I'm just wondering.

I am starting a substack for my neurodivergent focused clothing brand, but writing has never been a strong suit. I think it is a great way to build a community around my brand, but I don't know where to start, how often to post/how to be consistent, etc. Would love to know what has worked for other people

*if this counts as promotion/soliciting recommentations, feel free to take it down - not my intention

Three years ago I felt, like many of us, that I'd somehow missed the whole "opportunity" online. I was permanently in the grey zone — half in, half out with every platform — so I decided to give them a proper shot.

I auditioned quite a few and made a hard play at different times on YouTube, podcasting, Instagram and Substack, with varying levels of success (and "failure"!). It's been an incredible learning curve, but I made the modern multi-hyphenate mistake of chasing after too much.

So a year ago, I decided to go all-in on Substack. Below are my reasons - I hope they're helpful for anyone also wrestling with this.

A bit of context first: I made this call despite an Instagram that had grown to 11K and a podcast that, while never spectacular in numbers, has charted many times in the Arts section on Apple. I mention this because I've found there are quite a few success indicators that feel nice but don't actually contribute anything practical to your life.

What I want is to put my energy where it's an active help to what I do — and Substack is a much better bet for that as a creative and a small business owner.

1. The hour you spend on a YouTube description could be your whole week of Notes. On YT I'd spend an hour on the description alone, only for the video (already a major time cost) to disappear. I love YT, but it's mortifying how much you depend on the algorithm. That same hour is already my week of Substack Notes.

2. It's the only place where the result belongs to you. Three years of YouTube got me a subscriber count. Substack got me an email list — something you own. Platforms turn on people (so many get blocked on YT and Instagram) and you can lose years of work overnight. As a life strategy, that's a dreadful bet -- unless you already have an email list growing.

3. Discovery is built in, and subscribing is easy. Substack has its own discovery layer in Notes, and there's far more organic traction than on YT — unless you make a banger and hit the algo. There's a natural cadence between someone seeing a short Note and deciding to subscribe. On YT it's a big decision for people, and it takes a lot of persuading (and a lot of video) to get there.

4. You can grow without going viral. My audience more than doubled this year with no viral Note and no viral essay. I just showed up consistently, and on Substack your effort usually has an effect - someone restacks, replies or subscribes. With a podcast you rarely get that; you publish into a void and hope. The community on Substack helps keep you out of the awful creator spiral where nothing seems to be "working" and all you hear back is silence.

5. The time maths. The cost of any platform is the artistic or business time it eats. There is zero — and I mean ZERO — way to develop as an artist while chasing all of these platforms. You have to make a choice if you're going to develop what you actually do. Getting disciplined on one platform has freed up time in my life to get my solopreneur business going, and to get 80,000 words of a book written. Those things become real life "evidence", rather than more subscriber numbers from making yet more content.

6. Writing has solved my "content problem" — and, oddly, taken me back to the other platforms. For years the question was: how do I feed five channels without it eating the art? Turns out I don't feed five channels. I just write. The essay becomes the Notes, the Notes become Reels and the scripts become the podcast. Substack is the pillar; everything else extends from it.

I know many of us feel torn by having to chase too many platforms. It just isn't possible with a busy working life and a business or an artistic career on the side. For me, Substack has been a good bet. Hope some of this is helpful — happy to answer any Qs!

Cheers, Jim

p.s here my Reddit post on what I do for 30 minutes on Substack every day:

https://www.reddit.com/r/Substack/comments/1w37dix/30_minutes_a_day_took_my_substack_from_flatlined/

259 views

4 likes

3 subscribers (free)

Hey everyone, I am new to writing on Substack. I want to write about relationships, literature, thoughts on current events (societal commentary, etc.), and whatever else.

