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.
🟧 Is there a way to prevent private discussion threads from showing up on my homepage? I email private discussion threads to paid subscribers only, but they still show up as posts on my newsletter page. Since I use the magazine format, those threads become the huge featured ones in the middle and displace my regular weekly articles.
Your subscribers will see your notes if you put a header for it on your navigation bar. Only Substackers (writers and readers) will see your notes ... they do not go out by email. Took me a long time to recognize that difference. Basically, they are designed to engage with the Substack community and are a powerful way to make friends.
Thank you Joyce! That makes sense. I'm struggling to figure out if it's worth my very limited time to engage in yet another platform. Is it worth it or just another distraction?
Hi Jennifer. I'll pop in there for Joyce. (Who, by the way, has just put out a Field Guide to help new Substackers).
For context: I've been on Substack for 2 years, first with Kindness Magnet, and just recently with a second Substack, After 21 Club.
I spend about 15 minutes a day on Notes. Some of the benefits (not necessarily in order) includes: providing helpful information for other writers; getting good ideas from other writers (think @Mike Sowden); sharing your thoughts on writing on Substack, or just on what's going on in your world. I have 'met' some great writers there and helped others with learning about Substack. I've also gotten a few new subscribers - although I don't approach Notes that way.
I limit myself to 15-20 minutes....and if I don't get on there for a day or so....no problem.
I guess I would ask you, what do you consider 'worth it'? It can definitely become a distraction. And it can definitely become a place to participate in a community of writers.
Thank you Heather. Great question. My meaning of worth it is will anyone see it read it. Simple. So far my subscribers don’t seem interested and are unclear what it is. I’m 6 months in, and unknown writer, and want to gain readers. I’d like to think my work is worth reading. I’m getting good feedback from my subscribers but they too are very busy and distracted. I’m just not sure how Notes will add any value to mine or there experience.
I understand your concern. Most of us started out as unknowns, wanting to find 'our tribe'. When I first started using Notes, I published posts from my Substack on Notes. For the most part, that didn't resonate. It seemed self-promotional. Once I stopped doing that and, instead, started commenting on other's notes, and providing help where I could, my engagement improved.
Some things that helped me find more readers (and find my place in the Substack community): participate in the Thursday Office Hours, giving without expectation of receiving; Use the search feature on Substack to find others who write about your topics - read their posts and engage with them, subscribe if it makes sense; visit Notes - if there is a post that resonates with you, add your thoughts/ideas without trying to promote yourself (Notes shows what your publication is, so you don't need to advertise it).
I haven't explored Substack for your niche, but I'm guessing there are a number of others who are interested in meditation. If you recommend them, let them know. They will often reciprocate. (I will sometimes recommend other Substack writers in my posts, or mention them in Office Hours, or in Notes. )
It has taken me 1.5 years to gain 700+ subscribers for Kindness Magnet. I've just started a 2nd Substack, After 21 Club and have about 30 subscribers in the first month. I didn't bring an audience with me to Substack for either one. When I get a new subscriber, I rejoice. When someone 'quits', I'm a little sad. But I keep writing because I love it and I've met some amazing people.
Sorry if this seems long winded. If Notes doesn't give you a good feeling, it's not going to be the end of the world. But it is a good place to be seen and heard....as well as meet other good writers. 💚
🟧. For complicated (and boring) reasons, I had to sign up to Substack as a visitor on my mobile phone. I have a Substack app there. I was a bit surprised to see that my Notes turned up on the app. I thought they were only for readers of Notes (ie mainly Substack writers) and not for casual subscribers to the App. Could someone explain this a bit more fully, because it will affect my willingness to contribute to Notes.
Substack people - I was genuinely hoping to get an answer to this. If what I write on Notes is going to any of my subscribers who looks at the app, it will affect what I will write there. THIS IS IMPORTANT. We need to know who we are communicating with.
QUESTION: (I am not seeing how to select Emojis.) How can i set up a means of support/donations for my writing that does not involve divulging my geographic location or street address?
Sorry I may have explained that too simply. You do not need to give an address to have a Substack, you are allowed to use the Substack HQ in California as default.
To accept payment, you need to create a stripe account. This will require you to put in your actual mailing address.
Once you have finished setting up your stripe account, you can go into account settings and set your personal information to private, then delete your address. This means that when a subscribers credit card is charged, they won’t see your address in their transactions. This does not impact your ability to publish publicly, it only keeps your address private
Okay. I will try. Thank you for the thorough explanation. I will have to see in practice how this "deleting" step works --- that leaves me feel uncomfortable..
It seems like an odd work around. Stripe should have an explicit window or box for entering my bank account and, only if I desire, again in a separate box, if I want my address to be posted on the donator's credit card (or whatever) receipt.
I agree it felt uncomfortable to fill out. If you want to be doubly safe you could always open a PO box for setup, then ditch it when it’s no longer needed
Hmm, strange. Are you on Chrome? Maybe it's a Chrome thing. No "+", if that's the issue. I just meant the windows key and the full stop key at the same time.
Aha. On my machine it is "Windows key" plus the "." [Period] 👌 Thank you, again.
It is sad that the emoji selections have become so childish. I also notice that the selections are politically tendentious and censoring, even compared to the early emojis, or as we called them then, 'emoticons'.
I see. Perhaps you can give Stripe some feedback. Someone else commented similarly. Here is part of what I sent him:
"It seems like an odd work around. Stripe should have an explicit window or box for entering my bank account and, only if I desire, again in a separate box, if I want my address to be posted on the donator's credit card (or whatever) receipt."
✏️ I can see that I can copy my comment and perhaps put it in a Substack article, but this clutters up my main articles. When "Notes" is an option, I send original comments there. But I notice that a selectable "Notes" box is not always provided on all comments. Am I missing something?
QUESTION: Hi Katie, I am not sure what you mean by "clicking the timestamp." I want to post my comments for all future readers at my site to see my comments. I notice that if no one replies to my comment, that it does not even appear in my notifications. Plus, I cannot even find my subsequent comments since there is no option to send subsequent comments to "Notes." Thanks!
I’m still navigating my way through Substack, and I could use the feedback from fellow writers to help me break past the 100 subscriber milestone. For example, do you find the content engaging? What could I improve? Do you have ideas of smaller publications I could collaborate with to grow my audience?
I do too. Sorry but the Substack support team is sorely lacking. I have yet to get an answer to ANY question I have asked. It would be very helpful to talk to a real person on the phone. ...lot's of first timers like myself need help setting up their site....many quit because they get frustrated! SS would make more $$ if they offered better support.
🧠 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.
This is all great stuff. Engaging with the substack community is very overlooked. There’s a ton of readers here and a lot of engagement -- the best way I’ve found is commenting, sharing, and supporting other writers in your niche.
Become a voice and be engaged, and that engagement will spillover to building out an audience of your own. Don’t be shy!
One of the things that has been clear to me since I started here a few months ago is that most everyone is enthusiastic about supporting the entire community, most especially the Substack folks. Working in the IT community over the past 40 years taught me that the most important things to build are a reputation for enthusiastically helping anyone who needs it, and visibility to alert others to your enthusiasm. This is alive, well, and vibrant here in the Substack community. The more good you do for more people, the more good finds its way back around to you!
I dedicate about two hours per week to Office Hours. It is one of my main learning places and a chance for me to meet some of the most amazing writers. I generally wind up getting new subscribers ... sometimes as many as I've subscribed to. ;-) Office Hours can seem chaotic ... but don't miss it.
Highly agree! In the beginning Office Hours was a tremendous help. My first big jump in subscribers happened because I introduced myself here a couple of months back. And it’s a great learning environment. I missed it when it happened every week, and now the schedule is a little wonky, but hopefully things will get back on track soon.
Very much agree. Find writers you like and engage with them and their readers in the comments. Meangingful, genuine engagement of course. It doesn't take long to start to build lovely connections that way and grow organically.
oh my gosh, we said very similar things in this comment. I love that you went from 0-200 in the last 7 months, which is similar to my growth and it makes me feel quite OK with it. There's something special knowing that I'm on a similar growth path to a peer.
FYI my first 100 subscribers took 5 months. the second 100 took 2. Then I published a piece that went viral in the outdoor community and got 100 subscribers in a week. The first 100 is the hardest.
Yes! This has been exactly my experience. The first 100 took about 5 months, and at 7 months I reached 200. God bless I reach my goal of 500 by the end of the year!
I feel like these are common experiences for those of us who did not come in with a built audience and are not social media influencers (so a place like IG is not that great at driving subs).
Yes! I actually went back on IG to start spreading the word about my work and i was reminded all over again why I left. I still share my content there but I don’t spend time there and much rather it be on this platform.
I gradually find myself drifting away from other social media ... it's so much more fun to spend time here, reading and hanging out with fascinating writers.
Sorry, Andrei to bother you, but somehow your msg. got cut off and mysteriously disappeared as I read about your being Romanian and the interesting story of your background was beginning! Perhaps I touched the screen mistakenly. Could you please resend it to me??
✍ I have tried writing comments on the posts of other writers and I can confirm that I got over 100 subscribers in a week. This made me pivot the same strategy over and over. But, sometimes, no matter how awkward it is, ask some of them to subscribe to your newsletter-don't fear (some might be willing to be your new readers). However, I haven't tried guest posting and I would like an established writer to invite me to write guest posts on issues ranging from technology, underserved communities, African socio-economy, politics, culture, and anything that you think I might cross post. Check my newsletter. See you in your newsletter as we collaborate. 📰
One of the best things I ever saw an editor do was to encourage all his writers to comment on each other's articles in his publications. It acted like a piano bar player sticking a few dollars in their own tip jar. Others were encouraged to do the same. One of the most important things we can all do for each other is to develop a culture of commenting on each other's substacks. Comments equal engagement, and engagement is everything.
🧠 Also, as far as I am concerned, the whole point of writing is to have a conversation. I do not think of it as just spewing out my ideas as if they are some glorious ideas for all to admire and fawn over. And the main point, for me, is not somehow tricking people into visiting or commenting, like having a few dummy cars sitting in the restaurant lot to make it look visited. Few things are more irritating that streams of "Oh, thank you," "God bless you" and "you are our savior" comments when some notable figure blurts out even unimaginative drivel. This is nothing but fan worship. I do not want their money. Taking their money would be abuse.
I like this analogy to magazine publications, Howard (cf The New Yorker, The Economist, etc.). Had been thinking about the curation / editor angle, not so much the inter-author dynamics. Very cool.
Edwin ... would love a guest post if you have a connection to gratitude. Or, anything to do with your adventure here on Substack. I am doing a monthly Field Guide about the Substack journey. Check it out here: https://gratitudemojo.substack.com/p/substack-field-guide-1-66a
All great advice. Certainly the first 100 was the hardest for me - took 15 months, but that was before Substack had recommendations, Notes etc and they've made a real difference. Your last point is crucial. I wouldn't be doing this if I didn't enjoy it.
I’m so glad to hear you stuck with it. 15 months seems like a long time, but in retrospect, I suspect it went by pretty quickly. I’m very satisfied with my growth, and I don’t just mean in terms of subscribers, but also in terms of my skill as a writer. Publishing according to a consistent schedule has improved my writing tremendously. I’ve learned lots of lessons about my process.
It felt like writing into the void for a long time, and was a bit demoralising. But I also wanted to be writing the things I was writing, so that kept me going. The effort of publishing consistently certainly improved my skills and I don't think my effort was wasted.
This is really great advice. I think especially your final point is so very important--having fun is an absolute must in any venture, especially one that involves writing and community. Congratulations on your growth!!
I’m glad it helps! 🫶🏻🫶🏻🫶🏻 Pro tip: Just screenshot it. I’ve got a bunch of Notes and comments in my photo library, and keep telling myself to make a folder just for them.
Thanks for this list! I’ve just started Substack and this is very helpful to me! I’m definitely here to build community so I’m not only excited to build my own list but also to find other Substacks.
A wee bit (or more?) of additional discipline should block my habitual procrastination and put the pen to paper. There is so much to be addressed in this confused society...Ilka Avramov
I’m not Bulgarian, no, I’m actually Romanian, but my name is of Bulgarian origin. The story of how my family got this name is pretty funny, but suffice it to say we have zero relations with the original owners. It’s a pretty uncommon name here in Romania, too, which is cool.
Yep, Romanian has nothing to do with Bulgarian. It’s very closely related to Italian, though, to the point where we can understand Italian pretty much out of the box. Similarly with written French, although spoken French still gives us trouble without proper language education. But it’s pretty easy to learn for us, so many Romanians speak decent French.
Oh, I forgot to mention. I’m not one of those Romanians who speak French 😂 I studied German in school. But using the ole Google, let me try to answer your question:
Oui, je vis en Roumanie, mais la seule chose qui ressemble à un château où je vis est Palatul Controceni, où vit le président.
🧠 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)
What do you tend to look for when going to someone's About page? Have you found anything in the past that particularly stood out to you as special or unique?
A clear outline of what they write about and what I can expect as a subscriber. Also I love knowing about the author's life and who they are as a person. Information to connect the reader to the writer is always wonderful.
🧠 There are four items that telegraph who you are and what you write about ... Title of your Substack, your bio-profile (1 -2 sentences), the Brief Description of your Substack, and your About Page. All of these should be brief, friendly, and clear. The free Substack Field Guide #1 (available at gratitudemojo) gives you some best practice examples of these steps.
I am struggling witth my bio-profile! Currently keeping it short- 'mom and educator.' I feel like anything I think to put is either too serious or not informative enough!
This is one of the hardest things for us to do. I adopt the "write and live with it for awhile" approach. It also helps to read a lot of other bio-profiles and brief descriptions. That's one reason I created the free Substack Field Guide #1. You might find it helpful ... https://gratitudemojo.substack.com/p/substack-field-guide-1-66a
Thank you for this resource! As a 'newb' I appreciate all the help I can get to navigate this new landscape. I've subscribed and I look forward to learning.
i know what a mom is and what a mom usually does... but unsure about educators... educators of the public through substack? teacher? maybe that the word that needs a bit expansion?
There's a great article from March 28 2022 in On Substack called "How to Reach and Engage Your Readers" which gives plentiful and excellent advice on how to approach creating an effective About page.
Readers absolutely do care about your about page. That's one of the big places you can sell your image and value proposition. At the very least, not updating it shows readers that you didn't care enough to completely set up your site.
Nothing could be further from the truth. In all situations, most people want to know what they're getting themselves into if they're going to invest their time in something.
I agree with Cole and others. The about page is something I ALWAYS read. I admit, though, it can be hard to write! (mine probably needs an update lol)
hey, just want you to know that Diana Butler Bass also has a substack named "The Cottage" and hers is based on actually having a cottage she writes in. She's an established writer (I have 2 of her books) and she's been at it a long time. This is not to discourage you, only to inform. While you love "the cottage vibe" maybe there is a different title that suits what you're doing? Something that you can brand specifically to you? At least, it's something to think about now while you're only 5 months in.
