoberStackers and counting! An idea for others to try in other niches: https://danaleighlyons.substack.com/p/sober-substack-addiction-recovery-sobriety
I currently have 56 publications recommending my own, and this is mostly a result of creating that directory plus engaging in the wider community. So far, writer recommendations have brought 381 new subscribers to Sober Soulful and tons of good, grateful feelings.
So amazing! Thank you for exploring such a topic! Subscribed!
Thank you! Grateful for your kind words and subscription!
Amazing! Wow. I’m going to create this in my field of perinatal support.
Excellent, Nikko!
This is such a great idea! I’ve been hoping to host a meetup for comics substacks--and maybe this is my first step!
I hope you go for it, Cara! Metrics aside, it has led to so many beautiful connections.
🧠 - A feature idea. Would love if there was an option for subscribers to just subscribe to a "weekend only summary post" from all the articles of the week. Epoch Times does this when you unsubscribe from their daily emails. They ask if you'd prefer just a "weekend summary" which keeps subscription numbers while also keeping the reader happy.
You can do that by setting up a “section” of your newsletter! You can find those options in your settings.
When a Substack reader goes to unsubscribe it will automatically pitch them the weekend only section?
Say you have your main newsletter and then a "weekend only" section. When they go to unsubscribe, they will see the option to unsubscribe from both the main section and the weekend section. They can choose to unclick one or both!
This is great. Thank you!
You could even link them to manage their emails so they can check the box saying they only want the digest, honestly!
I'd love this for all the Substacks – if there was a way to do a weekly digest of all the essays that dropped this week
Fab idea.
You can create a weekly digest. I have one for my publication. Anyone can do it. You do have to curate it yourself though. https://www.theauthorstack.com/
✏️Is it all right to ask other newsletters to recommend you? What are some guidelines in doing so?
Great question. I think before you ask for a recommendation try to build a relationship first with the writer. I’ve only asked 3 writers to ever do this for me because we were in the same niche. But this is a really powerful tool. I have 50 people recommending these letters to my son, and I think a large part of that is because of the community I’ve built with them.
This is great, Marc. Thank you!
This sounds wise. Thanks! I had a similar question.
I can't speak to the morality of it, but if someone asked me to do that I would wnat to know why... ie what is it about your newsletter that you think my (couple of) readers would be interested in?
That's fair, Von.
I asked a popular writer to recommend me via a thoughtful email, and she did! :)
That's nice. How did it affect your subscribers? And was there already a connection between your work and that fo the popular writer?
Fantastic!
I think you can do that, once you've established some sort of relationship with that creator. And it has to be more than just "you have more subscribers, so I want to put my name out to them". Are you writing about the same thing, have you interacted with that writer before, in comments. Are they reading your substack?
I have a recommendations list that is all about poetry, for example. If I don't know you and you ask me out of the blue if I can recommend you, I would ignore your request.
If I have interacted with your posts, written in them how I love your writing, and you ask me if I would be so kind as to add you to my list of recommendations, I would feel obliged.
(Still, because I focus on poetry, I might not want to do it, but there's poetry in food, so I might make an exception.)
The best thing is maybe first to ask yourself: how would I respond to such a request. I tihnk that's your best guide.
I actually really like sharing quotes from other publications, and I am thinking of, if possible, finding the writers' Instagram accounts and tagging them!
Off topic, but I love your substack image icon--so adorable ☺️
✏️ and kinda a little bit of 🟧 -
I just opened up a paid option for my subscribers to start the new year! I'm very interested in patrons, not customers - folks who want to support what I'm doing and have the means to do so. I don't want a hard sell of any sort, so I've just been inserting the little "subscribe" buttons that say you can upgrade. I write every day, but I don't think I want to write a post asking folks to pay.
For folks who have offered this, what are some other things that have worked for you thus far? Substack folks, I have read the "going paid" article previously, but feel free to refer me to any pertinent sections over there.
And, thank you all!
