Your total email list is valuable because it represents people who explicitly opt into receiving your posts by email. Today, we invite writers to share their best strategies for growing their email list on Substack.
🧠 Hello all, and happy Office Hours! Here's a little bit of encouragement from one small newsletter to all of you:
Anything worth doing is worth doing scared and unprepared. Do you feel like a fraud? Good! Do you worry that you don't know enough? Excellent! Are you anxious about getting everything perfect? You're in good company!
The truth is that no matter how talented or successful of a writer you are, you'll always go through times of uncertainty. But the only wrong answer is to quit. Write scared! Post scared! Share scared! Authenticity and consistency are the name of the game. And your readers will love you for being YOU, confident or not.
Most importantly: keep going, keep writing, and DON'T GIVE UP! 🌿
I am four subscribers away from 300, which feels small compared to some and makes a goal of 500 by the end of the year feel even more daunting, but the last two weeks of meaningful interaction on Notes has been a game changer. I've been sharing my work, reading the work of some amazing writers, and have found a whole new writers workshop of sharing ideas and inspiration. I would say that if you treat Notes as a place to grow personally and professionally, then there will be natural grown on your Newsletter subscribers as well.
Questions I have: Has anyone figured out how to get people to come over here from IG? How the hell does anyone effectively use LinkedIn without allowing it to become another unproductive time suck?
Recommendations are crucial to growing your free list. Recommend as many Substacks as you see fit, and don’t be shy about asking writers you know to recommend you.
🧠 - Being active on the Substack platform has been great for getting new subscribers. Also, showing genuine interest in others, learning from each other, having discussions, etc. are also things that , first of all, I really enjoy and that enrich my own thoughts / life, but that also give you new subscribers. Being visible and authentic, and of course putting effort into quality writing, basically.
🧠 - One of the best ways I've found of growing my free list is collaborating with other writers. I host interviews on both my 'stacks, Collected Rejections and Unruly Figures. Whenever they come out, the interviewee usually shares the post, which brings a new set of eyes onto my 'stacks. And it sends my readers to them, so it's a win-win. It's also just a great way of connecting with the community and getting to know more folks. If you haven't participated in an interview before, I highly recommend it. (And if you're a writer or historian, I'd love to interview you! Comment below!)
🧠 If you want to grow your free list - try to make lots of people go WOW over something you're interested in.
What's a thing that you're really, really nerdily fascinated with, that you figure other people might enjoy learning about as well, if you managed to get them interested in it? Okay. How about teaching it to them, in a way that directly or indirectly promotes your newsletter?
I did this on Twitter a while back: https://twitter.com/Mikeachim/status/1491080740586782720 It's about an ancient flood I enjoyed learning about, and I tried to capture that my-mind-is-blown reaction in the way I wrote it up.
I'd tried this technique before with other threads, but this one really blew up. 9 million views led to 6,000 free subscribers in less than a week, plus around a hundred paid. By far, the biggest success I've had with anything in & around my Substack.
Since then, a lot has changed. Twitter is now either blocking or suppressing Substack links, depending on what day of the week it is, and sadly, what I did back then won't work in the way I did it. But the principle? Yes. That's evergreen. If you teach someone a really amazing thing in a way that makes them FEEL the excitement of it, they will see what else you've got. This has been a principle of good science writing since days of yore. (And, you know, of a lot of annoying clickbait. Don't tease them without delivering a good story!)
A bonus: teaching someone else is also a terrific way of learning that thing yourself: https://www.psychologytoday.com/gb/blog/how-to-be-brilliant/201206/the-protege-effect So if you're feeling like "aaaargh, I can't do that, I'm not an expert on this thing," well, don't be an expert. Be an *amateur*. An enthusiast! (One who makes sure they've got their facts right!)
That's the best thing I know about growing a free list.
🧠 One of the ideas I heard here last month (unfortunately, I don't recall the author)... They made business cards promoting their substack, with a QR code that took folks to their page. They said they left them on bulletin boards, and...basically... just around (in menus at restaurants, etc.). I loved this idea. Congratulate me — I ordered cards and they should arrive any day. :)
My newsletter is targeted primarily (not exclusively) to a professional niche. I look forward to having the cards at conferences and other meetings where I can tell someone what I'm doing and hand them a card — if I'm feeling confident, maybe even say, "You can subscribe right now" — rather than ask them to remember the url https://heighho.substack.com. Heck, I know that even Heigh Ho isn't easily remembered.
I thank whoever posted the idea (in absentia). I'll let y'all know how it goes.
I don't know if these cards will be helpful, but I like the idea of having an offline arrow in my quiver.
I think the best way to grow my free list has been interacting sincerely with fellow Substackers. Crossposts have also been useful. Using services like Meco and The Sample have also been a huge push!
