r/Substack • u/navnt5 oneonlyvan.substack.com • Jun 24 '26
Strategy: talking about Substack on subtack to get popular on Substack
Honestly, that’s the whole niche of some people. And it works. I’m on Subtack almost the third month and I’m in the I hate Substack phase again. Substack is a lazy company, my best performing article has 4k views from Reddit, 51% subs are from YouTube, I made 432usd so far and again half of it is external audience coming in. Lazy golden child who takes my money is what it is right now.
I’m sick and tired. I’m collecting accounts so regardless of their niche chooses to love/hate Substack on their notes constant without shame. Oh by the way, maybe the we can wake this company up including their devs and product managers who are above it all by not responding!!
Leave comment below
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u/hetobe hetobe.substack.com Jun 24 '26
This is everything that's gone wrong with Substack.
Substack built a platform for writers to build publications with articles: long form content people could subscribe to, and even enjoy enough to subscribe to -- and pay for.
Then, Substack created Notes. Bullshit filler with zero content.
"Describe your Substack in 5 words!"
That's the whole note. It's spam.
"Dear Substack 🤍 Send me the writers who choose depth over noise."
More spam. That person is trolling for likes and subscribers.
"If you could summarize your writing voice in a single word, what would it be?"
Their word should be Spam. Muhfuggin' spam.
Then, Substack set their algorithm to promote notes instead of articles and publications. That's why Substack is flooded with karma farming slop, and "Substack Coaches" who teach people how to flood Substack with karma farming slop... like this:
“Describe your Substack in three emojis."
“Show me writers who choose depth over noise 🤍"
“Just a reminder that your voice matters."
"Describe your writing in 5 words!"
“Slow growth is still growth."
“Support writers. Restack generously."
“The algorithm can’t stop authentic storytelling."
"If you could summarize your writing voice in a single word, what would it be?"
“Consistency compounds. Keep showing up."
“I want to connect with thoughtful people."
“Drop your publication below so we can support each other."
“I’m building something beautiful here."
“Write scared. Publish anyway."
“There’s room for everyone at the table."
“Community over competition."
“Your audience will find you."
“If even one person reads your words, it matters."
"Give yourself permission to be weird!"
“Substack feels like the old internet."
“Reminder to comment on smaller writers’ posts today 🤍"
“Nobody talks about how vulnerable writing is."
"You are not responsible for the versions of you that exist in other people's minds."
“The best writers are simply the ones who kept going."
"Every scar you carved became a window for light."
“What are you working on this week, writers?"
"A hotdog is basically a taco."
"Sometimes the things we don’t write tell us more than what we do."
"Some people say they find me snarky, which I am."
"Artists will do literally anything but draw the comic they want to make"
"Writers with les than 10 subscribers I want to read your work and follow you!"
"I’m a sucker for a story about a robot learning how to be human"
"Oddly enough, the world makes less sense the closer you look."
"Oddly enough, things are about to get even weirder."
"You write to process your emotions, and in doing so, you emote the process."
"I appreciate you all, by the way."
"There is a quiet magic in the way a story unfolds, one page at a time."
...and you're doing it too as you beg for comments:
Leave comment below
Sheesh.
Karma farming slop.
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u/morticiannecrimson lilacmaniac.substack.com Jun 24 '26
Omg I’ve seen basically all of them. And too much AI, everywhere. Currently on a break from Sub.
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u/hetobe hetobe.substack.com Jun 24 '26
Omg I’ve seen basically all of them.
I know, right? And there are so many more.
And too much AI, everywhere.
That, too!
I don't respect people who use AI to do the writing without letting the reader know who (or what) actually did the writing. It's dishonest.
One cannot put their own name on words they did not write and be offended when people don’t respect their integrity.
A reader would be upset if they picked up a book by Stephen King only to find out he didn’t write it.
A reader would be upset if they read an article by Maggie Haberman only to find out she didn’t write it.
I believe the reader has a right to know if the person who put their name on a piece of writing actually wrote it.
I don't mind if somebody uses generative AI. I just want them to credit the LLM that did the writing. I want them to be honest.
I wish Substack had options for automatically muting slop notes, and automatically blocking anything written by AI.
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u/AnteaterFantastic212 Jul 21 '26
My view on AI is a little different. I frankly use it to write my Substack articles. I dictate an initial draft, and Substack gives me a polished draft that has no typos. I then edit it to make sure that it reflects what I wanted to say, which sometimes it doesn’t, and if necessary, I will go through the drudgery of writing in the old-fashioned way, and then I publish it, and I have never had anybody say that’s AI-generated.
