This Office Hours discussion thread is a chance for you to ask questions about getting started. Leave a comment and let us know how we can help. Plus, meet other writers who are getting started on Substack.
🧠 This is for the writers who struggle to build an audience. The newbs. The people coming here with 0 subscribers who want to reach 50, or 100, or 500 subscribers, but are finding themselves stuck, or their growth is slower than they’d like.
I’ve gone from 0 to 200 subscribers in a little over 7 months. As you can see, I’m no expert and my audience is far from huge, but I’ve experienced steady growth and so far fewer than a dozen people have unsubscribed from my e-mails.
Here are a few things I’ve learned:
- Read: When I started out on Substack, I was a reader first. While trying to find my voice and discover my topic, reading posts from writers with similar interests like Lyle McKeany and Sara Campbell really helped me out. After a while, I figured it out on my own, but still, reading the work of other Substack writers never fails to inspire me and inform my own work.
- Be consistent: From the start, it would be best to set a schedule for yourself. This doesn’t have to be 5 times per week or anything so crazy. I publish twice a month, and Taegan MacLean has found amazing success by publishing once a month. The important thing is to stay consistent! When your publication has found a rhythm, it will grow, and when you have a body of work it will be easier for you to share your stuff, simply because you’ll have more to share. Yes, some weeks you’ll feel like you don’t know what to write about. That’s fine: you will! Ideas are a dime a dozen, what matters is the execution, and luckily that’s within your control.
- Interact: Become a part of the larger community! I can’t stress this enough. The Substack community is one of the most positive on the internet, in my experience, and the writers here truly want to help you. You’ll learn a lot from them. So why not pop into the comments sections on their posts and ask them your questions? They’ll often have more experience and knowledge than you, but even writers of your level can help tremendously, by providing a different point of view.
- Share: As an extension of the previous point, you should share the work of writers you love. This helps them, because more people will see their work (and who knows, maybe they’ll return the favour and share something of yours), and it also helps your readers discover wonderful writing. It’s win-win!
- Write guest posts: While I don’t have extensive experience with this one, I have written two guest posts for Nadia Gerassimenko’s and Amie McGraham’s publications, and they’ve helped me get my work in front of new, wonderful people, some of which have left me really heartfelt comments. And working with other writers who are also trying to grow and are enthusiastic about their craft is so nice!
- Be on Notes: Last one so far, and I understand this one may not be for everyone. God knows it was a struggle for me to be on Twitter. Micro-blogging is really not my style. But being active on Notes really helps you find new readers. Last month, more than 50% of my new subscribers (15 or so) came from Notes. Which means that it’s a potent resource for steady, consistent growth, and to reiterate points 3 and 4 above, it’s a great place to meet cool people!
That’s it so far. But I think the most important thing to remember is this: while doing all I wrote above, unless you’re having fun, it’s all pointless! So go out there and write your heart out, but make sure you have fun doing it! The agonizing writer is so last century.
🧠 Consistency and your About page! Make sure you are posting consistently whether that is once a month, every two weeks, once a week and make sure your About page is defined so that it gives the reader information on what you write about and who you are. I pass on so many Substacks because there is no about page and I have no idea what they write about. (I don't always have time to read through posts)
If you recently launched, don't use the summer months as your only metric for success, especially in the US. You need to commit to a full year of writing through the holidays, new year and summer and then do a full assessment. Lots of folks go on vacation and the kids are out of school and reading slows quite a bit. Autumn brings a new routine and that often involves reading. Depending on your topic of interest, you need to find the months when people are most likely to look for your content.
Don't be discouraged by a couple of slow months and keep at it!
🧠 Giving a talk can be a great way to gain new subscribers. I recently ran a workshop for creating your first video game at San Diego Comic-Con and offered to send the presentation slides to everyone in attendance who signed up for my newsletter.
I received 30 new subscribers in 40 minutes! And more importantly, I got to inspire a bunch of kids, families, and students to get into game making.
Hi newbies. First, huge congrats for being here! You did it! You started a Substack. In addition to all the great advice here already I highly recommend working with @sarahfay @writerswhowork I’ll be changing up my blog due to her amazing advice.
