Substack Notes is a new space where you can publish short-form posts and share ideas with other writers and readers on Substack. Last week we started to answer Notes questions and today we’ll continue the conversation.
Posting on Notes a few times last week helped me get my subscribers to reach 100 a lot faster than I expected. When I started writing on Substack four months ago just for fun, that was something I could have never imagined. I also had great joy reading the writers I subscribe to share their short-form writings. All in all, it's been a joyful experience for me. I can't wait to see where Notes will take us in this coming year!
The challenge now is to draw a larger cohort of sensible people (not trolls or bots) from Twitter and elsewhere to this platform. Once network effect kicks in even for non-writers, Substack will rock!
How did you grow through Notes? Asking cuz something weird happens here and my notes just don't get SEEN - at all. Commenting works but not posting directly, zero likes. I was blaming my small subscriber list but it's not that totally apparently. Maybe I need to feed myself through a More Interesting processor. Ha!
That's a great question. I didn't set out to grow via posting/commenting on Notes. My intention was just to connect and share writings I like. Besides sharing my own writing, I also re-stacked writings from other writers that I like. Then I think subscribers came organically that way.
yes I believe generosity of spirit must help. I have shared none/little of what I wrote, just little bits of miscellaneous thoughts on whatever subject of the moment, but maybe restacking other writers is key.
to sleepyhollowink the name you gave on substack facsinates me, could you help me to post something important on substack which is too confusing for me as i suffer a disability many years i would pay you to help me try to reply by e-mail only regards eric tortoise1234567@yahoo.com
These new additions look good! I was reluctant to "go notes," mostly because I'm tired of social media and distraction... but have since waded in, and am happy to have done so! It's a feel-good opp, to do some twitter-recovery :) Thank you!
Glad to hear that, Alison! I'm hoping we get a "save" button in Notes soon to better connect my discovery --> reading flow. Let's see what the product team ends up doing next ;)
Yes! I wish there was s "read it later" function because I can't necessarily stop and read full posts that people recommend in the moment and imagine others may feel similarly.
🟧- Right now, if I restack something, it takes me back to the top of the page, and I have to scroll back down to where I was. Is there a plan to fix that?
Okay - where are the joythreaders? That’s where you make an enthusiastic thread/string of Notes around a thing you really enjoy nerding out over, and enjoy telling other people about so they can fall in love with it too.
I mean, if there’s one thing I want to come over to Notes from Tw***er, it’s that. Along with the people who were formerly doing it over there with such infectious delight.
Is there a concern that Notes might unintentionally replace the need to subscribe to newsletters? Since Notes allow for longer takes, and are styled in a similar way to social media, are there any concerns around this replacing reading of newsletters by users potentially? (this question is coming from a newsletter with a small subscriber base, so not as relevant yet, but just wondering about thoughts around this)
We're always concerned about how new features will affect existing (and important) dynamics for Substack. Everything we do is about increasing growth for newsletters, so if e.g. Notes cannibalizes newsletters in ways that harm growth / writers, we'd be very worried. So far, we're still very much in the observation / assessment phase, but broadly: we're definitely always monitoring these things (downstream effects, cannibalization, etc.) and we'll always work to make sure that we don't trade-off against what matters most to us: the success of our writers / creators at growing their publications / achieving and sustaining independence.
I’m really liking notes especially as a way of bigging up other writers notes and quotes and also as a natural way of going off-piste subject wise. Not sure I’d want to limit it to paid subscribers though that would obviously keep out the haters and trolls
Thanks for creating Notes, which is a God send to new publishers on Substack like me! How do you best promote your work via Notes (when you are just starting with a few subscribers and without asking your friends and family?) I feel that my Notes can get into black hole as not a lot of people see them yet. Thanks!
Breezing through between "day job" meetings and seeing questions/comments below that get at some of what I came here to explore. But, an abiding question for me, related to Notes and Writer Hours and the whole nine yards: HOW do you all make the TIME for all the options??
I don't watch television or, any longer, have kids at home. I do work a full time job. And, try to actually read the 'Stacks to which I've subscribed. And, I do some volunteer work. And, I post to my page weekly: https://elizabethbeggins.substack.com/. And, try to engage and be engaging on social media to help promote the work And, so forth...ad nauseam. I just can't figure out how to make space for all the opportunities, and I'm not sure whether a half dozen new subscribers warrants the investment. :sigh:
Hahaha!!! I almost added "And, I try, mostly unsuccessfully, to prioritize 7-8 hours of sleep..." to my list. In short, I love it but can't ever seem to get enough.
*For commenting & responses to my newsletter, I block 30 mins or so ( I want to make sure I respond to anyone that's taking the time to comment) at some point during the day.
*Same story for Notes, though tbh, that was time I was spending on Twitter, so I haven't lost any ground.
*I've got kids and a job that starts before the sun comes up, so decent sleep is more aspirational than anything at this point.
Appreciate the run down, Kevin. Not too dissimilar from what I'm already doing, except that I was a Twitter lurker and never really committed to *being* there, so I don't have that time to trade out. Our kids grew and flew some years ago and, remarkably, right around the same time I lost some of my ability to hot-burn the candle at both ends. I still do it, but the results get more slippery with every passing year.
Working on it! Just in its early stages now. You can only see this on the web. Next to someone's name in Notes, click the "..." and select "See more from NAME"
In case there's further iteration on that feature, here's a quick observation: I tried commenting on a note that could apparently be replied to only by paid subscribers and didn't realize my note wouldn't be permitted to be posted until after I had written my reply and was blocked from sending it. So if replies to notes are limited to subscribers, that should be clearly indicated on the note somehow.
I'm curious on what others see as the main benefits of notes besides sharing their content? Have you found anything on there that's helped you imporve your writing process, appreciation of another writer, or something else?
Does this mean I have to catch up and then watch it an episode at a time to the end, instead of bingeing on it all at once at the end, accompanied by chocolate biscuits and crisps?
Nooo!! 😂
Please, folks, by all, means chat about the superb characterisation, the acting skills, the characters you live and hate, but for the sake of my sanity, preface any plot comments by a spoiler alert.
As for the rest, count me in. I’ve already found Notes a great way to do a number of those.
I hated that birdy app, right from the start. I was such an early user that there was almost no-one I knew or had ever heard of on there so I gave up.
Trying again a decade or so later I found its user interface impossible to grasp (I still can’t), the character limit infuriating and the lack of attractive visuals — what, no pictures? — maddening. My distractions of choice became Facebook; attractive and simple to use and I got to choose how many characters I needed to use, not some nerdy guy in California, to whom words are just an inferior programming language. And, besides, I could keep track of what my (adult) kids were up to, as well as my more tech savvy friends. (Until, that is, my kids switched, briefly, to WhatsApp, just to annoy me.)
Over the years I’ve occasionally tried to get to grips with the blasted avian app but found it no more attractive and just as incomprehensible in use, and became more and more concerned about how destructive it had become.
Notes, on the other hand, is a place for people who write, and love writing, and perhaps because of that it has become — so far — like the stimulating but supportive online writing groups I used to belong to twenty, thirty years ago. (Can it be forty?! That long, certainly for users of the U.K. academic network Janet — when, that is, you could fight your way past the ubiquitous ‘sticky handshakes’. )
So I have very high hopes that, being a specialist app where writers — and readers — can meet other writers, it will continue the way it has begun, just as you describe it in your post.
Just, folks, please lay off the Succession spoilers. Or I’ll have to try talking to the birds again. Shudders.
Sorry, keep forgetting about the musicians and photographers and artists, too. My bad. My very bad.
Because I can envisage a great kind of synergy building up among Notes users of every creative pursuit where we can learn from and support one another.