I got up to 540 subscribers in a year, decided to set up a paid option (where the income went to charity), promised everyone that they would get the same newsletters whether paid or unpaid – and then 25+ people unsubscribed. Why? why? why? Am thinking of writing a blog about it - why should 5% of my subscribers run a mile when nothing was going to affect them?
I don't think it's anything to do with you. The same thing happened to me, too, when I went paid. Its hard to know why. But I think its more to do with them. Maybe they felt they had been excluded by offering paid content. Or maybe they felt guilty for not paying. Or maybe they were outraged that you valued your work instead of giving it all away for free. Who knows? 🤷♀️ Try not to worry about it and just move on. Plenty of people do and will appreciate you and your work. 💕
Thanks, I agree. Although I told them they would get exactly the same material whether free or paid.
First of all, good for you—the charitable angle is thoughtful and generous. As for the attrition, I don't know your readers or their motives, but here's my speculation: Your announcement came at around the same time as the tempest over white nationalists on Substack. It may be that some readers don't wish to support any writer with a financial connection to Substack. In other words: nothing to do with you, everything to do with the platform.
I'd guess perhaps they had subscribed to too many, and were downsizing their inbox. But if they were not regular readers, I wouldn't worry about them. 540 is a good number!
No, not simply downsizing. Running from the word ‘paid’. I have no idea if they were regular readers - I don’t keep track of who reads what. But very disappointing.
Frustrating!
Did you pick up any paid subs? How recent was this move?
Option began this month. Everyone who has subscribed has been either a friend or a relative, although most of my subscribers are people I don't know. Only three, with a fourth (my brother) expected shortly. Not what I hoped. Especially as I tend to get over 60% viewing rate, which should be good.
I haven't noticed any free sub losses as a result, but maybe that's because it was very, very soft sell for me. I dunno.
I tried to do it gently, but perhaps not gently enough. See https://arichardson.substack.com/p/note-to-readers. Since I have spent much of my working life being hired to write for other people, I assume I write well, but we can all go wrong from time to time.
My guess is that folks opening the email read "I would like to tell all my subscribers of a change that I will be making to my Substack arrangements, starting in the New Year", and that was the last thing most of those unsubscribes read. I wouldn't sweat it too much, frankly.
However, maybe that first sentence could include some kind of reassurance that all of your subscribers get to keep what they have now, and they're all important to you.
Feel free to take the above with a healthy grain of salt (or not at all!). I hope you can get some momentum going this year!
I have 280 subscribers and 5 paid - in 10 months. I came to Substack with no previous experience and no email lists etc. I just started writing. I have a paid option (annually it's very cheap) but I don't provide anything extra for paid. My open rate is about 50%, give or take, and I'm happy. Yes, it would be nice if more people wanted to support me and yes, it would be nice to reach a few more people, but if I top out around 300 I'll still be happy as long they are reading what I'm writing. It's 300 more than were reading my blog on another platform!
Congrats, June! That's awesome.
I'm up to 3 paying subs so far! Baby steps, but I will take it and it feels good.
We have very similar approaches.
I think just don't over stress it. I love it here. I love the 280 people who subscribe, even the ones who have no stars on the engagement thing!
I feel the same way. Where else am I gonna be able to have conversations about things I care about every day? I'm like, "here's something from inside my brain; what do you think?", and then people actually tell me what they think!
✏️ - Perhaps others have different experiences, but even though I have reasonably good stats for engagement, I find it difficult to gather meaningful data from my readers in polls or surveys. This means that I'm perpetually guessing about my audience.
I find this odd, because for nearly twenty years I honed my sense of audience at literary magazines and was very successful at securing acceptances there. This was because my mentor, Ted Kooser, was an excellent stand-in for other discerning literary readers.
What I find lacking among the Substack resources -- including advice-for-hire -- is a way to meaningfully measure or define one's readership if a great deal of readers prefer to simply read silently. Sometimes I'll be texting with a friend or exchanging emails, and they'll casually mention really enjoying one of my posts -- but I'd never have known otherwise, because they don't comment or respond to the user-research tools.