✏️ I had a big upswing in paid/free subscribers when I first joined, but now it seems to not be working even though I'm very consistent with my content. I'm not on Twitter because it's so unstable as an interface rn, so what are some other ways I can promote my work?
🧠 - be nice, be helpful, make friends. Seriously. There are people who are successful in Substack without visibly doing these things but it's happening in the background even if you can't see it.
🧠 - this is my first time sharing advice because I’m still pretty new to this... but one thing I don’t see mentioned that often for publication growth is sincerely engaging with other writers publications.
I have found this helps and not only that but there is so much great writing on here to read that it’s a treat doing so.
I'm curious how other writers have gone about building a visual-identity for their Substack. I'm getting to the point in my growth stage where I need to establish a brand, not just create visuals based on what I'm feeling in the time I publish.
If you're a writer who established a specific set of fonts, colors, images, and other visual-assets for your Substack, how did you do it? Any tips or suggestions you found useful along the way? Thanks in advance!
🧠 - hearing a lot here about people discouraged with slow growth out of the gate. Subscribers are hard to get! And they should be.
It's not like social media followers. These are people who are giving you their personal emails to hear from you. It's very intimate.
I read somewhere that 1 email subscription is worth 100 social media follows. Do that math. That means if you have 100, that the same as 10,000 followers. Influencer status.
Don't let low numbers discourage you. Keep plugging away consistently. The little wins pile up. Stay engaged, reach out one-to-one, and cherish and nurture this special community you're building.
Unlike social media (where an owner can one day change the name to X for no apparent reason), you OWN this list. You can export and take it anywhere. That's the power of Substack.
Keep working at it, doing great work and putting yourself out there! If it takes years to build a significant following (and it likely will) it will all be worth it.
🧠 - I recently got feedback from the brilliant and so kind Claire Venus on tightening my About page, playing around with design, and using a better profile pic. These were things I had created awhile ago but haven't updated since this week. I am curious to see if this will help. Either way, it did help me personally redefine and narrow my Substack's focus, which I think is so important to reevaluate often! https://stephaniecooley.substack.com/about
The best advice I have received overall is to keep going, create quality work, interact (that means read, comment, share, recommend, work with fellow writers) and don't take yourself so seriously. Enjoy the process! I have to tell myself these things all the time because I sometimes get discouraged but I know I'm staying true to myself and being authentic.
To all the new writers, welcome! I'm just now celebrating my first year here and have been completely enchanted by the generosity of this writing community. To help you find your way through the weeds, I've just released Substack Field Guide #1 ... FREE. You can find it at gratitudemojo ... enjoy the journey.
✏️ I'm brand new to Substack and haven't even published my first post yet. Any advice for kicking things off? How can I set myself up for success as I gear up to announce/promote my work?
✏️ummm , so I’m transitioning from a law career to writing. I accident ly subscribed to substack when I meant to post a comment. Is this a door opening for me at just the right moment? What say you? Is it worth my effort to figure this out?
🧠 I'm seeing a lot of writers (in the general outside world) using ChatGPT and other generative AI tools to "produce content." This ranges from blog posts to poems to novels, and it can be as innocuous as "ideas" or as simple as the first chapter or paragraph, or as all-encompassing as the entire text. Lot to unpack there but I want to stress one point that recently came up in conversation on my latest post about AI at Work.
Don't outsource your creative agency. I know it's not easy to come up with the great idea or to stare at that blank page and produce a first draft. But if you want to get fit, do you get there by sitting on the couch? If you want to experience other cultures, do you do it by never leaving your hometown?
Lean into the discomfort zone. Do the work. Put in the effort. There are so many ways to source ideas—the world is awash in them! And the more you write, the more you read, the more you interact with other writers (especially here), the more expressive and nimble your mind will become. Writing is a muscle, and to grow it, it needs nourishment, sunlight, and exercise, not crutches.
This doesn't mean you can't use technology to support your work. Corrections, structure, research, marketing, all of the activities that help you build your business as a writer, tech is great for that. But let's not kid ourselves... we humans are light years ahead of any AI when it comes to creativity.
