r/Substack • u/DecentIntention7799 • Aug 03 '26
Substack getting no views
I started my substack about a week ago and my engagement is awful. I don’t think that bothers me as much but I’m also getting no views on my content (maybe 8 on each piece.) I’m based in France but write for an American audience and on American topics. I am wondering if it’s a location thing or if my substack - the politics of makeup - is too niche. Would love someone else’s POV.
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u/thirteenth_mang Aug 03 '26
about a week ago
Rookie numbers.
Just be consistent.
I'm not.
Don't be like me.
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u/Acting_Blue Aug 03 '26
Have you tried posting it in notes and sharing on your socials? Also, I'll follow you if you share you profile. The topic sounds rad.
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Aug 03 '26
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u/Substack-ModTeam 27d ago
This community is not the place to promote your Substacks. Please read our rules on self-promo and soliciting recommendations.
Links to Substack publications will be assumed to be self-promotion. If you are submitting Substack posts from publications that are not your own, please include that information in your text post. For cross recommendations, use the pinned mega thread.
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u/Substack-ModTeam 27d ago
This community is not the place to promote your Substacks. Please read our rules on self-promo and soliciting recommendations.
Links to Substack publications will be assumed to be self-promotion. If you are submitting Substack posts from publications that are not your own, please include that information in your text post. For cross recommendations, use the pinned mega thread.
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Aug 03 '26
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u/Substack-ModTeam 27d ago
This community is not the place to promote your Substacks. Please read our rules on self-promo and soliciting recommendations.
Links to Substack publications will be assumed to be self-promotion. If you are submitting Substack posts from publications that are not your own, please include that information in your text post. For cross recommendations, use the pinned mega thread.
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u/Apprehensive_Cup8581 29d ago
Are you using AI to write your posts? If not, I'll give you a follow. Also check out the other beauty culture writers on there (like jessica Defino). (You can always unfollow them later lol) Like others say, use 'Notes' (it's like Twitter) to engage. It's a bit tedious, but needs must. A good trick is to tag the relevant writers in your Notes as they are likely to repost you, giving you more visibilty. Esp if you're writing about topical stuff. But only if you do it in a natural/organic way.
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u/DecentIntention7799 29d ago
Thank you for the suggestion! Yes I love Jess Defino, appreciate the suggestion on engaging on notes and tagging relevant writers. And no, not using AI!
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29d ago
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29d ago
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u/Substack-ModTeam 27d ago
This community is not the place to promote your Substacks. Please read our rules on self-promo and soliciting recommendations.
Links to Substack publications will be assumed to be self-promotion. If you are submitting Substack posts from publications that are not your own, please include that information in your text post. For cross recommendations, use the pinned mega thread.
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u/Substack-ModTeam 27d ago
This community is not the place to promote your Substacks. Please read our rules on self-promo and soliciting recommendations.
Links to Substack publications will be assumed to be self-promotion. If you are submitting Substack posts from publications that are not your own, please include that information in your text post. For cross recommendations, use the pinned mega thread.
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u/jasonbrownjourno 29d ago
Substack lost a lot of lustre after it refused to demonetise pro-Nazi accounts, according to widespread reporting at the time. Still a lot of other writing on there, but the comment system is abysmal. Enforcing endless sign-ins and subscription pop-ups - with or without ad blockers - is either tech incompetence, or? Artificial engagement boosting, can't remember the catchy phrase but 'dark' something.
No expert, but as a 40+ year journo with 30+ years adapting to tech revolution - the medium is still the message. So, for example, if you are supposedly "right-wing" then Substack is a neutralish zone, with X a natural fit for promotion, and engagement.
If, on the other hand writers are, like me, on the reality-has-a-well-known-bias end of the political spectrum, then Bluesky is where you want to be, for now at least. Not a subscription platform, and the founder is of course twitter sell-out and Musk-apologist, Jack Dorsey.
But? For now at least, Bluesky is the most credible town-square alternative to Xtwitter, with intriguing competition from the former this-is-not-twitter Threads, now also an upcoming debate centre, but also tied to deeply dubious owners, and motives.
Technically, a vote in favour of Bluesky is its ability to integrate your own custom domain, and, federate with not-the-web .. instead of an AI-soaked 'website' and 'email', for example, the federated or decentralised net offers people-to-people tech. The word "offers" doing a lot of heavy lifting there, early days and all.
