How to Get More Subscribers with Substack Recommendations
If you're not using recommendations you're missing a major growth lever
Hi, Karen here!
Recommendations are a top Substack superpower and one of the main reasons that Substack absolutely wipes the floor with other newsletter software platforms like MailChimp or ConvertKit.
In this post, I explain Substack’s recommendations features and how to use them to get more subscribers.
Contents
What are Substack recommendations?
The recommendations feature allows publication owners to publicly recommend each other’s work. Recommendations from other writers give your publication authority and expose your work to many more people.
Some creators report getting more than one-quarter of their subscribers from recommendations.
Recommendations are particularly powerful if your ideal reader is already hanging out on Substack and reading other publications. If that’s you, then recommendations are probably the single biggest thing you can do to super-charge your growth.
Recommendations might be the single biggest thing you can do to super-charge your growth
The key to unlocking the power of recommendations is to create real connections with other creators. The most powerful recommendations come from creators who have a similar audience demographic to your publication but many more subscribers.
Incoming recommendations
Incoming recommendations are made by other Substack publications that recommend your publication. They appear in two places: opt-in workflows and Welcome pages.
Opt-ins: When a new reader subscribes to the other publication, they are given a chance to also subscribe to yours.
Welcome pages: Recommendations are published on welcome pages and are a powerful form of social proof, helping to convert casual readers into paying subscribers.
Outgoing recommendations
Outgoing recommendations are the recommendations you make about other publications.
When you recommend a publication, you can do so with or without adding a ‘blurb’. A blurb, also called ‘recommendation text’, is a short explanation of why you like the publication.
Why use recommendations?
Recommendations are a way to ‘pay it forward’ and build supportive relationships with other creators on Substack. Creators you have recommended are more likely to recommend you and this could be the start of more collaboration.
Publications that have smaller subscriber numbers than you will particularly appreciate a recommendation. And who knows, maybe one day they will become huge and send thousands of readers your way.
If you receive recommendations from other publications, you’ll get more subscribers automatically through the opt-in process when people subscribe to the other publications. Pubstack Success has received more than 2,000 subscribers this way.
If you can encourage other creators to write a blurb when they recommend your publication you’ll be able to put it on your Welcome page, providing instant social proof and increasing the sign-up rate on this page.
How to use recommendations
The best way to use recommendations is to first recommend other publications and build relationships with other creators, before asking anyone to recommend your publication.
Step 1) Subscribe to other publications
Step 2) Recommend other publications
Recommend publications that you’re subscribed to if you like them. Be sure to choose some that would also appeal to your ideal reader.
You can also consult Substack’s ‘Suggested’ list on your recommendations dashboard for ideas.
Publication dashboard > (scroll down to) Creator Tools: Recommendations
When you make a recommendation, always add a blurb saying why you are recommending. Not many writers do this, so it will help you to stand out from the crowd.
Step 3) Build relationships with other Substack writers
Interact with other writers by commenting on their posts, replying to their notes, getting involved in chats and re-stacking their posts. Avoid platitudes like “This is interesting”. Instead, write comments that add value or share your unique perspective.
Step 4) Ask for recommendations
This can feel scary. For how to do this, read on.
Step 5) Review and adjust
Set a calendar reminder to review your recommendations dashboard every few months. You can rotate recommendations on your Welcome page, return favors to other writers who are sending you a lot of new subscribers, and write new ‘blurbs’ for new favorite writers.
How to view and manage recommendations
Access and manage incoming and outgoing recommendations from the Recommendations section of your publication dashboard.
Publication dashboard > (scroll down to) Creator Tools: Recommendations
Here you will find stats, lists of recommendations and a button to manage recommendation blurbs for your Welcome page.
Outgoing recommendations
To make a new recommendation, find the button ‘Add recommendation’ at ‘Outgoing recommendations’.
To edit or retract a recommendation you’ve made, find the relevant publication and click the three dot menu to its right, then choose ‘Edit’ or ‘Remove’.
Publication owners are notified by email when you recommend them. If they subscribe to your publication, they will be notified immediately. If they are not a subscriber they are only notified if or when they get new subscribers from your recommendation.
Incoming recommendations
A list of publications that recommend yours appears on the main Recommendations page. You can recommend the publication back, but you cannot remove a recommendation mad by anyone else.
