We’re focused on making continuous improvements to existing products plus launching new features that help you grow and earn money with ease. Do you ever wonder, “How might I use that new feature?” or “Can Substack do ____?” This thread is your chance to ask.
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Hi, sorry for the late post but I can't join Office Hours while I'm at work.
I have a strange bug to report: in my last article, I swapped the social media image from the first (default) image to another one later in the same article. In the published newsletter, the first image was replaced by a white rectangle with the words "Image not found" in the middle. The caption and alt text remained intact. I had to edit the article and replace the broken image, but the newsletter still contains the error.
Yes. That just happened to me and I when I try to go back and edit my post nothing appears., no draft, no white box. I can't even delete the post! This is the second time in two days and I am a tad annoyed.
Office hours is a fantastic way to meet other Substack writers, and to get some questions answered. But it's also so busy that it can be a really frustrating experience.
I wrote up an Office Hours survival guide. If you're new to Office Hours, or if you've been here but found yourself frustrated by the jumpy interface, take a look and get a few pointers about how to make Office Hours a more enjoyable experience.
There's tips about how to bookmark comments you're interested in, including your own; how to read longer comments without the page jumping around, and how to write replies without the page jumping around. There's also a short list of feature requests, that I think would make these discussions more enjoyable for both writers and staff.
I suspect I'm in the minority of people who liked regular old Office Hours -- even though yes, it gets big and unwieldy -- because I don't really want to stick to one thread. That said, this feels smaller, less overwhelming, and more manageable, which is probably what most people want and need, especially if they're new. (So, good job, team!)
I agree. I have to get used to this. Especially because both the product and the grow topics interest me very much, but I liked sometimes finding new substacks in the new writer posts, or just the general ones from S.E. Reid. It seems clearer, but I'm missing the watercooler area.
I have interests across all three categories and its a little tough jumping around from one to another. If I had one request, it would be a category that is only about the craft of writing. I'd love to have the opportunity to talk about writing with other experienced writers.
That would be incredible. You might even be able to publish out some of the observations from this conversation. Substack Writer's League on Writing. I'm already chomping at the bit for this. Thanks, Katie.
+1 on this approach, Katie. It's helpful to see just the product thread, without having to wade through thousands of general posts in the other threads. Less overwhelming this way. Thanks.
I definitely appreciate this format. There are times where I might like the soft content of the general thread, but mostly I found myself digging through it looking for the bits on the product itself - so nice to be able to come straight to this subset now.
Desktop, Chrome browser. Another 'stacker just told me to click the line, and that worked! In the past there has been some kind of verbiage ("collapse" or maybe "collapse thread"?). So it's technically working for me, but something definitely changed because clicking the thread line wasn't intuitive.
Hi! I am wondering about the change in format for audio recordings. The side panel now covers a significant portion of the text, making it impossible to read while recording. I have to open the text in a new window and record on the other tab. I love that I can record directly in substack, so I hope there are some design shifts that make this a little easier! Thanks so much.
Sara, curious about your — and others' — experience with voiceovers. Have you gotten feedback from readers about that? I'm trying to determine whether voiceovers are worth doing consistently. There aren't any stats for voiceovers, so it's hard to tell whether it's worth the effort.
I include a voiceover with most of my posts, and have had some good responses -- I think a good portion of people appreciate them, and those who don't just ignore them.
Hi Jeremy. I'm about to add voiceovers into my Tao newsletter - with a Chinese Musical clip. I used to own an Audio Visual company - developing TV/PC commercials for HP and IBM. The right music can significantly help to (1) make your essay more professional and (2) to support and validate your newsletter theme.
Thanks for bringing this up, Sara! The is the biggest pain, and I keep thinking there must be an easy fix...but I can't find it! I called this exact issue to the attention of Substack administration here about a month or so ago—said she would pass it on to the engineers.
Hi Kamil, Please see my comment above. I think it was Katie??? who I mentioned this to during an office hours. The old way of recording was perfectly fine. I'm not even sure this adds any options except blocking the screen. Please help! Thank you! A
dmittedly, I am working on a 13" laptop at the moment...but not sure why that would matter?
My two biggest wants & wishes for Substack are always:
1. The ability to have more tiers: and example would be a $3 and $5 monthly tier, and then two different yearly tiers (maybe $15-20, $50). Kind of like Patreon.
2. The ability to basic edit (like crop) images from the stock photos natively in Substack. I would use that function more if I could crop images to horizontal to work better in the layout.
3. Custom customer (subscriber) groups! Let me easily send an email to the folks who always open things or to the folks who don't. It would make it easier to engage with those specific groups to upsell to a paid or increase the engagement.
Yes, tagging subscribers would be really helpful for tracking the long-term impact of different kind of promotions. Another platform, Emailoctopus, offers tagging. Here's what their implementation looks like: https://blog.emailoctopus.com/new-tag-your-contacts-in-emailoctopus/
Neat ideas, Kayla. The custom subscriber groups would be handy for repeat outreach. I guess some might see the additional tiers as having the potential to create more complexity/confusion for potential readers, but I agree that it might be helpful to further segment pricing for price-sensitive readers and for special segments (students, etc)
Yeah I definitely think that too many tier options would be a problem. I also think that this could be potentially solved with a "tip jar" function - letting people give smaller amounts by the newsletter as an appreciation. It also kinda depends on how much paid only content a person is putting out. I do also like the idea of a student tier for like college kids though.
I've worked in e-commerce my whole career and in all the of CMS backends you can set-up custom groups of customers and it's something I always find myself missing in Substack. I wish I could just send a little message to a group of people within my list.
I agree with Jeremy that Substack’s stance against the tip jar is sound. I used to have a tip jar and very very few people ever transitioned to paid. It’s much better for me to be confident with what I’m offering, even though I don’t have very many paid subscribers.
I know that others like the idea of a tip jar, but I'm skeptical of that approach. I see it as parallel to slacktivism, where people may give a couple of bucks once and then feel like they've done their part by doing what was asked, and I'm not sure that will help support creators substantially in the long run. It also creates more of a begging feel, whereas subscribing or being a member feels more like joining on a journey or being part of something on an ongoing basis. For people who can't afford to support a writer through a membership or subscription, rather than a tip jar we could provide other mechanisms for support, like providing helpful and specific feedback, sharing content, or spreading the word. Those all can be helpful ways of giving back, rather than just tossing in buck or two.
CO-SIGN being able to target "most engaged subscribers." We have that ability in Active Campaign and use it often, and I'd love to be able to target that subset here. I understand Substack isn't designed for the kind of advanced custom segmentation that other platforms offer, but this one in particular would be super helpful.
I like #2 and #3 a lot. Revue allowed an inline thumbnail image format, which I used sometimes and appreciated. And yes, it’d be great to set up groups. I have a group that consistently attends events so I’d like to create an events list.
That's a perfect example of why simply implementing groups on top of existing filters isn't enough. Tagging/ custom groups really is useful to managing an audience of subscribers.
Hey Substack, your platform is brilliant! I'm checking on my minor request for the analytics page, to add a column on each post's report that shows a simple chronological list of opens/reads, with the most recent open/read at the top. That way we can get a quick look to see who the most recent reader was since the last time we looked, without having to guess or search around. I believe this was submitted to your programming people and they were going to look at it. It would be extremely helpful and I'm sure it would be easy to add. At the moment it takes forever to figure out. How's it going? Thank you!!!
As a Canadian, I'd like it if the analytics page showed Provinces much the same way it does States, and European countries. I know we're The Great White North, but instead of having the analytics tell me I have 35% Canadians, I'd like to know where they are. Eastern Canada, Western, Atlantic. And what about a break down of demographics, so we can see the age group of readers following us?
My request is maybe related to yours, David. I’d like to see which readers clicked which links. Is this too creepy? My other request is to count clicks of audio embeds. Sometimes I include non-podcast audio and would like to know how many people are listening.
Who employs proof-readers or copy-editors? I catch most copy mistakes before "send" but inevitably, a few hours later I re-word things on the version that lives on the substack website.
I've thought about this since I began writing here. My approach is this: Hone the piece until it passes muster as not embarrassing to you, the writer, and not insulting to the reader, while getting your point across. Know for a fact that it could be better if you waited a few days and went over it again. After publishing, wait a few days, and go over it again. For me, the mailing is like the boy hawking newspapers on a street corner: "Read all about it!" A newspaper has a life of a day or so. An email in an inbox? You get the picture. Your permanent testament to the world is the post as it exists on your Substack web site. Why not edit, improve, add, adjust...delete(!) as you develop as a person and a writer? If there are significant changes that in itself can be a subject for a new post, referencing the original post. Or, leave it mostly as-is, and chronicle your thoughts in the comments section.