For me, it's been a great way to find new other music writers I might not have otherwise. Seeing what my subscribers are reading has also been really valuable.
Going the other way, it's been a really convenient way for me to boost other writer's work that I think others will enjoy.
I love that I can read short-form writings from writers that I subscribed to. It also allows me to follow and discover new posts from someone I subscribed to other than from my email inbox, because it often gets too full.
One thing I've learned: There are a lot more people writing about climate change than I ever realized. Not sure what this means to me, yet. But I found the observation compelling.
It is the greatest threat that we face as a species - so I am very glad that it's getting much more attention. I think the trick is to break it down into something thats relevant to people in their personal lives, and not something abstract and distant. It's a difficult needle to thread.
I'm terrible at Notes, apparently. Or I just don't get it. Most of my readers are email subscribers that I imported over from Wordpress. I doubt very many have any kind of Substack login. And I'm hesitant to encourage them to get one as I don't know what the benefit is, other than reading my Notes.
So what am I supposed to be doing with Notes? Getting other writers to subscribe?
A nice start is to just post interesting stuff in there and interact with other writers. Maybe you'll get a few restacks and people who don't already know you will start paying attention.
But you could also send a post to your subscribers encouraging them to download the Substack app and try Notes. The app is good anyway, since it gives them a clean place to read all your posts, it comes with push notifications, and is well integrated with Notes.
Notes starts getting really fun when your readers are in there with you.
I like Notes, but one thing I'd like is to see more writers who also cover my specific topic- in my case, baseball. In particular, when it suggests other writers, it's never fellow baseball writers. I'm all for branching out into different subjects, and I know it's a fine line between providing shared interests and going overboard shaping our TL, but I feel like me seeing more baseball writer's notes and them seeing mine, whether we subscribe to each other or not, could help us all build subscribers.
I don't know if I'm doing a great job of explaining myself, but hopefully you get the gist. In any case, I know it's early days. A lot of people aren't even using it yet, and there will be a lot of evolution. But that's my initial impression.
1) I would like both myself and my readers to be able to see Notes. Can you put a notes tab on my home page so I and my subscribers can see all my notes just like they can see the list of all my posts.
2) the Substack head office generated Notes are many and they are filling up my Notes home tab and I can’t even find my own Notes easily. The Substack generated Notes should be found in the Notes/Subscribed tab.
I am not that happy with the functionality of the Android app when it comes to posting notes. I can only post links and images, but I often like quoting and mentioning other Substackers, both of which I cannot do through the app. If I want to do that, I have to login to substack through my phone's web browser and then manually add a link on top of that if I want to restack a post (which also does not show up on the post's page as a restack). Is this something you are going to improve in the future? One of the conveniences of Notes would be to post and react while I'm on the go, but this makes it much more of a hassle.
We've got lots of work to do across the board! Mentions are coming soon to the apps. Restacking quotes from posts should work, though, even in Android. Highlight a passage, then click "restack". We're going to be improving every surface constantly. Thanks for using Notes and for this feedback.
You know, as someone new here who's on a budget and would love to be a paid subscriber to everyone I read (working on that), I don't like the fact that the default setting to comments is to paid subscribers only. I want to hear from all readers, and I would like to be able to share with authors here when the post is available to everyone (and would suggest that authors think about opening up the comments to all on free posts). And the paywall setting automatically shuts off comments to unpaid subscribers for the entire newsletter, so now I have to do 2 (one for paids who will still get pinged for both) so I can keep comments open to everyone. Not my idea of fun or good business. I know the idea is to convert as many readers to paid subscribers as possible (totally my goal, BTW), but I don't think segregating readers in that manner is the way to do it. It's saying, "I don't value your feedback because you're not paying." Yuck. I wish @substack would reconsider having a paywall in a post not shut off comments from everyone. At least give authors that option to allow who they want to be able to give feedback. Connection to readers is the most important thing (IMO). That relationship creates value, which would likely manifest more paid subscriptions. xo
Thanks, Robert. And I do that for all of my main posts but I wasn't able to do that with a paywall added at the end of the newsletter. The paywall section shut off that option. Now, maybe that's a bug for me. I just would prefer it not be a feature for Substack. xo
Another idea I had, you could use the Chat and make it accessible to all subscribers, so that people can comment on the article. But then that would mean that people who are not subscribed cannot comment.. Plus it is extra steps which is also not great. Feels like just allowing custom paywalls on free posts would be so much easier.
Okay so I tried out a few things. What you can do is :
This post is for…
Everyone
Paid subscribers only
MORE OPTIONS
Founding members only
Free subscribers only <--- click this
Then apparently it will send that post ONLY to free subscribers and it will not appear on your substack page nor appear in your archive. However, this does not fix the comment issue, as you would then still have a visible post that is only accessible to paid subscribers.. so far I do not see any option of avoiding 2 emails for paid subscribers if you want to keep comments open..
That's what I mean. We need the options. I don't know how many writers are intentionally blocking free subscribers from commenting on open posts or just forgetting to hit that button to make it open to all (another step; we're all busy). But I don't want to ping ping my paid subscribers if I can just do a paywall...but I won't do that because it shuts off comments from all. Anyway, that's my rant/wish list for the week. xo
I can't wait for notes to pick up steam for me! I'm gonna be more intentional about spending time over there (I've gotta get used to getting back on a social media-ish platform again). But I'll read over Substack's article(s) on Notes and try some more.
So far anything I post is met with crickets unless it's a restack of someone else's work.
I've posted on Notes a few times, but I'm seeing very little engagement - because most of my email subscribers (which aren't very many) don't spend alot of time on social media.
Is there any way to interact better with people who are not subscribed to you? I just can't see signing up for hundreds of email subscriptions in order to engage with people on Notes and vice-versa.
We are working on a way for folks who want to tune into a writers' notes to do so without also subscribing to their email list! This is just in its early stages now. You can only see this on the web. Next to someone's name in Notes, click the "..." and select "See more from NAME"
I think this is important and have used the "See more from..." function for a bunch of folks. Without this type of functionality, pretty soon people will be subscribed to thousands of substacks.
But we writers should be careful about what we wish for. People reporting significant subscriber growth since Notes was released would not necessarily have seen as much growth if others could easily just "Follow" rather than "Subscribe." In fact, I can't help but wonder if there were some users who subscribed to substacks via Notes without quite realizing they were subscribing to an emailed newsletter.
You didn't ask me, Pradjeep, but, as Bailey may have left the thread, may I mention a couple of quick things?
1. One thing I'll say (that Bailey may not) is that folks shouldn't post and then wait for readers. I'm not saying this is what you are doing — I have no idea. Most of us have to go out and get readers... by sharing your post on social media, asking others to share on social media and elsewhere; telling colleagues to read your posts (and, ideally, subscribe); identifying yourself, wherever possible, as the author of TensorHealth; and so forth. Substack provides lots of good info on subscriber growth.
2. I looked at your newsletter and see that you haven't fleshed out the About page. Your answer to "Why Subscribe?" is "to get full access to the newsletter and website." I believe it's good to think of "About" as your sales pitch. How will subscribing benefit the reader? (I need to work on mine, too. It's a work in progress. I'm constantly tweaking my About page and my Welcome email.)
3. Similarly for your bio... Have you made yourself sound like an expert, a fascinating person, and/or engaging communicator?
4. I respectfully suggest that you delete your "Coming Soon" post. Because it's outdated, a potential reader might assume that your newsletter is just an afterthought.
5. Most of your content is Paid. That's a bold move. It works for some people. Personally, I want to have 500-1000 real readers before I even consider offering paid subscriptions. Right now, based on your "homepage" — combined with the scarce info in your About section — I'm not sure how a reader would have enough info to choose to subscribe, unless you happen to be extremely prominent in your field.