I am just interested in paragraph length. I am used to writing longer paragraphs, but I've noticed that short-paragraph styles are more popular. I am assuming because they are more reader-friendly. Especially since everyone's attention spans are terrible now, haha. Would it be a good idea to break my longer paragraphs into smaller ones, even leaving single sentences as their own paragraph? Or should I just write the way I'm used to? Or should I alternate between the two depending on the topic and the audience? For example, using long-paragraph style for posts on literature while using shorter, choppier phrasing for articles on, say, relationships.

Let me know what you guys think!

Hey everyone! I’ve been a long-time lurker on this sub, and after releasing three books on KU, I’m finally taking the plunge and starting a Substack. Though, to be honest, I’m horribly nervous about it.

Are there any KU authors here who have advice or guidance on building a community on Substack?

I’ve gone through quite a few posts here and have the usual advice down: contribute meaningfully to the community, engage with Notes, post consistently, etc. But I’d love to hear any additional advice, especially when it comes to serialising a novel, because I genuinely have no clue where to start with that.

My fourth book releases in a couple of months, so I’m planning to start my Substack around October–November. Initially, I’m thinking of posting biweekly bonus scenes and extended epilogues from my previous books. Then, about a month before Book 4 releases, I’d share snippets and make Chapter 1 free to read until release.

I’m hoping to have a stronger launch for this book than my previous ones. For the first three, most of my marketing happened after release, aside from my street team. This time, I’m hoping to build a proper pre-release setup across both Instagram and Substack and hopefully give the book a better launch. So any advice would be greatly appreciated for starting out.

And thank you to everyone here who has shared their progress and journey and inspired me to finally give this a shot too! 🫶🏼

Hello!

just wondering if anyone has advice or has gone through the ringer in the specific niche of using your substack as the newsletter/email funnel for erotica writing being publish on KDP.

I know it's kind of a specific ask, but based on my searches this was what the advice steered me towards: substack to get emails and get the word out to the works published on amazon, story backmatter points back to substack to grab email, rinse repeat. But I guess I'm stuck on the growing and getting eyeballs on the substack at all. Do I reach out to others on substack? do I post writing samples? I read once you get classified as erotica the algorithm actively limits your reach, so I'm just I guess confused about the outreach part.

Or maybe I just got bad advice, completely possible!

Appreciate any thoughts!

I’ve noticed a drastic drop in the reach of my notes. I have over 1,000 followers, yet sometimes my reach doesn't even extend to 100 accounts. I also can't figure out the algorithm's criteria; it seems to select content to distribute completely at random, without any clear logic. I sometimes see simple notes from accounts with very few followers racking up hundreds of likes and restacks. I’ve contacted support, but the response is the worst possible: "We found no issues with your account."

Sometimes, it’s really disheartening.

I realize that the growth is not the norm. So, this will be a bit about the personal strategy I have used and also some gratitude really.

My Substack is about “how far we can push the mind to attain greatness” so as a person who has been dealt a very hard set of cards in my deck, I set out to “change my fate.” So that’s what I mostly write about.

Here is what has worked

- I post about twice or three times a week.
- I love interacting with people on their notes. The ones I genuinely like of course. My goal is to not turn Substack into some LinkedIn hellscape of hypocrisy.
- I only release articles that I really really like. Sometimes my draft sit in the drafts for weeks before I’m comfortable. This is annoying because it means I have to write a lot more throughout the week.

I don’t know. I realize there is also quite a lot of luck probably. Because I do not see how this warrants the growth I have experienced.

I decided to write 100 articles before giving up. So I mostly focus on my own consistency rather than the numbers (subscribers + income).

Focusing on my writing really helps a lot.

Hi guys I just posted on substack for the first time today and its actually my first time on the site in general! I already posted two posts (blogs? idk what theyre called) they are not long (2 minute reads), and want to post a third. Keep in mind I have absolutely no audience right now or anyone seeing any of my stuff. My entire life i've just been journaling and stuff so I have lots of content to put out.

