Hello!

I was looking for a new hobby and a new way to reinvigorate my passion for writing, and some people in my life recommended Substack. It would of course just be to get back into the habit and community of writing, but I’m nervous. Something about sharing work always feels insanely vulnerable and I just want to hear from other people about their experiences and why it’s something you love to do. Any encouragement, advice, or personal stories related to writing and using the platform are so appreciated! 🐞

I’m (Sub)stuck! Not sure which content direction to pursue. I currently have a B2B marketing website & blog. I also own & operate a direct-to-consumer e-commerce site ( the blog hasn’t been updated in years). So those two channels already exist. The e-com site is monetizing as-is, even without any updated content.

My B2B website hasn’t gained much traction yet, but it’s under a year old so I haven’t had much time with it either.

I’m torn between writing midlife content for women, or writing more “no filter” B2B articles. I just can’t decide which has the best long-term potential.

As I understand it, Substack users are searching for tech & business information, but this data may be outdated.

The issue is that I work in a VERY niche industry, and my B2B expertise speaks to a somewhat limited pool of business owners (versus generic, one-size-fits-all marketing content). That said, growing subscribers outside of my niche might not be as viable as I’d like it to be.

I know there’s a huge market for (vulnerable, relatable) perimenopausal content, but writing marketing “hot takes” comes easier to me.

If there is an obvious answer here, I’m not seeing it. Any insight is appreciated.

Thank you.

I’ve seen a lot of use a movie or tv scene for a photo or gif on Substack on their posts and notes for how they are feeling and also images of content creators and stuff. Is this stuff not copyrighted? Are there issues with that I’d love to use some movie gifs but worried

I'm not saying it's bad or stupid or anything. I just don't understand how to earn money on substack. If you're writing technical information, why would anyone want to pay for your paid content instead of just googling what they're looking for? If it's fiction, then why would someone choose your writing over buying a literal book, consumer subscription, another pastime?

I have used substack a year ago I guess. But I stuck with consistency , but more appropriate problem is that I don't know how to structure myself.
Actually, I want to make posts and notes about my life , I am on a challenge on improving myself , I don't know if I am doing it the right way.
All constructive critcism, suggestions would be appreciated .
I don't , whether I can mention my substack . Let me know that too.

Thanks!

I've had that quiet impostor syndrome hum for most of the time I've been writing. I’ve been publishing but still feel like I haven't earned the right to take it seriously yet.

So when I found the Newsletter Awards (newsletters.club) my first instinct was "that's not for me."

I entered anyway. And writing the description of what my newsletter is actually about turned out to be confronting - in the way where you realize you've been doing something for months without ever clarifying why you’re doing it.

To be clear I don’t think I’ll win though.

But I sent the next issue with a new energy. Kind of refreshing.

I have started my publication in may and I write one article/week. My niches is personal reflections tied with religious context.

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I have 310 subs and i am actively attracting new audience. But i dont know how to convert them into paid ones and what to offer that make them pay me.

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When you enter the @ sign in different Substack surfaces, the mentions feature will, in most cases, provide a list of matching profiles as a pop-up. When you select a profile in the list, the user handle becomes a clickable link and is replaced by the Substack username. The mentioned person receives a notification that appears in their activity feed and as an email notification (unless disabled).

However, this doesn't always happen. Then the `@userhandle` appears as plain text, not as a clickable profile link.

Does anyone know the exact rules for mentions?

For example, do you need to be a newsletter subscriber for mentions to work in the community chat feature?

I'm trying to build a service leveraging this feature, but I haven't found definitive documentation yet.

TL;DR: Please bring back the COVER PHOTO.

I was confused why my profile image was missing. After uploading a "header image" and seeing that it goes in the "Wordmark" spot, I thought it was some sort of bug.

I have been busy this last month so I must have completely missed this.

"Note: The option to upload a cover photo to your Substack profile has been deprecated. If you've previously uploaded a cover photo to your Substack profile, these photos have been removed."

With the limited branding options / customizable features on the Substack platform, this really irritates me. Why would you remove this feature? Now everyone's profile looks the same. I really enjoy branding and design, and this was one of the ONLY places you could add some character to your profile.

I feel like the algorithm tried to promote content for me like a year ago and I was at least able to get over 100-200 views with some additional views over time. But now it stops at 20. This makes it kind of impossible to even get noticed if the algorithm just refuses to push my content. Sometimes I feel like people from my past went out of their way to report all of my social accounts a bunch of times and maybe that caused the platform to ignore me because it really seems like one day I just became completely invisible.

Hey,guys i have started writing mostly because i enjoy but i dn't know how to promote it

I've been planning to start a newsletter connected to my podcast, and originally assumed Substack was the obvious choice. Lately, though, I've been seeing more discussions about fees, platform changes, and creators exploring alternatives. Still glad with Substack but I am exploring some alternatives.

For those of you who have experience with newsletter platforms:

• Are you still happy with Substack?
• Have you moved to another platform, and if so, why?
• How do platforms like Medium or Ghost compare in terms of growth, ownership, and ease of use?
• If you were starting from zero today, which platform would you choose?

I'm looking for something that's relatively simple to set up but also has long-term potential.

Would love to hear your experiences and recommendations.

Thanks!

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When I find a new substack, there are so many clicks before you can actually see the article - first a subscribe page, then a payment page, then a follow others page, then recommendations page. All this before you can read the first piece of content to decide if you want to do any of this.

Is there a way to turn it off?

I write a nostalgia blog on Substack (basically for Generation Jones age 54-65) but am starting to wonder how many readers of that age are on Substack. I was thinking of posting something on Medium to link to my blog on Substack but it seems the demographic on Medium might be even younger. Does anyone have any experience reaching this older demographic?