I treat this is as sort of a free-wheeling space where I'm only going to spend an hour or two writing. I'm a pantser, so I don't plan ahead and I don't have the time for an editor. I use Grammarly, I re-read it probably 3x (one time out loud, because out loud catches stuff your eyes missed) and then I hit publish. Inevitably, there will be a typo occasionally, and my readers will send me a note to tell me. I will change it so it's correct on the page, but I really don't stress it. To me, Substack is more like a glimpse into my diary or personal writings and I don't promise perfection.
I've noticed that a lot of people have been suggesting the implementation of a "Tip Jar" for occasional support, in addition to the existing monthly/yearly plans. I think this is a great idea, and I also have a suggestion for an even more advanced system. What if authors could set a specific amount for each post, which readers/sponsors could contribute towards in order to unlock the content for everyone? Once the threshold is met, everyone can access the post. This system could also include a badge system or leaderboard, which would make it feel like a special type of sponsorship. It's possible that many companies or individuals with Substacks would be interested in sponsoring content in this way.
Additionally, it could work in parallel with the current paid system since it wouldn't affect it. I'm looking forward to everyone's feedback.
These are all rad ideas! We believe deeply in the power of the subscription model. Our product teams are continuing to imagine what different payment methods could look like. Stay tuned.
The best thing I've found is to write a draft called post_template. My structure is usually post title, section, section, ..., conclusion, references. The draft has each of those section titles with the appropriate format, and each one has a single word like section_body or conclusions_body.
When I make a new post, I first open that template, copy it, and paste it into the new post. It's not quite as nice as a formal templating system, but it's much better than trying to convert a full post into a new post.
Hi Daniel, Substack now has a simple template function, where you can basically turn any past post into a template https://support.substack.com/hc/en-us/articles/4407316907412-Can-I-create-and-save-a-template-that-I-can-reuse- In terms of feedback on your Surgery Substack - looks like you have lots of info packed in — I'd consider adding brief bold sub-heds atop each section to make it easier for people to scan through and read the sections of most interest.
Is there any way to add that feature on drafts? That seems like it might be a fairly simple way to implement a templating system. (given that you already have the functionality for published posts)
hey substack team! so this is a massively small detail in the grand scheme of things, and I don't know if it's just me: but every time I try to embed a link to another Substack in one of my posts, the layout icon to change how I'd like the card to appear NEVER shows up on the top of the embed. If I want to switch the link card from vertical to horizontal or vice versa, I have to scroll up a ton to find the layout icon. It's always hiding like five paragraphs up, hovering in the void. I love Substack but scrolling to find that tiny little icon is the absolute bane of my existence. 😂
I propose that Substack employ S. E. Reidm and put her in charge of attitude on their social media venture.
I see two themes emerging in Google News and other sites that indicate more people are looking for a purpose in life and have realized that fear driven hatred is not the solution to our manifold problems but a contributor to the overarching struggle between democracy and autocracy.
Here is a slightly mangled copy of her “invitation to “join the discussion.”
open, honest, gracious, and curious.
This is YOUR space to discuss with each other, not just engage with me! Because of this, SAFE SHARING is my highest priority. If you are not engaging safely and with grace with others, you will have to leave. Period.
Hi everyone: I’ve been adding new bylines to my Substack — they enjoy it as well as my readers. However, I’d like to give those writers a share of any new paid subscriptions their posts garner. What would be a fair percentage, do you think? Heard about anyone doing this? Sure, I’d rather pay them a flat fee, but it’s too soon for that. AND, does Substack have a reporting feature taht I could check week to week, or month to month, to see which posts generated (x) number of paid subs?
I blogged in the old days. I published in print forever. WRiters need to be paid. I could offer something very modest, a flat fee — that would be the easiest for me, time-wise, but it’s such fees are capital I don’t have at the moment.
So I think the “let’s share” model is good. LIsten, is there a way I can search in the posts, by byline or contributor? So for example, “show me Mary’s posts” — then I could review, monthly, say, all her posts and see which ones generated paid subs.
I’m thinking of going 50/50, for the initial sign up only. But I could argue for more or less on either side! It IS the writer’s IP, that’s the cachet, and their reputation. However running the blog, being their editor and publisher and marketer and good ear, is no small feat. In traditional publishing, the publisher takes FAR more than the writer. LOL. I have been on both sides of this.
Also, if i garner a monthly subscriber on one of my byliner’s posts, and then they quit, that’s harder to track… since you don’t have reporting.
Let me tell you thought, bringing in the two other authors I did so far, has been fantastic. I got THEIR crowd, I got new subscribers (so far free) that never would have found me otherwise. And yet, I’m very close to these writers, that’s why I asked them. We naturally “fit.”
Love the new voiceover feature for my children’s stories at Mosswood Tales! Is there a stats figure to see how many subscribers are using that feature? Thanks!
I'd really like Substack to offer a $15/year subscription option so that more people can access more contributors. I'd be happy to pay the same $5 fee that goes to Substack from a $50 sub.
It would be nice if I could offer the March rate in the Substack paywall block, though. I add this lengthy "don't click below, click the Subscription button above to unlock the remainder of this issue at the March rate" explain-a-thon above the paywall.
I wonder if this is why they don't want to allow a lower base subscription rate. Discounts on top of a lower base subscription rate would result in annual rates that really aren't meaningful, where the processing fees are a significant portion of the overall payment.
I'm surprised they haven't attempted to facilitate multi-writer magazines. That would require hiring human, not algorithmic curators/editors. Humans who are magazine or newspaper industry veterans.
Yes, this is an interesting idea. $5 is a perfectly reasonable minimum for people who want to pay monthly. But, a lot of people can't afford or justify multiple $50 or annual subscriptions, especially if they're just discovering Substack and finding a bunch of publications they like and want to support.
Right now if someone has a $50 or $100 annual budget for newsletters, they have to pick one or two to support at the paid level. Those people may very well support 4 or 5 newsletters at the paid level if there was a lower annual minimum, on the order of $15 or $20.
Edit to ask, what is the current annual minimum? I thought it was $50, but then it was $30, and I don't see it documented anywhere.
A minor technical question. When I reply to a comment, sometime the text box disappears while I'm typing and I have to hunt for it, usually near the top of the comment thread. I think this happens because my engagement with the comment pushes it up in the list, but it would be nice to finish my reply before the content moves off of my screen. Any simple hacks for getting the text box to stay put until I post my reply?
Does Substack have data that gives insight on the ideal length of a post? I see a lot of posts — many of them with high engagement — that are much longer than most blogs or newsletters. Personally, even if I'm super-interested in the topic, I'm not proud to admit that I'll often do a quick scroll of a post and, if it's really long, skip past it. I know others do the same. What does the data say?
P.S. I'm sure genre, formatting, images, etc. are factors. Just wondering if there are general findings in the data.
I think a lot of it depends on what you're writing. I write fiction. A lot of fiction writers put up pieces that are somewhere in the 1-2000 word range. Some put up shorter flash fiction pieces of 100-200 words. Also, it depends on how often you post. The ones' that put up longer posts, tend to post once a week, some every other week. The shorter pieces can go up on a daily post. The idea is not to overwhelm the reader. But if they have the App they can read it on coffee break, or lunch, on sitting on transit. I think the best is not to have a piece that takes more than 30 minutes to read. 15 minutes reading might be a good length. Not very helpful, I know, but again, it depend on what you write.
Bob, I have 2 different publications with completely different audiences. One audience enjoys long posts and the other likes short posts. So: It depends.
There is a trade off between TL:DR (Too long: didn't read," and Too Brief:Hence Incomplete (TB:HI
IWired* magazine has many long, long, articles and hs athrived on that format. I'm trying to work out "teases" that open a post, giving a reason to engage.
First, I have to start hitting f"Post" instead ofcompulsively writing then abandoning my infants on the toadside to fiinish "later." My current vision issues make that more difficult to overcome that hangup as I am sure I am missing mmore mistakes that before, but those issues also remind me t "Peter Pan" is agin out, leaving behind many dying children on my hard drives....
Well, that post now and proof later worked about as well as expected. A quick review identified at least four typos. And this short one had three and I probably missed others.