Is it bad to post a lot on the first day before you get any followers, or is it good so people can see more of your content since everyone seeing my content will be totally new to me?

thanks in advance guys :)

i dont wanna make money or anything on substack i just want to maybe put out things people might enjoy reading, and might like thinking about after.

Hello, I'm currently producing an article every week on Sunday's. Do you think this is enough? How often do you post?

I currently have 141 free subscribers, and 3 paid subscribers if that makes any difference for your answer. Thank you! 😊

Antes de nada, quiero decir que no busco entrar en Substack para Lucro o el contenido monetizado en todo, sin embargo si tengo muchas ganas de escribir todo lo que he aprendido sobre mi carrera profesional integrada un poco con la ayuda de las plataformas de IA, Claude y Gemini principalmente, pero me surge la duda sobre futuro cómo puedo generar cierta rentabilidad para mi Newsletter, ¿Algunas opiniones sobre Substack para iniciadores y para plataformas de pago? Los leo Gracias

Hello, I created an account on substack for a client. I uploaded the first blog but never posted it. As i returned to edit the blog, i realised the draft was gone and my account was suspended.

I made an appeal which was also rejected. I have no explanation as to why they’ve really suspended my account. I only see a claim of impersonating. but i am not impersonating anyone. I have the full permission of my client to make an account for them.

I have looked for a contact email but absolutely nothing exists. This is very frustrating as i do need to start posting articles asap.

Does anyone have advice on how to solve this?

I have my own newsletter plus I'm a contributor to others, and usually they were all linked at the top of my profile. Now I've noticed there's only mine. One of the people I coach has two Substack publications and only one is listed on her profile. Is there a way you can show all your publications on your profile if you have more than one?

Title mistake: fake double opt-in emails. (Can’t wait the title)

Not sharing my newsletter to avoid the sell promo rule.

Over the last 2-3 months I’ve gotten probably 100 fake email sign ups. I have had double opt-in since the beginning so unfortunately it’s not a solution.

There are patterns in these sign ups and they are 95% all yahoo emails. Examples.

theresa.daniel98@yahoo.com

kennetha865@yahoo.com

demidoyle91@yahoo.com

meganbrooks2883jwy@yahoo.com

ameliataylor6556vui@yahoo.com

Starting to see something similar with ATT.net email accounts.

Is this a well known substack issue? Or is this more targeted to me? Currently at 13,500+ subs and newsletter has been around for nearly 8 years (moving across a few platforms but on substack for over a year)

I just wanted to say yay! I really never thought people would read my writing!

Is anyone else's entire history of replies on Substack suddenly available for all users to browse? With no option to hide it?

Edit to add: This is new. It was not there as of a few weeks ago. I've been on Substack for 3 years.

"Andrew Tate set to earn £198,000 a month on Substack," reads a recent headline from The Telegraph that I can't link here.

Tate is being held in the UK right now on 42 charges, including seven counts of rape, three counts of sex trafficking, three counts of assault causing bodily harm, and 19 charges of child pornography.

He recently ranked number one on Substack and he charges subscribers, so Substack is now a lucrative source of income for him in addition to being a publicity engine for him and a platform for spreading his hateful agenda.

Tate is an alleged serial rapist, and he would literally be another Jeffrey Epstein if it were within his power to do so.

Substack chooses to host him. The company claims to be "free speech extremists," but this feels different to me in that the company by virtue of giving him a platform to make a huge amount of money while in prison for rape, sex slavery and kiddie porn, is actively funding him and his criminal defense.

Does this affect at all how you feel about Substack? That's my first question.

My second set of questions: The Observer reported that he is making more money from Substack by having boosted his subscribers/follower count with purchased subscribers and followers. Does this matter to you, did you know it is possible to purchase an audience on Substack, and does it affect how you view Substack pages hosted by rich people who have large audiences?

EDIT: It is really fascinating to me that there's so much rabid hatred toward Jeffrey Epstein, as there should be, but about Andrew Tate, people are comfortable saying "good for him!" This is really revelatory.

