Are you a lurker?

Are you hanging out on Substack week after week, thinking “I’m going to start a publication one day”?

One day. Soon. Next week. Next month. Next year.

Why not today?

You’re not ready now; I get it.

Newsflash: you’ll never be ready. It is literally never the perfect time to launch a Substack publication.

Now I hear you making excuses…..

The timing is wrong.

You’re busy. There’s family stuff happening. Work’s nuts right now. It’s vacation time. You’ve got that thing you have to sort out first.

I get it.

Thing is, stuff will always be happening. Things will always come up. Life will always be throwing curve balls and hiccups and unexpected work at you.

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The timing will never be perfect. But it’s okay to launch when it’s not perfect. In fact, you must launch when the timing isn’t perfect. You must launch when you’re not ready.

It’s not the perfect time now, and it never will be. You’re not ready now, and you never will be (fully) ready.

So here you are, and you still haven’t launched your publication?

What’s your excuse this week? Why haven’t you started yet?

Stop, don’t tell me. I don’t care.

Fact is, there is never a perfect time to start. And there is no such thing as a perfect start. Your first attempts will be less than perfect. No matter how good you think they are, you’ll look back on them and cringe (I promise!)

I’m telling you now: as imperfect as it might feel, just start anyway. Choose a publication name, write a post, press ‘Send’. Repeat.

My new free resources page has everything you need to get started. Today. Start today. There will never be a better time.

And I’ve got you covered.

On the resources page you’ll find:

• 🚀 How to Start a Substack

• 🎯 How to Choose Your Substack Niche

• 💰 How to Get Your First 100 Subscribers

• 📋 Free Substack Launch Checklist (downloadable)

• + Much much more…..

As the gurus say: “The best time to start a Substack is last year. The next best time is today.”

Don’t stay in the ranks of the ‘I’ll do it one day’ lurkers. Become a do-er and start your publication now. And use my free resources to make it easy.

Get free instructions for starting, growing and setting up your publication on my resources page and boot your excuses to the curb.

Get The Free Resources

That’s it from me today. See you next week,

P.S. If you’re a paid subscriber of Pubstack Success, your perks are about to multiply. Here’s what’s coming:

• More templates, mini-guides and quick-fix tools to save you time

• A monetization course to help you earn more with your Substack

• A program to show you the holes you can’t see, so you know exactly what to fix next

• + a few extras I’m holding back for the people who are already in

Every time I publish something new, the price for new subscribers goes up. If you’re already in, you keep the price you joined at, no matter how many benefits get added in future. Lock in now, and keep today’s price forever.

*”Pull your finger out” is an Australian and British expression that means “stop fiddling about and do something useful”

** My food safety publication is The Rotten Apple, published under my real name (Karen Cherry is a pen name)

In this post, I explain what the Pledges feature is on Substack and why you urgently need to review it and — perhaps — take action to prevent it from trashing your newsletter.

What are Substack Pledges?

A ‘pledge’ is a promise. The Substack Pledge feature is a way for you, as a newsletter writer, to see if your free readers are willing to pay for your work, without turning on paid subscriptions.

With pledges, your readers promise to become paying subscribers in the future, by committing to a monthly or yearly subscription and entering their credit card number.

How do Substack Pledges work?

Pledges are an automatic feature that is active by default on all free Substack newsletters.

Wait what?! I’m asking for pledges right now, without doing anything?!

Yup that’s right, starting January 2023, every new reader of your newsletter is being asked to pledge money as soon as they sign up.

New readers are asked to pledge immediately after they enter their email address, before they have seen any of your work.

After a new subscriber enters their email address to subscribe to your publication they are shown a screen that asks them to pledge their support. The screen offers them the option to promise $80 for a year’s subscription, $8 for a month, $150 for ‘founding’ or to opt-out. There is a box for them to enter their credit card number immediately, and if they don’t enter their card number or explicitly opt-out, then they cannot get to your post or home page.

As a publication owner, you can change the prices from their default values, with the minimum allowed amounts being US$5 per month and $50 per year. You can also switch currencies if desired.

Current subscribers to a free newsletter also see buttons asking for pledges on your home page and in place of ‘Subscribe’ buttons within posts.

Current subscribers see a pledge button on the publication’s homepage when the Pledges feature is active

The problem with Pledges

The process of asking new readers to promise money for a newsletter they (perhaps) have never read feels aggressive to me.

On the other hand, paid newsletters have the same aggressive request for money immediately after the sign-up page too, and readers don’t seem to mind too much, they just opt out.

With that in mind, perhaps the upfront pledge request is not all bad. But that really depends on the type of newsletter.

Some newsletters exist for the joy of writing and reading, to inform, to entertain, to share news, to build communities. These newsletters have built-in value. Creating such newsletters takes time, effort and commitment, and creators deserve to be rewarded for that.

I have no problem with pledges for newsletters that are purely for entertainment, education, information-sharing and community building. If the newsletter is good, people will pay. Or with Pledges, promise to pay in future. Not all people will pay, not even most people, but some will, and that’s awesome.

But other newsletters — many, many other email newsletters — are not built on pure motives of entertainment and joy. And pledges don’t belong there. In fact, on such newsletters, they are an abomination!

The ‘other’ newsletters I refer to were created to generate income indirectly. One of the world’s biggest and most famous email newsletters is published by James Clear. It is always free and always will be. It exists to promote Clear’s books and increase the readership of his other work. That type of newsletter should NEVER ask its readers to pay.

When I launched this publication, it initially existed to help sell my book. I did not ask for pledges because at the time, it was essentially a marketing tool for the book. Asking people to pay, or to make a pledge, just wouldn’t have felt right.

Should you use the Pledges feature?

Heads up!, the Pledges feature is enabled by default, for all free Substack publications. That means you are probably already using Pledges unless you have manually switched it off.

To switch off Pledges, go to the Settings tab on your dashboard, navigate to the Payments section and toggle the button. If you can’t see the pledges toggle, then you have probably already got payments active on your publication; Pledges are only available to free newsletters.

Use Pledges if you can say yes to 3 questions:

1. Does your newsletter exist for its own sake, to entertain, inform or build community (and it isn’t used to promote other products or services)?

2. Has your newsletter got at least 5 long-form posts or at least ten short-form posts?

3. Have you explained who you are and why your newsletter exists in your About page, your bio and a separate post?

It is not good to ask people to promise money if you haven’t explained why you created your newsletter, or have only published one or two posts, and doing so risks turning potential fans away or damaging your personal brand.

So, if you can’t answer Yes to the three questions above, turn off Pledges until you can.

The benefits of Pledges

If your goal is to earn revenue from paid subscriptions, then you will need to start asking for payments at some point. It’s hard to know the best time to do that. Do you wait until you have 1000 subscribers? Or do you start asking for money from day one? What if no one wants to pay?

Substack has created the Pledges feature to help you feel confident to turn on payments. According to their post announcing the feature, “thousands of readers have pledged almost a million dollars to writers they love” since the feature was enabled for a small selection of writers in December 2022.

When someone makes a pledge, they are prompted to leave a private message for the writer too.

“You deserve to get paid for your work. You are putting valuable time and energy into what you produce, and we all get to sit back in delight each week as we read.” [Private message from a reader who promised $80 per year during the trial run of the Pledges feature.]

Messages like this will warm your heart. Even better, they can give you the confidence you need to turn on payments and start earning money from your newsletter.

If you have a free newsletter and plan to switch on paid subscriptions one day, then the Pledges feature will help you to see how much you could earn. Better yet, when you do switch on payments you will hit the ground running, with money from readers who have already promised to pay.

Subscribe now

Urgent Action Required Now

If you have a free Substack newsletter and you don’t want to use Pledges, then you need to manually switch it off.

You can find the Pledges feature in the payments section of the settings tab on your publication’s dashboard. If you can’t see it, that’s probably because you already have payments enabled; the Pledges feature is not available for newsletters with active payments.

Takeaways

The Pledges feature is a default feature on all free Substack newsletters. It automatically asks readers to show their financial support for a newsletter by prompting readers to ‘pledge’ (= promise) to pay a monthly, yearly or ‘founding member’ amount when the newsletter goes paid.

The newsletter owner can choose the amount of the pledge but it cannot be less than $5 per month and $30 per year.

When the Pledges feature is active, readers see requests for pledges on your Substack home page, on ‘subscribe’ buttons in posts and emails and when they first enter their email to subscribe to your publication.

Pledges = confidence

My advice: Pledges don’t belong on marketing newsletters or newsletters that make money from advertising or affiliate links.

Pledges are enabled by default and must be switched off manually. They are not available to newsletters that already have payments switched on.

Need more help with your Substack publication?

If you want to learn more about Substack and how I use it to earn money, check out my other articles, get in touch with me directly using the DM button below and be sure to subscribe to get helpful information like this straight to your inbox each week.

Starting a Substack publication is easy. Starting one that’s set up properly from day one? That’s not easy. There are so many details that are crucial but easily overlooked.

This free checklist will keep you on track, reminding you of the most important things to do before you launch a Substack publication to the world.

It isn’t a 140-minute video or a 6-module course.

It’s a fast and easy-to-use sanity check, so you can launch with confidence knowing nothing important has been forgotten.

Free Substack Launch Checklist

59.3KB ∙ PDF file

Download

A 15 point checklist for you to download and keep

Download

To download the checklist, click the pink button above, then check the downloads folder on your device.

Enjoy!

P.S. If setting up your Substack is becoming too much of a time suck for you, I can help, with my done-for-you Substack setup service. Drop me a DM or get in touch by replying to any of the emails I send, and let me get you up and running so you don’t have to waste your precious time on all the fiddly bits.

The welcome email might just be the most important email in your Substack repertoire.

It goes to every new subscriber at the exact moment they’re most excited to hear from you. Get it right, and you set the tone for everything that follows. Get it wrong, and you’ve already lost them.

This free template gives you a simple, proven structure that greets new subscribers warmly, tells them what to expect, and — crucially — teaches their inbox that your emails are safe and trustworthy, not spam.

Download it today by clicking the pink button (then check your device’s downloads folder), fill in the blanks, add your own personality and you’re ready to roll!

Welcome Email Template

3.8MB ∙ PDF file

Download

A simple template for fast and fuss-free implementation

Download

P.S. If setting up your Substack is becoming too much of a time suck for you, I can help, with my done-for-you Substack setup service. Drop me a DM or get in touch by replying to any of the emails I send, and let me get you up and running so you don’t have to waste your precious time on all the fiddly bits.

If you’ve been with me for a while, you know I love how generous Substack is with their business model.

I try to bring this same generosity of spirit to everything I do for you, my loyal readers. And I’ve just spent the last month putting together a huge list of resources for you.

So, without further ado, here it is. Enjoy!

Free Substack Resources

Resources for writers and business owners building on Substack:

• 🚀 How to Start a Substack

• 🎯 How to Choose Your Substack Niche

• 💰 How to Get Your First 100 Subscribers

• 📋 Free Substack Launch Checklist

• 📈 How to Grow Your Substack Without Social Media

• 🔍 Substack SEO: How to Get Found on Google

• 💌 The Perfect No-fuss Welcome Email Template for Substack

• 🛠️ 10 Best Tools and Apps for Substack Writers

• 📣 How to Stand Out on Substack (14 Ideas You Can Use Today)

• 🤝 How to Use Substack Recommendations to Grow Faster

• 📊 Understanding Your Substack Stats (And What Actually Matters)

Resources Only for Paying Subscribers

Pubstack Success is more than a newsletter. It’s your unfair advantage.

