How to Use Substack Notes to Get More Subscribers
A tutorial
Hey there, creator!
This week’s post was inspired by Abbey of What I’d Rather be Talking About (check it out here) and by this week’s Substack Office Hours where a lot of writers were asking about using Notes for growth.
Gotta be honest, I am by no means a Notes power user. But I have listened carefully to other creators who use Notes regularly, and who have grown their publications with Notes. It is their wisdom I share today.
In this post I describe the ‘nuts and bolts’ of using Notes, plus the best ways to use Notes for growth and connection (learned from writers who do it better than me!)
I’ll cover:
How to use Substack Notes
Who sees your notes? Whose notes do you see?
How to connect with other readers and writers using Notes
How to get more subscribers using Notes
Let’s dive in.
What is Substack Notes
Substack Notes is a social media platform which lives inside the larger Substack environment. It looks a bit like the platform formerly known as Twitter: a feed of posts with replies and ‘likes’. On Notes, users can post new content, images, links from other websites and links to Substack-published content (called “Re-stacks”).
Notes can be created by readers and writers - anyone with a Substack account - and seen online by anyone who has a link.
🍒 What is the difference between Notes, Chats and (Substack) Threads? Read this post to find out 🍒
How to Use Substack Notes
Accessing Notes
On desktop, access Notes by clicking your profile picture, then choosing ‘Notes’ from the list that appears.
On the Substack app, tap on the Home tab to access Notes.
How to create a note
To create a note of your own (‘post’), open Notes, and simply type into the space next to your profile pic, marked ‘What’s on your mind’.
In the app, tap on the ‘+’.
When you are ready to publish your note, click ‘Post’.
What is restacking?
Restacking is sharing an ordinary Substack post to Notes, where it appears as a clickable image and headline. To restack a post find the restack icon, which resembles two arrows forming a circle. When you click the icon, you are able to share that post on Notes. You can share the post as it is, or add your own thoughts (‘Restack with a note’).
How to interact with other people’s notes
To engage with other users, scroll through the Notes feed (list of notes), find a note that you want to interact with, then click one of the four icons at the bottom of the note. You can:
Like the note
Reply, which is adding a comment to the note
Re-stack the note, which will share the note to your network
Share the note to X or Facebook or save it as an image for sharing to Instagram.
What to do in Notes
In Notes you can
Scroll the feed of notes created by people in your network;
Discover new writers and find interesting publications to read;
Write short-form posts, like micro-blogging;
Share quotes from Substack posts - your work and others’;
Post links to Substack posts (= ‘re-stack’) - yours and others’;
Share content from other parts of the internet by pasting links;
Tag (‘mention’) other Substack users;
Like and reply to notes.
To mention another user, type @ and start typing their name in your note. You can mention anyone who has a Substack profile.
To share a quote to Notes, simply highlight a section of text from a Substack post, then click ‘Restack quote’ in the box that appears.
Visibility: Who sees your notes? Whose notes do you see?
Your notes are seen by:
your subscribers in their home feed (app) and Notes view (desktop). Your subscribers also see notes you have replied to, and liked.
You see notes from:
writers you subscribe to;
readers and writers you follow;
writers and readers whose notes have been interacted with by readers and writers you follow or subscribe to.
Update Nov 2024: These days, there also seems to be an algorithm that will serve you notes from creators it thinks you might want to follow.
Following versus subscribing
On Notes, you can ‘Follow’ or ‘Subscribe’ to other users.
A ‘follow’ allows you to see the activity of the other user; their notes and their interactions on Notes. You can follow Substack readers and writers - anyone with a Substack account.
When you subscribe, you are signing up to receive emails. You can only subscribe to users who have a Substack publication.
Followers are attached to people. Subscribers are attached to publications.
To follow a Substack user, click the three-dot menu on one of their Notes. Or click the ‘person with +’ icon on their profile.
How to find your notes
If you want to see your notes, click on your own profile picture on the desktop or the app. Then click your picture a second time to see your own bio. Underneath your bio are tabs titled ‘Posts’, ‘Notes’, ‘Likes’ and ‘Reads’.
How to find others’ notes
To see all notes posted by another user, access their profile information by clicking their profile picture and find the Notes tab underneath their bio/description.
How to Use Notes to Grow Your Publication
If you’re a new writer and you have tried using Notes to promote your work you may have been disappointed with the results. You might feel like no one is seeing your notes. Which is probably true!
Remember, only your subscribers and followers see the notes you create. So, if you only have a few subscribers, you won’t get many, if any views when you post on Notes.
So does that mean Notes is a waste of time for new writers? Not at all. You just have to know how to use it.
Does Notes work for getting new subscribers?