🧠 - Get on Notes! It's a great way to start interacting, or just hanging out with other writers. You'll get all the goodness of Office Hours on the daily!
Hey, everyone! I have been publishing content on Substack for about a month now. What are some proactive ways to promote your platform without feeling overbearing?
I write a daily rundown on the day’s international events, encompassing each continent. It’s called Everything Briefing. It is a comprehensive endeavor and I have found that people are widely receptive to it. I just haven’t found a good way to promote while growing organically.
hello everyone! i joined the Substack community two weeks ago and am intoxicated by the energy. thanks to you all for the thoughtful questions, pieces of advice and encouragement in this thread. online discourse does not come naturally to me, but the gentleness extended by this authentic collection of writers couldn't feel more hospitable.
my pub is maxine's dark nook; i post new short stories every Sunday, and hope to eventually add poetry and philosophy to the cadence.
🧠 Create and use a checklist: updating about me, possible collaborations, marketing, and whatever you need to stay on track after the writing part. Also, keep it fun for you.
✏️ I need guidance on having more engagement. Notes and chats are great tools, but I have problems keeping folks interested and engaged. Sometimes it feels like im talking to myself 😒
🧠 - Someone said above that summer is slow. Not only do I want to second that (people aren't online as much!) but extreme heat is also not conducive to thinking. Lots of studies have shown that humans have not adapted to work in this heat and it literally slows us and our brains down! So if starting a substack seems really hard right now--harder than you expected--it's not your fault and you're not doing it wrong. It's just hot out.
🧠 Posting regularly really helps. We post M-F with a team of writers. Consider guest posts to help your output! (Shameless plug: we are always looking for film/television/pop culture writers.)
🧠 - those wanting to grow, do not overlook engaging with the community here!
I had my biggest post on my newsletter after having Alex Dobrenko (https://botharetrue.substack.com/) create me a super silly/awesome AI promo video that I shared on my socials and Substack (check out at the bottom of the post "borderline boy" on my Newsletter).
A lot of my subscriber growth has come from right here on the Substack community itself. Commenting on other Newsletters, sharing them, participating in Office Hours and shouting out newsletters I love.
If you engage authentically and consume all that this place has to offer, you can carve out a bit of a name for yourself in your own right.
Do all the other stuff the smart people here are saying (post consistently, especially), but don't overlook how much growth can happen right here on Substack through collaborating with all these awesome writers.
✏️ How much time investment does it take to become adept at customizing the appearance of my substack? Any amazing articles/resources for that? A community?
🟧 As a bilingual writer I have readers in English and Spanish. Is there a way I can manage the two audiences separately? From emailing them to messaging them. Also would love to know more bilingual writers
✏️- I'm not entirely sure I qualify for this thread, but I am hitting the "six month rookie wall" and was curious if any other publishers had a similar experience or advice. I'm not obsessive over subs, but it provides a nice motivation, but I have exhausted a lot of my avenues to attract new subscribers outside of the Substack Network.
I'm just curious if this happened to anyone else and if they tried something unique that worked. Thanks!
🟧 - I am moving my list of 130,000 (free, high open rate) subscribers to substack, both for a paid option and to grow the list. But when I created my first email and sent a test email to myself, it went into my promo folder. Do you have any advice to avoid this? Any stats about how often this happens? Obviously, it would be a huge problem if that happens to even a small percentage of my list. (This has never been a problem with mailchimp.) Thanks!
🟧 I still think that I’m losing views because people think that there’s a paywall when first opening up my page or clicking on a link there. Would it be better to add a X to the top corner as well as a dismissal button at the bottom? I just think the text could be hard to see.
🟧 I have a question about fonts, colors, images. I recently started my page as a hobby, talking about parenting, balancing life and work, and just every day stuff. I want this to be a fun page people go to in order to build connections and maybe we can learn from each other or inspire or relate to one another. Is there a way that I can change the font, the color, the layout or templates that people use that they would recommend. I want my page to be fun and something people look forward to coming to, and kind of get out of the everyday look of email. Any links you can send me to?