So I'm left with anecdotal feedback, which doesn't work terribly well for defining an audience approaching 2,000 readers. There are also rumors about traffic dropping during holidays (though some say theirs increases) or through the summer. But most gurus will also tell you that there's nothing universal or standard about any of this -- it's all highly relative to each individual writer.
So my Substack audience remains an enigma.
I find that my choices are these:
* Continue studying metrics in the dashboard and drawing whatever conclusions I can from them. My readers seem to reward radical honesty and vulnerability. More of that? Even so, if feels like flying blind.
* Simply trust my own sensibility and stop worrying about intentionally trying to reach a particular reader. I don't like this approach, because I devoted nearly twenty years to teaching students to *not* write purely for themselves, but to learn craft tools that would help make their work a better "house guest" for a reader. I still believe that craft can help a writer's work become more welcoming to readers by casting a stronger narrative spell. But perhaps I need to start thinking about craft with the Substack platform in mind, specifically?
* I'm beginning to wonder if the kind of performative spontaneity that Whitman used to great effect in LEAVES OF GRASS (he revised heavily in order to make his poetry feel LESS polished) might resonate more with Substack readers than the writing I was trained to produce, in which not a word was wasted. Maybe we need a new Strunk and White for Substack?
I have noticed that many "big" Substacks have a discernible model of building community around critique, or around a social grievance of some kind. This seems to be one way of building a loyal following and driving traffic. It's not for me. That's probably OK.
The same goes for service-oriented Substacks: those that deliver a predictable product that solves a particular problem. I'm not interested in being a one-trick writer, so I'm OK with ruling this out, as well.
I am less familiar with Substacks that are driven by eclectic interests and a deep commitment to craft, but that still attract sizable followings. If anyone has suggestions for these models, I think they might be useful in helping me identify the kinds of readers I'd like to reach?
If you've made it this far, thanks for reading :).
polls and surveys are useless. The only way to know what hits is to release things and see what gets the best reads and leads to the most subscribers. Then, what leads to the most paid subs. https://www.theauthorstack.com/p/substack
Lots of great insights in that post, Russell -- thanks. Glad you're sensitive to the need for a Substack to light up the writer, not just the reader.
I subscribed. I’m curious about your “book coaching.”
I’m still in growth mode and am finding it tough. I don’t offer politics, or critique just humor. I’m also serializing my WIP novel.
Looking forward to your stack.
✏️Hi all, enjoy reading about your writing journeys. I have been writing here for about 1.5 years on my platform called "unintended consequences" at https://profvictoria.substack.com/, while I went from zero subscribers to 300, with a few paid subscribers, and I would like to grow my list. Any advice? Thanks in advance.
It's a game of patience. I try to ignore the numbers (not very successfully), and try to concentrate on the writing. I also try to interact with people on Notes. I think it's a good way to get yourself out there. As long as you're polite, encouraging, and supportive. I restack, urge people to CROSS-POST if I think my readers will be interested in what I've stumbled across. I don't hesitate to CROSS-POST. I try to give back to the community, rather than think the community owes me something. I don't sweat the small stuff. I take breaks. I'm at least five or six weeks ahead of myself. Because I write long fiction, I can break my stories into sections and get at least 6-7 weeks where I can work on other projects. I tell myself I'm here for the long haul...but I'm also retired, so I can spend all day here if I want.
You answered my question about cross-posting, thank you! I wasn't sure if there was an etiquette to it or not. I see a lot of great articles I think my audience would like, but I hesitate to cross-post in case it is rude somehow.
Following.
Yeah, here are some strategies that worked for me. https://www.theauthorstack.com/p/how-to-find-more-readers-for-your
🟧 What is the difference between “seen” and “open” within a subscriber’s profile please?
Hi Julia, I think you are referring to "views" and "opens."
Views: This is the total number of times your post was viewed across different platforms – as an email, on the web, or in the Substack app.