Thanks, Kamil. Btw: I somehow found myself in this thread before I realized that Substack had split the threads for the new format. Sorry if I posted this in the wrong place. For what it's worth, there may be other dunderheads like me who didn't get (i.e. neglected to read) the memo.
I'll get it right next time. :)
Also... I subscribed to your Substack, but that's not really s'posed to happen, is it? 😂 I'll unsubscribe.
This week is my second birthday celebration posting my newsletter Tumbleweed Words on Substack! I’m not much of one for self-promotion and love the organic community I am growing over at Tumbleweed Words. But I thought I’d shoot my shot for once and ask fellow Substackers who subscribe or enjoy my newsletter to take less than a minute and support my newsletter with a Substack recommendation—any support is greatly appreciated! Link available below via my recent post.
Today I did my first cross-post and noticed it shows up on my Dashboard but not my publication homepage https://www.getflack.com/. Can I control what posts show up on the homepage?
I hate to say this, but the "I recommend these newsletters" feature pushes me away from this platform because it's a walled garden. The top newsletter I'd recommend uses a publisher different than substack. But non-substacks don't appear to be enter-able in the recommendations widget.
Hi! I have my own Substack page but I am thinking of launching a new one as a local newspaper type thing. Multiple writers/reporters, all local news. How do you advise setting such a thing up on Substack? Are there existing examples that you know of? Thanks! -Steven Saint Thomas
I'm no expert, but saw your question and am wondering if you've looked at The Free Press as a possible model? It looks very unsubstacky, but apparently it's Substack-powered.
Yes! This is a great example. I have no idea how to set up such a multifaceted interface - my newsletters are really simple, single-column deals. Anybody done this? Thanks! -SST
Yeah, to be honest, they have a whole team working on The Free Press and the founder was well-known and probably had a lot of financial backing, or at least had a huge fan base that would follower her wherever she goes. So, as a model, it's likely overly ambitious for most of us.
It's ambitious, yes! I don't need all the bells and whistles... just a few whistles maybe. I emailed them - we'll see if they answer. Thanks again for the lead!
I'm barely a week into using this medium and I am quite enjoying the ease and the fact that I can send my thoughts directly to the inbox of my friends. It refrains them from needing to navigate 100+ tabs should they decide to open my webpage, bla bla bla! To say the least, it's going well so far. I just have one suggestion / point of improvement that you might be willing to consider.
In the subscribers list, would be so heartwarming if you could please add an option for a customized note for each subscriber. Like, just beside their name - friend@thanks.org [Custom message: "Hey Friend, just thought you should know that this was inspired by our conversation. Enjoy the read."] Would really be amazing to have this option before the newsletter is sent out. This is just for thoughtful measures.
Otherwise, kudos to this platform that I am thoroughly enjoying. Looking forward sharing more of my work in this community.
This is a wonderful means of support. I’ve received two boost paid subscriptions in the last few days. It enables a discount without publicizing a sale price for everyone. Thanks, Substack wizards! Lauriestone.Substack.com.
I have almost 200 audio podcasts in the Evening under Lamplight Podcasts, most of which I had produced on Anchor before moving them all to Substack (a move I am delighted with). I had produced the podcasts in several series, each series devoted to a specific topic (Shakespeare's Tempest, Dante's Inferno, Stevenson's Fables, Dante's Purgatorio, etc.) so that now I have ten series. But many are mixed together, so an Inferno podcast might be followed by a Tempest podcast, and so on.
My question is whether it's possible to rearrange the order of our podcasts, or to have some system of indexes, so someone following, say, the Purgatorio podcasts can quickly go from one to the next.
I thought about setting up a different podcast for each of the series, but that seems far too complicated.
But suppose you are on Purgatorio 7 and want to go on to Purgatorio 8 but the next podcast is Stevenson's Fables 12? Perhaps the only answer is just to persist until you get to Purgatorio 8. But that seems a little burdensome for the listener. Many people come to Substack for easy accessibility, and I'm always very sorry to offer them something complicated.
Hi there! I have a question/suggestion about categories for when people join Substack.
I produce Skipped History, which focuses on overlooked bits of US history. I know a lot of the population writ large is interested in learning more about various kinds of history at the moment, but when going through the signup flow, it's hard to find newsletters that focus on specific subsets of the past (e.g. US history, Latin American history etc.).
My question/suggestion is, as Substack grows, might it be advisable to add more categories to the signup flow, or to test out a more specific set of follow-up prompts after users go through the first prompts (e.g. after clicking "Design," you'd see further prompts for a few different types of design people might be interested in)? Or maybe once you click on a category when signing up, newsletters are organized under a few different subheadings?
I'm sure y'all are keen to avoid adding any friction to the flow, but maybe gaining a little more information would be a good way of helping new users find newsletters that better match their interests, generating paid signups, and reducing churn. Just an idea (that you've likely already considered) from the inestimably less intelligent product team at Skipped History HQ.
I think it would be great if on the "Explore" page of the InBox you could break down the "Fiction and Literature" pages into subsections: Short stories, serials, Sci-Fi/Fantasy, Romance, that sort of break down.
Payments with Indian cards to writers in India aren't going through -- and support has been incredibly unhelpful. I meticulously shared the exact issue and also checked with Stripe if there was something to be done from their end, and there isn't.
There's a two-step process to saving Indian cards (unlike in other countries) and I would really, really appreciate if someone from the product team looked into this. Most other platforms have done this already so it shouldn't be too difficult. Here's the instructions from Stripe: https://support.stripe.com/questions/guide-for-saving-cards-in-india
Hey Kamil, thanks for getting back. Stripe took some time, but it actually does support Indian cards reasonably fine now. There are just some regulatory hoops that you'd need to jump, and you'd have to do this with any payment processor (even the Indian ones).
Specifically, Substack would have to:
1. collect cardholder consent, and
2. perform 3D Secure (3DS) authentication
And payments will start going through for Indian cards!
I understand that India hasn't been a focus market so even incorporating these two changes might be a bit of a hassle. But if you went the extra mile, and did do it, you'd have so many potential subscribers who are just left out right now! Please do consider it. And if you'd like to pilot any changes with my Substack, I'm happy to be part of this.
Yes, please. I'm not from India, but it has for a long time bothered me that my friends from India have been excluded due to the policies at Stripe. If these policies have changed, and there is now even a way, it seems like a minor change to add this and start unlocking an enormous market.
I run the Visual Storytelling Newsletter with free and paid subscribers. Is there a way to serve one type of CTA button (say Give a Gift Subscription) to paid subscribers and Upgrade to Paid CTA button for free subscribers? This would be extremely helpful. Right now I'm resorting to serving one CTA while addressing both segments which makes it too long and not quite personal.
Right! What I try to do is have unique CTA button for free vs. paid subs.
Now I end up addressing both segments:
[graphic]
Love the stories you read here? If you're already a paid subscriber, I’m truly grateful! If not, join my mission to bring the gospel of visual storytelling into more purposeful marketing by becoming a paid subscriber
Subscribe now button
Ideally I'd like to have:
Free subs only:
[graphic]
Love the stories you read here? Join my mission to bring the gospel of visual storytelling into more purposeful marketing by becoming a paid subscriber
Subscribe now button
Paid subs only:
[graphic]
Thanks for your amazing support. Feel free to extend the love with our gift subscription.
A guest writer cross-posted their piece from my newsletter to their own newsletter audience. Love how easy that is for them -- but curious if I'll get any stats on how many people viewed the piece and how it performed through the cross-posting?
Hi Kamil, appreciate the reply. To clarify -- the guest post is on my Substack. The writer cross-posted it to their own audience. I am curious if/how I would get statistics on the cross-post to their audience, since it is literally just re-sharing my Substack's content.
Regarding the triple-threaded Writer Office Hours, at first I thought it might be an improvement over the extremely long single threaded versions of the past. After going through the experience, this week, of juggling THREE extremely long comments threads, I can say with certainty it was overwhelming.
Not only that, but after leaving a response on two of the three threads, my email filled up with almost 70 (so far) notifications. Did the notification algorithm change? As I recall, I used to only get notified about direct likes and comments to my own comment. But, now it seems I receive an email for every comment anyone makes anywhere in the thread. I know there is a way to mute notifications, but I still would like to know about comments and likes directly associated with the comments I have made.
Hi! I have a question. Is it possible to see the visits to all pages, including about? I see the visits to posts, but not to individual pages. If I go to the posts I can see individual post traffic, but nothing about the other pages.
