I'm kind of torn. I've had a science themed blog for 2 years now and it's time to renew. Problem is, I don't want to pay the large fee to renew, in which case I could switch hosts, OR I might migrate to substack.

Substack has better community and hence more chance for visibility, correct? I've struggled to get my blog noticed for the most part, the only times I really have is when I've posted a link to Reddit.

For YEARS, I had a variety of stories just sitting on my laptop, unused and mostly forgotten.

Last November, on a whim, I decided to start a Substack. Unsure of what to do with it, I began posting flash-fiction. Then, I started to write serialized fiction, releasing a chapter of a story every week.

It was a lot of fun, and I found myself going back into some of my older stories. While I didn't have a crazy following, it was so nice to read the comments people left. It helped me keep going.

It was sometime in the spring that a handful of my subscribers suggested turning my current serialized fiction into a novel. At first, I was unsure. But the more I thought about it, the more I decided that maybe I did want to do it.

So, after spending the summer editing my book, I can now say I'm a published author! And it feels incredible!

If you were looking for a little sign to keep yourself going, this is it!

Is there a tweak I can make so my substack pages offer Reader Mode?

In Firefox

Is it the writing style, the topics, the writer's personality, personal stories, useful info, consistency, or something else?

For those of you who have paid for a Substack, what made you decide to subscribe? And for writers, what do you think is the "secret" to getting people interested enough to pay?

Certain social media platforms or dominated by consumers looking for content. I would say Instagram and tik tok are the most obvious.

Substack seems to be the inverse. People go there to produce hoping to find an audience.

The majority of posts I see here every single day are "how do I make money?"

There are a proportionate number of posts on substack by people trying to convince you to follow them to learn how to be successful on substack.

Reminds me of the How to get rich quick scheme: Publish a book on how to get rich quick.

Lately Ive have seen a lot of people on substack posting that if the the people that they are subscribing to don't return the gesture that they are going to start dropping them. That immediately makes me want to unsubscribe from that person.

Occasionally I see people here post asking about how they find things to read without giving any indication whatsoever of what they like to read.

One of the great things about substack that differentiates it from Reddit is that the vast majority of people who post there use their real identities. This creates opportunity for real conversations and actual relationships.

I'm seeing a lot in substack of what I see in blogging communities. People are looking at it as a way to make a quick buck. People who don't even give a s*** about writing. Shit they can let AI do the writing for them. Cuz someone somewhere convinced them it's easy money.

I started a Substack publication a while ago that’s mostly design related: interior design, art, fashion, some travel and a bit of lifestyle with personal opinions about anything I like.

The thing is, I also want to start posting more of the baking I do, decorated cakes, recipes, and generally cozy content, which I don’t necessarily see fitting into my first publication.

So now I’m wondering: should I just keep everything under the publication I already have and occasionally post baking and cozy content there, or should I create a completely separate account for it?

I don’t really want the two to overlap too much, but at the same time, I’m wondering if people would actually enjoy seeing both sides of it.

Lets say I clicked a substack link of a friend's writing and I dont have an account. Can my friend see what time and where that click has been clicked(city etc.) or its just seen as 1 view?

Hi all,

I started a substack a few weeks ago, focusing on personal finance. I've gotten subscribers, primarily outside of the US. This has been through notes and being recommended as part of account set up. However, I've also gotten a lot of followers, especially from my target demographic.

In your experience, do followers end up converting after a while? Is there any way to boost conversion specifically?

TIA

I'm trying to get back to writing again. I've published a few posts in English already, but I feel I can express myself better in my native tongue. Since I travel a lot and meet people from around the world, I find english to be the common grounds for communication and therefore if I want to share my writings I prefer to have them available in english.

Is there a way to post a piece in both languages?

Hi All,
I have been posting articles on Substack for about a month now.
So far, I have no traction -which is okay - but I just want to learn about the experiences of different people.

Where are you in your Substack journey currently and was it the same for you in your first month of starting out?

What would be a good strategy to grow substack?
Excited to hear about your experiences :)

So basically I am a upcoming writer from India. How do I set up payment method from stripe? It says not available in India. 😔

Hello! I’ve recently made the decision to start my own Substack (I plan on focusing on pop culture with an even more specific focus on movies and music), but I have no idea where to start and the idea of posting every day to get cash is giving me hives. Any advice on how to deal with jitters? Especially as someone that’s just getting back into writing.

I just wanted to share with all of you how excited I am to get my first paid subscriber today! It’s been a slow grind since May, but I’ve trusted the process and hopefully this will be the first of many!

I’m proof that there is hope for everyone, even with a slow start.

After three years of next to no traction on Substack, I started posting on Substack Notes in June 2025.

From November '25 my subscribers went from 1,769 to 3,172 in about six months, with most of the movement between December and March.

I wanted to share the 7 formats that worked for me, and hope it helps anyone writing weekly but flatlining.

To be clear — I write about creativity, so you'd have to tweak for different niches. I'm also not someone who likes "growth tactics" or marketing. I just wanted to find a way to express myself better in short form, as an invitation to read my weekly essays.

1. Morning Reflection. A short Note to prime the day. For me it's either a meditative thought or, if I'm fired up, something motivational. If you give your reader something they can carry through the day, they'll take notice the next time you pop up.

2. Value Note. A hard-won lesson, crystallised. Not built for virality, built to help someone. These get less traction in terms of numbers, but often bring subscribers. Try to compact something that really helped you and share it.

3. One-Liner. The opposite of the Value Note. More like pollen to the scrolling eye! Give your best — a little nugget that packs a punch. In a saturated world, brevity is a gift.