I hope you find this input useful and take it in the positive spirit in which it is intended. My own subscriber list is not large after about 5 weeks of regular posting, so I see myself as more of a peer *student* of Substack rather than an expert.
We’re designing a system that puts human beings in control. On Notes, you’ll find things that you deeply value, because you’ll only see things from writers who are in the universe of the work you already subscribe to. The first version of Notes will be simple, and we’ll continue to iterate. There's more in this post - https://on.substack.com/p/notes-faq
None of our code attempts to categorize users within taxonomies or groups, so nothing in the algorithm will "create isolated circles of users"; that said, users will tend to self-isolate in ways: for example, people with X beliefs will follow publications that respect X beliefs. We have thoughts on this dynamics —sometimes called the "filter bubble" problem— and ways of mitigating it, but it's not much of an issue for the platform yet given our scale.
I've been on Substack for about two months now and have only managed to organically pick up 30 subscribers. I'm a novelist who focuses on epic fantasy, so I'm wondering if Substack is the best place for someone who writes within my genre. There doesn't seem to be much interest thus far.
I can't comment on the interest of Substack as a whole, but there are plenty of fantasy writers on here. Getting into contact with other Substackers who write similar things could help you find people who are interested in your content.
I have a very basic question. I posed this question 8 days ago on officc hours.
I URGE AND BESEECH SUBSTACK EMPLOYEES TO ASSIST ME WITH THIS QUERY
Substack's explanatory materials, regarding "Notes," said that immediately after we published our first note, we would be sent a "template,": which would asssist us in notifying all of our subscribers that we had publshed a note.
After I wrote my first note, somthing momentarily flashed on my screen. It flashed so briefly that I am not sure what it was.
In any event, I want the "template" discussed in subtack's mateials introducing notes. Otherwise, I don't know how to tell all of my subscribers about my notes.
I sent a response to you about 18 minutes ago. In that response, I tendered 4 additional questions. Perhaps, I asked too many questions. Let me ask my most important question re the dissemination of notes to my subscribers:
1) Will my second and third notes be sent to my subscribers automatically? If not, how do I send my subsequent notes to my subscribers. One last question: In the future, what should I type into the address bar to see all of the notes that I have posted.
The sorting algorithms are very simple. The "Subscriptions" tab just shows you content and interactions from the people you are subscribed to. The "Home" tabs shows you content and interactions from the people you are subscribed to AND from the people they recommend. It's a simple trust graph based on your subscriptions. We'll be constantly seeking to improve this.
I think a lot of the fledgling Substacks (I'm newish here too, I started publishing on a regular basis about a month ago) are feeling a tad discouraged because they are not seeing as much growth as the more established Substacks. It is a slow burn when you don't import hundred/thousands of email addresses and that is OKAY! A little reminder to enjoy the journey and be patient. My Substack is growing slowly but regularly. Good things take time.
Thank you and indeed. We have a ton of work to do and I'm confident the platform will just get better and better for the less established Substacks too.
I know you weren't asking me, but in my experience audience growth here is slower, much stickier than other platforms. The quality of engagement is also much higher, which makes it all more worthwhile.
I know it has something to do with seeing what people you subscribe to post and comment on, and being seen by subscribers from the substacks that recommend you (in addition to your own subscribers)
how do I get to read comments on other folks notes? I can comment even if I don't subscribe to the account. I cannot read comments though. how does accessing comments work?
I am a paid subscriber for both Heather Cox Richardson and Robert Hubble letters to my emails.
I am baffled about your Substack takeover. I'm not receiving any emails from either. I am not a writer nor do I wish to be but I do not want to cancel either Heather or Hubble. Please help. Earlene1211@comcast.net.
I wrote a post about Substack Notes. My sense is whatever I think I know is probably wrong in some way. It would be wonderful to be able to correct my misconceptions. I don't wish to broadcast my post to beyond my limited audience at this point. I did not even notify them I was on Notes. Even that step I am unsure of the consequence. I would much prefer to correct it if I just got it wrong. I did the post yesterday and then repeated it in my first note. If someone could lend a sense of what my misconceptions are I would appreciate it. It is my latest post so only if someone has the time and inclination. I am a cautious social media ex-pat. I love Substack and it has been a great place to write and read and I want that to continue. If you prefer to just email that would be fine also. MRKJMSDLN@GMAIL.COM -- Thanks to anyone willing to take a peek.
Forgive the newb question but what does it mean when someone subscribes but stats say zero notices of posts were delivered to there email from start of sign-up. i.e. They don't know about any posts. I think I have about 8-10 of those zero notice subscribers. Incorrectly going to spam at least counts as delivered right? Seems like hotmail accounts have the most connection issues.
Also have a VIP subscriber that analytics says did not receive last two posts. Please advise what this means because that's not cool if they are suddenly involuntarily blocked from post notices when they have helped me out with a prime-time recommendation..
I would also highly suggest putting the maps above the $ in analytics. I know I want to look at global growth changes that happen far more often than $ changes and don't appreciate the $ reminder every time I want to look at maps. Thank you!
Curious about how people are getting play in the Notes (and getting subscribers.) I got a few - literally about 3 total so far from commenting regularly. But literally no likes at all from Posting my own notes, as if they aren't seen at all. How does that algorithm work. What's it take to be seen? Only the biggest can rise? Help!
We’re designing a system that puts human beings in control. On Notes, you’ll find things that you deeply value, because you’ll only see things from writers who are in the universe of the work you already subscribe to. The first version of Notes will be simple, and we’ll continue to iterate.
When you click on the Notes tab today, you’ll see three view options: “Home,” “Subscribed,” and for writers, “My Subscribers.”
The Subscribed view shows notes and activity from writers you have subscribed to directly.
The Home view shows notes from writers you are subscribed to and writers they recommend, making up your extended network.
The My Subscribers view is where writers will see posts from people who subscribe to you. We’re experimenting to see if this tab can help writers and their readers build stronger connections through Notes. In addition to their notes and activity, very soon you’ll see indications of their subscriber status (for example, free or paid).
As an engagement tool, it may be too early to tell how effective Notes will be. I’ve received very little engagement, personally. Most of my posts get zero responses. My subscriber count is below 100. Some writers with many thousands of subscribers are reporting better results.
It seems to me that reach may be limited greatly due to Notes only being accessible to Substack subscribers. (Am I right about that?) Not sure how overall visibility compares with other social media apps.
My goal with Notes is to increase subscriber numbers. Maybe I’m looking at it the wrong way. Is my impression correct that my Notes are mainly visible to people who already subscribe to my writing?
Building those relationships with other writers is one way to help grow your exposure to new readers. How many writers have you recommended / been recommended by on Substack?
Thanks for the quick reply ... and suggestion. So far, I've recommended one writer (via a post embed) and have two more in the queue. In turn, my account has been recommended by two people. I did receive 12 new subscribers from one of those recommendations (also a post embed type).
Notes, on the other hand, has been extremely quiet in terms of engagement.
Question #1: Is following someone on Notes, only, possible? Or, if you follow someone on Notes, are you also subscribing to their blog?
Question #2: I’ve noticed that my wife, who subscribes to several Substacks (incl. my own) receives email summaries of Notes posts from people she subscribes to. If she wants to stop receiving those summaries, is there an unsubscribe option ... and if so, is it made clear that she wouldn’t be unsubscribing from everything including the newsletters?
