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Kickstarting a community on Substack
For a publisher getting started with a passion project
If you’re gearing up to share your writing, podcast, or videos on Substack, here are a few steps to consider to create a great home for your work.
This guide is designed for new publishers who see Substack as a tool to build an audience around their ideas or share creative projects. If your goal is to launch a business with paid subscriptions on Substack, go here.
Download a PDF copy here:
Step 1: Customize your publication
There are a few pages and emails that you should customize to communicate all the important things about your publication. All of these adjustments can be made on your Settings page.
Logo
Your logo should be square, at least 256 x 256 pixels, with a transparent background. It’s small, more like an avatar, so aim for clear, crisp lines and not too much detail. Extend this logo aesthetic to your cover photo on your welcome page and wordmark on the top of your publication home page. Canva or Looka are great free tools to create visual elements. Learn more.About page
The About page tells new readers who you are, what you write about, and why they should subscribe. It’s a place to concisely show off your writing voice and style, plus establish credibility with your readers. Learn more.Welcome email
When someone signs up for your list, they’ll receive this email welcoming them and setting the stage. Use this space to highlight posts from your archive, solicit a direct reply from your new subscriber to introduce themself, and explain to readers how to download the Substack app to read your publication on the go. Learn more.Publication theme
You can personalize the color, layout, and font styles for your publication. Learn more.
On creating an aesthetic for your publication
“I collaborate with an artist who creates a unique illustration for each post. This creates an aesthetic for the entire newsletter, which in turn makes everything look more professional, which in turn builds the reader’s faith that you’re going to lead them somewhere interesting.
There’s all sorts of ways to create an aesthetic without having an artist collaborator, though, for example using black-and-white photographs, or cartoons, or old paintings, or frames from movies.”
—Erik Hoel
Step 2: Find your first subscribers
It’s time to spread the word and find your first subscribers! Here are some steps to consider as you find your first readers.
Link to your publication everywhere
Add your Substack URL to your email signature, personal website, and social media bios. On social media, pin a post about your Substack.Add Subscribe buttons to your first posts
In your first post—and every post!—use buttons and email headers and footers to ask readers to comment and share. Be sure you have a subscribe buttons in the top quarter of your post. These buttons can empower existing readers to take action and help your work travel further. Learn more.Connect to Twitter
We’ll send an email to Substack readers who follow you on Twitter when you publish your first post. Learn more.Email your closest supporters
Don’t be shy. Personally email or text a link to your first post to friends, coworkers, and acquaintances with a note that you’ve started a Substack.Post on social media
Post on social media—Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, TikTok, or YouTube—when you start your Substack and whenever you publish new posts.Build your network
Find someone whose work you admire and write a short (no more than 3-5 sentences) cold email or DM. Introduce yourself and tell them why you admire their work. No need to make a specific ask on your first contact, just start a conversation. Learn more.Add tags
Tagging your publication with keywords helps others discover your writing from search. You can add up to three tags and change them at any time. Learn more.Join the Substack writer community
Writers are invited to come together in a discussion thread hosted On Substack every Thursday. We answer questions about Substack and, on the first Thursday of every month, writers share what they’ve been reading and inspired by recently at Shoutout Thread. Learn more.
On cold outreach
“Be unafraid of reaching out to people you think might be interested in reading. This could be people you know personally or people you follow on Twitter. If you believe they would enjoy your newsletter, why not reach out and tell them? Don’t be glib about it; just tell them in your own words why you are reaching out.”
Step 3: Keep growing
There is a strong correlation between posting frequency and publication growth. If you want to keep growing, you’ve got to keep going with your writing and invest in collaborations with other Substack writers.
