there are a lot of great memoirists here on Substack, many of which I note in this rundown on 43 Of My Favorite Memoirs—Some of Which I Guarantee You Haven't Heard Of
Catherine--Growing up my father's love for the song "Hello Dolly" performed by the great Louis Armstrong. A gravelly voice, Satchmo had a level of class that today is almost lost to time. Those were the good old days. "It's so nice to have you back where you belong."
Loving most of these new tools! Notes is great but inevitably distracting, for me, from the ‘real’/main post writing. SEO will be helpful. Boost sounds good. I think in the end though you just have to write quality material that engages readers. It’ll happen for some and not for others, and that’s okay. We’re dealing here with equality of opportunity, not equality of outcome (‘equity’). Such is the nature of reality. Writing requires boosts and SEO and all that, but also talent and entertaining, meaningful work. Is that controversial to say?
Best of luck to all Substack writers! May your work catch on and rise to the top!!
Honestly I wish SEO would go away entirely, but that's not Substack's fault, it's really just because search engines still work the way they did when we first built them in the mid-90's (I know, because I built one of the big ones: HotBot). I think so-called "AI" will help with this actually.
Boost might not be what you think it is—it's an algo that helps drive paying subscribers, and I think this is great example of what Substack is doing behind the scenes trying to help writers make a living.
Chat hasn't been useful for me really. I prefer Notes—which, I agree, is a distraction, but one that I enjoy, and that has been very productive for me in terms of connecting with other writers, which is something that I love doing.
I really dig the reporting features as well -- and I see something buried in there under Boost about offering a "multiple-subscription discount offer," which does get at something lots of folks have been asking for in terms of a package deal of sorts for readers.
AN ORDINARY DISASTER
A book-length memoir of a man thrashing against—and then learning to be OK with the fact that we are *all* alone.
As far as I know, Substack has a strong position that “readers don’t pay for a single article, but only for subscription”. What about an equivalent of an ebook or a major research paper? I think providing an opportunity for writers to paywall specific posts with a one-off payment (not a recurring subscription) could be an interesting experiment?
Yes a "tipping jar" or something like that would be lovely. It is challenging to afford to support and several people that you like reading and would love to support.
I strongly suggest a “tip jar” that uses a variety of payment options. One specific option should the Lightning Network for micro payments in BTC. A few Satoshi should equate to a few pennies. Those add up and make transactions a win-win, per submission, without a larger subscription commitment.
Please, please, please give us another payment option for subscribers. Stripe is awful. I don't use it anymore so have no payment option at all now on Substack. Thanks!
FEATURE REQUEST: The ability to publish to (1) Email Only and (2) App Only, in addition to current options.
Reason: People are more tolerant of scrolling on an app and are likely to be happy with (say) two app articles a day, but are not tolerant of two emails a day, considered spam.
On a Substack I co-manage, we would like to do 2-3 items a day on app only, with only one to email.
I sometimes publish a couple of articles a week and don’t push to email or app at all. I do a summary later in the month and drop them in chat and now notes. But would love the ability to publish some to just to the app.
I like the new tab in Notes but I hope in a future update, substack considers making it easy to follow people rather than just subscribing. You have to go through a couple menus before getting to that option
Great features. I have a specific feature request; would really appreciate the ability to allow comments on posts with a paywall block. I want to create longer posts with 'extra' content for paying subs but do not want to lock out my free subs from commenting on the article.
I am writing what seems like quality poetry after 50 years as a broadcaster and actor. Writing is not my problem. Interfacing with modern tech and getting my work out there continues to confound this 75-year-old. Help!!!
For the love of all things writing...CAN WE PLEASE HAVE MORE CATEGORIES????
I’d kill for a poetry category
YES!!! Poetry, personal, grief...please give the users what we need/want!
I meant that in a funny, nice way btw. I appreciate all that SUBSTACK does.
You might want to check this out-->https://open.substack.com/pub/nishalsharon/p/keep-it-burning?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android
Second this one
Hey u might check this-->https://open.substack.com/pub/nishalsharon/p/keep-it-burning?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android
This would be huge!
MEMOIR category please!
there are a lot of great memoirists here on Substack, many of which I note in this rundown on 43 Of My Favorite Memoirs—Some of Which I Guarantee You Haven't Heard Of
https://bowendwelle.substack.com/p/43-favorite-memoirs-youve-never-heard
This!!!! A category on personal development/self-growth 🥺
All of my fav categories that I like to read are not even listed in the categories (memoir, personal growth, etc)
yesss, why am i struggling to categorise a career advice newsletter 🙃
Yes to this! Please could we have a lifestyle category (I write about slow living)?
we should be able to just hashtag our substack or individual posts and make them searchable that way. much easier to network with better categories
Like memoir....
Memoir MOST OF ALL 😭
Games/entertainment etc.
Yep, me too, Catherine.