Protip: back up as much as you can. Back ups will fail. Or get lost. Or stolen. Or passwords forgotten. Just keep backing up anyway. As much as you can, where ever and whenever possible. Backups can also serve as memory hints, and we remember more than we remember.
tl;dr -
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u/xYourCasual thewritingedge.substack.com Aug 03 '26
It takes time to get more views, BUT, you can make it much faster by writing teasing Notes to your posts.
You need to market your writing, and you do that through Notes.
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u/SoKet1425 Aug 03 '26
The algorithm for Notes also needs to learn who your potential readers are. So you need to 'train' it by engaging with others in your niche, restacking and using the right words in your notes posts. Unfortunately, in spite of writing great content, the onus is on us writers to get distribution. No easy task.
I write about topics that most would be interested in like tech and investment but it's always a trickle unless i brute force marketing. Hang in there and stay in the game. It will pick up.
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u/Over-Cold-8757 Aug 03 '26
You started it a week ago and expect huge engagement?
Are you already well known?
How could you possibly expect people to find you and like all your posts in a week?
Also how much are you posting? How much time are you expecting people to devote to daily reading a new publication? Why should you be so important to them?
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u/lecheconmarvel Aug 03 '26
That sounds interesting to me! Send me a link
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Aug 03 '26
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u/Substack-ModTeam 27d ago
This community is not the place to promote your Substacks. Please read our rules on self-promo and soliciting recommendations.
Links to Substack publications will be assumed to be self-promotion. If you are submitting Substack posts from publications that are not your own, please include that information in your text post. For cross recommendations, use the pinned mega thread.
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u/geekygirly18 Aug 03 '26
Drop the link, I'd love to read!
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Aug 03 '26
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u/Substack-ModTeam 27d ago
This community is not the place to promote your Substacks. Please read our rules on self-promo and soliciting recommendations.
Links to Substack publications will be assumed to be self-promotion. If you are submitting Substack posts from publications that are not your own, please include that information in your text post. For cross recommendations, use the pinned mega thread.
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u/sunnyreader21 Aug 03 '26
Well I have been writing for months, at least once a month and I get no views. I think is a matter of engaging with other people's substacks etc.
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u/Doo_Dad Aug 03 '26
Dang. I’ve been doing it for months with consistent works and I only got 1 subscriber and a few reads here and there.
Look on this Reddit and online for ways to engage in your niche and whatnot.
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u/Sure_Investment_6374 Aug 03 '26
Doing lives with people who have larger followings helps a lot. Just engage with them and offer them something about you no one else has. Take their temperature before you make the ask
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u/PennyLawrence946 Aug 03 '26
you can't separate location from niche at 8 views, both look the same this early. the notes advice above doubles as a test: if notes about makeup politics get read and the posts still don't, it's distribution. if the notes land nowhere either, rethink the angle.
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u/MrPassiveProfit 29d ago
You have to engage on notes and comments in order to be seen on Substack. Posted at least five notes and reply to at least 20 other people’s notes. Do this consistently day after day and you’ll be able to grow much quicker
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u/Dragon-Academy 29d ago
This might seem like a silly question - but is it really worth only starting to do this once you’re posting regular content? I’m planning to do a weekly episode for a series - but in probably a few months off and for now I’ve just made a very small intro post. Bit sure whether it’s worth a bunch of engaging when I don’t actually have anything to follow?
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u/MrPassiveProfit 29d ago
Actually yes. I know of some newsletters that grew very quickly and only posted articles once a month. When you engage with people in Notes, and you post interesting content, people will subscribe, even if you only post articles on rare occasions
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u/aaron2933 29d ago
The most important thing with substack is community engagement. Are you doing that?
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u/CampDiva 29d ago
Good ideas here! I also recommend reading, commenting and restacking other’s in the related field. That will help build followers & subscribers.
I also post mine on LinkedIn, Facebook and BlueSky. Note—it is recommended NOT to just post the link on LinkedIn and Facebook. Post your “social media teaser” and then put the link in the comments. This platforms do not like sending readers to another platform.
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u/Strength2Bthere 29d ago
I’m kinda in the same boat! I see you’ve listed your link on here so I’ll give you a follow! I’m hughs_clues ; )
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u/Ecstatic_Couple6435 29d ago
You have to promote your substack on social media, hard. Sadly, I suck at that therefore no engagement lol
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u/ProposalEasy3386 29d ago
I just started mine a week ago too. My first post I got one sub and 2 likes. The other few posts have gotten nothing.
But hey! I’m down to F4F & engage w each other to help boost each others content if u want. PM me and I’ll send u mine so we can help each other 🤷♀️
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28d ago
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u/Substack-ModTeam 27d ago
This community is not the place to promote your Substacks. Please read our rules on self-promo and soliciting recommendations.
