Building the next generation of media brands on Substack
Introducing new themes and search improvements for Substack publications
We’ve been working with The Bulwark team to understand what it takes to support a media brand as it scales. For years, they had split their site between Substack for subscriber-only content and a custom WordPress site for everything else. But as of today, the team has migrated their entire post archive to make Substack the single unified home for their work.
“We decided to do this because we wanted to take advantage of Substack’s network. We saw that Substack was improving customization options and realized it wasn’t worth it to keep maintaining the other website,” says
, who leads audience development for The Bulwark. The majority of The Bulwark’s new subscribers have an existing Substack account or saved credit card, and over 15% came directly through the Substack app or network (which includes subscriptions from recommendations, leaderboards, search, and notes).We’ve also increasingly heard the feedback that publishers—from brands like The Bulwark to writers starting out—want more flexibility to organize their content and make their website look unique. And today, we’re excited to introduce these features to the entire Substack community. We hope these options will support a wide range of high-volume publishers, multimedia creators, and writers organizing their work into different sections.
Improved publication search
We’ve upgraded publication search to make it easier and faster for readers to get value from your archives. Click the search icon on any Substack site, then type in a topic keyword or author name to instantly filter for relevant posts.
New theme and layout options
We’ve given your site design settings a refresh to lay the foundation for advanced customization.
There are three new hero options for publication homepages (Highlight, Feature Media, and Podcast). These enable additional visual customization on your Substack site.
These themes apply to section and podcast pages as well. You can also customize the header alignment, the post layout, and whether to show links to podcast players.
We also recently shipped advanced homepage layouts, which allow you to highlight your publication’s different content streams by adding a customizable subscribe banner, blocks for your tags/sections, or a sidebar module featuring your contributors or podcasts.
Learn more: How to change your homepage layout
The Bulwark is one of many Substack publications taking advantage of increased customization.
cited these ongoing theme improvements as a motive for his business publication ’s return to Substack last year. also migrated , his defensive-football think tank, late last year, and uses our updated themes for his articles, video clinics, and podcast. Cody tells us:“I moved MatchQuarters to Substack from WordPress because it allowed me to house my content in one spot, which gave me total control over my brand. In short, it created less friction and enabled me to move into this work full-time. The decision to shift platforms has exponentially increased my paid subscription base and visibility, with a 60% increase in revenue in just a few months.”
Whether you’re just starting your newsletter or thinking of migrating an existing project to Substack, we hope these features—and many more improvements down the line—will help your Substack site feel like your own.
Looking for tips on designing a standout brand? Check out this guide.
Want to start with the basics? Check out this article.
We’d love you to give these new options a whirl and then let us know in the comments what you think. What other customization options are you looking for?
I continue to appreciate Substack's user-friendliness and non-censorship.
I hope this is never successfully attacked.
There are a lot of us here in the "free speech zone".
There are certainly attempts to make it happen. But yes, that is one of the best aspects of the platform.
Who rules your heart, is always a really good question. You already know, for their actions tells its story.
Could not agree more, John.
I still haven’t learnt how to drive Silubstack yet. I have to just click from the email I receive. I’m an old woman. It’s not their fault it’s mine.
Love that they switched completely to Substack. I’d be a paying subscriber to more newsletters if they switched from Patreon etc to Substack. It’s too much of a hassle to have different accounts/profiles. I love getting all of my media from one place.
I did the same. Had multiple sites and a Patreon and even a podcast. Came here to read an article recommended, had a fantastic READER experience,....and never left.
I migrated everything over and closed everything down but my WorldAnvil site...which supports my substack.
Never been so happy!
I mean, this is nice for people and I’m sure there are people who will use it. I may do some changes but I have generally stuck with the basic format.
Mainly because if people need something flashy in order to attract subscribers, it feels to me like you’re trying to distract from the quality of your content. Some people will interact with the main page, but the important thing is the content itself.
Reading it in an email means not seeing the main page. Unless I can customize the email or the individual post more with these options, there isn’t much use for them.
At least that’s my take.
I'd actually really like some extra stats pages to show how many clicks one is getting through to the homepage. Makes me wonder how much tweaking the homepage actually does.