Opens: This refers to the number of times subscribers have opened the email or notification for your post. An open is recorded when the images in the email are loaded or when a post is opened via a notification from the Substack app.
Hello Katie. Actually, under “Events” with some subscribers’ profiles it states the word “post seen “ for some of my articles and “opened email” on other articles. Some subscribers have no information whatsoever. I am trying to understand how to tidy up my subscriber list but now realize that the data may not be accurate and I accidentally deleted about 135 subscribers over the past year. My open rate is 65% but it appears what really counts is the number of subscribers! Please, can you assist with all this? Thank you!
🟧 Hi Katie, in the publishing settings before sending a newsletter out, I would love to have a cropping option when selecting the thumbnail. Essentially, a photo that works nicely in the body of the newsletter sometimes must be cropped to function well as a thumbnail. Any chance this will happen?
This is great feedback. I find this to be a pain as a writer too. I've shared the feedback with our team, thank you.
Thanks so much!
I find I often have to produce a second image for the thumbnail, which is a pain
🟧 A paid subscriber disputed a charge with their bank and I “lost” the “unchallengeable dispute” before ever hearing there was a dispute. Stripe took the money out of my account to refund the subscriber AND took out an additional $10 fee for the dispute. There must be some recourse to writers who have done nothing wrong in these situations. We don’t even handle the collecting of payments. We just write! This sounds like a Substack-Stripe issue. Help?
Thank you for your response, Joyce.
🧠 - Before I joined Substack, I remember clicking on a link to a publication and seeing a pop-up that asked for an email address. I thought, "Is this like those news sites where they make you enter your email before reading?"
It took me longer than I'd like to admit to figure out that clicking "No, thank you" (in tiny letters under the email field) was how you got through to the publication. 🤦♀️
That was one of the first things I customised (once I finally figured out how to do it!!)
Go to your Settings, under "Publication details," look for "Opt-out message on the welcome page." (You only get 25 letters).
Feel free to check out mine if you're interested.
https://musingsbymika.substack.com/
I recently changed it, and I might change it again. 😊
Yes, this feature has confused and turned off several of my readers. I’m glad there is now the option to turn off the “welcome” page popup on an article by article basis.
I had no idea that existed until recently!! Do you turn it off for all your articles?
Yes, I think the other CTAs are enough and I do a lot of re-sharing of my articles and include subscribe buttons in posts. If I want to send with the welcome page I send my regular url and not a specific post.
Thanks for sharing your process Nikko! I might do a bit of experimenting xx
🧠 Just a quick shoutout for doing Video on Substack. I'm having lots of fun with this - and it 'speaks' to my theme of unleashing your wild AF authentic voice.
Yes! My first video post had triple the conversion rate compared with my best text-based post 🤩
Happy New Year to all! Great comments and advice today!
Happy New Year to you as well! Yes, there are always some excellent comments here. It's a wonderful Community... 😎
🟧 - any chance we will get the ability to sort our posts by number of views?
Just shared this feedback with our team!
If I could subscribe for $1/mo, I'd happily support 50-100 writers. Why not set up a system maybe similar to a tip jar where the funds only get processed when the total ($5 or whatever) meets the Substack/Stripe arrangement?
🟧 When I post a newsletter, Substack produces some linkable images. One of them contains some of the text from the beginning of the essay. I love it but how do I control that? Is there a fixed amount of text? Is there some way I can mark up the text to control what goes in that image?
My goal is to know before the image is produced, exactly what text is going to be on it.
Thanks for your help!
🧠 - Make this the keyword of your 2024 >> COLLABORATION. Collabs are what has consistently driven the strongest growth in my two Substacks. The latest collab, published just yesterday, has already driven close to 70 new subscriptions, a few of them paid.
