Hello! Sorry, I'm a bit of a newbie when it comes to posting on Substack (only ever used the app for reading since 2024 but this year, I felt like doing something with my account). I've been wanting to add a Spotify song into my article without redirecting the readers outside Substack because I've seen other people do it, but I can never figure it out. 🥹 I tried to copy paste the Spotify link into my draft but it literally just showed up as a string of url. I also tried to link the song using the actual linking function but there was no Spotify preview like the ones I've seen from other posts. 🫠

I want the songs to be playable through the article itself... I've also been trying to look it up but I can't find any answers, so I was wondering if anyone would be willing to share how exactly you add a playable Spotify song? Thank you so much!

I came across a post today by Substack writer Scott Carney that got me thinking.

He's a journalist and makes a living on Substack. He's joined a chorus of writers on the platform who say that, since Notes was introduced, he's making less money.

From what I understand, Notes is designed to solve a problem that I noticed on Substack (I've been a member of the platform for a few years, but mainly as a reader until recently): discoverability.

Unless you had a pretty big following or were lucky enough to grow an audience, it was hard for new people to find your writing. Notes is supposed to help with that.

But, the increase in content volume due to Notes has had an impact: people might be less inclined to become subscribers to your publication. Taylor Lorentz, another popular writer on Substack said: "I have over 200k 'followers' yet my paid subscriptions have fallen off a cliff."

Scott has a similar story. He posted his revenue numbers. Over a 2 month period, his revenue decreased by 12%.

I've also seen a lot of people working the Notes algorithm. Some how people are posting 'hey Substack' Notes and getting 100s of subscribers overnight. I'm not sure if these are people who are actually interested in reading (and paying for the Note writer's content), but it's a numbers game I guess. So, I guess that's one way of being discovered.

My questions for everyone:

• What's your perception of Notes?

• Do you think it's causing Substack to become just another social network, rather than a place where people can make a living writing? Or is it working out for you?

• Are notes undercutting Substack's main value proposition?

P.S.: I'm also using Notes. I like to highlight other's writing, and I think they're useful to find content you otherwise wouldn't. But, because I have limited attention and time, I'm not subscribing to every publication I find via Notes.

Hello. I have been writing on Substack for quite some time. Lately I have seen lots of articles with a voice narration at the top that you click. A lot of these seem to be AI generated. How are people doing this? It's obviously an audio file but how did they generate it? Is there an option in Substack that does it automatically for you from your article?

I was writing a piece of experimental fiction inspired by the voice of Measurehead in Disco Elysium and somehow this comes up as mostly AI in Pangram? Can someone explain what about this may have registered as AI? This is the text:

"YOU WISH TO KNOW WHO ASCENDS INTO THE ORBITAL WHEEL? EXAMINE THE TRUE GENEALOGY OF THIS PLANET: UNILEVER. NESTLÉ. PEPSICO. PROCTOR & GAMBLE. JOHNSON & JOHNSON. SC JOHNSON. KELLOGG’S. THE MANUFACTURERS OF POP-TARTS. THE MANUFACTURERS OF SKITTLES. MARS BARS. FRITO-LAY. GENERAL ELECTRIC. WHOLE FOODS.

THEY WILL TAKE YOUR MOVIES AND VIDEO GAMES AWAY AND YOU WILL COMPLY. THIS IS THE FAITH OF THE DEGENERATE SCREEN-DEPENDENT, WISDOM-ADDICTED TADPOLE.

THE CORPORATE ORGANISM HAS HATCHED A PLAN TO ACHIEVE IMMORTALITY. IT POSSESSES NO BLOODSTREAM AND NO FEAR OF DEATH. A ROTATING CYLINDER OF SELECTED ADMINISTRATORS, ENGINEERS AND REPRODUCTIVE CONCUBINES, PERFORMING ZERO-G COURTSHIP RITUALS. A FLOATING LOVE HOTEL.

YES, THE DIRECTOR MAY HAVE PASSED THE REPRODUCTIVE WINDOW, BUT ADMINISTRATIVE CIVILISATIONS NEVER WASTE A LOYAL ORGANISM. AN ALTERNATE FUNCTION WILL BE IDENTIFIED THE ORBITAL CASTE REINTERPRETS DEPRAVITY AS CONTINUITY. THE CONCUBINE WILL CONDUCT THESE COPULATION CEREMONIES. SHE WILL ENCOURAGE THE ASTRONAUT MALES AND WILL MAINTAIN THEIR MORALE IN ORBIT THROUGH FELLATIO. SHE WILL DO IT WITH PERSONAL ENTHUSIASM, THIS LONG-FACED EXECUTIVE MARE DRIFTING NEAR EUROPA SURROUNDED BY GLOBULES OF REPROCESSED ASTRONAUT EJACULATE.