Having said that, I much prefer the simpler layouts. If I go to a new Substack page and am assaulted with lots of boxes and a strip of different categories then I generally find it too overwhelming.
Absolutely, there are stats things which I would definitely like more of.
I get that. Don't disagree, either.
I'm just hoping these tools will augment the quality content I strive to share.
If it draws your attention to the front page AND you snag them with quality, well heyyyy, win-win, right?
Yes, ideally that's what we should want on some level. I can see some benefit to it. For example, one of my Substacks is a comic book. There are probably ways I could change it to make people like the comic more. But for my main Substack, probably not.
Same, have a comic book also. But I'd love to figure a way to display books or speed drawings...
Time to play and see if we can improve,... or just work with what we have.
For me, either way works 💪
Probably for me the thing I'd love to do for my comic book is give people the option to pay for a single post. For instance, I could offer a full comic in the post and they buy it for a single time without having to buy a yearly or monthly subscription.
The whole "get a single paid post for free" option is a step in the right direction.
Totally agree. That's also a great idea.
You make a valid point! Flashy designs can often distract from the core message. Prioritizing quality content is essential for maintaining subscriber interest. If changes don’t improve the actual content, they might not be worth it. Simplicity can often lead to better engagement!
https://hero-clicker.com/
This will only work and Substack will be taken seriously if it’s executive don’t screw up. A lot of useless features are being implemented but support is non-existent. It’s been months since I have been chasing support and the CEO to import my mailing list but no response. I hope this won’t become another MySpace.
💯
Thanks for the update! Will there be a time we can use actual custom fonts?
Would be awesome to have the same customisability that the ‘Sections’ pages now have, on ‘Tags’ pages too - for those of us who use tags to host various different series/themes. Thanks!
I came here for an answer about that - I didn't realize tags sections were treated differently. Bummer!
Makes sense! Hopefully we'll get that one in too.
🥳 Thank you!
Substack should stop making "improvements" — you've got a good thing going, and it's getting more complicated by the second. WTF does "We also recently shipped advanced homepage layouts, which allow you to highlight your publication’s different content streams by adding a customizable subscribe banner, blocks for your tags/sections, or a sidebar module featuring your contributors or podcasts" actually mean? (I wanted to put "actually mean" in italics or bold face, but can't — now THAT would be an improvement I could understand. .May I suggest that whoever wrote your original post checks into Wikipedia and look up the term "FOG index"? PS: Is "customizable" actually a word?
valid pointy point
💯
Please, add Russian language
Tell it to HiTlary Clinton she's got inside connections w/ Russian lobby
the tool for converting WP blog posts into Substack posts doesn't seem very reliable. It really hasn't worked well for me. Is there any support for that? I can't see bringing over much content if I have to do alot of manual work to make it happen.
Please be more specific about the details of the new features... and expand less on other substack accounts and how interesting they are. 👉 I'm subscribed to this newsletter to get updates about new substack features. Please explain them to me with some more depth.
I'm pretty sure this is to provide examples for us to behold. At least that was what I got from this...and I'm grateful to make comparisons. 🙏🏽
Yes, but when you release new features, you have to explain them in detail... I didn't learn anything from this article, except that I need to dig into the settings to see what has changed...
Automatic traduction and spelling mistakes/grammar check (for authors) by LLM should be a priority.
Also, am I the only one wanting to be able to justify the text of a post?
Nope! I would love to be able to justify the text of my posts, too!
Just tried the search fonction with the term "Dry fasting" (without quotes) in posts. Did not find my last one about it but a lot of unrelated posts lol.
The new search function is complete junk. Big step backward.
Some very helpful new features. Thank you, Substack team, for making it easier to improve our sites, especially for people like me who are not totally up-to-date whith the latest technologies. I just can't keep up. 😉
Lol, so I'm not the ONLY one? [fist bump]
Great! Much appreciated, bit more control over the visual interface -- the pin options, could they be ordered somehow? Pin 1, 2, 3 etc instead of having to pin/unpin to get the order the way one wants using the most recent as top?
But, if not, great as is, still the most helpful platform I've tried, very user friendly, thanks again Substack!