On my brand new Chocolate substack (cacaomuse.substack.com) I did a 25-day Holiday Tour pairing writers with craft chocolate, which drove a lot of engagement & subscriptions (including paid). Here's a look >> https://cacaomuse.substack.com/s/holiday-tour-2023
Collaboration drives community, builds relationships (and friendships!), and gives back in multifaceted ways. But it's not enough just to write guest posts or interview people. You also need to engage with the people who comment and repost/restack your work. Collaboration is an ongoing dance, not just a single winning move.
Love this! My goal for this year is to collaborate with more writers! Incidentally, I write a newsletter about Food in Film, and am always looking for food writers that appreciate all of the senses... I just checked out your chocolate newsletter and I am loving the post about the Seven Senses!
Via your premise FASCINATES me. I'm a huge foodie (I know it's hard to tell) and a former film industry professional (did my time in Hollywood and the indies). Let me know if you ever do a film about chocolate!
Wow, what a small world! I am a huge foodie and a (mostly post-production and archival but a bit of everything) cog in the film industry machine myself by day/
I am actually planning to do a post on the film "Chocolat" ahead of Valentine's Day, and ahead of the release of a couple other big connected films this year.
In that post, I'll most certainly recommend The Cacao Muse! (I've now only read two of your posts in between engaging in this office hour, but I'm already hooked!) If you'd like, I'd be happy to include a comment you have about the film! You can email me at << FilmFlavorVia [at] gmail.com >> if you've seen the film and are at all interested in sharing your two cents!
If not, let's still definitely stay in touch! Great minds think alike, after all!
Would be delighted, will email you! Chocolat is one film that immediately comes to mind. My favorite was Like Water for Chocolate. And thank you for the kind words... I have a feeling you'll love the rest of the Tour, especially Boss Cat's cameo appearances :P
Thank you. Love this. As a high extrovert, this could be really fun - to dream into cool ideas to collaborate. I need to gamify marketing and sharing efforts, or my heart and soul wither... PS I learned cacao ceremony and combined it with singing circles, pre-covid.
Extroverts do really really well with collaborations... it's in our blood! (I'm a hybrid introvert/extrovert). And absolute YES to gamification—that's what we did as kids, naturally, until life/school/work bled it out of us. Time to play!
How do you take the first steps on these collaborations? What does that look like?
Not as difficult as you might think Sarah! I'd start with people you already know and respect here on Substack, but you can also approach writers you haven't worked with. I've done both successfully. A few important tips:
Think through what the substance and intention of the collab should be. It should align with the purpose and substance of your own newsletter, as well as those of the other writer (I'm doing a 3-way collab this quarter, so that takes this bit of advice up a notch haha).
Important to put yourself in the shoes of the person you're contacting. Respect their time. Be sure you're clear on how the proposed collab benefits them, and tell them why you've decided to reach to them vs someone else.
Also be clear on what the ask is: are you asking them to write a guest post for you? Or are you pitching a guest post for them? Or are you proposing to interview them for your publication? Three very different things.
Finally, have a publication date in mind, be reasonable with word limits, and be sure to give enough time for the collab (at least 2-3 months).
Above all, never do a collab whose primary purpose is to gain subscribers—that's only the result of a great collaboration.
Hope this helps get you started!
I love this!! Thank you!! I've been doing interviews for most of my newsletters and didn't even think that that's absolutely a collaboration lol. And definitely love the reminder that the primary purpose is NOT numbers. That way lies madness!
You see, you're a veteran collaborator and didn't even know it :) Yes partnership is the way!
Well said: "...subscribers are only the result of a great collaboration."
p.s. Silly me I forgot the most important tip: make it fun, make it enjoyable! The Holiday Tour I did was the most fun I had writing literally the entire year, and I wrote a lot last year. I allowed the pieces to go a little wild, given it was, you know, CHOCOLATE, and people loved it. ❤️🍫
🟧 - Hi! I appreciate that Substack is making strides to get rid of some of the harmful far-right content, because it violates existing standards that protect people from credible threats of violence. It's a great start.