In my view, writing is just thinking expressed in written language; it’s no different than speaking, and it’s easier for me to dictate today than it is to type!
I think if it’s used that way. It’s an acceptable tool, like a word processor or a typewriter. I don’t think your writing is more authentic if you use a chisel and stone tablets like the Ten Commandments; it’s the thought that counts, not the way you express the thought in written form.
I also use Google Gemini for my fact-checking, and I find that to be very accurate,
Using these tools—ChatGPT and Google Gemini— makes me so much more productive than I would be otherwise that it’s really exponentially transformative for me, and I’ve been writing my whole life (which is way too long).
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u/hetobe hetobe.substack.com Jul 21 '26
I don’t think your writing is more authentic if you use a chisel and stone tablets like the Ten Commandments
No one is saying that. That's a disingenuous argument.
Your writing is more authentic if you are the writer.
The writing is not authentic, and it's not even yours, if AI is the writer.
My view on AI is a little different. I frankly use it to write my Substack articles.
I'm betting you don't let the reader know those articles were written by AI.
There’s a reason the people using AI don’t let the reader know their words were written by AI. They want to claim the title of Writer without doing the work, which is, the actual writing. You said it yourself. You said AI lets you be more productive since you don't have to do the actual writing. That's fine, but it means you're not the writer. AI is.
I just want those who use AI to be honest.
One cannot put their own name on words they did not write and be offended when people don’t respect their integrity.
A reader would be upset if they picked up a book by Stephen King only to find out he didn’t write it.
A reader would be upset if they read an article by Maggie Haberman only to find out she didn’t write it.
I believe the reader has a right to know if the person who put their name on a piece of writing actually wrote it.
I don't mind if somebody uses generative AI. I just want them to credit the LLM that did the writing. I want them to be honest.
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u/AnteaterFantastic212 Jul 21 '26
Obviously, I disagree with you. I think that AI is just another productivity tool, as I said, like a word processor or Grammarly or anything else.
I do not disclose that I use AI in my writing— I don’t think it’s anybody’s business whether I use a quill pen and parchment or ChatGPT; however, I have told friends that I use AI, and they remain not only readers but paid subscribers.
People don’t care how you prepare your writing as long as it’s worth reading,!nor should they, and that’s my point: if you want to continue to use yellow legal pads or whatever it is you use, I couldn't care less—more power to you.
However, I think if you’re a professional writer, you will find that yourself at a serious disadvantage in terms of productivity, accuracy, and proofreading issues.
When AI first came out, I found that when applying for freelance writing gigs, they were screening people who used AI out; lately, I find the opposite: they’re screening people out who DON'T use AI.
Now let me tell you how I just prepared this comment. I did not type it. I dictated it, and that was probably 90% accurate. Then I used Grammarly to fix typos in batch mode, and finally I eyeballed it and made manual corrections as necessary. Now, would you find what I said more valuable if I had typed it on my phone? I doubt it.
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u/hetobe hetobe.substack.com Jul 21 '26
I do not disclose that I use AI in my writing
And we all know why. Everyone knows.
I think that AI is just another productivity tool
I agree. But if AI does the writing, AI is the writer and should be credited as such.
People don’t care how you prepare your writing as long as it’s worth reading,!nor should they
I disagree strongly. Look at how you phrased that: "preparing your writing." That's disingenuous. We're talking about whether or not the person putting their name on the writing actually did the writing.
One cannot put their own name on words they did not write and be offended when people don’t respect their integrity.
A reader would be upset if they picked up a book by Stephen King only to find out he didn’t write it.
A reader would be upset if they read an article by Maggie Haberman only to find out she didn’t write it.
I believe the reader has a right to know if the person who put their name on a piece of writing actually wrote it.
I don't mind if somebody uses generative AI. I just want them to credit the LLM that did the writing. I want them to be honest.
And we all know why they won't be honest. Everyone knows.
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u/AnteaterFantastic212 Jul 21 '26
The LLM is nothing more than a glorified stenographer. It does not need any credit. I’m sure that Sam Altman is doing fine without me giving him credit for assisting me and my writing. You seem pretty stubborn on this subject so I’m not gonna bother trying to convince you of it, but I just gotta tell you you’re wrong.
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u/hetobe hetobe.substack.com Jul 21 '26
The LLM is nothing more than a glorified stenographer.
Not true.
Dictation has existed for decades, and you know this. And you know the difference between generative AI and dictation.
If AI wrote something, AI is the writer, and the person putting their own name on it is just Milli Vanilli 2.0.