Wouldn't it make sense to combine the analytics of the posts and subscribers with "stats"? That way we have one dashboard where we can view traffic, sources, shares, subscribers etc?
I started nine days ago and still trying to figure out stuff. Maybe down the line, once I have more content to offer, the subscription may become more relevant. A bit unrelated, but I was wondering... are there plans to allow for text alignment options?
I know the team has left the thread, but still, in case they are looking back at this: I would love better web3 integration. The promised embedding of NFTs does not work (and is limited to OpenSea anyway). It would be wonderful if it starts working. Also in the payment/subscription part. It would be great to be able to token gate my newsletter. Or give people the ability to collect an edition as NFT for support. I wouldn't mind if it was a special NFT on which a fee for Substack was included. In principle that should work with the righ smart contracts.
I would like an automatic email sent for trials that's between the 7-day trial on paywalled posts and the new upsell email. Basically: send the most engaged readers an offer of a free trial (set at the writer's preference of time). I write once a week- two go to paid, two go to free subs. So a 7-day trial isn't enough for someone to know it's "worth it." I know I can manually send an offer to the top readers but automated would be great, too.
Quick question. BOOST helped to convert one of my loyal readers to a paid subscription. HOORAY! He signed up for a $50 subscription and got it for $40 (yay for him!). Thing is, I offer a "Founding Membership" honor to those who subscribe for $50/year, so now I'm having a crisis of conscience. Do I give him that "Founding Member" honor, even though he only paid $40? If so, it doesn't reflect this in my subscriber stats...
Claire, there is a work-around: to subscribe to a few different paid substacks (as a free subscriber),. You will occasionally receive emails with promo content that looks different than usual, with special offers, etc. these are the "Boost"s.
This will give you an idea of how your free readers will feel about Boosts.
Hello. I’m three months in and loving Substack. The issue I wanted to ask about though is spam filters. Does Substack have relationships at an enterprise level with Gmail, Outlook, etc? If so, is there anything Substack can do to get Gmail, Outlook et al to stop coding Substack newsletters as spam? Even my own newsletter ends up in my own spam folder even though I constantly tell Gmail that it’s not spam.
Thanks Kamil. I’ve tried all of those things and Gmail is still moving posts to spam. I’m less worried about myself and more worried about someone who signs up, never sees my welcome email because it goes to their spam folder and then never even sees subsequent emails because they’re in spam. Is there no way for Substack to broker agreements with Gmail, Outlook et al so emails don’t get tagged as spam in the first place - i.e. a seamless experience for users rather than an experience that tasks users with doing admin that they may not have time to do, or probably don’t know they have to do.
Is there a way to upload a pdf or google doc write-up to Substack and have it transform into a Substack article? I am using a number of charts and tables and it has been a challenge to get the formatting right in the Substack editor. It would be easier if I could create the doc in Google Docs, probably convert it into a pdf file, upload the pdf to Substack and then have it seamlessly converted into a Substack note. Thanks.
Thanks for the response. Yes, I did try the copy/paste option. The tables and charts lost their original formatting. Regardless, appreciate the note. Thank you.
Thanks Kamil. Interestingly, I didn’t put those in there. In fact, when I look at the LaTeX in the editor those escaped parentheses aren’t visible. You can only see them when viewing the post on the web. Any suggestions?
Hello, does the substack integrated visit counter count my won visits to the newsletter? How does it make the difference per visit/ per click, is it by IP adress?
Is there a way to create and then duplicate template stubs that are just drafts? I use similar headed sections each issue of “The TfC Ramble” where I talk about the intersection of tech and comics. Currently, I duplicate a previously distributed post and then erase the section content each time, keeping just the headings. Is there a simpler way?
Thanks. Feature request: If that same option was available for items already in drafts, this could be used to effectively create templates. (Using a post already posted means you have to erase something.)
You're absolutely right. My workaround is to keep a draft called post_template, that has all the same sections as my standard posts. Each paragraph is just a single word, "paragraph_here". You can double click that word and start typing, you don't have to highlight and delete all the text from a previously published post.
When I make a new post I open that draft, copy the entire body of the post, then paste that into a new post. It's a workaround, but it's better than creating a new post from a previously published post.
I just finished serializing my novel A BEGINNER'S GUIDE TO TIME TRAVEL https://benwoestenburg.substack.com/s/nanowrimo. I put all of my stuff in separate sections. Short stories, novellas...etc, and share the links so the reader can choose what he wants to read. It's not the best way to do it, and I'm probably going to have to clean it up because It's getting pretty crowded, but I think sharing a link the way you have it now is the way to go.
As of right now you can't insert a video into an existing post (that is essentially hosted by Substack) - but you can make a video post (I don't know if you still need to ask for beta access to it, but mine access was approved very quickly). A video post places the video at the top and then you can write under it, but you can't format the location.
If the video is on youtube (for example), you can however embed it into your post by copy and pasting the video link.
The novel I’ve been serializing is now complete. I don’t know what I’ll do next on my substack (perhaps a sequel?), but until I’m sure of what I’m offering, I don’t want anyone signing up for a new yearly subscription. How do I change the subscription choices to just free or monthly? I do not want to pause the subscriptions in progress, just prevent new ones.
I want to make sure I've got something right. If I have a monthly subscriber and I send them an offer (coupon) to upgrade to yearly at a discount, can they just click the link and automatically "upgrade" to the yearly price, or do they have to cancel their monthly subscription first, then use the coupon for the yearly subscription? Thanks.
Thanks for joining us today at Office Hours! The Substack team is signing off but we'll be back next week. In the meantime, checkout the resources listed at the top of the post.
Hi, sorry for the late post but I can't join Office Hours while I'm at work.
I have a strange bug to report: in my last article, I swapped the social media image from the first (default) image to another one later in the same article. In the published newsletter, the first image was replaced by a white rectangle with the words "Image not found" in the middle. The caption and alt text remained intact. I had to edit the article and replace the broken image, but the newsletter still contains the error.
Yes. That just happened to me and I when I try to go back and edit my post nothing appears., no draft, no white box. I can't even delete the post! This is the second time in two days and I am a tad annoyed.
Office hours is a fantastic way to meet other Substack writers, and to get some questions answered. But it's also so busy that it can be a really frustrating experience.
I wrote up an Office Hours survival guide. If you're new to Office Hours, or if you've been here but found yourself frustrated by the jumpy interface, take a look and get a few pointers about how to make Office Hours a more enjoyable experience.
https://mostlypython.substack.com/p/using-substack
There's tips about how to bookmark comments you're interested in, including your own; how to read longer comments without the page jumping around, and how to write replies without the page jumping around. There's also a short list of feature requests, that I think would make these discussions more enjoyable for both writers and staff.
Wow thanks Eric! We are trying a new format today. I'll be curious to hear what you think
I suspect I'm in the minority of people who liked regular old Office Hours -- even though yes, it gets big and unwieldy -- because I don't really want to stick to one thread. That said, this feels smaller, less overwhelming, and more manageable, which is probably what most people want and need, especially if they're new. (So, good job, team!)
Always appreciate your feedback, Sarah!
I agree. I have to get used to this. Especially because both the product and the grow topics interest me very much, but I liked sometimes finding new substacks in the new writer posts, or just the general ones from S.E. Reid. It seems clearer, but I'm missing the watercooler area.
I have interests across all three categories and its a little tough jumping around from one to another. If I had one request, it would be a category that is only about the craft of writing. I'd love to have the opportunity to talk about writing with other experienced writers.
We could do that for a future Office Hours!
That would be incredible. You might even be able to publish out some of the observations from this conversation. Substack Writer's League on Writing. I'm already chomping at the bit for this. Thanks, Katie.
+1 on this approach, Katie. It's helpful to see just the product thread, without having to wade through thousands of general posts in the other threads. Less overwhelming this way. Thanks.
So far I love the idea of splitting out the Office Hours by theme. Very helpful!
I definitely appreciate this format. There are times where I might like the soft content of the general thread, but mostly I found myself digging through it looking for the bits on the product itself - so nice to be able to come straight to this subset now.
Not loving that the ability to collapse a thread has disappeared.
What device are you on Holly?
Desktop, Chrome browser. Another 'stacker just told me to click the line, and that worked! In the past there has been some kind of verbiage ("collapse" or maybe "collapse thread"?). So it's technically working for me, but something definitely changed because clicking the thread line wasn't intuitive.