1) Working on it! Just in its early stages now. You can only see this on the web. Next to someone's name in Notes, click the "..." and select "See more from NAME"
I think it would be helpful for many writers -- myself included -- to get some kind of insight into what's going on with Twitter. Whether we like that platform or not, it's normally a major driver of engagement for Substack writers, yet the throttling continues. Are there any efforts to try and build back that bridge (regardless of who may be in the wrong?), or are there any proven workarounds on that platform?
I know this is a sensitive subject, but I'm thankful for any cogent replies.
We're really bummed about how this has all gone down. We're hoping for the best and will do everything in our power to help writers get around this. We're trying not to inflame the situation further.
We think writers should be on both Twitter and Substack Notes and believe the two can happily coexist and even complement each other. We didn't build Notes to be a Twitter killer. We built it to help writers grow from the Substack network. It's a much different game.
In terms of how you might still get benefit from Twitter while these suppressions are in place, here are a few thoughts:
- Publish good stuff on Twitter that demonstrates your worldview, your voice, and your quality of thought. In some cases, this might look a lot like just posting your Substack post (or a good part of it) over there. Build your profile and audience, and people will then find you even if they can't find your Substack links. And putting a link in there at the bottom of the thread probably doesn't compromise your reach on that platform. This is smart to do on all the platforms, by the way, including LinkedIn, Instagram, and Facebook. Heather Cox Richardson, the top publisher in the Politics category on Substack, publishes all her posts in full on Facebook, too.
- Use images to display your Substack URL.
- Think of Twitter less of a way to drive people to your links and more of a platform to demonstrate your brilliant mind. The traffic that Substack writers get from Twitter is pretty low, and has been decreasing for a while, anyway.
Thank you, Hamish. I know it's a delicate matter, so I appreciate your candor. I always thought the two felt complimentary, so the last few weeks have been disappointing, but it's good to have a clearer picture on Substack's intentions, and where we all go from here. Thanks for advocating on behalf of your writers.
I like that I don't need to have a Twitter account to find a community of writers and creatives. I am not anti-Twitter at all, but before I felt like I was missing out on community or growing my newsletter. Notes levels the field in terms of exposure and it brings people together. I'm an overall Elon advocate in a lot of ways, but Twitter is not for me because my goal is to build a community of scribblers. Notes is a new positive for Substack and will grow the platform and bring people together. The challenge is making sure we find time to write and use these extra features as a way to support and celebrate the work.
Hey there. Hamish posted a bit about what's going on here: https://substack.com/profile/3567-hamish-mckenzie/note/c-15004744. FWIW, in our data, Twitter has become an increasingly less potent source of traffic over the years. Our approach in the face of what we expect to be is erratic behavior from the legacy social media companies in the coming years is to make Substack a space that can help writers grow reliably, and we're already seeing some proof in that pudding.
I have only posted a couple of notes to try it out. I like that it's another way to engage with other writers on the platform when I'm not able to spend a lot of time reading full articles. But the question is how to make it different and specific vs it just being another facebook post. Thoughts?
If I write a post on Substack and I subsequently make the same post on my personal blog, will Google potentially flag either one as plagiarism and send it to the bottom of the Google algorithm?
It's possible - How Google handles duplicate content is complex. I suggest you look into the concept of "Canonical links" - which is how you tell search engines which "mirror" of the contet is the one you want indexed.
Posting on Notes a few times last week helped me get my subscribers to reach 100 a lot faster than I expected. When I started writing on Substack four months ago just for fun, that was something I could have never imagined. I also had great joy reading the writers I subscribe to share their short-form writings. All in all, it's been a joyful experience for me. I can't wait to see where Notes will take us in this coming year!
That's awesome to hear! Well done.
The challenge now is to draw a larger cohort of sensible people (not trolls or bots) from Twitter and elsewhere to this platform. Once network effect kicks in even for non-writers, Substack will rock!
Wow, what a dream to hear this!
Congratulations! That is exciting to hear.
Thank you, Bryce!
love to hear it
Thank you!
How did you grow through Notes? Asking cuz something weird happens here and my notes just don't get SEEN - at all. Commenting works but not posting directly, zero likes. I was blaming my small subscriber list but it's not that totally apparently. Maybe I need to feed myself through a More Interesting processor. Ha!
That's a great question. I didn't set out to grow via posting/commenting on Notes. My intention was just to connect and share writings I like. Besides sharing my own writing, I also re-stacked writings from other writers that I like. Then I think subscribers came organically that way.
yes I believe generosity of spirit must help. I have shared none/little of what I wrote, just little bits of miscellaneous thoughts on whatever subject of the moment, but maybe restacking other writers is key.
to sleepyhollowink the name you gave on substack facsinates me, could you help me to post something important on substack which is too confusing for me as i suffer a disability many years i would pay you to help me try to reply by e-mail only regards eric tortoise1234567@yahoo.com
These new additions look good! I was reluctant to "go notes," mostly because I'm tired of social media and distraction... but have since waded in, and am happy to have done so! It's a feel-good opp, to do some twitter-recovery :) Thank you!
Glad to hear that, Alison! I'm hoping we get a "save" button in Notes soon to better connect my discovery --> reading flow. Let's see what the product team ends up doing next ;)
Yes! I wish there was s "read it later" function because I can't necessarily stop and read full posts that people recommend in the moment and imagine others may feel similarly.
🟧- Right now, if I restack something, it takes me back to the top of the page, and I have to scroll back down to where I was. Is there a plan to fix that?
Yeah! That frustrates me too. Lots of little things like that that we'll be rapidly improving in the days and weeks ahead.
Thank you! I'm glad it's on team's radar.
Okay - where are the joythreaders? That’s where you make an enthusiastic thread/string of Notes around a thing you really enjoy nerding out over, and enjoy telling other people about so they can fall in love with it too.
I mean, if there’s one thing I want to come over to Notes from Tw***er, it’s that. Along with the people who were formerly doing it over there with such infectious delight.
(Huge bias alert, obviously: https://substack.com/profile/110857-mike-sowden/note/c-14855897)
Oooh I love seeing people geek out about things!
Is there a concern that Notes might unintentionally replace the need to subscribe to newsletters? Since Notes allow for longer takes, and are styled in a similar way to social media, are there any concerns around this replacing reading of newsletters by users potentially? (this question is coming from a newsletter with a small subscriber base, so not as relevant yet, but just wondering about thoughts around this)
We're always concerned about how new features will affect existing (and important) dynamics for Substack. Everything we do is about increasing growth for newsletters, so if e.g. Notes cannibalizes newsletters in ways that harm growth / writers, we'd be very worried. So far, we're still very much in the observation / assessment phase, but broadly: we're definitely always monitoring these things (downstream effects, cannibalization, etc.) and we'll always work to make sure that we don't trade-off against what matters most to us: the success of our writers / creators at growing their publications / achieving and sustaining independence.
I’m really liking notes especially as a way of bigging up other writers notes and quotes and also as a natural way of going off-piste subject wise. Not sure I’d want to limit it to paid subscribers though that would obviously keep out the haters and trolls
Thanks for creating Notes, which is a God send to new publishers on Substack like me! How do you best promote your work via Notes (when you are just starting with a few subscribers and without asking your friends and family?) I feel that my Notes can get into black hole as not a lot of people see them yet. Thanks!
Our guide to growth and collaboration on Substack Notes may be a good place to start! https://on.substack.com/p/notes-collaboration-growth-guide
Breezing through between "day job" meetings and seeing questions/comments below that get at some of what I came here to explore. But, an abiding question for me, related to Notes and Writer Hours and the whole nine yards: HOW do you all make the TIME for all the options??