I also heavily advocate for a "new readers" post that's permanantly pinned at the top. I don't know how many ever navigate to the about page. It's rare that I go there when visiting new Stacks, but if someone has a clear post about what/who they are and what they write about, then this can help a lot.
The About page is the very first place I go to when visiting a new Substack. If there is no About page then I skip it altogether. Everyone navigates differently, doing both would be the safest bet.
My personal take is the About Page should be somewhat short and to the point. But include YOUR voice if you can. Readers might be reading this first, before any of your posts. Since I write humor and love Austen, I try to be funny off the bat:
Dearest Esteemed Reader,
I am so pleased to make your (virtual) acquaintance.
I think in the Welcome Letter, you can be more detailed with your intentions of what your substack is about. Or better yet, make it your first post!
I agree totall. About pages are crucial. I often look at them to see whether the writer is taking their work seriously - if they haven't put anything on their about page, then I assume they aren't taking it seriously.
One thing I was advised was to tell people what you love and what you believe, specifically in relation to writing. I used this advice on my about page. For example, for me what I love is finding things out, turning over stones, learning new things etc. And what I believe is that the science behind important issues should be accessible to everyone. Between those two things, that's a reasonable explanation of what do
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!
Yes! Substacker with 3 kids here and while I thought I would be able to persist, it just didn't happen. Between the end of school year craziness (I'm also a teacher) and then on vacation. But I love the "About the hiatus" sletter that I just published, it gave me an opportunity to share some facts about myself and reintroduce my 'why.' https://open.substack.com/pub/itselementary/p/about-the-hiatus?r=iqtul&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
That's exactly the reason why I want to start in September. I soft launched yesterday as I wrote for a big Substack newsletter and they published my piece yesterday, but initially I thought September was a great to start. If you have any advice to keep momentum before the official launch I'd be more than happy to know what your tips are! Thank you
I would say don't stop writing if you can help it, but come at it from the angle that it's a buildup to a better month of growth. Don't wait until September to post regularly. Instead use it as a way to showcase what you've been lowkey doing all along. I guess you could look at September as your marketing blitz/hard launch.
Thank you for the insight, that's convincing me to keep posting as I am actually sorry to wait until September to post again, and I already have some posts ready. I post twice a month, once at the beginning of the month and once at the end of it, so I guess it's quite a nice cadence, and that would make my Archives a little more furnished.
This is really great advice. I had a big uptick when I launched in April and through May, but it's been more of a grind the past few months. This makes a ton of sense.
Yeah, my last issue I asked for a little "nudge" from my readers because there is a noticeable slowdown in July. It worked, but just helped me move through the mud a little bit.
It's better to subscribe in moderation if you can control the initial enthusiasm to subscribe to too many. I do wish there was a page to save Subs so you aren't subscribing to an overwhelming number but still have a place to remember the ones you came across. Having it here vs. bookmarks would work better I think.
I would love to better understand how people decide what they follow and what they don't. I too wish I could follow all my interests but can't. So how do you decide?
It's pretty much the same as prioritizing anything else in our lives. You have to be more demanding when choosing which things you MUST have in your life vs. the things you'd LIKE to have in your life vs. the things that would be nice, but oh well........
I subscribed to the first few that I found interesting. There are many excellent subs I have come across but I don't have the time (sadly). I really wish I had more time but life problems. The rest I read from time to time when I remember to do it.
This is a challenge but true. I want to be a contributor to the community of the newsletters I subscribe to. I may not get a chance to read every single post but if I am a subscriber it means I will make every effort to read and engage.
Too little time, too much (reading) content! I hear you Matt! I have been struggling to understand how people find time to read (and comment!) on so many posts ...
Any thoughts on how to get honest feedback? I feel like I'm sometimes plowing forward with my blinders on and would produce higher quality if I could be more systematic about getting and incorporating feedback.
I loved your about page - it tell us a lot about you but I would reorder things a bit. You almost lost me at the top. Then I kept reading and saw this : Since then, I’ve become obsessed with figuring out the secret to living a never-boring, always improving life and sharing my findings and experiences. That needs to move up so that the reader immediately understands what your sub is about.
It says The Zag when I get to the About Page but above it says Consider this?
Couple of other thoughts - adding that line to the top of every post maybe in a more concise way so anyone new that comes to your page and reads a post immediately understands what your Sub is about. Because it seems like you cover a variety of themes?
I'm low key :) I like your posts I read some of them. They are personal, flow well and you have some thoughtful life advice. Will read some more of them over the weekend and will share if I have thoughts. Have a nice weekend.
Appreciate the offer, RenoQueen. I wish I could reciprocate, but my feedback on your reno and interior design content would be as useless as me asking my 2-yr-old for his input on ingredients for the salad I have to bring to a potluck tomorrow.
Yeah! I think finding someone or a group of someone’s to share work with is invaluable.
The ability to create a space for honest and open feedback (wether it’s a weekly zoom call, or a local, in person workshop) does wonders for what you write. (At least it has for me.)
The hardest part (and it is hard) is finding that group.
Substack! There’s just a few of us, but we meet weekly.
That’s what’s great about this platform: if you read, comment, and support another writer or writers, you’ll naturally build relationships with people you never might have otherwise.
This is so true. Posting 2x per week consistently has gone a long way for me to not only find my voice, but to keep my audience engaged and slowly growing!
🧠 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.
I love this -- this is something I've wanted to do! I've plugged myself on podcasts and even news appearances (shamelessly) as I've been getting press talking mental health. But I'd love to do more of this kind of in person talks.
Very inspirational! Becoming a speaker is a very organic way to grow your writing. Love it.
Becoming an engaging speaker, with a valuable message. There are many "speakers" out there who should not be speaking until they figure out what they have to say.
In a similar vein, I have recently been doing large community polls to gather data to use in upcoming stories. At the end of the survey, I ask participants if they’d like to subscribe too. I’ve had a pretty solid 30% opt in rate
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?
Definitely depends on your comfort level there! I'm not sure if there's a way to adjust the visibility of your posts to certain people or not, but something to look into if you otherwise think LinkedIn is a good option
Yeah totally :) . And the A. humble bragging or B. outright bragging on LinkedIn drives me crazy. Yes, I understand it's a place to be a salesperson, but I guess I choose not to engage haha.
Oh that's interesting! I still have this image of LinkedIn as a place where everyone shares their company's sustainability agenda and recently aquired certificates/qualifications. Maybe that's because of my corporate background :D
Is your community on LinkedIn into the topics your cover o your Substack?
I'm a creative so I have a wide range of connections that don't all fit into one niche. Lots are people I've met only once or twice, and they're interested in seeing what I'm up to. It's a more fun platform than I would have expected, because there's way less pressure than say, running a FB group or hopping on Instagram.
Cole, I'll disagree only to say that the message I keep getting from Substack and the way it makes publishing content so easy is that YOU are the company, and each of your substacks are publications of your company. The advantage to Substack is that readers subscribe to YOU, not a particular piece of content. I don't know if others share my interpretation of Substack's intention, but I'd love to hear from anyone who does or doesn't. I think this ends up being an important issue.
Definitely a lot more than that... just depends on who your connections are and how you explore. It's algorithm driven like most other platforms so you have to train that AI dragon :)
I just started yesterday, and Linkedin is where most of my visits come from. I decided to focus on that social media because this is where I got the most followers and people are actually interested in what you do. Prior to starting the newsletter, I posted consistently there to build and consolidate my audience and it seems to pay off. I started a newsletter there to tease my Substack content there (I shared the entire post there, but that'll be the only time I will do so) and my Linkedin newsletter already has 56 followers, and some of them came from the platform and subscribed here on Substack.
Yeah, depending on what your content is, LinkedIn can be great! I post there about milestones for my podcast, but I don't share everything I publish there because it can get exhausting.
I'm not too intense on my promotions, I'll just post and share when I have something to share from my Substack. It's a supportive community and is less of a time suck (and thus less draining) than other social media, I've found.
+1 on LinkedIn; if you use a non-promotional, non-hype voice, and use keywords and links to other people, you will be noticed by those interested in your topic space.
You can actually create a page for your substack as its own business, separate from you. Then you can claim yourself as an employee of the business on your personal profile. It will show up with a logo and everything.
Next ask yourself how you're going to get users to your page. This is a very important step many people leave out. If you're going to construct a page, you have to have a strategy for bringing traffic to it. I've found posting on groups to be much more effective. Get the message out where the readers already are.
Post links to specific articles on your substack. You'll want to say something terse but impactful to catch the attention of potential readers so they'll stop and click your link. Also, you'll want to repost to as many groups as you can find who will appreciate your content.
Sounds like reasonable advice but am curious: have you actually found good signal/noise ratio in LinkedIn groups? I've poked around on and off over the years and rarely found much quality activity. Maybe just the wrong groups...
I've struggled to get any engagement from LinkedIn, which is strange to me because one of the reasons I started writing a Substack was because my LinkedIn posts/comments on the same topics generated lots of views. I've tried switching days/times, I use tags -- the whole deal. No idea why its not generating much traction for me.
Engaging in the substack community has been a great way for me! Subscribe to others in your niche, comment, share, and connect with other writers. Lots of wonderful people here who’d love to help out, collab, and grow together.
Same here--upswing on launch became a trickle. I’m assuming that’s typical. I’ve also been told to expect a fluctuation over time. A couple points of advice I’ve received that make a lot sense center on collaboration and engagement. Cross-posting and finding someone with similar subscriber-ships to host or vice versa is a goal I’m working toward. Good luck! :)
Hi Holly! Those are all great ideas -- cross-posting, similar readerships etc. I think also focusing on the readers who are currently subscribed with you can help. Aka, how can you deepen the value your newsletter offers to them, how can you make it an even more incredible experience for them, in what ways can you make your newsletter something they want to talk about, share with their friends, etc. I hope this helps, but of course please ignore if it doesn't, lol.
That’s so true, Laura! That’s another area I’ve been focusing on for sure. This may seem paradoxical, but one aspect of that for me is writing toward a stranger reader. Of course, I want to make something for those who already know me / care about me. But for me writing to a friend as audience can lend toward a certain laziness (not sure if that’s the right word). Writing to a stranger helps me refocus away from me and in what can I do for the reader ... if that makes sense.
I can't share an image here, but my growth has always looked like that. Steady or nonexistent over time, with a few huge bumps. It's hard to predict what pieces will take off.
I will also say that there appears to be a milestone where you can eventually start indexing on search results. But as I understand it, you need to have a massive amount of content published for that to start happening.
Hm, interesting! I thought correct SEO was more important than the number of posts you have on your Substack. And that generally Substack aleady has a reputation in search engines as it is.
I'm not an SEO expert or anything, but in my research I kept seeing a figure of 100,000 words published to start marking you as more of an established source.
I also have a custom domain. I'm not sure if that impacts SEO, but it DOES impact throttling on other websites. Some sites like twitter and reddit actually block or flag links that have a .substack extension.
LinkedIn can be valuable as long as you identify groups for whom your content will be relevant and engaging. Without posting to groups you'll find yourself only posting to those people who have already connected with you. Similar to hashtags in Twitter, except they're on a viable, valuable network, not a junkpile. Depending on your topic the same is true for Facebook, but you'll have to contend with more kitten competition.
Very helpful, thanks, Howard. LinkedIn keeps suggesting groups for me to join and add my content to - I wasn't sure how authentic it was (vs LinkedIn internal marketing)...
I use Threads, Instagram, and TikTok to promote. TT the most sparingly, since it also punishes outbound links, but ever since Instagram stories gained the link stickers for everyone, it's been a good source of promotion. Threads I'm still experimenting with, but it seems like a much calmer version of Twitter so far. Almost like the old Tumblr--almost.
Hi Valorie! Are you promoting on Instagram among your followers? Because I have only friends and acquaintances following me there and who wanted to subscribe to my Substack has already done so. Unless I create a viral reel about one of my essays, I don't see how Instagram can help. Curious to hear how you have harnessed its power!
I have a lot of instagram followers who aren't friends and family, so that's part of it. But you never know--your friends and family may not have seen a post about your 'stack, or may not have had the bandwidth the last time you posted. Just because you have a small audience doesn't mean you have to stop using it!
You could also take out an instagram ad to get in front of new people. They're relatively low-cost. I haven't done this in a long time, but there are people on instagram who are interested in long-form content, so it might be worth it. You just have to know what audience you're going after and create very specific ad settings.
Instagram ads intimidated me the last time I thought about them :D I reckon it will be a good exercise though, so I'll keep them on my radar of options. Thank you for bringing them up, Valorie!
I haven't seen much success from Instagram. Instagram seems to have a very different set of audience than substack. But if you already have a big following there, then it might be worth your effort to promote there.
I get a lot from recommendations, and I get recommendations mostly from subscribing and promoting other substacks. I also listed my work on several of the directories for Substack, which helps.
Katie, a stroll through On Substack showed me that you guys have built tools for almost everything I can think of. Not everything is going to work for everybody, but your content on developing and promoting content provide an excellent foundation for anyone's strategy. Thanks for that!
🧠 - 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.
Yes! A very overlooked way to grow and also be a part of this awesome community. If you subscribe to a ton of newsletters in your niche, you can comment, share, and contribute which will raise your profile and have readers coming to check you out, too.
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!
I’d say don’t over think it. You don’t need to hire a designer or creative agency to make you stand out. Canva is a great place to start, but also there’s a lot of effectiveness in simple.
Sometimes I like to visualize my concepts and make little comics, but I’m far from an artist. So I draw it anyways! Check out my page for terrible stick figure drawings, but I find they actually increase engagement and people appreciate the authenticity. Adds a little humour and sets the tone for how my newsletter is going to be.
A lot of people forget this but you don't always need images and you can do a lot with typefaces too. Find a good typeface and make bold headers for your text and that can work magic sometimes. A friend of mine runs this site and it's great for inspiration > https://fontsinuse.com
All of that really doesn't matter as long as the writing is good. Some of the most successful Substacks have no branding/visuals at all. I personally like it and it makes me happy. I hired someone to do my logo a couple of years ago. I was initially going to do something else with it but I found it was perfect for my Substack so I repurposed it.
The Author Stack by Russell Nohelty is a great place to to start and he gives great resources on where to get branding/logos.
For my first substack, I wrote a lot about climbing in the mountains. Most of the pictures I took actually wound up having the same color palette. So I went into GIMP (free, open source photo shop) and create a color scheme for my substack using one of my favorite pictures.
When I expanded into fiction (literally started today) I did something similar, using complimentary colors. It looks very different from the mountaineering publication, but still has a kind of earthy feel.
Yes, thank you! I launched Cole's Chapters officially, as of today. I had a couple long time subscribers ask me if I ever wrote fiction. I'm sitting on a massive stockpile of it like a dragon's hoard. I'm going to start trying to do more with it!