Good feedback on the pins; we'll consider that!
Please!
Looking forward to experimenting with the new themes!
I can't wait to look at all the new layouts! Thanks 🙏🥰
Finally, new things I can mess with instead of getting my writing done!
u kno it buddie
Ok done! That didn’t last long enough. Time to change the fonts some more
Great to see all the initiatives and helping folks customize their layouts.
One idea would be more customization on the referrals as well. A lot of folks seem to use giving away free memberships there, but if people have content to give away, it would be cool to be able to treat it like its own "post" on Substack - almost like a landing page.
A little outside of the customization idea, but "email journeys" would be awesome to see. Having different emails set up to send out to folks who have subscribed for a certain amount of time. It can help the writer feel like they don't have to cram everything into the first email, and it gives the reader more time to check everything out.
Keep up the good work!
Damn! Substack have been busy focusing on a great product with fab feature and functionality - just love to see it, bravo team!
Can you please just add FILM/TV to the categories already? The mediums are the biggest movers of culture in the world and Substack seems determined to make sure those writing about either have no place here.
well then there's THAT
Though, I will add, I'd also appreciate it if you gave your writers the ability to turn off whatever filter is being applied to our "Most Popular" reads. I have paid subscriptions on, which always trump my actually most popular reads. I don't want to force-feed people my paywalled articles. I want them to read my legitimately MOST POPULAR articles. Could you explain why we don't have that option already given the fact that the most popular articles are the ones that actually generate the most new subscriptions? (Besides the obvious fact that paid articles make Substack more). Thanks!
Can you take the video out of “locked in top” position? It covers most of the phone screen and makes it almost impossible to read the article.
Jury is still out on the new search function. The original one sucked so badly that it would take a miracle to make it usable.
I love the originality that Substack has given authors without the need to force anyone to obey rules that benefit a single group. I see a real freedom in the authors and without tampering with the personal audience.
Congratulations Substack, you are still the future of digital media. I'm creating courses and I've never joined an amazing place
i've got an E-Commerce website running on Shopify...but i'd really like to use Substack as the end-all-be-all for my website.
is there any sort of integration between the two that would allow me to host everything on Substack, and simply use Shopify for the cart and payment?
I would love to sell my digital books here as well. For now I just have links to other platforms...
Time for a new homepage
These are great. More choices is always a good thing. Funny (and not surprising) that Bulwark is moving in the opposite direction I am. I've recently set up a self-hosted Wordpress site for content aggregation. It's a pain to maintain, but I haven't found a better way yet.
I have also been messing with Tags on the homepage at https://www.indiemediatoday.com - take a look! I will be playing with the new layouts to see if any make more sense for my format.
Will Substack consider creating a layout specifically for video creators?
Cool! What do you think a video-specific layout would look like? Very interested to hear more about that; it's something we'd love to support
Hi Jasmine! Thanks for replying, big fan of the platform. Approaching my 3rd anniversary as a publisher, ghost write for 2 other Substacks & have tried hard to pull people in.
The big thing for me would be more incorporating video into the homepage, which is pretty static. I notice that the video will preview if you rollover the thumbnail - that might work on desktop... but what about mobile? Here are a few "free" ideas ;)
a) a channel intro video slot that doesn't have to be a post (you don't need to click anywhere else to see it) - look at https://www.youtube.com/indienewsnetwork as an example.
b) a video preview/play window (not auto-played, but not just a thumbnail) with a featured video and a list of the showing the 4 or 5 most recent video posts to the right, or they could be triggered from a specific keyword.
c) look at the video sites. They focus on one video big and a 4-5 video recommendation engine to the right or underneath. Seems like you shouldn't have to reinvent the wheel.
d) it's different from a "podcast" which focuses on audio & transcript. The format should get its own style.
Ya know, I would LOVE to join the team and make contributions like this regularly. Mr Baker has my info <3.
I have submitted for a couple of roles, including in the Video & Podcast relations division, but no luck yet so far.
Thanks, very helpful suggestions! If you use the new "Feature Media" homepage hero layout, then show either "Top posts" or a recent posts "Grid" underneath it, it would be pretty similar. You could also pin your "intro video" so it shows up in the main page. I like the idea of being able to watch the full video from the homepage without clicking in, too.