🧠 Don't discount the power of SEO and organic growth through search. Set your publication up in Google Search Console, make sure you're optimizing metadata using Substack's built-in SEO tools, and learn some SEO basics. You don't need to write like a robot to rank on Google -- in fact, the more human you sound, the better! But some basic understanding of how to structure your posts can help a ton in your rankings.
Next steps: get a custom domain and start getting backlinks. As you move up the Google ranks, you'll start seeing subscribers come in based on the power of your archive. And all for free!
I just hit a small free subscriber milestone on my Substack this week, I am still so happy people enjoy what I am writing about! I think having a consistent schedule is definitely key and being up front about how often you'll be posting (for me: 1-2 times per month).
I still have a lot of conflict about "growth" and especially "growing," as if it's an active verb that we can "do." Nothing against Substack at all on this score; this is an artifact of the online hustle mentality.
My take is that I can't "grow" my list. I can write, and I can connect and engage with other people when and how I want to—which is often a lot. I like the "social" in social media, just not the advertising-driven endless scroll of older social platforms, and so Notes has been great for me. It can be a distraction, but it's also fun, I've met a lot of other writers, and I know it's helped a lot of new readers find my work.
Collaborating with other writers keeps showing up in my mind as a thing that could be interesting and productive, but when it comes down to actually finding ways to do that that are doable, work for both parties, and keep us both in integrity, it's a lot harder than it sounds. I'd love to hear more examples from folks who have actually done this sort of collab here and had it work out well -- and I'm open to collaborating, in particular with other writers of memoir, personal essay and autofiction.
As for bringing followers over from other social platforms, I do cross-post my Substack posts on Insta, FB, LinkedIn (and sometimes Twitter), and I only see the very smallest number of people coming across. Discouraging, really, but I don't care to fiddle much with that more, vs writing and engaging here on Substack.
AN ORDINARY DISASTER
A serialized book-length memoir of a man thrashing against—
and then learning to live with the fact that we are _all_ alone.
I'm 2 subscribers away from 100! My goal when I started my newsletter was to get to 100 subscribers by the end of the year/the 1 year mark of my publication. I can't believe I'm so close to hitting that goal already! 😳
I'm wondering how I can continue to get more subscribers though. A lot of the subscribers I got were from my other social media accounts. How do I expand to reach more people?
✏️ Hello everyone. I think it would be really cool if we shared some pieces that we're proud of! Even if you just started your newsletter, I'd be happy to see what you guys out there are writing. I saw Sue Deagle do it on last week's office hours, so if you're here today: thanks for the inspo and sorry if I took your idea.
🟧 There are so many substack writers to love, but my heart sinks when I see my mailbox crammed with notifications. It gets overwhelming, especially since some people in the fields that interest me write several / many emails per day. [Do others feel like this too?]
Would it be possible for READERS to have an option to get one big email from substack per day, within which are links to that day's subscribed newsletter emails? Then I could go there when I am in reading mode.
🧠 I've found that the pieces I've been more nervous about publishing are often my most popular, the more vulnerable, the more people relate. I know we know this already, but then often we don't apply it because it's easier to continue posting 'safer' things. If you have something to say but you're afraid of the reaction, this is your sign to do it. Test the water, see what comes back!
✏️ I find engaging with other writers on Substack, particularly by restacking quotes from their work on Notes with my own commentary added, is really helpful! Plus it’s a great way of scrapbooking both for myself and others the things I find genuinely interesting or inspiring.
Of course, we can’t all just write to and for each other — and in trying to reach outside of the Substack community I’ve found some difficulty.
Subreddits can be pretty brutal about self promotion (understandably) and HackerNews even more so. Any advice for sharing work (in good faith, that you genuinely think is valuable) outside of Substack would be great! Particularly for writers like myself who don’t have an audience elsewhere to promote to.
🧠I've been on Substack a little over 6 months and I'm definitely still figuring out how I want to be on here. I came on with 500 Mailchimp subscribers, and now am almost at 900, which is kind of mind blowing (thanks Substack! most of the new subscribers come from inside Substack).
I write about getting creative work done, and a huge part of what I write about is how social media broke my creative process for years, in that I would go to the quick fix of tweeting for validation, rather than the long slow process of writing a book. I'm now almost entirely off social media, and one thing that I find is that I want to replace that quick-fix with Substack stats. (Similarly, I think Notes is awesome and I absolutely cannot handle something like that -- I'll stare at it all day long trying to be witty for strangers rather than writing.) (Ha, I'm realizing now I don't know if this is advice 🧠 or a question ✏️).
The way I'm doing this is treating Substack like a part time job (because it is!) and also being mindful of writing what's interesting to me and what I'm thinking about, because I know as soon as I start trying to write to make other people happy, I'm losing the thread of my creative intuition. (Also, happily, when I write about what's interesting to me right now, people seem to respond more positively and say they relate.)