🎯 My goal is to help you build a publication that gets you the impact, connections and revenue you want, without burning out, chasing algorithms or selling your soul.

Ready to save yourself a ton of time and oodles of brain juice?

Your Paid Subscriber Benefits

As a paying subscriber, you get full access to:

🚀 The Substack Starter Kit, to get you launched and growing faster

• Quick Start Guide | Get set up right the first time

• Content Planner | Never be stuck for something to write about

• Post Template | Beautiful-looking, high-performing posts without the guesswork

• Substack Growth Checklist | Proven steps to build your audience

• Email Swipe File | A set of 3 must-have emails ready to personalise and send

• Button Cheat Sheet | Simple calls to action that work

• About Page Template | Craft your story professionally

• Publication Blueprint | An 8-step process to skip the guesswork and design your Substack publication with confidence (priceless!)

🍠 2 Bonus swipe files to boost your success

• Mindset & Motivation Recipe | Avoid overwhelm and stay motivated

• Headline Swipe File | Boost open rates with 63 customizable post headlines

🎨 A complete Canva template pack with everything you need to create a great-looking Substack publication with a free Canva account and

🛠️ Instant access to my Substack Idea Analyzer — test your newsletter concept in 3 minutes and find out if it will work before you write a single post.

Get Your Premium Resources

You'll go from "so much to figure out" to "I’ve got this” faster than you thought possible.

If you want to level up your Substack publication, grow faster and make a bigger impact, unlock the benefits and upgrade today.

Got questions? Reach out to me by replying to any of the emails I send, or DMing me through Substack.

I’m here to help.

Take care,

If you’re new to publishing, my best advice is to ignore all stats for the first three months. Why? Because you won’t have enough data to reliably learn anything, and you’ll be wasting time that could be spent meeting new readers and writers and practising the harder-than-it-looks skill of pressing ‘Publish’ every single week.

On the other hand, if you’ve been publishing on Substack for a while and have at least 5 posts, 20 notes and 10 subscribers, then read on.

In this post:

• Where to find stats in Substack

• How to access and understand stats

• Which stats actually matter

Where to find stats in Substack

Stats are everywhere in Substack. Here are the main places you’ll find them:

• Main page of publication dashboard

• Posts section of dashboard

  • Main metrics for recent posts

  • Drill down for: Individual post views, open rates, engagement rates, traffic sources

• Growth section of dashboard

  • Traffic sources for visitors, free subscribers, paid subscribers

  • Drill down for: Individual notes conversions

• Stats section of dashboard

  • Network effect - the number of subscribers gained from the Substack network

  • Audience location and overlap with other publications

  • Retention and churn figures (paid publications only)

  • Sharing counts - which subscribers are sharing your publication

  • Referral counts - figures for gifts (paid publications only)

  • Total traffic - view counts for a specified period, filterable by source

  • Posts - detailed figures for each post in a sortable, customisable table, including free and paid conversions and revenue

  • Unsubscribe counts and reasons (paid publications only)

  • Surveys - number of responses, results of surveys

  • Earnings - lifetime earnings (paid publications only)

• Recommendations section of dashboard

  • Counts of subscriptions received from and sent to other publications through Substack recommendations

• Notes list (in personal profile/activity)

  • Count of impressions and interactions for individual notes

How to access and understand stats

Dashboard Stats

The main page of your publication dashboard displays a high-level view of the health of your publication, including subscriber numbers, growth and revenue.

What to look for: Don’t sweat the details here. If the line on your dashboard is going upwards and to the right, you’re doing great. Flatter areas of the chart represent slower growth. Where the line curves upwards more steeply, that represents faster growth.

Hint: You’ll get better information from charts on Substack if you choose a longer time frame from the drop-down list. On the main dashboard page you’re looking for big trends; it’s not a place to sweat the small plateaus.

Good to know: You can disable the chart view by activating the ‘Hide stats’ toggle in the ‘Privacy’ section of your Publication’s settings.

Post Stats

Posts section

The posts section of your publication dashboard gives an overview of stats from your most recent posts, including how many people opened the post, how many people viewed the post and how many new subscribers were generated.

What to look for: Open rates above 20% and at least one new subscriber per post.

Individual post stats

Click on an individual post in the list of posts to see more stats, including the number of email recipients, the sources of views and link click statistics.

For example the post in the screenshot below had 8,630 recipients (receipients = the number of subscribers who were sent an email or push notification for the post), 5,088 views (total views are the total number of times the post has been viewed across the web, app, email and Substack app) and an open rate of 29.59% (the percentage of people who viewed this post after receiving it in their email inbox or Substack app).

What to look for: Low open rates can indicate that your post title wasn’t compelling enough. Posts that don’t generate new subscribers indicate that you weren’t getting it in front of new readers, or you weren’t giving new readers a compelling reason to become subscribers.

Table of posts stats

There’s a better way to see post stats than clicking into each post individually. You’ll find a table of post stats if you navigate to the ‘Stats’ section of your dashboard and select ‘Posts’ from the tabs across the top of the page.

The magic of viewing your post stats in this table is that you can sort your posts by key metrics like subscriptions generated to get a big-picture view of the types of posts that are helping you grow.

How to use it: To sort the list of posts, click the column label to sort from highest to lowest. The filter function allows you to see the stats for just one subset of your posts, such as those with a specific tag. The display function lets you choose which metrics to display in the table.

What to look for: Look for topics and titles that resonated, posts that gained new subscribers and posts that converted free to paid (‘estimated value’). Click open the posts with the best numbers to see whether they contain a call to action (CTA) that is particularly effective.

Traffic and Growth Stats

The ‘Growth’ part of the ‘Audience’ section of your dashboard contains stats about where your viewers and subscribers are coming from and shows which traffic sources generated the most visitors, free subscribers and paid subscribers.

What to look for: Use the ‘Growth’ page to discover your best traffic sources, so you can double down on the sources that are working. For example, if you get a lot of paying subscribers from Google, you might decide to increase the number of search-optimised posts each month.

Hint: This is also where you can see which notes performed best (select ‘new subscribers’, click the dropdown arrow next to Substack to find ‘Notes’, then click down again to see individual notes)

For total traffic counts, navigate to ‘Stats’ section, then choose ‘Traffic’ from the tabs across the top of the page. (Total traffic = the number of times your publication was viewed during a specific period, including emails).

Other Stats

Extra stats for paid publications

Paid publications also have access to figures for:

• retention (the proportion of your paid subscribers who stay subscribed),

• unsubscribe reasons and

• lifetime earnings.

Find these in the ‘Stats’ section of your publication dashboard in the tabs marked ‘Retention’, Unsubscribes’ and ‘Earnings’.

Audience location and overlap

Use the data in the ‘Audience’ tab of the Stats section of the dashboard to discover where your subscribers live and find publications whose readers overlap with yours.

Recommendation Stats

In the ‘Recommendations’ part of ‘Creator Tools’, you’ll find stats for how many subscribers you’ve received from recommendations and how many recommendations you’ve generated for others.

Hint: ‘Creator Tools’ is on the left menu of the publication dashboard: you may need to scroll down to find it.

Notes Stats

It’s possible to access stats for individual notes, such as the number of impressions and interactions they received. To do this, first find your list of notes in your personal profile (open your personal profile, then find the ‘Activity’ tab underneath your bio), then click on the three-dot menu in the top right corner of the note to access its stats.

However, a better way to check Notes stats is to compare a larger set of your notes to see which brought you the most subscribers. Do this from the ‘Growth’ part of the ‘Audience’ section of your dashboard: select ‘new subscribers’, find Substack in ‘sources’, click the dropdown arrow next to Substack to find ‘Notes’, then click the next arrow to see a list of individual notes. Full instructions here: How to Check Your Notes Performance

Which stats actually matter?

There are so many different stats available to you in the Substack dashboard, and even more if you connect an external tool like Google Analytics.

You could spend hours every week obsessing over stats if you wanted to. Don’t. There are a few numbers that are worth paying attention to and many that are not. Too much time in the stats will rob you of precious hours you could be writing high-quality posts for your readers.

In this section, I’ll tell you about the metrics that matter, and how to use them to help grow your publication, plus the ones you can safely ignore.

Advice from the trenches

I think it’s actually a mistake to pay too much attention to reader numbers. I did that for a long time, but now I’m less invested in the numbers. As long as there is an upward trend over time, and I’m doing the best I can to turn out consistent work, I’m holding fast to the idea that I’m on the right track. Elizabeth Beggins of Chicken Scratch

Metrics that matter

A metric is a quantifiable value that businesses use to monitor and measure success. In Substack, metrics include your subscriber statistics, website visitor numbers (‘traffic’), and revenue, if you have enabled paid subscriptions.

Why look at numbers?

It’s often said that what you pay attention to is where you will see results. Or, as Tony Robbins says, “Where focus goes, energy flows”.

Subscriber count

If you want to make an impact with Substack, you’ll want your publication to grow. That means more subscribers. If you want more subscribers, follow Tony Robbins’ advice and pay attention to your subscriber count.

Best practice: Take a look at the subscriber chart on your publication homepage once a month. You’re looking for a slope that goes upwards to the right. It’s best to take a long-term view by choosing ‘One year’ or ‘All time’ from the dropdown list.

Open rate

The second metric that matters if you want to grow is your open rate. If people are not consistently opening your emails or clicking on your posts in the app inbox, you’ll struggle to build a relationship with them: they’ll be less likely to spread the word about your publication, less likely to purchase from you and more likely to unsubscribe.

Therefore, open rates are important for growth and impact.

(BTW open rates are also important if you plan to seek sponsorship, run advertisements or sell your publication.)

Hint: Larger lists typically have lower open rates, so don’t be alarmed if the 80% average open rate you had when your list was tiny shrinks to 30% when your list is bigger.

Best practice: It’s best to compare open rates between your own posts, looking for trends, patterns and blips rather than comparing your stats with other publications. If growth is your goal, the actual numbers are less important than the trend or pattern they reveal.

Top tip: Don’t underestimate the importance of post titles. Even the most brilliant posts will have low open rates if they don’t have compelling titles.

Growth sources

Another important thing to know is where you are getting new subscribers from. That means paying attention to how people find your posts (‘unique visitors’) and which traffic sources bring you the most subscribers (‘new subscribers’), remembering they may be different. Access these stats from the ‘Growth’ part of the ‘Audience’ section of the publication dashboard.

Post conversions

Finally, if you offer paid subscriptions and want more revenue, it is important to pay attention to which posts have done best at encouraging free subscribers to upgrade to paid. There are two ways to do this.

To check revenue generated by individual posts, use either (1) individual post listings (click on a post in the ‘Posts’ list in the ‘Content’ section of your publication dashboard to see ‘Estimated revenue increase’), or (2) check the ‘All posts’ table in the ‘Stats’ part of the ‘Audience’ section of your dashboard.

Hint: To sort the table of posts, scroll right in the scroll bar at the bottom of the table until you find the column of data you want, then click the column header to sort the list in ascending or descending order.

To recap, when it comes to growing a Substack publication, these are the numbers that are the most important:

• Subscriber counts

• Open rates

• Traffic sources

• Post conversions (posts that convert free subscribers to paid)

Stats to check occasionally

Recommendations: Find out who’s recommending your publication so you can return the favor.

Unsubscribe feedback: Paid publications get access to feedback from readers who don’t renew their paid subscriptions. If your publication is paid, check unsubscribe feedback occasionally – say once per quarter - to get information about why paid subscribers are leaving.

Access unsubscribe feedback from the ‘Unsubscribes’ tab of ‘Stats’ (only available to paid publications)

Audience location and audience overlap: Check these to see which countries your subscribers live in and to see which other publications your audience reads to get ideas for collaborations.