I used Canva for both of my Substacks and have set design palettes that I use for each one. They each have recurring visual motifs that I keep in one large Canva file and pull from whenever I need to design something new. But to make it as low-impact as possible for myself, I designed a podcast episode cover and with every episode I just switch out the name and episode number on it. Takes 4 seconds. You can see one here: https://unrulyfigures.substack.com/p/episode-30-sarah-bernhardt#details
I think the key is to pick a few colors you like that work for your subject, an image or two that can act as a symbol and calling card, then go from there. With Unruly Figures, the head in my logo gets reused a lot, and now I even use with without the words "Unruly Figures." People who know my brand know what it means.
Branding is key, but Substack seems to only now be starting to provide devices to help us do that. I've seen some On Substack articles that show how some of the more visually-oriented writers have cleverly worked their way around the devices that are there to create an attractive look and feel.
Don't underestimate the importance of marketing and branding. People will tell you that all you need to do is write great content, but that is just wishful thinking. The writing itself does nothing until you get readers to read it. You need to invest as much energy in that as you do in making your content great.
Canva is awesome. Worth th $12 a month for the pro features (IMO). It can be a little overwhelming, but there is a huge library of fonts, images, graphics, etc.
Joe, depends on what you're writing about. If the substance/topic are inherently visual or sensual in nature, you'd want your publication to reflect that, more so than if your topics were not as visual or sense-related. For example, food and art vs. technology
This is not a full package of identity and branding, you still need to decide on colours, fonts, etc. But I believe it's a good framework to start with. Later on, I personally plan to hire a designer to make something unique for my publication.
You may find everything you are looking for here in this free package https://thesoiree.substack.com/p/the-substack-bundle. Sara & Keeley (it's not letting me tag them today) recently released this and it's amazing. I am looking forward to diving in.
🧠 - 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.
Definitely needed to hear this! I was asking chatgpt how to emotionally cope with 2 subscribers 😂 I think the slow growth is helpful for getting back to the old school way of writing for the sake of writing. Ughhh!!! 😒
Omg!!! In my best Snoop Dogg voice “I’d like to thank me for believing in me, I’d like to thank me for doing all this hard work and trying to give more than I receive” thanks so much! 🥳 yay!
🧠 - 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.
Thanks! Reworking all the bits and pieces seems to be part of the process ... I'm starting to think of it like editing a draft ... the more I edit, the clearer I get about what I'm trying to say.
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.
Thanks to all of you at Substack who have made this a year of growth and learning. I'm so impressed with what you're doing, I bought $100 in stock! Spend it wisely, please. ;-)
✏️ 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?
Depending on what your writing goals/plans are, I recommend building up a small back log of posts that you can schedule out an publish for a few weeks while you write your next ones. That way you're never under pressure to produce and publish on the same day. If you're going to post a few different types of posts (essays + discussion threads, or something) I recommend doing an example of each so people checking your 'stack out for the first time can figure out what you're about.
This is good advice. I would say however, I personally never backlog more than a month out. If you have too big a backlog, it makes it harder to react to reader feedback in a timely manner. In the beginning especially, that time can often be better spent promoting your work.
E.g. 4 posts in the bank with 50 subscribers is better than 8 posts in the bank with 10. Readers enjoying your work and sharing it is a HUGE source of growth.
Yes, good point! Definitely your work to opportunity cost ratio has to be considered. Also--you never know what's going to happen on the internet in a month! If I schedule more than 2 weeks in advance (rare, I'm a procrastinator), I try to review a post the night before just to make sure that recent news isn't going to be an issue.
My best advice is just to jump in and put yourself out there! Every substack has different things that work for it, so the best way to learn for yourself is by experimenting and seeing what does or doesn't work for your style/audience.
Welcome and enjoy the journey. What I wish I had done at the very beginning of my journey would have been to get really clear about my strategy. I've just published a free Field Guide which goes into this more ... at gratitudemojo.
The number one tip I have for you is to not overlook your About page! Clearly mention what you publication is about, what subscribers can expect from you, and a bit about yourself. And keep updating this page as your publication evolves. All the best!
Other than the brilliant advice already mentioned, I recommend setting up your about page and also editing the email that goes out to people when they first sign up. They're nice touches that make the experience feel more personal :)
✏️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?
Substack is the first and only platform I've found that provides everything you need to turn your experience into great writing and put it in front of a waiting audience. Seriously. I've written for many advertisers, sponsors, and clients. Now I get to write for my readers. That's how it always should have been.
You did great! Always start as soon as possible, Patricia! This is the best Substack advice I got. I just signed up as well with my newsletter @marketingideas , even though I totally feel I could have waited more.
YES! This is the most generous, useful, friendly writing community I've come across. The learning curve can be a bit tricky so come back to Office Hours frequently. I blogged for 14 years and tried a lot of other options. I've been here for a year and am enchanted by the community and the platform. You might find this free field guide helpful: https://gratitudemojo.substack.com/p/substack-field-guide-1-66a
You sound like an awesome cheerleader. But I hate to put out stuff that isn’t first rate and inflict folks with more unimportant and trivial stuff…it’s a process to feel qualified to actually be heard. And no, I’m not a shrinking violet, but I respect other folks’ time and attention.
That's fair -- but I'd imagine just starting out you won't have much of an audience to disappoint, which makes it a great time to get your footing, find your voice, and figure out the platform.
🧠 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.
This is really good advice! I was using DALL-E to generate AI images for my posts, but started to hate how vapid it was feeling. I needed authenticity.
So I swapped that out with me doing my own (terrible) drawings of images on my posts, which feels much more.... me. I don't like this idea of using AI for art. Tried it, but made me feel queasy. I'd rather my own art (no matter how bad).
I've taken to doing some hybrids. Using Midjourney/DALL-E to make me images I need, then photoshopping my face or other ugliness around it to make it "my own."
The other thing you could do is either hire a real artist or, if that's not in the budget, see if you can find an artist who wants the credit for publication and do a trade of some kind (maybe you write their website for them)
Good ideas! I'm kinda liking my not-so-good art right now. It sets the tone for my publication which kinda leans into humor, and I use Substack as my place to be hyper-authentic. We'll see how it evolves. Maybe I'll get better :P
Glad it resonates Bryce. I'm in touch with a lot of artists and most are infuriated by what's going on. Not the tech per se but how it was trained, how it's being used, and what the AI companies are trying to do (monetize w/o consent or compensation). It's quite the rodeo right now in the art and entertainment worlds. There are better ways to do right by everyone.
And as you say, unless you spend a lot of time with it and do post processing, the raw images aren't that great, they tend to look and feel the same, and don't really reflect who you are or what you do.
It's a wild world, for sure. As a part time actor, I'm also following this SAG strike and watching how creatives are fighting tooth and nail against AI. It's wild. But you can't replace the heart of real, authentic creative.
Yes it's encouraging to see. I used to work in the film business (behind the camera) and wrote about the writers strike in Hollywood back in 2000. We can't let the execs just steamroll over us. Same in music and same in publishing.
Thank you. AI looks generic and often doesn't enhance the post. A amateur hand drawing is better than AI. Most people actually draw better than they think they do.
🧠 - 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!
I guess I struggle with knowing my audience on Notes and then I never end up posting. It does seem to be mostly writers, but is it? Or should I be 'noting' for readers?
My impression so far is that engagement is mostly writers on notes. That may change in the future I'd guess. But I think you'll notice a uptick in subscriptions when on Notes.
I think "small guy" authors make the most impact by being a "reply guy", which can be kind of annoying for the writer, but it's an effective strategy to engage with larger accounts.
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.
Another tip is to vary how your promote yourself. Don't be afraid to get creative and share multimedia assets, link to comments instead of posts, and whatever else you can think of. I think that sharing different things helps combat the feeling that you're sending post links out there over and over again.
I would put this on LinkedIn, if you're up for it! Since it has a professional-ish atmosphere, this kind of global rundowns would do well.
As for "feeling overbearing"--I'd just remember that everything on the internet has a really short half life. Your social media followers aren't seeing every single thing you post, so you can promote a couple times a day without bothering them.
Yeah, self-promotion can be a tough learning curve if your parents were really into humility (mine were).
I have used LinkedIn. My work isn't *as* professional as yours, so I don't post there often. I think you could honestly post every day. But I post when I hit milestones on the podcast.
I’ve been advised to always restack your own post to notes with a little teaser bit or new image. In theory, I think it’s a great tip. But few seem to be reading my notes or I need to figure out how to make them more engaging 🤣. (Not sure what the algorithm is in terms of who sees notes by whom.)
I think I only get a few people reading my Notes but it also has driven a handful of subscribers. It's almost more effective at driving subscribers than building a follower count.
Engage with the substack community and other writers in your niche. Comment, share, contribute. Get your name out there through being helpful and a great contributor to the broader community and it will go a long way.
Start by examining that feeling of being overbearing. If you truly believe your content has value for your readers, then own it and take pride in it. You're writing to help others. Your writing can't help anyone until they read it, so you're providing a service in promoting your content. Be proud, writer. Be proud! :)
Here's one. I think we have a lot of crossover https://kevinmcsa6.substack.com/ , I'll subscribe now, and hope for a subscribe back :P . Then hopefully it allows both of us to connect more with the geopolitics crowd.
I did this last week and we've both been able to use recommendations to add a few subscribers and he's going to write a little blurb for a future issue. So it does add value.
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.
Keeping it fun is so important. When I try and figure out what to write about... I try to go back to "what would be a fun thing to share?" and then I let the nonsense take over and just, write.
✏️ 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 😒
Keep talking to yourself! But also, find other writers in your niche and contribute to their newsletters. It'll go a long way and if you engage with others, others will be more willing to engage with you!
Maybe try talking to your friends about the stuff you want to write about? See where that conversation goes. Your friends will want to steer the conversation in a way that engages them. Use that to guide what you write about.
Are they reading though? Lots of readers just don't engage but they consume. Most people lurk. I have 10,000 readers every weeks for each of my three posts and a small fraction engage.
well, I think you are building the wrong audience then. I looked at your publication and your page could use some branding help to signal to the wrong people. I wrote a big article on that this week. https://authorstack.substack.com/p/worldclasssubstack
🧠 - 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.
yes, writers are really the most ideal readers, and everyone deserves a handful of good ones which I'm sure everyone can find right here under their nose if they are kind and generous with being a good neighbor and not just PRing.
Exactly! A lot of people are so quick to just shout their newsletters from the rooftops without contributing or engaging with the community. Prop up everyone else! Don't worry about yourself, do good work, write what you like, but really try to help others succeed can go a long way on this platform.
✏️ 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?
My advice is don't focus on customizing the appearance. The quality of your content, a consistent publishing schedule, and reading and commenting on other people's newsletters and Notes is WAY more important if you want more subscribers.
that's fair, though customization is once (and conceivably outsourcable) whereas writing regularly is ongoing. So I think improving the appearance of my substack so that it doesn't look like a 2008 blogspot might be a good move
I will read your article and subscribe. I was writing mostly long form posts, but now am trying our shorter articles, or breaking longer ones into parts hoping to better engage with my readers and not to overwhelm with too much information.
It is something you should consciously make time for, but don't kill yourself over it. My Substack has had a few different themes at this point, and I have gotten better at the process from changing it up. As you keep writing you will discover more about how you want things to look.
It doesn't take long at all! And definitely worth it. Others have shared getting help from https://substack.com/@thesubstacksoiree ! they have some easy templates to help you customize. Not sure if someone has already mentioned this.
I used the "set it and forget it" approach. The colors, branding--all of that has been the same basically since day one. The only thing that changes is each post's cover photo, which only takes a few minutes. Each photo is either related to that post, or is a default template I use for all of my podcast episodes.
You can definitely build an entire audience for free on here. Just never toggle on "paid". It's still a great platform with an awesome community to host your work.
Hey, Jeff! Welcome to the party!!! I think you're misreading the focus only because the people who speak up are mainly those figuring out how to get paid. For myself, my plan is to continue to offer biztechjournal.substack.com content for free, but invite readers to support the work and enable me to expand to include more sources, writers, etc. I want the content to earn its living, not my ability to market and sell it.
I just came home from Long Island where we were babysittting. Will definitely reach out next time. Meanwhile, how ARE you??
I get what you're saying, however i don't want to scare potential subscribers away because it looks like they are being hit up to take out their credit card.
🟧 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
Hi Laura! I also recently joined Substack! It’s very cool that you are a bilingual writer! My Substack is written in English, but I know Spanish and I’m looking forward to checking out your page.
I know there's a way you can set up a separate section for your Spanish content and your Spanish reader and select to only receive new posts from your Spanish section!
✏️- 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!
Engage within the substack network! There's millions of folks right here on this platform who are already engaging with newsletters like your own. My advice is to subscribe to a bunch of newsletters in your niche that you like and to comment, share, contribute and be a part of their communities. This will get your name out there and you'll give yourself a chance to build connections on here that can help you grow!
I get a lot from just subscribing, commenting, and posting. I subscribe to over 260 publications, though. I also wrote a really long 15,000 word post about creating a world class publication this week that I think is a really important part for discoverability.
How interesting, you just had me counting on my fingers how many months I'm at, and ta-dah I guess it's my six month rookie wall. Add to that the unfortunate timing of Summer Slump where readership wanders off in general. My steady trickle of engagement and new subscribers feels like it has definitely plateaued. But I know it's temporary and it'll get back on track. Just keep at it. It is draining when you feel like every new one won requires sooo much effort. I like this somewhat passive way - listing your Substack in these directories can yield a few regular hits.. I compiled a list: https://sleepyhollowink.substack.com/p/newsletter-listings
🟧 - 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 would send them an email from Mailchimp in advance to tell them that the move is happening. Encourage them to mark the new substack email address as "not promotions" (or whatever the setting is in gmail). Then for the first month or so, I would still send Mailchimp emails to say "Did you miss this on Substack?" with links to the new posts. Tell them that if they missed it, it's because the Substack emails are going to promotions/spam.
Send your last couple of emails from mailchimp and tell your audience that you are moving and how Substack works. For example, if they use a gmail address it will sometimes cut off the bottom of the post so will be best viewed on the app or website.
Then on your last mailchimp post let them know the next one will be coming from Substack and they should check their spam folder if they don't hear from you. Give the reader the responsiblity for checking their spam folder because if they really like your work they will do so.
I found all of my readers I brought over to Substack stuck around but I am working to educate them on how it all works, the app, the website etc.
I recently sent an email out to those folks explaining Substack to them. When I sent this I had already been publishing from here for a few months. I didn't fully publish this post, only sent it via email. You can see it here if you're interested.
🟧 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.
Katie, gmail is sending most every substack.com email to Promos as DrLaura Markham has been experiencing. Is there anything your tech guys can do with SPF or DKID records to improve upon this??
🟧 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.
The best strategy I've found is to use the timestamps for the posts you're interested in. Those timestamps are bookmarks to individual comments. If you click the timestamp for any comment, you go to a page with just that comment and its replies. It's much more stable for reading, replying, and going back to at a later time.