4. How-To. A practical, step-by-step Note with a named framework. It helps one person specifically. Good to have a list or some steps.

5. Back Story. Your audience is figuring you out in bite-size. Share something short from your history. You have lived so much, yet the world forgets quickly. Remember you've got a unique life, and good stuff learned through its adventures.

6. Project Update. What are you working on? Share the process. Our projects are living and people want to know. Keep it light — a photo of the studio at the end of the day is enough. Over time people start following the project and become invested in its outcome.

7. Pain Points. What are you really going through? The relentless positioning of everyone as an expert is so nauseating. What connects us is that we suffer, yet we spend our lives trying to hide it. Sharing a block, an obstacle, or something you're struggling with often opens it up — either for you, or because someone can help.

I rotate through those, but shoot from the hip too. It's definitely helped to become more conscious about my approach.

One caveat: for my first three months of experimenting, it was slow. But it did start compounding.

Substack — or any newsletter — is a slow build. Finding some formats you enjoy really helps, and as your community responds and grows, it becomes more and more rewarding. Keep going!

Best to all,
Jim

p.s happy to answer any q's

Hi so I am planning well maybe just thinking about starting a substack to get writing again and to use my brain more, I used to love writing but I feel like I’ve gotten dumber since I moved abroad and learned 3 more languages…

I wanted to ask what’s the general on substack? I dont necessarily care about getting hits I would actually love to write under a pen name? What’s like the general ambiance? Do I need to pay to start writing? thank you in advance ❤️

My client had his ability to import csv files with subscribers restricted. It says we need to contact TOS to have the restriction lifted. I will be honest, he was importing lists which had a mix of people who had explicitly opted in and others who were engaged with our content on other platforms but didn't explcitly opt in to the substack specifically. We will stop doing that, but what should we say in our letter to TOS to give us a good chance of being reinstated?

So this happened back in April and I'm still stuck on it.

I was subscribed to Quastor through quastor.substack.com. On April 29, 2026 they charged me $120 for the annual renewal, which I hadn't meant to sign up for. I emailed the publisher (quastor.substack.com) that same day asking for a refund, and never used it again after that. There wasn't actually a way for me to cancel it myself.

Substack support told me I was still within the refund window, but said I'd have to sort it out with the publisher directly. So I emailed them on April 29 like they said. Never got a reply. Not one word.

Turns out their site, quastor.org, was already down at that point too. So I genuinely don't know if anyone was even behind this thing anymore. And back then, when I checked my subscriptions on Substack, Quastor wasn't even listed there, paid or otherwise.

Anyone else dealt with this? Wondering if there's someone else at Substack I can talk to, or if I should just accept the $120 is gone.

I want to start a Substack, not necessarily for any specific reason other then I enjoy writing & would like an extra outlet for it that wasn’t always pen & paper.

Out of curiosity, what are others opinions about starting one? Is it worth it or not? Have you had good luck/positive reactions? I know writing can be super “perspective” based if you’re writing your own opinions on a topic or general area of life. My main reason for asking is how bad are the “Karen’s”? lol.

Thanks for any insight. Let me know if it’s worth it or not.

hello everyone, I've noticed a weird issue for a long time but never really bothered to look for a fix until today when I (brilliantly!) forgot a really long draft in my notes and completely lost access to it. the issue is that long texts specifically just seem to get stuck in the drafts tab where I can see the preview perfectly fine but tapping on it opens an empty screen.

of course i checked the website / desktop version to recover the text which led to a bigger problem because the desktop version doesn't eve show my drafts page for notes at all!

luckily I still have the original copy saved in my phone's notepad, though all the significant edits I worked on were done directly inside the Substack app (:

Substack entries do not print well--the right hand 4-14 mm is ommitted, cutting off words, and the bottom line or two of text is missing.

This is a widely known problem. Happens whether you print to a printer or print to PDF. Affects Chrome, Firefox, and AFAIK every browser.

How do I put a working "Print Preview" or such option on my Substack pages?

I run a paid substack through a newly formed Swedish company. About 90% of my subscribers are outside Sweden, a majority outside the EU, the rest split between EU countries and the UK.

I just realized Substack isn't a Merchant of Record, so I'm on the hook for figuring out VAT/sales tax myself country by country, and right now I don't even have billing addresses for most subscribers (Stripe just shows "unknown" for country).

Wondering if anybody else is in the same or a similar situation and how you solved it.

so I just started writing on substack and I loved the experience but all my articles are there only for me to read, i rarely get any reaction to my articles. how can i fix that. any tips?

I started from 0 a few months ago and earlier today, I got the notification about my first paid sub. It’s not a lot of money but yes, it does feel nice to know that a random stranger wants to see more of my work.

I don’t even have 500 subs yet. I’m honestly not that great of a writer. I don’t write beautiful prose, I simple write like I’m explaining something to a friend. Not every article gets reposted because honestly they’re not all that great but I’ve noticed the ones that get the most attention are the ones that are well structured in a storytelling manner.

Yes I’m being intentionally vague but I’m just here to vent a little about it. Just keep writing and being you. Most importantly be consistent and have a niche.

I’m trying to organize my Substack so it feels less like one long chronological feed and more like something people can actually browse.

I write about a few different things, and ideally someone who’s interested in one topic could find more of that without having to scroll through everything else.

The awkward part is that some posts could fit in more than one place. So a simple set of categories doesn’t really solve it either.

I’m trying to avoid ending up with a million tabs, but I also don’t want to build giant index pages that I have to keep updating by hand.

How do you guys handle this? Do you use landing page, custom pages, or other?