Access these from the ‘Audience’ tab of ‘Stats’.

Notes conversions: If you use Substack Notes regularly, it’s worth checking which of your notes generated new subscribers (hint: it’s often NOT the notes that got the most likes or replies). Do this in the ‘Growth’ stats, as described earlier.

Stats that matter less than you think

Likes and comments on posts

I was stalking a successful newsletter the other day, and noticed that there were 64 responses to a poll. It was a compelling article, and it was aimed at Substack writers – exactly the sort of people who would be inclined to engage with a poll. I’m telling you this because at the time the publication had 14,000 subscribers.

Say what?! A successful newsletter, with tens of thousands of subscribers, managed to collect just 64 poll responses? Wow. That’s less than half of one percent of subscribers.

The same post had 16 comments and 73 likes, equally low response rates for a publication with more than ten thousand subscribers.

I’m telling you this because creators often get discouraged by low numbers of likes and comments. Don’t be discouraged. If you have 100 subscribers and you get 1 like you are actually getting much better engagement than many popular, long-running newsletters like the one I just described.

Some newsletters get very high levels of likes and comments; some do not. These levels are not linked to ‘success’.

A few years ago, my food safety newsletter was generating tens of thousands of dollars of revenue per year while getting almost no likes or comments. On the other hand, Pubstack Success was flooded with comments and likes from a much smaller audience. Both newsletters are a success, even though the audience engagement rates are very different.

Remember: Likes and engagement can provide you with feedback about what your audience enjoys, but they aren’t reliable indicators of success or failure.

Follower numbers

Follower numbers also mean very little in Substack and aren’t worth paying attention to…. the magic of Substack is the relationship you can have with subscribers, not followers.

Subscribe now

Daily view counts and subscriber counts

Watching subscriber numbers and views tick up or down day‑by‑day encourages emotional decision‑making and can undermine your progress. A monthly or quarterly overview is far more useful than frequent checking of the subscriber numbers or views.

Notes impressions and engagement

It can be fun to see a note go viral (i.e. get a high number of impressions), but virality rarely translates to stable growth or high-quality subscribers. Likewise, high engagement on a note doesn’t reliably correlate with new subscribers or paid conversions. Instead, pay attention to which types of notes successfully generated new subscribers, as described above.

Final thoughts

Obsessively checking stats is a fool’s game - don’t be sucked in.

You have no direct control over your stats.

All you can do is write well, give people a reason to open your posts, tell people to subscribe and strive to be shareable. If you do this, your stats will go in the right direction all by themselves.

And you’ll be able to enjoy the process much more easily!

Okay, that’s it from me for this week. Have a good one!

Karen

P.S. If you’d like me to take a look at your stats, be sure to book a one-hour video call with me. I’ll listen to your goals, review your current situation and help you chart a path forward. If I can’t help you improve your publication with sensible, actionable advice that’s tailored to your personal style and your audience, you get your money back.

Hope you’ve had a top week.

In this post, I share the tools and apps I couldn’t live without as a writer and online business owner.

The list contains a few of ‘the usual suspects’, plus a few hidden gems which you have probably never heard of. I hope it helps you find a new super-tool to make your working life a little easier.

The best thing about this list: most of these apps are free!

1. ShareX

Share X is a screen-capture app that is fast to use, and makes mark-ups, arrows and borders a breeze.

Use keyboard shortcuts to take a screenshot, then add pixelation, drawings, stickers, shapes, text and borders in seconds, then save it straight to your clipboard, or file it for later.

You can even save your screencap as an animated GIF.

My favorite feature: “smart erase”

Cost: free

Get it here: https://getsharex.com/

2. Canva

Why does everyone use Canva? Because it’s good and it’s free. If you want text in images, or a cohesive brand look, none of the AI tools can beat it (yet).

My favorite feature: being able to see all my past designs in one place.

Cost: free (paid plans also available)

Get started here: https://www.canva.com/

3. Paint.net

Paint.net is a free tool for doing design work you can’t do in Canva, like creating images with multiple layers, then editing just one layer at a time. Its magic wand eraser removes backgrounds for free (that’s a paid feature in Canva), and you can choose the sensitivity of the selection tool.

I use it for photo touchups, logos, changing the hue and saturation of images and resizing images.

My favorite feature: “lasso select”

Cost: free

Get it here: https://www.getpaint.net/

4. Read Out Loud

This Chrome extension does exactly what it says on the box: it reads the text on your screen out loud to you. So I can catch up on posts by my favourite writers while I pack my dishwasher. What’s not to love?

My favorite feature: adjustable speeds and choice of accents.

Cost: free

Get it from the Chrome extension store

5. Google Search Console

If your Substack answers questions, then search engines can be a good source of new subscribers. Search Console shows you which posts are getting found and what people are searching for to find them.

Cost: free

Get started here: https://search.google.com/search-console/

Subscribe now

6. Substack Recommendations

Substack’s Recommendations feature is one of the best growth tools available, and it’s already built right into your Substack publication. Use it to support writers you know and admire. One day they will return the favour.

Cost: free

Find it in the ‘Creator Tools’ section of your publication dashboard’s left side menu.

7. Grammarly

I resisted using Grammarly for way too long. All those extra hyphen suggestions and patronising style recommendations. Plus, who puts a comma before the word ‘And’? Grrrr!!

These days, though, I can’t do without Grammarly. Its red underlines serve like a silent proofreader as I race to finish my food safety newsletter before the deadline each week; showing me typos and other easy-to-miss mistakes.

Cost: free

Grammarly comes as a Chrome extension or a downloadable app. Find out more here:

https://www.grammarly.com

8. MS Word

Yes, this is super old-school, but Microsoft Word is my secret newsletter organisation weapon. Word’s secret weapon is headings. Word’s heading functions allow me to easily navigate post ideas and re-order future post sections by dragging and dropping whole sections of text.

9. Substack Pro Studio

Substack Pro Studio is Notes scheduling made easy. See all your scheduled notes on a single screen, drag and drop notes with different themes, handle drafts and images all in one place.

Favorite feature: Set and forget time slots - no more manual scheduling.

Get it here: Finn Tropy Substack Pro Studio (paid1)

10. Calendly

Time zones are a headache when you’re collaborating across borders.

With Calendly, you can set your availability, share the link and Calendly automatically converts your availability into the viewer’s timezone, so they can book an appointment without the painful back and forth.

Cost: free (paid plans also available)

Get started here: https://calendly.com/

You don't need to spend a fortune to run a professional Substack, most of these tools are completely free to use forever.

Which is your favourite? What have I missed? Let me know in the comments.

In this week’s post, I’m diving into the secrets of a $1m newsletter. Yes, ONE MILLION dollars. It can be done.

Despite what the sceptics say, it is possible to make (very) good money from paid subscriptions alone on Substack. And you don’t have to be writing about writing to do it.

Lenny Rachitsky, creator of the $1m + newsletter Lenny’s Newsletter, for tech product managers, reached his one million dollar revenue milestone some years ago. In March 2025, he reached one million subscribers and shared what he learned about Substack growth in his post, 1,000,000. In this post I’m breaking down the ideas he shared and also drawing on insights from a follow‑up analysis by Growth in Reverse.

Here are the top 5 things you need to do to reach 1 million subscribers like Lenny.

1. Provide quality content that people want to share

Lenny says he tried every growth lever in his early days on Substack: paid ads, SEO, referrals, business development but almost none of them moved the needle. Instead, he says almost all his growth came from word of mouth and recommendations.

Lenny’s posts are structured so that someone can quickly skim, learn something concrete, and think, “This is useful! I’ll send it to send to my friend or colleague.”

My take: I get hundreds of readers through simple shares and recommendations and this is the most effortless and joyful way to grow because every recommendation is a tiny endorsement of my work.

How to do it:

1. Make your posts as good as you can. Readers recognise excellence and will tell their friends if they like what you do.

2. If your publication is educational, make sure your headline and subheadings are clear and skimmable so readers can easily assess how relevant the content is to them and others.

3. Ask Tell your readers to share your posts. Every single one of my food safety posts includes at least one call to action that says something like “Did you find this useful? Please share it with a friend or on LinkedIn and help grow our food safety community”.

4. If you’re ready to ask other writers for recommendations through the Substack system, use the advice in my post for best practices: How to Get More Subscribers with Substack Recommendations

   Is this post helpful? Help more people by restacking it to Substack Notes. Click ‘Share’ then choose ‘Notes’ or click the circular arrow icon at the bottom of the page

   Share

   ---

2. Stick with it (then stick with it some more)

One of the big lessons from Lenny’s 1,000,000 post is that growth doesn’t come from “going viral”. Newsletter success is a long‑haul game where regular, small actions compound over time.

Lenny didn’t suddenly hit 1M‑plus subscribers after a couple of popular posts; he spent five years publishing, interviewing, tweaking and gradually upgrading his publication.

My take: I concur. Later this year I’ll hit my five-year milestone on Substack. I’ve had many disheartening plateaus in growth where I’ve thought “that’s it, there’s no one left to subscribe to me!” and yet every plateau has ended, and my subscriber numbers have continued to climb. Better still, the more subscribers you have, the easier it is to grow, because there are more people sharing your content (see point 1).

How to do it: Set yourself a minimum ‘run time’ to test your idea on Substack - I recommend 6 months. Commit to regular weekly posting and focus on building habits and getting to know your readers before making any judgements or pivots. Choose a simple, repeatable format so you can keep posting even on low‑inspiration days and expect subscriber numbers to plateau regularly.

3. Borrow an audience, then own them

Something that Lenny has mentioned helped him in the early days was penning two guest posts for other newsletters. This gave him access to existing audiences that he could then convert into his own subscribers.

My take: Guest posting gets your work in front of new readers who are already reading newsletters.

How to do this: The key to successful guest posting is to write super-high-quality content for someone else’s publication. Your aim: get their audience so excited by what you wrote that they will subscribe to you too. You can learn how to find and select publications for guest posting and other collaborations in my post: Collaborations for Small Publications.

4. Publish in two or more places, but own one

One of the most useful lessons from Lenny’s journey is the power of sharing your ideas across platforms—guest‑writing, podcast appearances, social posts—while always steering people back to Substack as the central hub.

This was particularly relevant when Lenny started out, as Substack Notes did not exist, meaning all his subscribers had to come from external platforms. I still get most of my food safety subscribers from outside of Substack.

My take: Do not rely solely on the Substack universe for distribution. If you want your publication to grow, you need to be meeting new readers in other places as well. Think LinkedIn, Instagram, YouTube, word-of-mouth, in-person events, webinars and conferences… anywhere you can ‘meet’ people who are interested in your topic.

How to do it: Use social media channels to demonstrate your thinking and build trust with potential readers, but direct everyone to your Substack newsletter. Think of your Substack publication as the “home base” where you own your audience without relying on an algorithm, and can build a deeper relationship with them.

5. Think of your publication like a product, not a diary

Lenny treats his newsletter as a scalable product with clear positioning and a repeatable growth loop. He didn’t just start a blog; he built a clear product with a name, a niche, and a repeating format that people could rely on.

My take: Lenny’s newsletter doesn’t feel random. It’s structured like a product, with a clear promise, predictable format, and a value proposition for his readers. This is an important element to his success.

Structure and predictability are seriously underrated by many Substack creators. Predictability allows readers to feel confident of what they will get each time they open an email from you. It’s this confidence that encourages people to open your emails, click on your posts and stay subscribed.

