Does More Notes Get You More Subscribers on Substack?

Maybe, but...

Hey online writer,

Hope you’re doing well in magic week - gosh I love the week between Christmas and New Year when no activities are scheduled and there are no deadlines!

I got a message from a new Substack friend today (making online friends is one of my favorite things about this platform). He’s done an amazing thing and analysed data from 1.3 million notes.

And he’s discovered some interesting insights. More on those in a moment.

But first, the burning question that’s been bugging me and many other creators:

What’s the optimal schedule for posting notes?

Until today I would have said “Don’t overthink it. Post a note¹ when you have something good to say and don’t add another burn-out-inducing task to your Substack to-do list by trying to do it at a set frequency.”

So what’s changed?

Everything. And nothing.

Everything because, thanks to my friend

Finn Tropy

, we now have a lot more information about the relationship between notes and bestseller status.

Nothing, because… well it’s complicated.

Reminder: a bestseller is a publication with more than 100 paying subscribers. There are various levels of bestsellers, right up to 10,000 paying subscribers.

What does the data say?

Finn created a detailed post that explains what he found when he explored the number of times bestsellers posted a note in one month. There’s a link to Finn’s post below. He discovered that…

• Creators with large numbers of paying subscribers post more notes each month than creators with fewer paying subscribers.

• When he (Finn) started posting more notes his subscriber numbers increased more quickly than before.

What I love about Finn’s analyses is that they focus on stuff that is actually important: numbers of subscribers and numbers of paying subscribers. Usually, people who bang on about Notes talk about collecting followers, likes and engagement (yawn). Or going viral (double yawn).

Followers: meh

Followers, likes and engagement are a nice-to-have but they don’t necessarily lead to growth in subscribers or revenue. Among all the things we need to focus on to achieve success in Substack, followers are just not that important.

Followers are nothing more than people who want to see your notes in their feed. Many of them are not interested in your long-form posts, and most will never become subscribers.

Nothing’s changed

It’s great that we now have more information about the relationship between notes and subscriber numbers. There definitely seems to be a solid correlation between how many notes a creator posts and the number of paying subscribers they have.

But correlation isn’t causation.

Again, from my inner scientist: correlation isn’t causation. By that I mean the data does not show us that posting more often creates better outcomes. The data just shows that more frequent posting is done by people with more paying subscribers.

Finn’s own subscriber numbers increased when he started posting notes more often. But other things might have caused his subscriber numbers to increase too. For example, I didn’t ‘meet’ Finn by seeing his notes, but through other people’s notes about his Notes Scheduling Tool (yes the tool is awesome, yes you should get it, yes I do receive a small commission if you buy it using this link).

I also started sharing information about him and his publication among my network at about the same time, which might have had more impact on subscriber numbers than his notes. Who knows? Point is, we can’t tell.

What’s the answer?

Does Notes help to grow subscriber numbers? Probably, if you do it right (here’s how).

For me, Notes seems to have had an impact on my subscriber numbers, but not in the way you might think.

My rate of growth took off after Notes was introduced. But I almost never posted any notes myself, posting maybe 2 times per month until recently. So the growth came from other people sharing my work on Notes, not from me.

The introduction of Notes in April 2023 changed the rate of growth of my free publication, even though I almost never used Notes myself.

Does Notes help creators get more paying subscribers? Probably, the data doesn’t say.

Finn’s analysis shows that bestsellers in the top tiers post to Notes more often than other bestsellers. Creators in the top tier posted, on average, 32 notes in the month of November 2024, around one note per day. Creators in lower tiers (fewer paying subscribers) posted around 20 notes per month, less than one per day.

However, the analysis doesn’t say whether Notes is the reason the top bestsellers are doing better. Perhaps bestsellers with 10,000 paying subscribers just have more free time to spend dick%#g about on Notes than the rest of us?

One thing I do know for sure though, is that if you want more paying subscribers you must (must, MUST) get more free subscribers. It follows that if using Notes is a good way to get more free subscribers, it is also a good way to increase your paying subscribers.

The optimal schedule for Notes is…… (drumroll please)

How often, then, should you post on Notes?

I stand by my long-held belief that creators with small audiences do better on Notes when they engage with other creators’ content, rather than posting their own (my Notes tutorial explains why, and how).

I also stand firm on my advice to only add Notes to your to-do list if you can do so without risking the quality and consistency of your long-form posts. The quality and consistency of the posts you send (email) to subscribers are way more important to the long-term health of your publication than the number of notes you post.

Finally, don’t lose sight of the need to keep your Substack-related activities fun and manageable, so they don’t become a drain on your life. Otherwise, what’s the point?

With all that in mind, if you like using Notes, and you can do it often without risking burnout and overwhelm, it does seem like using Notes every day will help your publication to grow and thrive.

___

Huge thanks to Finn for all his work on the data!

How Often Should You Publish Notes to Grow Your Paid Subscribers? | Finn Tropy | Finn’sights

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

Karen

P.S. Are you keen to join a close-knit group of Substack writers who are ready to power-up their publications in 2025? Reply to this email with “Tell me more” and I’ll give you the low-down.

1. Grammar pedants, the capitalizations in this post are going to drive you round the bend. I refer to individual notes in lower case and the name of the software (Notes) in uppercase.

Cover image: Freepik.com