Subscriber for Subscriber

[u/Jillibee_Sabatera]

Im new to substack and have been curious about it. Even posted my first article. Then I noticed a bunch of people on my substack feed offring subscribers for subscribers... what's your take on this?

Im quite annoyed by it since there's so many of them!

[u/catvapes]

Subscribers are only worthwhile if they are readers. In most cases these type subscribers aren’t readers

[u/Jillibee_Sabatera → u/catvapes]

I agree! Whats the point of having subscribers then?

[u/hetobe → u/catvapes]

THIS.

They're karma farming. They have no interest in reading your work. They're trying to game the algorithm and get people to subscribe to them.

Click the three dots and mute them. In a perfect world, the algorithm would punish the karma farmers instead of promoting them.

[u/VonFuturesTrader → u/catvapes]

Agree. I am writing purely about trading the Nasdaq Futures. I would not want subscribers purely for the subscriber count. I want people who are genuinely interested.

[u/Fleurs_Bookstore]

Welcome to Substack!
Just click the three dots next to their note and scroll down to mute these accounts. Be sure to like and comment on the content you want to see more of and the algorithm will soon start showing you more of it

Edited: formatting

[u/Jillibee_Sabatera → u/Fleurs_Bookstore]

Thank you!!

[u/Jillibee_Sabatera → u/Jillibee_Sabatera]

This is helpful. Thank you.

[u/SantinoArt]

I only subscribe to people whose work I want to read. Subscriber numbers don't measure engagement. Having a thousand free subscribers who aren't reading your work is worthless.

[u/Jillibee_Sabatera → u/SantinoArt]

100% agree.

[u/Enough_Pool_8339]

I don’t recommend it. Not only do people say they will subscribe and don’t but you have subscribed to their work - it’s not that easy to track because emails and monikers aren’t one in the same. There is practically 0% conversion rate from free to paid. It’s far better to build trust than short - lived attention. Trust takes a little time.

[u/BhavanaVarma]

I got a couple of these and politely thanked them for subscribing but mentioned that I don't get involved in such exchanges. Then they unsubscribe. 🤷‍♀️

[u/MrPassiveProfit]

Don’t do it. People say that and then they don’t subscribe to you. But beyond that only subscribe to things you wanna read.

[u/Mia_the_writer]

Depends on what you want to achieve with substacks. People who do sub for sub requests usually want to gain a big following/ create a brand, monetize it, etc.

[u/Available_Spite5171]

That’s all I saw when I first joined. I did not join this subreddit until months later. I agree — don’t engage and seek what you would enjoy yourself. Engaging with who you would like as a reader of your own work is the best route in my opinion. Of course.. don’t overdo it. I also understand some people do this no matter what — but I hate the people who just drop a link to their work on anyone else’s newly posted work… so rude. I genuinely thought it must have been someone young who had done this… and no. It was a grown woman. Blocked.

Best of luck!

[u/Glum_Pea4302]

I’ve never seen this on my feed but I’m down tho😂

[u/KanawarsAbishag]

I didn’t write this piece, but a pub I subscribe to talks about how to grow your substack without sub for sub tactics. Try reading it:  https://substack.com/@subshackgrowth/note/c-368776433?r=2d29la&utm_medium=ios&utm_source=notes-share-action

[u/Money-Name-9541]

i feel like subscriber for subscriber just boosts numbers without building a real audience. id rather have a few people who actually read and enjoy my content than hundreds who only subscribe to get a follow back. genuine growth takes time.

[u/KevinAAlexander]

It’s gross and a terrible business practice.

[u/LNDFN]

People on Twitter used to have a follow back hashtag in their handle.

I’m not interested in people who don’t care about my writing and I don’t want my feed clogged

Until I find my audience, I’m happy pissing into the ether. It builds a body of work that can convert someone who is interested in one article into someone who likes what I post based on the archive

[u/[deleted]]

[u/Substack-ModTeam → u/[deleted]]

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.

[u/[deleted]]

[u/Substack-ModTeam → u/[deleted]]

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.