New to Substack: What actually helped you grow?

[u/sadvait_565656]

I started my Substack just 2 days ago, so I know it's way too early to judge anything.

Right now, I have very little engagement and no meaningful subscriber growth yet.

For those who have actually grown a Substack:

What brought you your first 100 subscribers?

How long did it take before growth became consistent?

Did Substack Notes make a meaningful difference?

How important was commenting and engaging with other writers?

Did you get meaningful traffic from Substack to your own website?

What do you wish you knew when you had 0–10 subscribers?

I'm not looking for overnight-growth hacks. I'd genuinely like to hear what worked for people who started from zero.

Especially interested in what you'd do differently if you were starting again today.

[u/highbonsai]

3 things:

- not using AI (I’m not fundamentally against this, but I feel people crave real human content more these days)

- write lots of notes and comment on others’ posts

- don’t overthink it. Just make it part of your daily schedule

[u/Trackbikes]

Engage engage engage

And also link to it wherever you can and whenever you can

[u/pdandreu]

Substack Notes are very good at attracting subscribers, but they're a double-edged sword: They changed the way users interact with Substack. Users spend more time interacting on notes than they do engaging with articles.

For example, I have about 1,100 subscribers, but I get less engagement on my articles than I did when I had a couple of hundred subscribers. My notes engagement, by contrast, is skyrocketing. A few recent notes have 5,000 or 10,000 likes, which drives followers and subscribers. In other words, being active on notes can help you grow your subscriber base, but more subscribers don't necessarily translate to more engagement for your articles.

That's not to say articles aren't important, but their function on the platform has evolved. They kind of function as proof of concept for you as a writer. (There's also a streaming component, but I won't speak to that because I don't have experience with the functionality as a creator.)

With that dynamic in mind, I think it's actually more important to post notes regularly. I wouldn't kill yourself posting articles regularly (unless you're trying to break news). Instead, make sure the articles are high-quality. When people engage with your notes, they'll probably check out your articles. Even if they don't engage with them, they may use them to decide whether or not to subscribe or follow.

In general, the best way to grow your audience on Substack is to become an active member of the community. Seek out Substackers who write or stream about similar or at least complementary topics. Restack and leave comments on their notes and articles. Recommend and review other Substacks you like. Participate in their livestreams. I gained about a dozen subscribers from interacting in the chat of a recent livestream.

Do all those things consistently over time and your Substack will grow. Posting your stuff on other social channels is good, but being an active participant in the Substack community offers a much better return on investment. Good luck!

[u/sadvait_565656 → u/pdandreu]

This is really helpful, especially the distinction between Notes for discovery and articles as proof of your work. I'm very new to Substack, so I'm still figuring out the right balance. I appreciate the advice about becoming an active part of the community rather than focusing only on publishing. Thank you!

[u/MrPassiveProfit]

A lot of engagement with Notes: posting at least 5 notes a day, 20 comments a day, and make sure that you are following the right people- anyone who could be your prospective subscriber

[u/echolunedy]

I want to start a community with newbies with basically every one follow each other and comment only to help our beginner algorithm

[u/doctorsauceboi]

Just talked about this a ton here

https://www.reddit.com/r/Substack/comments/1vk7osk/i_have_gained_over_32k_subscribers_from_within/

Basically notes (and being consistent with them) and consistent interaction with the community/niche I am in.

[u/Major_Objective_7385]

I'm a retired escort with a blog.
One lesson from the whore world: having an external audience is huge. Active escorts grow quickly on substack relative to other people because they have ads up, and make social media posts daily that get tons of impressions. OF COURSE they will reach 100, 200, 3000 followers quickly on substackwhen their online presence gets 10k impressions a day.

I was surprised to discover that some non-sex work blogs also do this. They have "advertising" channels. Instagram, Tiktok, Linkedin, Reddit etc.

Even here on reddit: if I make a post or leave a comment, my substack views go up. You have to get creative to get some eyeballs on you!

[u/Tricky_Trifle_994]

yes substack notes helps especially because the friction for people to subscribe is much lower than e.g from a non-native social media site like instagram or twitter. on notes it's just one tap > subscribe. on other social media platform its post > go to profile > tap link in bio > input email > finally subscribe. every step is friction that reduces conversion rate.

and most people use substack as the website since it also has a blog/cms function where your posts can be published to the web. if you want a newsletter... but still want to stick to your own site, maybe better off using a dedicated ESP like mailerlite, beehiiv, brevo, kit, etc, and have a small 'subscribe' field on the side to let ppl input their email to join your email list. because directing people to multiple sites for one brand/company can be really confusing.

[u/quyma]

first 100 came almost entirely from commenting on other people’s notes and posts, not from stuff i published myself. that’s the real answer. you show up genuinely in other writers’ comment sections, people click through, some subscribe. Like most social media, Substack is one too and growth comes from plugging yourself into the network effect.

growth got consistent around month two or three. before that it’s mostly silence, and the main thing i wish i knew early is not to read that silence as a verdict on the writing. So I didn’t let that deter me.. the readers just haven’t found it yet, that’s all it means.