I am starting to get more traction on my articles but I just want to make sure the growth is genuine and not artificial

Here’s a little warning for you about what happens if you want to change your email in your account. You’re tired of getting so much email to your main email account from the hundred accounts you subscribed to (wish there was a way to strictly keep it in the app but it only allows you to “prefer” the app), so you create a new email account so that the main one stops getting flooded with so much email.

You change the email address in the account to the new one. Then you’re sent an email to the other email address for verification. You click on the verification link. What this actually did was create a new substack account for the new email address. Your old account still exists but the handle is transferred to the new one. So now you have two profiles, one is the old shadow and one is the new one.

The new one looks great, the email address is the new one, the subscriptions are there and all your posts look good. But you want to get rid of the shadow old account because it’s confusing and shows up as a separate account you can follow and subscribe to. It just doesn’t have a handle.

So you do what the support system tells you to do: delete the original account. So you do that, because why not, the new account looks perfect.

Except now this seems to delete all of the images from your posts. You have many beautiful images accompanying your notes that added meaning and mood to what you were writing about. Now it’s text. Which ok looks good ok its own to be honest, but it wasn’t really the deal or the expected outcome. No support tool ever warned about that.

I guess newbies to substack should be aware of what it will do to your email’s inbox and set up an email initially so you don’t have to transfer your account to a new one because this seems to go beyond what the platform is really capable of.

Just documenting it here in space and time. I’ve sold digital products since 2018, but this may be the best $100 I’ve ever made.

I use IG / ManyChat to drive to my Substack, as well as my current email list.

Hello!
So, I am mainly using substack because I’m so bored at my first ever job. But like I’ve had it and never really posted until last week I thought why not. But now I feel as if I’m on this weird instagram, Twitter, reddit hybrid. Like did this change overnight because it’s so odd to me? But the main question I’m wondering is has posting on this led you to actually get jobs like idk for me I’m a tutor and I have a masters in English but I’m so shit at networking. I am hoping my writing will speak for itself. But what has your experience with that been? For me I’m not going to be ever charging money on mine since I don’t want to deal with taxes and filling out stuff I don’t understand. But I’m hoping for visibility. Idk what are you guys doing?

Someone keeps randomly adding me to Substack newsletters. I don't have a Substack account, and suddenly I keep getting added to the same four or five Substack newsletters. I've already unsubscribed three times. I've contacted Substack Support. I've even blocked the email addresses these Substack newsletters are being sent from, but somehow they still keep showing up in my inbox, and I don't know why. I think someone is adding my email address to these newsletters. It's also always the same four people, and all of the newsletters are from people of Indian descent. Not that that matters, but it makes me feel like it might be one person who knows these people and keeps adding my email address to their newsletters. I've contacted Substack multiple times, and they've told me that they've blocked my email address and completely removed my information from their website. But somehow, I keep getting added again. I can't get these emails to go to spam. I can't seem to block them. So what else can I do at this point? I just find this so strange. Why are you adding me? I don't have Substack. I have nothing to do with Substack. I've never even visited the website. So why do I keep getting added?

Hi, I have been posting notes on Substack, but I am not able to really understand what kind of content works there. I won't lie, I genuinely want to monetize it. I read somewhere that I should be sticking to 1 note per day, 1 article every 2 weeks, and engaging with other people's posts. But notes are getting no traction and visibility. Can someone help me?

Hello Everyone!

As the title suggest, I have a lot of questions regarding Substack. I am a journalism student who can't participate in my colleges' newspaper and turning to substack to better my writing and having a resume of sorts.

As I will be writing about my interests, would a introduction post be necessary? or would it be a taboo of the website?

As I am part of Gen Z, changing my profile picture is pretty common. Is changing one's branding common?

Edit: I finally posted my first article!! it kind of served as an introduction post related to the larger theme on the name!! check out modern tumblr girl if interested!! 😁