How to do it: Think of your readers as valued customers, and pay attention to their ‘customer journey’…. How do they ‘meet’ you? How do they get to know you? What encourages them to subscribe? What encourages them to open your emails, click on your posts and go deeper with you?

Make sure you welcome new readers properly, show them how to make the most of their subscription, provide them with context when you appear in their inbox, treat them like valued customers by giving them the kind of content they signed up for and encourage them to spread the word about your writing.

There you have it, 5 tips to get you on the path to 1 million subscribers.

Have a fantastic weekend, see you next week,

Karen

P.S. Want a guided Substack walk-through and personalized tutorial with me? I’ll guide you through your dashboard, help you optimize your settings and get you set up right. Or, if you’re already set up and confident, I’ll give you a backstage tour of my $29K dashboard and strategies for swiping – your choice.

My ultra-popular one-off one-hour strategy sessions re-open next week. To be first in line, send me a DM and I’ll save you a spot.

Today I’ve got a guest post for you, about the craft and art of writing.

If you’ve been with me for a while, you know I never tell you how to write (because most of you are probably better writers than me!)

For me, online writing is nothing more than an attempt at clear communication. My aim: to tell you something helpful and give you simple ideas to execute with clarity.

I put zero thought into the craft of writing.

My guest writer today, , is different. He has put hundreds of hours into understanding the craft of writing online, learning exactly what it takes to become irresistible to readers and building a $60,000 writing business from zero in 18 months.

Today, he shares five techniques that will take your writing to the next level, get you noticed and create raving fans.

Over to you, Derek.

I Spent 6 Months Wondering Why No One Was Reading. Five Writing Moves Later, I Have 12,000 Subscribers.

5 writing decisions that make your writing irresistible

By Derek Hughes

Six months in, I had no readers.

Monday, 6am. I’m at my desk, coffee going cold, publishing another piece no one will read.

So I started studying. I pulled apart every article I couldn’t put down. What made the first sentence impossible to ignore? Why did I keep reading even when I should’ve stopped?

I applied what I found. Awkwardly at first. Then better. Then much better. Twelve months later: 12,000 subscribers. A resignation letter on my boss’s desk.

The writing didn’t change. The craft did.

Most people who quit were never short on ideas. They were short on the skill to make those ideas land. Five craft decisions. Each one costs nothing to apply.

All of them change how your writing lands.

1. Your reader is looking for an exit. Don’t give them one.

Your reader opened your post already looking for a reason to leave.

Most writers build up to their point. They set the scene, add context, ease the reader in. It feels considerate. It isn’t. By the time the real idea arrives, half the readers have gone.

I used to do this. Every post started with context, then background, then finally the thing I actually wanted to say. I thought I was being thorough. I was just making people wait.

Cutting your own words feels wrong. That’s exactly why most writers don’t do it.

The extra sentence explaining why the point matters. The opening paragraph warming things up. The qualifier softening the claim. None of it is helping. It’s making the reader work harder to find what they came for.

Start with the point. Then support it. Not the other way around.

Here’s the difference in real terms.

The Invisible Writer

Getting fit is something a lot of people struggle with. Life gets busy, motivation comes and goes, and it can be hard to know where to start. In this post I want to walk you through some of the things I’ve found helpful on my own fitness journey over the last few years...

The Irresistible Writer

You don’t need more motivation. You need a routine that works when motivation has gone.

When you edit, ask one question: what can I delete and still land the message? If the paragraph opens with context and closes with the insight, try opening with the insight instead. See what happens.

Cut the build-up. The idea was always enough.

2. Abstract writing slides off the brain. Concrete writing sticks.

Here’s what happens when someone reads “financial freedom.”

Nothing.

Most writers reach for abstract language because it sounds like they know what they’re talking about. The brain processes it and moves on. Write “I paid off my last credit card at 11pm on a Tuesday” and something shifts.

You can feel the difference.

The Invisible Writer

Investing consistently over time, making smart decisions, and staying patient will eventually lead to significant financial growth.

The Irresistible Writer

I put $50 into an index fund every month for three years. Last week I checked the balance and didn’t move for a minute.

Go through your last post and find every abstract noun. Ask: what does this actually look like in a real moment? Then write that moment instead.

The reader can’t hold onto a concept. Give them something they can see.

3. The reader gave you one sentence. That’s the audition.

Every section of your post is another chance to lose them.

That’s true at the start of every section inside it. Each time the reader hits a new heading, they make the same decision again. Keep reading or drift away.

A strong opening line doesn’t summarise what’s coming. It creates a reason to find out.

Open with a problem the reader already feels but hasn’t named. Flip something they assumed was true. Drop them into a scene mid-moment, no context, no setup. State something so specific they wonder how you knew.

Every one of those leaves something unresolved. A gap the reader needs to close.

The Invisible Writer

In this section I want to share some productivity tips that have helped me get more done during my working day and that I think could really help you too.

The Irresistible Writer

I got more done last Tuesday than in the entire previous week.

Write the opening line, then ask: does this make someone need the next sentence? If not, rewrite it until it does.

The audition never stops.

4. Nobody reads your writing. They scan it.

Your reader isn’t sitting at a desk with a coffee and an hour to spare.

They’re on a phone, between two other things, giving you thirty seconds to prove it’s worth staying. The way your writing looks on the screen is the first thing they judge. Before the hook. Before the insight. Before any of it.

A wall of text doesn’t just look heavy. It feels like a commitment.

Short paragraphs. One to three lines. Then a break. White space isn’t empty.

It’s the pause that makes the next line land harder.

The Invisible Writer

Making a significant life change in your fifties can feel overwhelming and many people find themselves wondering whether it’s too late to start over, whether the energy they once had is still there, and whether the people around them will understand what they’re trying to do and support them through it, which is why it’s so important to have a plan and a support network in place before you begin.

The Irresistible Writer

She handed in her notice at 54. Her colleagues thought she was having a breakdown. She was having the opposite.

Subheadings work the same way.

I aim for a new one every 150 to 200 words. Not as a label, but as a small hook that catches a scanning reader and pulls them back in. Mix your paragraph sizes too. Short then longer then short again. Same-size paragraphs, however good the content, start to blur.

Give the eye a path and the reader will follow it.

5. The reader doesn’t notice the rhythm. Until it’s wrong.

Your reader doesn’t just read.

They hear the words as they scan them. They feel the rhythm before they process the meaning. When the shape of your writing matches the way the brain expects language to move, the writing locks in.

When it doesn’t, the reader drifts without knowing why.

Some sentences work through balance. Two halves that mirror each other. “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” Martin Luther King, The brain settles into the structure before it registers what was just said.

Some sentences work through repetition at the front. Same opening, new ground each time. Churchill didn’t talk his nation through a war. He drummed it through. “We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields.”

By the third beat, it stops sounding like a sentence and starts sounding like a pulse.

The Invisible Writer

Anxiety is something that affects a lot of people and it can have a significant impact on your daily life.

The Irresistible Writer

It doesn’t shout. It doesn’t announce itself. It doesn’t even argue. It just whispers the same thing on repeat until you mistake it for the truth.

Read your writing out loud. Where you stumble, the reader stumbles. Where it flows, they follow.

Shape is the thing working underneath. Get it wrong and the reader leaves without knowing why.

Get it right and they finish the piece wondering why it felt so easy to read.

Good writing isn’t a gift. It’s a set of decisions.

Every point in this piece comes down to the same thing. The reader’s attention is borrowed, not given. The moment your writing asks too much of them, they’re gone.

The writers who hold attention have learned to read their own work the way a stranger would. From the outside, with no obligation to stay.

Your ideas deserve to be read.

Pick one thing from this piece and apply it to your next post. Just one. See what changes.

And if you want to go deeper.

Derek Hughes went from no online presence to a $60,000 writing business in 18 months. He writes about audience growth, writing craft, and digital products on Substack. Find him at The Irresistible Writer.

Thank you, Derek,

That’s it from Pubstack Success for this week. See you next week,

Karen

I’ve got something from the archives for you today: a post I wrote in 2022. The advice I shared back then is still relevant today.

Enjoy!

3 Things to Learn From One Newsletter

Every publication needs these three things

Karen Cherry | Aug 17, 2022

Today’s issue of The Rubesletter by Matt Ruby (Vooza) is fabulous.

It contains three elements that every publication needs to be successful: great content, a compelling email header and effective CTAs (calls to action). Let’s jump into each in turn.

1. Great content

Matt’s publication has great content. Today’s email is one long original piece that is entertaining, thoughtful and flows beautifully. Matt breaks up the long text with gifs, Tweet previews, and colorful listicles.

And it’s funny

“....lately I feel the same way about Jesus as I do about Beyonce: Love the artist, scared to death of the superfans.” Matt Ruby

After the long original piece, there are 3 more skimmable sections, “Quickies”, “Comedy” and “5-Spotted”.

2. Compelling email header

Matt’s banner and header for free subscribers are a masterclass. They promote his name and brand and they let you know…

• what the email is (a newsletter)

• who the writer is and what he does

• What to expect from your subscription

• Which plan you are on, and an opportunity to sign up for a paid subscription.

3. Effective CTAs (calls to action)

Matt also has some great calls to action (CTAs) in the body of his email, like the one below.

Takeaways

Every successful publication needs great content, compelling email headers and effective calls to action. Take inspiration from the successful creators in your life to tweak and upgrade your Substack publication today.

That’s it from me for this week. See you next time,

P.S. If you found this post helpful, and if you love the fact that my weekly posts have no paywalls, please consider upgrading to say ‘thank you’. Substack is such a generous platform, allowing us all to use it for free for as long as we want before activating paid subscriptions, and I try to emulate their generosity by sharing all my knowledge for free. But I do sincerely appreciate financial support (thank you!)

Subscribe now

I have had an insanely busy week trying to get everything done before going travelling for a month.

Yes, one month of travel 🤭. Unthinkable in my old job. Totally doable now that I have my own business and meaningful revenue from paid subscriptions on Substack.

How exactly did I get everything done this week? Home stuff, business stuff, life admin, family commitments?

Not by procrastinating, that’s for sure.

If you want to learn how to not procrastinate, there are two ways.

Number one is the hard way, the way I learned, by raising two wildly rambunctious kids as a solo parent with zero support from their father, while corporate-careering as the sole breadwinner and stubbornly refusing to give up on the joy of life adventures, watersports and late-night laughing.

Can’t say I recommend that way. Although I wouldn’t change it for all the tea in China.

The second way to learn how to smash procrastination is the easy way, with my friend , Substack bestseller, keynote speaker, Penguin author, triathlete and Chief Executive Mom.

Veronica is a woman who GETS STUFF DONE. She competes in Ironman competitions, has a young family, writes books and has a thriving Substack community.

She’s just published a course built using principles of the science and psychology of procrastination and organised into actionable, short modules with practical exercises.

Each module is designed to give you a mini-daily progress bump, so you can see real wins fast and stay motivated.

Check out her course here.

• It’s 100% actionable, designed to be finished within a week. (You can take longer if you want but best to do it fast: it is, after all, a course about not procrastinating!)

• It includes a unique self-assessment process to identify your tendencies, and

• You will build your own personal Anti-Procrastinator Gym using tools and strategies that fit your style, to create healthy habits that stick over time.

It’s a fabulous program that will get you unstuck, fast.

It costs US$128, and I receive a commission (at no cost to you) if you purchase it using my link:

The Anti-Procrastinator Course: Mental Gym To Get Things Done

Do check it out, and let me know about your favorite quick win from Veronica!

See you soon,

Karen

Whether you’re brand new to Substack or if you’ve been lurking here for a while and are ready to launch your own publication, I’ve got an 8-step system to help you get your first 100 subscribers.