I was wondering if there are any plans to further look at standards? Many of my fellow writers have decided to leave, or are wrestling with their conscience. And there's abundant evidence that we do not NEED to give far-right views a space for debate. Not only is there research showing this behavior lends those bad views legitimacy (https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/17447143.2020.1743296), allowing them in this space creates a social media environment that is off-putting to marginalized groups--which in the long term could result in loss of valuation for Substack itself. As an example it is easy to see that X, with its extreme position of 'free speech' has lost both legitimacy as a platform, users, and market value to an extreme degree.
I would further argue that the free speech argument is, on its face, illegitimate. Free speech is a property of governments, not of companies. Companies are free to create their own cultural and moral norms, and by allowing far-right speech to proliferate, and people who produce it to make money, Substack is stating their moral norms: that far-right speech is ok. If, as the founders note, it is NOT ok, it is up to the company to establish control over that speech.
I second everything Bethany just said...!
We wrote a 55,000 word guide to growing on Substack that's free to read even without a sub. https://www.theauthorstack.com/p/substack
🟧 Hey Substack, can we please have the option to post polls in the Notes section?
I see where this would be helpful! I am sharing with the team for consideration
Love this idea!
This would be amazing! I'd also love to add as many multiple-choice options to polls in the post editor as I'd like!
✏️ My publication, FOR MY SAKE!, is looking for fellow publications to collaborate with.
I, Katrin, and looking for stories to share on my podcast.
A 3-minute summary of my publication: https://formysake.substack.com/p/for-your-sake-the-simplified-version
A summary of me: In FOR MY SAKE!-THE PODCAST, I want to make sure that people's stories are heard. Especially regarding personal struggles, how we handle them (or struggle to), and, in a nutshell, what made you the person you are today. For the sake of others.
Eternally grateful,
Katrin and FOR MY SAKE.
Hi Katrin! I'd be interested in a collaboration! I'm new to Substack and do not have a lot of followers, but if you'd like me to write something, I'd love to! Check out my Substack at https://gardenmuse.substack.com/ if you are interested as well. Thank you for this opportunity!
So excited! Contact me on ourtribeheals@gmail.com!
✏️ I'm seeking publications about mountain activities and would like to connect with you!
I write about my experiences in the mountains, introspectively, focusing on the why.
From my About page:
> A blog for the curious seeking more than just the summit. In this space, I share my experiences and reflections on the mental and physical aspects of being in the mountains. It's not just the how, but also the why that matters.
Here is an excerpt from my blog:
> The awe that sunsets inspire in me is only surpassed by the rare beauty of a starry sky, an experience I had the privilege of enjoying tonight. It was a magical moment that took me back to my first year of university. With cycling taking a backseat, I had the time to delve into various interests. I found myself engrossed in "The Scale of the Universe" by Salman Khan and Carl Sagan's "Cosmos." Every time I look up at the night sky, a sense of awe surrounds me, reminding me of a profound truth I once heard:The soul becomes as beautiful as what it sees.
🟧 - Where can I find upcoming Substack meetups?
Hey Peter,
Peter Here!
You can find upcoming meetups here: https://substack.com/events
Oh cool - this answers a question I didn't know I had!
🟧 Is there a way to have readers make a one-time paid contribution? I'd rather do that than link them to a monthly or annual subscription fee.
Edit: specifically something in Substack versus an external service like Buy Me a Coffee, Wishtender, et al.
Not today but we've heard this request before and our team has been exploring other monetization options, including tipping, outside of paid subscriptions.
I've heard some folks link to Buy a Coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/
Yeah I use buy me a coffee (when I remember) and may use it for a few other things as well!
I'm using Buy me a Coffee.
I created a link to a "tip jar" in Paypal; maybe it's possible to do that in Stripe also. Not sure if Substack would have issues with this…
🧠 I was discouraged that there was no way to DM, or any that I had found, so I invented my own way of doing it :) Feel free to ask for details.