I don't watch television or, any longer, have kids at home. I do work a full time job. And, try to actually read the 'Stacks to which I've subscribed. And, I do some volunteer work. And, I post to my page weekly: https://elizabethbeggins.substack.com/. And, try to engage and be engaging on social media to help promote the work And, so forth...ad nauseam. I just can't figure out how to make space for all the opportunities, and I'm not sure whether a half dozen new subscribers warrants the investment. :sigh:
Discuss... :)
How much do you value sleep?
Hahaha!!! I almost added "And, I try, mostly unsuccessfully, to prioritize 7-8 hours of sleep..." to my list. In short, I love it but can't ever seem to get enough.
*I batch a lot of my writing over 2-3 days.
*For commenting & responses to my newsletter, I block 30 mins or so ( I want to make sure I respond to anyone that's taking the time to comment) at some point during the day.
*Same story for Notes, though tbh, that was time I was spending on Twitter, so I haven't lost any ground.
*I've got kids and a job that starts before the sun comes up, so decent sleep is more aspirational than anything at this point.
Appreciate the run down, Kevin. Not too dissimilar from what I'm already doing, except that I was a Twitter lurker and never really committed to *being* there, so I don't have that time to trade out. Our kids grew and flew some years ago and, remarkably, right around the same time I lost some of my ability to hot-burn the candle at both ends. I still do it, but the results get more slippery with every passing year.
I feel like this, too. You are not alone.
Now, back to your question: how is everyone else doing it?
I'd love to be able to subscribe to someone's Notes but not their newsletter.
Working on it! Just in its early stages now. You can only see this on the web. Next to someone's name in Notes, click the "..." and select "See more from NAME"
Awesome, thanks Bailey!
They just added this feature!!!
Oh, great! I hadn't seen it yet!
Thank you for making it possible for us to limit comments to subscribers only! I’m very happy about that feature
In case there's further iteration on that feature, here's a quick observation: I tried commenting on a note that could apparently be replied to only by paid subscribers and didn't realize my note wouldn't be permitted to be posted until after I had written my reply and was blocked from sending it. So if replies to notes are limited to subscribers, that should be clearly indicated on the note somehow.
Oh no! That definitely needs to be fixed stat
How do you do this?
It’s not rolled out to everyone yet but was mentioned as a soon-to-come feature for all.
More to come!
I'm curious on what others see as the main benefits of notes besides sharing their content? Have you found anything on there that's helped you imporve your writing process, appreciation of another writer, or something else?
From a Note I published about how I intend to use Notes:
Discover interesting writers
Connect with other writers who are writing in the same general areas as me (humor, essays, and fiction)
Lift up other writers, especially the writers who aren’t yet household names
Occasional self-promo (the 80-20 rules feels about right)
Engage in a broader water cooler conversation for a few minutes during each workday because, let’s be honest, writing can get kinda lonely
Gain inspiration from overlapping communities of creative people
Talk about the series finale of Succession
Meet my writing heroes
Contribute what I can to building a better internet
From time to time, share a Note that makes someone laugh
These are great ideas.
All good reasons! Nicely put!
do you believe we will get overlapping communities of creative people on notes?
I think we're already seeing that.
Definitely seeing this--many visual artists are making their way over here from IG overwhelm. Raising hand here. ;)
Yes!
yes
Hooray for Notes principles gotta love Situation Normal
What a terrific list Michael. Thanks for sharing!
All good, I especially like the 80-20 idea, if only everyone else could agree/oblige.
Noooo!! I haven’t started watching Season 4!
Does this mean I have to catch up and then watch it an episode at a time to the end, instead of bingeing on it all at once at the end, accompanied by chocolate biscuits and crisps?
Nooo!! 😂
Please, folks, by all, means chat about the superb characterisation, the acting skills, the characters you live and hate, but for the sake of my sanity, preface any plot comments by a spoiler alert.
As for the rest, count me in. I’ve already found Notes a great way to do a number of those.
I hated that birdy app, right from the start. I was such an early user that there was almost no-one I knew or had ever heard of on there so I gave up.
Trying again a decade or so later I found its user interface impossible to grasp (I still can’t), the character limit infuriating and the lack of attractive visuals — what, no pictures? — maddening. My distractions of choice became Facebook; attractive and simple to use and I got to choose how many characters I needed to use, not some nerdy guy in California, to whom words are just an inferior programming language. And, besides, I could keep track of what my (adult) kids were up to, as well as my more tech savvy friends. (Until, that is, my kids switched, briefly, to WhatsApp, just to annoy me.)
Over the years I’ve occasionally tried to get to grips with the blasted avian app but found it no more attractive and just as incomprehensible in use, and became more and more concerned about how destructive it had become.
Notes, on the other hand, is a place for people who write, and love writing, and perhaps because of that it has become — so far — like the stimulating but supportive online writing groups I used to belong to twenty, thirty years ago. (Can it be forty?! That long, certainly for users of the U.K. academic network Janet — when, that is, you could fight your way past the ubiquitous ‘sticky handshakes’. )
So I have very high hopes that, being a specialist app where writers — and readers — can meet other writers, it will continue the way it has begun, just as you describe it in your post.
Just, folks, please lay off the Succession spoilers. Or I’ll have to try talking to the birds again. Shudders.
Sorry, keep forgetting about the musicians and photographers and artists, too. My bad. My very bad.
Because I can envisage a great kind of synergy building up among Notes users of every creative pursuit where we can learn from and support one another.
Bring it on!
- Connection with other writers
- Lower barriers to start writing
I love to read what the authors I follow share there, and comment on!
For me, it's been a great way to find new other music writers I might not have otherwise. Seeing what my subscribers are reading has also been really valuable.
Going the other way, it's been a really convenient way for me to boost other writer's work that I think others will enjoy.
Love to hear it
I love that I can read short-form writings from writers that I subscribed to. It also allows me to follow and discover new posts from someone I subscribed to other than from my email inbox, because it often gets too full.
Yes, hearing easily summarized thoughts from writers you enjoy can be a lovely thing to roll around in your mind.
I've found some great newsletters on chapbooks, DIY residencies, and discovered new writers that I now follow.
One thing I've learned: There are a lot more people writing about climate change than I ever realized. Not sure what this means to me, yet. But I found the observation compelling.
It is the greatest threat that we face as a species - so I am very glad that it's getting much more attention. I think the trick is to break it down into something thats relevant to people in their personal lives, and not something abstract and distant. It's a difficult needle to thread.
I'm terrible at Notes, apparently. Or I just don't get it. Most of my readers are email subscribers that I imported over from Wordpress. I doubt very many have any kind of Substack login. And I'm hesitant to encourage them to get one as I don't know what the benefit is, other than reading my Notes.
So what am I supposed to be doing with Notes? Getting other writers to subscribe?
A nice start is to just post interesting stuff in there and interact with other writers. Maybe you'll get a few restacks and people who don't already know you will start paying attention.
But you could also send a post to your subscribers encouraging them to download the Substack app and try Notes. The app is good anyway, since it gives them a clean place to read all your posts, it comes with push notifications, and is well integrated with Notes.
Notes starts getting really fun when your readers are in there with you.
I like Notes, but one thing I'd like is to see more writers who also cover my specific topic- in my case, baseball. In particular, when it suggests other writers, it's never fellow baseball writers. I'm all for branching out into different subjects, and I know it's a fine line between providing shared interests and going overboard shaping our TL, but I feel like me seeing more baseball writer's notes and them seeing mine, whether we subscribe to each other or not, could help us all build subscribers.
I don't know if I'm doing a great job of explaining myself, but hopefully you get the gist. In any case, I know it's early days. A lot of people aren't even using it yet, and there will be a lot of evolution. But that's my initial impression.
Totally get this! One of our teams is working on post tags. Wonder if that could help solve this problem of more specific discovery.