Publish consistently—ideally weekly
Each new post you publish gives existing readers a reason to share your work and new readers a signal that they might bump into. Our data team recommends targeting one post a week as a benchmark if you want to grow your audience. The format type doesn’t matter as much as this consistency. Your weekly post doesn’t have to be a lengthy essay; it could be a short post, an audio note, or a discussion thread. Learn more.Turn on Recommendations
Endorsing and being endorsed by Substack writers you love, using Recommendations, is the most powerful tool for growth on Substack. This human-powered system helps writers suggest other writers to their readers via the subscribe flow, on their home pages, and in automated emails. Writers who make a recommendation are three times as likely to be recommended in return. Learn more.Collaborate with other writers
Guest posts, guest features, Q&As, and interviews can help you tap into new audiences. Collaborations not only encourage the discovery of great writing but are an opportunity for writers to form connections in a pursuit that can feel solitary at times. Learn more.
On spreading the word
“Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson tweeted about [my Substack] four separate times. It’s not something that I could’ve ever expected, but I had taken the extra step of sharing my article on him and tagging him on Twitter. Who knew that he actually paid attention to his notifications?
Anyway, it reminds me of this great quote by David Perell: ‘Every article is a serendipity vehicle.’ You never know whose eyes your work will land in front of. The only thing you can control is taking that extra step of sending it to or tagging the right people in hopes of maximizing your luck.”
—Polina Pompliano
Great writing is valuable
When you start a Substack, Pledges will automatically be turned on so that readers can pledge their support and help you build confidence that you could succeed with a subscription model. Pledges turn into recurring payments when you enable paid subscriptions.
You can start earning money for your work without changing what you publish. You just need to flip a switch. Learn more.
Download a PDF copy of our guide to kickstarting a community:
I think one of the difficulties with starting a Substack community around a publication is outreach.
Substack defaults to offering a streamlined means of publishing to just Twitter, however (pending any changes by Elon Musk) Twitter is not a conduit of free speech, like many places that opt to engage in censorship. The ones that don't engage in censorship often look down even on relevant attempts to promote as being a type of spam.
Many Substackers draw in their audience from other, similar Substacks, and whilst this is great news for Substack readers as it means more content, it doesn't expand the audience pie, as it were, as breaking through the behemoth takes time and resources. The primary growth factor from what I can observe is through word-of-mouth and direct link sharing, however for new beginners this is painfully slow.
Many Substackers who are new are inexperienced at marketing and advertising (myself included), especially for people on budgets of very little or zero (myself again included), finding the most cost effective means of advertising is difficult. Perhaps Substack can do an article or PDF explaining the most effective means of advertising?
Additionally Substack might want to create a sort of primary page akin to YouTube where you can see a list of (free) posts recommended by some transparent system reporting on today's topic, based on a user's previous browsing history (if they consent). That way natively expanding internal reach and discoverability.
I recognise Substack is in the early days and will improve as time continues, so I look forward to see how it turns out!
I agree with you! I would so love if the front page, Substack.com, was like "Hacker News" and listed text links of all the latest individual posts being published by Substack writers, plus a tag system per post so that readers can search Substack.com based on a category or topic, e.g. "humor" "comic strip" "movie recommendations" "life hacks" etc.
https://news.ycombinator.com
The more I read about starting out, the more confused I get. This is no country for old ladies. Is there a Substack for Dinosaurs thread?
That should be your title! Start that page and I will read it!
I look at how to do this and go to bed!
Js and JennyStokes THANK YOU!!! I thought I was the only one who couldn't figure out wth is going on. I have a WordPress blog: www.articulation.me which was only possible through the tech savvy skills of my son. Otherwise, I follow someone (Nadia Bolz-Weber) on Substack and sorta stumbled into all of this. I am totally clueless. Anywhoo, thanks for making me feel better! :D LOL
Ha. I am trying to write on substack on my own Profile.
I get a sentence out then everything stops!
There are a huge number of older people who really can't figure this new substack out. It was easy before.
Will keep trying!
Good luck to you too.
Thank you so much for this post! I just launched a community for secular homeschoolers and am so excited to apply some of the techniques here to make our community more vibrant!
I appreciate the clarity and guidance here:"Publish consistently—ideally weekly." The question of how often to post has been a puzzle. It's good to get a solid number from the people who can see the data and trends.
Anyway, if anyone would like to collaborate, I have a "Guest Writer" section in my newsletter, "moviewise: Life Lessons From Movies."