Changed the layout and removed the pinned post, so the current top few are all video. It's definitely better. I also changed the layout on the Podcast pages. Take a look - what do you think? Would love any feedback. Thanks again!
Looks great!!
also would love the ability to create a playlist of videos within a player so the webpage doesn't have to change, but the vid & title/description does - like a static page that pulls elements from the video pages themselves...
I love that substack doesn't censor. But I've heard that Stripe, the only payment method that Substack allows writers to receive subscription fees, has actually censored some writers. Without an approved alternative, how can these free thinkers receive support from their audience? If I am mistaken, I'll apologize in advance.
Robert Malone fought Stripe.
And yes, more payment solutions like Zelle, CashApp etc are MUCH more needed than design gimmicks.
Stripe is close to a scam with the holding time of the funds. If you offer SEPA payments in Europe they hold the funds up to 3 weeks. SEPA is mostly a real time execution and NEVER longer than 1 day.
Substack, this is by far the worst solution on the market.
Fast payments are 1.000 times more important than all design gimmicks.
That’s us, a 16 year old music website from South Carolina.
I'd like to be able to style links: the way links are styled by default breaks web accessibility guidelines. Can this be prioritized? If you give us a basic custom CSS section, we could do this ourselves.
Hi! Could you share more about accessibility best practices here? We have the ability to toggle between colored & underlined links right now (https://your.substack.com/publish/settings#website) but curious what you have in mind.
Certainly: this is a failure of WCAG 2.1 Success Criterion 1.4.1 (Use of Color). Basically, you can't use color as "the only visual means of... distinguishing a visual element." (Here's the full success criterion: https://bit.ly/3PZcR5n).
In other words, you can't have color OR underlines. We need to have color AND underlines. Ideally, links should be colored, underlined and bolded. That's what I'd like to do, but I don't see that option anywhere.
I’m excited by the continuous improvements, thank you team! It would be fantastic to have a native dark mode feature included in upcoming updates 🌙
Our web reader and home has dark mode now! Go to the bottom-left of substack.com/inbox or substack.com/home, click the 3-dots, and toggle light/dark mode in "Appearance."
But we don't change publication sites since those themes are chosen by each writer.
Thanks, Jasmine! It would be great to see a toggle at the bottom of the post view, giving readers the choice between the author’s default or their own preference. This could significantly enhance accessibility and personalize the Substack reading experience.
If you click the 3-dots on the right-hand-side under a post title, you can click "Substack Reader" and it will open in the web inbox view, where you can set dark as the default :) Can see the case for making it easier though!
Substack have been going heavy on features for the last year and testing new things. I love that.
I'm grateful for the ongoing improvements to the website. The addition of more options and upgrades is truly thrilling. Thank you for introducing a plethora of new possibilities.
Really looking forward to exploring these options ... Thanx!
I love Substack's customer service and willingness to improve. I also appreciate that you talk directly to us---you want to know what we need in order for us to be successful and that goes a long way! Thank you, Substack for all that you do. I really would like to see Substack fix the unsubscribe situation. I receive subscribers from other sources, not just Substack. For example, when somebody books a Discovery Call at my calendar, they're subscribed to my newsletter through MailerLite since this isn't possible to do with Substack. I then have to import those subscribes from MailerLite into Substack. But, when people unsubscribe from Substack I have to do so much extra work to find out who they are so my numbers match at MailerLite. I only use MailerLite to capture readers in other ways since Substack doesn't interface with all platforms. Please make this easier for us! Please let us see who unsubscribes so we don't make mistakes and accidentally resubscribe them when doing imports.
Absolutely nobody needs this nonsense. There are so many areas to improve before.
Stats.
Support.
Quality of translations.
Better and cheaper payment provider instead of the Stripe junk.
And and and …
Should everyone be seeing all these new hero design options? I don’t see the featured media or podcast options.
yeah m 2
I love this
I find it can still be a challenge managing sections inside the main publication. I can't tell how many are subscribed to a specific section (or at least, can't figure it out). And I am trying to figure out ways to make it easier for subscribers to add new sections to their subscription without forcing them to take all of them.