✏️ -Greetings! So far I have made all of my Paid posts available for a 7 day trial. I think that encourages some people to do a sort of smash and grab, so I'm thinking of making all of my paid posts from now on available only to paying subscribers, ie with no free trial. I was wondering if anyone has any views or experience in these matters. Thanks
Noting this conversation with apologies to Terry for having nothing at all to add. 😬
Fair enough 😬
I don't mean ending my own- I mean subscribing to other people's. Some of the people who write here are more prolific than others and they don't all work on a set schedule, and it can get frustrating trying to keep up with them all.
I go by how often I read them. If I read 90-100% of their essays I’m usually a paid subscriber. If I read 60-90 percent of their essays I’ll stay subscribed. If I realize I’m skipping 50 percent or more of their essays without reading them I unsubscribe or just follow them on notes.
I love this way of categorizing subscriptions. I'm finding I'm overwhelmed by newsletters now, and many of them I don't read but I don't want to unsubscribe because I keep telling myself I'll get caught up eventually.
You can also turn off emails and check in on the app when you see newsletters highlighted that you want to read from those you subscribe to. (I use the "smart" option and see very few newsletters in my box..... but I read a lot directly from the app.)
I try to be disciplined about how many I subscribe too otherwise it's too much. If I hardly ever skip past someone's post then I stay subscribed. If I find myself deleting lots of posts because I haven't opened them then I unsubscribe. I have to say, it doesn't take long to realise who you never miss and who you don't mind missing! I can only afford a very few paid subscriptions and I make sure I have free subscribed for a while and have consistently opened posts before I commit a paid sub. I prefer to sub for a year rather than monthly, although monthly obviously is easier to pull out of.
New year. New rules. Looking to collaborate and cross promote with other writers if it makes sense so we can grow together. I have nearly 24k subscribers on my Substack with a 12-17 percent open rate.
happy 2024! how do you envision collaborating with folks? :)
Cross promotion/recommendations. It needs to make sense though. A substack with 50 subscribers that isn't in my genre really won't work.
I'm working on a graphic novel in a similar vein as your Stack (I checked YOU out :) However, I'm newbie here (tiny subscriber list.) Hmm... I'll connect via your stack.
I was thinking that too. I'd love to collaborate, but I write long fiction, so there isn't really a match there.
✏️- Hey fellow writers, I have a question for someone who writes about personal growth and self awareness. Since joining in 2023, I have slowly grown my Subtack to over 120 subscribers, but the most traction I get is from when I comment on the newsletters that I love reading. Any tips for growing my audience naturally? How do I ensure that my Substack shows in recommendations for other readers who might be genuinely interested in my work?
I’m in a similar field as you. I am still figuring this out myself. But you can tag people in Notes as well as in the newsletter itself. Based on people I have found - they seem to write well and it gets restacked.
Thank you for the advice! Hoping we’re able to find our place on Substack, I already love how positive and uplifting the community is☺️
✏️ 🟧 Hello fellow writers + Substack team!
I am considering offering a "bonus" piece of material (in my case, a guide to something my audience would be interested in) to those who sign up for my newsletter, all currently free.
For new subscribers to receive this special opt-in/sign-up/bonus material, I know I can add it to the "welcome" email all subscribers receive after they sign up.
My question is: How can I "give" this bonus material to my current subscribers WITHOUT making it publicly available to anyone who visits my Substack's URL? (Ex: If I send it out in a normal newsletter post, it will be available to all.)
Thank you for any advice in advance! With gratitude, - Via
Hey there! You're on the right track with using the welcome email for new subscribers. For your current subscribers, you can send out a special newsletter with the bonus material attached or linked behind a paywall within an email. Or you can send it via the subscriber dashboard to select subscribers (folks who, say, subscribed after a certain date. learn more about that tool here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ORhE-tmom50&embeds_referring_euri=https%3A%2F%2Fon.substack.com%2F&feature=emb_title).
If you want to be extra cautious about sharing, you could consider creating a downloadable file and sharing a direct download link in the email. This won't prevent sharing, but it won't be as easily accessible as a public post.