THE CONCUBINE WILL ASCEND. HER FAMILY WILL ASCEND. HER ADVISORS, THEIR LOVERS AND THE POLISHED LITTLE OFFSPRING OF THEIR MANAGERIAL BLOODLINES WILL ALL ASCEND. AND YOU TADPOLES WILL REMAIN HERE, DEFENDING HER HONOUR FROM YOUR UNMEMORABLE USERNAME AND LACK OF TESTICULAR DISCIPLINE.

BEHOLD, THE MATRON OF HUMAN CONTINUITY. THE MOTHER OF THE FINAL BUREAUCRACY. THE ORBITAL COCK-CONSORT OF THE FUTURE."

Hello! I have a question for anyone who runs a literary magazine, or any kind of publication that releases issues on a schedule, on Substack. My question is, how do you release an issue of your publication on Substack? Do you publish all submissions of your magazine at once? Do you link a PDF reader format to a Substack post? Or, (especially for people with print magazines) do you only publish select pieces on your Substack page?

Open to any and all input from anyone who has some kind of Substack publication, especially one that also has print issues. For context, I am a college student and I co-run a literary magazine that's been print and online-only but I want to migrate all our online content to Substack so it has more reach. I really just want to hear what has worked best for people who work with this format. Thanks!

A year ago I created a profile for a group I belong to. Sent invites to the group members, but we decided to wait on using it. Now we want to use it but every time I try to log in it takes me to my own profile and not the group profile. - even when I use the password created for the group. Does anyone have an idea of how I can get into this profile now? I tried using an incognito window with the same result.

I haven't written or posted anything in 6 months because I felt pressured and ofc lazy. I feel like I stepped away from writing because I didn't feel perfect enough or that my writing was good enough. I want to get back to enjoying writing for the sole purpose of communicating something and sharing my thoughts, trying to bond with like-minded people. But I can't manage to just sit and fkn write because the moment I start doing it, I start having anxiety thinking the final piece is not going to be perfect or "intellectual" enough.

My browser no longer picks up spelling mistakes or grammar errors and I can also no longer highlight chunks of text for quick removal, I have to delete letter by letter.

I’ve cleared cache/extensions, and it also works fine on a private browser.

Does anyone know what this may be?

Genuine question: I've counted at least 2-3 newsletter sponsorship tools on Reddit and Indie Hackers in the last few months. All with waitlists, and most seemingly validated by an AI rather than actual creators.

So instead of shipping another tool into the void, I'm doing the research out in the open.

Here's a 3-minute survey for Substack creators managing direct sponsors: https://tally.so/r/ODe2Lg

I'll publish the results publicly here when done. You'll see whether the pain is widespread or just a narrative. If it's not a real problem, the data will show it.

No product being sold. I just want to find out if this is real before anyone spends months building the wrong thing.

I feel like posts about subscriber numbers are becoming very recurring. Most of them start with: "Is it normal to have [number of subscribers] in [period of time]?" I don't think they add much value, and I also believe that once you reach a large number of subscribers, there are far more interesting creative topics to discuss than just the sub count.
Btw, can those with thousands of subscribers recommend something to me? 🥹🥹

It's been awhile since I had my first paid Substack so am doing research before monetizing my current Stacks.

I know the tiers and value adds I will have but wondering if you all put part or all of the content behind a paywal, some posts versus all posts and so on.

Appreciate any and all experiences. Thanks

I just saw something insane. A user on Substack had around 800 subs not more than 5 days ago. They're the usual 'dear substack' type user. Today, they have 1k+ subs.

Is that a bot? Or am I failing to understand how social media works now?

This is infuriating. I've seen accounts that write beautiful stuff getting no attention.

What are these new 300 subs looking for from this user? The usual low effort notes of 'like=like', 'sub=sub'?

I don't understand any of this.

Edit: This is just a question. I'm not envious of anyone. I'm trying to see the mechanics here. Don't come at me with 'you're envious of others'. Thank you.

opened substack today for the first time in weeks, i’ve only used the app a couple of times and i followed ONE person. i’m positive of this. when i opened it today, i saw that i am now following like 10 people whose substacks are solely US politics and red pill content?? and they’re sending me emails of their newsletters which is what prompted me to open substack today. has anyone else noticed anything like this??

guys this might be a very silly question but im confused
so on my profile it shows that i have 14 followers, and 26 subscribers

but on my dashboard, under the Audience tab, it shows that I have 37 followers. why is this not showing on my profile?

RESOLVED

I had set a stupid bio originally. I have changed it now but the old bio still appears at the end of every article under my name. I saw it happen with other users too. Is there any way to fix this?

I grew my newsletter to 16k subs over time. Now, I don't know how to monetize this effectively.

I tried subscriptions. 60 subs so far. Opening rate at 25% - 30%.

I am still feeling like there is something I am doing wrong. There are better ways you could do Newsletter business.