100 subscribers in 8 steps

Step 1

Make a Substack account and publication, and add a logo. Don’t overthink the logo, you can change it any time.

Step 2

Write three posts. It doesn’t matter what they are about; don’t overthink it. You could write about a road trip or a movie you saw recently, or something your kids did. Put words on the page (or video, or photos) and move on.

Step 3

Choose a day and time to send your newsletter each week. A deadline will provide you with the push you need to keep producing. Schedule the content you’ve drafted to be sent out each week for the next three weeks at your chosen time.

Step 4

Launch your newsletter by sending a text to 25 of your family and friends. Send them something simple: tell them you’re starting an email newsletter, tell them you would like them to join up and that it’s free. Give them the name and the link to your publication.

Step 5

Write three more posts. Writing more posts will help you get clarity on what you want to write about, and your newsletter’s topic will gradually reveal itself to you. Schedule the posts for the following weeks.

Step 6

Share your posts on social media by posting the social media assets that Substack generates for you automatically, asking your readers to check out your publication.

Step 7

Ask more people to sign up. In step 4, you asked 25 of your closest contacts to subscribe to your new venture. In this step, widen the net to people in your outer network, such as work colleagues, distant relations, contacts from high school, and LinkedIn connections.

Write each person a personalized note telling them about your publication and why you think they might like it. Include a link and ask them to check it out.

The first ten subscribers are the hardest!

Alternative:

If you don’t want to ask your existing networks, the easiest way to grow is to subscribe to other Substack publications in similar niches and jump into the comments threads with thoughtful responses and unique perspectives. Other commenters will check you out, and some will subscribe. You can do the same by replying to notes.

Step 8

If you haven’t reached 100 subscribers, repeat steps 5 to 7. Treat the process of creating a newsletter as its own reward because it will expand your comfort zone, allow you to connect with new people and improve your writing skills more than you could possibly imagine.

—

That’s it!

Follow those eight steps, and you’ll reach 100 subscribers in no time.

Subscribe now

My best advice is to:

• Use the Substack network by subscribing to other creators and interacting with their posts and notes - don’t waste time making your own notes when you have less than 100 subscribers (this Substack Notes how-to post explains why)

• Publish consistently to build a strong habit. If you ever have to choose between publishing a not-quite-perfect post and nothing, always choose to publish. Your writing will get quicker, easier and more enjoyable the more often you do it, but only if you practice hitting ‘Publish’ on posts that are not perfect.

• Commit to six months of consistent publishing before asking “Is this worth it?”. Most Substack creators quit too early, before they’ve had time to build the momentum that comes with showing up every week.

Want more growth advice (without the BS?)? Check out these other posts from my archive.

• How To Go From 0 to 2,000 Subscribers

• How Often Should You Post on Substack?

• How to Use Substack Notes to Get More Subscribers

• How To Grow in Substack (Without Spamming Notes)

Okay, that’s it from me this week. Have a good one.

And don’t forget, if you found this post useful, please re-stack it to Notes by clicking the circular arrows icon at the top or bottom of the post.

Or upgrade to a paid subscription to say thank you (and get access to my Substack Starter Kit, Substack Canva templates pack and Substack Ideas Analyzer tool).

Karen

Today, a coaching client asked me about using Instagram to get Substack subscribers. Is it a good idea? Does it work? How to do it well without wasting a ton of time?

I’m sharing the answers in this post.

Before I jump in to answer your questions, I’ve gotta be straight with you. I personally do not use Instagram to get Substack subscribers. The knowledge I share in this post has been gained from hours spent forensically dissecting guidance and case studies by writers who are using Instagram successfully, and from talking with Instagram power users.

I’ll start by answering the big question: is Insta actually worth it for Substack creators? Then I’ll explain what works (and what doesn’t) for Substack creators on Insta and I’ll finish up with some tips about how to set up for success.

Let’s jump in.

Does Instagram work for growing a Substack?

Yes, Insta can work for Substack growth. But not for everyone, and not without a thoughtful approach.

Growth on Substack means getting more subscribers - that is, more email addresses in your email list. There are followers on Substack, but true growth on Substack is measured in subscribers, not followers.

So to grow with Instagram, you need to use it to get more Substack subscribers - more email addresses.

You can do that in two ways:

(1) Encourage people on Insta to click the link in your Insta bio or tap a link in your Insta Stories, which takes them to your Substack publication where they can sign up. Or

(2) Earn their trust so gradually, through consistently good content, that they go looking for your newsletter themselves.

So far, so good. But there’s a problem…

The problem with Insta

Getting someone to follow you on Instagram is easy. Getting them to leave Instagram and sign up for something on a completely different platform is hard.

Scrolling on Instagram is a low-commitment action - people scroll there for easy-to-consume, low-effort content, for escapism, for zoning out. On Insta, people are conditioned to keep scrolling, to not take action.

So when you try to get someone on Insta to click through to Substack, it’s a big ask. You’re asking them to switch out of passive scroll mode and make an active decision. You need them to stop scrolling, click a link, land on an unfamiliar platform, understand what it is, and hand over their email address.

That’s huge.

But it can be done. Andy Adams, of FlakPhoto Digest is just one of many Substack creators using Instagram to gain subscribers. He told Substack that he got tens of thousands of views and gained more than 2,300 subscribers from Instagram in one year.

The benefits of Insta

Instagram has a massive existing audience, hundreds of millions of people, including people who would love your writing but have never heard of you. Or of Substack. On Instagram, you can reach people who aren’t using the Substack app or seeing Substack Notes.

The demographic is younger than other social media channels like Facebook, and the culture is more ‘personal’ than sites like LinkedIn.

Instagram is a great place to give people tiny bites of content so they can get a taste of your thinking without having to make a big commitment. A quick scroll, a swipe through a carousel, a 30-second reel… these are easy ‘Yeses’ for a stranger who’s never heard of you.

Instagram will get you and your words in front of strangers - people you can’t meet elsewhere on the internet. Your job is to build the trust and curiosity that will encourage them to click over and join you on Substack.

So is Insta worth it?

Yes, Insta can be a good source of subscribers. But only if you can answer yes to the following questions:

• Is your ideal reader hanging out on Insta?

• Are you willing to ‘niche-down’ on Insta - that is, can you commit to using it strategically as a brand awareness machine instead of a place to share cat photos and describe your family holidays?

• Can you effectively translate your Substack ideas into a visual medium?

• Are you willing to actually promote (‘sell’) to your Instagram followers?

If you answered yes, then Instagram could be a good place to find new readers. But be warned: Insta won’t work if you just use it as a place to drop links to your Substack.

To succeed, you need to treat Instagram as a place to genuinely connect with people, give them a taste of your thinking, and earn their trust first, before offering them a chance to get more from you on Substack.

Subscribe now

How to use Insta for Substack growth without wasting time and energy

In this part of the post, I’ll tell you what to do to successfully use Instagram for Substack growth.

How many Insta followers will you need?

As with all things social media, more is better.

However, the size of your following matters way less than how engaged those followers are. A tight, loyal audience of 500 people who genuinely care about what you write will get you more Substack subscribers than 10K passive followers who followed you for a giveaway two years ago and have forgotten who you are.

The key is building credibility and trust with your audience on Instagram first, before you start trying to send them over to Substack.

So rather than thinking about your follower count, it’s better to ask: are the people already following you actually interested in what you write about? If they are, you’re in a good place to start.

What should you post about?

Post content that’s genuinely useful or interesting to the kind of person who’d want to read your Substack. Not purely promotional posts, but standalone content that is worth something on its own. Think of it as giving people a taste of who you are and how you think about your topic.

When someone sees your Insta post, your aim is for them to think “this person gets it” or “this person gets me”. That’s what builds trust. That’s when people will decide they want more. The subscribe click is the natural endpoint of trust that’s already been built.

However, this doesn’t mean you have to pretend you don’t have a publication. People need to know they can get more from you beyond Instagram. You can also use Insta to:

• Announce new posts you just published on Substack

• Tell followers about the benefits of subscribing

• Share screenshots of great comments on your Substack posts

• Celebrate milestones like publication anniversaries

• Upload Substack shareable assets (the images Substack generates when you publish a new post).

What type of posts work best?

Different post types have different uses on Instagram.

If you’re new to Insta, here’s a short explainer:

Grid posts are Insta posts that live permanently on your Instagram profile page. When someone visits your account, the grid is what they see. Stories are different to grid posts, they do not stay in the grid, but disappear after 24 hours.

A grid post can be:

• A static image - a photo or a graphic with text on it

• A carousel - multiple images (slides) people swipe through, can be photos, but for writers it is often text on a simple background, like a mini article broken into chunks.

• A Reel - a short video, which can be text appearing on a screen over a background with music.

Stories appear in a vertical full-screen format and disappear after 24 hours. They can be static photos, video (up to 60 seconds) or text. They are usually seen only by your existing followers.

Carousels and reels work well for text-based content on Substack. To make a carousel or a reel that contains text, use a design tool like Canva. Keep each slide or screen to one single idea — don’t cram too much in. Use a simple background with large font.

Stories are powerful because they are served up to your biggest fans - the people who already follow you and actively seek you out. Stories also one of the only places on Instagram where you can put a clickable link, making them your best tool for sending people directly to your Substack publication.

Reels are powerful because they are also seen by people who don’t follow you. Instagram shows your Reel to people it thinks will be interested, based on what they’ve watched and engaged with before.

Carousels and reels for building trust

Here’s what a Substack writer in the mental health space could do on Instagram.

• Carousel idea: “5 things nobody tells you about caring for someone with mental illness”, with one point per slide, plain text on a simple background. Honest, a bit raw. The kind of thing where someone reads slide one and thinks oh wow, that’s me and swipes through the whole thing.

• Reel idea: The writer, talking to the camera, no fuss or fancy lighting, just a simple video as they walk or sit in their car. “The thing that broke me this week wasn’t the crisis. It was the Tuesday. The completely ordinary, relentless Tuesday.” There’s no resolution, no tidy ending. Just a true thing. People who relate will stop scrolling.

The aim: to make the right person feel genuinely seen. Not educated. Not inspired. Just like someone else actually feels like they do.

That’s what makes them follow you. And eventually trust you enough to subscribe.

What’s the simplest way to send people from Insta to Substack?

There are two ways to move people from Insta to Substack

(1) Put your Substack link in your bio. That’s the one clickable link on your Instagram profile. Then, in your posts and Reels, you say “link in bio” to send people there.

(2) Put links to your Substack posts in Instagram stories.

How to avoid the ick

Asking people on Instagram to sign up to your newsletter can feel awkward or spammy, but it doesn’t have to.

The key to thinking about promotion is to treat it like an invitation. You’re inviting your followers to get more from you, and offering them a way to learn, grow or go deeper. If you think about it this way, you’re actually doing them a favor!

Don’t ask too often. If every post ends with “sign up to my newsletter,” people tune out fast, and you’ll start feeling like a used car salesman. Aim for a ratio of one newsletter-related post to four posts that don’t mention the newsletter. This way most of your content is genuinely useful or interesting stuff with no agenda attached, which will draw in more followers and help to grow trust.

When you do ask, keep it simple and human. Something like:

“If this resonated with you, I write about this stuff every week — link in bio if you want in.”

The other thing that works is just showing people what they’d get. Share a snippet from a recent piece. If they read it and think I want more of that, they’ll go looking for the link themselves.

How to set up for success

Use a human name, not a brand name, for your Insta account. It’s much easier to build trust and gain followers when you invite people to connect with you as a human, not a faceless company. ‘Sarah Carter Writes’ feels real. ‘MentalHealthHub’ feels like a government website.

