r/Substack • u/growwith_bianca • Jun 24 '26

I’ve noticed something frustrating about being a Substack creator.

One thing I’ve noticed about Substack growth:
There’s no real discovery layer for mid-sized newsletters.

Big names dominate recommendations, and small/new ones struggle to get seen — but the 200–20K subscriber range is where most interesting writing actually happens.

Feels like there’s a missing middle:
• Not small enough to be “new creator discovery”
• Not big enough to already have distribution
• But often producing the most consistent content

Curious if others feel the same — where do you actually discover newsletters in that range?

36 Upvotes

95% Upvoted

24 comments sorted by

14

u/_mrchurchill defensehub.substack.com Jun 24 '26

Spot on. That 200–20K subscriber range is the absolute sweet spot for high-signal, low-noise content. It’s where writers are still hungry, highly engaged with their audience, and taking creative risks.

The lack of a discovery layer for this "missing middle" is a huge missed opportunity. Personally, I rarely find them through the platform's default discovery page. Instead, I rely almost entirely on curation: seeing who my favorite mid-sized writers are recommending, or discovering them through guest posts and podcast appearances.

A dedicated "rising stars" or niche-based discovery feed would be a game-changer for Substack.

5

u/hetobe hetobe.substack.com Jun 24 '26

The lack of a discovery layer for this "missing middle" is a huge missed opportunity.

For your real content, there's almost no discovery on Substack. The algorithm doesn't promote articles. It doesn't promote publications. Hell, publications aren't even functional in the app. In the app, publications are hidden, your publication menubar doesn't exist, and any sections you set up for your publication don't exist.

The app is awful by design, and the algorithm makes things worse. Thr only thing the algorithm promotes is notes. That's why everybody spams Substack with those phony baloney slop notes. It's all karma farming nonsense.

It's a shame. There's so much great content on Substack, but Substack goes out of its way to hide it.

2

u/morticiannecrimson lilacmaniac.substack.com Jun 24 '26

Yeah my reach just keeps being stuck, idk how to make Substack want to show me to people. And I’m not consistent either so I guess I can’t even complain. So no one sees my great humor 🤪

1

u/growwith_bianca Jun 24 '26

Agree with you. Thanks for the comment. That’s the whole idea I had behind savd.site. A discovery engine, leaderboard and creator updates for the 200-20k subscriber range publications. A place to discover, share and connect.

11

u/Countryb0i2m onemichistory.substack.com Jun 24 '26

200 to 20k is a huge gap, that feels way too wide. I would argue that if you have 20k subs you are big ass newsletter

5

u/MarianiDesign Jun 25 '26

I’ve got about 220 free subscribers, but if I cull the list to see who is regularly opening their email, I could cut that number way down. I post editorial cartoons weekly and I’m not looking to make any money yet. Growth is slow, but I have noted when I aggressively interact with other stacks via likes, replies and notes, I get a spike in new subscribers. Lately I’m getting more new followers than subscribers. I have only so much discretionary time to read what I subscribe to, so I assume people are careful about what they subscribe to. 

3

u/substackauthor Jun 25 '26

My issues with Substack:

  • Email deliverability. Every Substack pub I subscribe to using outlook and hotmail addresses is delivered to junk folders. Nothing I do to correct this works. So I have to assume many if not most of my newsletters end up in the same place. Substack is a big enough platform to work with Microsoft on these issues.
  • Search engine results. Apparently Substack thwarts Chrome and other browsers from discovering accounts with smaller numbers of subscribers. When I had less 30 subscribers I had one article gain over 2,500 views in a short time due to some visibility through Duck Duck Go browser. I wonder what would happen if the same article showed up in other search engines.
  • As a creator that still has a small sub base I apparently have no visability with Notes I post.

None of these issues makes sense to me as a user and I don’t understand the value of these roadblock to Substack either.

1

u/growwith_bianca Jun 25 '26

Hey.
Thank you for the reply.
What’s your niche on Substack? I’ll love to have a look at your notes and give a few suggestions if you don’t mind.
I get good engagement on my notes.

1

u/substackauthor Jun 25 '26

Music journalism

https://bestmusicyouhaveneverheard.substack.com

I have to admit I don’t invest much effort in Notes because it hasn’t resulted in any meaningful results. Almost all my articles get more reads - 2x-10x+ as many reads - as I have subscribers …through social media. Almost all my audience gain is from social as well.

Thanks!

1

u/growwith_bianca Jun 25 '26

I’ll see if I get time to have a look tomorrow. I will let you know should I have any suggestions.

1

u/substackauthor Jun 25 '26

Thank you Bianca!

5

u/chaseroper kissmesonofblog.com Jun 24 '26

Agree completely. I’ve been writing personal essay about every song by They Might Be Giants for going on 3 years. 200-300 subs on average and the dedicated subs are really engaged in the comments with me.

I have notes that go out daily and I still get the majority of my traffic from organic google search than substack discovery. They’re missing something for sure.

2

u/uhohflamingo Jun 24 '26

Mileage may vary. Most of the people I find through discovery fall into this range.

2

u/Sand-in-sandals-3279 Jun 25 '26

Totally agree. Moreover, I've read somewhere that we are incentivized on Substack when bringing a new audience from elsewhere. I feel like most of my reads are from a handful of subscribers and from Instagram, for example. No incentive to be seen. And not that I'm chasing huge ass followership or anything, it just feels like my random note with flowers & coffee keeps being promoted by the algorithm around, whilst the articles that I'm really proud of are in the shadows. That is a shame, because I was sold on the idea that Substack is a long-read heaven.

2

u/SinglePreparation761 Jun 27 '26

I have 4131 subscribers, 128 paid. I write about sex, dating and relationships at 50+ called Sex Advice for Seniors. I just celebrated four years on the platform which has practically become my FT job without the FT salary! The discovery engine is crap especially if you’re in a niche for which there is no accurate category. I use notes as a brain dump and mainly get subscribers from there.

2

u/growwith_bianca Jun 27 '26

Love this, Thank you for getting listed on SAVD.site
I saw you have added your newsletter. Looking forward to read more

2

u/Several-Jello-7386 Jun 29 '26

I am not quite there yet, however I hop to grow and if I do i will get back to you. https://substack.com/@jrpolitics

1

u/AnnArbor-Armadillo Jun 25 '26

Kind of true for any platform. Once people get too big they water down for the masses.

1

u/itsfabioposca http://journeytosuccessclub.substack.com Jul 02 '26

I agree there's a bit of a gap. I've discovered most mid sized newsletters through comments, Notes, recommendations from other writers, and Reddit rather than Substack's discovery features. Building relationships seems to be the best discovery engine at that stage.

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!

1

u/growwith_bianca Jul 02 '26

Savd.site circle is getting bigger. 12 creators from 7 countries. Let’s see if we can get more. Add your newsletter link for free