This is all to say: if you also sometimes struggle with how social media and the internet have messed with your desire for praise, I see you, and I'm with you. I really appreciate Substack for giving me a place where I can control more of what's coming at me, and where I can actually get paid for writing (vs., like, Twitter, where it felt like getting spiky dirt balls thrown at me all day, and I for sure did not get paid to tweet).
You're all awesome! I think it's so cool how much we're all writing.
I would really recommend using the recommendations feature here on Substack. It's brought me over a 100 subs. I'd also say share the brilliance of Substack as a concept and a platform with your lists and social media followers elsewhere as sometimes folks just need some encouragement and as we know those platforms can be really distracting.
🖍️May I just say that the responses y’all post here are super helpful? I doubt many of you are my target audience (those approaching and in the early days of retirement), but I love the way y’all help each other.
I was excited about this chance to write, but had no idea I would learn so much. Thank you!
✏️ Hi all! Sorry if this has already been asked but I’m lost in the thread! Quite a few have said they find notes to be a great way of finding readers. Can I ask how? I have barely posted on notes mainly as it feels like posting into an abyss… all I see are large accounts with many readers already posting. Seems a bit intimidating. Not sure how anyone will find a tiny stack like mine!
🧠 Hello everyone! I'm a small substack with just over 10 subs, and I'm looking to grow my newsletter. I've been active on Notes, but my own posts there get extremely low traction because I'm not really being seen by anyone except the one or two fellow writers. But I comment on others' notes and posts, and try to interact with other writers on here.
I don't think there are many people in my personal life or on my social media that are really interested in what I do, though some of my friends and family are subscribed to my newsletter. What I'm looking for is a way to grow my audience that I can do from substack, or that isnt telling everyone I meet on the street about it. I don't mind that it takes time to grow, I knew that when I started, but if I could hit 50 subs by the end of the year I'd be super happy. Maybe 100 if I'm lucky!:)
Hi all! I’ve experienced some growth in my list recently by collaborating and cross-posting with other writers - it can be daunting but I’d never say no to working with someone else now. You get to meet awesome new people and produce and share work you wouldn’t otherwise have been able to!
Incidentally if there’s anyone out there writing about parenting (particularly young kids) then hit me up!
Something I learned (or re-learned) this week is to not take for granted that people from you social media accounts, assuming they all know that you publish a newsletter. I put out a reminder to people on Instagram this week because I'm stepping up my writing, and I asked people to join the newsletter so they could witness the changes. I got a bunch of new subscribers that had no idea I even had a newsletter just from that single update.
🧠 Hey guys! One thing that’s worked for me consistently have been collaborations with other writers. The recommendation feature is a big factor in my growth, and though I don’t have that many subscribers yet (118, with a goal of reaching 500 bu the end of the year), I’ve seen steady growth from this, along with mentions from other newsletters with more subscribers. Word-of-mouth, that’s what’s responsible for steady growth. Interacting on Office Hours has also been important, as I get a few subscribers every week from these threads (by the way, if you want to read some vulnerable personal essays and memoir, come check out Practice Space!)
🧠 One thing I am currently trying is to create a "Series" of themed posts that interlink with one another. That way, if someone comes across one part of the series, they can read the others and be tempted to subscribe. So far, I have series running on task management for creators and freelancers, and how to communicate better with clients.
I find that the best thing about Substack is when I genuinely esteem another writer for their posts and they genuinely esteem me for mine -- and we have great dialogues in both of our comments sections. You can't force it, although you can make a good effort every day, reaching out to our peers, our fellow writers. But when it happens and it's genuine, it's pure Sustack magic.
Recommendations have been a huge help, but marketing, promotion, sharing, cross promoting, investing in yourself and ultimately being a good writer with great content is what drives free sign ups. Paid sign ups are another story...
Hi writers! I am looking to connect with other Substackers who joined the platform in connection with or in preparation for a book on the same topic. Hoping to find people in all stages of the book process!
My Substack, Non-State Actress, is focused on making national security and defense relevant, interesting, and accessible for non-experts. I am writing a book (with a companion digital resource) with the same name and concept and use SubStack as a way to share abbreviated chapters and get feedback between deadlines and such. Prior to publishing here, I hadn’t published anything in my own name…*ever* and it’s been a REALLY helpful on-ramp. I would love to learn from others who started on Substack for similar reasons, or ended up on the book route after starting on Substack!
✏️ 🟧I am a complete newbie. I have participated in the OpEd Project at the University where I teach. 1. How do you decide to write for 'yourself' i.e. Substack vs writing an OpEd or the like for publication somewhere?
2. I write essays on 'life' as I imagine most of us do. Why would I think that anyone would be interested in what I have to say?