Use a picture of your face for your Insta account for the same reason. People follow people, not logos. Avoid blurry photos, group shots where nobody knows which one is you, or a picture of your cat - they’re fine for personal accounts, but confusing for a writing account.

Set up your bio properly. It needs:

• One clear sentence explaining what you write about and who it’s for

• A link to your Substack publication

• A simple call to action, something like “weekly newsletter — link below”

For example: “Writing honestly about life as a mental health carer. Weekly newsletter — link below.”

How often should you post?

The experts seem to agree that 5 to 7 stories per week plus 3 to 5 grid posts (ordinary posts) per week is about right for maintaining a consistent, trusted presence.

Should you do a Substack launch announcement on Insta?

If you already have a following on Instagram, then ABSOLUTELY do a launch announcement! Go ahead and tell your followers about your new project.

For inspiration, check out the examples of launch announcements in this post by On Substack: How Instagram creators are bringing their followers to Substack

If you’re new to Instagram and haven’t started posting regularly there yet, don’t waste your time crafting the perfect launch reel; it’s better to put your energy into Substack instead.

Gain some momentum with your publication before ramping up your Instagram activities. That way, you’ll have something great for people to see when they click your links.

Final thoughts

My hot takes after learning all I can about Insta as a Substack growth lever are:

Instagram is optimised to keep users on the app, so it’s not the easiest place to get new Substack subscribers. However, it can be a good place to give new acquaintances a taste of who you are and what you do. The aim is to build trust and curiosity so they will take the leap over to Substack to get more from you.

If you’re starting from scratch on Insta, Reels are your best shot at being discovered by brand new people. The other formats - carousels, static posts, Stories - are seen mostly by people who already follow you. Reels are how strangers find you.

Be sure to set up your bio properly and post regularly enough that people actually know you exist and can learn about your approach to your topic. A few decent grid posts a week, plus almost daily Stories, is enough to build momentum if the content actually resonates with people.

Don’t rely on ‘link in bio’ alone. People won’t click through to your bio unless you’ve already caught their attention and gained their trust with content that resonates or intrigues.

Think of your Instagram promotional activities as an invitation to go deeper with you: Instagram is where strangers find you, Substack is where they get more.

And finally, if an Insta growth strategy feels like too much, remember you don’t have to do it. Substack should be a place of joy and personal growth, not a hamster wheel of hustle.

It’s more important to build a publication you are proud of and nurture a writing rhythm that works for you than it is to feed the Insta algorithm. Your growth may be a little slower, but at least you won’t burn out and crash before you make it to your tenth week.

Okay, that’s it from me for this week.

If you want more like this, check out my post How to Get More Subscribers Without Social Media, with inspiration from a $1m publication that was built without thousands of followers.

And if you’d like to discuss growth strategies one-to-one with me, a 2x Substack bestseller (including in a niche that is NOT writing about writing), then send me a DM or reply to this email and find out more about my coaching services.

Talk soon!

Hope you’ve had a great week so far.

Today I am delighted to share insights from a successful fiction writer on Substack, , who recently shared what he’s learned about monetizing fiction with readers of his publication . With Simon’s permission, I’m reproducing an extract here.

Simon’s post contains insights for all writers, not just fiction writers. If you’re growing slowly but ready for some hustle-free inspiration you’re going to love it.

Over to you, Simon…

If you’ve been reading my newsletter for a while, you might have noticed that I don’t tend to write about monetisation or making money as a writer. I’ll happily write about anything else, but income isn’t a topic I’ve touched.

There’s a good and simple reason for this: I wasn’t making any money. In writing the non-fiction articles for this publication, I have a rule that so far has kept me on track: I only write about what I know. Hence I have wittered on endlessly about serial fiction, about planning and world building, about characters and themes, about pacing and structure. As the newsletter began to grow, I also started writing about building an audience, sharing what I was discovering in real time.

The internet is full of gurus who are happy to share advice without ever providing evidence of putting it into action themselves. That’s why I serialised Tales from the Triverse for four-and-a-half years, as evidence that I knew what I was talking about. There was a pleasing synchronicity there: if I’d just written an especially action-filled chapter, there was a good chance I’d then write an article about action-heavy chapters. The fiction supported the non-fiction, and vice versa.

Making money, though? C’mon! I write weird science fiction and fantasy. I’m an author in the 21st century — we don’t make money! Doesn’t matter how you publish your work, be it traditional, DIY, online or anything else: fiction ain’t going to make most people rich.

Then, slowly, quietly, begrudgingly, the needle began to move. It’s taken five years, but I do now have a bunch of wonderful paid subscribers. I’ve even had one of those fancy orange checkmarks for a time, which means I’m a ‘Substack Bestseller’ with ‘hundreds of paid subscribers’.

First up, here’s a thing you need to know about that mark: they are very loose with their use of the word ‘hundreds’. Over 100, sure, but in my book you need to have more than 200 for something to count as ‘hundreds’, and that’s not me.

I don’t know if that orange mark is sustainable, or an anomaly that will turn out to be a brief moment in time. Regardless, after five years I do feel like I have some legitimate things to say about (whisper it) making money from your writing.

Products vs Patronage

I started the newsletter in 2021 and had very little idea what I was doing. There was no ‘strategy’ as such, though I was very clear on what I wanted to do. Each week I would send out a new chapter of my fiction serial, accompanied by behind-the-scenes and tutorial articles to help anyone else who wanted to write serial fiction.

When operating a newsletter with an optional paywall, the first question tends to be “when should I turn on paid subscriptions?” I still think the right approach is simply as soon as you want to. It’s up to your readers whether they pay or not, but you may as well give them the option. When you’re comfortable with the concept. But you also have to know what you’re offering.

Here’s a question to ask yourself: are you delivering products, or are you building a community? You can do both, of course, but which way you lean will influence how you handle pricing and payment.

If you’re producing distinct products, such as courses, or specific financial advice, or high quality political insights and so on, then people are likely to think of a subscription as a more traditional transaction. Subscribe > receive products.

On the flipside, if you’re building a community, the equation shifts. It’s less about specific outputs and more about an ongoing experience. It’s a less transactional relationship and the writer-reader connection is more one of patronage. Subscribe > support the writer.

I didn’t know any of this back in 2021, so spent at least a year faffing about trying things that didn’t work. It took me a long while to figure out that I wasn’t selling a product (Tales from the Triverse, my serial) but was instead building a community (of fellow fiction writers, newsletter writers, science fiction readers and viewers).

What worked for me

It took me a long time to get out from under a traditional book sale mentality. I was assuming that I was creating ‘books’, which then had to be ‘sold’ as individual products on a virtual shelf. That’s how fiction has worked for a century or two, after all.

A reality check was required:

1. Nobody had heard of Simon K Jones.

2. There are already vast quantities of very good science fiction and fantasy books, more than anyone could read in a lifetime.

3. An ongoing serial is a risky commitment, being an unfinished ‘product’ by design.

These three inescapable facts make it extremely difficult to sell self-published books, whether in print, ebook or newsletter form.

Anything I tried which required an up-front payment meant erecting a huge barrier between me and potential readers. A new reader had no reason to trust me to deliver, and had no idea if my stories were worth reading. A paywall of any sort gave readers a very good reason to go read something else, and — as noted — there’s no shortage of excellent genre books.

“Do I pay to read this random bloke’s online serial, or do I buy a book by [insert highly respected genre writer]?” is not a question I wanted potential readers to be asking.

Eventually I flipped the newsletter on its head and made everything free to read, non-fiction and fiction alike. It all clicked into place and made sense:

• Anyone could sample my writing to decide if they wanted to subscribe, without any barriers

• Promoting the ongoing serial became much easier, as each new chapter could be its own mini book launch, without awkward caveats and disclaimers

• Word-of-mouth was possible, without enthusiastic readers worrying about whether others could read what they were sharing

Subscriptions grew slowly but steadily and, to my surprise, so did paid subscriptions — albeit at a vastly slower rate. That people were upgrading to paid subscriptions without receiving anything specific in return was startling, and was when I realised that I was operating a patronage model rather than a product model.

You can see in this chart of paid subscribers the very slow start, then steady-ish growth interrupted regularly by dips and general flailing, then a long, flat period, and a recent uptick. Looking at short periods, it’s all fairly chaotic. Over a longer timeline, the trend is more stable.

The short version being: nobody was interested in paying to buy a book from an unknown rando writer on the internet, but some readers were very willing to support the writer.

Getting to that point requires a long-term writer-reader relationship. I’ve had people who read the free newsletter for six months or a year before upgrading to a paid sub. I’ve done the same myself with other writers I enjoy.

It’s a highly inefficient business model, clearly! In the 21st century hustle culture of rapid growth and being in a perpetual hurry it feels anachronistic, even. This newsletter was a quiet little thing for the first two years. I see people start newsletters and abandon them after a month, lamenting that they haven’t hit the big time, and that primarily demonstrates a misunderstanding of the medium.

Write More with Simon K Jones

How to (very, very slowly) cultivate a fiction newsletter: part 1

Writing fiction is hard. Finding readers is even harder. Achieving success, regardless of how you personally measure it, is near impossible…

Read more

2 years ago · 159 likes · 48 comments · Simon K Jones

But here’s the thing: I love writing and would continue to write regardless of how many people are reading. What I do is long-term by definition. Having a slow ‘funnel’ isn’t really a problem. The trick was to get out of my own way, and let the writing speak for itself, and give it time to breathe.

What didn’t work

Along the way, I tried various setups and none felt quite right. To quickly summarise:

• Free opening chapters, then paywalled: this can work once you’re an established name, but is tricky if you’re starting out. More problematic is that by paywalling later chapters, you kill any chance of ongoing promotion, because potential new readers can never read the latest chapter that you’re promoting. There’s no way of building momentum.

• Early access: again, this only works if people are already really eager to read your stuff. If you’re an established author with a strong fanbase, this could work. Otherwise, people are just going to wait, and it again introduces an awkwardness into announcing new chapters.

• Bonus material paywall: putting behind-the-scenes stuff behind the paywall sounds like a great idea, as it keeps the main story fully accessible while giving something to the more enthusiastic fans. If you’re just starting out, though, you might not yet have fans willing to dive deeper, so it ends up being wasted effort.

• Paywalled audio: I thought this was a clever idea, keeping the author voiceovers exclusive to paying subscribers. A bonus audiobook! The problem, as somebody pointed out, is that audio is an excellent accessibility feature and locking it away behind a paywall is an accidentally crappy thing to do. And while it can be a neat perk, it also functions as a useful promotional tool for finding new readers — but only if it’s actually available to new readers/listeners.

• Paywalled comments: this only really works, I think, if you write especially controversial topics. It’s effective for non-fiction which raises tricky topics, or anything that encourages partisan and tribal posturing. If people want to weigh in with their opinion, or their outrage, they may well pay for the privilege. It makes far less sense for fiction.

• ‘Buy me a coffee’: alternative micro-payment patronage such as kofi.com sounds like a simpler, less expensive way for readers to provide support that doesn’t involve committing to a subscription. The challenge, as always, is that the moment you try to move people off-platform it introduces a ton of friction. It works great for some people, I’m sure, but it’s a big ask.

To be clear, I’m not saying any of this is universal truth. What didn’t work for me has worked for others, and might work for you. Give it a try!