I will also mention that at least for me, having people "follow" me instead of subscribe has so far not been all that helpful.
Whenever a product says "it's EASY" just substitute HARD bc nothing is THAT EASY
It is fine to add new features, but the push on followers that you started a few weeks ago has actually been a disaster.
The number of new subscribers has dropped a lot, replaced by followers who don't frequent the platform, who don't even know what Notes are and who are in fact just lost subs.
Maybe in the US it is different but where the number of readers and the spread of the platform is lower (like Italy) it is so.
A great pity, a very penalising choice.
Great to have the search option, but any chance when you search and press enter you get the full list of results? It doesn't seem to work for me. It just either clears the search bar, or loads the very first hit. If you've got lots of posts with a certain keyword then I'd like to be able to scroll through all of them as a result list, not just the first X that are displayed in the search dropdown.
Good update, though.
Thanks.
Two things seem be going on; what I see on my end: (1) it seems like the design of the new search is to type-in or paste-in the string of words, and (2) do NOT hit enter.
Currently, there seems to be this "delay in waiting for the results" (seen when I paste-in a string of words); this delay was then causing me to reflexively press enter; and it was the hitting of the enter key that was then cancelling the results -- or so it seemed to me
Yeah, that's definitely it. But even when you wait, it doesn't show *all* results does it? It creates a list in the drop-down search bar, but the list only goes so far and it feels like it's just showing the top X hits. I could be wrong, but that was my impression.
edit: maybe it does. Just went back and tried searching for various terms and perhaps it is showing everything.
I'm seeing that, too -- not all -- just the top hits
also when i paste in a string with double quotes ("the quick brown fox jumps") -- which I know is in one-and-only-one article of mine, it does return that article as the top hit, but, it also returns all these other articles -- which have each of those words individually -- in other words, ignoring the double quotes
Good to know and good feedback that hopefully someone on the Substack team sees.
I hope to be the Enron of Substack
Who’s Enron?
A skilled company in creative accounting
Ooops, I work in energy trading and utility...
Amazing!! I recently ported everything from WordPress as well. Continue to find Substack so transformational in the content generation and distribution process.
I don't know whether this is the right place to whine about this sort of thing, but it isn't going to stop me? Could we pleeeeeeease have some more space for word marks? I've made mine as big as I can and it still looks.... kinda weedy? Would be very much appreciated.
Can’t wait!
Finally some great changes!
Thank you for highlighting MatchQuarters' success. Best business move I made was to start writing full-time on Substack in '20.
Thank you Cody!! We love that you're on Substack; and thanks for building with us.
I've spent a lot of time getting the homepage for Velvet Room Publishing just right
OOOH, excited!
Has anyone used this in place of a website for recipes and recipe content? I am wondering about the categorization features in sections.
Into desserts, salads etc
Also
Wonder if there will ever be ad options on substack
Lots of great recipe newsletters! Check out https://whattocook.substack.com/ or https://sundaystack.substack.com/ for examples
I link ALL stock tickers to quote pages and stock names to the IR pages BUT search has long been a HUGE annoyance on here e.g. finding stocks I know I had mentioned in link collection posts etc so I don't have to look up their IR pages and tickers again... It does seem a little better or easier now...
I am getting messages from my hosting company that my site is utilizing more system resources than normal and I should upgrade. Even though, I just have a welcome page only and have done anything to the site in over a year. I am looking to do more with substack since support to improve traffic and awareness are the main objectives.
vang mình cảm ơn tất cả
I have a request please. Can we do something about the "activity" notifications so that we are not endlessly scrolling from the start when replying to comments etc. It takes hours of time to read and reply.
We're working on making these more manageable!
Thank you very much!
Lots of customisation options! I will be exploring for sure :)
Substack is very good, it exposes your intelligence through reading and writing. but how can get paid in substack please 🙏.
Really cool updates! I'd love to be able to control the shadow on the feature media in the sections. As an illustrator, the shadow right now is really intense and doesn't go with my aesthetic.
Also would love to be able to pin more than one post in a section.