🟧 This thread is great, but I'm having a tough time filtering through the chaos of it. Could there be a way to filter? Maybe Katie could start off with separate comments on Tech Issues, Growing Subs, Interacting With Fellow Writers, Pointless Self Promotion, etc. Then we all comment beneath those? Or separate Office Hour topics for separate days? I dunno. I just get the impression Office Hours is growing up and could spread its wings.
✏️ Anyone have tips on getting subscribers to engage in the comments or in the chat? I still have very small lists for both of my publications/podcasts, so I'm sure that's a big part of why my engagement is low, but I'd really love to get more conversation going. I encourage it at the end of every post, and sometimes I'll get 1-2 comments, but it has sort of fizzled out again.
✏️I soft aunched my Substack yesterday to get people to subscribe to the newsletter. I first wrote a post in which I explained what made me start it, but I will officially launch in September. At the moment, I have 16 subscribers, and I wanted to know what I could do to keep building momentum until September?
My principal tool to bring subscribers has been creating a newsletter on Linkedin where I have 752 followers. Since yesterday my Linkedin newsletter has 56 followers, but I'd like them to convert into Substack readers.
I soft launched because a piece I wrote for a fellow Italian fashion Substack was published. So I am gaining followers on Instagram and Linkedin because of it.
✏️ - I started my Substack about 5 months ago and I have just under 100 subscribers. I found it difficult to engage with my readers - I tried to nudge them several times with requests for comment, but still no impact. Some of my readers (the ones that I personally know) prefer to respond by replying to the newsletter email. Any advice here? I also find Substack reader stats not very accurate. Any explanation on how its stat algorithm works?
🟧 Hello! I find it a little hard to reach many people if I can't share it on social media. I've been posting consistently for about 2 months now and only have gained a couple of subscribers. I'm not sure how to collab with other people... or can I stack others peoples post without asking? Thanks a lot, a quick reply would be appreciated!
✏️I’m new-ish to substack. I finally started writing (it’s been 84 years). When is the next office hours? I’ve gotta do some adulting today so I missed this one. Also, how do you connect with other writers in your genre? Like how would I find other comedy writers?
✏️ I have just over 30 free subscribers and publish once a week for my gluten-free cooking Substack. No one has gone for the paid option, so would you recommend that I set up a paywall now, or just keep sending out free posts? scottsteinke.substack.com
seeking advice please from the more experienced. Im considering launching a 2nd newsletter to go with my original - the 2nd being a long read deeper dive, each one on a single topic (my standard n/letter covers multiple topics, twice a month). I have a few thousand substack views but slow on subs - 60+ after 4 months. I'm poor @ self marketing, I know!!!! Question? is the launching of a second newsletter too early? Should I wait for more scale? May it confuse readers?
I am a newbie. Started a newsletter only a couple of weeks ago. Is it possible to grow organically on Substack? Or does it help having a substantial number of followers elsewhere who are willing to migrate to the substack? It is difficult for someone like me who doesn't have a following ok other social media, like Instagram and Twitter.
I've just started my substack on banned or "challenged" children's books--mainly because I can't stand the insistence that books like the original Babar series promote or satirize colonialism, or that The Five Chinese Brothers is filled with racist stereotypes or that Curious George is really about the transatlantic slave trade. My posts explore historic, cultural and biographic reasons for such claims being wrong. Any thoughts on how to promote? I have around sixteen free subscribers and I'd love to get (1) comments and (2) paying subscribers. Any advice appreciated.
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.
🧠 This is for the writers who struggle to build an audience. The newbs. The people coming here with 0 subscribers who want to reach 50, or 100, or 500 subscribers, but are finding themselves stuck, or their growth is slower than they’d like.
I’ve gone from 0 to 200 subscribers in a little over 7 months. As you can see, I’m no expert and my audience is far from huge, but I’ve experienced steady growth and so far fewer than a dozen people have unsubscribed from my e-mails.
Here are a few things I’ve learned:
- Read: When I started out on Substack, I was a reader first. While trying to find my voice and discover my topic, reading posts from writers with similar interests like Lyle McKeany and Sara Campbell really helped me out. After a while, I figured it out on my own, but still, reading the work of other Substack writers never fails to inspire me and inform my own work.
