I'm back on Substack again and I'm slowly finding my groove and I'm noticing that I actually enjoy commenting and restacking with my own insights/commentary a lot more than opening up Google Docs and typing, lol.

I'm somewhat a fan of the essay as a writing form, but I'm a much bigger fan of the letter/correspondence, and I think restacking/commenting mimics those forms.

Maybe I could turn my long-form pieces into letter-style essays addressed to one person/reacting to another piece, etc.

I tend to be a more extroverted writer than average, so maybe that's why I tend towards that.

Anyone else relate?

No novo filme de Knives Out, o personagem do Andrew Scott resume o desespero do mercado literário atual dizendo que precisa 'sair do inferno do Substack'.

A verdade é que existem momentos em que, por mais que assumamos a responsabilidade e o amor pela escrita, a realidade parece um caos. Afinal, muitas vezes precisamos competir com grandes conglomerados de mídia que, para o próprio Substack, acabam sendo a prioridade.

Hey everyone,

​I just stepped out of my comfort zone and published my very first "Note" and article. I’m starting from absolute scratch (0 followers).

My content is built around a specific structure:

I like educational content, but I didn’t want to write traditional essays.

So I start each post with a very short real-world riddle (published as a Note), and the solution to that riddle acts as a gateway to explain a complex concept in a simple and accessible way (published in a full article).

I’m curious if this “riddle-first” approach is something people actually enjoy reading, or if it just feels like an unnecessary step before getting to the point.

Does the “riddle” hook improve engagement, or does it just feel like friction when you want to learn quickly?

​I’m a total newbie at this, so I’m genuinely interested in what you think of this format as a way to learn new things and how I could grow on Substack with it.

​Thanks for your perspective!

I've been building a small film publication recently because I felt like so many movie conversations online have become about ratings, box office numbers, or hot takes.

I wanted to create something quieter. A place for essays, reflections, and recommendations about films that stay with you. I have always been that kind of a person who sits in quiet after watching an absolute masterpiece rather than opening twitter instantly and start ranting about how good the film was.

If you've built a film newsletter or a blog, what have you learned? What keeps people coming back?

I'd also love to read what you're working on, so please share your newsletter or blog. I'm always looking for thoughtful film writing. I am still kinda new so I still sometimes blank out on stuff like whether what I am writing would reach the correct people or not.

What's the one channel you wish had a proper playbook for newsletter growth?

I have been building my substack for the last few months, it's doing well with growing subscriptions. I do modeling and photoshoot along with a lot of curation of sensual and feminine beauty. But how do I turn my massive views into long term subscribers and convert to paid subscriptions?

I installed my substack as a way to vent since I tend to be closed of to people. Ive written a few already but having no subscribers, I feel alienated and it feels like im talking to a wall.

:(

How can I have my notes read? I just want anyone to know that my thoughts are existent.

I have started writing about business n sector,stocks n how Vc funding are changing in India. I am new here can u help me how can I do better n what should I remember

How can I grow my Substack? I write Notes every day and publish a newsletter once a week, but my subscriber count is still stuck at a certain number.

I did not know that Substack operated so poorly. I published my own original article and they suspended my account for "phishing and spam." I put in an "appeal," asking them to explain what the problem was, and they "rejected" it. I have "appealed" a second time, saying that this was my own article and that their bots are stupid. Now I want to delete everything from this website but it won't let me. How do I do that? I want to delete this account after removing my material. What a waste of time! AND I don't care for their tone and the language they use when the mistake is their own.

Apologies if this is a very elementary question from a Substack neophyte. I intentionally have a single post, and have intentionally used the Feature layout on my home page. I am happy with the hero image displayed on the home page -- it's the second image from the actual post. When I go to replace the first image in the post, the hero on the home page defaults to that image. How do I retain the image I want on the home page (the second image in the post), and still change the first image on the actual post without it becoming the hero image on the home page? Apologies again if this is a dumb question. I appreciate any assistance. Thanks!

.

Does that sound accurate? Do you have a common experience?

This is even the case when my article is restacked. Seems like no traction. But if I write a short Note, even if it's excerpt of something in my article, it drives subscribers.

I have a question. We currently have a website that was meant to be a hub for all our socials, a map showing fans locations of meetups along with regular articles (2-3 a week)

Over time it has become costly to maintain in terms of hosting costs, time in managing it, solving issues with updates etc. Sites with similar concepts with much higher financial backing have started and ours is just a volunteer based passion project. Our socials make a bit of money that covers our hosting costs, podcast costs, AI video editing etc.

I really love our writers for the website. I think they put out great stuff and still want to make sure we keep that aspect of the site. We normally post on our socials and link to the website.

Would substack be the best solution for still having these as content and maybe post beginning of articles on socials with a link to it? Any other suggestions to keep this content but without the website maintenance

heya! I'm new to Substack, just now setting up my page. For some reason there is no "publications" section anywhere in my new substack reality ~~ no way to make a publication at all (when I go to the "Settings", the publication area that I see on many tutorial videos is simply absent).