Catherine--Growing up my father's love for the song "Hello Dolly" performed by the great Louis Armstrong. A gravelly voice, Satchmo had a level of class that today is almost lost to time. Those were the good old days. "It's so nice to have you back where you belong."
Loving most of these new tools! Notes is great but inevitably distracting, for me, from the ‘real’/main post writing. SEO will be helpful. Boost sounds good. I think in the end though you just have to write quality material that engages readers. It’ll happen for some and not for others, and that’s okay. We’re dealing here with equality of opportunity, not equality of outcome (‘equity’). Such is the nature of reality. Writing requires boosts and SEO and all that, but also talent and entertaining, meaningful work. Is that controversial to say?
Best of luck to all Substack writers! May your work catch on and rise to the top!!
Michael Mohr
‘Sincere American Writing’
https://michaelmohr.substack.com/
Well put my friend.
Honestly I wish SEO would go away entirely, but that's not Substack's fault, it's really just because search engines still work the way they did when we first built them in the mid-90's (I know, because I built one of the big ones: HotBot). I think so-called "AI" will help with this actually.
Boost might not be what you think it is—it's an algo that helps drive paying subscribers, and I think this is great example of what Substack is doing behind the scenes trying to help writers make a living.
Chat hasn't been useful for me really. I prefer Notes—which, I agree, is a distraction, but one that I enjoy, and that has been very productive for me in terms of connecting with other writers, which is something that I love doing.
I really dig the reporting features as well -- and I see something buried in there under Boost about offering a "multiple-subscription discount offer," which does get at something lots of folks have been asking for in terms of a package deal of sorts for readers.
AN ORDINARY DISASTER
A book-length memoir of a man thrashing against—and then learning to be OK with the fact that we are *all* alone.
https://bowendwelle.substack.com/s/memoir
As far as I know, Substack has a strong position that “readers don’t pay for a single article, but only for subscription”. What about an equivalent of an ebook or a major research paper? I think providing an opportunity for writers to paywall specific posts with a one-off payment (not a recurring subscription) could be an interesting experiment?
Yes a "tipping jar" or something like that would be lovely. It is challenging to afford to support and several people that you like reading and would love to support.
I strongly suggest a “tip jar” that uses a variety of payment options. One specific option should the Lightning Network for micro payments in BTC. A few Satoshi should equate to a few pennies. Those add up and make transactions a win-win, per submission, without a larger subscription commitment.
Thanks, Katie! Appreciate the thoughtful feedback.
Please, please, please give us another payment option for subscribers. Stripe is awful. I don't use it anymore so have no payment option at all now on Substack. Thanks!
FEATURE REQUEST: The ability to publish to (1) Email Only and (2) App Only, in addition to current options.
Reason: People are more tolerant of scrolling on an app and are likely to be happy with (say) two app articles a day, but are not tolerant of two emails a day, considered spam.
On a Substack I co-manage, we would like to do 2-3 items a day on app only, with only one to email.
Yep, email overload has been a thing for years now. Let’s have some choice.
Co-sign!
I sometimes publish a couple of articles a week and don’t push to email or app at all. I do a summary later in the month and drop them in chat and now notes. But would love the ability to publish some to just to the app.
Great point, I agree!
What a lovely idea!
Really looking forward to Boost and how the team continues to expand the options for bundled subscriptions.
Pairing up with a writer or two and offering a group subscription could be a great way to get newer writers to consider going paid.
Editable embeds... wahoo. Glad that's possible now.
Yes! The screen grab looked sweet.
How are you using it Nathan l don't even understand it
Oops wrong comment before sorry. Edited now.
Just paste in a link and it now defaults to the large size.
Having country based categories
I like the new tab in Notes but I hope in a future update, substack considers making it easy to follow people rather than just subscribing. You have to go through a couple menus before getting to that option
I believe that one of the substack team members said that they are working on that, during the last office hours
Excellent!
how about some advice for readers?
thanks for asking, George 🙏🏼
you should read "open to change" and subscribe.
https://opentochange.substack.com
Thank you for continuously investing in us, Substack!!
It would be cool to have language also in category (from everybody in Québec, France and all the frenchies around the world!)
Oh yes! I have been struggling a lot a the beginning to find french written letters here...
Great features. I have a specific feature request; would really appreciate the ability to allow comments on posts with a paywall block. I want to create longer posts with 'extra' content for paying subs but do not want to lock out my free subs from commenting on the article.
Thanks, that would be great if that was possible.
I am writing what seems like quality poetry after 50 years as a broadcaster and actor. Writing is not my problem. Interfacing with modern tech and getting my work out there continues to confound this 75-year-old. Help!!!
Substack has a lot of tutorials!
It doesn’t look like you have started posting yet?
Maybe you could go to your library to see if a librarian could understand the posting directions.
Truly appreciate your building the ecosystem for us.
Well said
Is there a tutorial on how to use Substack?
I seriously need/want to dig in to the full capabilities of Substack. This was a great update. Thanks.