- Be consistent: From the start, it would be best to set a schedule for yourself. This doesn’t have to be 5 times per week or anything so crazy. I publish twice a month, and Taegan MacLean has found amazing success by publishing once a month. The important thing is to stay consistent! When your publication has found a rhythm, it will grow, and when you have a body of work it will be easier for you to share your stuff, simply because you’ll have more to share. Yes, some weeks you’ll feel like you don’t know what to write about. That’s fine: you will! Ideas are a dime a dozen, what matters is the execution, and luckily that’s within your control.
- Interact: Become a part of the larger community! I can’t stress this enough. The Substack community is one of the most positive on the internet, in my experience, and the writers here truly want to help you. You’ll learn a lot from them. So why not pop into the comments sections on their posts and ask them your questions? They’ll often have more experience and knowledge than you, but even writers of your level can help tremendously, by providing a different point of view.
- Share: As an extension of the previous point, you should share the work of writers you love. This helps them, because more people will see their work (and who knows, maybe they’ll return the favour and share something of yours), and it also helps your readers discover wonderful writing. It’s win-win!
- Write guest posts: While I don’t have extensive experience with this one, I have written two guest posts for Nadia Gerassimenko’s and Amie McGraham’s publications, and they’ve helped me get my work in front of new, wonderful people, some of which have left me really heartfelt comments. And working with other writers who are also trying to grow and are enthusiastic about their craft is so nice!
- Be on Notes: Last one so far, and I understand this one may not be for everyone. God knows it was a struggle for me to be on Twitter. Micro-blogging is really not my style. But being active on Notes really helps you find new readers. Last month, more than 50% of my new subscribers (15 or so) came from Notes. Which means that it’s a potent resource for steady, consistent growth, and to reiterate points 3 and 4 above, it’s a great place to meet cool people!
That’s it so far. But I think the most important thing to remember is this: while doing all I wrote above, unless you’re having fun, it’s all pointless! So go out there and write your heart out, but make sure you have fun doing it! The agonizing writer is so last century.
🧠 Consistency and your About page! Make sure you are posting consistently whether that is once a month, every two weeks, once a week and make sure your About page is defined so that it gives the reader information on what you write about and who you are. I pass on so many Substacks because there is no about page and I have no idea what they write about. (I don't always have time to read through posts)
🧠 - SUMMER IS SLOW!
If you recently launched, don't use the summer months as your only metric for success, especially in the US. You need to commit to a full year of writing through the holidays, new year and summer and then do a full assessment. Lots of folks go on vacation and the kids are out of school and reading slows quite a bit. Autumn brings a new routine and that often involves reading. Depending on your topic of interest, you need to find the months when people are most likely to look for your content.
Don't be discouraged by a couple of slow months and keep at it!
🧠 “Never give up, never surrender.”
All that matters is consistent, quality content that you would want to read if you were the reader.
🧠 Giving a talk can be a great way to gain new subscribers. I recently ran a workshop for creating your first video game at San Diego Comic-Con and offered to send the presentation slides to everyone in attendance who signed up for my newsletter.
I received 30 new subscribers in 40 minutes! And more importantly, I got to inspire a bunch of kids, families, and students to get into game making.
Hi newbies. First, huge congrats for being here! You did it! You started a Substack. In addition to all the great advice here already I highly recommend working with @sarahfay @writerswhowork I’ll be changing up my blog due to her amazing advice.
✏️ I had a big upswing in paid/free subscribers when I first joined, but now it seems to not be working even though I'm very consistent with my content. I'm not on Twitter because it's so unstable as an interface rn, so what are some other ways I can promote my work?
🧠 - be nice, be helpful, make friends. Seriously. There are people who are successful in Substack without visibly doing these things but it's happening in the background even if you can't see it.
🧠 - this is my first time sharing advice because I’m still pretty new to this... but one thing I don’t see mentioned that often for publication growth is sincerely engaging with other writers publications.
I have found this helps and not only that but there is so much great writing on here to read that it’s a treat doing so.
I'm curious how other writers have gone about building a visual-identity for their Substack. I'm getting to the point in my growth stage where I need to establish a brand, not just create visuals based on what I'm feeling in the time I publish.