Good suggestions, thanks!
Can archived constant contact newsletters be moved to my Substack site? Ditto for past Wordpress blog?
If so what happens to the current sites/links?
I really appreciate your comments today. However, how do I set up a 'homepage'? When I go to 'home' it opens a page with statistics and access to my posts, but certainly nothing that would be for the public. HELP!
You can set up your homepage by going to https://your.substack.com/publish/settings/website-theme
Always great stuff!!! Nice work, team!!!
This looks great 👍
Hello, Substack team. How can I search for posts within a publication? My subscribers often ask how they can find a specific post of mine using keywords, as the 🔍 icon searches the entire platform instead of just the publication.
Substack continues to impress me.
The low barrier to entry is going to unlock so much potential in creators that were struggling to get started.
What an awesome community to be part of.
Give the world your best, Substackers!
GRACIAS
GRACIAS
Is there an option for authors to allow readers to zoom in on the mobile interface? Important for comics if text on images is too small to read. I noticed The Free Press has this ability (allowing readers to zoom in on the pages), but I can't find it on any of the site layout options, or even an option to put in one's own code for this. Could smaller accounts get the same zoom in option?
i would use Substack if it were accessible in China
The path Google is taking is probably going to push many other publications to Substack. I am experimenting with the platform, but perhaps at some point, I will migrate everything to Substack as well. I do appreciate the ease of use of this platform and clean design. Thanks
I am new, it is my first time to use substance
I hope I will enjoy it
I have stopped my word press site of eight years to focus on Substack so I can only be happy to see a better way to handle the graphic design and layout of our pages.
I join the others in suggesting a different payment method, and also I suggest you might want to improve your tech support. As an example, on day one of starting my space here, I added my podcast RSS feed, but now I noticed it’s no longer working.
I glance at your FAQ does not give me any troubleshooting, and a text engaged a polite AI chat box which told me what I already knew.
Other than that I am happy for improvements, as long as they are clearly explained with ‘how to’ style instructions. Not everyone has the time and energy to figure I out where things are. For example in my settings I cannot find anything related to my podcast RSS.
This means I have to talk to someone to get my answers. A ‘how to section’ would have been truly helpful.
Overall, well done and just know that every time a business asks where to send their newsletter and gain engagement I keep recommending Substack!
Is there an option to allow subscribers only access versus only paid and non-paid?
perfect
I want my site to be more findable outside the Substack bubble. Google won't give it robust indexing because of my custom domain redirect. Is there a way yo get around this?
My late husband and my you he a true blue American service in world war ll 6 for years . Would have said the same thing that Melcolm Nance said to Stephanie Miller on her podcast which I listen to also .American people wake up!! and stop bearing your head in the sand.
I just decided to move my Wordpress site over to Substack completely to change over from a free blog and separate newsletter model to a paid newsletter subscription. The ease of having everything all in one is amazing. My question is how do I have my Substack show up under the category I’ve selected? Substack asks for two and I’m not showing up in either. I selected Food & Beverage and Health & Wellness.
I don't see the "Media Feature" in my option s yet; hoping it will show up soon. Is there a roll-out delay?
Since you ask, it would be amazing to be able to have a full-width image with the headline, etc beneath it— similar to the Media Feature, but instead of a grey mod with headline, etc next to the image, It could have it below— But the one shown on the Bulwark example looks great as a start.
everyone Hello friend substack's bye usen hopen more everything health and work place don't 'censorship and more work union but each other service belief security Thank you.
Still waiting for text wrapping. ☹️
Awesome if i can figure out hound 2 do it - hound like a sniffer dog instead of "how"
i am looking to pay Elizabeth but unfortunately when i am asked for my CC info i see no safeguards. i would like to pay but don't feel like rolling the dice with my CC info.
I think Substack has a very long way to go. Some pressing issues:
1. Most people sign up and read on their phone. There should be a two click sign up with SMS. People are suspicious of links, this is very, very basic, the sign up method is horrible and many years out of date.
2. Substack is not well known, if they want to only focus on a tiny niche market of readers okay, but when something is not known it creates suspicion and lowers engagement. Substack needs to spend some money on promoting their macrobrand, this will hold them back. I wonder if 1/100 persons has heard of Substack I'd be surprised.