I agree for a big part. But on the sunny side: it works. We'll get used to it. We can do it.
It's still there for me, on desktop Safari.
This looks great! Sorry for the double post, I got confused when I saw a couple posts starting at once.
No worries, appreciate your thoughtfulness in supporting fellow writers.
Love these observations, Eric, and you've got some great improvement ideas.
Well done, sir.
and well said :)
Right on. Good call 👌
Hi! I am wondering about the change in format for audio recordings. The side panel now covers a significant portion of the text, making it impossible to read while recording. I have to open the text in a new window and record on the other tab. I love that I can record directly in substack, so I hope there are some design shifts that make this a little easier! Thanks so much.
Sara, curious about your — and others' — experience with voiceovers. Have you gotten feedback from readers about that? I'm trying to determine whether voiceovers are worth doing consistently. There aren't any stats for voiceovers, so it's hard to tell whether it's worth the effort.
I include a voiceover with most of my posts, and have had some good responses -- I think a good portion of people appreciate them, and those who don't just ignore them.
Hi Jeremy. I'm about to add voiceovers into my Tao newsletter - with a Chinese Musical clip. I used to own an Audio Visual company - developing TV/PC commercials for HP and IBM. The right music can significantly help to (1) make your essay more professional and (2) to support and validate your newsletter theme.
I’ve tried voiceovers too and like the idea, but similar to you, Jeremy, it’s tough to tell because there aren’t any stats.
Thanks for bringing this up, Sara! The is the biggest pain, and I keep thinking there must be an easy fix...but I can't find it! I called this exact issue to the attention of Substack administration here about a month or so ago—said she would pass it on to the engineers.
Hi Kamil, Please see my comment above. I think it was Katie??? who I mentioned this to during an office hours. The old way of recording was perfectly fine. I'm not even sure this adds any options except blocking the screen. Please help! Thank you! A
dmittedly, I am working on a 13" laptop at the moment...but not sure why that would matter?
My laptop is 13” but I think I’ve tried it on my big monitor too… didn’t seem to be a screen size issue!
My two biggest wants & wishes for Substack are always:
1. The ability to have more tiers: and example would be a $3 and $5 monthly tier, and then two different yearly tiers (maybe $15-20, $50). Kind of like Patreon.
2. The ability to basic edit (like crop) images from the stock photos natively in Substack. I would use that function more if I could crop images to horizontal to work better in the layout.
3. Custom customer (subscriber) groups! Let me easily send an email to the folks who always open things or to the folks who don't. It would make it easier to engage with those specific groups to upsell to a paid or increase the engagement.
Thanks for the ideas Kayla!
I think #3 is especially interesting. I could imagine we could have saved filter views in the subscriber dashboard.
Tagging is such a better way to implement that. If you support tags, people aren't limited to basing their groups on what's available in the filters.
The filters are great, but tagging gives complete control to users in terms of how to organize their subscribers.
Yes, tagging subscribers would be really helpful for tracking the long-term impact of different kind of promotions. Another platform, Emailoctopus, offers tagging. Here's what their implementation looks like: https://blog.emailoctopus.com/new-tag-your-contacts-in-emailoctopus/
Neat ideas, Kayla. The custom subscriber groups would be handy for repeat outreach. I guess some might see the additional tiers as having the potential to create more complexity/confusion for potential readers, but I agree that it might be helpful to further segment pricing for price-sensitive readers and for special segments (students, etc)
Yeah I definitely think that too many tier options would be a problem. I also think that this could be potentially solved with a "tip jar" function - letting people give smaller amounts by the newsletter as an appreciation. It also kinda depends on how much paid only content a person is putting out. I do also like the idea of a student tier for like college kids though.
I've worked in e-commerce my whole career and in all the of CMS backends you can set-up custom groups of customers and it's something I always find myself missing in Substack. I wish I could just send a little message to a group of people within my list.
I agree with Jeremy that Substack’s stance against the tip jar is sound. I used to have a tip jar and very very few people ever transitioned to paid. It’s much better for me to be confident with what I’m offering, even though I don’t have very many paid subscribers.
I know that others like the idea of a tip jar, but I'm skeptical of that approach. I see it as parallel to slacktivism, where people may give a couple of bucks once and then feel like they've done their part by doing what was asked, and I'm not sure that will help support creators substantially in the long run. It also creates more of a begging feel, whereas subscribing or being a member feels more like joining on a journey or being part of something on an ongoing basis. For people who can't afford to support a writer through a membership or subscription, rather than a tip jar we could provide other mechanisms for support, like providing helpful and specific feedback, sharing content, or spreading the word. Those all can be helpful ways of giving back, rather than just tossing in buck or two.
CO-SIGN being able to target "most engaged subscribers." We have that ability in Active Campaign and use it often, and I'd love to be able to target that subset here. I understand Substack isn't designed for the kind of advanced custom segmentation that other platforms offer, but this one in particular would be super helpful.
I like #2 and #3 a lot. Revue allowed an inline thumbnail image format, which I used sometimes and appreciated. And yes, it’d be great to set up groups. I have a group that consistently attends events so I’d like to create an events list.
That's a perfect example of why simply implementing groups on top of existing filters isn't enough. Tagging/ custom groups really is useful to managing an audience of subscribers.
Hey Substack, your platform is brilliant! I'm checking on my minor request for the analytics page, to add a column on each post's report that shows a simple chronological list of opens/reads, with the most recent open/read at the top. That way we can get a quick look to see who the most recent reader was since the last time we looked, without having to guess or search around. I believe this was submitted to your programming people and they were going to look at it. It would be extremely helpful and I'm sure it would be easy to add. At the moment it takes forever to figure out. How's it going? Thank you!!!
As a Canadian, I'd like it if the analytics page showed Provinces much the same way it does States, and European countries. I know we're The Great White North, but instead of having the analytics tell me I have 35% Canadians, I'd like to know where they are. Eastern Canada, Western, Atlantic. And what about a break down of demographics, so we can see the age group of readers following us?
My request is maybe related to yours, David. I’d like to see which readers clicked which links. Is this too creepy? My other request is to count clicks of audio embeds. Sometimes I include non-podcast audio and would like to know how many people are listening.
Who employs proof-readers or copy-editors? I catch most copy mistakes before "send" but inevitably, a few hours later I re-word things on the version that lives on the substack website.
A kind friend proofreads mine!
That's a good friend!
Indeed!
I've thought about this since I began writing here. My approach is this: Hone the piece until it passes muster as not embarrassing to you, the writer, and not insulting to the reader, while getting your point across. Know for a fact that it could be better if you waited a few days and went over it again. After publishing, wait a few days, and go over it again. For me, the mailing is like the boy hawking newspapers on a street corner: "Read all about it!" A newspaper has a life of a day or so. An email in an inbox? You get the picture. Your permanent testament to the world is the post as it exists on your Substack web site. Why not edit, improve, add, adjust...delete(!) as you develop as a person and a writer? If there are significant changes that in itself can be a subject for a new post, referencing the original post. Or, leave it mostly as-is, and chronicle your thoughts in the comments section.
I treat this is as sort of a free-wheeling space where I'm only going to spend an hour or two writing. I'm a pantser, so I don't plan ahead and I don't have the time for an editor. I use Grammarly, I re-read it probably 3x (one time out loud, because out loud catches stuff your eyes missed) and then I hit publish. Inevitably, there will be a typo occasionally, and my readers will send me a note to tell me. I will change it so it's correct on the page, but I really don't stress it. To me, Substack is more like a glimpse into my diary or personal writings and I don't promise perfection.
Pantser? I'm feeling my age...
Pantser vs. Planner.
I've noticed that a lot of people have been suggesting the implementation of a "Tip Jar" for occasional support, in addition to the existing monthly/yearly plans. I think this is a great idea, and I also have a suggestion for an even more advanced system. What if authors could set a specific amount for each post, which readers/sponsors could contribute towards in order to unlock the content for everyone? Once the threshold is met, everyone can access the post. This system could also include a badge system or leaderboard, which would make it feel like a special type of sponsorship. It's possible that many companies or individuals with Substacks would be interested in sponsoring content in this way.
Additionally, it could work in parallel with the current paid system since it wouldn't affect it. I'm looking forward to everyone's feedback.
These are all rad ideas! We believe deeply in the power of the subscription model. Our product teams are continuing to imagine what different payment methods could look like. Stay tuned.
Love this "unlocking" concept - would try it out if made available.