If you're a writer who established a specific set of fonts, colors, images, and other visual-assets for your Substack, how did you do it? Any tips or suggestions you found useful along the way? Thanks in advance!
🧠 - hearing a lot here about people discouraged with slow growth out of the gate. Subscribers are hard to get! And they should be.
It's not like social media followers. These are people who are giving you their personal emails to hear from you. It's very intimate.
I read somewhere that 1 email subscription is worth 100 social media follows. Do that math. That means if you have 100, that the same as 10,000 followers. Influencer status.
Don't let low numbers discourage you. Keep plugging away consistently. The little wins pile up. Stay engaged, reach out one-to-one, and cherish and nurture this special community you're building.
Unlike social media (where an owner can one day change the name to X for no apparent reason), you OWN this list. You can export and take it anywhere. That's the power of Substack.
Keep working at it, doing great work and putting yourself out there! If it takes years to build a significant following (and it likely will) it will all be worth it.
🧠 - I recently got feedback from the brilliant and so kind Claire Venus on tightening my About page, playing around with design, and using a better profile pic. These were things I had created awhile ago but haven't updated since this week. I am curious to see if this will help. Either way, it did help me personally redefine and narrow my Substack's focus, which I think is so important to reevaluate often! https://stephaniecooley.substack.com/about
The best advice I have received overall is to keep going, create quality work, interact (that means read, comment, share, recommend, work with fellow writers) and don't take yourself so seriously. Enjoy the process! I have to tell myself these things all the time because I sometimes get discouraged but I know I'm staying true to myself and being authentic.
Claire's substack: https://creativelyconscious.substack.com/p/contents-page-2023
To all the new writers, welcome! I'm just now celebrating my first year here and have been completely enchanted by the generosity of this writing community. To help you find your way through the weeds, I've just released Substack Field Guide #1 ... FREE. You can find it at gratitudemojo ... enjoy the journey.
✏️ I'm brand new to Substack and haven't even published my first post yet. Any advice for kicking things off? How can I set myself up for success as I gear up to announce/promote my work?
✏️ummm , so I’m transitioning from a law career to writing. I accident ly subscribed to substack when I meant to post a comment. Is this a door opening for me at just the right moment? What say you? Is it worth my effort to figure this out?
🧠 I'm seeing a lot of writers (in the general outside world) using ChatGPT and other generative AI tools to "produce content." This ranges from blog posts to poems to novels, and it can be as innocuous as "ideas" or as simple as the first chapter or paragraph, or as all-encompassing as the entire text. Lot to unpack there but I want to stress one point that recently came up in conversation on my latest post about AI at Work.
Don't outsource your creative agency. I know it's not easy to come up with the great idea or to stare at that blank page and produce a first draft. But if you want to get fit, do you get there by sitting on the couch? If you want to experience other cultures, do you do it by never leaving your hometown?
Lean into the discomfort zone. Do the work. Put in the effort. There are so many ways to source ideas—the world is awash in them! And the more you write, the more you read, the more you interact with other writers (especially here), the more expressive and nimble your mind will become. Writing is a muscle, and to grow it, it needs nourishment, sunlight, and exercise, not crutches.
This doesn't mean you can't use technology to support your work. Corrections, structure, research, marketing, all of the activities that help you build your business as a writer, tech is great for that. But let's not kid ourselves... we humans are light years ahead of any AI when it comes to creativity.
(Here's the post I reference: https://themuse.substack.com/p/ai-at-work-bubbles-in-the-sand-part-173 )
🧠 - Get on Notes! It's a great way to start interacting, or just hanging out with other writers. You'll get all the goodness of Office Hours on the daily!
Hi friends! Just want to quickly share this AMAZING resource from The Soiree. It's pre-made, pre-sized canva templates designed for substack!
https://thesoiree.substack.com/p/the-substack-bundle
Hey, everyone! I have been publishing content on Substack for about a month now. What are some proactive ways to promote your platform without feeling overbearing?
I write a daily rundown on the day’s international events, encompassing each continent. It’s called Everything Briefing. It is a comprehensive endeavor and I have found that people are widely receptive to it. I just haven’t found a good way to promote while growing organically.