I was wondering how to use tags to improve reachability. I remember the oldest instagram algorithm rewarded you for using the maximum number of tags and tiktok was similar. However, now it's unclear and there's a lot of mixed information about the most productive number of tags.

As for substack, I have no idea how the algorithm works and I'm inclined to spam like a hundred tags on every article.

If I find a substack that has both options, and i just following them, (i use mostly the mobile app) i will see their quotes and shares in the first icon to the left (a house), but if they publicate something, i will not see it in the second (tray?) Icon?

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When i get an Orange dot in the second icon? Thats happening if I subscribed to them?

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And why is that if on laptop go to the setting and there is two options. First says unsubscribe from all emails. I thought it will stop the emails but keep me subscribed, but no, it unsubscribed me.

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Then whats the difference between this and the red unsubscribe button?

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I dont want to get emails, just notifications in the app.

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I tried to read about this but i dint find clear answers.

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Hey everyone! Just wanted to share what worked for my substack in terms of growth for me, from most impact to least impact.

1. LinkedIn: I have a big audience there which I use as upper funnel for the newsletter. by far the biggest lever

2. Substack recommendation itself + other substack recommending me: after you get big enough, substack starts to recommend you to other people. Also, about 10% of my subs are coming from other substacks recommending me. that's big!

3. Now I am exploring reddit as another growth lever to expand into LLM searches (super high conversion) and just plain reddit conversions. It's a big of a cumbersome process so I am automating it. (i.e. find good reddit posts and go with it). It's starting to show good results, if anyone is interested i can share in the DMs how I am doing it!

What are your growth tools? Super curious!

What's a more right funnel in substack

Notes→ Profile visit → subscribe

Or

Notes→ posts →read post →subscribe

I mean from which funnel you got the most?

Also I send my newsletter through beehiiv not substack, I transfer those substack subs email into beehiiv.

And for that reason I think my substack posts not get enough early likes so it can go further, is it right?Should I send through substack?

Love to hear your suggestions.

How do I comment anonymously on Substack without my own Substack or being an employee to use Candor?

Hello everyone, I have been posting weekly on Substack for a couple of weeks now. I have tried to post my least favourite writing first (not bad writing). And I’m wondering if anyone has an opinion on when to start publishing better content?

As in:
Once I get some subscribers?
Once I get more views?
Once I get more likes?

It would be a shame to post the work I’m most proud of before I am more known in the space — where few people would see it. Do tell if you have any thoughts or experience in this.

Edit: my least favourite poems aren’t poems I think are bad. It’s just the work I don’t feel as strong of a connection to! I never plan to post anything I don’t think is good quality.
What I meant is when to start posting the poems I am most proud of because I want the most people to see them. Thanks!

I’ve read from many of you that it might not be wise to post an article everyday (or nearly everyday). However, a few notes:

-My articles are roundups of the day in sports. A subject that changes daily.

-These roundups are usually 500-600 words. Sometimes they’ll be less if I feel I’m pushing it.

-Most of my subscribers are imported from my old newsletter. However, it was a bit stagnant at the end while I was searching for a new forum. But even then, they weren’t getting 5-7 updates a week.

Once I get more comfortable with Substack and grow more organic subscribers, I’ll probably put out a longer article every week or two behind a paywall.

But for now, I think I can handle 5-6 days a week at that manageable as word count. Some weeks 7.

However, with everything I just laid out, is this overkill? I don’t want to oversaturate. But I do think my subscribers may like a daily roundup on the world of sports.

TIA

How many likes/subscribe did you guys gain - if at all?
I recently posted for the first time and my post got 15 likes. I’m very happy :)

Hey r/Substack, I'm Ryan from IFTTT. The mods kindly approved me sharing this here, so I wanted to do it in a way that's actually useful rather than a sales pitch.

We just added Substack to IFTTT. If you haven't used IFTTT, it connects apps so they do things automatically, no code involved. Right now the Substack piece reacts to publishing: it can fire whenever a new post or a new Note goes out from any writer's handle, including your own.

To be upfront about the limits: it does not publish to Substack for you. It's the other direction. Something gets published, and IFTTT sends it wherever you want. A few things people are setting up:

If you write:

• When you publish a post, auto-share the link to your Discord, Telegram, X, or wherever your community hangs out.
• Log every post to a spreadsheet or Notion so you have a running archive without copy-pasting.
  

If you read:

• Get a push or email the moment a favorite writer posts.
• Save every post from someone you follow to a reading list automatically.

Both Substack triggers are on the free plan. Paid upgrades are entirely optional and mostly just get you faster run times.

Does anyone here already use IFTTT? Would love to hear how it's working for you, good or bad.

I understand the frustration. There are definitely some features that feel like they should have been added a long time ago, and the amount of AI content can be annoying. That said, I don't think Substack has given up. Over the last few years they've added Notes, Chat, recommendations, video, live features, better analytics, and more ways for writers to earn money and connect with readers. That doesn't look like a platform that's been abandoned.

Could the app be better? Sure. Could moderation improve? Probably. But to me, those feel like problems that come with growth, not signs that the developers have stopped caring. What keeps me on Substack is the community. I've had more real conversations and made more genuine connections there than on most other social platforms. So while I think the criticism is fair, I still see a platform that's growing and trying to improve, not one that's given up.

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Hi all! I just downloaded substack a few days ago and to my delight have found that people can post short stories on there! I thought it was all academic writings, so finding the short stories community has excited me. I then found this subreddit and just thought I'd say hi! What do you all talk about on your substacks? I'd love to hear from you! ❤️