3. I have published academically for years but this is a whole new thing. It's 'easy' (not at all lol) to publish in a research format but the essay is a whole 'nother thing. Any pointers? Thanks
🧠I have had my Substack for one month, and have committed to posting twice per week -- 630 am my time zone, which appears to be helpful. I am getting about 70% open rate, and much of that is within the first few hours as people are getting going in their day. I have also begun scheduling posts, so that I am not always "on deadline". I am also intentionally NOT marketing too aggressively. I share via my LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter channels, and when I think a certain post is of particular interest to someone in my life, I'll send the link to them by text or e-mail. My goal is to build slowly and steadily, so that I can "work out the kinks" as I learn what's best.
"Put simply, Pascal’s Pensées is more silhouette than portrait.
Nevertheless, it is both striking and brilliant. Much like Barcelona’s Sagrada Familia, it stands tall, remains incomplete, and inspires awe. All in all, it’s quite a metaphor for that brief flash we call life, no?
I mention all the above because Substack—the platform upon which I write and send this newsletter—has launched something of a digital pensées in the form of its Notes app.
Substack Notes is a new Twitter-like service for Substack’s writers and readers to “share links, short posts, quotes, photos, and more.” Its stated purpose is “[to create] a space where every reader … can share thoughts, ideas, and interesting quotes from the things [they are] reading on Substack and beyond.”2
It represents another front in Substack’s noble war to pry social media from the cold dead hands of advertisers and into the warm embrace of artists the world over. Indeed the launch of Notes further solidifies Substack’s pivot from newsletter network to a new “economic engine for culture.” I, for one, am cheering loudly from the peanut gallery (yet I may already be in Teddy Roosevelt’s arena given my three years writing White Noise)."
Hello everyone! I’m still learning because it’s barely two months since I started here but I think growing your email list is also about growing your community and a reciprocal interest in each other is vital. I know I’m already writing better just for writing in community.
🧠 If you're having trouble writing content for your newsletter, here is one simple thing I found that helped:
- Write content that's enjoyable or useful to YOU.
I've heard many musicians say that they create the music they want to hear. If you find enjoyment or use in your writing then it will be easier to keep going!
🧠I wouldn't go so far as to call this a "strategy", but Recommendations from fellow Substack writers certainly seem to propel free subscriptions. What do you all think?
✏️ Any fellow international news/politics writers? Perusing the site I observed that substack is still mainly dominated by US news, or at most global news from the US angle. Just want to reach out and see if there's a possibility of forming a small cadre of writers focusing on international political news from multiple countries' perspectives.
🟧I love the idea of Notes, but concerningly feel like the resource to run it isn't sustainable for current substack business model. I am not sure we are profitable before notes where there were just us writers and newsletters readers and now the substack team has to run a total new social network. Weirdly, I, a no-name writer who loves the idea of substack and wants to thrive on it, just want some reassurance that Notes can last in its current form without bringing in algorithm and ads in the future.
🟧 - First time in one of these Office Hours. Thanks for doing this.
I have been researching (and reviewing your posts on the subject) regarding conversion to paid options. I have two questions:
1. Is it within guidelines to offer benefits outside of substack, such as merch and/or other prizes?
2. If the Founding Member price is higher than the annual membership, is it okay for that to be a one-time fee; or is that automatically an annual fee?
This is all new to me, I have never written before and I started posted for my first time yesterday. I am working on personal journeys, mainly health and loss related, to inspire people and give them hope. I have to set up Social Media but I mainly need to learn all things Substack, I haven't even figured out how to update my name to match my brand yet I am that knew. It is a little scary but I figured if I don't dive in head first it will never happen. So I am here to learn.
We're going to try something new this week! Start your comment with an emoji to signal who you are looking to talk with at Office Hours.
✏️ - when asking questions or seeking feedback from fellow writers
🧠 - when sharing strategy or advice for 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.
Hey everyone,
The Substack team is signing off for today. We encourage you to stick around and continue the conversation with fellow writers.
Next week we'll return for Shoutout thread. We hope you'll join us: https://lu.ma/shoutout
See you soon,
Katie, Bailey, Sam, Zoe, Dayne, Seth, Jonathan, and Bruno
🧠 Hello all, and happy Office Hours! Here's a little bit of encouragement from one small newsletter to all of you:
Anything worth doing is worth doing scared and unprepared. Do you feel like a fraud? Good! Do you worry that you don't know enough? Excellent! Are you anxious about getting everything perfect? You're in good company!
The truth is that no matter how talented or successful of a writer you are, you'll always go through times of uncertainty. But the only wrong answer is to quit. Write scared! Post scared! Share scared! Authenticity and consistency are the name of the game. And your readers will love you for being YOU, confident or not.