I appreciate all of the tips in advance!
I’m just so excited one of my fav writers recently joined substack, please check out Prof Peter Gray if you want tips on how to help your kids thrive!
https://petergray.substack.com/
*appreciation post*
hello everyone! i joined the Substack community two weeks ago and am intoxicated by the energy. thanks to you all for the thoughtful questions, pieces of advice and encouragement in this thread. online discourse does not come naturally to me, but the gentleness extended by this authentic collection of writers couldn't feel more hospitable.
my pub is maxine's dark nook; i post new short stories every Sunday, and hope to eventually add poetry and philosophy to the cadence.
cheers!
🧠 Create and use a checklist: updating about me, possible collaborations, marketing, and whatever you need to stay on track after the writing part. Also, keep it fun for you.
✏️ I need guidance on having more engagement. Notes and chats are great tools, but I have problems keeping folks interested and engaged. Sometimes it feels like im talking to myself 😒
🧠 - Someone said above that summer is slow. Not only do I want to second that (people aren't online as much!) but extreme heat is also not conducive to thinking. Lots of studies have shown that humans have not adapted to work in this heat and it literally slows us and our brains down! So if starting a substack seems really hard right now--harder than you expected--it's not your fault and you're not doing it wrong. It's just hot out.
If you're curious, I wrote a little about the science that backs this up here: https://valorieclark.substack.com/p/054-do-we-ask-for-too-much-during
🧠 Posting regularly really helps. We post M-F with a team of writers. Consider guest posts to help your output! (Shameless plug: we are always looking for film/television/pop culture writers.)
🧠 - those wanting to grow, do not overlook engaging with the community here!
I had my biggest post on my newsletter after having Alex Dobrenko (https://botharetrue.substack.com/) create me a super silly/awesome AI promo video that I shared on my socials and Substack (check out at the bottom of the post "borderline boy" on my Newsletter).
A lot of my subscriber growth has come from right here on the Substack community itself. Commenting on other Newsletters, sharing them, participating in Office Hours and shouting out newsletters I love.
If you engage authentically and consume all that this place has to offer, you can carve out a bit of a name for yourself in your own right.
Do all the other stuff the smart people here are saying (post consistently, especially), but don't overlook how much growth can happen right here on Substack through collaborating with all these awesome writers.
✏️ How much time investment does it take to become adept at customizing the appearance of my substack? Any amazing articles/resources for that? A community?
Hello community!
Began my small community on e-waste recycling and similar topics 5 weeks ago: SCRAPPED.
I got the inspiration from HEATED.
Glad to be here to learn and share.
Regards,
Krishnan
If i am only looking for free subscribers, is Substack the place to be? The focus seems to be on generating a paid business.
🟧 As a bilingual writer I have readers in English and Spanish. Is there a way I can manage the two audiences separately? From emailing them to messaging them. Also would love to know more bilingual writers
✏️- I'm not entirely sure I qualify for this thread, but I am hitting the "six month rookie wall" and was curious if any other publishers had a similar experience or advice. I'm not obsessive over subs, but it provides a nice motivation, but I have exhausted a lot of my avenues to attract new subscribers outside of the Substack Network.
I'm just curious if this happened to anyone else and if they tried something unique that worked. Thanks!
🟧 - I am moving my list of 130,000 (free, high open rate) subscribers to substack, both for a paid option and to grow the list. But when I created my first email and sent a test email to myself, it went into my promo folder. Do you have any advice to avoid this? Any stats about how often this happens? Obviously, it would be a huge problem if that happens to even a small percentage of my list. (This has never been a problem with mailchimp.) Thanks!
🟧 I still think that I’m losing views because people think that there’s a paywall when first opening up my page or clicking on a link there. Would it be better to add a X to the top corner as well as a dismissal button at the bottom? I just think the text could be hard to see.
🟧 are there any plans for Substack to introduce new categories?
There are a few obvious ones missing such as Self Help, Leadership and Mental Health that would really help readers find substacks such as mine.
Thanks.
