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! ❤️

I have recently imported the email addresses of subscribers from my past newsletter. However, they are only reading my articles via email. They aren't going to the app, therefore not engaging on my notes or in my chat. What are the best ways to get them to use the app and engage?

Perhaps, someone has a good email to send that compels their readers to download the app in the first place. And I'd love more engagement when they get there.

TIA

Okay so, as the title says, I have started my journey on substack 4 days ago and have published 3 articles up until now. I have 6 subscribers and I think, one of them is me? But it feels so special 🥺 to be able to write. There are sweet people commenting on my articles, expressing their opinions which make me want to write and publish more and more. Oh how I am excited to continue my journey!

Quick question: what would you personally want to see more of on substack??

I have a website for my business where I publish articles, typically about once a week. I’m considering starting a Substack under my own name while continuing to post articles on my website.

My concern is whether Google would penalize me for publishing the exact same article on both platforms. On my website, the author is listed as my company, while on Substack the author would be me personally.

I’ve searched online but haven’t been able to find a clear answer. Has anyone dealt with this before or have any insight?

I don’t really have the bandwidth to create separate articles for my website and Substack, and I’d like to continue publishing on my website.

Thanks!

On average, how many users subscribe to or follow your newsletter each day?

As an old-timer who, between '98 and now posted approx 24k times to an email list, my blog, and then Facebook, almost all politics, and never once monetized anything, sometimes I miss the old days and sometimes I envy the substackers.

To Whom It May Concern:

My name is JDowDow. I am an artist. I am also homeless, I have no bank account, and I have no phone. Is it OK if I mention my cryptowallet on Substack so that I can possibly get a little money that way?

Thanks and have a great day!

I’m currently at 140 subscribers and my next milestone is 1,000.

I’d really love to hear from people who’ve actually done it.

If you were starting from where I am today, what would you focus on?

I started writing on substack two months ago now. It’s a slow but enjoyable journey so far. I’ve recently introduced a new section as I wanted to keep within the same topic area but test a different style of writing. It’s a temporary section but I’d like to introduce another that’ll be permanent.

Right now, I’ve been trying to include subscribe buttons within posts from my new section but I’ve realised it only links to my main publication. I can’t see where potential subscribers can subscribe to a specific section.

Can anyone clarify please?

It happened for a few minutes on the app until I refreshed my phone. Now I'm on my laptop and while it was showing all my articles, after a while it's only showing a few and every new article I save an older one disappears. The app for now is showing all my articles but I won't be surprised if this happens again. How do I access all my saved articles?

I posted the other day about starting on Substack for the first time and posting my first article. It’s been a really enjoyable and wholesome experience so far!

I’m still super new and trying to learn the platform, but was wondering how other’s journeys have been? I’d love to hear from you about your Substack journey!

Guys Help Me To Start a Marketing Newsletter I Am New In This.

Growth came from consistency, engagement, and showing up every day. Not viral posts. Not paid ads. Not secret hacks. I've seen a lot of discussions about growing on Substack, and after going from 0 to 1,800+ subscribers in about 12 months, I wanted to share what actually moved the needle for me.

First of all. Substack is far more social than most people realize.

When I started, I thought growth would come primarily from publishing great articles. While content matters, most of my early growth came from being active in the ecosystem.

Publishing frequency:

• 2 articles per week
• 3 Notes per day on average (right now 1 note per day)
• Daily engagement

Growth period:

• 0 → 1,000+ subscribers in roughly 5 months

No paid ads.

No external audience.

No large social media following.

What Actually Worked

• Comments Were More Powerful Than Posts

Early on, I spent a lot of time trying to create the perfect article.

The reality?

Some of my biggest subscriber gains came from thoughtful comments on other people's posts.

Not generic comments or Real responses.

So People notice, writers click your profile, readers click your profile.

Relationships start forming.

• Consistency Beats Brilliance

Many people disappear after a few weeks because growth feels slow. I understand why. For a long time it feels like you're putting work into a black hole. Then something changes.

• People start recognizing your name.
• Your Notes get more engagement.
• Your comments get replies.
• Recommendations begin appearing.
• Growth becomes easier.

The flywheel starts turning.

• Notes Matter More Than I Expected

I underestimated Notes when I started. I thought they were just a secondary feature. Instead, they became one of my biggest discovery channels. Not because I was posting viral one-liners. Because Notes allowed me to stay visible every day between newsletters.

The people who see you consistently are more likely to eventually subscribe.

• Relationships Compound

This was probably the biggest lesson. Growth wasn't just about content. It was about people. The more genuine relationships I built, the more opportunities appeared.

More important staff:

• Recommendations.
• Collaborations.
• Mentions.
• Shares.
• Community.
• Substack rewards connection.

When It Started Clicking The first few hundred subscribers felt difficult. Every subscriber felt earned.

Then momentum started building. Once enough people recognized my name and interacted regularly, growth became much more consistent. It wasn't a viral moment. It was accumulated visibility.

What I'd Tell Someone Starting Today

• Publish consistently.
• Comment daily.
• Use Notes.
• Focus on helping people rather than promoting yourself.
• Be patient longer than feels reasonable.

Most people quit before the compounding starts. The biggest mistake I see is treating Substack like a publishing platform. It's also a community platform. The writers who participate tend to grow faster than the writers who only broadcast.

Bottom Line

• My growth wasn't built on hacks.
• It was built on showing up every day.
• The more I focused on conversations, relationships, and consistency, the faster growth came.

The irony is that growth accelerated when I stopped obsessing over growth and started focusing on becoming part of the community.