Two requests of Notes
1) I would like both myself and my readers to be able to see Notes. Can you put a notes tab on my home page so I and my subscribers can see all my notes just like they can see the list of all my posts.
2) the Substack head office generated Notes are many and they are filling up my Notes home tab and I can’t even find my own Notes easily. The Substack generated Notes should be found in the Notes/Subscribed tab.
Thank you!!
1) Working on adding "Notes" to publication pages, per writer request!
2) Good feedback! Thank you.
Great to hear this. Thank you very much Bailey and Substack for responding and working on this.
I like Notes and Notes likes scribblers :p
I am not that happy with the functionality of the Android app when it comes to posting notes. I can only post links and images, but I often like quoting and mentioning other Substackers, both of which I cannot do through the app. If I want to do that, I have to login to substack through my phone's web browser and then manually add a link on top of that if I want to restack a post (which also does not show up on the post's page as a restack). Is this something you are going to improve in the future? One of the conveniences of Notes would be to post and react while I'm on the go, but this makes it much more of a hassle.
We've got lots of work to do across the board! Mentions are coming soon to the apps. Restacking quotes from posts should work, though, even in Android. Highlight a passage, then click "restack". We're going to be improving every surface constantly. Thanks for using Notes and for this feedback.
Good to hear. And I see that highlighting was added only a week ago, had not updated the app yet. So that's great to have already!
Which examples of great embeds of Notes into articles have you seen?
Share, share, share!!! 📝
This one below is my attempt, with GIF, nature and beauty. And hope!!
https://livmkk.substack.com/p/everything-subsides
This is a great one from Gary!
With slides, etc.
https://garysharpe.substack.com/p/respiratory-profiling-a-window-into
It's a great idea to use notes to add supplementary infomration to an article, especially images, which can be much more attention-grabbing.
Have you tried?
Not yet, but I'm going to add it to the toolbox - always helpful to have multiple approaches in hand.
aha, I just learned that when you hover over a poster's name here, it shows their bio and substack description. Cool!
You know, as someone new here who's on a budget and would love to be a paid subscriber to everyone I read (working on that), I don't like the fact that the default setting to comments is to paid subscribers only. I want to hear from all readers, and I would like to be able to share with authors here when the post is available to everyone (and would suggest that authors think about opening up the comments to all on free posts). And the paywall setting automatically shuts off comments to unpaid subscribers for the entire newsletter, so now I have to do 2 (one for paids who will still get pinged for both) so I can keep comments open to everyone. Not my idea of fun or good business. I know the idea is to convert as many readers to paid subscribers as possible (totally my goal, BTW), but I don't think segregating readers in that manner is the way to do it. It's saying, "I don't value your feedback because you're not paying." Yuck. I wish @substack would reconsider having a paywall in a post not shut off comments from everyone. At least give authors that option to allow who they want to be able to give feedback. Connection to readers is the most important thing (IMO). That relationship creates value, which would likely manifest more paid subscriptions. xo
Just before you publish a post, you can select who is allowed to comment. You can change that to everyone, and no one will get a double post.
Thanks, Robert. And I do that for all of my main posts but I wasn't able to do that with a paywall added at the end of the newsletter. The paywall section shut off that option. Now, maybe that's a bug for me. I just would prefer it not be a feature for Substack. xo
I have asked for this to be changed in the main thread, hopefully someone from the Substack team will see it.
Great! Thank you! xo
Another idea I had, you could use the Chat and make it accessible to all subscribers, so that people can comment on the article. But then that would mean that people who are not subscribed cannot comment.. Plus it is extra steps which is also not great. Feels like just allowing custom paywalls on free posts would be so much easier.
Yeah, sort of not the point with chat, but thanks! We just need Substack to see the bigger picture. xo
Okay so I tried out a few things. What you can do is :
This post is for…
Everyone
Paid subscribers only
MORE OPTIONS
Founding members only
Free subscribers only <--- click this
Then apparently it will send that post ONLY to free subscribers and it will not appear on your substack page nor appear in your archive. However, this does not fix the comment issue, as you would then still have a visible post that is only accessible to paid subscribers.. so far I do not see any option of avoiding 2 emails for paid subscribers if you want to keep comments open..
Oh interesting, I will have to pay attention to that as I was also planning on doing that..
Edit: you're right.. I don't like that either, I also want the option to keep the comments open..
That's what I mean. We need the options. I don't know how many writers are intentionally blocking free subscribers from commenting on open posts or just forgetting to hit that button to make it open to all (another step; we're all busy). But I don't want to ping ping my paid subscribers if I can just do a paywall...but I won't do that because it shuts off comments from all. Anyway, that's my rant/wish list for the week. xo
I have asked for this to be changed in the main thread, hopefully someone from the Substack team will see it.
I can't wait for notes to pick up steam for me! I'm gonna be more intentional about spending time over there (I've gotta get used to getting back on a social media-ish platform again). But I'll read over Substack's article(s) on Notes and try some more.
So far anything I post is met with crickets unless it's a restack of someone else's work.
I've posted on Notes a few times, but I'm seeing very little engagement - because most of my email subscribers (which aren't very many) don't spend alot of time on social media.
Is there any way to interact better with people who are not subscribed to you? I just can't see signing up for hundreds of email subscriptions in order to engage with people on Notes and vice-versa.
We are working on a way for folks who want to tune into a writers' notes to do so without also subscribing to their email list! This is just in its early stages now. You can only see this on the web. Next to someone's name in Notes, click the "..." and select "See more from NAME"
I think this is important and have used the "See more from..." function for a bunch of folks. Without this type of functionality, pretty soon people will be subscribed to thousands of substacks.
But we writers should be careful about what we wish for. People reporting significant subscriber growth since Notes was released would not necessarily have seen as much growth if others could easily just "Follow" rather than "Subscribe." In fact, I can't help but wonder if there were some users who subscribed to substacks via Notes without quite realizing they were subscribing to an emailed newsletter.
Just some food for thought.
Dear Rebecca i just saw your comments on substack as you seem to be a smart woman.
i would pay you if you could post something importnat for me on substack and tik tok if you know how. both too confusing for me.
please reply by e-mail to tortoise1234567@yahoo.com
regards
eric
When you post, who actually sees the post? Is it only your subscribers? What would be the point?
The Subscribed view shows notes and activity from writers you have subscribed to directly.
The Home view shows notes from writers you are subscribed to and writers they recommend, making up your extended network.
Hi, My newsletter TensorHealth is not reaching to right audience. What should I do? Will Notes help here?
It is meant for Healthcare and medical doctors, clinicians and AI engineers (interested in medicene)
You didn't ask me, Pradjeep, but, as Bailey may have left the thread, may I mention a couple of quick things?
1. One thing I'll say (that Bailey may not) is that folks shouldn't post and then wait for readers. I'm not saying this is what you are doing — I have no idea. Most of us have to go out and get readers... by sharing your post on social media, asking others to share on social media and elsewhere; telling colleagues to read your posts (and, ideally, subscribe); identifying yourself, wherever possible, as the author of TensorHealth; and so forth. Substack provides lots of good info on subscriber growth.
2. I looked at your newsletter and see that you haven't fleshed out the About page. Your answer to "Why Subscribe?" is "to get full access to the newsletter and website." I believe it's good to think of "About" as your sales pitch. How will subscribing benefit the reader? (I need to work on mine, too. It's a work in progress. I'm constantly tweaking my About page and my Welcome email.)
3. Similarly for your bio... Have you made yourself sound like an expert, a fascinating person, and/or engaging communicator?
4. I respectfully suggest that you delete your "Coming Soon" post. Because it's outdated, a potential reader might assume that your newsletter is just an afterthought.