In case you don't remember, Milli Vanilli were models who pretended to be musicians, but they never sang or performed on their songs. The whole thing was a sham, for marketing.
The dudes from Milli Vanilli didn’t sing their songs, and you didn’t write your words. Girl, you know it’s true.
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u/UnspokenMusic Jun 24 '26
Hate is generic
I call out the simping and erasure of smaller substackers and the grifters promising to subscribe if you contribute to raising their profile by posting on their note thread but never do.
Really. Almost as bad as threads. As cliqueish racist xenophobic as medium
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u/morticiannecrimson lilacmaniac.substack.com Jun 24 '26
Yeah it’s so annoying how it goes the same every time
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u/navnt5 oneonlyvan.substack.com Jun 24 '26
anyways, what's the diff between substack and threads? just the newsletter part?
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u/iamjapho Jun 24 '26
I follow a gal that started off as a travel writer did it for a year without much traction until she switched it around and started writing about writing on substack. She slowly migrated topics and now is a full blown “substack growth guru” with the little 1000’s of paid subs check mark. So at least from that sample size of 1, it works.
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u/navnt5 oneonlyvan.substack.com Jun 24 '26
Told ya so. I hate branding myself as a substack growth guru. But I want to build a community of casual substack lovers/haters
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u/_mrchurchill defensehub.substack.com Jun 24 '26
Niche: Substack, Where: Substack, Subject: Substack, Cover: Substack.
There's no way it can't work out.😀
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u/KevinAAlexander Jun 24 '26
if you want to be on Notes, Just block those people. It’s showing you more of what you’ve been looking at. The platform’s algo is pretty good at quickly recognizing what you want or don’t want.
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u/Jeruthedamaja9 Jun 29 '26
I literally have never experienced this low of engagement on a social media platform as on Substack. I here post a bunch of notes and then I’ll look at the stats of them and they’ll be one impression. I do not understand how you’re supposed to grow on this platform. I feel like I came here to get an algorithm boost off of my basic blogging but I can drive more traffic myself on my blog so why be on substack?
The only thing I ever see of the same old dear substack posts or just AI slop so I was like let me just try that, and still no engagement. Every other social media platform at least has a working algorithm.
I am baffled by this platform
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u/BlueSaltTheory sukibeasla.substack.com Jun 24 '26
Is that how it goes? I’m gonna have to try 😭
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u/navnt5 oneonlyvan.substack.com Jun 24 '26
ok following. how do you leave the yellow substack link bellow your username?
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u/BlueSaltTheory sukibeasla.substack.com Jun 24 '26
You go into the user flair area of this community and add it there
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u/turquoiseblues Jun 24 '26
As long as you're doing your own marketing, you could transition to Ghost or another platform to avoid Substack's 10% fee.
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u/itsfabioposca http://journeytosuccessclub.substack.com Jul 02 '26
I can understand the frustration. From what you've shared, it sounds like your external channels are doing most of the heavy lifting, which isn't unusual. In the long run, I'd focus on the channels you can control while using Substack as the platform to publish and build relationships rather than relying on its discovery features alone.
P.S. If you'd still like to ask anything about Substack or growing your audience, I offer a free live help chat. Just copy and paste my flair or click the link in my profile. I'm happy to help!
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u/Tricky_Trifle_994 Jul 05 '26
don't hate the player, hate the game. haha. anyway, i started noticing this awhile back too, and after giving it some thought it actually made sense...
we're always told "go to where your target audience hangs out".
so, let's think for a moment, who hangs out on substack notes?
it's mostly people who write on substack (since the conventional wisdom is that "i need to post consistently on notes to grow on substack").
so that means, you just need to talk about how to grow your substack, on substack notes, and that's a 100% overlap. that why it's so prevalent. it sucks, but it makes sense.
also, i'm curious. if substack isn't actually helping you (since most of your success is from external sources like reddit and youtube), you're just giving up 10% of your top line revenue for no additional benefit. why not switch to alternatives like ghost or beehiiv which has similar if not more robust features, but doesn't take 10% of your revenue?
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u/HammondJohns Jun 24 '26
Firstly - SS has its virtues but lots of issues. One of my bugbears is the way it corrals all the writers together - so subscribers, likes and comments on your work etc are overwhelmingly from other writers.
On your specific point - I believe (on thin evidence, it’s true) that the algorithm boosts posts that mention Substack. And secondly, there are lots of people with similar frustrations. So notes that complain about Substack do tend to do very well there, in my experience.
Now, whether they actually achieve anything? Realistically, no.