Most importantly: keep going, keep writing, and DON'T GIVE UP! 🌿
I am four subscribers away from 300, which feels small compared to some and makes a goal of 500 by the end of the year feel even more daunting, but the last two weeks of meaningful interaction on Notes has been a game changer. I've been sharing my work, reading the work of some amazing writers, and have found a whole new writers workshop of sharing ideas and inspiration. I would say that if you treat Notes as a place to grow personally and professionally, then there will be natural grown on your Newsletter subscribers as well.
Questions I have: Has anyone figured out how to get people to come over here from IG? How the hell does anyone effectively use LinkedIn without allowing it to become another unproductive time suck?
Recommendations are crucial to growing your free list. Recommend as many Substacks as you see fit, and don’t be shy about asking writers you know to recommend you.
🧠 - Being active on the Substack platform has been great for getting new subscribers. Also, showing genuine interest in others, learning from each other, having discussions, etc. are also things that , first of all, I really enjoy and that enrich my own thoughts / life, but that also give you new subscribers. Being visible and authentic, and of course putting effort into quality writing, basically.
🧠 If I could think of one thing to help grow your free subscriber list it's this:
Recommend more Substack Writers! 🧠
If you take the time to thoughtfully find, interact with, and recommend writers, you'll be shocked how many will recommend you back.
It won't be right away. So be patient. Once a few of your readers start subscribing to your recommended list, you'll get a recommendation back.
So be kind out there and take that first step and recommend more writers!
🧠 - One of the best ways I've found of growing my free list is collaborating with other writers. I host interviews on both my 'stacks, Collected Rejections and Unruly Figures. Whenever they come out, the interviewee usually shares the post, which brings a new set of eyes onto my 'stacks. And it sends my readers to them, so it's a win-win. It's also just a great way of connecting with the community and getting to know more folks. If you haven't participated in an interview before, I highly recommend it. (And if you're a writer or historian, I'd love to interview you! Comment below!)
🧠 If you want to grow your free list - try to make lots of people go WOW over something you're interested in.
What's a thing that you're really, really nerdily fascinated with, that you figure other people might enjoy learning about as well, if you managed to get them interested in it? Okay. How about teaching it to them, in a way that directly or indirectly promotes your newsletter?
I did this on Twitter a while back: https://twitter.com/Mikeachim/status/1491080740586782720 It's about an ancient flood I enjoyed learning about, and I tried to capture that my-mind-is-blown reaction in the way I wrote it up.
I'd tried this technique before with other threads, but this one really blew up. 9 million views led to 6,000 free subscribers in less than a week, plus around a hundred paid. By far, the biggest success I've had with anything in & around my Substack.
Since then, a lot has changed. Twitter is now either blocking or suppressing Substack links, depending on what day of the week it is, and sadly, what I did back then won't work in the way I did it. But the principle? Yes. That's evergreen. If you teach someone a really amazing thing in a way that makes them FEEL the excitement of it, they will see what else you've got. This has been a principle of good science writing since days of yore. (And, you know, of a lot of annoying clickbait. Don't tease them without delivering a good story!)
A bonus: teaching someone else is also a terrific way of learning that thing yourself: https://www.psychologytoday.com/gb/blog/how-to-be-brilliant/201206/the-protege-effect So if you're feeling like "aaaargh, I can't do that, I'm not an expert on this thing," well, don't be an expert. Be an *amateur*. An enthusiast! (One who makes sure they've got their facts right!)
That's the best thing I know about growing a free list.
For reference, I'm closing in on 1000 subscribers and more than half of those came from Substack Recommendations.
🧠 Another great tip to grow your audience is to TRY NEW THINGS 🧠
I started making videos of my monthly posts, and the feedback from that experience has been incredible.
So if you feel stuck, think about how you can incorporate different media into your work. Whether it's photos you take, or Notes you made -- whatever.
🧠 One of the ideas I heard here last month (unfortunately, I don't recall the author)... They made business cards promoting their substack, with a QR code that took folks to their page. They said they left them on bulletin boards, and...basically... just around (in menus at restaurants, etc.). I loved this idea. Congratulate me — I ordered cards and they should arrive any day. :)
My newsletter is targeted primarily (not exclusively) to a professional niche. I look forward to having the cards at conferences and other meetings where I can tell someone what I'm doing and hand them a card — if I'm feeling confident, maybe even say, "You can subscribe right now" — rather than ask them to remember the url https://heighho.substack.com. Heck, I know that even Heigh Ho isn't easily remembered.
I thank whoever posted the idea (in absentia). I'll let y'all know how it goes.
I don't know if these cards will be helpful, but I like the idea of having an offline arrow in my quiver.
Shoutout to all the writers - and the poets I see on Substack these days!
I think the best way to grow my free list has been interacting sincerely with fellow Substackers. Crossposts have also been useful. Using services like Meco and The Sample have also been a huge push!