Any advice for templating posts? We write at surgery.substack.com and appreciate any critiques or guidance on growth.
The best thing I've found is to write a draft called post_template. My structure is usually post title, section, section, ..., conclusion, references. The draft has each of those section titles with the appropriate format, and each one has a single word like section_body or conclusions_body.
When I make a new post, I first open that template, copy it, and paste it into the new post. It's not quite as nice as a formal templating system, but it's much better than trying to convert a full post into a new post.
We found that some of the formatting and links get wonky when doing that but that is also our best option thus far. Thanks for the tip- keep em coming
Hi Daniel, Substack now has a simple template function, where you can basically turn any past post into a template https://support.substack.com/hc/en-us/articles/4407316907412-Can-I-create-and-save-a-template-that-I-can-reuse- In terms of feedback on your Surgery Substack - looks like you have lots of info packed in — I'd consider adding brief bold sub-heds atop each section to make it easier for people to scan through and read the sections of most interest.
Thanks Jeremy, that's great advice. Much appreciated.
This is a good option.
Is there any way to add that feature on drafts? That seems like it might be a fairly simple way to implement a templating system. (given that you already have the functionality for published posts)
hey substack team! so this is a massively small detail in the grand scheme of things, and I don't know if it's just me: but every time I try to embed a link to another Substack in one of my posts, the layout icon to change how I'd like the card to appear NEVER shows up on the top of the embed. If I want to switch the link card from vertical to horizontal or vice versa, I have to scroll up a ton to find the layout icon. It's always hiding like five paragraphs up, hovering in the void. I love Substack but scrolling to find that tiny little icon is the absolute bane of my existence. 😂
I didn't even know I could do that...
awesome, thanks kamil!
I propose that Substack employ S. E. Reidm and put her in charge of attitude on their social media venture.
I see two themes emerging in Google News and other sites that indicate more people are looking for a purpose in life and have realized that fear driven hatred is not the solution to our manifold problems but a contributor to the overarching struggle between democracy and autocracy.
Here is a slightly mangled copy of her “invitation to “join the discussion.”
open, honest, gracious, and curious.
This is YOUR space to discuss with each other, not just engage with me! Because of this, SAFE SHARING is my highest priority. If you are not engaging safely and with grace with others, you will have to leave. Period.
+1
The stats pages are an insightful feature of Substack. I’d like to suggest some changes that might improve the experience.
1) Make the default time frame “all time” rather than “last 90 days” on the charts and geographical maps.
2) Allow expansion of the state and county lists to reveal all subscriber locations.
3) Enable zooming on maps.
4) Add a csv export of all post data such as number of views, email opens, links clicked, etc. (all the stats on the post tab).
Thanks for the feedback and ideas! I shared with the team for consideration
Hi everyone: I’ve been adding new bylines to my Substack — they enjoy it as well as my readers. However, I’d like to give those writers a share of any new paid subscriptions their posts garner. What would be a fair percentage, do you think? Heard about anyone doing this? Sure, I’d rather pay them a flat fee, but it’s too soon for that. AND, does Substack have a reporting feature taht I could check week to week, or month to month, to see which posts generated (x) number of paid subs?
I blogged in the old days. I published in print forever. WRiters need to be paid. I could offer something very modest, a flat fee — that would be the easiest for me, time-wise, but it’s such fees are capital I don’t have at the moment.
So I think the “let’s share” model is good. LIsten, is there a way I can search in the posts, by byline or contributor? So for example, “show me Mary’s posts” — then I could review, monthly, say, all her posts and see which ones generated paid subs.
I’m thinking of going 50/50, for the initial sign up only. But I could argue for more or less on either side! It IS the writer’s IP, that’s the cachet, and their reputation. However running the blog, being their editor and publisher and marketer and good ear, is no small feat. In traditional publishing, the publisher takes FAR more than the writer. LOL. I have been on both sides of this.
Also, if i garner a monthly subscriber on one of my byliner’s posts, and then they quit, that’s harder to track… since you don’t have reporting.
Let me tell you thought, bringing in the two other authors I did so far, has been fantastic. I got THEIR crowd, I got new subscribers (so far free) that never would have found me otherwise. And yet, I’m very close to these writers, that’s why I asked them. We naturally “fit.”
Oh, that’s actually v. Helpful. thanks.
Love the new voiceover feature for my children’s stories at Mosswood Tales! Is there a stats figure to see how many subscribers are using that feature? Thanks!
Greetings Substack! Could you tell us if Live Videostreams or Live Typing will be available? - Thank you:)
I'd really like Substack to offer a $15/year subscription option so that more people can access more contributors. I'd be happy to pay the same $5 fee that goes to Substack from a $50 sub.
That feature exists. Mine is going for $12 per year for annual subscriptions until end of March.
It would be nice if I could offer the March rate in the Substack paywall block, though. I add this lengthy "don't click below, click the Subscription button above to unlock the remainder of this issue at the March rate" explain-a-thon above the paywall.
Can you explain this a little more? Did you set up a promotional rate just for March?
Settings->Payments->Special Offers. Create a Special Offer of 60% off annual subscriptions. Set the expiration date to March 31.
I just went to sign up with Stripe and it looks like it will bill me $320/year. Is that for real????
$340 actually
Fantastic, thanks!
I wonder if this is why they don't want to allow a lower base subscription rate. Discounts on top of a lower base subscription rate would result in annual rates that really aren't meaningful, where the processing fees are a significant portion of the overall payment.
I'm surprised they haven't attempted to facilitate multi-writer magazines. That would require hiring human, not algorithmic curators/editors. Humans who are magazine or newspaper industry veterans.
I just went to sign up with Stripe and it looks like it will bill me $320/year. Is that for real????
Yes, this is an interesting idea. $5 is a perfectly reasonable minimum for people who want to pay monthly. But, a lot of people can't afford or justify multiple $50 or annual subscriptions, especially if they're just discovering Substack and finding a bunch of publications they like and want to support.
Right now if someone has a $50 or $100 annual budget for newsletters, they have to pick one or two to support at the paid level. Those people may very well support 4 or 5 newsletters at the paid level if there was a lower annual minimum, on the order of $15 or $20.
Edit to ask, what is the current annual minimum? I thought it was $50, but then it was $30, and I don't see it documented anywhere.
Exactly. I was magically just able to lower my yearly to $35!
Yes!! I think you can lower the yearly rate now! Try it, I was able to go $35/year suddenly
A minor technical question. When I reply to a comment, sometime the text box disappears while I'm typing and I have to hunt for it, usually near the top of the comment thread. I think this happens because my engagement with the comment pushes it up in the list, but it would be nice to finish my reply before the content moves off of my screen. Any simple hacks for getting the text box to stay put until I post my reply?
I posted this as a top level comment, but see here: https://mostlypython.substack.com/p/using-substack
Does Substack have data that gives insight on the ideal length of a post? I see a lot of posts — many of them with high engagement — that are much longer than most blogs or newsletters. Personally, even if I'm super-interested in the topic, I'm not proud to admit that I'll often do a quick scroll of a post and, if it's really long, skip past it. I know others do the same. What does the data say?
P.S. I'm sure genre, formatting, images, etc. are factors. Just wondering if there are general findings in the data.
I think a lot of it depends on what you're writing. I write fiction. A lot of fiction writers put up pieces that are somewhere in the 1-2000 word range. Some put up shorter flash fiction pieces of 100-200 words. Also, it depends on how often you post. The ones' that put up longer posts, tend to post once a week, some every other week. The shorter pieces can go up on a daily post. The idea is not to overwhelm the reader. But if they have the App they can read it on coffee break, or lunch, on sitting on transit. I think the best is not to have a piece that takes more than 30 minutes to read. 15 minutes reading might be a good length. Not very helpful, I know, but again, it depend on what you write.
Bob, I have 2 different publications with completely different audiences. One audience enjoys long posts and the other likes short posts. So: It depends.
Great question Bob.
There is a trade off between TL:DR (Too long: didn't read," and Too Brief:Hence Incomplete (TB:HI
IWired* magazine has many long, long, articles and hs athrived on that format. I'm trying to work out "teases" that open a post, giving a reason to engage.
First, I have to start hitting f"Post" instead ofcompulsively writing then abandoning my infants on the toadside to fiinish "later." My current vision issues make that more difficult to overcome that hangup as I am sure I am missing mmore mistakes that before, but those issues also remind me t "Peter Pan" is agin out, leaving behind many dying children on my hard drives....
