How to start a Substack

Start writing in minutes with our step-by-step guides for side hustlers and aspiring media business owners

On Substack, you own your mailing list, subscriber payments, and intellectual property. If you decide to leave, you’ll take what you’ve built with you.

Writers, podcasters, and video creators at all stages can pursue a creative side project or build an independent media business supported by their subscribers. For each path, there are different areas to focus on. Below, find the right guide for you and start laying foundations to do the work you care about most.

Launching a media business

If you’re ready to make money from your publication, and plant roots for this to be your main business, this guide outlines the key steps you need to take. This includes guidance on developing a strategy, setting up payments, building your publication, making a splashy launch, and how to keep growing.

Kickstarting a community

This guide is designed for publishers who see Substack as a tool to build an audience around their ideas or share creative projects. In three steps you’ll learn how to customize your publication, find your first subscribers, and keep growing.

Setting up your publication for the first time

Do you have a friend that should start a Substack? Forward this email to them and encourage them to start an account with this handy guide. We’d also love to hear you tell us about them in the comments of this post too!

Still have questions? Join the Substack team and writer community at our weekly Office Hours on Thursdays or visit our Support Center.