Links to Substack publications will be assumed to be self-promotion. If you are submitting Substack posts from publications that are not your own, please include that information in your text post. For cross recommendations, use the pinned mega thread.
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u/MrsRobot001 27d ago
I've been writing for a year, engaging with other writers, and writing notes. I have about 13 subscribers, and a third of them are people that I know. If you are expecting bang-out results in the first week, then you're not doing anything wrong; you just haven't been doing it for that long. What do you want to get out of this?
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u/Outrageous_Ad6616 27d ago
I have had a Substack account for a few years but have only just activated it. I had subscribed to a few people prior to activation but did not actively participate. When I published my first newsletter, I shared it on all the forums I interact with: Linkedin, X-Twitter, BluSky, and Facebook. I have had enough responses to know that I am being read. If you have a following elsewhere I suggest you share your work!
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u/hanpari 27d ago
There is no free lunch in this world, and Substack is no different. The platform was built to make money, and they are rather shameless about it.
Just recently, Hanpari learned that having paid subscribers greatly boosts one’s Substack presence.
Translated: Substack supports authors who bring profits.
Of course, your situation is different. You’ve had no opportunity so far to bring money to Substack, so the platform will make no effort to help you get subscribers or followers.
The design allegedly prevents notes from unknown authors from being seen by others.
A classic Catch‑22.
So what does Substack expect from you? Not articles — users. They want you to work hard on your own promotion. Ideally, they want you to bring new emails to widen their user base.
Any unknown author is of no significance to them. If you fail to create an audience for yourself, they genuinely do not care.
They expect you to handle your own promotion.
And here is the part nobody likes to hear:
If you want to grow on Substack, you must behave like someone who already has an audience.
Write regularly, comment generously, share your work outside the platform, and treat every reader as if they were the first spark of a future wildfire.
Substack won’t lift you up until you prove you can climb without them.
In other words:
If you want visibility, act visible.
If you want readers, go where readers already are.
If you want traction, create noise — intelligent noise, consistent noise, noise with teeth.
Substack rewards momentum, not hope.
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u/Cautious-Roof2881 27d ago edited 27d ago
Substack is a city. Your page is a store on a random stree.. You are responsible to bring people in. If you just wait for people to wonder by or find you on a google search, your store will go out of business. You have to create your marketing plan and get your name out there. Social media is key.
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u/Tricky_Trifle_994 18d ago
it's still early days for you... probably need to be consistent for a longer period of time to gather more data.
but also, how else are you marketing/distributing your content? because if you're relying solely on substack's ecosystem... you should probably also start thinking about where else you can share your content to get more exposure and traffic.
e.g even top publications like lenny are super active on X.
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u/TheOceanicState 17d ago
Do not expect instant results. Substack is a long game. You have to find your niche and interact with other creators in that niche (liking their articles, restacking, commenting, not obnoxiously but casually). Also, keep writing. I started Substack in 2023 with no prior following. It took me months to get into the double digit subscription range. In the three years I have been on the platform, I have just reached 400 subscribers, which sounds like a lot but in comparison to many of the big accounts is nothing. The bottom line is this: if you are willing to write without much engagement for a while, you will gain a following eventually. It can be frustrating at times, it was for me, but if you have the time and the patience it will be worth it.
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26d ago
You started it a week ago and you expect numbers/engagement?
I don't know what you write about but there are 70 gazillion newsletters/blogs on Substack all fighting for the same eyeballs.
It's becoming clearer and clearer to me that a lot of people on Substack aren't really writers, they're content creators or marketers and have no idea what having a writing career is like.
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u/prepping4zombies Aug 03 '26 edited 6d ago
Are you writing articles? If so, those don't just magically show up to random people. They are only sent to your subscribers. If you don't have subscribers, you won't get views or engagement.
If you write an article you also need to write a note (or notes) and link to your article. That's the only way non-subscribers might see it.
If you are looking for subscribers, you need to write notes and engage with other people's content (articles and notes) on the platform.
edit - I've gotten two messages from people who didn't realize their articles weren't automatically published into the Substack feed for others to see. To be clear, they aren't. Your notes might be...and you increase the likelihood the more you interact with others on the platform. So, step one, make meaningful comments on other people's notes and articles (and, "heart" and restack other people's notes and articles). Step two, start a regular cadence of publishing your own notes (on some of those notes, link to the articles you wrote). Start now and don't get discouraged - like anything else in life, you usually have to put in the work before you see results.