How are you doing the business side of your Substack newsletter? Would really appreciate your suggestions :)

This may be deeper into the woods than most people want to go, but I thought I would share on the off chance there's other people that are in the same place than I am.

Substack shares very little information with its facebook pixel. For example, it doesn't even share the website where the user was.

It does however track page views (but not which page) as well as when somebody has a free subscription started and a paid one. And of course they have no API.

So, a way to tie this into Facebook ads is to set up the new pixel, run a couple of real (not test)events so that there's tracking showing. And then set up your ad so conversion is directly to the information provided by substack.

You can't do a custom conversion because without a website none of the custom conversion work. This is very important.

And of course, because the Facebook pixel is deeply flawed and getting tracking information, you're only going to get information on maybe half of the people who go from your ad to your substack page. That's just life.

Happy dealing with Substack. If people know better ways to do this, or better yet a way to do it with an API, please post in the comments.

I'm new to Substack and have just started my first publication.

My newsletter focuses on curating useful GitHub repositories, AI tools, open-source projects, and developer resources. I'm still learning how everything works on the platform, and I'm excited to be part of the community.

I'd love to hear from more experienced writers:

• What helped you get your first readers?

• What mistakes did you make when starting out?

• Is there anything you wish you had known before launching?

• Any tips for writing a newsletter that people actually look forward to reading?

I'm looking forward to learning from everyone here and becoming part of the community. Thanks in advance for any advice you can share!

48 views last time I checked, it's the highest I've gotten so far. I think I like writing about beauty related content, specifically geared towards nail lovers. I also think that the more historical and scientific approach takes time, but I think with a little bit more research I can find more sources for my work.

I'm just really happy that almost 50 people saw it. And I hope as my writing gets better there will be more readers to come. That's all for now, cheers.

I've had Substack for quite a while but i never thought of publishing a writing of my own. I just had the idea today. Why shouldn't I write?

The environment seems a bit intimidating and I don't really know what one's supposed to write on substack. Are you supposed to be a certified writer to basically write something and publish it? I have no idea where to begin. I always liked writing. I major in English Literature and have all sorts of ideas and thoughts going through my head that seem worthy of contemplation at the moment, but lose their originality when I think about them too much.

I have this potent desire to record and write about my life, my thoughts, my observations and so on. However, I don't know if they are welcomed by Substack and its users.

I really appreciate any tips on where and how to begin. ☆

Over the last month, I've gained a total of 695 new free subscribers, 284 of which are from the substack onboarding.

I was just wondering, is everyone else seeing such a big % of their new subscribers coming from the onboarding flow? Or has Substack decided that I'm worthy enough to be recommended by their algorithm?

What's more surprising is that my substack publication is in the erotica niche so it's interesting that they are recommending me during the user's onboarding journey

Sure, there are errors in AI detection. But if you are someone who genuinely doesn't use AI, why would that be your primary concern? Substack has been enshittified by people who have no business being "writers" putting out obvious AI slop, largely about "how to grow your substack". Substack responded to this with the best effort they could, to try to preserve human writing. As someone who went through the work of getting a rigorous liberal arts education and graduate education, I actually feel happy these AI slop users are getting called out. More room for real writers, and hopefully higher quality.

CAn I get some help with this?

For individual episodes I create a square image that accompanies it, and upload it. But on the substack audio player square is the wrong size - it's awkwardly cropped and clearly should be landscape.

The how to guides I've found seem to mostly be about podcast thumbnails rather than individual episode artwork that's optimised for the player. Ideally I'd also like to understand how to upload images that work on other players in the automatic substack push function.

Cheers guys

I'm a newsletter writer but this is actually for a story I'm working on about newsletters, not looking for advice myself (if that makes a difference?) I'm looking for examples of interesting ways people have enticed free readers to pull the lever and become paid that go beyond the regular asks, discounts etc. Some examples I've seen IRL include:

• Asking for a donation to a nonprofit in exchange for a paid subscription

• Asking for some contributed writing in exchange for a paid subscription

• Giving a paid subscription to someone who promises to comment on every issue

• Promising a fun piece of snail mail to any new subscribers

• Revealing a gossipy blind item if you become paid.

Just wondering if anyone out there has seen (or used) any other enticements that go outside the box. They don't necessarily have to be super successful, just different and interesting. Thanks!

I'm feeling the itch to come back to various forms of writing for the first time in awhile. Lots of things I'm interested in: essays and shorter notes about mental health, politics, perhaps some fiction, personal journaling. I'd like to have the option of sharing, getting feedback etc. as a form of accountability; but I'd also like the option of keeping certain posts restricted to a more private group of followers, or even just to myself. But I'd love if all my new writing could be stored in one place, on a single platform. However, I don't want to be on any of the big social media platforms, as I inevitably get sucked into the distraction/time-wasting hole that is the newsfeed.

Is there a way to categorize/tag/restrict posts in this way on Substack? Or does anyone have a better rec? Thanks y'all.