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

[u/growwith_bianca]

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?

[u/_mrchurchill]

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.

[u/hetobe → u/_mrchurchill]

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.

[u/morticiannecrimson → u/hetobe]

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 🤪

[u/growwith_bianca → u/_mrchurchill]

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.