3. Not everyone wants to follow users, some are just looking for single articles, or essays, the site / app needs to facilitate this. The search engine is very, very poor.
4. SS needs to help people get from 0-1000 (or 500). They could use some degree of gamefication, they need to help people set goals but the biggest impediment is that seting the price point (inspite of discounts available) too high. I can see someone paying $5/month for a syndicated columnist who has gone to SS but for a person starting out it's almost impossible to monitize. You might say "go free" - well the problem is that even if it's $1/month when people pay for something they subconsciously ascribe value to it. Free to many seems valueless. If SS allowed readers to buy bundles of credits (say 100 credits for $20) and let writers set their prices as low as a credit it would allow a market mechanism to work effectively, why can't some writers be allowed to lower their price, why the high threshhold?
5. Substack has a lot going for it, but I think unless they really pick up the pace that a competitor will come in quickly and knock them out of the market. Too much of what they do is not competitive with what you see with other media, it is just backward and amateurish. SS can keep its core value and not become like a typical social media engine. But they have a long way to go. If a big player comes in they have a lot of space to improve, they will leave Substack behind in this space.
Thanks for the great post!
I’m on the move right now so I can’t test the new changes, but I had the below question on Notes that went unanswered. Wondering if there’s something I’m missing and if I can already do this.
Is there any way to take a post from a “Tag” category, that you’re hosting on your Substack homepage, and make it appear on the front? Right now, I’m experimenting with adding the categories and it’s defaulting to the 3 most recent posts from a category. I’d like to select specific ones to be the top posts in that category, not just automatically default to most recent.
Yes this option exists with the new advanced layouts and tag groups: https://support.substack.com/hc/en-us/articles/360039015892-How-do-I-switch-my-publication-s-homepage-to-a-different-layout#:~:text=You%27ll%20need%20to%20utilize%20the%20tags%20or%20sections%20feature%20to%20select%20the%20Groups%20view.%20The%20Groups%20view%20will%20show%20a%20grid%20of%20posts%20from%20a%20specific%20tag%20or%20section.
Okay, I'm looking at that help page and my dashboard and I'm not seeing where this option exists. I see the "Pin" stuff but that all works "above the fold" and I'm referring to what your help article is calling "Below the fold"
So for example, on my homepage (https://www.findingwitsend.com/) right now, I have a tag section called "Humorous Personal Essays". It is arranged by default, reverse chronologically, showing only my three most recent posts in that category. I want it to show 3 posts that I select from that category. I do not see where to do this. If I pin a post, it puts it at the top of the page, not in that tag section.
Also, while I'm here, I've noticed some writers have customized Welcome pages and I don't see any options for me to do that either. I'll link a screenshot example I took at the end here, but I'm wondering if those are options being tested or if they're only for a select group or what's the deal. (Screenshot: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1pyur3T-cDRHIfnngVhxOKey960oUmSPR/view?usp=sharing)
Thank you for any clarification!
It feels like I am at the Right Place, at the Right Time, etc...
Over the years I have invested in over a dozen URLs, for my work in many disparate fields of interest. This feels like it could enable to have all of that under one roof, which is spectacular.
I am exploring. Please keep up the good work, and keep us informed.
Thank You.
1) Could you improve old post tagging? e.g. do what Wordpress does at the back end? I would like to better tag my old posts WITHOUT having to open and edit each individual one...
2) IF this has not been improved yet: Its rather clunky to add tags on my front page as I have to move them around by hand to alphabetize... See my Substack (desktop) for what I mean... A tag cloud (again, like Wordpress) might be better...
This is very intriguing. At one point I had four web sites, two podcasts, two blogs and a Constant Contact newsletter, and most recently a well-received Substack. I definitely will look into consolidating my mini conglomerate under one roof. Is there a way to incorporate an ecommerce store for my books, which are available at amazon and on ebay, as well as on my main web site?
This all looks great! I’m having trouble with the “featured media”… that option isn’t showing up for me. Any ideas?
