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?
Hey Fred, our team believes strongly in the subscription model. With a steady base of subscribers, writers can earn a meaningful income. That said, our team is thinking about how we can support writers through other revenue streams and this is an interesting idea. I shared it with them for consideration.
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!
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.
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
It's true, working on it! We’re testing new ways to help you choose which notes to see. On web (coming to apps soon), you can click the … menu on a user’s profile or next to their note and pick See more from {name}. This will cause you to see more of their notes in your home tab, whether or not you subscribe.
I’m running into the same issues here as on every other platform, being buried by the algorithms. I’ve been curious what the criteria is for Substack to promote a newsletter as I’ve seen it do, and so far it seems it is based on number of subscribers, so it appears to be chicken and egg scenario where you can be promoted without a large number of readers, but you can’t grow to a large number without some promotion. I’d love to know that they will pull from all newsletters to feature good writing and not just the popular ones.
Isn't it slavery? :p Same issues as long as you think you can't do it another way. It's always a question of quantity vs quality, goals and reaching the right audience. A bit of inbound marketing is helpful there. I use my social media to promote my Substack letter, as long with my website and my youtube channel. You might try to get out of substack to get new subscribers.
Not sure what you mean by slavery. 50% of my subscribers made accounts just to follow mine - until recently, only a small minority came from Substack. I do think Notes has been helpful in this regard.
I do some marketing but only what I can do while wrestling a toddler with the other hand.
Interesting, thanks for sharing. I suppose we might have different goals in our writings (no offense here of course) . I just meant I was not able nor willing to comment on popular accounts on a regular basis, I read but not always comment bc it would drain me (my contribution consists in likes). Your community seems to be committed. I'll take a glance. I'm always curious about other writers choices and 'models', it helps me to think out of my own box. Btw I live in France and I'm quite convinced substack and basically the subscriptions models (even free) are not known enough to make it natural for people to just try this platform (imho).
Everyone is different. I have to work in spurts, so I try things and see what sticks. But I don't feel obliged to it - like I'll go weeks without social media if I'm busy. I do try to keep a solid posting schedule, but no pressure, family comes first.
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?
Hey Fred, our team believes strongly in the subscription model. With a steady base of subscribers, writers can earn a meaningful income. That said, our team is thinking about how we can support writers through other revenue streams and this is an interesting idea. I shared it with them for consideration.
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!
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.
I agree with you Linn. Such a feature was very helpful!
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.
Yes, I would also like such a function!
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!
It's true, working on it! We’re testing new ways to help you choose which notes to see. On web (coming to apps soon), you can click the … menu on a user’s profile or next to their note and pick See more from {name}. This will cause you to see more of their notes in your home tab, whether or not you subscribe.
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!!
I’m running into the same issues here as on every other platform, being buried by the algorithms. I’ve been curious what the criteria is for Substack to promote a newsletter as I’ve seen it do, and so far it seems it is based on number of subscribers, so it appears to be chicken and egg scenario where you can be promoted without a large number of readers, but you can’t grow to a large number without some promotion. I’d love to know that they will pull from all newsletters to feature good writing and not just the popular ones.
You can try what I do - commenting on popular substacks as long as commenting is free.
Isn't it slavery? :p Same issues as long as you think you can't do it another way. It's always a question of quantity vs quality, goals and reaching the right audience. A bit of inbound marketing is helpful there. I use my social media to promote my Substack letter, as long with my website and my youtube channel. You might try to get out of substack to get new subscribers.
Not sure what you mean by slavery. 50% of my subscribers made accounts just to follow mine - until recently, only a small minority came from Substack. I do think Notes has been helpful in this regard.
I do some marketing but only what I can do while wrestling a toddler with the other hand.
Interesting, thanks for sharing. I suppose we might have different goals in our writings (no offense here of course) . I just meant I was not able nor willing to comment on popular accounts on a regular basis, I read but not always comment bc it would drain me (my contribution consists in likes). Your community seems to be committed. I'll take a glance. I'm always curious about other writers choices and 'models', it helps me to think out of my own box. Btw I live in France and I'm quite convinced substack and basically the subscriptions models (even free) are not known enough to make it natural for people to just try this platform (imho).
Everyone is different. I have to work in spurts, so I try things and see what sticks. But I don't feel obliged to it - like I'll go weeks without social media if I'm busy. I do try to keep a solid posting schedule, but no pressure, family comes first.
You're right. :)
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.
Hey Robert, we've heard this feedback before and it's on our team's radar.
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?
The substack site has some tutorials on your question Jeff, and you'll find it easier to write right away!
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?
Hey Sharon, this is a great place to get started: https://on.substack.com/p/start-a-substack-newsletter