The chaos here is a frequent topic ... however, I have found it has made all the difference in my year on Substack. I devote two hours a week to being here and have had many questions answered, sometimes get to answer a few, gained subscribers ... maybe even as many as I've subscribed to. ;-) Here's my new ... free ...Substack Field Guide https://gratitudemojo.substack.com/p/substack-field-guide-1-66a
✏️ 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.
What I've noticed over 6 months is there's definitely a core group that are engaged and there are also a few new ones that comment when a post resonates..
Glad to know I am not the only one, Bryce! I definitely agree, I can't get too discouraged and need to keep creating, even if it is quiet here in the beginning months (or even years). I truly believe commitment to the craft goes above all, whether you're getting the results you think you "should" get or not. I just know one thing for sure and it is that I am happier when I keep creating.
Marcy, you might try reaching out to a few friends and encourage them to comment. One of my editors did that with all his writers and we supported each other with comments. It acted like a piano bar "tip jar" where the piano player puts a few dollars into the jar and others see those dollars and feel more like they should add to it because others have.
I love that--a "tip jar" is a good way to describe it! Until recently, I didn't have many writer friends actively writing on Substack, but that is beginning to change. I will approach the ones I know who just got on here themselves and form a little support network. Thank you!
One role model I use is ... Office Hours. They know how to do engagement ... one small suggestion at the beginning of each week produces a FLOOD of response. A lot of us never miss Office Hours because we learn so much and meet so many fascinating people. My next experiment is to comment on my own posts with something that I think might prompt additional responses.
Excellent question, Marcy, and one I've been asking myself for the year I've been here. For me, it's been an experiment in asking engaging questions, telling a story that prompts responses, using polls ... and responding personally to every comment. So far, I haven't found the magic bullet ... and it does relate to numbers. However, as my numbers grow, I want to understand better what engages my audience.
Thank you for sharing, Joyce! Yeah, I figured that with a small audience it will be harder, so hopefully in growing my community, it will improve, and I'll be better able to see what resonates with people. I've even told people to just hit reply on the email (I was encouraging this before I was on Substack too), to see if responding privately would help. That sometimes works. It's just good to know you're not talking into a void sometimes, haha.
✏️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.
Most people won't convert to a new platform. You should definitely be trying to utilize the recommendation and organic search engines as they are great for finding substack reader who are already here.
✏️ - 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?
Do you have a call to action in your posts? I find that helps. I've been ending my pieces asking people to like, comment and share, and I've noticed a minor uptick.
Other than that -- are you commenting on other substacks? That's a good way to drive engagement to your own pub and have others engage with you, as well.
I did "call to action" a few times and it made no difference so I stopped doing it. I don't want my readers to feel that I am imposing rules on them.
I did find commenting on other substacks help. The issue here is time commitment - as I commented, I find there is so much to read and interact, but so little time to do everything, especially when I am trying to commit to writing every day and posting every week (I am new to writing btw). Thanks for your suggestions Bryce!
Yes and I believe that is one of the main purposes. I also find it uplifting when you can be your own "editor" and accept your own submission :). However, I am facing a big dilemma: being a new writer, I want my writings to be published elsewhere too. But most if not all publications require first right of publish and your own Substack publication will invalidate your eligibility to submit your piece elsewhere. And most publications take weeks and months to get back to you. I worked very hard and spent a lot of time writing and polishing my 4000-word essay just to have it sit in other people's queues waiting for acceptance (fingers crossed!).
🟧 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!
Hi, Teddy ... restacking other people's posts with a note about why you like it or adding some bit of your own thoughts to it is a great practice. Gives your readers value and makes friends that could lead to collaborations or cross-posting. You might find value in my first, free Field Guide ... https://gratitudemojo.substack.com/p/substack-field-guide-1-66a
✏️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?
Hit up the explore page on Substack. I believe there's a "humor" tab you can follow and search. Lots of hilarious writers. I try sometimes to be funny on my pub (shameless).
Alex Dobrenko is my fav hilarious writer on here, if you're looking for someone I'd start there. Feel free to connect any time :)
🧠 Way to go, Amber! Love your Brief Description: For the unapologetically curious where intuition meets humor. Just subscribed and look forward to reading your work. IMHO though, the black background doesn't make me think humor is coming. You might find this free Field Guide useful https://gratitudemojo.substack.com/p/substack-field-guide-1-66a
Wow! This day just keeps getting better! I really appreciate the feedback. I’ll definitely update the background and thanks for subscribing! Whooo hoo!
✏️ 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.
You can definitely grow organically on Substack. I started in January with 0 and intentionally didn't import an email list and only teased it's launch once via an IG story. I've gained 75 subscribers so far, almost exclusively from the Substack network. (I could probably grow this much larger/faster by leveraging my existing social media connections but haven't to this point).
You can definitely grow here! I'd suggest being active on notes, potentially finding other writers to collaborate with, and commenting on / engaging with similar writers' work.
Don't think it'll ever be possible for those who read in their email inbox. Could likes and comments be a very rough indication for how many are reading through relative to your other posts?
I guess no measure is perfect cuz you wanted perfect read-through % you could make your posts 50 words long. I've seen some newsletters move this way, TikTokization of newsletters.
COMMENT: What I do not like is that this is abusive of readers. It is nobody's business what a reader's habits are. This really bothers me. If you do this, there should be a warning to readers that their readers that their reading habits, not just opening a post, is being monitored.
FWIW, I really can't think of any way to track the eye movements of readers to see if they reached the bottom of the text. I don't think you have anything to worry about.
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.
🟧 Is there a way to prevent private discussion threads from showing up on my homepage? I email private discussion threads to paid subscribers only, but they still show up as posts on my newsletter page. Since I use the magazine format, those threads become the huge featured ones in the middle and displace my regular weekly articles.
Thanks, Ari!
🟧Who can see my notes? What is the best way to utilize notes to grow my audience?
Your subscribers will see your notes if you put a header for it on your navigation bar. Only Substackers (writers and readers) will see your notes ... they do not go out by email. Took me a long time to recognize that difference. Basically, they are designed to engage with the Substack community and are a powerful way to make friends.
Are Notes indexed by Google?
Thank you Joyce! That makes sense. I'm struggling to figure out if it's worth my very limited time to engage in yet another platform. Is it worth it or just another distraction?
Hi Jennifer. I'll pop in there for Joyce. (Who, by the way, has just put out a Field Guide to help new Substackers).
For context: I've been on Substack for 2 years, first with Kindness Magnet, and just recently with a second Substack, After 21 Club.
I spend about 15 minutes a day on Notes. Some of the benefits (not necessarily in order) includes: providing helpful information for other writers; getting good ideas from other writers (think @Mike Sowden); sharing your thoughts on writing on Substack, or just on what's going on in your world. I have 'met' some great writers there and helped others with learning about Substack. I've also gotten a few new subscribers - although I don't approach Notes that way.
I limit myself to 15-20 minutes....and if I don't get on there for a day or so....no problem.
I guess I would ask you, what do you consider 'worth it'? It can definitely become a distraction. And it can definitely become a place to participate in a community of writers.
I hope that helps you. 💚
Thanks, Heather! Love your approach to Notes and I can lean toward letting it become a distraction.
And thank you for including Kindness Magnet in your Field Guide. I'm grateful and humbled.
Agreed!
Thank you Heather. Great question. My meaning of worth it is will anyone see it read it. Simple. So far my subscribers don’t seem interested and are unclear what it is. I’m 6 months in, and unknown writer, and want to gain readers. I’d like to think my work is worth reading. I’m getting good feedback from my subscribers but they too are very busy and distracted. I’m just not sure how Notes will add any value to mine or there experience.
I understand your concern. Most of us started out as unknowns, wanting to find 'our tribe'. When I first started using Notes, I published posts from my Substack on Notes. For the most part, that didn't resonate. It seemed self-promotional. Once I stopped doing that and, instead, started commenting on other's notes, and providing help where I could, my engagement improved.
Some things that helped me find more readers (and find my place in the Substack community): participate in the Thursday Office Hours, giving without expectation of receiving; Use the search feature on Substack to find others who write about your topics - read their posts and engage with them, subscribe if it makes sense; visit Notes - if there is a post that resonates with you, add your thoughts/ideas without trying to promote yourself (Notes shows what your publication is, so you don't need to advertise it).
I haven't explored Substack for your niche, but I'm guessing there are a number of others who are interested in meditation. If you recommend them, let them know. They will often reciprocate. (I will sometimes recommend other Substack writers in my posts, or mention them in Office Hours, or in Notes. )
It has taken me 1.5 years to gain 700+ subscribers for Kindness Magnet. I've just started a 2nd Substack, After 21 Club and have about 30 subscribers in the first month. I didn't bring an audience with me to Substack for either one. When I get a new subscriber, I rejoice. When someone 'quits', I'm a little sad. But I keep writing because I love it and I've met some amazing people.
Sorry if this seems long winded. If Notes doesn't give you a good feeling, it's not going to be the end of the world. But it is a good place to be seen and heard....as well as meet other good writers. 💚
🟧. For complicated (and boring) reasons, I had to sign up to Substack as a visitor on my mobile phone. I have a Substack app there. I was a bit surprised to see that my Notes turned up on the app. I thought they were only for readers of Notes (ie mainly Substack writers) and not for casual subscribers to the App. Could someone explain this a bit more fully, because it will affect my willingness to contribute to Notes.
Substack people - I was genuinely hoping to get an answer to this. If what I write on Notes is going to any of my subscribers who looks at the app, it will affect what I will write there. THIS IS IMPORTANT. We need to know who we are communicating with.
QUESTION: (I am not seeing how to select Emojis.) How can i set up a means of support/donations for my writing that does not involve divulging my geographic location or street address?
You can go into stripe after creating your account, switch to private, and delete the information on your address.
Thanks Mr. Noble. But I want to write public articles. I am not quite that I follow.
Sorry I may have explained that too simply. You do not need to give an address to have a Substack, you are allowed to use the Substack HQ in California as default.
To accept payment, you need to create a stripe account. This will require you to put in your actual mailing address.
Once you have finished setting up your stripe account, you can go into account settings and set your personal information to private, then delete your address. This means that when a subscribers credit card is charged, they won’t see your address in their transactions. This does not impact your ability to publish publicly, it only keeps your address private
Hope this helps
Okay. I will try. Thank you for the thorough explanation. I will have to see in practice how this "deleting" step works --- that leaves me feel uncomfortable..
It seems like an odd work around. Stripe should have an explicit window or box for entering my bank account and, only if I desire, again in a separate box, if I want my address to be posted on the donator's credit card (or whatever) receipt.
I suspect you can't just put in a bank account for fraud requirements. PO Box is the same issue.
I agree it felt uncomfortable to fill out. If you want to be doubly safe you could always open a PO box for setup, then ditch it when it’s no longer needed
well explained thank you!
(I only learnt this recently, but if you're on PC you can press "Windows Key + ." to bring up the emoji tool.)
Thank you, Mr. Slake. Perhaps you have created a monster. Although, I cannot get it to work here.
Hmm, strange. Are you on Chrome? Maybe it's a Chrome thing. No "+", if that's the issue. I just meant the windows key and the full stop key at the same time.
Aha. On my machine it is "Windows key" plus the "." [Period] 👌 Thank you, again.
It is sad that the emoji selections have become so childish. I also notice that the selections are politically tendentious and censoring, even compared to the early emojis, or as we called them then, 'emoticons'.
QUESTION: Okay, Thanks! So how do I come up with something other than "Stripe" and fuse it into my Payment system on Substack?
I see. Perhaps you can give Stripe some feedback. Someone else commented similarly. Here is part of what I sent him:
"It seems like an odd work around. Stripe should have an explicit window or box for entering my bank account and, only if I desire, again in a separate box, if I want my address to be posted on the donator's credit card (or whatever) receipt."
That lets me out, mais c'est la vie!
🟧 Namaste. Is there a way to merge our quarterly newsletter including the original likes and dates posted (https://bviscs.substack.com/) to our main blog (https://spiritualscience.substack.com/)?
QUESTION: How can can comments easily be saved --- even better toggle-selectably saved?
✏️ I can see that I can copy my comment and perhaps put it in a Substack article, but this clutters up my main articles. When "Notes" is an option, I send original comments there. But I notice that a selectable "Notes" box is not always provided on all comments. Am I missing something?
QUESTION: Hi Katie, I am not sure what you mean by "clicking the timestamp." I want to post my comments for all future readers at my site to see my comments. I notice that if no one replies to my comment, that it does not even appear in my notifications. Plus, I cannot even find my subsequent comments since there is no option to send subsequent comments to "Notes." Thanks!
✏️ Hey there, I’m Quentin, and I own eli5 (as in, “explain like I’m five”): https://explainlikeiamfive.substack.com/
I’m still navigating my way through Substack, and I could use the feedback from fellow writers to help me break past the 100 subscriber milestone. For example, do you find the content engaging? What could I improve? Do you have ideas of smaller publications I could collaborate with to grow my audience?
Thanks for your help and support!
I do too. Sorry but the Substack support team is sorely lacking. I have yet to get an answer to ANY question I have asked. It would be very helpful to talk to a real person on the phone. ...lot's of first timers like myself need help setting up their site....many quit because they get frustrated! SS would make more $$ if they offered better support.
I saw that as well, thanks for highlighting!
🧠 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.
This is all great stuff. Engaging with the substack community is very overlooked. There’s a ton of readers here and a lot of engagement -- the best way I’ve found is commenting, sharing, and supporting other writers in your niche.
Become a voice and be engaged, and that engagement will spillover to building out an audience of your own. Don’t be shy!
One of the things that has been clear to me since I started here a few months ago is that most everyone is enthusiastic about supporting the entire community, most especially the Substack folks. Working in the IT community over the past 40 years taught me that the most important things to build are a reputation for enthusiastically helping anyone who needs it, and visibility to alert others to your enthusiasm. This is alive, well, and vibrant here in the Substack community. The more good you do for more people, the more good finds its way back around to you!
I love this Howard, especially the visibly alert others to your enthusiasm. That makes me feel better about my frequent use of exclamation points!!
Keen observation and well said.
I dedicate about two hours per week to Office Hours. It is one of my main learning places and a chance for me to meet some of the most amazing writers. I generally wind up getting new subscribers ... sometimes as many as I've subscribed to. ;-) Office Hours can seem chaotic ... but don't miss it.
Highly agree! In the beginning Office Hours was a tremendous help. My first big jump in subscribers happened because I introduced myself here a couple of months back. And it’s a great learning environment. I missed it when it happened every week, and now the schedule is a little wonky, but hopefully things will get back on track soon.
I love reading through the office hours comments - and following through to see people's substacks. Definitely a tool for discovery.
I just stumbled across it and within minutes has been helpful! Thanks for sharing your experience.:)
I agree. I've been making it a point to show up (as you can tell :P), as well. So much action and engagement here with awesome writers.