💯
Even though I keep the basic layout for my basic self, I like that more and more options are becoming available to keep unique personalizations alive.
I lost my password, I can’t get any help to continue enjoying Substack, I ‘ve been on for awhile without signing in now I can’t
I definitely gave things a whirl and totally whirled my neurons trying to design a wordmark. I'm having ratio issues but will persevere! I love the magazine mode and the ability to pin stories BUT it would be better yet if posts could be dragged into a different order. I moved a dozen of my Bathtub Book Club posts from my Wordpress blog to Substack in one night which was effortless (eventually) however, it buried my other content because the posts are organized chronologically (unless they are pinned). Otherwise, I appreciate these aesthetic upgrades, the mini tutorials and navigational guidance! Thank you.
oooh the new homepage options are so fun!
Thanks for integrating Spotify and substack! I moved my podcast over here and I’m so excited to grow with my writing adjacent to podcasting 🌱
Is it possible to write in french?
Is it allowed to write in french?
I love the idea of simplifying as you continue to make improvements to the platform. As a website designer I truly believe it should be easy to maintain your blog or publication and it feels like Substack is moving in the right direction!
Some of those numbers are wild... Credit to Substack for creating the space for people and publications to thrive like this!
Just got my lesbian/farm/falconry pod connected with Spotify and Apple through substack and I can’t believe how easy it’s been!
A place of peace among friends is the greatest story ever told. Is it not?
It's A Whole New World! The Mermaid sang.
Can we please have some video tutorials of the new changes?
I love Substack's new style of platforms. But please integrate another payment gateway aside from Stripe.
1. Design Freedom: As a former WordPress user, where making things your own is a big plus, I'm thrilled with Substack's new design options! It allows me to create a newsletter that truly reflects my style.
2. Finding My Tribe: Though, discovering other writers on Substack can be a challenge. I'd be interested in connecting with folks who write stories, particularly those focused on tribal narratives.
Loving it!
Looking at the Bulwark's substack, how can we get a) the dropdown Newsletter nav item that shows each section, and b) edit the style/image of the subscribe banner added in the advance settings?
the publication aims to maximize its audience reach through Substack's growing https://iogames.onl/ customization features and network benefits
Loved reading this! Your way of presenting information is both clear and engaging.
get more info at https://simregistrationph.com/
This is where Substack truly shines by their commitment to continual improvement.
What an amazing platform and family .I would like to welcome myself and others .
To be a content writer has always been in my mind .Substack.com you are a innovative explosion. Happy writing. I am sure this is the right time to say thank you for putting me though.
Thanks you so much my Join us probably now please online we've money now please
I wish the wonderful folks at Substack would work a bit harder on basics before adding features. The number of clicks to access the dashboard (one too many), the clumsy search for stuff in archives (why no keywords?), the two-clicks to open an archived story (why all the marketing data?), the still-clumsy video embed (why no Instagram embeds?)...list goes on and on.
how! ha!!! old!
so circle thing icon is leave message? ocons like canmera,f,note, think itube ? what are they? clueless on da new stuff 1980-2024. yes a non google guy, free, still stupid and, yes everyone died. one by one like wen creepy guys noticed a, virous ! non killed by bug, died from human contact, help, assitance, modern tec. trying to get to the ,start, not violent have a uke and guitar. peace, like and bobby someone back then. how do i send this! blue arrow up? ip+down arrows? mike funny how a code, security and us old peoples mind, ah, rember your security code thing ?????? ha!
GRACIAS
maybe, some people use ,ah, email? i do a phone? thst dosnt work well. never e mailed, it has a pile of #sequenced but ! old guy, alshimers, dementia, usal decay of funtions... just piss poor thinking on there side! i like pakman. others are same useless over+over .
Yes, I would love to see other options as well
Absolutely. There are so many faster/cheaper ways to move a dollar. I don’t know if there is a way to integrate Coinbase Commerce or something like Ripple’s enterprise solution. But Stripe’s vig is way too high IMO.
Sir help me to get job here in this substack
I'm curious what other payment platforms you'd like to see? Personally, I love Stripe...and I've used PayPal since 2005. I'm always open to better options...
Zelle and CashApp are widespread in the audience.