5. Most of your content is Paid. That's a bold move. It works for some people. Personally, I want to have 500-1000 real readers before I even consider offering paid subscriptions. Right now, based on your "homepage" — combined with the scarce info in your About section — I'm not sure how a reader would have enough info to choose to subscribe, unless you happen to be extremely prominent in your field.
I hope you find this input useful and take it in the positive spirit in which it is intended. My own subscriber list is not large after about 5 weeks of regular posting, so I see myself as more of a peer *student* of Substack rather than an expert.
this is helpful. where do you see "comming soon"? I did not find as I want to delete.
Tell me more! What is the right audience, how do you describe them?
is there an algorithm in notes that will create isolated circles of users, as facebook does?
my sense is that nothing gets out of the group profile, that facebook has labeled you with .
We’re designing a system that puts human beings in control. On Notes, you’ll find things that you deeply value, because you’ll only see things from writers who are in the universe of the work you already subscribe to. The first version of Notes will be simple, and we’ll continue to iterate. There's more in this post - https://on.substack.com/p/notes-faq
There's some information on how the algorithm works here: https://on.substack.com/p/notes-faq#§what-populates-in-the-home-and-subscribed-view-in-the-notes-tab
None of our code attempts to categorize users within taxonomies or groups, so nothing in the algorithm will "create isolated circles of users"; that said, users will tend to self-isolate in ways: for example, people with X beliefs will follow publications that respect X beliefs. We have thoughts on this dynamics —sometimes called the "filter bubble" problem— and ways of mitigating it, but it's not much of an issue for the platform yet given our scale.
I've been on Substack for about two months now and have only managed to organically pick up 30 subscribers. I'm a novelist who focuses on epic fantasy, so I'm wondering if Substack is the best place for someone who writes within my genre. There doesn't seem to be much interest thus far.
I can't comment on the interest of Substack as a whole, but there are plenty of fantasy writers on here. Getting into contact with other Substackers who write similar things could help you find people who are interested in your content.
What would be the best way to contact them? By doing a simple search?
I think subscribing and/or commenting to their work, or meeting them on threads like these. That is what has worked wonders for me so far.
There's a community Substack for fiction writers, that's a great place to start.
https://fictionistas.substack.com/
Thank you!
What's the difference between 'home' and 'subscribed'? Content seems very similar and both contain posts and comments from those I'm subscribed to.
The Subscribed view shows notes and activity from writers you have subscribed to directly.
The Home view shows notes from writers you are subscribed to and writers they recommend, making up your extended network.
I have a very basic question. I posed this question 8 days ago on officc hours.
I URGE AND BESEECH SUBSTACK EMPLOYEES TO ASSIST ME WITH THIS QUERY
Substack's explanatory materials, regarding "Notes," said that immediately after we published our first note, we would be sent a "template,": which would asssist us in notifying all of our subscribers that we had publshed a note.
After I wrote my first note, somthing momentarily flashed on my screen. It flashed so briefly that I am not sure what it was.
In any event, I want the "template" discussed in subtack's mateials introducing notes. Otherwise, I don't know how to tell all of my subscribers about my notes.
PLEASE GET BACK TO ME.
Hi David! Can you try clicking this link? It should take you to that email - https://your.substack.com/publish/post?type=newsletter&template=notes-intro-template-2_post
I sent a response to you about 18 minutes ago. In that response, I tendered 4 additional questions. Perhaps, I asked too many questions. Let me ask my most important question re the dissemination of notes to my subscribers:
1) Will my second and third notes be sent to my subscribers automatically? If not, how do I send my subsequent notes to my subscribers. One last question: In the future, what should I type into the address bar to see all of the notes that I have posted.
I appreciate your response. I am sorry but I have related questions:
The template does not contaiin the actual note that will be sent to my subscribers. I think I posted two notes.
My questions:
a) How can I find the notes that the template will send to my subscribers.
b) Can I select which notes I want the template to send to subcribers
c) If I write a third note, will that third note also go to my subscribers
d) Where can I find a list of all of my notes and the contents of those notes.
Thank you for your help
David
Does Notes posting affect our individual SEO ranking like via Google. How can I really use Notes and Chat to behold loyal community
It should affect it positively. SEO for Notes is looking pretttty good so far.
That is a call for more Notes activity from me then.
Do we have any idea how the algorithm works on Notes?
The sorting algorithms are very simple. The "Subscriptions" tab just shows you content and interactions from the people you are subscribed to. The "Home" tabs shows you content and interactions from the people you are subscribed to AND from the people they recommend. It's a simple trust graph based on your subscriptions. We'll be constantly seeking to improve this.
Thank you!
I think a lot of the fledgling Substacks (I'm newish here too, I started publishing on a regular basis about a month ago) are feeling a tad discouraged because they are not seeing as much growth as the more established Substacks. It is a slow burn when you don't import hundred/thousands of email addresses and that is OKAY! A little reminder to enjoy the journey and be patient. My Substack is growing slowly but regularly. Good things take time.
Thank you and indeed. We have a ton of work to do and I'm confident the platform will just get better and better for the less established Substacks too.
I know you weren't asking me, but in my experience audience growth here is slower, much stickier than other platforms. The quality of engagement is also much higher, which makes it all more worthwhile.
I concur! I appreciate the quality engagement. People are much more invested in community and connection here, which I LOVE.
It's all based on who you subscribe to and their recommendations. You can read more here: https://on.substack.com/i/113979446/what-populates-in-the-home-and-subscribed-view-in-the-notes-tab
I know it has something to do with seeing what people you subscribe to post and comment on, and being seen by subscribers from the substacks that recommend you (in addition to your own subscribers)
Great question. I'd like to know more about that too.
That's awesome to hear! Well done.
how many words or spaces are allowed per post?
how do I get to read comments on other folks notes? I can comment even if I don't subscribe to the account. I cannot read comments though. how does accessing comments work?
I am a paid subscriber for both Heather Cox Richardson and Robert Hubble letters to my emails.
I am baffled about your Substack takeover. I'm not receiving any emails from either. I am not a writer nor do I wish to be but I do not want to cancel either Heather or Hubble. Please help. Earlene1211@comcast.net.
You just need to change your settings in the SS app. It’s easy.
so, the question I just asked seems to be gone now....
Background: I have one substack publication, and will start another soon.
When I make a comment, it shows up as from my name and the name of my substack.
Question: When I have 2 publications and make a comment, how will I make it obvious that it's from me and reference my new publication?
your substack is very confusing and not easy.
i would be willing to paysubstack tio sign me on and post something important on substack which is too technical for me
eric
tortoise1234567@yahoo.com
i would pay an honest person to help me post an important issue on substack
I want to be removed from substack. I did not intentionally join. I am nobody and want to be removed.. Please help.
I think Substack employees and personnel have gone home. If any substack writers, familiar with notes, can answwer my questions please do so.
You can find my questions by doing a search for my last name, Gottfried
I wrote a post about Substack Notes. My sense is whatever I think I know is probably wrong in some way. It would be wonderful to be able to correct my misconceptions. I don't wish to broadcast my post to beyond my limited audience at this point. I did not even notify them I was on Notes. Even that step I am unsure of the consequence. I would much prefer to correct it if I just got it wrong. I did the post yesterday and then repeated it in my first note. If someone could lend a sense of what my misconceptions are I would appreciate it. It is my latest post so only if someone has the time and inclination. I am a cautious social media ex-pat. I love Substack and it has been a great place to write and read and I want that to continue. If you prefer to just email that would be fine also. MRKJMSDLN@GMAIL.COM -- Thanks to anyone willing to take a peek.