🧠 Don't discount the power of SEO and organic growth through search. Set your publication up in Google Search Console, make sure you're optimizing metadata using Substack's built-in SEO tools, and learn some SEO basics. You don't need to write like a robot to rank on Google -- in fact, the more human you sound, the better! But some basic understanding of how to structure your posts can help a ton in your rankings.
Next steps: get a custom domain and start getting backlinks. As you move up the Google ranks, you'll start seeing subscribers come in based on the power of your archive. And all for free!
I just hit a small free subscriber milestone on my Substack this week, I am still so happy people enjoy what I am writing about! I think having a consistent schedule is definitely key and being up front about how often you'll be posting (for me: 1-2 times per month).
I still have a lot of conflict about "growth" and especially "growing," as if it's an active verb that we can "do." Nothing against Substack at all on this score; this is an artifact of the online hustle mentality.
My take is that I can't "grow" my list. I can write, and I can connect and engage with other people when and how I want to—which is often a lot. I like the "social" in social media, just not the advertising-driven endless scroll of older social platforms, and so Notes has been great for me. It can be a distraction, but it's also fun, I've met a lot of other writers, and I know it's helped a lot of new readers find my work.
Collaborating with other writers keeps showing up in my mind as a thing that could be interesting and productive, but when it comes down to actually finding ways to do that that are doable, work for both parties, and keep us both in integrity, it's a lot harder than it sounds. I'd love to hear more examples from folks who have actually done this sort of collab here and had it work out well -- and I'm open to collaborating, in particular with other writers of memoir, personal essay and autofiction.
As for bringing followers over from other social platforms, I do cross-post my Substack posts on Insta, FB, LinkedIn (and sometimes Twitter), and I only see the very smallest number of people coming across. Discouraging, really, but I don't care to fiddle much with that more, vs writing and engaging here on Substack.
AN ORDINARY DISASTER
A serialized book-length memoir of a man thrashing against—
and then learning to live with the fact that we are _all_ alone.
https://bowendwelle.substack.com/s/memoir
I'm 2 subscribers away from 100! My goal when I started my newsletter was to get to 100 subscribers by the end of the year/the 1 year mark of my publication. I can't believe I'm so close to hitting that goal already! 😳
I'm wondering how I can continue to get more subscribers though. A lot of the subscribers I got were from my other social media accounts. How do I expand to reach more people?
Quality over Quantity.
Thank you for coming to my TED talk.
✏️ Hello everyone. I think it would be really cool if we shared some pieces that we're proud of! Even if you just started your newsletter, I'd be happy to see what you guys out there are writing. I saw Sue Deagle do it on last week's office hours, so if you're here today: thanks for the inspo and sorry if I took your idea.
I'll start, with my latest post:
https://open.substack.com/pub/kodeworldofthearts/p/what-is-literary-quality?r=1hp10d&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
🟧 There are so many substack writers to love, but my heart sinks when I see my mailbox crammed with notifications. It gets overwhelming, especially since some people in the fields that interest me write several / many emails per day. [Do others feel like this too?]
Would it be possible for READERS to have an option to get one big email from substack per day, within which are links to that day's subscribed newsletter emails? Then I could go there when I am in reading mode.
🧠 I've found that the pieces I've been more nervous about publishing are often my most popular, the more vulnerable, the more people relate. I know we know this already, but then often we don't apply it because it's easier to continue posting 'safer' things. If you have something to say but you're afraid of the reaction, this is your sign to do it. Test the water, see what comes back!
✏️ So earning more Substack writers as subscribers is nice, but how do all of your pull readers outside of the platform?
There's millions of potential readers out there, but going beyond the Substack platform can seem daunting.
Any suggestions that have worked for you?
✏️ I find engaging with other writers on Substack, particularly by restacking quotes from their work on Notes with my own commentary added, is really helpful! Plus it’s a great way of scrapbooking both for myself and others the things I find genuinely interesting or inspiring.
Of course, we can’t all just write to and for each other — and in trying to reach outside of the Substack community I’ve found some difficulty.
Subreddits can be pretty brutal about self promotion (understandably) and HackerNews even more so. Any advice for sharing work (in good faith, that you genuinely think is valuable) outside of Substack would be great! Particularly for writers like myself who don’t have an audience elsewhere to promote to.
Thanks!
🧠I've been on Substack a little over 6 months and I'm definitely still figuring out how I want to be on here. I came on with 500 Mailchimp subscribers, and now am almost at 900, which is kind of mind blowing (thanks Substack! most of the new subscribers come from inside Substack).