What I’m doing now

I’ve slightly tweaked my particular setup since completing the serial run of Tales from the Triverse. Having had everything entirely free for five years, I’m now trialling this setup:

1. Almost everything is free when I send it out. Everyone who is subscribed therefore gets everything. I don’t want anyone to miss out on new stuff I’m writing, for two reasons:

   1. The selfish one: It’s better for me to have more readers, duh.

   2. The altruistic one: I like to think that some of my posts are useful, and I don’t want to lock them away from subscribers. Especially as some will be new or young writers, and we all know that writing isn’t exactly a lucrative profession.

2. After 6 months, posts slip behind the paywall. This means that the back catalogue becomes increasingly valuable, and makes a ‘paid subscription’ more meaningful. Some notes:

   1. This only really works because I now have 5 years of material in that back catalogue. It’s a lot of stuff!

   2. That back catalogue functions as a decent incentive to grab a paid sub, but the cut-off is designed to be quite generous. Anything from the last 6 months is free, so there’s plenty to read without having to pay.

   3. Bursary places are available, no questions asked. If someone can’t afford a paid sub and would find that back catalogue useful, all they have to do is drop me a message. See point 1.b, above, for more details on why that’s important.

It’s early days, but so far it seems to be working out for everyone. As noted earlier, it’s only really possible because I’ve been doing this long enough to a) have a back catalogue and b) be able to have a generous paywall archive date. If I’d only been writing the newsletter for a month, it wouldn’t work.

Perverse incentives and greed

There’s an inherent tension between art and money. An artist needs income to survive while making their art, but they don’t want money to become a distraction. They want as many people as possible to enjoy their art, but also want it to be valued — giving everything away for free risks undermining not only their work but everyone else’s work too.

It’s an ongoing conundrum.

Without wanting to invoke the world’s tiniest sad violin, writing is a simpler exercise when money is not a factor. It requires the artist to be sustainable via other means, but the writing itself can remain pure when money isn’t in the picture.

I can see in my analytics which posts brought in the most subscribers, free or paid. If I were running a business, I would use that data to double-down on the Best Performing Content. I’m not running a business, though — I’m trying to tell stories. If I pumped out more video content about How To Use Substack, I have no doubt that I could accelerate the growth of the newsletter: there’s an insatiable demand for that stuff.

Don’t mistake what I’m saying here: I enjoy making video tutorials and writing helpful guides for writers. I’ve been doing that sort of thing professionally since the early 2000s. But that way also lies mission drift, and a future in which I never quite find time to write any fiction, because the data tells me that fiction doesn’t make money.

The key is to remember the point of all this. I didn’t start a newsletter to make money. That should always remain as a bonus side effect of the main work. This won’t be the case for everyone, and you may well have started a publication specifically to build a brand and boost your income. No problem, as long as that was your intent from the start.

To wrap up this guest post, then:

1. Be clear on why you’re doing this in the first place, and don’t lose sight of that motivation

2. Interrogate your model and what makes sense for you and your audience

3. Experiment, try different things, because you might not hit on the right setup straight out of the gate

4. This is a long game: don’t expect success in a month or 6 months. If you’re not excited by the prospect of writing a newsletter three years from now, it might not be the right thing for you to be doing.

Thank you, Simon for sharing your experiences and expertise.

If you’ve got a question for Simon, drop it in the comments of his original post: Payment models for newsletter fiction writers | Simon K Jones. And don’t forget to check out his fiction too.

Comment on Simon's Post

See ya next week,

Karen

I’m writing to you in case you missed the new features that have recently been added to Substack.

There are five new features and two of them are definitely worth paying attention to.

New Substack features are sometimes more overwhelm-inducing than useful, but this latest batch is pretty darned good. One in particular is going to save me at least an hour a week - love it!

The new features are:

1. templates

2. drop caps

3. live video settings

4. notes scheduling

5. callout blocks

By far my favorite is the template feature. It’s way more useful than I thought it would be.

Here’s my breakdown of each feature plus links to learn more.

1. Templates

What it is:

This is NOT a feature that allows you to make a template of a whole post. That’s already possible using the “Duplicate” option in your draft post list.

Instead, this new feature allows you to create and save custom paragraphs and buttons to add to your posts automatically. No more copy-pasting!

Templates can include chunks of text, custom buttons, buttons with captions, dividers, quote-formatted text and more.

I’ve used the template feature to make a bunch of different ‘subscribe with caption’ buttons with different messaging, plus some ‘share’ CTAs and some ‘P.S.’ notes for the end of each email.

In my other publication, I’ve saved all the elements that appear regularly, from in-post context to shoutouts to paying subscribers to instructions for how to find directories and more. I can now add them at the touch of a button any time I want.

Here’s a screencap of the template feature in action.

Who is it for?

Everyone! (I absolutely love it!)

Where to learn more:

Get complete instructions for using templates here: How can I add a template into my Substack post?

2. Drop caps

What it is:

A feature that allows you to have a fancy-looking large letter in the opening line of each post.

What it doesn’t do:

The drop cap is only visible to people reading on a web browser - you won’t see it in the app or in your email inbox.

The color of the drop cap is the same as your button color, you can’t choose a different color.

The drop cap only affects the first letter of each post, you can’t apply it to other paragraphs.

How to use it:

The drop cap is a universal setting that you apply to your whole publication, in ‘Website Editor’ settings. Full instructions here: How do I add a drop cap to my Substack post?

Subscribe now

3. Live video settings

What it is:

Substack has introduced more sophisticated settings for creators who use Substack Live for video sessions.

The new features make it easier to schedule sessions, edit scheduling and use connected streaming platforms. In addition, people with more than one publication can now host lives from their secondary publications as well as their primary publications.

Who is it for:

These new settings are most useful for creators using Live in advanced ways, and those working with assistants. Low-tech and solo creators won’t notice any changes.

Where to learn more:

Learn more about advanced settings for Live here: How do I go live on Substack using my computer?

4. Notes scheduling

What it is:

Substack now has a built-in scheduling feature for Notes. This allows you to choose the time and day a note will be published.

Who is it for:

Anyone who uses Notes can benefit from this feature.

It’s especially great for people like me who are asleep on the other side of the world while most of you are reading Notes.

How to do it:

To schedule a note, first start making a note in the usual way. When you’re happy with it, click the calendar icon from within the note drafting window. You can then choose a day and time for it to be published. Finish by clicking ‘Schedule’.

To see all your scheduled notes, click the word ‘Drafts’ in the same window.

Where to learn more:

New to Notes? Learn how to leverage it to grow, even with a tiny subscriber list here:

How to use Substack Notes by Karen Cherry

5. Callout blocks

What it is:

Callout blocks are the newest addition to the post formatting menu.

Use this new feature to make a block of text appear highlighted, with a coloured background.

Who is it for:

Callout blocks are for anyone who wants to introduce visual interest to their posts. Use them to draw readers’ attention to a key idea, a quote, or a promotion.

How to use it:

To add a callout block to a post, select a paragraph of text, then click the ‘quote’ icon on the formatting toolbar, then select ‘callout block’ from the dropdown list that appears.

Use it to add visual interest to a post and highlight important information.

Okay that’s it from me this week. Have a great weekend.

Karen

P.S. Want personalised, expert advice for your exact situation? Book a call with me for 60 minutes of my undivided attention and get a bestselling strategy that’s right for you and your audience. Book a call.

If I had a dollar for every piece of advice that works for ‘Substack experts’ and doesn’t work for ordinary people, I’d be hanging out in the Bahamas right now…

Spoiler alert: If you want to launch a paid offer on Substack, ‘Community’ is not the answer. 100% paid posts are not the answer. Cliff-hanger paywalls in stories are not the answer. Subscriber-only chats are not the answer. At least not for most people. I’ll explain shortly.

But first… a quick word from my sponsor (me):

Why most Substack advice about paid offers is wrong

Most people who are giving advice about monetizing Substack have seen success by writing about Substack on Substack. And many of these people started with an existing audience that they’ve brought from Medium, LinkedIn or ConvertKit (‘Kit’).

Not me. I’ve built my other publication from zero in a weird niche that is not writing about writing. And what works there is not the same as what works here. I’ve learned the hard way that the advice provided by many Substack gurus is not quite right for publishers who aren’t writing for online creators.

Those other creators who think they’ve cracked the system, and found the golden key?

They have. They have found a perfect system and a golden key. For them. For their niche. For their audience.

Those gurus? They are in exactly the right place (Substack) at exactly the right time (Substack going mainstream).

Almost anything they do on Substack will make money.

The result? They think their “System” will work perfectly for you because it works perfectly for them.

Not that they aren’t working hard, and building (frankly) fantastic publications and communities, just that their natural advantages give them a weird bias when they try to teach what’s working for them.

Subscribe now

What to do if you’re not writing about writing on Substack

My other newsletter is not about writing. It’s about food safety. It’s ultra niche. It doesn’t have a natural audience already hanging out in Substack. There’s no magic Substack discoverability for it.

It’s hard to grow. It’s hard to monetize.

And yet my paid subscriber numbers grew by 17% last year. My conversion rate is high. My retention rate is phenomenal. Without viral moments. Without shortcuts. Just consistent effort.

Here’s my advice for creators who are NOT writing about writing on Substack:

• Be aware that some audiences are harder to monetize than others. My Substack Idea Analyser interactive tool will tell you if you are on to a winner or not.

• Be wary of advice about monetizing “community”. To do this successfully, you’ll need either a very big subscriber list or a very special type of audience and niche.

• Paywalling all your ordinary posts is a one-way trip to disappointment unless you have extraordinarily compelling content that people absolutely can’t get anywhere else, like local news publications (Simon Owens shares a great example of that here).

• ‘Gratitude’ offers (“Everything here is free to read, but if you love this newsletter, please consider becoming a paid subscriber to support my work”) can work. But only a little. (Here’s an example).

• ‘Buy me a coffee’ buttons and tip jars are appealing to creators who feel overwhelmed by the idea of a paid newsletter, but Substack doesn’t have a built-in ‘Buy me a coffee’ button for a reason….

• Substack’s management knows tip jars are not a sustainable way for writers to be compensated for their work, so they don’t encourage writers to use them. If you really want to use a tip jar, think of it as nice-to-get pocket money, but don’t expect it to be a reliable source of income (Here’s how).

• The most effective way to achieve sustainable, reliable revenue with paid subscriptions is to paywall posts that are different from your ordinary posts or add special bonus content below a paywall. More about this below.

The most effective model: Different content behind the paywall

What I’m about to tell you might make you sob, ‘Ugh, this feels so transactional, so icky’. And you’d be right - about the transactional part, at least.

If you want to make money, people need to give you money. That’s a transaction. That’s transactional. That’s selling (arp!). If that’s not you, no worries, tune out now. But if you are interested in learning how to have successful transactions and what works best for most creators, read on…

Earlier in this article, I told you that your paid content should be different to your free content, that the content you put behind a paywall should be different.

It doesn’t mean paywalling your very best posts - why on earth would you hide those behind a paywall where hardly anyone will see them?!

It means reserving something special for your paying subscribers.

For example, if your publication is about fishing and your ordinary posts are stories about your favourite adventures or locations...

• Standard advice would be: “Send three free posts per month to everyone and one post per month to paying subscribers.” Nope, don’t do that!

It’s much better to do something different for your paywalled content. For example, keep all your stories about adventures free for everyone, and do something special and different for paying subscribers. Such as:

• Three free posts per month for everyone and one paid post per month that is a detailed guide to a specific fishing spot or technique, or

• Adding a paywall towards the bottom of every post with a step-by-step guide to a specific technique or fish species. Your stories stay free and accessible to everyone. The paid content lives underneath.

What you’re doing with this technique is showing everyone who you are, what you know, and why they should trust you.

Only after you’ve built that trust can you convert free subscribers to paid.