Let me know if you need more help with this!
I thought I would have to do a group email! Thanks for saving me so much time.
I think this is exactly what I was looking for, thank you very much!
🧠 - This is my first time participating in one of these “Writer Office Hours”, I never looked into what it really was.. I’m pleasantly surprised and kind of kicking myself for waiting so long to check it out! I guess my question is, does posting on here help elevate your interactions with other writers? Does it help you gain subscribers? Because I know my first inclination was to peep on the profiles of others commenting and I have found at LEAST 3 new newsletters I subscribed to! I can’t be the only one..
I found a few great writers that way, too! I've gotten a few subs via Office Hours, but not a lot. It's tricker to promote yourself on Office, vs Notes.
✏️✏️ How do I ask current subscribers to go paid when I inly have 120 subscribers?
✏️ How do I paywall old posts and how do I make them into archive so that I can paywall archive?
✏️ How do I get featured on Substack being a small account?
Thank you in advance
✏️ I'm BRAND new here- and will be starting sharing my Healing Letters to Self + Meditations that I'll be cross posting on Insight-Timer (audibly recorded). I feel so aligned with it and it feels intuitive, but because I've never used this platform before, I'd love tips on how to approach this (both technically and mentally/emotionally) when just starting out. Thank you! :)
How do I create a separate tab/link for a 30 day series?
This is not the only way to add something to the navigation strip, but you can create a "section" in which posts related to that live. That will then show in the navigation. More information: https://on.substack.com/p/a-guide-to-publication-sections
Note that when you create a section, you are also segmenting your mailing list. Tags might work better in this case, allowing you to organize posts without splitting up your email list https://on.substack.com/i/118842922/tags
Tags create unique pages of a series of posts that can be added to the navigation bar or homepage links https://on.substack.com/i/118842922/tags
Thank you!
Thank you!
✏️I’m a newbie interested in learning how to encourage people to go paid. Also, I am a therapist sharing useful insights and tools, and hope to add a paywall at tye end of posts for people to work on self improvement. Would a paywall put people off reading the post, which I intend to also be useful and nourishing?
🟧 sorry I meant to put this!
I'll leave your question to the experts, but just wanted to say welcome and good luck!
✏️ Just set up my Substack and feeling inspired to get it started! I'm definitely overthinking this, but any tips or things to keep in mind for your first post? What would you do differently if you could go back to writing your first post?
Although I cover a lot of topics — current events to politics to Scientology, I kept my first post more neutral. It was a humor piece on discrimination in Graphic Design job listings. It had my POV, but was a more general topic that people would agree with, upon reading. After that, I went all out on the political stuff, but I'm glad I kept the first one more general so it had a broader reach.
Welcome to Substack, Emily!!
Don’t sweat your first post at all! Introduce yourself, what you’ll be writing about (or experimenting with!), and what’s to come! Talk about yourself a little bit after you explain what the newsletter will be about!
As long as you JUST START! Haha I know how that paralysis can feel!
Worry a liiiittle more about the things that can get quite a bit if traffic once you’ve gained more footing with your writing here: about page, welcome snippet, welcome email, etc.
Thank you, Cierra! Have a draft in the works and it seems to touch on most of that!
Awesome!! Whatever you do is absolutely right as long as you start! :) And no problem at all!
Thank you!! I bit the bullet and posted my first post this afternoon! 🤞🏻
Whoohoo!! Congratulations!
✏️ - I wonder how a subscriber can comment on posts with ease? The process seems daunting because one has to sign up every time a subscriber needs to comment, and you need to specifically go to the comments icon to comment.
🟧 - I have gotten many subscribers who are neurodivergent, as well as many who do not have the patience to log in every time to comment on posts. Please make the process easier.
I think the easiest might be to read it via the Substack app. There you stay logged in.
And I'm neurodivergent so I know how they feel.
I am new and I can click on the app to comment easily and it doesn’t require a sign and each time. I hope this helps..