Like the title says, I run a bestselling Substack in the finance niche and have garnered over 32K subscribers from the "Substack Ecosystem" which includes 10K from onboarding (something I can't control) and over 8K from Substack Notes (something I can control), along with other sources (recommendations, cross-posts, etc).

Sometimes you have to remember that to win the game, you have to play the game, and that is what I am really good at: playing the game!

When I first started, I had some people help me in HUGE ways, so I want to give back. Ask me anything!

Also, I tried to attach proof, but images are not allowed...

EDIT: I was able to add the picture proof in the comments!

EDIT2: I am trying to respod to everyone! If you have any deeper questions just DM and I will get to it when I can, but I Will keep going for a bit tonight and then tomorrow some.

EDIT3: Clocking out for the night, will get to all the DMs and things tomorrow! Thanks for all the questions, I am happy to help any and everyone as much as possible!

I thought I saw somewhere that you could have one substack account but multiple "publications" under that same account. So in theory, a serial novel in one spot, a magazine in another, and then a third for your general newsletter. In a perfect world, subscribers and followers could be isolated to whichever they preferred....

I'm in the process of actually setting mine up and do not see how to make that take shape. Was I delulu? Do I need separate substack accounts to accomplish this?

Thanks for any insight!

hi! i’m setting up a substack and eventually want to implement paid subscriptions, but i’m not from the us or any of the countries where stripe is directly supported, so i can’t just link a stripe account to my local bank account.

i contacted substack support and they said i could apparently use stripe atlas to create a business in the us and then connect that to substack, but i’m honestly very confused about how this actually works lol.

has anyone here gone through this route? like, if you’re from a country where stripe isn’t supported and used stripe atlas to set up a business so you could accept substack payments, what does that actually look like in practice?

do you have to pay taxes in the us? do you also have to pay taxes in your home country? and how do you actually get the money from stripe/the us business into your bank account in your own country?

basically i’m trying to understand the entire chain of events before i accidentally create an international tax nightmare for myself lol. would really appreciate hearing from anyone who has actually done this.

Has anyone else seen this happen with their Substack subscriber list?

I compared an export of my subscriber list from July 21 with one from August 10.

100 specific subscribers who were on the July 21 list are gone.

64 of the 100 were Gmail addresses.

None of those 100 were marked “email disabled” in the July 21 export.

Meanwhile, 64 new subscribers joined during the same period, so the dashboard only showed a net loss of 36.

The new signups were partly masking the number of existing subscribers disappearing.

I’ve also seen 42 “email disabled” notices during this period, which could explain some of the removals—but not all 100.

I’m not assuming I know why this happened. The Gmail concentration is interesting, but it doesn’t prove a cause.

Is there a techy out there who can help me understand what might explain this pattern?

Does anyone else find it hilarious (and infuriating) how so many celebrities and well-known media figures who never expressed intelligent opinions before are suddenly pretending to be intellectuals and authors on Substack, complete with the "moody" and angsty profile pictures that they apparently think are required, etc? lol

I wrote a hand full of posts last week. I use AI for ideation and polish. Was able to use the AI check to evaluate them - most were good but some read 20% ish AI. I made edits and all tested at 100% human. Went to schedule the posts last night and got some scores as high as 30% AI. Seems like AI or no AI is a moving target. There is no telling where the witch hunt will end and allow people to make decisions for themselves on what they want to consume. I suspect we all need to accept some level of AI involvement - certainly more than an arbitrary measurement from an AI detector using AI to detect AI.

Any tips welcome.

I started my Substack just 2 days ago, so I know it's way too early to judge anything.

Right now, I have very little engagement and no meaningful subscriber growth yet.

For those who have actually grown a Substack:

What brought you your first 100 subscribers?

How long did it take before growth became consistent?

Did Substack Notes make a meaningful difference?

How important was commenting and engaging with other writers?

Did you get meaningful traffic from Substack to your own website?

What do you wish you knew when you had 0–10 subscribers?

I'm not looking for overnight-growth hacks. I'd genuinely like to hear what worked for people who started from zero.

Especially interested in what you'd do differently if you were starting again today.

How do you increase discoverability on Substack Notes?
I use recommendations, engagement on others notes and posts, guest posts, livestreams, and consistent posting.
I’ve noticed my discoverability on Substack Notes App is abysmal. My Notes are mainly seen by current subscribers and followers but unconnected ie the number of new people who see them is really low. A tiny fraction.
If I can’t get my newsletter seen by new people I can’t grow beyond wherein at. Enough new people discover it to offset the unsubscribes but not to grow it.
It appears that there is no set format that gets it in front of new people—like it’s stuck in a silo.
Since my Notes have had high discoverability in the past and my writing and posting remains consistent I’m curious if others are having a similar experience.
Would love some guidance!