Very much agree. Find writers you like and engage with them and their readers in the comments. Meangingful, genuine engagement of course. It doesn't take long to start to build lovely connections that way and grow organically.
oh my gosh, we said very similar things in this comment. I love that you went from 0-200 in the last 7 months, which is similar to my growth and it makes me feel quite OK with it. There's something special knowing that I'm on a similar growth path to a peer.
FYI my first 100 subscribers took 5 months. the second 100 took 2. Then I published a piece that went viral in the outdoor community and got 100 subscribers in a week. The first 100 is the hardest.
“The first 100 is the hardest.” I feel seen 🙌 Thank you.
Yes! This has been exactly my experience. The first 100 took about 5 months, and at 7 months I reached 200. God bless I reach my goal of 500 by the end of the year!
Onward!
Staying on your path and having fun. Two important keys to success on this adventure.
Yeah the change in subs numbers is a weird thing. It can stall and then leap, and then drop and then climb again. It has a mind of its own.
The most demoralising is when you post and someone immediately unsubs. That's happened to me a fair few times 🙃📈📉
I feel like these are common experiences for those of us who did not come in with a built audience and are not social media influencers (so a place like IG is not that great at driving subs).
Yes! I actually went back on IG to start spreading the word about my work and i was reminded all over again why I left. I still share my content there but I don’t spend time there and much rather it be on this platform.
I gradually find myself drifting away from other social media ... it's so much more fun to spend time here, reading and hanging out with fascinating writers.
I share my posts there because it's free, so why not. But I think it's only generated like 3 subscriptions haha
0-200 is awesome growth! Subscribers are not like social media followers, these are people who give their personal emails to hear from you.
That’s right, and great to hear. I think we all need a reminder of this fact every so often!
Yeah! It is. I feel the same. I’m glad to hear things are working out just fine. Cheers, Stephanie!
Sorry, Andrei to bother you, but somehow your msg. got cut off and mysteriously disappeared as I read about your being Romanian and the interesting story of your background was beginning! Perhaps I touched the screen mistakenly. Could you please resend it to me??
Thank you.
✍ I have tried writing comments on the posts of other writers and I can confirm that I got over 100 subscribers in a week. This made me pivot the same strategy over and over. But, sometimes, no matter how awkward it is, ask some of them to subscribe to your newsletter-don't fear (some might be willing to be your new readers). However, I haven't tried guest posting and I would like an established writer to invite me to write guest posts on issues ranging from technology, underserved communities, African socio-economy, politics, culture, and anything that you think I might cross post. Check my newsletter. See you in your newsletter as we collaborate. 📰
One of the best things I ever saw an editor do was to encourage all his writers to comment on each other's articles in his publications. It acted like a piano bar player sticking a few dollars in their own tip jar. Others were encouraged to do the same. One of the most important things we can all do for each other is to develop a culture of commenting on each other's substacks. Comments equal engagement, and engagement is everything.
🧠 Also, as far as I am concerned, the whole point of writing is to have a conversation. I do not think of it as just spewing out my ideas as if they are some glorious ideas for all to admire and fawn over. And the main point, for me, is not somehow tricking people into visiting or commenting, like having a few dummy cars sitting in the restaurant lot to make it look visited. Few things are more irritating that streams of "Oh, thank you," "God bless you" and "you are our savior" comments when some notable figure blurts out even unimaginative drivel. This is nothing but fan worship. I do not want their money. Taking their money would be abuse.
Comments attract engagement and engagement attracts readers to think and contribute-and finally subscribe. I like your reply 👏
I like this analogy to magazine publications, Howard (cf The New Yorker, The Economist, etc.). Had been thinking about the curation / editor angle, not so much the inter-author dynamics. Very cool.
Edwin ... would love a guest post if you have a connection to gratitude. Or, anything to do with your adventure here on Substack. I am doing a monthly Field Guide about the Substack journey. Check it out here: https://gratitudemojo.substack.com/p/substack-field-guide-1-66a
Sure. I am happy about this offer and I have gladly accepted. I will check your newsletter and pick my spot. Thank you 🤝
Tag @katie@substack. She will help you
Tag on your Notes or @substack writers newsletter
Thank you for this advise. Your last line is art.
Appreciate it! I’m pretty proud of that one, to be honest.
I've been trying to figure out the feel of notes, but wasn't too sure of it. Thank you for sharing this. Great tips!
Yes, I definitely feel like my notes go into the ether, but I like to comment on others.
haha same here. I go into and deep dive, but then find myself unsure on what to post- eventually adhd kicks in and I work on another draft 😅
I’m right there in the ether with you!
All great advice. Certainly the first 100 was the hardest for me - took 15 months, but that was before Substack had recommendations, Notes etc and they've made a real difference. Your last point is crucial. I wouldn't be doing this if I didn't enjoy it.
I’m so glad to hear you stuck with it. 15 months seems like a long time, but in retrospect, I suspect it went by pretty quickly. I’m very satisfied with my growth, and I don’t just mean in terms of subscribers, but also in terms of my skill as a writer. Publishing according to a consistent schedule has improved my writing tremendously. I’ve learned lots of lessons about my process.
It felt like writing into the void for a long time, and was a bit demoralising. But I also wanted to be writing the things I was writing, so that kept me going. The effort of publishing consistently certainly improved my skills and I don't think my effort was wasted.
Terrific advice! One thing that helped me is tagging other Substacks in my newsletters.
I love this too. It builds community, helps the other author grow and gives my readers a new writer or perspective to check out.
Yes! Also, just subscribed to your account. You had me at middle age and well being. Similar themes to mine!
This is really great advice. I think especially your final point is so very important--having fun is an absolute must in any venture, especially one that involves writing and community. Congratulations on your growth!!
Thank you!
Great advice, thank you!
🫶🏻🫶🏻🫶🏻
LOVE, love, love, "The agonizing writer is so last century." Thanks for this good advice, Andrei.
How do I save this amazing information ‼️
I don't know if you use Scrivener but I find it a life saver and store bits and pieces from Notes there.
I’m glad it helps! 🫶🏻🫶🏻🫶🏻 Pro tip: Just screenshot it. I’ve got a bunch of Notes and comments in my photo library, and keep telling myself to make a folder just for them.
Thanks for this list! I’ve just started Substack and this is very helpful to me! I’m definitely here to build community so I’m not only excited to build my own list but also to find other Substacks.
Some great tips here, Andrei. Thanks for sharing and congrats on your growth so far!
Thank you so much, Michael! I’m glad I could be of some help.
Thank you for these advices 😊
My pleasure, Jezz!
This is fantastic! Thanks for all the helpful info!❤️🔥
I’m glad it helped in some small way!
Excellent advice on all fronts, Andrei!
A wee bit (or more?) of additional discipline should block my habitual procrastination and put the pen to paper. There is so much to be addressed in this confused society...Ilka Avramov
(P.S. Are you, perchance, of BG extraction?)
I’m not Bulgarian, no, I’m actually Romanian, but my name is of Bulgarian origin. The story of how my family got this name is pretty funny, but suffice it to say we have zero relations with the original owners. It’s a pretty uncommon name here in Romania, too, which is cool.
My mother used to speak Vlah, which I guess is a Romanian dialect, but Romanian is a Romance language, unlike Bulgarian, which is Slavic.
Yep, Romanian has nothing to do with Bulgarian. It’s very closely related to Italian, though, to the point where we can understand Italian pretty much out of the box. Similarly with written French, although spoken French still gives us trouble without proper language education. But it’s pretty easy to learn for us, so many Romanians speak decent French.
Est-ce que vous habiter en Roumanie
maintenant?
(Peut-être a côté du château de Frankenstein?😊)
Oh, I forgot to mention. I’m not one of those Romanians who speak French 😂 I studied German in school. But using the ole Google, let me try to answer your question:
Oui, je vis en Roumanie, mais la seule chose qui ressemble à un château où je vis est Palatul Controceni, où vit le président.
🧠 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)
Hey Jenovia! Thanks for the great advice :)
What do you tend to look for when going to someone's About page? Have you found anything in the past that particularly stood out to you as special or unique?
A clear outline of what they write about and what I can expect as a subscriber. Also I love knowing about the author's life and who they are as a person. Information to connect the reader to the writer is always wonderful.
🧠 There are four items that telegraph who you are and what you write about ... Title of your Substack, your bio-profile (1 -2 sentences), the Brief Description of your Substack, and your About Page. All of these should be brief, friendly, and clear. The free Substack Field Guide #1 (available at gratitudemojo) gives you some best practice examples of these steps.
I am struggling witth my bio-profile! Currently keeping it short- 'mom and educator.' I feel like anything I think to put is either too serious or not informative enough!
This is one of the hardest things for us to do. I adopt the "write and live with it for awhile" approach. It also helps to read a lot of other bio-profiles and brief descriptions. That's one reason I created the free Substack Field Guide #1. You might find it helpful ... https://gratitudemojo.substack.com/p/substack-field-guide-1-66a
Thank you for this resource! As a 'newb' I appreciate all the help I can get to navigate this new landscape. I've subscribed and I look forward to learning.
Best wishes … this is a generous group of writers and Notes is a great place to ask for help if you need it. Have fun!
i know what a mom is and what a mom usually does... but unsure about educators... educators of the public through substack? teacher? maybe that the word that needs a bit expansion?
Great point, thank you!
Maybe briefly describe what sets you apart, both being a mom and an educator. Less is more but differentiation also is important.
The about page should give readers a feel for a few things:
1. What kind of content they can expect
2. What makes your publication unique
3. The kind of voice you have to offer as a writer
I have two substacks, these are my two about pages. I consider them to be decent:
fiction - https://www.coleschapters.com/about
nonfiction - https://www.colesclimb.com/about
Nice Start Here page, Cole. That makes it very clear and easy for a reader to see and get a feel and find their feet.
Thank you! I wish I’d done it with my other Substack. Starting fresh from scratch has given me very different ideas on how to lay it all out.
There's a great article from March 28 2022 in On Substack called "How to Reach and Engage Your Readers" which gives plentiful and excellent advice on how to approach creating an effective About page.
Thank you very much!
Austin, I use Leslie Stephens as a personal essayist example all the time. I'll link it if you want to check it out: https://www.morningpersonnewsletter.com/about
Redefining the about page is good advice. I need to go back today and fine tune.
A friend (not on Substack) advised me to edit my about page after my first newsletter. For some reason, I didn’t think readers cared.
Readers absolutely do care about your about page. That's one of the big places you can sell your image and value proposition. At the very least, not updating it shows readers that you didn't care enough to completely set up your site.
I second what Cole said!
Yes what Cole said!
I kind of came in with that notion, too, Brittany. It’s good to see all these reminders of its importance.
I felt the same way. I’m glad I came here and learned this.
Nothing could be further from the truth. In all situations, most people want to know what they're getting themselves into if they're going to invest their time in something.
I agree with Cole and others. The about page is something I ALWAYS read. I admit, though, it can be hard to write! (mine probably needs an update lol)
hey, just want you to know that Diana Butler Bass also has a substack named "The Cottage" and hers is based on actually having a cottage she writes in. She's an established writer (I have 2 of her books) and she's been at it a long time. This is not to discourage you, only to inform. While you love "the cottage vibe" maybe there is a different title that suits what you're doing? Something that you can brand specifically to you? At least, it's something to think about now while you're only 5 months in.
Wishing you all the best! xo
yes!! thank you! I keep putting off adding to my about page, when it should have been first priority! Thank you for the tip Jenovia!
Great point on the about page! I feel like I need to clean mine up...
Thanks for this. I’ve neglected my ‘About’ page and only made a ‘Welcome’ post explaining what I do. I’ll definitely go update my ‘About’ page now🫡
I also heavily advocate for a "new readers" post that's permanantly pinned at the top. I don't know how many ever navigate to the about page. It's rare that I go there when visiting new Stacks, but if someone has a clear post about what/who they are and what they write about, then this can help a lot.
The About page is the very first place I go to when visiting a new Substack. If there is no About page then I skip it altogether. Everyone navigates differently, doing both would be the safest bet.
Yeah. I'd like it if we could see traffic stats to those pages and not just specific posts.
I agree!! That would be ideal.
Concur 100x regarding the About Page.
My personal take is the About Page should be somewhat short and to the point. But include YOUR voice if you can. Readers might be reading this first, before any of your posts. Since I write humor and love Austen, I try to be funny off the bat:
Dearest Esteemed Reader,
I am so pleased to make your (virtual) acquaintance.
I think in the Welcome Letter, you can be more detailed with your intentions of what your substack is about. Or better yet, make it your first post!
I agree totall. About pages are crucial. I often look at them to see whether the writer is taking their work seriously - if they haven't put anything on their about page, then I assume they aren't taking it seriously.
One thing I was advised was to tell people what you love and what you believe, specifically in relation to writing. I used this advice on my about page. For example, for me what I love is finding things out, turning over stones, learning new things etc. And what I believe is that the science behind important issues should be accessible to everyone. Between those two things, that's a reasonable explanation of what do
🧠 - 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!
+1, great advice! We see a bit of a summer slump every year across the board, so don't be discouraged.
In reading or writing or both?
Both for sure. Lots of writers taking summer breaks, lots of readers reading less because of vacations and such
Yes! Substacker with 3 kids here and while I thought I would be able to persist, it just didn't happen. Between the end of school year craziness (I'm also a teacher) and then on vacation. But I love the "About the hiatus" sletter that I just published, it gave me an opportunity to share some facts about myself and reintroduce my 'why.' https://open.substack.com/pub/itselementary/p/about-the-hiatus?r=iqtul&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
Thanks, yes there’s a def summer slump here I’m noticing and I struggle a little to persevere when I know less are listening but I carry on!
That's exactly the reason why I want to start in September. I soft launched yesterday as I wrote for a big Substack newsletter and they published my piece yesterday, but initially I thought September was a great to start. If you have any advice to keep momentum before the official launch I'd be more than happy to know what your tips are! Thank you
I would say don't stop writing if you can help it, but come at it from the angle that it's a buildup to a better month of growth. Don't wait until September to post regularly. Instead use it as a way to showcase what you've been lowkey doing all along. I guess you could look at September as your marketing blitz/hard launch.
Thank you for the insight, that's convincing me to keep posting as I am actually sorry to wait until September to post again, and I already have some posts ready. I post twice a month, once at the beginning of the month and once at the end of it, so I guess it's quite a nice cadence, and that would make my Archives a little more furnished.
Great advice to keep in mind. I haven't made it a full year yet, but when I do it'll be interesting to look back and see trends like this.
Thank you, Brian, for saying that! I didn’t even consider the seasonal aspect. But of course.
This is really great advice. I had a big uptick when I launched in April and through May, but it's been more of a grind the past few months. This makes a ton of sense.
Yeah, my last issue I asked for a little "nudge" from my readers because there is a noticeable slowdown in July. It worked, but just helped me move through the mud a little bit.
Thank you for this perspective. I imagine many people are frustrated and confused without realizing the cyclical nature of engagement.
