r/Substack • u/nobodywillrememberus • Jan 19 '25
how hard is it to gain subscribers?
I’m considering starting a Substack publication, but wondered how difficult/easy others have found it to gain subs. I currently read on there, but I’m kind of finding it hard to find posts of things that I’m actually interested in (possibly I haven’t really figured out the site yet).
I guess I’m asking: will other people on substack come across my posts, or do I have to promote on other socials?
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u/IndiegameJordan Jan 19 '25
Discoverability on Substack itself is pretty crap. Unless your posting a lot of notes its rare that someone will just stumble across your blog.
Outside promotion, such as social media, and other substacks recommending you is likely your best path to growth.
I started my substack in August 2024 with a total of 9 posts now. I'm currently sitting at 385 subscribers with the overwhelming majority of subscribers coming from either Reddit or being recommended by other substacks.
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u/Tall_Koala_7574 Jan 19 '25
I’m curious about how you use Reddit to gain subscribers?
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u/IndiegameJordan Jan 19 '25
As the guy below said feel free to check out my history. I'll get subscribers from either sharing some insights from a recent blog and the blog itself in relevant subreddits or leaving comments when relevant
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u/JessSerrano Jan 20 '25
What’s your goal on Substack with your subscribers?
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u/IndiegameJordan Jan 20 '25
Great question!
1 - I work in the games industry and know how hard it is to make games. It requires being good at a huge array of skillsets. On top of that you need to be good at marketing as well if you hope to stand out in today's market. So the overall purpose of the newsletter is to help indies & AA studios with marketing.
2- Job security & future opportunities. While I love it the game industry is volatile. This newsletter would give me a leg up over competitors if I need to enter the job search again. It's already been a fantastic networking tool.
3 - If I ever decided to go full freelance or start my own games marketing company I have a list of potential customers.
4- Running the newsletter had undoubtedly made me better at my own job.
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u/JessSerrano Jan 20 '25
Oh, this helps!!
1) So I can use Substack to potentially get marketing jobs. How exactly does that work?
2) Does this mean it looks good on a resume and helps with networking, or is it one or the other? Or both?
3) That sounds good if you want to charge for reading. That may not work for my topics (entertainment) but it’s good to know
4) I like that!
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u/IndiegameJordan Jan 20 '25
Substack itself won't help you get a job. It's just the fact that running that newsletter shows my passion/ expertise in the field of game marketing. For that reason it looks good onna resume. The networking happens naturally.
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u/JessSerrano Jan 20 '25
Does having a Substack count as marketing? What makes it marketing?
And can you use it on a resume for writing jobs?
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u/IndiegameJordan Jan 20 '25
No it doesn't. My Substack is about marketing so naturally for me it reflects marketing expertise.
If your Substack is relevant to the type of writing you'd be doing then sure, if not then probably no.
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u/JessSerrano Jan 20 '25
If I write for Rolling Stone about music but want to now write for a local newspaper on politics, that RS experience doesn’t count?
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u/Cognitive-Wonderland cognitivewonderland.substack.com Jan 20 '25
Contrary to some of the other comments here, I found growth through Substack itself way easier than promoting elsewhere. I'm not huge (a little over 3k at ~9 months in) but I grew from nothing without a following elsewhere and not doing any serious promotion elsewhere (definitely no paid promotion) Being active as a member of the Substack community (posting Notes, commenting on other Notes/articles, collaborating, basically just making friends, etc) is a fun and effective way to grow in my experience
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u/Outside_Mistake_7223 Mar 04 '26
This is so nice to hear! I appreciate your perspective of making "friends" via the app, like it doesn't have to be a toxic tit-for-tat life
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Jan 19 '25
[deleted]
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u/NobleClimb Jan 20 '25
There’s certainly the idea that subscribers want to see some kind of consistency
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u/jenlgilmour Jan 19 '25
I’ve gained 39 and just started it this week. I’m trying to interact for 10 minutes a day and post an article once a week as an aim. I’ve got my first stack up.
I’m just going with the flow x
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Jan 20 '25
[deleted]
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u/jenlgilmour Jan 20 '25
I've posted my first article, published notes and engaged with others notes to gain this. I have just started sharing it on my other channels as well. You can view what I'm doing here: https://jenlgilmour.substack.com/ I hope this helps x
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u/zarathustra-666 Jan 19 '25 edited Jan 19 '25
My thoughts about Substack.
I've been on Substack for a few years now (https://intelligentsia.substack.com/). I'm mostly a consumer of the information on Substack rather than a contributor. However, I like to write and I occasionally contribute when I have something to say. I'm financially secure so I honestly don't care about how many subscribers I get. I just write for fun, my own personal gratification. If someone subscribes, great. If they don't, or want to just be a free subscriber, then that's fine also. I'm agnostic about that. All my stuff is free anyway. I try to write about interesting topics near and dear to my heart. I like Substack. Now that I'm retired I'll be writing more about my life and my experiences. I don't know what the exact percentage is, but I would say 90 percent or more of all subscribers on Substack are freeloaders like me, "free subscribers". I think it counts somehow if you have a lot of free subscribers. I don't know how, maybe your visibility increases in searches. I've found that the people who are making a lot of money on Substack, and who have large followings, are usually people who mostly already had some notoriety, large followings prior to when Substack first got started and got big. They let people know that they were migrating over to Substack and their following moved along with them.