Well, that post now and proof later worked about as well as expected. A quick review identified at least four typos. And this short one had three and I probably missed others.
Good question
Thanks, Kamil. Btw: I somehow found myself in this thread before I realized that Substack had split the threads for the new format. Sorry if I posted this in the wrong place. For what it's worth, there may be other dunderheads like me who didn't get (i.e. neglected to read) the memo.
I'll get it right next time. :)
Also... I subscribed to your Substack, but that's not really s'posed to happen, is it? 😂 I'll unsubscribe.
Hello fellow Substackers!
This week is my second birthday celebration posting my newsletter Tumbleweed Words on Substack! I’m not much of one for self-promotion and love the organic community I am growing over at Tumbleweed Words. But I thought I’d shoot my shot for once and ask fellow Substackers who subscribe or enjoy my newsletter to take less than a minute and support my newsletter with a Substack recommendation—any support is greatly appreciated! Link available below via my recent post.
https://tumbleweedwords.substack.com/p/its-my-second-birthday-on-substack
P.S. I am here to support you all also—happy to be here today for year three! 😊
David writes wonderful poetry, people. Go and read it!
Hi team, miss you!
Today I did my first cross-post and noticed it shows up on my Dashboard but not my publication homepage https://www.getflack.com/. Can I control what posts show up on the homepage?
Hi Lulu!! <3
I think you meant cross-posts.
It's top of mind for the team, Lulu!
I hate to say this, but the "I recommend these newsletters" feature pushes me away from this platform because it's a walled garden. The top newsletter I'd recommend uses a publisher different than substack. But non-substacks don't appear to be enter-able in the recommendations widget.
ubstack has passed through the “Move fast and break things” (the blogosphere) phase and is now in the “move fast and *fix* things” phase.
Hi! I have my own Substack page but I am thinking of launching a new one as a local newspaper type thing. Multiple writers/reporters, all local news. How do you advise setting such a thing up on Substack? Are there existing examples that you know of? Thanks! -Steven Saint Thomas
I'm no expert, but saw your question and am wondering if you've looked at The Free Press as a possible model? It looks very unsubstacky, but apparently it's Substack-powered.
https://www.thefp.com/
They have a ton of money and I'm sure outsourced that to experts, which is, I'm guessing, why it looks so impressive —it's gorgeous!
Yes! In fact, I just got a quick reply to my email to The Free Press... basically, Substack staff set it up for them.
Yes! This is a great example. I have no idea how to set up such a multifaceted interface - my newsletters are really simple, single-column deals. Anybody done this? Thanks! -SST
Yeah, to be honest, they have a whole team working on The Free Press and the founder was well-known and probably had a lot of financial backing, or at least had a huge fan base that would follower her wherever she goes. So, as a model, it's likely overly ambitious for most of us.
It's ambitious, yes! I don't need all the bells and whistles... just a few whistles maybe. I emailed them - we'll see if they answer. Thanks again for the lead!
Hey, Steven! My site is similar to what you're describing, although I cover a region, rather than a city/town: https://thefoodsection.substack.com/
Looks great, Hanna! What theme did you use to build this? Thanks!
You have to switch over to the magazine layout (There are only two choices, right?)
Dear Substack Team,
I'm barely a week into using this medium and I am quite enjoying the ease and the fact that I can send my thoughts directly to the inbox of my friends. It refrains them from needing to navigate 100+ tabs should they decide to open my webpage, bla bla bla! To say the least, it's going well so far. I just have one suggestion / point of improvement that you might be willing to consider.
In the subscribers list, would be so heartwarming if you could please add an option for a customized note for each subscriber. Like, just beside their name - friend@thanks.org [Custom message: "Hey Friend, just thought you should know that this was inspired by our conversation. Enjoy the read."] Would really be amazing to have this option before the newsletter is sent out. This is just for thoughtful measures.
Otherwise, kudos to this platform that I am thoroughly enjoying. Looking forward sharing more of my work in this community.
Belovedly,
Jolyn
This is a wonderful means of support. I’ve received two boost paid subscriptions in the last few days. It enables a discount without publicizing a sale price for everyone. Thanks, Substack wizards! Lauriestone.Substack.com.
I have almost 200 audio podcasts in the Evening under Lamplight Podcasts, most of which I had produced on Anchor before moving them all to Substack (a move I am delighted with). I had produced the podcasts in several series, each series devoted to a specific topic (Shakespeare's Tempest, Dante's Inferno, Stevenson's Fables, Dante's Purgatorio, etc.) so that now I have ten series. But many are mixed together, so an Inferno podcast might be followed by a Tempest podcast, and so on.
My question is whether it's possible to rearrange the order of our podcasts, or to have some system of indexes, so someone following, say, the Purgatorio podcasts can quickly go from one to the next.
I thought about setting up a different podcast for each of the series, but that seems far too complicated.
Thanks.
But suppose you are on Purgatorio 7 and want to go on to Purgatorio 8 but the next podcast is Stevenson's Fables 12? Perhaps the only answer is just to persist until you get to Purgatorio 8. But that seems a little burdensome for the listener. Many people come to Substack for easy accessibility, and I'm always very sorry to offer them something complicated.
How do you break things out into further sections? (Don't tell me it's too complicated to think seriously about!)
Hi there! I have a question/suggestion about categories for when people join Substack.
I produce Skipped History, which focuses on overlooked bits of US history. I know a lot of the population writ large is interested in learning more about various kinds of history at the moment, but when going through the signup flow, it's hard to find newsletters that focus on specific subsets of the past (e.g. US history, Latin American history etc.).
My question/suggestion is, as Substack grows, might it be advisable to add more categories to the signup flow, or to test out a more specific set of follow-up prompts after users go through the first prompts (e.g. after clicking "Design," you'd see further prompts for a few different types of design people might be interested in)? Or maybe once you click on a category when signing up, newsletters are organized under a few different subheadings?
I'm sure y'all are keen to avoid adding any friction to the flow, but maybe gaining a little more information would be a good way of helping new users find newsletters that better match their interests, generating paid signups, and reducing churn. Just an idea (that you've likely already considered) from the inestimably less intelligent product team at Skipped History HQ.
Thanks for reading!
Thanks, Kamil. I don't envy whoever has to solve that riddle, but I certainly appreciate them!
I think it would be great if on the "Explore" page of the InBox you could break down the "Fiction and Literature" pages into subsections: Short stories, serials, Sci-Fi/Fantasy, Romance, that sort of break down.
Thanks for the idea, Ben!
Payments with Indian cards to writers in India aren't going through -- and support has been incredibly unhelpful. I meticulously shared the exact issue and also checked with Stripe if there was something to be done from their end, and there isn't.
There's a two-step process to saving Indian cards (unlike in other countries) and I would really, really appreciate if someone from the product team looked into this. Most other platforms have done this already so it shouldn't be too difficult. Here's the instructions from Stripe: https://support.stripe.com/questions/guide-for-saving-cards-in-india
Hey Kamil, thanks for getting back. Stripe took some time, but it actually does support Indian cards reasonably fine now. There are just some regulatory hoops that you'd need to jump, and you'd have to do this with any payment processor (even the Indian ones).
Specifically, Substack would have to:
1. collect cardholder consent, and
2. perform 3D Secure (3DS) authentication
And payments will start going through for Indian cards!
I understand that India hasn't been a focus market so even incorporating these two changes might be a bit of a hassle. But if you went the extra mile, and did do it, you'd have so many potential subscribers who are just left out right now! Please do consider it. And if you'd like to pilot any changes with my Substack, I'm happy to be part of this.
Yes, please. I'm not from India, but it has for a long time bothered me that my friends from India have been excluded due to the policies at Stripe. If these policies have changed, and there is now even a way, it seems like a minor change to add this and start unlocking an enormous market.
Happy Office Hours everybody!
I run the Visual Storytelling Newsletter with free and paid subscribers. Is there a way to serve one type of CTA button (say Give a Gift Subscription) to paid subscribers and Upgrade to Paid CTA button for free subscribers? This would be extremely helpful. Right now I'm resorting to serving one CTA while addressing both segments which makes it too long and not quite personal.
Thoughts?
Right! What I try to do is have unique CTA button for free vs. paid subs.