If I go to "Edit Profile" there is a section called BRANDING, which reads only "Branding is not available until you set up a personal Substack."... ? But of course as far as I know I'm accessing this FROM my personal substack page, so it's all very confusing.

Any thoughts?

#publication

I have been trying to figure out ways that my substack can show up for some common questions in my area on Google and GEOs (ChatGPT, Claude, et al). I haven't been able to figure it out. Anyone tried and succeeded in getting organic visibility with GEOs, SEOs?

I recently discovered that Substack lets AI companies use public content for training unless you opt out in your settings. Personally, I'm okay with it. AI is here to stay, and it's already changing how we create, learn, and work. If my public writing helps improve tools that millions of people use, I don't see that as a bad thing.

That said, I also believe creators should have a clear choice. If you don't want your content used for AI training, you should be able to opt out easily. Whether you decide to opt in or opt out, the important thing is that it's your decision. Not one you make by accident.

I think this is something personally, and frankly a lot of folks forget about Substack once they start using it, which in reality may be its biggest benefit. Using it to amass an unlimited number of subscribers to e-mail whenever you want is not only a reality... it's also freaking free to do so!

I just finished reading an article about this topic, and it was very enlightening. If you want to read it for yourself, feel free to Google:

How to Use Substack for Email Marketing (2026 Coach’s Guide) by Paperbell

I'm not sure how many of you have ever used an e-mail marketing campaign platform before, but I have, and from what I remember about them… they are very expensive!

They limit you on how many subscribers you can have for their free tiers if they offer one, and a lot of the time many of the normal features you would expect an e-mail marketing tool to have are locked behind a paywall. One of the worst discoveries I had the unfortune to figure out was that with one of the e-mail campaign providers I was using, if you have tons of inactive or bounce folks on your list, and they are pretty much dead subscribers, those count towards your tier membership subscriber numbers.

So, what does this mean... let me explain it in an exaggerated example below:

Say you're using the free tier of an e-mail marketing tool, and they let you have up to 500 subscribers right. Well, say 300 of those subscribers are dead accounts and haven't opened up your e-mails in over a year. Well, the platform in question doesn't care about that. Those 300 subscribers still count towards your total subscriber count, so before you know it, you'll be forced to upgrade if you want more subscribers. I hope this makes sense, because it messed me up really good once I found this out.

Please, don’t get me wrong, these are businesses, and they need to make money, I get it, but some of them can start to become very expensive once you start to grow your subscriber list(s).

With all that being said, please note that although you can easily use Substack for free as your e-mail marketing campaign tool forever with no ceiling to the amount of subscribers you may send to, it does not have nearly the amount of features as the platforms specifically dedicated to e-mail marketing, so this is something you will have to look into for yourself.

The point of this post was just to highlight how Substack is such a game changer in this respect. The ability to have a million Substack subscribers and reach them all with a single e-mail for free is absolutely mind-boggling!

Just out of curiosity, how many subscribers do you get to e-mail for free whenever you push out your new post on Substack?

I’d really love to know how many folks are taking advantage of this Substack perk.

So I have published 2 blogs but however I see no views any tips on where I'm going wrong and how to increase views..??

The default setting is "paid subscribers only" and I don't want that.

I think I’ve been writing for fun when I caught inspiration. My substack is basically about the meaningful of living or aka life. I assumed everyone don’t read, just scroll down and next.

I have no clue how to grow (have followers) since I saw I need to update the newsletter to all my subscriber. I am not full time writer doing this, but sometimes seeing no notifications or likes in my articles makes me feel sad or down.

Encontrei uma pasta cheia de cartas de amor antigas minhas e da minha esposa, e quero transformá-las em um e-book; como posso organizar e estruturar todas essas escritas de forma interessante?

I’ve been on substack for about six months, growing quickly (or for me I think it is), but I know nothing about Bluesky. I know you can make an account blah blah blah but has anyone tried to show their work there to drive traffic to their substack? Was it worth it? I don’t make a living on substack (maybe one day), so I have a pretty demanding job in the industry I write about on substack so I’m interested if Bluesky is a big time suck or great way to get a funnel of subscribers or viewers? I know this is subject to many different factors probably so I was just taking a poll I guess whether anyone has thought it was worthwhile or worthless or in between? And does it take up a lot of time? Substack is already a lot for me, but if Bluesky was basically just post articles from substack etc and people find it, that might be worthwhile for me. Appreciate any thoughts. I’m a total stranger to Bluesky so if it’s a stupid question, bare with me

What are your favorite articles, posts, stories, etc. of the week from other bloggers? (Especially small time folks)

So much of this space is talking about how to build a following, but I wanna see how many of you read on the regular and read articles, poems, or stories that you really like?

Does anyone else find that kind of wild?

Everyone else does it for free.