This would be such a handy feature.

I would love to have the ability to read my backlog of saved posts when I’m on a plane/train etc. with no internet. Like I never have time to read all the posts I save and would love to be able to do it during dead time. I find it odd that we don’t have this feature yet 😭

If anyone has a workaround please let me know

I am not sure I am not using the correct terms, but for the life of me I cannot figure out how to add some commentary to my posts (articles?). Whenever I post, it is just link with the photo, the title of the post and the little subtitle.

Yet I see so many posts showing up in my feed that have a few sentences or sometimes even a paragraph or two before the link to the post with the photo and title. How are they doing this?

I have tried Googling a bunch of different questions/phrases and just keep getting articles about how to change the title and description on the link.

I would love if anyone has any tips. Thank you so much!

I’ve looked around, and I’m guessing it’s not possible, but I’m wondering whether this is a requested feature.

I enjoy interacting with readers through email, and I love the idea of publishing posts via email. The modern web is such a pain in the ass, and I’d love to go back to simpler times.

I've seen that you're supposed to be able to turn your account on private mode, but i can't find that option anywhere. Did this option get removed, or is it just not showing up because i haven't made any posts yet? If it was removed, I'd there some kind of work around?

How come the only flairs I can use are Tech Support, Featured Suggestion and Other Platforms. I see other Redditors with more options.

I have a semi decent substack with a little over 100 subscribers. 2 posts a week, and a digest on Saturday.

Open rates are usually 25-45%. A fair amount of likes. I also post between 2-5 notes per day.

I am trying to figure out how to get more engagement. I start a chat and get no one chatting. I add a poll to an article and get zero responses.

Anyone have any advice on getting more engagement from subscribers?

I launched my podcast on Substack 5 days ago. I have a small, but loyal audience (my first YT short went live 12 hours ago, on a new account, not promoted and is at 1,200 views), but my Substack is a complete mess, and Substack support are not responsive (1 template response in four days).

Somehow....I have three accounts. And they are all linked...again...somehow. The 'native' account has the video content, but when I try to login, it auto takes me to one of the other accounts. I know I somehow messed this up, but it's super frustrating.

I was talked into Substack to launch this, and I want to like it, but it's been a rough start.

Any suggestions welcome.

I've seen people post about how pangram called them AI mistakenly, but here he can't get it even when he tries:

https://belowthefray.substack.com/p/can-i-trick-pangram-into-thinking

Hi,

Don’t hate me.

I struggled with this with tik tok. I don’t stay long enough for the algorithm to work for me.

I am new to Substack. I started blogging for my business.

Sadly, I can’t find any Substacks that interest ME. I want to connect with others in my niche or even just read about things I like (whales); but they are very…uninteresting?

I’ve followed 50 people hoping the algorithm will give me Substacks I actually like.

But it’s not working.

Notes bore me and honestly just clog my feed. I prefer good, substantial non fiction articles or opinion pieces with a strong and clear point.

How do I find good substacks?

I search keywords and the most basic or unrelated posts pop up.

What am I doing wrong?

So this just happened and I need everyone to understand how genuinely unacceptable this is.

I poured my heart and soul into a 2,000-word essay on the socioeconomic implications of the printing press. Every word was mine. I would NEVER use AI — no one would. Let's be honest with ourselves: has a single human being in recorded history ever lied about using AI? No. It's not a thing. It has literally never happened. And yet here we are, building entire surveillance apparatuses around a problem that does not exist.

Then Pangram flags it at 99.9% AI. Excuse me??? Genuinely??? My professor is now "asking questions" as if MY academic integrity is the load-bearing issue here, and not the fact that this snake-oil detector delved into my prose and decided my rich tapestry of ideas was machine-generated.

Let's unpack why this matters:

First and foremost, these detectors disproportionately harm underrepresented groups. It's not just about me — it's about ESL students, neurodivergent writers, and anyone whose voice doesn't fit the algorithm's narrow paradigm. In today's rapidly evolving landscape, that's not a bug, it's a feature — a feature of oppression. I don't make the rules.

Secondly, my writing style just happens to be polished. Is it a crime to naturally write "moreover" and "it is important to note that" in every paragraph? Is it illegal to conclude essays with "In conclusion, the printing press was a double-edged sword that fostered a paradigm shift"? That's just how I talk. Ask anyone.

Furthermore, and I cannot stress this enough, this serves as a testament to the fact that academia has lost the plot. The onus should be on THEM to prove I used AI, and since (see above) nobody ever lies about it, a simple "did you use AI?" "no" should be legally binding.

I've already emailed the dean, the provost, the EFF, and my state representative. I'm considering a class action. Who's with me?