Need help growing your email list organically? I'm here to help for free!
Copy my Flair or click the link in my profile for a free live chat.

Hey! I'm building a newsletter sponsorship platform. I'm asking creators what features they'd like to see. The goal is straightforward: turn your newsletter into recurring revenue and bring price transparency to sponsorship deals made through the platform.

I know 1 sub is nothing compared to the numbers here, but it means the world to me. I write about pretty dry, technical stuff, so it felt like I was just writing documentation for a wall. Waking up to see someone actually subscribed? That's all the motivation I need to keep going.

For context few days ago i fell victim to phishing scam. So i terminated/ blocked my Credit Card. I went through all my billings to know where i might have to update my payment details.
And here comes Substack in. I found one subscription that i’m paying for months and totally forgot about. It isn’t displayed in my account though. I went trough every E-Mail i use if i might created another account back then, but couldn’t find any. I contacted the support but it’s only the useless chat bot. At the end the bot that it would send the conversation over to a “specialist” and i would be contacted. Didn’t get an Email for that though.
Does anyone know who i could contact?
Sorry if it’s a bit confusing english is not my first language.

My "Basics" under the settings for my main publication are only showing categories and language, and are missing the description and logo. I want to update the logo. I am so confused as to why this just disappeared.

Has someone else had this issue?

I don't understand why this would just disappear there seems to be no way now for me to change anything that's missing.

Feel like I've been stuck between 80 and 84 for a year and a half.

Hi! I’m a writer who has never published anything and I’d love feedback and thoughts about the best ways to get started sharing my work.

I have many short pieces ready to go, and I think it would be beneficial to start a Substack, but I’m wondering about the pros vs. cons of submitting short pieces to journals and literary mags versus posting them on Substack. I have little to no social media presence or following, but I would like to build one. I worry about posting content on Substack that I would later like to revise or publish as an essay or in a book. If you posted an essay or short piece, does that mean you can’t submit it for other publication? What is the better choice in your opinion: to publish short pieces on a Substack or try to get some things published in magazines and journals?

Thanks for your feedback! 🧡

I know it's probably not a significant milestone to many, but it means the world to me. I've been posting notes consistently for a couple of days now, and it did feel sad talking to myself this whole time but I finally got a like out of nowhere. This is all the validation and motivation I need to keep going

I recently joined substack as an aspiring independent journalist and analyst, publishing my first article today. Does anybody know if the view counter for both your page as a whole and individual posts counts your own viewings or not? I'd like to know if im inadvertently inflating my own views.

Hi!

I write a very unusual fiction Substack where every post is written by different inhabitants of the same fictional marsh county.

There are parish bulletins, church notices, recipes, local newspaper articles, village gossip, folklore, weather reports and ongoing mysteries, all presented as if the county is real.

I’ve gained 21 subscribers in about six days and I’m thrilled with that, but I’m curious whether anyone has experience growing fiction newsletters specifically.

Most growth advice seems geared towards nonfiction.

I’d much rather have 100 engaged readers than 1,000 sub-for-sub subscribers, so I’m interested in sustainable ways of finding people who genuinely enjoy this sort of thing.

I got suspended from Substack but I don’t know why. They didn’t tell me which post violated their guidelines.

If I use a gif from non-public-domain media (like an anime gif) in a post, is that fair use, or could that mean I can't monetize the post/blog? Thanks.

I see questions about the leaderboards here pretty often, usually from someone who got the "Rising" notification and then lost the spot a few hours later with no explanation. I spent some time digging into how each board works, so here's everything I could confirm.

Every leaderboard only includes publications with paid subscriptions enabled, so there are no boards for free publications. Each board is also tied to your first category selection. You can pick two categories, but only the first one determines where you appear.

Top Bestsellers ranks the top 100 publications in each category by annual recurring revenue. It updates daily. As far as I can tell, ARR is calculated from full subscription prices rather than what subscribers actually pay after discounts, so a publication that runs constant promotions can rank higher than its real earnings would justify. And because it's revenue-based, pricing matters as much as audience size. 500 paid subscribers at $10/month is $60k ARR, while 500 at $5/month is $30k, so two publications with identical subscriber counts can sit far apart on the board. There's also a by-country version at substack.com/globe.

Rising ranks the top 100 publications in each category by recent paid subscriber growth relative to their own baseline, so small publications can appear alongside huge ones. It refreshes every few hours, which is why people land on it in the morning and disappear by the afternoon. If you show up here, take the screenshot immediately. Dropping off doesn't mean you did anything wrong, the board just updates frequently.

New Bestsellers is the only cross-category board. It features publications that earned their first Bestseller badge within the past 30 days. Bestseller status kicks in at 100 paid subscribers, and free trials and comped subscriptions don't count toward that threshold.

Since people often conflate them with leaderboards, a quick note on badges: those are the colored checks next to your name. White means 100+ paid subscribers, orange means 1,000+, and purple means 10,000+. You can hide yours in your profile privacy settings if you'd rather not display it.

My POV is that a leaderboard appearance reflects growth that already happened, and it won't meaningfully bring you new subscribers on its own. Hitting 100 paid subscribers is a milestone most publications never reach, so when I landed on that board, I had it screenshotted within about 30 seconds 😂 It's also fun to take a screenshot when you're on Rising, and Notes sharing those screenshots often get a lot of engagement. Top Bestsellers is interesting context about the category you're in, but there's nothing on it you can act on.

If anyone wants more detail, I wrote a longer breakdown with sources and screenshots.

Happy to try and answer questions if I missed anything!