Forgive the newb question but what does it mean when someone subscribes but stats say zero notices of posts were delivered to there email from start of sign-up. i.e. They don't know about any posts. I think I have about 8-10 of those zero notice subscribers. Incorrectly going to spam at least counts as delivered right? Seems like hotmail accounts have the most connection issues.
Also have a VIP subscriber that analytics says did not receive last two posts. Please advise what this means because that's not cool if they are suddenly involuntarily blocked from post notices when they have helped me out with a prime-time recommendation..
I would also highly suggest putting the maps above the $ in analytics. I know I want to look at global growth changes that happen far more often than $ changes and don't appreciate the $ reminder every time I want to look at maps. Thank you!
Curious about how people are getting play in the Notes (and getting subscribers.) I got a few - literally about 3 total so far from commenting regularly. But literally no likes at all from Posting my own notes, as if they aren't seen at all. How does that algorithm work. What's it take to be seen? Only the biggest can rise? Help!
We’re designing a system that puts human beings in control. On Notes, you’ll find things that you deeply value, because you’ll only see things from writers who are in the universe of the work you already subscribe to. The first version of Notes will be simple, and we’ll continue to iterate.
When you click on the Notes tab today, you’ll see three view options: “Home,” “Subscribed,” and for writers, “My Subscribers.”
The Subscribed view shows notes and activity from writers you have subscribed to directly.
The Home view shows notes from writers you are subscribed to and writers they recommend, making up your extended network.
The My Subscribers view is where writers will see posts from people who subscribe to you. We’re experimenting to see if this tab can help writers and their readers build stronger connections through Notes. In addition to their notes and activity, very soon you’ll see indications of their subscriber status (for example, free or paid).
As an engagement tool, it may be too early to tell how effective Notes will be. I’ve received very little engagement, personally. Most of my posts get zero responses. My subscriber count is below 100. Some writers with many thousands of subscribers are reporting better results.
It seems to me that reach may be limited greatly due to Notes only being accessible to Substack subscribers. (Am I right about that?) Not sure how overall visibility compares with other social media apps.
My goal with Notes is to increase subscriber numbers. Maybe I’m looking at it the wrong way. Is my impression correct that my Notes are mainly visible to people who already subscribe to my writing?
Building those relationships with other writers is one way to help grow your exposure to new readers. How many writers have you recommended / been recommended by on Substack?
Thanks for the quick reply ... and suggestion. So far, I've recommended one writer (via a post embed) and have two more in the queue. In turn, my account has been recommended by two people. I did receive 12 new subscribers from one of those recommendations (also a post embed type).
Notes, on the other hand, has been extremely quiet in terms of engagement.
If it makes you feel any better - same boat with no responses to my posts - and I'm at <250 subscribers. Sigh.
Question #1: Is following someone on Notes, only, possible? Or, if you follow someone on Notes, are you also subscribing to their blog?
Question #2: I’ve noticed that my wife, who subscribes to several Substacks (incl. my own) receives email summaries of Notes posts from people she subscribes to. If she wants to stop receiving those summaries, is there an unsubscribe option ... and if so, is it made clear that she wouldn’t be unsubscribing from everything including the newsletters?
1) Working on it! Just in its early stages now. You can only see this on the web. Next to someone's name in Notes, click the "..." and select "See more from NAME"
2) This article should help explain how to solve your wife's problem: https://support.substack.com/hc/en-us/articles/8119385168660-How-do-I-stop-receiving-emails-from-Substack-#:~:text=On%20your%20Settings%20page%2C%20head,next%20to%20Recommendations%20to%20read.
Thanks. That article did answer a number of my questions.
I do see the "See more from" option, but it didn't seem to do anything. What are we supposed to see that that is clicked?
How do you source the images (free of copyright and royalty) in Substack? Does Substack have its own image bank that the writers can mine?
We have an unsplash bank you can use! More here: https://support.substack.com/hc/en-us/articles/4697212547860-How-do-I-add-free-images-or-pictures-to-my-Substack-post-
good to know
Many thanks.
Does Notes have a feature where you can see all of your own posts on a laptop? got it on android but not seeing it on lappy toppy
There's an option on your profile page to see "posts" or "notes" on web - https://substack.com/profile/10309929-david. Does that help?
fabo! thank you!
I think it would be helpful for many writers -- myself included -- to get some kind of insight into what's going on with Twitter. Whether we like that platform or not, it's normally a major driver of engagement for Substack writers, yet the throttling continues. Are there any efforts to try and build back that bridge (regardless of who may be in the wrong?), or are there any proven workarounds on that platform?
I know this is a sensitive subject, but I'm thankful for any cogent replies.
Thanks for asking in a sensitive way, Alexander.
We're really bummed about how this has all gone down. We're hoping for the best and will do everything in our power to help writers get around this. We're trying not to inflame the situation further.
We think writers should be on both Twitter and Substack Notes and believe the two can happily coexist and even complement each other. We didn't build Notes to be a Twitter killer. We built it to help writers grow from the Substack network. It's a much different game.
In terms of how you might still get benefit from Twitter while these suppressions are in place, here are a few thoughts:
- Publish good stuff on Twitter that demonstrates your worldview, your voice, and your quality of thought. In some cases, this might look a lot like just posting your Substack post (or a good part of it) over there. Build your profile and audience, and people will then find you even if they can't find your Substack links. And putting a link in there at the bottom of the thread probably doesn't compromise your reach on that platform. This is smart to do on all the platforms, by the way, including LinkedIn, Instagram, and Facebook. Heather Cox Richardson, the top publisher in the Politics category on Substack, publishes all her posts in full on Facebook, too.
- Use images to display your Substack URL.
- Think of Twitter less of a way to drive people to your links and more of a platform to demonstrate your brilliant mind. The traffic that Substack writers get from Twitter is pretty low, and has been decreasing for a while, anyway.
Good luck!
Thank you, Hamish. I know it's a delicate matter, so I appreciate your candor. I always thought the two felt complimentary, so the last few weeks have been disappointing, but it's good to have a clearer picture on Substack's intentions, and where we all go from here. Thanks for advocating on behalf of your writers.
Good luck to you as well.
I like that I don't need to have a Twitter account to find a community of writers and creatives. I am not anti-Twitter at all, but before I felt like I was missing out on community or growing my newsletter. Notes levels the field in terms of exposure and it brings people together. I'm an overall Elon advocate in a lot of ways, but Twitter is not for me because my goal is to build a community of scribblers. Notes is a new positive for Substack and will grow the platform and bring people together. The challenge is making sure we find time to write and use these extra features as a way to support and celebrate the work.
Hey there. Hamish posted a bit about what's going on here: https://substack.com/profile/3567-hamish-mckenzie/note/c-15004744. FWIW, in our data, Twitter has become an increasingly less potent source of traffic over the years. Our approach in the face of what we expect to be is erratic behavior from the legacy social media companies in the coming years is to make Substack a space that can help writers grow reliably, and we're already seeing some proof in that pudding.
Thanks Bailey. That was helpful.
I have only posted a couple of notes to try it out. I like that it's another way to engage with other writers on the platform when I'm not able to spend a lot of time reading full articles. But the question is how to make it different and specific vs it just being another facebook post. Thoughts?
One of our co-founders Hamish has written some on this! https://substack.com/profile/3567-hamish-mckenzie/note/c-15016738 and https://substack.com/profile/3567-hamish-mckenzie/note/c-14603398
Thank you!
If I write a post on Substack and I subsequently make the same post on my personal blog, will Google potentially flag either one as plagiarism and send it to the bottom of the Google algorithm?
It's possible - How Google handles duplicate content is complex. I suggest you look into the concept of "Canonical links" - which is how you tell search engines which "mirror" of the contet is the one you want indexed.
Which one do you want to prioritize?