Now I end up addressing both segments:
[graphic]
Love the stories you read here? If you're already a paid subscriber, I’m truly grateful! If not, join my mission to bring the gospel of visual storytelling into more purposeful marketing by becoming a paid subscriber
Subscribe now button
Ideally I'd like to have:
Free subs only:
[graphic]
Love the stories you read here? Join my mission to bring the gospel of visual storytelling into more purposeful marketing by becoming a paid subscriber
Subscribe now button
Paid subs only:
[graphic]
Thanks for your amazing support. Feel free to extend the love with our gift subscription.
[gift subscription button]
Can it be done?
https://youtu.be/kPZwvMSU7Q8
A guest writer cross-posted their piece from my newsletter to their own newsletter audience. Love how easy that is for them -- but curious if I'll get any stats on how many people viewed the piece and how it performed through the cross-posting?
Hi Kamil, appreciate the reply. To clarify -- the guest post is on my Substack. The writer cross-posted it to their own audience. I am curious if/how I would get statistics on the cross-post to their audience, since it is literally just re-sharing my Substack's content.
Regarding the triple-threaded Writer Office Hours, at first I thought it might be an improvement over the extremely long single threaded versions of the past. After going through the experience, this week, of juggling THREE extremely long comments threads, I can say with certainty it was overwhelming.
Not only that, but after leaving a response on two of the three threads, my email filled up with almost 70 (so far) notifications. Did the notification algorithm change? As I recall, I used to only get notified about direct likes and comments to my own comment. But, now it seems I receive an email for every comment anyone makes anywhere in the thread. I know there is a way to mute notifications, but I still would like to know about comments and likes directly associated with the comments I have made.
Hi! I have a question. Is it possible to see the visits to all pages, including about? I see the visits to posts, but not to individual pages. If I go to the posts I can see individual post traffic, but nothing about the other pages.
Wouldn't it make sense to combine the analytics of the posts and subscribers with "stats"? That way we have one dashboard where we can view traffic, sources, shares, subscribers etc?
Thank you!
I started nine days ago and still trying to figure out stuff. Maybe down the line, once I have more content to offer, the subscription may become more relevant. A bit unrelated, but I was wondering... are there plans to allow for text alignment options?
I know the team has left the thread, but still, in case they are looking back at this: I would love better web3 integration. The promised embedding of NFTs does not work (and is limited to OpenSea anyway). It would be wonderful if it starts working. Also in the payment/subscription part. It would be great to be able to token gate my newsletter. Or give people the ability to collect an edition as NFT for support. I wouldn't mind if it was a special NFT on which a fee for Substack was included. In principle that should work with the righ smart contracts.
Wow. I was wrong then. I thought they paid to have that work outsourced...they are smarter than I !
I would like an automatic email sent for trials that's between the 7-day trial on paywalled posts and the new upsell email. Basically: send the most engaged readers an offer of a free trial (set at the writer's preference of time). I write once a week- two go to paid, two go to free subs. So a 7-day trial isn't enough for someone to know it's "worth it." I know I can manually send an offer to the top readers but automated would be great, too.
Quick question. BOOST helped to convert one of my loyal readers to a paid subscription. HOORAY! He signed up for a $50 subscription and got it for $40 (yay for him!). Thing is, I offer a "Founding Membership" honor to those who subscribe for $50/year, so now I'm having a crisis of conscience. Do I give him that "Founding Member" honor, even though he only paid $40? If so, it doesn't reflect this in my subscriber stats...
I love the boost feature - I’d love to see a test email if possible?
Claire, there is a work-around: to subscribe to a few different paid substacks (as a free subscriber),. You will occasionally receive emails with promo content that looks different than usual, with special offers, etc. these are the "Boost"s.
This will give you an idea of how your free readers will feel about Boosts.
Ohh 😮 great I’ll have a look thanks
What's the boost feature, Claire?
Hello. I’m three months in and loving Substack. The issue I wanted to ask about though is spam filters. Does Substack have relationships at an enterprise level with Gmail, Outlook, etc? If so, is there anything Substack can do to get Gmail, Outlook et al to stop coding Substack newsletters as spam? Even my own newsletter ends up in my own spam folder even though I constantly tell Gmail that it’s not spam.
Thanks Kamil. I’ve tried all of those things and Gmail is still moving posts to spam. I’m less worried about myself and more worried about someone who signs up, never sees my welcome email because it goes to their spam folder and then never even sees subsequent emails because they’re in spam. Is there no way for Substack to broker agreements with Gmail, Outlook et al so emails don’t get tagged as spam in the first place - i.e. a seamless experience for users rather than an experience that tasks users with doing admin that they may not have time to do, or probably don’t know they have to do.
Is there a way to upload a pdf or google doc write-up to Substack and have it transform into a Substack article? I am using a number of charts and tables and it has been a challenge to get the formatting right in the Substack editor. It would be easier if I could create the doc in Google Docs, probably convert it into a pdf file, upload the pdf to Substack and then have it seamlessly converted into a Substack note. Thanks.
Thanks for the response. Yes, I did try the copy/paste option. The tables and charts lost their original formatting. Regardless, appreciate the note. Thank you.
I used the LaTex feature to make a simple table. It works great when people read the post in their email or the app, but when they read on the web they just see the LaTex commands. Here’s the post that has this problem: https://open.substack.com/pub/winwindemocracy/p/2023-03-thinking-about-ai-part-2?utm_source=direct&r=8ezqn&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web. Am I doing something wrong or is this a bug? Other suggestions?
Thanks Kamil. Interestingly, I didn’t put those in there. In fact, when I look at the LaTeX in the editor those escaped parentheses aren’t visible. You can only see them when viewing the post on the web. Any suggestions?
That's really nice. Thank you.
Hello, does the substack integrated visit counter count my won visits to the newsletter? How does it make the difference per visit/ per click, is it by IP adress?
Is there a way to create and then duplicate template stubs that are just drafts? I use similar headed sections each issue of “The TfC Ramble” where I talk about the intersection of tech and comics. Currently, I duplicate a previously distributed post and then erase the section content each time, keeping just the headings. Is there a simpler way?
Thanks. Feature request: If that same option was available for items already in drafts, this could be used to effectively create templates. (Using a post already posted means you have to erase something.)
You're absolutely right. My workaround is to keep a draft called post_template, that has all the same sections as my standard posts. Each paragraph is just a single word, "paragraph_here". You can double click that word and start typing, you don't have to highlight and delete all the text from a previously published post.
When I make a new post I open that draft, copy the entire body of the post, then paste that into a new post. It's a workaround, but it's better than creating a new post from a previously published post.
Is there any way to control the order of links in the navigation bar?
The default is: Home | Archive | About
When I added a page, it became: Home | New Page | Archive | About
I'd like it to be: Home | Archive | About | New Page
Is there any way to control this?
Hi Kamil, I have that open right now. I can edit the title and the link, but don't see any way to modify the order. Am I missing something?
Okay, thanks! That's really helpful to know.
I just started serializing my novel as a different section in my main publication.
https://idiotspit.substack.com/s/still-life-of-desert-animals
Does anyone have any experience promoting things in this way?
I just finished serializing my novel A BEGINNER'S GUIDE TO TIME TRAVEL https://benwoestenburg.substack.com/s/nanowrimo. I put all of my stuff in separate sections. Short stories, novellas...etc, and share the links so the reader can choose what he wants to read. It's not the best way to do it, and I'm probably going to have to clean it up because It's getting pretty crowded, but I think sharing a link the way you have it now is the way to go.
Thanks, Ben!
Hi, I have a rather naive question--how do you insert video into your post? Thanks!
As of right now you can't insert a video into an existing post (that is essentially hosted by Substack) - but you can make a video post (I don't know if you still need to ask for beta access to it, but mine access was approved very quickly). A video post places the video at the top and then you can write under it, but you can't format the location.
If the video is on youtube (for example), you can however embed it into your post by copy and pasting the video link.
The novel I’ve been serializing is now complete. I don’t know what I’ll do next on my substack (perhaps a sequel?), but until I’m sure of what I’m offering, I don’t want anyone signing up for a new yearly subscription. How do I change the subscription choices to just free or monthly? I do not want to pause the subscriptions in progress, just prevent new ones.
Thanks for the info. Is it possible to halt all paid subscriptions (monthly and yearly) instead?
I want to make sure I've got something right. If I have a monthly subscriber and I send them an offer (coupon) to upgrade to yearly at a discount, can they just click the link and automatically "upgrade" to the yearly price, or do they have to cancel their monthly subscription first, then use the coupon for the yearly subscription? Thanks.