I write about getting creative work done, and a huge part of what I write about is how social media broke my creative process for years, in that I would go to the quick fix of tweeting for validation, rather than the long slow process of writing a book. I'm now almost entirely off social media, and one thing that I find is that I want to replace that quick-fix with Substack stats. (Similarly, I think Notes is awesome and I absolutely cannot handle something like that -- I'll stare at it all day long trying to be witty for strangers rather than writing.) (Ha, I'm realizing now I don't know if this is advice 🧠 or a question ✏️).
The way I'm doing this is treating Substack like a part time job (because it is!) and also being mindful of writing what's interesting to me and what I'm thinking about, because I know as soon as I start trying to write to make other people happy, I'm losing the thread of my creative intuition. (Also, happily, when I write about what's interesting to me right now, people seem to respond more positively and say they relate.)
This is all to say: if you also sometimes struggle with how social media and the internet have messed with your desire for praise, I see you, and I'm with you. I really appreciate Substack for giving me a place where I can control more of what's coming at me, and where I can actually get paid for writing (vs., like, Twitter, where it felt like getting spiky dirt balls thrown at me all day, and I for sure did not get paid to tweet).
You're all awesome! I think it's so cool how much we're all writing.
I would really recommend using the recommendations feature here on Substack. It's brought me over a 100 subs. I'd also say share the brilliance of Substack as a concept and a platform with your lists and social media followers elsewhere as sometimes folks just need some encouragement and as we know those platforms can be really distracting.
🖍️May I just say that the responses y’all post here are super helpful? I doubt many of you are my target audience (those approaching and in the early days of retirement), but I love the way y’all help each other.
I was excited about this chance to write, but had no idea I would learn so much. Thank you!
✏️ Hi all! Sorry if this has already been asked but I’m lost in the thread! Quite a few have said they find notes to be a great way of finding readers. Can I ask how? I have barely posted on notes mainly as it feels like posting into an abyss… all I see are large accounts with many readers already posting. Seems a bit intimidating. Not sure how anyone will find a tiny stack like mine!
🧠 Hello everyone! I'm a small substack with just over 10 subs, and I'm looking to grow my newsletter. I've been active on Notes, but my own posts there get extremely low traction because I'm not really being seen by anyone except the one or two fellow writers. But I comment on others' notes and posts, and try to interact with other writers on here.
I don't think there are many people in my personal life or on my social media that are really interested in what I do, though some of my friends and family are subscribed to my newsletter. What I'm looking for is a way to grow my audience that I can do from substack, or that isnt telling everyone I meet on the street about it. I don't mind that it takes time to grow, I knew that when I started, but if I could hit 50 subs by the end of the year I'd be super happy. Maybe 100 if I'm lucky!:)
Hi all! I’ve experienced some growth in my list recently by collaborating and cross-posting with other writers - it can be daunting but I’d never say no to working with someone else now. You get to meet awesome new people and produce and share work you wouldn’t otherwise have been able to!
Incidentally if there’s anyone out there writing about parenting (particularly young kids) then hit me up!
Something I learned (or re-learned) this week is to not take for granted that people from you social media accounts, assuming they all know that you publish a newsletter. I put out a reminder to people on Instagram this week because I'm stepping up my writing, and I asked people to join the newsletter so they could witness the changes. I got a bunch of new subscribers that had no idea I even had a newsletter just from that single update.
🧠
What I have found when attempting to grow my subscriber base is simple interactions tend to have the most success.
🧠 Hey guys! One thing that’s worked for me consistently have been collaborations with other writers. The recommendation feature is a big factor in my growth, and though I don’t have that many subscribers yet (118, with a goal of reaching 500 bu the end of the year), I’ve seen steady growth from this, along with mentions from other newsletters with more subscribers. Word-of-mouth, that’s what’s responsible for steady growth. Interacting on Office Hours has also been important, as I get a few subscribers every week from these threads (by the way, if you want to read some vulnerable personal essays and memoir, come check out Practice Space!)
For me, the best way to grow is through recommendations
🧠 One thing I am currently trying is to create a "Series" of themed posts that interlink with one another. That way, if someone comes across one part of the series, they can read the others and be tempted to subscribe. So far, I have series running on task management for creators and freelancers, and how to communicate better with clients.
I find that the best thing about Substack is when I genuinely esteem another writer for their posts and they genuinely esteem me for mine -- and we have great dialogues in both of our comments sections. You can't force it, although you can make a good effort every day, reaching out to our peers, our fellow writers. But when it happens and it's genuine, it's pure Sustack magic.
Recommendations have been a huge help, but marketing, promotion, sharing, cross promoting, investing in yourself and ultimately being a good writer with great content is what drives free sign ups. Paid sign ups are another story...
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Hi writers! I am looking to connect with other Substackers who joined the platform in connection with or in preparation for a book on the same topic. Hoping to find people in all stages of the book process!