🧠 “Never give up, never surrender.”
All that matters is consistent, quality content that you would want to read if you were the reader.
🧠 Also, counterintuitively, don’t be afraid to unsubscribe from people.
I only have so much time and energy and I’d rather build a small, valuable community than a large, watered-down one.
It's better to subscribe in moderation if you can control the initial enthusiasm to subscribe to too many. I do wish there was a page to save Subs so you aren't subscribing to an overwhelming number but still have a place to remember the ones you came across. Having it here vs. bookmarks would work better I think.
I've thought exactly the same thing!
Based on your sub, you might like https://losingorbit.substack.com.
I will check it out. Thanks.
Just did that. In a perfect world I'd have time to follow all my interests on Substack, but I simply can't!
I would love to better understand how people decide what they follow and what they don't. I too wish I could follow all my interests but can't. So how do you decide?
It's pretty much the same as prioritizing anything else in our lives. You have to be more demanding when choosing which things you MUST have in your life vs. the things you'd LIKE to have in your life vs. the things that would be nice, but oh well........
Good advice. I definitely tend to be overly curious about things and put to much on my plate and then wonder why I'm not meeting my writing goals.
I subscribed to the first few that I found interesting. There are many excellent subs I have come across but I don't have the time (sadly). I really wish I had more time but life problems. The rest I read from time to time when I remember to do it.
🙌
This is a challenge but true. I want to be a contributor to the community of the newsletters I subscribe to. I may not get a chance to read every single post but if I am a subscriber it means I will make every effort to read and engage.
Too little time, too much (reading) content! I hear you Matt! I have been struggling to understand how people find time to read (and comment!) on so many posts ...
They seemed to be bless with the gift of multitasking that I don’t have (or want to have)
lol hear hear ...
Any thoughts on how to get honest feedback? I feel like I'm sometimes plowing forward with my blinders on and would produce higher quality if I could be more systematic about getting and incorporating feedback.
I loved your about page - it tell us a lot about you but I would reorder things a bit. You almost lost me at the top. Then I kept reading and saw this : Since then, I’ve become obsessed with figuring out the secret to living a never-boring, always improving life and sharing my findings and experiences. That needs to move up so that the reader immediately understands what your sub is about.
It says The Zag when I get to the About Page but above it says Consider this?
Couple of other thoughts - adding that line to the top of every post maybe in a more concise way so anyone new that comes to your page and reads a post immediately understands what your Sub is about. Because it seems like you cover a variety of themes?
I didn't realize you're the About page RenoQueen, too! Thanks! Done.
I'm low key :) I like your posts I read some of them. They are personal, flow well and you have some thoughtful life advice. Will read some more of them over the weekend and will share if I have thoughts. Have a nice weekend.
I'd be happy to take a look and if you want to provide feedback on mine that would be welcomed.
Appreciate the offer, RenoQueen. I wish I could reciprocate, but my feedback on your reno and interior design content would be as useless as me asking my 2-yr-old for his input on ingredients for the salad I have to bring to a potluck tomorrow.
Hah, it was optional. I torture my friends and have them read it. They complain about the length and then I cut it in half.
Yeah! I think finding someone or a group of someone’s to share work with is invaluable.
The ability to create a space for honest and open feedback (wether it’s a weekly zoom call, or a local, in person workshop) does wonders for what you write. (At least it has for me.)
The hardest part (and it is hard) is finding that group.
Thanks! How'd you find your group? How many people are in it? What's your meeting cadence?
Substack! There’s just a few of us, but we meet weekly.
That’s what’s great about this platform: if you read, comment, and support another writer or writers, you’ll naturally build relationships with people you never might have otherwise.
This is so true. Posting 2x per week consistently has gone a long way for me to not only find my voice, but to keep my audience engaged and slowly growing!
Finding your voice is the most important thing. That's what your readers will come back for again and again.
🧠 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.
I love this -- this is something I've wanted to do! I've plugged myself on podcasts and even news appearances (shamelessly) as I've been getting press talking mental health. But I'd love to do more of this kind of in person talks.
Very inspirational! Becoming a speaker is a very organic way to grow your writing. Love it.
Becoming an engaging speaker, with a valuable message. There are many "speakers" out there who should not be speaking until they figure out what they have to say.
I'm glad it went well, Geoffrey! I knew you would be a hit!
In a similar vein, I have recently been doing large community polls to gather data to use in upcoming stories. At the end of the survey, I ask participants if they’d like to subscribe too. I’ve had a pretty solid 30% opt in rate
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.
Her workshops are free for paid subscribers and they are well worth subscribing. @SarahFay is brilliant and generous.
She's a rock star.
✏️ 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?
I've found LinkedIn to be surprisingly good!
My only hurdle in LinkedIn is my boss is there and I don't feel like having that conversation haha
Definitely depends on your comfort level there! I'm not sure if there's a way to adjust the visibility of your posts to certain people or not, but something to look into if you otherwise think LinkedIn is a good option
In a similar boat but it's not about not avoiding anyone on the platform. So I understand the predicament but it makes growth slower.
I'm not too fussed. I don't really want to be a LinkedIn social person. Personal preferences I guess
I hear you. I don't want to be social person on any social platform. I can't keep up with any of them!
Yeah totally :) . And the A. humble bragging or B. outright bragging on LinkedIn drives me crazy. Yes, I understand it's a place to be a salesperson, but I guess I choose not to engage haha.
Oh that's interesting! I still have this image of LinkedIn as a place where everyone shares their company's sustainability agenda and recently aquired certificates/qualifications. Maybe that's because of my corporate background :D
Is your community on LinkedIn into the topics your cover o your Substack?
I'm a creative so I have a wide range of connections that don't all fit into one niche. Lots are people I've met only once or twice, and they're interested in seeing what I'm up to. It's a more fun platform than I would have expected, because there's way less pressure than say, running a FB group or hopping on Instagram.
Thanks Theresa!
You are approaching this wrong. Your substack is a company. Share its agenda! I mentioned in another comment, your substack can have its own page.
Cole, I'll disagree only to say that the message I keep getting from Substack and the way it makes publishing content so easy is that YOU are the company, and each of your substacks are publications of your company. The advantage to Substack is that readers subscribe to YOU, not a particular piece of content. I don't know if others share my interpretation of Substack's intention, but I'd love to hear from anyone who does or doesn't. I think this ends up being an important issue.
Definitely a lot more than that... just depends on who your connections are and how you explore. It's algorithm driven like most other platforms so you have to train that AI dragon :)
I just started yesterday, and Linkedin is where most of my visits come from. I decided to focus on that social media because this is where I got the most followers and people are actually interested in what you do. Prior to starting the newsletter, I posted consistently there to build and consolidate my audience and it seems to pay off. I started a newsletter there to tease my Substack content there (I shared the entire post there, but that'll be the only time I will do so) and my Linkedin newsletter already has 56 followers, and some of them came from the platform and subscribed here on Substack.
Yeah, depending on what your content is, LinkedIn can be great! I post there about milestones for my podcast, but I don't share everything I publish there because it can get exhausting.
Oh interesting. Simply by posting your Substack link to LinkedIn? Or are you doing any sort of more active promotion? Thanks for the tip!
I'm not too intense on my promotions, I'll just post and share when I have something to share from my Substack. It's a supportive community and is less of a time suck (and thus less draining) than other social media, I've found.
Well, this is a great tip! Thank you.
+1 on LinkedIn; if you use a non-promotional, non-hype voice, and use keywords and links to other people, you will be noticed by those interested in your topic space.
You can actually create a page for your substack as its own business, separate from you. Then you can claim yourself as an employee of the business on your personal profile. It will show up with a logo and everything.
Oh my gosh, I work in social media running a non-profit's LinkedIn page (among other things)--how did it not occur to me to do this for myself? 😅
Sometimes the obvious solutions are so close, you don't see them lol
Haha, true!
Next ask yourself how you're going to get users to your page. This is a very important step many people leave out. If you're going to construct a page, you have to have a strategy for bringing traffic to it. I've found posting on groups to be much more effective. Get the message out where the readers already are.
that's an option indeed!
Post links to specific articles on your substack. You'll want to say something terse but impactful to catch the attention of potential readers so they'll stop and click your link. Also, you'll want to repost to as many groups as you can find who will appreciate your content.
Sounds like reasonable advice but am curious: have you actually found good signal/noise ratio in LinkedIn groups? I've poked around on and off over the years and rarely found much quality activity. Maybe just the wrong groups...
I've struggled to get any engagement from LinkedIn, which is strange to me because one of the reasons I started writing a Substack was because my LinkedIn posts/comments on the same topics generated lots of views. I've tried switching days/times, I use tags -- the whole deal. No idea why its not generating much traction for me.
I am also going to start on LinkedIn.
Engaging in the substack community has been a great way for me! Subscribe to others in your niche, comment, share, and connect with other writers. Lots of wonderful people here who’d love to help out, collab, and grow together.
Same here--upswing on launch became a trickle. I’m assuming that’s typical. I’ve also been told to expect a fluctuation over time. A couple points of advice I’ve received that make a lot sense center on collaboration and engagement. Cross-posting and finding someone with similar subscriber-ships to host or vice versa is a goal I’m working toward. Good luck! :)
Hi Holly! Those are all great ideas -- cross-posting, similar readerships etc. I think also focusing on the readers who are currently subscribed with you can help. Aka, how can you deepen the value your newsletter offers to them, how can you make it an even more incredible experience for them, in what ways can you make your newsletter something they want to talk about, share with their friends, etc. I hope this helps, but of course please ignore if it doesn't, lol.
That’s so true, Laura! That’s another area I’ve been focusing on for sure. This may seem paradoxical, but one aspect of that for me is writing toward a stranger reader. Of course, I want to make something for those who already know me / care about me. But for me writing to a friend as audience can lend toward a certain laziness (not sure if that’s the right word). Writing to a stranger helps me refocus away from me and in what can I do for the reader ... if that makes sense.
I can't share an image here, but my growth has always looked like that. Steady or nonexistent over time, with a few huge bumps. It's hard to predict what pieces will take off.
I will also say that there appears to be a milestone where you can eventually start indexing on search results. But as I understand it, you need to have a massive amount of content published for that to start happening.
Hm, interesting! I thought correct SEO was more important than the number of posts you have on your Substack. And that generally Substack aleady has a reputation in search engines as it is.
I'm not an SEO expert or anything, but in my research I kept seeing a figure of 100,000 words published to start marking you as more of an established source.
I also have a custom domain. I'm not sure if that impacts SEO, but it DOES impact throttling on other websites. Some sites like twitter and reddit actually block or flag links that have a .substack extension.
Ah, I see, will research this more as well. Thank you for sharing what you know, Cole!
LinkedIn can be valuable as long as you identify groups for whom your content will be relevant and engaging. Without posting to groups you'll find yourself only posting to those people who have already connected with you. Similar to hashtags in Twitter, except they're on a viable, valuable network, not a junkpile. Depending on your topic the same is true for Facebook, but you'll have to contend with more kitten competition.
Very helpful, thanks, Howard. LinkedIn keeps suggesting groups for me to join and add my content to - I wasn't sure how authentic it was (vs LinkedIn internal marketing)...
I use Threads, Instagram, and TikTok to promote. TT the most sparingly, since it also punishes outbound links, but ever since Instagram stories gained the link stickers for everyone, it's been a good source of promotion. Threads I'm still experimenting with, but it seems like a much calmer version of Twitter so far. Almost like the old Tumblr--almost.
Hi Valorie! Are you promoting on Instagram among your followers? Because I have only friends and acquaintances following me there and who wanted to subscribe to my Substack has already done so. Unless I create a viral reel about one of my essays, I don't see how Instagram can help. Curious to hear how you have harnessed its power!
I have a lot of instagram followers who aren't friends and family, so that's part of it. But you never know--your friends and family may not have seen a post about your 'stack, or may not have had the bandwidth the last time you posted. Just because you have a small audience doesn't mean you have to stop using it!
You could also take out an instagram ad to get in front of new people. They're relatively low-cost. I haven't done this in a long time, but there are people on instagram who are interested in long-form content, so it might be worth it. You just have to know what audience you're going after and create very specific ad settings.
Instagram ads intimidated me the last time I thought about them :D I reckon it will be a good exercise though, so I'll keep them on my radar of options. Thank you for bringing them up, Valorie!
I haven't seen much success from Instagram. Instagram seems to have a very different set of audience than substack. But if you already have a big following there, then it might be worth your effort to promote there.
Beware the Twitter community. They'll find their way to Threads sooner than anyone wants them to...
I get a lot from recommendations, and I get recommendations mostly from subscribing and promoting other substacks. I also listed my work on several of the directories for Substack, which helps.
how do you add your work to the directories??
I found a list somewhere. https://blog.emailoctopus.com/list-of-newsletter-directories-and-aggregators/
https://medium.com/@philiprpowis/11-free-directories-to-promote-your-newsletter-in-2022-32442044355
It's linked in this article. https://authorstack.substack.com/p/how-to-use-substack-sections-to-beef
Katie, a stroll through On Substack showed me that you guys have built tools for almost everything I can think of. Not everything is going to work for everybody, but your content on developing and promoting content provide an excellent foundation for anyone's strategy. Thanks for that!
🧠 - 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.
Love the name of your Substack. Sounds somewhat familiar ;). Greetings from the Left Coast. We've got Canada flanked!
Good comment!
Solid
Yes! This is so real. I've made so many secret friends on here and that in itself has made this whole journey worth it.
How do you make secret friends? 🤔
If I told you I’d have to ki... jk wanna be my secret friend?
Mostly from people responding via email to posts and setting up times to hang out after that.
😂😂 do we need a secret handshake?
Aha -- I read on the substack app...
🧠 - 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.
Right?!! That's exactly how we became such good buddies😀
That’s it Donna!
And I couldn’t be more glad that we did. 😊
Yes! This is absolutely true!
Yes! A very overlooked way to grow and also be a part of this awesome community. If you subscribe to a ton of newsletters in your niche, you can comment, share, and contribute which will raise your profile and have readers coming to check you out, too.
Substack really is a great community. And it is awesome to be able to engage with other writers writing in your niche.
This is a good reminder to comment under the actual posts, not just these chatboards.
Couldn’t agree more Kevin
Yes, that is by far the most rewarding thing I do, both in terms of getting new subscribers and of learning more about topics that interest me.
Yeah I love how much there is on substack to learn, no matter the topic.
Yes!! I very much agree!
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!
I’d say don’t over think it. You don’t need to hire a designer or creative agency to make you stand out. Canva is a great place to start, but also there’s a lot of effectiveness in simple.
Sometimes I like to visualize my concepts and make little comics, but I’m far from an artist. So I draw it anyways! Check out my page for terrible stick figure drawings, but I find they actually increase engagement and people appreciate the authenticity. Adds a little humour and sets the tone for how my newsletter is going to be.
Seconding this--I don't think you need to hire a creative agency. Canva has tons of templates to get you started!