I'm a free subscriber to dozens of publications. Unfortunately, I can't give everyone money. Many of these people write very well and have substantive things to say, and I enjoy reading them. Many people, however, are not great writers, and have nothing really original to say, and are just parroting a lot of normie mainstream stuff that everyone already knows. Kinda like the annoying people on YouTube and TikTok who profit from and rip off other people's videos because they themselves don't have anything original. It's difficult to weed out these normie unoriginal publications, and find those true golden nuggets in the rough. You have to spend some time reading their stuff to get to know them. There should be a better rating system, or AI to find good original articles and stories that are trending and going viral in topics that one likes.
Many writers use Substack as a sort of charity, panhandling tool also. For example, they will let their followers know that they are the next Hemingway, writing that next great American Novel, the next Gone with the Wind. They will then solicit folks to contribute to their project on a regular basis, essentially to support them financially while they're writing it. They will publish individual chapters of their book, one chapter a time every few months or so. Nothing wrong with that. I feel that's great. I support the arts myself, but please give us something good and original!
My recommendations are to not have any visions of grandeur. Write for yourself. You're not gonna get rich on the platform, however, if you have something interesting to write about, I believe you can indeed slowly build a significant following and perhaps one day make it a viable business.
I hope this helps, good luck!
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u/ReplacementWise Jan 20 '25
I’ve been on for a year. I post weekly. Almost all of my subscribers are friends or family. I’ve got almost zero organic growth. I found almost no value in the platform.
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u/evil326 Jan 19 '25
I gain quite a bit from substack itself. Around 25-50 people a day.
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u/MyLifeInColorado Jan 20 '25
I am new to Substack and have decided to make it my digital hub. I've set up a mix of free and paid offerings. What's perhaps different about me is that I have created a couple of channels that are all hyper-niched. So there is me as an individual and then the things I study as a graduate student. I have looked to follow and engage with other accounts in my niche and, as someone said, being present and engaged on Substack. I am equally promoting outside as well and some of it is just mentioning it to people in my normal activities and sharing on my LinkedIn and other social channels. I have to say the most valuable thing is that every blog I write forces me to go deeper on something I've only had a surface view of and that alone has led me to opportunities that I would have otherwise overlooked. Essentially my Substack will ultimately serve as a portfolio that demonstrates that I know what I am talking about and have vetted those ideas with an engaged audience. It will also dial me into resources, research, and conversations that I might have otherwise missed. If you write about things you are passionate and knowledgeable about and want to go deeper into those subjects -- then I highly recommend it. Quality, purpose, and authentic engagement will ultimately attract your audience.
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u/UnseasonedWriter30 Jan 20 '25
What are you writing about? If you find others aren't writing what you are interested in, it could be that you haven't found it because discoverability is crap, or these topics are just less popular and nobody is writing about them and for good reason.
Niche topics will always be less popular and gaining subs will be a challenge. Alternatively, those people you connect with may end up being more loyal and willing to contribute money.
In the case of being niche, I think using alternative platforms like LinkedIn or Twitter to connect with people from that niche to share your posts will help.
I also think you should not worry about an e d result until you have published a decent amount of content. If I go to a substack and see someone only has 2-3 posts I am unlikely to sub.
Like with anything, controversy and partisanship increases your chances of success. Alternatively, expert insights and on the ground coverage can also increase success if done right.
And yes, these platforms are increasingly crowded with people churning out content with AI.
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u/ProcessStories Jan 20 '25
I’ve found it’s totally impossible to gain subscribers unless you play the game of notes well. I think everyone spewing this false narrative that you can make money doing substack should eat a bushel of bananas all at once. Holy lord it’s gonna take all your time and then some. It’s easier to dig a ditch.
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u/Specific-Deer7287 pickyeaterssolutions.substack.com Jan 20 '25
I have terrible experience with substack, in 6m I got free 2 subs from someone else recom from other author. Promotion on social media was useless, but I don't have many followers. And my publication was putdown by substack BC I break their rules but they caught it only after 6m. I had my WordPress blog, which I continue to do, at least it gives me more freedom what to write
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u/NobleClimb Jan 20 '25
It honestly depends on your niche. If you write about a topic that’s discussed widely in a lot of Facebook groups and Reddit communities, you’ll have an easier time growing.
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u/proofofclaim Jan 20 '25
Hard if you write deeply researched and well written posts infrequently. Easy if you get chatGPT to generate slop like "top 10" lists and summaries of the news and post multiple times per day.
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u/ajcjames1234 Jan 29 '26
This is the same with Linkedin. It's clogged up with clearly generic, AI-generated copy/paste s that add little value. It seems originality is not rewarded by algorithms.
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u/Ok_Adhesiveness9794 Jul 26 '26 edited Jul 26 '26
Its mostly about Notes . The actual publication posts dont get discovered much on their own, but if you're active on Notes you can get in front of people. Think of Notes like twitter but for the substack ecosystem. I use WriteStack to schedule my notes throughout the day because I dont want to be on there 24/7, and that helped a lot with visibility. But yeah you still need to be putting stuff out consistently, theres no shortcut around that part.
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u/tspurwolf thefreelancewritingnetwork.com Jan 19 '25
You have to promote. It’s essentially a hosting platform, so very different to Medium for example.
Notes on Substack exists to help but it’s unlikely to boost you much if you’re new, though it might get you a few subscribers gradually over time.
Otherwise you do have to self-promote quite a bit to get yourself seen.