My Substack, Non-State Actress, is focused on making national security and defense relevant, interesting, and accessible for non-experts. I am writing a book (with a companion digital resource) with the same name and concept and use SubStack as a way to share abbreviated chapters and get feedback between deadlines and such. Prior to publishing here, I hadn’t published anything in my own name…*ever* and it’s been a REALLY helpful on-ramp. I would love to learn from others who started on Substack for similar reasons, or ended up on the book route after starting on Substack!
✏️ 🟧I am a complete newbie. I have participated in the OpEd Project at the University where I teach. 1. How do you decide to write for 'yourself' i.e. Substack vs writing an OpEd or the like for publication somewhere?
2. I write essays on 'life' as I imagine most of us do. Why would I think that anyone would be interested in what I have to say?
3. I have published academically for years but this is a whole new thing. It's 'easy' (not at all lol) to publish in a research format but the essay is a whole 'nother thing. Any pointers? Thanks
🧠I have had my Substack for one month, and have committed to posting twice per week -- 630 am my time zone, which appears to be helpful. I am getting about 70% open rate, and much of that is within the first few hours as people are getting going in their day. I have also begun scheduling posts, so that I am not always "on deadline". I am also intentionally NOT marketing too aggressively. I share via my LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter channels, and when I think a certain post is of particular interest to someone in my life, I'll send the link to them by text or e-mail. My goal is to build slowly and steadily, so that I can "work out the kinks" as I learn what's best.
My strategy: Use Substack's new Notes product!
More from a recent note that I wrote on Notes:
"Put simply, Pascal’s Pensées is more silhouette than portrait.
Nevertheless, it is both striking and brilliant. Much like Barcelona’s Sagrada Familia, it stands tall, remains incomplete, and inspires awe. All in all, it’s quite a metaphor for that brief flash we call life, no?
I mention all the above because Substack—the platform upon which I write and send this newsletter—has launched something of a digital pensées in the form of its Notes app.
Substack Notes is a new Twitter-like service for Substack’s writers and readers to “share links, short posts, quotes, photos, and more.” Its stated purpose is “[to create] a space where every reader … can share thoughts, ideas, and interesting quotes from the things [they are] reading on Substack and beyond.”2
It represents another front in Substack’s noble war to pry social media from the cold dead hands of advertisers and into the warm embrace of artists the world over. Indeed the launch of Notes further solidifies Substack’s pivot from newsletter network to a new “economic engine for culture.” I, for one, am cheering loudly from the peanut gallery (yet I may already be in Teddy Roosevelt’s arena given my three years writing White Noise)."
More here: https://www.whitenoise.email/p/a-short-note-on-notes
Hello everyone! I’m still learning because it’s barely two months since I started here but I think growing your email list is also about growing your community and a reciprocal interest in each other is vital. I know I’m already writing better just for writing in community.
🧠 If you're having trouble writing content for your newsletter, here is one simple thing I found that helped:
- Write content that's enjoyable or useful to YOU.
I've heard many musicians say that they create the music they want to hear. If you find enjoyment or use in your writing then it will be easier to keep going!
🧠I wouldn't go so far as to call this a "strategy", but Recommendations from fellow Substack writers certainly seem to propel free subscriptions. What do you all think?
✏️ Any fellow international news/politics writers? Perusing the site I observed that substack is still mainly dominated by US news, or at most global news from the US angle. Just want to reach out and see if there's a possibility of forming a small cadre of writers focusing on international political news from multiple countries' perspectives.
🟧I love the idea of Notes, but concerningly feel like the resource to run it isn't sustainable for current substack business model. I am not sure we are profitable before notes where there were just us writers and newsletters readers and now the substack team has to run a total new social network. Weirdly, I, a no-name writer who loves the idea of substack and wants to thrive on it, just want some reassurance that Notes can last in its current form without bringing in algorithm and ads in the future.
🟧 - First time in one of these Office Hours. Thanks for doing this.
I have been researching (and reviewing your posts on the subject) regarding conversion to paid options. I have two questions:
1. Is it within guidelines to offer benefits outside of substack, such as merch and/or other prizes?
2. If the Founding Member price is higher than the annual membership, is it okay for that to be a one-time fee; or is that automatically an annual fee?
Thank you!
This is all new to me, I have never written before and I started posted for my first time yesterday. I am working on personal journeys, mainly health and loss related, to inspire people and give them hope. I have to set up Social Media but I mainly need to learn all things Substack, I haven't even figured out how to update my name to match my brand yet I am that knew. It is a little scary but I figured if I don't dive in head first it will never happen. So I am here to learn.
🧠 - I just want to say that Notes has driven zero (0) subscribers to my newsletter. Just in case anyone was wondering whether they were alone 🖤
Hi all! I write about all things political and would be honoured if you'd subscribe!
You'd make my day :) ill subscribe back too!!
Thank you so much.