Also, I love the idea of little stick figure comments, Bryce! That is very authentic and fun.
A lot of people forget this but you don't always need images and you can do a lot with typefaces too. Find a good typeface and make bold headers for your text and that can work magic sometimes. A friend of mine runs this site and it's great for inspiration > https://fontsinuse.com
All of that really doesn't matter as long as the writing is good. Some of the most successful Substacks have no branding/visuals at all. I personally like it and it makes me happy. I hired someone to do my logo a couple of years ago. I was initially going to do something else with it but I found it was perfect for my Substack so I repurposed it.
The Author Stack by Russell Nohelty is a great place to to start and he gives great resources on where to get branding/logos.
Yes. Author Stack is great.
Thanks for reading!
Thanks! I'll check that out.
aw shucks.
So glad you commented so ppl can find you easily! I wasn’t able to tag in the comments.
For my first substack, I wrote a lot about climbing in the mountains. Most of the pictures I took actually wound up having the same color palette. So I went into GIMP (free, open source photo shop) and create a color scheme for my substack using one of my favorite pictures.
When I expanded into fiction (literally started today) I did something similar, using complimentary colors. It looks very different from the mountaineering publication, but still has a kind of earthy feel.
Canva is also great for creating color palettes and coordinating fonts.
You're expanding into fiction?! Congratulations!
Yes, thank you! I launched Cole's Chapters officially, as of today. I had a couple long time subscribers ask me if I ever wrote fiction. I'm sitting on a massive stockpile of it like a dragon's hoard. I'm going to start trying to do more with it!
www.coleschapters.com if you're interested in seeing it!
Heck yeah, thanks! That's awesome!
I used Canva for both of my Substacks and have set design palettes that I use for each one. They each have recurring visual motifs that I keep in one large Canva file and pull from whenever I need to design something new. But to make it as low-impact as possible for myself, I designed a podcast episode cover and with every episode I just switch out the name and episode number on it. Takes 4 seconds. You can see one here: https://unrulyfigures.substack.com/p/episode-30-sarah-bernhardt#details
I think the key is to pick a few colors you like that work for your subject, an image or two that can act as a symbol and calling card, then go from there. With Unruly Figures, the head in my logo gets reused a lot, and now I even use with without the words "Unruly Figures." People who know my brand know what it means.
This is great advice. Thanks Valorie!
Any time! The thing I forgot to say was: Have fun with it!
I'm a visual artist - I'd be happy to help with visuals, illustrations, logos, etc.
https://mongeau.substack.com/
Branding is key, but Substack seems to only now be starting to provide devices to help us do that. I've seen some On Substack articles that show how some of the more visually-oriented writers have cleverly worked their way around the devices that are there to create an attractive look and feel.
Don't underestimate the importance of marketing and branding. People will tell you that all you need to do is write great content, but that is just wishful thinking. The writing itself does nothing until you get readers to read it. You need to invest as much energy in that as you do in making your content great.
I agree. While I always prioritize my writing, I find with so much social and posting that I really need a brand feel.
Canva is awesome. Worth th $12 a month for the pro features (IMO). It can be a little overwhelming, but there is a huge library of fonts, images, graphics, etc.
Joe, depends on what you're writing about. If the substance/topic are inherently visual or sensual in nature, you'd want your publication to reflect that, more so than if your topics were not as visual or sense-related. For example, food and art vs. technology
Hi Joe! Maybe you'll find this helpful for the start: https://substack.com/notes/post/p-128412388. I want to adapt some of their templates for my Substack :)
This is not a full package of identity and branding, you still need to decide on colours, fonts, etc. But I believe it's a good framework to start with. Later on, I personally plan to hire a designer to make something unique for my publication.
Thank you!
I wrote a 15,000 word explainer on this this week. https://authorstack.substack.com/p/worldclasssubstack
You may find everything you are looking for here in this free package https://thesoiree.substack.com/p/the-substack-bundle. Sara & Keeley (it's not letting me tag them today) recently released this and it's amazing. I am looking forward to diving in.
Joe, Michael Estrin posted about this last week. Could be place to start. https://thesoiree.substack.com/p/the-substack-bundle
Woops, just saw someone else shared this, too. :)
Thanks! Great minds think alike, I guess!
🧠 - 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.
"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." Brilliant!
Newsletters ... I prefer just "letters" ... come to you, in your inbox ... creating a feeling that they were written just for you.
Definitely needed to hear this! I was asking chatgpt how to emotionally cope with 2 subscribers 😂 I think the slow growth is helpful for getting back to the old school way of writing for the sake of writing. Ughhh!!! 😒
You have 3 subscribers now! Let's gooooooo
Omg!!! In my best Snoop Dogg voice “I’d like to thank me for believing in me, I’d like to thank me for doing all this hard work and trying to give more than I receive” thanks so much! 🥳 yay!
🧠 - 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
I love this! Don't take yourself so seriously. That's a great reminder Stephanie.
I love your new pic! Crazy how the little things add up :)
Thanks! Reworking all the bits and pieces seems to be part of the process ... I'm starting to think of it like editing a draft ... the more I edit, the clearer I get about what I'm trying to say.
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.
Thanks, Joyce. As a side note, I love your yin Yang earthy logo photo (not the right word for the little photo that shows up by your name) 😊
Thanks, Holly. It's one of my favorite symbols also.
Joyce! Awesome resource and thanks for sharing here.
Thanks, Bryce ... and you do a great service with all your posts and replies here.
Thanks to all of you at Substack who have made this a year of growth and learning. I'm so impressed with what you're doing, I bought $100 in stock! Spend it wisely, please. ;-)
✏️ 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?
Depending on what your writing goals/plans are, I recommend building up a small back log of posts that you can schedule out an publish for a few weeks while you write your next ones. That way you're never under pressure to produce and publish on the same day. If you're going to post a few different types of posts (essays + discussion threads, or something) I recommend doing an example of each so people checking your 'stack out for the first time can figure out what you're about.
This is good advice. I would say however, I personally never backlog more than a month out. If you have too big a backlog, it makes it harder to react to reader feedback in a timely manner. In the beginning especially, that time can often be better spent promoting your work.
E.g. 4 posts in the bank with 50 subscribers is better than 8 posts in the bank with 10. Readers enjoying your work and sharing it is a HUGE source of growth.
Yes, good point! Definitely your work to opportunity cost ratio has to be considered. Also--you never know what's going to happen on the internet in a month! If I schedule more than 2 weeks in advance (rare, I'm a procrastinator), I try to review a post the night before just to make sure that recent news isn't going to be an issue.
My best advice is just to jump in and put yourself out there! Every substack has different things that work for it, so the best way to learn for yourself is by experimenting and seeing what does or doesn't work for your style/audience.
Welcome and enjoy the journey. What I wish I had done at the very beginning of my journey would have been to get really clear about my strategy. I've just published a free Field Guide which goes into this more ... at gratitudemojo.
The number one tip I have for you is to not overlook your About page! Clearly mention what you publication is about, what subscribers can expect from you, and a bit about yourself. And keep updating this page as your publication evolves. All the best!
Other than the brilliant advice already mentioned, I recommend setting up your about page and also editing the email that goes out to people when they first sign up. They're nice touches that make the experience feel more personal :)
Yes, and know that these two items should be revisited often. As your newsletter evolves, so too should your About and Welcome emails.
lol after leaving this comment I immediately went and changed mine up a little and added a different photo!
I wrote a 15,000 word article on this topic that launched this week. https://authorstack.substack.com/p/worldclasssubstack
Here is mine if it helps: https://kevinmcsa6.substack.com/p/this-is-a6-where-the-world-happens
✏️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 a bit biased, but absolutely! No better time to start than the present.
Substack is the first and only platform I've found that provides everything you need to turn your experience into great writing and put it in front of a waiting audience. Seriously. I've written for many advertisers, sponsors, and clients. Now I get to write for my readers. That's how it always should have been.
Thanks for this. I need a big nudge. My life is so full but I know I love to write. Just worry I haven’t got anything relevant to pass on…
yes, it is a great door for writers.
You did great! Always start as soon as possible, Patricia! This is the best Substack advice I got. I just signed up as well with my newsletter @marketingideas , even though I totally feel I could have waited more.
YES! This is the most generous, useful, friendly writing community I've come across. The learning curve can be a bit tricky so come back to Office Hours frequently. I blogged for 14 years and tried a lot of other options. I've been here for a year and am enchanted by the community and the platform. You might find this free field guide helpful: https://gratitudemojo.substack.com/p/substack-field-guide-1-66a
I am thinking that is a serendipitous occurrence! Something big is trying to nudge you into writing on Substack so come on over!
Yes! Go for it. Make a page and start writing... go go go
You sound like an awesome cheerleader. But I hate to put out stuff that isn’t first rate and inflict folks with more unimportant and trivial stuff…it’s a process to feel qualified to actually be heard. And no, I’m not a shrinking violet, but I respect other folks’ time and attention.
That's fair -- but I'd imagine just starting out you won't have much of an audience to disappoint, which makes it a great time to get your footing, find your voice, and figure out the platform.
Ha ha, cheerleading to foot on the neck! Idk lots to think about before I dive in. Thanks for the encouragement !
🧠 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 )
This is really good advice! I was using DALL-E to generate AI images for my posts, but started to hate how vapid it was feeling. I needed authenticity.
So I swapped that out with me doing my own (terrible) drawings of images on my posts, which feels much more.... me. I don't like this idea of using AI for art. Tried it, but made me feel queasy. I'd rather my own art (no matter how bad).
I've taken to doing some hybrids. Using Midjourney/DALL-E to make me images I need, then photoshopping my face or other ugliness around it to make it "my own."
Oh I like this. I'm going to play around some more. I can definitely relate to adding ugliness to make it my own. :D
The other thing you could do is either hire a real artist or, if that's not in the budget, see if you can find an artist who wants the credit for publication and do a trade of some kind (maybe you write their website for them)
Good ideas! I'm kinda liking my not-so-good art right now. It sets the tone for my publication which kinda leans into humor, and I use Substack as my place to be hyper-authentic. We'll see how it evolves. Maybe I'll get better :P
Love it... lean into your own! maybe your kids can do some too... :)
Glad it resonates Bryce. I'm in touch with a lot of artists and most are infuriated by what's going on. Not the tech per se but how it was trained, how it's being used, and what the AI companies are trying to do (monetize w/o consent or compensation). It's quite the rodeo right now in the art and entertainment worlds. There are better ways to do right by everyone.
And as you say, unless you spend a lot of time with it and do post processing, the raw images aren't that great, they tend to look and feel the same, and don't really reflect who you are or what you do.
It's a wild world, for sure. As a part time actor, I'm also following this SAG strike and watching how creatives are fighting tooth and nail against AI. It's wild. But you can't replace the heart of real, authentic creative.
Yes it's encouraging to see. I used to work in the film business (behind the camera) and wrote about the writers strike in Hollywood back in 2000. We can't let the execs just steamroll over us. Same in music and same in publishing.
I think, Bryce, you have expressed the gen AI hype cycle in a nutshell...
Fantastic adivce! Currently building that muscle back up after a hiatus :)
Forza! as they say in Italian :)
Thank you. AI looks generic and often doesn't enhance the post. A amateur hand drawing is better than AI. Most people actually draw better than they think they do.
🧠 - 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!
So true. I love the positivity and engagement on Notes. It's like Twitter if everyone was nice and helpful.
I guess I struggle with knowing my audience on Notes and then I never end up posting. It does seem to be mostly writers, but is it? Or should I be 'noting' for readers?
My impression so far is that engagement is mostly writers on notes. That may change in the future I'd guess. But I think you'll notice a uptick in subscriptions when on Notes.
I was consistent in the beginning and then kind of dropped off. Time to get back to it!
I think "small guy" authors make the most impact by being a "reply guy", which can be kind of annoying for the writer, but it's an effective strategy to engage with larger accounts.
I definitely lean into replying, it is effective but really it's just a lot more fun to be a part of a conversation!
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
We love this too!
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!
Another tip is to vary how your promote yourself. Don't be afraid to get creative and share multimedia assets, link to comments instead of posts, and whatever else you can think of. I think that sharing different things helps combat the feeling that you're sending post links out there over and over again.
Great advice, Ben. Thank you!
This is a great reminder, thanks.
I would put this on LinkedIn, if you're up for it! Since it has a professional-ish atmosphere, this kind of global rundowns would do well.
As for "feeling overbearing"--I'd just remember that everything on the internet has a really short half life. Your social media followers aren't seeing every single thing you post, so you can promote a couple times a day without bothering them.
LinkedIn is a great idea! That will be my next outlet. Have you used it to plug your work?
And you are right about that. As someone who doesn’t post much as my usual disposition, posting more regularly has been a learning process.
Yeah, self-promotion can be a tough learning curve if your parents were really into humility (mine were).
I have used LinkedIn. My work isn't *as* professional as yours, so I don't post there often. I think you could honestly post every day. But I post when I hit milestones on the podcast.
My parents were certainly exemplars of modesty. Miss them both.
I will give it a try and gauge the reaction.
I’ve been advised to always restack your own post to notes with a little teaser bit or new image. In theory, I think it’s a great tip. But few seem to be reading my notes or I need to figure out how to make them more engaging 🤣. (Not sure what the algorithm is in terms of who sees notes by whom.)
I think I only get a few people reading my Notes but it also has driven a handful of subscribers. It's almost more effective at driving subscribers than building a follower count.
Ha! I’m in the same boat. It’s crickets on Notes. I try to engage with other writers on there when I can, though.
Engage with the substack community and other writers in your niche. Comment, share, contribute. Get your name out there through being helpful and a great contributor to the broader community and it will go a long way.
Start by examining that feeling of being overbearing. If you truly believe your content has value for your readers, then own it and take pride in it. You're writing to help others. Your writing can't help anyone until they read it, so you're providing a service in promoting your content. Be proud, writer. Be proud! :)
Such a wholesome way of looking at it. You’re exactly right. Thank you for this.
Here's one. I think we have a lot of crossover https://kevinmcsa6.substack.com/ , I'll subscribe now, and hope for a subscribe back :P . Then hopefully it allows both of us to connect more with the geopolitics crowd.
Absolutely! Just subscribed. I look forward to reading your work and connecting!
I did this last week and we've both been able to use recommendations to add a few subscribers and he's going to write a little blurb for a future issue. So it does add value.
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/
Thank you for sharing! I love him. (Unschooling parent here.)
Loved the article from this morning that was on the After Babel Substack. I instantly subscribed to his.
*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!
Best wishes, Maxine ... and I completely understand "intoxicated by the energy."
thank you so much, Joyce - such a comfort!
thanks so much, Katie!
🧠 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.
Keeping it fun is so important. When I try and figure out what to write about... I try to go back to "what would be a fun thing to share?" and then I let the nonsense take over and just, write.
Once it's not fun, it becomes obvious to the readers.
Yes! I do this too. Although I slacked off this month.