Recommendation blurbs (about you)
To see blurbs written by others about your publication, click ‘Manage’ in Recommendation Settings at the bottom of the Recommendations dashboard to access the Welcome page blurbs page.
From the same page (‘Welcome page blurbs’, accessed by clicking ‘Manage’) you can also choose which blurbs appear on your welcome page.
Publication dashboard > (scroll down to) Creator Tools: Recommendations > (scroll down to) Settings > Manage recommendation blurbs > Manage [button]
How to ask for recommendations
You should have at least ten published posts and have been publishing regularly for at least a few months before you ask for recommendations. It’s hard for someone to recommend your work if your publication is very new.
Make sure the other writer already 'knows' you, as discussed above. Check that they have subscribed to your publication and (ideally) also commented on your posts or notes.
Write to them saying "Hey, I love what you do and recommend your publication to my readers. If you like my publication and have a moment to write a one sentence recommendation, I would be really grateful”, or something like that. Keep it brief.
You could also include an instruction about where to write the recommendation, since not everyone will know this (Publication dashboard > Creator Tools: Recommendations > Outgoing recommendations > Add recommendation [Button])
If they don't respond, move on.
How to put recommendations on your Welcome page
If you receive a recommendation with a blurb, make sure to add it to your Welcome page - this doesn’t happen automatically.
Substack says “During testing, we found welcome pages with blurbs were more likely to elicit new subscribers than ones without.”
To see whether you have received any blurbs and choose which to add to your Welcome page, navigate to the ‘Welcome page blurbs’ page from recommendation settings.
Publication dashboard > (scroll down to) Creator Tools: Recommendations > (scroll down to) Settings > Manage recommendation blurbs > Manage [button]
Best practices for Substack recommendations
Recommend at least five publications. Be genuine, only recommend publications that you actually enjoy and that you think your readers would like too.
Take the time to write one or two sentences about each publication you recommend. Most creators don’t bother writing a ‘blurb’, but it is incredibly valuable to the publication you are recommending (even if you are ‘a nobody’). Don’t overthink it, just say why you like the publication or explain how it has helped you.
If you have received recommendations from other creators but they have not written a blurb, consider reaching out to them to ask if they would mind doing that for you. A blurb can be shown on your Welcome page, whereas a recommendation without a blurb won’t show up there.
Be genuine and authentic when engaging with other creators so you can build trust and real relationships.
That’s it for this week. Have fun with your writing and let me know how you go.
Karen
P.S. Thank you very, very much to everyone who has recommended my publication; as of January 2026, I’ve received almost 3,000 subscriptions from recommendations and they account for more than 30% of new subscribers!
P.P.S. If you found this helpful, please share it to Notes (Click the icon that looks like a bit like this 🔄 at the bottom or top of this page).
This is indeed a distinguishing feature of Substack. However, I think it sometimes contributes to low conversion rates for subscription upgrades. A lot of us who already write on Substack and who subscribe to WAY more newsletters than we could ever pay for find it easy to click "subscribe" when a colleague recommends another newsletter. And this gives a sense of progress when we see the free subscriber count going steadily up. But my paying subscriber count has plateaued for months, despite many attempts to change my model or offer different kinds of value-added content. I hear people with 5x and 10x the free subscribers that I have saying the same. So I'm wondering if we're reaching a kind of saturation point in some quarters or genres?
I was thinking about this the other day -- when I used to write for lit mags, I had a very clear sense of my audience. Typically editors at other journals were a lot like my creative writing mentors, they had a certain sensibility, read many of the same craft books. I knew how to craft an essay in a way that they would find compelling. But I know so little about my Substack readers. Sometimes they reply my Welcome email and explain why they subscribed. But that still doesn't tell me what they'd be willing to pay for. And so I think I'm winning at attracting readers who like my sensibility, just as I was in the lit mag game, but the conversion puzzle is a different thing altogether.
Anyway, a long-winded way of suggesting a question to tackle in a future post!
Thank you for this, Karen! You have answered so many of the questions I had about this feature. I’m a newbie here on Substack so still have the training wheels on. I appreciate all you do to help us writers gain the most we can from this community. ✨🫶