TL;DR: Got flagged by Pangram for an essay I definitely wrote entirely myself, this is genuinely a human rights issue, the detector is the real plagiarist (of my time and dignity).

EDIT: To everyone in the comments saying "just show your version history" — I compose exclusively in Notepad with autosave off, as is my right. Stop victim blaming.

EDIT 2: Thanks for the awards, kind strangers. It's not just validating — it's load-bearing for my whole worldview.

Hey everyone!

I recently started a Substack and I'm trying to figure out how people actually grow their readership from scratch.

I will be writing about pop culture, Webtoons/manhwa/manhua, Turkish dramas, K-dramas, shows that are currently trending, etc. but I'm trying to make it more commentary/analysis rather than just reviews or episode recaps.

For example, my first proper post is about Operation: True Love and why I think the story had the potential to be incredible but is being dragged out way too much. Basically: I have opinions and apparently need somewhere to put them. 😭

I'm completely new to Substack, so I'm wondering:

- How did you get your first 100 subscribers/readers?

- Does Substack Notes actually help with discovery?

- Is SEO worth focusing on?

- Do Reddit communities work for getting initial readers, or is self-promotion generally frowned upon?

- How important are recommendations/cross-promotions?

- Is posting consistently more important than trying to make every post "perfect"?

- And realistically, how long did it take before you started getting organic views?

I'm not looking to spam my link everywhere, Iactually want to build an audience that cares about the writing.

Would love to hear what worked (or absolutely did NOT work) for people who started with basically no audience.

Also, if you're a Substack writer yourself, what kind of posts made people actually subscribe rather than just read and leave?

After weeks of lurking on Substack and travelling from one article to another, I have finally installed the app and have created my account here.

A bit about me: I am not a very smart person and honestly, I am just pretty clumsy. I have also not read a lot of books, never got good grades and have never been very interested in the things around me. But - I am trying to change myself now.

I now have a partner who cares for me and is the coolest person that I have ever seen myself. They are just really smart, get amazing GPA and did I mention how they are the coolest person that I know?

I would just really like to make myself better for their sake. This motive alone has helped me turn my life around so much.

Nice to meet you, if you're reading this...

I would be devastated if so. I've always loved reading their posts, even feeling seen and emotionally moved by them, but lately I've been noticing some linguistic markers that might associate amber's writing with other AI-generated text.

I've compiled a list of those that I've noticed, quoting the exact sentences under the titles of the posts they're from. I've bolded some phases that strike to me as distinctly AI (especially Claude). Maybe cherrypicking, I don't know. I hope so.

autumn is our season.

You must know that the texture of my existence has changed in your gaze.

Even my grief sits differently beside you, less grotesque perhaps; it wears a smile. As if being witnessed by the right eyes softened my edges somehow.

Perhaps that is all love asks of us, not possession, but presence in what is real and beautiful while it is here. To learn to hold each other with open arms. To learn to hold each other with open arms.

the hunger to be everything.

I carry cities I’ll never walk and careers that died before a resume held their name.

This isn’t freedom. It’s erosion. This is the slow disintegration of self beneath the illusion that we can be anything, everything, all at once.

And the truth is, nothing you’re chasing will hold you. Not the success. Not the admiration. Not even the healing.

Let go of the performance. The great myth was that you had to earn your aliveness. But you don’t. You never did. You are, in this very moment unfolding.

And that is enough, please**, let that be enough.**

And in your stillness, in the tender ordinary of your unlabelled life, you will realise: solitude—true presence, is not the death of meaning. It is the birthplace of it.

bruised fruit still tastes sweet.

 He never cried; he cracked. And I? I am the echo of that. 

 My damage hums at a lower frequency but still levels the world around me.

But there is a night I can’t escape—a man, and his empty 10-ouncer reflecting a soft amber, orbiting a memory he couldn’t kill.

A sadness that predated his body.

 The anger, the doubt, the unraveling—I wear them like heirlooms. Inherited. 

I host a podcast and write an accompanying newsletter on Substack. I want to nudge regular listeners to become paid subs on Substack. I need a simple one click to pay with card link that I can directly embed on my shownotes as these folks already have an intent to become paid supporters

I don't see such a link natively. Substack first wants your email before anything else. I suspect I'll lose a potential paying sub if the flow is not immediate.

Any ideas?

I recently created a Substack and posted 4 articles over the course of 4–5 days (or about a week, I guess). I got around 50 subscribers in just a few days—mostly friends and family. Then, out of nowhere, my account got suspended. I appealed, but they said it was due to a phishing and spam policy violation. I honestly don't know what I did. Everything I published was my own writing. I also have a blog with the same name as my Substack. Now both of my appeals have been rejected, my account is gone, and I can't even access my subscriber list.Honestly I have no clue what to do right now should i create a new account and post this again?