🟧 I have a question about fonts, colors, images. I recently started my page as a hobby, talking about parenting, balancing life and work, and just every day stuff. I want this to be a fun page people go to in order to build connections and maybe we can learn from each other or inspire or relate to one another. Is there a way that I can change the font, the color, the layout or templates that people use that they would recommend. I want my page to be fun and something people look forward to coming to, and kind of get out of the everyday look of email. Any links you can send me to?
🟧 This thread is great, but I'm having a tough time filtering through the chaos of it. Could there be a way to filter? Maybe Katie could start off with separate comments on Tech Issues, Growing Subs, Interacting With Fellow Writers, Pointless Self Promotion, etc. Then we all comment beneath those? Or separate Office Hour topics for separate days? I dunno. I just get the impression Office Hours is growing up and could spread its wings.
✏️ Anyone have tips on getting subscribers to engage in the comments or in the chat? I still have very small lists for both of my publications/podcasts, so I'm sure that's a big part of why my engagement is low, but I'd really love to get more conversation going. I encourage it at the end of every post, and sometimes I'll get 1-2 comments, but it has sort of fizzled out again.
✏️I soft aunched my Substack yesterday to get people to subscribe to the newsletter. I first wrote a post in which I explained what made me start it, but I will officially launch in September. At the moment, I have 16 subscribers, and I wanted to know what I could do to keep building momentum until September?
My principal tool to bring subscribers has been creating a newsletter on Linkedin where I have 752 followers. Since yesterday my Linkedin newsletter has 56 followers, but I'd like them to convert into Substack readers.
I soft launched because a piece I wrote for a fellow Italian fashion Substack was published. So I am gaining followers on Instagram and Linkedin because of it.
Many thanks,
✏️ - I started my Substack about 5 months ago and I have just under 100 subscribers. I found it difficult to engage with my readers - I tried to nudge them several times with requests for comment, but still no impact. Some of my readers (the ones that I personally know) prefer to respond by replying to the newsletter email. Any advice here? I also find Substack reader stats not very accurate. Any explanation on how its stat algorithm works?
✏️ is Substack appropriate for posting work you hope to publish?
🟧 Hello! I find it a little hard to reach many people if I can't share it on social media. I've been posting consistently for about 2 months now and only have gained a couple of subscribers. I'm not sure how to collab with other people... or can I stack others peoples post without asking? Thanks a lot, a quick reply would be appreciated!
✏️I’m new-ish to substack. I finally started writing (it’s been 84 years). When is the next office hours? I’ve gotta do some adulting today so I missed this one. Also, how do you connect with other writers in your genre? Like how would I find other comedy writers?
✏️ I have just over 30 free subscribers and publish once a week for my gluten-free cooking Substack. No one has gone for the paid option, so would you recommend that I set up a paywall now, or just keep sending out free posts? scottsteinke.substack.com
✏️
seeking advice please from the more experienced. Im considering launching a 2nd newsletter to go with my original - the 2nd being a long read deeper dive, each one on a single topic (my standard n/letter covers multiple topics, twice a month). I have a few thousand substack views but slow on subs - 60+ after 4 months. I'm poor @ self marketing, I know!!!! Question? is the launching of a second newsletter too early? Should I wait for more scale? May it confuse readers?
I send a monthly summary to subscribers with a short message and links to articles. Is there a way to do that in Substack?
I am a newbie. Started a newsletter only a couple of weeks ago. Is it possible to grow organically on Substack? Or does it help having a substantial number of followers elsewhere who are willing to migrate to the substack? It is difficult for someone like me who doesn't have a following ok other social media, like Instagram and Twitter.
🟧 Is there any way to see if a reader has read until the end of a post?
I've just started my substack on banned or "challenged" children's books--mainly because I can't stand the insistence that books like the original Babar series promote or satirize colonialism, or that The Five Chinese Brothers is filled with racist stereotypes or that Curious George is really about the transatlantic slave trade. My posts explore historic, cultural and biographic reasons for such claims being wrong. Any thoughts on how to promote? I have around sixteen free subscribers and I'd love to get (1) comments and (2) paying subscribers. Any advice appreciated.
🧠 For the New Members, "So You Just Started Your Substack":
https://pau1.substack.com/p/start
Have fun! This is an awesome way to spend a Thursday morning!