This is a common question among new Substackers: does Notes actually work for growing a publication?
The answer is yes.
Mike Sowden of
says “Yep, it does work - but it's also a really great way to just show up for other writers whose work you really like and want to support in some way.”Terry Freedman of
says “definitely, Liz. As Woody Allen once said, 80% of success is showing up.”Amy Brown of
says “I am very new to Substack (less than three weeks) but I have found genuine engagement with other writers' posts through comments and restacking on Notes is indeed causing a little trickle of new subscribers”
The best way to use Notes for new writers
Instead of using Notes to post links to your own work, use Notes to interact with other readers and writers. This means replying to other people’s notes. Your replies are seen by everyone in the original poster’s network; their subscribers and followers and their subscribers’ subscribers too. That’s a lot of potential eyes on your reply!
Interactions on other people’s notes will get you, and your work, seen by many more people than posting your own notes. This is a great way to let new readers find you and your publication.
It’s an even better way to make genuine connections with other writers.
Mike Sowden, from
says:“If you want to befriend really awesome writers on here, and everything that can lead to (collaborations, mentions etc.), do it in the very best way possible: by being a genuine fan, the kind who really listens and really wants to add to that conversation going on in that newsletter and in the comments. Be the superfan that is always welcome when they show up.”
Once you have more subscribers of your own, you can also restack the work of other writers, and tag (mention) them when you do.
The trick to doing this without feeling ‘fake’ or icky is to make a genuine effort to seek out writers who you admire, and only restack or quote their work if you truly love it.
Notes strategies for every stage
I created a set of Notes strategies, as recommended by experienced Substack writers and popular Notes users, for each stage of your Substack journey: starting out; 100 subscribers; 1000 subscribers and 1000 + subscribers.
But this post got too long to include the strategies here, so I published them in a free downloadable on Gumroad. You can get it today by clicking below.
Golden Rules for Notes
If you’re new to Notes, or feeling a bit rusty about social media, follow these 7 rules to make your experience fun and rewarding.
Before using Notes, check your Substack user profile (click on your picture while logged in). Make sure it has a picture and that your personal description (bio) is not blank.
No boring comments! This isn’t LinkedIn, you’re a writer, not an accountant. If the only comment (‘reply’) you can think of is “That’s interesting, thank you for sharing”, then don’t say anything.
Add your own thoughts or perspective when you restack a post to Notes. Remember, you are trying to let people get to know who you are, and sharing your opinion or insights helps with that.
If your Notes feed is repetitive or boring, subscribe to more publications or follow more Substack creators. This will increase the variety of notes you see.
Follow new people regularly, and ‘prune’ away people whose notes don’t resonate.
Observe which notes perform well and use these observations when crafting your own notes.
Notes is supposed to be a fun place to interact with other people. If you don’t enjoy your time there, quit. It’s perfectly possible to have a successful Substack publication without using Notes.
More Notes Questions (answered)
Can you post a private note, like a DM? No, you can’t, notes are public and can be seen by anyone with a link.
Can you block or mute people on Notes? Yes, you can mute and block other Substack users so that you don’t see their notes or their replies to yours. To do this, click on the three dots on one of the user’s notes and choose Mute or Block. Muting another user stops them from being able to see your notes and your Substack profile.
Can you turn off notifications for Notes? You can choose which notifications you will receive by navigating to your Substack personal account settings and choosing Notifications. App push notifications can be controlled in the Notification settings.
Can you edit a note after posting it? Yes, you can edit notes from desktop but not the app: simply click on the three-dot menu on your note to access the ‘edit’ option.
Can you delete a note? Yes, you can delete your own notes from desktop of the iPhone version of the app (not the Android Substack app): simply click on the three-dot menu on your note to access the ‘delete’ options. You can also delete all of your notes from your Substack personal account’s settings page (Advanced Settings).
Do you get access to your follower’s email addresses? No, you can’t see your followers email addresses, and you can’t take your follower list with you if you leave Substack.
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So that’s Notes, everyone! It’s a great place to meet other creators and get your work in front of new readers. I’ll see you there.
Karen
P.S. Did you get your Notes strategies 3-pager yet? Here’s the link again, in case you missed it: Substack Notes Strategies Blueprint by Karen Cherry
This post is SO generous for those who wanted or needed to know! I didn't know some of this stuff so THANK YOU!
I LOL'd a little at the "This is interesting, thank you for sharing." 😁😁 I haven't experienced that on Substack yet but Medium is notorious for those kind of comments.
Anyway, thanks again Karen. Off to download your thingy now 😊👏
Hi Karen, this has been the most useful info on using Notes that I have found so far. I will be rereading it weekly for a while yet. Respect, Maurice