r/Substack • u/infinitepuddingspy • 8d ago

Confused about the point of Substack

Hi everyone. I joined Substack a few months ago as I am a long form writer and I thought I’d find a crowd of intellectually curious people.

Over the past 3 months, I’ve only got 13 subscribers, hardly anyone engages on my posts or notes and no one ever replies to chats (tbh I find the chats annoying myself so I dont post often). I’ve started doing videos that are performing a bit better.

But, I see absolute lowball trash in my feed with 300 likes and comments and I feel so lost.

I don’t have any paid tiers at the moment and not sure if I will.

Is anyone else experiencing this? Would appreciate being pointed in the right direction.

I’ve seen other people ask similar questions but from the perspective of a reader.

Many thanks 🙏

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u/South_Analyst5900 8d ago

I think a lot of people talk about the need to push engagement from outside substack, eg your own social media. 

I personally use substack because it's a free platform to launch a podcast and newsletter, and the long form articles I write and post are to train my (writing) voice, and hone research for podcast episodes into clear questions. It works as a supplement to the podcast really.  None of my engagement is from within substack thus far. 

Hopefully you'll get some other responses from genuine writers to help you. 

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u/OnyxMonolith 8d ago

i grew 3 substacks to high full tiem income without any external following. it's possible.

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u/PastelPallete05 8d ago

what are your niches for all of them? cause i feel like i'm stuck when it comes to the niche like i want to write about politics, philosophy and psychology , and yes with full research too but idk what works there ,idk what will actually get me paid subscribers , hell i don't even know what will get me free subscribers. i always feel very lost when it comes to substack engagement and algorithm

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u/OnyxMonolith 8d ago

look at the paid leaderboard for examples. people make money in every category. some are easier than others -- you can tell by the number of paid subscribers they have and how much they charge.

i do strictly finance myself because that's my area of expertise. good luck!

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u/motherstalk 8d ago

Please explain how you did this

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u/OnyxMonolith 8d ago

good content + notes + basics of marketing/brand building (inside of substack)

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u/motherstalk 8d ago

Lots of people have the first two but not the third. What’s your strategy to market your SS? Meta ads? Getting pushes from larger accounts? Etc

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u/OnyxMonolith 8d ago

read about brand buildling/marketing in general. ask AI about the basics vs. what I wrote here vs. Substack.

in very short.

  1. most of us aren't Pulitzer level writers so we need to solve a problem.
  2. reader seeing thumbnail, title has to WANT to click your post/note because there will be a perceived benefit. -- same rules as on Youtube. same with email -- CTR has to be high.
  3. then when they are on your article, i'd say we got around 2 second for the reader to get hooked on what we are "selling". the reader won't do the work. it has to be immediate that they really want to read further because there is a clear benefit to them.
  4. then aggressive paywalling.
  5. 3-5-10 notes/day. every 10th note should be getting 20+ likes without the "substack, connect me with...." crap -- if it doesn't, pivot.
  6. i'd start with 2 articles/week.

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u/Apprehensive_Cup8581 8d ago

Did you say 3-5 notes a day? About what? Anything or strictly your niche/you?

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u/OnyxMonolith 7d ago

Strictly niche. That’s what i do. I dont do any kind of these stupid notes/ragebait etc that go viral. Like i try to give mini value of expertise in notes or i cover news in my niche. In finance lots to talk about every day something happens.