If you've ever felt that you learned something about life from a movie, please share it with the "moviewise" community here:
https://moviewise.substack.com/p/be-our-guest
I’m definitely interested in doing this! I’ll take a look at your archive to make sure I choose a movie you haven’t done yet 😊 thank you for offering a guest post option!
That would be wonderful Daisy Anne! Thank you so much for considering it!
I am one of the millions of people "howling" in the dark.
WHAT ABOUT DEAF PEOPLE!
Every podcast should have tanscripts or enabled subtitles!
I am so sick of writing to people I pay for and asking them to please do this.
I recently wrote to Michael Moore. He said there would be a transcript soon....where is it.
People are becoming more poor and cannot afford to pay for content IF the above are not catered to.
Thank you for the nice guide! It looks like I've applied many of these tips to getting started with my new abundance mindset community and associated podcast this year, popularized via periodic posts through my substack; looking forward to the next step of forming collaborations with other writers.
Building quality content can't be overstated. Thanks for this wonderful piece!
I will not use Twitter does this mean I can't publish.
Frankly I am disgusted with people still using Twitter!
Ha.
I have never been on Twitter or any other media.
ONLY substack.
GET off your 'phones.'
GO out and look at nature.
I live on the Rhone/Gardon there are NO birds
Hey, Check out my weekly newsletter - The Wordsridge Newsletter! It is completely free to subscribe. It is a miniature literary and cultural magazine with poetry, essays, articles, quotes, recommendations, bulletin board, poetry prompts, book reviews and lots of love!!!
thank you so much for this important information.
Kindly subscribe to my Substack ☺️
Smart stuff here. Thanks. I lost my virginity today and published.
Hey, Check out my weekly newsletter - The Wordsridge Newsletter! It is free to subscribe. It is a representation of literary and cultural publications with, writings, articles, quotes, recommendations, a bulletin board, book reviews and lots more!!
loved this! great tips! working on consistency and building my subscribers! its been a challenge especially learning marketing tactics on IG BUT I’ll definitely will be more conscious about these tips! feel free to check out my newsletter and leave me any additional advice lol :)
thank you so much for this important information.
If I have an existing list for a basic email newsletter, can I add those names/emails to my substack subscription list, or do people have to individually subscribe?
I'm already on Word Press - maybe I'll just stay there. Check me out if you have time: www.articularion.me
When writer's block hits or self-doubt creeps in, "Publish consistently--ideally weekly" serves as my beacon of hope and resilience.
Terima kasih banyak untuk posting ini! Saya baru saja meluncurkan komunitas untuk homeschooler sekuler dan saya sangat bersemangat untuk menerapkan beberapa teknik di sini untuk membuat komunitas kita lebih hidup!Thank you so much for this post! I just launched a community for secular homeschoolers and am so excited to apply some of the techniques here to make our community more vibrant!
So is tagging and hastaging the same? Or simply give @+ random influencer in my niche and redo it later generously
I don't see anything about how we would be paid. Is it through PayPal or some other platform?
Please tell me the name of Substack's payment processing platform (“Payment Processor”)
Bruce Price
wisewords@earthlink.net
Please check out (and subscribe if you feel its worth it) my Substack Newsletter. I write on Life Positivity, Productivity and frequently cover short bios of successful folks from different spheres of life. roshansmusings.substack.com
Wonderful and gives a great deal of insight. However my creativity goes in an entirely different direction.
Sorry you feel that way, Jubei. Today, the Substack network is driving more than 40 percent of all subscriptions across the platform, and 12 percent of paid subscriptions. That means you essentially get readers and money for free just by publishing on Substack.
When it comes specifically to discovery, Recommendations (https://on.substack.com/p/recommendations) and Reader (https://substack.com/discover) are two places for visitors to find great writing.
NO to Twitter.
Being able to tag content of what we write about, that's searchable on the Substack home page would be a start. Discoverability should not have to depend on a network or persuasive system of peer recommendations, it should be user-centric instead.