✏️ 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 😒
Keep talking to yourself! But also, find other writers in your niche and contribute to their newsletters. It'll go a long way and if you engage with others, others will be more willing to engage with you!
Thank you 💙
Maybe try talking to your friends about the stuff you want to write about? See where that conversation goes. Your friends will want to steer the conversation in a way that engages them. Use that to guide what you write about.
Thanks
I am always talking to myself and gave up. Just enjoying screaming into the void :P
Are they reading though? Lots of readers just don't engage but they consume. Most people lurk. I have 10,000 readers every weeks for each of my three posts and a small fraction engage.
No, they are not.
well, I think you are building the wrong audience then. I looked at your publication and your page could use some branding help to signal to the wrong people. I wrote a big article on that this week. https://authorstack.substack.com/p/worldclasssubstack
🧠 - 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
Wow this is really interesting insight. Bring on winter where everyone is cold and alert and ready to read!
Yeah, exactly! People are inside more. The Chicago Tribune did a whole article about how people read more during the winter in general: https://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/ct-ppn-column-sassone-tl-0111-20180103-story.html
🧠 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.)
And reposting evergreens.
🧠 - 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.
yes, writers are really the most ideal readers, and everyone deserves a handful of good ones which I'm sure everyone can find right here under their nose if they are kind and generous with being a good neighbor and not just PRing.
Exactly! A lot of people are so quick to just shout their newsletters from the rooftops without contributing or engaging with the community. Prop up everyone else! Don't worry about yourself, do good work, write what you like, but really try to help others succeed can go a long way on this platform.
✏️ 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?
My advice is don't focus on customizing the appearance. The quality of your content, a consistent publishing schedule, and reading and commenting on other people's newsletters and Notes is WAY more important if you want more subscribers.
that's fair, though customization is once (and conceivably outsourcable) whereas writing regularly is ongoing. So I think improving the appearance of my substack so that it doesn't look like a 2008 blogspot might be a good move
I wrote a 15,000 word article about it this week. https://authorstack.substack.com/p/worldclasssubstack
I will read your article and subscribe. I was writing mostly long form posts, but now am trying our shorter articles, or breaking longer ones into parts hoping to better engage with my readers and not to overwhelm with too much information.
I actually found better success when I combined them into longer ones, so I'm excited to see how it works for you.
I read the article, very informative, thank you!!
you're welcome!
It is something you should consciously make time for, but don't kill yourself over it. My Substack has had a few different themes at this point, and I have gotten better at the process from changing it up. As you keep writing you will discover more about how you want things to look.
It doesn't take long at all! And definitely worth it. Others have shared getting help from https://substack.com/@thesubstacksoiree ! they have some easy templates to help you customize. Not sure if someone has already mentioned this.
omg am i that old? How can I not @ someone? @thesubstacksoiree
I used the "set it and forget it" approach. The colors, branding--all of that has been the same basically since day one. The only thing that changes is each post's cover photo, which only takes a few minutes. Each photo is either related to that post, or is a default template I use for all of my podcast episodes.
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
Very cool!
Thank you! Will share my learnings as I progress.
If i am only looking for free subscribers, is Substack the place to be? The focus seems to be on generating a paid business.
You can definitely build an entire audience for free on here. Just never toggle on "paid". It's still a great platform with an awesome community to host your work.
I received over 600 free subscribers this month. so, yes.
Hey, Jeff! Welcome to the party!!! I think you're misreading the focus only because the people who speak up are mainly those figuring out how to get paid. For myself, my plan is to continue to offer biztechjournal.substack.com content for free, but invite readers to support the work and enable me to expand to include more sources, writers, etc. I want the content to earn its living, not my ability to market and sell it.
I just came home from Long Island where we were babysittting. Will definitely reach out next time. Meanwhile, how ARE you??
Hi Howard,
I get what you're saying, however i don't want to scare potential subscribers away because it looks like they are being hit up to take out their credit card.
🟧 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
Hi Laura! I also recently joined Substack! It’s very cool that you are a bilingual writer! My Substack is written in English, but I know Spanish and I’m looking forward to checking out your page.
You could try sections, Laura.
I know there's a way you can set up a separate section for your Spanish content and your Spanish reader and select to only receive new posts from your Spanish section!
Oh wow! This would be ideal. Do you know where I can start to look up more info about this?
I think here: https://on.substack.com/p/a-guide-to-publication-sections
Thank you! I'll check these out.
✏️- 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!
Engage within the substack network! There's millions of folks right here on this platform who are already engaging with newsletters like your own. My advice is to subscribe to a bunch of newsletters in your niche that you like and to comment, share, contribute and be a part of their communities. This will get your name out there and you'll give yourself a chance to build connections on here that can help you grow!
Hence, why I am here right now ;)
I get a lot from just subscribing, commenting, and posting. I subscribe to over 260 publications, though. I also wrote a really long 15,000 word post about creating a world class publication this week that I think is a really important part for discoverability.
15,000 words! Impressive
Thanks. It's only impressive if it's good, though. It took months of research. My usual ones are 5000 words. https://authorstack.substack.com/p/worldclasssubstack
How interesting, you just had me counting on my fingers how many months I'm at, and ta-dah I guess it's my six month rookie wall. Add to that the unfortunate timing of Summer Slump where readership wanders off in general. My steady trickle of engagement and new subscribers feels like it has definitely plateaued. But I know it's temporary and it'll get back on track. Just keep at it. It is draining when you feel like every new one won requires sooo much effort. I like this somewhat passive way - listing your Substack in these directories can yield a few regular hits.. I compiled a list: https://sleepyhollowink.substack.com/p/newsletter-listings
wow! that is a handy list
hope it helps!
🟧 - 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 would send them an email from Mailchimp in advance to tell them that the move is happening. Encourage them to mark the new substack email address as "not promotions" (or whatever the setting is in gmail). Then for the first month or so, I would still send Mailchimp emails to say "Did you miss this on Substack?" with links to the new posts. Tell them that if they missed it, it's because the Substack emails are going to promotions/spam.
Valorie- It's a great idea to keep sending Mailchimp emails for awhile. Thanks for the tip!
Send your last couple of emails from mailchimp and tell your audience that you are moving and how Substack works. For example, if they use a gmail address it will sometimes cut off the bottom of the post so will be best viewed on the app or website.
Then on your last mailchimp post let them know the next one will be coming from Substack and they should check their spam folder if they don't hear from you. Give the reader the responsiblity for checking their spam folder because if they really like your work they will do so.
I found all of my readers I brought over to Substack stuck around but I am working to educate them on how it all works, the app, the website etc.
I recently sent an email out to those folks explaining Substack to them. When I sent this I had already been publishing from here for a few months. I didn't fully publish this post, only sent it via email. You can see it here if you're interested.
https://donnamcarthur.substack.com/p/here-is-how-substack-works
🟧 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.
Curious if you can share the mode split of aggregate readership between
- app
- email
- web?
Katie, gmail is sending most every substack.com email to Promos as DrLaura Markham has been experiencing. Is there anything your tech guys can do with SPF or DKID records to improve upon this??
🟧 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.
Yes agreed!
🟧 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?
You can edit the fonts, colors, etc. in Settings.
Canva is a good resource if you want to create any visual assets for your brand.
🟧 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.
The best strategy I've found is to use the timestamps for the posts you're interested in. Those timestamps are bookmarks to individual comments. If you click the timestamp for any comment, you go to a page with just that comment and its replies. It's much more stable for reading, replying, and going back to at a later time.
I wrote up some more information about it here: https://mostlypython.substack.com/p/using-substack
The chaos here is a frequent topic ... however, I have found it has made all the difference in my year on Substack. I devote two hours a week to being here and have had many questions answered, sometimes get to answer a few, gained subscribers ... maybe even as many as I've subscribed to. ;-) Here's my new ... free ...Substack Field Guide https://gratitudemojo.substack.com/p/substack-field-guide-1-66a
✏️ 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've had the same experience. Keep at it?
What I've noticed over 6 months is there's definitely a core group that are engaged and there are also a few new ones that comment when a post resonates..
Glad to know I am not the only one, Bryce! I definitely agree, I can't get too discouraged and need to keep creating, even if it is quiet here in the beginning months (or even years). I truly believe commitment to the craft goes above all, whether you're getting the results you think you "should" get or not. I just know one thing for sure and it is that I am happier when I keep creating.
This: " I just know one thing for sure and it is that I am happier when I keep creating."
Keep creating. :)
Marcy, you might try reaching out to a few friends and encourage them to comment. One of my editors did that with all his writers and we supported each other with comments. It acted like a piano bar "tip jar" where the piano player puts a few dollars into the jar and others see those dollars and feel more like they should add to it because others have.
I love that--a "tip jar" is a good way to describe it! Until recently, I didn't have many writer friends actively writing on Substack, but that is beginning to change. I will approach the ones I know who just got on here themselves and form a little support network. Thank you!
One role model I use is ... Office Hours. They know how to do engagement ... one small suggestion at the beginning of each week produces a FLOOD of response. A lot of us never miss Office Hours because we learn so much and meet so many fascinating people. My next experiment is to comment on my own posts with something that I think might prompt additional responses.
Excellent question, Marcy, and one I've been asking myself for the year I've been here. For me, it's been an experiment in asking engaging questions, telling a story that prompts responses, using polls ... and responding personally to every comment. So far, I haven't found the magic bullet ... and it does relate to numbers. However, as my numbers grow, I want to understand better what engages my audience.
Thank you for sharing, Joyce! Yeah, I figured that with a small audience it will be harder, so hopefully in growing my community, it will improve, and I'll be better able to see what resonates with people. I've even told people to just hit reply on the email (I was encouraging this before I was on Substack too), to see if responding privately would help. That sometimes works. It's just good to know you're not talking into a void sometimes, haha.
✏️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,
Most people won't convert to a new platform. You should definitely be trying to utilize the recommendation and organic search engines as they are great for finding substack reader who are already here.
✏️ - 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?
Do you have a call to action in your posts? I find that helps. I've been ending my pieces asking people to like, comment and share, and I've noticed a minor uptick.
Other than that -- are you commenting on other substacks? That's a good way to drive engagement to your own pub and have others engage with you, as well.
I did "call to action" a few times and it made no difference so I stopped doing it. I don't want my readers to feel that I am imposing rules on them.
I did find commenting on other substacks help. The issue here is time commitment - as I commented, I find there is so much to read and interact, but so little time to do everything, especially when I am trying to commit to writing every day and posting every week (I am new to writing btw). Thanks for your suggestions Bryce!
I feel like some comment and some reply and either way is fine. IDK. The nice thing about Substack is you can do both.
✏️ is Substack appropriate for posting work you hope to publish?
Yes! I'm of the opinion to post everything and let yourself grow.
Yes, Sarah Fay is talking about how she's doing that.
Yes and I believe that is one of the main purposes. I also find it uplifting when you can be your own "editor" and accept your own submission :). However, I am facing a big dilemma: being a new writer, I want my writings to be published elsewhere too. But most if not all publications require first right of publish and your own Substack publication will invalidate your eligibility to submit your piece elsewhere. And most publications take weeks and months to get back to you. I worked very hard and spent a lot of time writing and polishing my 4000-word essay just to have it sit in other people's queues waiting for acceptance (fingers crossed!).
Exactly my concern. Thank you for your opinion; it helps me decide what to do.
I have read that some editors would consider substack as work that is previously published. But many published journalists re-publish on Substack.
This is my question. Hmmm
Count me in for that, Rebecca. Check out whatdoyouwant.substack.com.
🟧 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!
Hi, Teddy ... restacking other people's posts with a note about why you like it or adding some bit of your own thoughts to it is a great practice. Gives your readers value and makes friends that could lead to collaborations or cross-posting. You might find value in my first, free Field Guide ... https://gratitudemojo.substack.com/p/substack-field-guide-1-66a
✏️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?
Seems to be ever Thursday at 1pm EST!
Hit up the explore page on Substack. I believe there's a "humor" tab you can follow and search. Lots of hilarious writers. I try sometimes to be funny on my pub (shameless).
Alex Dobrenko is my fav hilarious writer on here, if you're looking for someone I'd start there. Feel free to connect any time :)
Oooh thanks!!! Definitely gonna subscribe!
🧠 Way to go, Amber! Love your Brief Description: For the unapologetically curious where intuition meets humor. Just subscribed and look forward to reading your work. IMHO though, the black background doesn't make me think humor is coming. You might find this free Field Guide useful https://gratitudemojo.substack.com/p/substack-field-guide-1-66a
Wow! This day just keeps getting better! I really appreciate the feedback. I’ll definitely update the background and thanks for subscribing! Whooo hoo!
✏️ 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
I say start now! Don't leave money on the table.
Really cool side (as someone with celiac)
Thanks for the advice! And please subscribe and tell your friends. I have a family member with celiac.
🧠 Paywall strategy is a challenge for most of us ... what's free, what requires a paid subscription. You might find the info in my free Substack Field Guide #1 useful. https://gratitudemojo.substack.com/p/substack-field-guide-1-66a
✏️
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 use sections and then tell them they can unsubscribe from anything they don't want to hear about. I wrote about it here. https://authorstack.substack.com/p/how-to-use-substack-sections-to-beef
I did it bc I didn't want to have to market two things. Maybe you are in the same boat.
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 do it every week.
Here is this weeks https://open.substack.com/pub/authorstack/p/digest-maasai-guys-and-women-and?r=571jf&utm_medium=ios&utm_campaign=post
Disregard this one. Reposted with emoji.
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.
You can definitely grow organically on Substack. I started in January with 0 and intentionally didn't import an email list and only teased it's launch once via an IG story. I've gained 75 subscribers so far, almost exclusively from the Substack network. (I could probably grow this much larger/faster by leveraging my existing social media connections but haven't to this point).
Thank you. That was helpful.
You can definitely grow here! I'd suggest being active on notes, potentially finding other writers to collaborate with, and commenting on / engaging with similar writers' work.
Thank you. That was helpful.
🟧 Is there any way to see if a reader has read until the end of a post?
Don't think it'll ever be possible for those who read in their email inbox. Could likes and comments be a very rough indication for how many are reading through relative to your other posts?
I guess no measure is perfect cuz you wanted perfect read-through % you could make your posts 50 words long. I've seen some newsletters move this way, TikTokization of newsletters.
Thanks, Chris. Good point on TT.
Lots of ppl don't like or comment bc they don't want to be tracked. But you're right about tracking if someone reads on email. Hmmm.
I don't think there's currently that feature.
COMMENT: What I do not like is that this is abusive of readers. It is nobody's business what a reader's habits are. This really bothers me. If you do this, there should be a warning to readers that their readers that their reading habits, not just opening a post, is being monitored.
Thanks! That would be really helpful to know who opens vs getting to the bottom. Things like average time spent on pages too.
FWIW, I really can't think of any way to track the eye movements of readers to see if they reached the bottom of the text. I don't think you have anything to worry about.
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!