Your free content builds trust. Your paywall gives your readers an opportunity to access something special: your specific insights and expertise.

Think of a paywall as an invitation to something more.

Subscribe now

5 ways to do this (with examples)

I’ve just told you to paywall content that is different to your free content. Here are 5 types of content that can be successfully paywalled:

1. Curated information

Curated information saves people the time and effort they would spend filtering out all the free information on the web. It’s something people will pay for. More importantly, in the age of mass ChatGPT use, curated information is valuable to readers who trust your taste, instincts or expertise more than they trust the AIs.

Who does this well: Paris by Mouth, with free posts about individual restaurants (to create trust) and a paywalled curated list of places to eat while in Paris, which saves people time.

2. Standalone items

Special items that people can (figuratively) hold in their hands work very well for paid content. Think checklists, reports, guidance documents, templates. Popular options are investor reports, recipes and downloadable AI prompts.

Who does this well: The Bear Cave, with special reports for paying subscribers, like The Best Stock Research Tools for 2026

3. Live teaching moments

Live teaching moments are easy to monetize for publications that help people with health, wealth and relationships. Free posts showcase the writer’s personality, experience and ‘vibe’. Paid teaching moments, delivered using Substack Live or an online learning platform, show readers the exact ‘how’ of solving a problem.

Who does this well: The Play List, with live training sessions for teachers.

4. ‘Challenges’ and work-together sessions

Challenges and work-together sessions are focused on a single specific outcome, such as building ab strength or painting a still life from scratch. The benefit over ordinary ‘community’ is that readers can sign up to achieve one goal, which is more compelling than signing up to read endless threads week after week.

Who does this well: Wendy MacNaughton of DrawTogether with WendyMac with her 30 Days of Drawing Practice.

5. Subscriber-only AMAs (‘Ask me anything’s)

Paid AMAs are dedicated sessions or spaces where paid members can ask you anything. The free content provides generic advice but paid subscribers can get advice that is specific to their needs.

AMAs don’t have to be delivered with live video; they can be prerecorded or text-based.

Who does this well: Amanda Nelson of Amanda’s Mild Takes, such as in this Paid Subscriber AMA.

Subscribe now

Final thoughts

If your paid subscriber count is lower than you want, don’t let the gurus get you down. What works for them won’t work for everyone. And that’s okay.

Instead of trying to follow cookie-cutter advice, revisit your goals (more impact or more money? - or both!) and find a way to help your readers by offering them something they will value and appreciate.

You don’t have to teach subscribers a skill or run a live session. The ‘help’ you deliver can be as simple as giving your readers a mood boost (“I feel uplifted after reading that fabulous essay”).

But if you really want to increase your revenue, I recommend you offer them access to something different from your ordinary posts.

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That’s it from me for this week. I bet you’ve got a ton of questions! See you in the comments.

Karen

P.S. Want specific advice about what to offer, customised for your unique personal style and niche? Jump on a call with me ($249), I have 3 slots left for March.

If you’ve been thinking about launching a course to share your knowledge and make some side income, it’s time to stop thinking and start doing.

Surprising fact: You don’t need a big audience or major tech skills to get great results!

An online course is a fantastic way to help your readers get their problems solved - think of a course as a shortcut for readers who don’t want to spend their time reading your posts and are looking for a quick fix (and are willing to pay for it!)

With a course, you can help those people more effectively by solving their problems fast.

Curious? Free training is happening this Wednesday.

Update: the training has passed, but you can learn more about a paid training hosted by Sinem here: Build Your Profitable Mini-Course In Less Than 14 Days

You’ll learn how to create, market and earn from mini-courses in 2026, even with no audience, no experience, and no tech skills.

It’s being delivered by my friend from Write • Build • Scale, who is a huge fan of mini-courses, because they are fast to build and validate and profitable to run. Sinem has made more than $1m from online courses, so when she shares her knowledge, it’s worth listening.

Interested? Find out more by clicking the button below.

The Easiest Way To Create A Course

Enjoy the training, see you next week!

Karen

P.S. I made $80K from my first online course (in the food safety niche). The income it brought completely changed my life and gave me the opportunity to escape the corporate world and go all-in on my online business. Just sayin’…. 😉

Cover image: Freepik

If you’ve ever looked at someone’s Substack homepage and asked, “How did they get that ‘Subscribe’ banner thingy?”, wonder no more. In this post I tell you how.

What is a ‘Subscribe block’?

A subscribe CTA (call to action) is a page-width block that appears on a publication homepage. Substack calls these ‘Subscribe blocks’.

They aren’t present by default; they must be added manually by the publication owner.

The cool thing about subscribe blocks is that different people see different messages on your homepage, depending on whether they are non-subscribers, free subscribers or paid.

You create custom messages for each type of reader when you add a subscribe block to your homepage.

How to add a subscribe block to your Substack homepage

Step 1 Get your bearings

If you’re new to Substack, there are a few gotchas when it comes to homepages.

• Publication homepages are different to personal profile pages (you’ll see a publication name, not a person’s name at the top).

• Publication homepages are only visible on desktop, not on mobile or on the Substack app.

• Publication homepages must be activated for new creators by selecting ‘Custom theme’ in settings. This post shows you exactly how.

Step 2 Go to Website editor

You can get to Substack’s website editor two ways:

• In your publication dashboard, scroll down the menu on the left to ‘Creator tools’ (it’s below ‘Audience’) and click ‘Website editor’; or

• In your publication settings, scroll to ‘Website’, then click ‘Go to website theme editor’

Both paths will take you to the website editing page.

Publication dashboard > Creator Tools > Website editor

or

Publication dashboard > Settings > Website > ‘Go to website theme editor’ [button]

Reminder: Make sure you have ‘Custom theme’ (not ‘Match profile’) active

Step 3 Activate ‘Custom Body Layout

On the Website editor page, find ‘Layout’ on the right, under colors and typography (you may need to scroll).

Toggle on ‘Use custom body layout’.

Step 4 Insert a new block on your homepage

From the Website editor page, find ‘Posts & modules’ in the left-hand menu and click to open.

Then find the three-dot menu next to the title Post & modules, on the right. Click the three-dot menu and select ‘Insert block below’ (or ‘Insert block above’).

Step 5 Select ‘Subscribe block’

After selecting ‘Insert block below/above’ from the three-dot menu, you’ll be given the option to add a ‘Subscribe block’. Click that option.

Step 6 Create the subscribe CTAs

After clicking [add] Subscribe block you will be prompted to create messages for different homepage visitors, including non-subscribers, free subscribers, and (if you have payments activated), paid subscribers.

You can create custom messages for each type of person, or just use the same message for all.

When you’re done click ‘Save’ and go to your website to check out your handywork.

👉 Top tip: You can add multiple ‘Posts & modules’ blocks and multiple subscribe blocks to your homepage - you can even use a different set of messages for each.

Final thoughts

• Subscribe CTAs are easy to add to your Substack homepage, once you know how.

• Choose a message that’s compelling and unique, so you can stand out from the crowd.

• If your homepage doesn’t look right, follow the instructions here to activate the custom theme setting for your publication.

—

That’s it from me for this week,

Have a good one!

P.S. I just finished writing a plain language guide to homepage customizations for Substack. It will be available to paying subscribers as part of my next template pack launch. Upgrade now to lock in the current price of $30 forever.

Hey Substacker! Hope you’re doing well.

Today’s post is a lil bit embarrassing because it shows how my inner rebel succeeded in hijacking my business for literally years.

Because it shows I was just too stubborn to do the work that needed to be done. Because I didn’t feel like it.

Because when you have your own business, you can do whatever you feel like, right? Right?????

How I got here

I’m a girl who likes to get things done.

I’m not one to poke around in the data for hours on end, trying to figure out arcane internet-y stuff like ranking 45 traffic sources or viewing the stats for every step of a funnel.

But I’m smart enough to know you have to pay attention sometimes - pop your head above the surface, take a good look around and notice if storm clouds are gathering on the horizon.

And in 2024, I took a look at the dashboard of my food safety publication and noticed a lovely new tilt on my Substack revenue chart: faster growth in paid subscriptions. Thousands of extra dollars in my bank account month after month, without doing more work: beautiful.

I thought this was my new normal.

I was wrong.

What the stats said

Six months later, when conversions stalled, I revisited that sweet spot on the chart and tried to figure out why more people were converting to paid subscriptions during those blissful months of triple-figure growth.

There was no obvious reason. Annoying. No extra offers, no major blip in free sign-ups, no new benefits for paying subscribers…. maybe a couple of little things here and there, but no one big magical reason that I could replicate.

Except…. except. There was one thing happening at that time. And it had nothing to do with Substack.

I was posting daily on LinkedIn.

Could that have something to do with it? Surely not. I wasn’t overtly promoting my newsletter. I didn’t have a Premium account, so there was no “View My Newsletter” button on my profile.

I wasn’t doing anything particularly special on LinkedIn. Except showing up every day.

Subscribe now

What I did next

I had discovered that my best revenue growth coincided with one of those rare periods that I could be bothered to post on LinkedIn daily.

I couldn’t figure out how that daily posting could have increased my paid subscribers, since free subscriber growth had remained steady. In fact I couldn’t be sure it had anything whatsoever to do with the growth.

It was probably all just a coincidence, I told myself.

So I did nothing. For more than a year.

Not nothing, exactly: I was still doing all the usual work: creating top-quality posts for my food safety publication every week, crafting special supplements for paying subscribers, occasionally poking around on LinkedIn if I could stomach it. But nothing different.

And - surprise, surprise - nothing changed.

Lightbulb moment

I still have no idea why the months that I post daily on LinkedIn are higher revenue with more new paying subscribers.

Maybe it’s a top-of-mind thing for certain readers who see me on LinkedIn a lot and are more inclined to upgrade. Maybe it’s because I find interesting stories on LinkedIn, and what I write about subtly changes without me realising it. Maybe it’s something to do with my energy when I commit to posting daily.

But these days I don’t care. And I no longer use the fact that I don’t know as an excuse not to do the work.

Towards the end of last year, I had a lightbulb moment:

I don’t need to know why it works. Just that it does work.

The ‘Must Do’ list was born

I made a commitment to post daily on LinkedIn for my food safety audience and post daily on Substack Notes for you guys here at Pubstack Success.

That’s my ‘Must Do’ list for every day: Two tasks. Two check boxes. One powerful result.

Does it work?

Yes. Can you guess when I started posting on Notes daily?

Do I know why it works?

I do not.

Powerful (and Painful)

My ‘Must Do’ list is powerful: Paid subscriber growth has really picked up in both of my publications since I started checking off my ‘Must Do’ list daily.

It’s also painful. I still don’t know how it works, since my rate of free subscriber growth has stayed constant. It could all just be an illusion, a coincidence: my revenue growth could be completely unrelated to my ‘Must Do’ list. That’s annoying.

Even more painful is that I didn’t do it sooner. Because I was too busy being a rebel.

Because I wanted to “work on my own terms”.

Because I wanted to do social media “when I feel like it”.

Because my inner rebel insisted I shouldn’t follow the gurus who insist that constant hustle is a requirement for success.

I’ve learned my lesson. Showing up daily does make a difference. Even if it’s just by signalling to the algorithm that you’re making an effort, that your words are worthy of being distributed, that you give a damn about their dumb platform.

If that makes a difference to my business’s bottom line, I’m up for it. Rebel be damned.

—

Karen

P.S. Want to ‘pick my brains’ about LinkedIn strategies that increase your impressions, grow your (LinkedIn) follower count and complement a professional expertise Substack? Jump on a one-hour call with me.

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