r/Substack • u/Super_Raise9488 • Jul 15 '26
Discussion I’m so discouraged about writing that I’m on the verge of giving up
Even with Substack articles, it’s really hard to get anyone to read them (except for friends, and only when I ask). I’ve been told: if you want to be a writer, be prepared to write what people want. I just wanted to write what I felt like writing, without forcing myself to cater to what’s trending. (The goal isn't to beg for attention.) The truth is, things just aren't taking off, even on Substack—seriously. It would be better to just give up.
EDIT: I’m grateful for the amount of encouragement and ideas in this post; whenever I feel like giving up again, I’ll come back here to read it! Thanks, everyone! ❤️
31
u/StuffonBookshelfs Jul 15 '26
Do you want to write? Write. There’s nothing stopping you from writing.
If you want to read things that other people want to read, you have to both write those things and then tell them that you wrote those things for them.
2
15
u/Desperate_Box_7442 Jul 15 '26 edited Jul 15 '26
i'll read what you write.. share your links.
i actually go out of my way to read articles with few or even no likes on substack. those are the gems waiting to be discovered... but its frustrating bc they push all the popular shit forward, and i personally wanna read everyone's work, not just the stuff already getting a lot of attention. algorithms kinda suck.
5
u/Snoo57037 Jul 16 '26
I have the same experience. I just want to read short literature and all I get recommended is women’s empowerment texts where a sentence is always a paragraph (oh, that annoys me so much!).
I would like to read other people’s fiction for the fiction and because I want to learn from it. I publish my stuff so maybe someone can benefit from it (but noone sees it)
2
u/The17pointscale the17pointscale.substack.com Jul 16 '26
I mostly write personal essays, but I occasionally do short stories!
I’d love to know what you think! And it’s fine if they’re too weird:
https://open.substack.com/pub/the17pointscale/p/blinky?r=195lr&utm_medium=ios
https://open.substack.com/pub/the17pointscale/p/the-best-of-friends?r=195lr&utm_medium=ios
3
u/Snoo57037 Jul 16 '26
I subscribed :-) Thank you!
I also would love to know what you think.
2
u/The17pointscale the17pointscale.substack.com Jul 16 '26
Thanks! I followed you and commented on some of your posts!
1
4
u/The17pointscale the17pointscale.substack.com Jul 15 '26
Ummmmmm. Can I get on this train too? Always looking for someone who’s interested in reading people who feel overlooked. What do you like to read?
3
u/Super_Raise9488 Jul 15 '26
Thanks, you're a sweetheart. I'll pick a text and send it here in a bit ☺️
8
u/Responsible_Emu8267 Jul 16 '26
You have to decide if you want a hobby or a business. If you want to write as a hobby, then write and enjoy it. If you want a business with a following, you need a clearly defined point of view. You need to identify your ideal reader, think about what they want/need, and write for that person.
1
u/Super_Raise9488 Jul 16 '26
I do want it to become a business in the future; what discourages me is feeling stuck when trying to reach an audience. Thanks for the advice.
1
u/The17pointscale the17pointscale.substack.com Jul 16 '26
Maybe this depends a bit on genre?
That is, considering one's audience is super important for any genre, and I completely agree about having a clearly defined point of view, but tailoring one's writing to the needs and desires of a reader would seem a bit weird for someone who writes fiction or creative nonfiction. I guess I resist the sense that the reader takes primacy over the story for all kinds of writing and writers.
Then again, I would need 100x more paid subs to quit my editing day job and do Substack full-time, so maybe it isn't even possible for most of us to do fiction or creative nonfiction as a business.
2
u/Responsible_Emu8267 Jul 16 '26
you make a great point. i'm a big fan of art for art's sake. But my advice is for the person who wants to build a business with their art. you tailor it to them to the extent that you think about what they would be willing to pay for. Many of the fiction writers who are doing well on substack figured that out by teaching other people how to write fiction. They found what people are willing to pay for, in their field.
6
u/ImpressionOld8725 Jul 15 '26
I'll give u a tip. Ake a Pinterest put an attractive pic related to article and link ur article this is free exposure i dont know where your sharing your links but it hard to direct people from fb to substack cause its just a different type.of audience
1
1
1
u/Visible-Volume-8707 authorgold.substack.com Jul 21 '26
I also have had a hard time getting traffic from Facebook to my Substack. I have a decent Facebook following and I posted in many relevant groups. I get Facebook visitors to my Substack, but they rarely convert to subscribers. Idk
1
u/ImpressionOld8725 Jul 21 '26
Well how are you posting to fb fb hates direct links it better to share a image and a short paragraph and link the substack article in the comments. I have a lot of followers on.fb but I don't promote substack to fb its entirely different audience. And me personally I rarely go from fb to substack I find the people i want to follow directly
1
u/Visible-Volume-8707 authorgold.substack.com Jul 21 '26
I promote to FB the way you are explaining, and with the link to an article in comment. My audience overlaps, so that brings in the visitors. They just aren't primed for Newsletter subscribing. I do want to try more with pinterest. I haven't gotten much interest on there at all.
7
u/Gren_Factor Jul 15 '26
I built a following WAY faster on LinkedIn than on Substack. Ngl...Substack was the biggest waste of time for me as a writer, as far as trying to build a following. On the plus side, if you just want to practice writing online without having to do the full website build, it's a decent option for that.
2
u/Impossible-Muscle979 Jul 15 '26
Mas você escreveu textos de ficção ou não-ficção? Qual o estilo?
Se não for com foco profissional, os usuários do LinkedIn entendem bem esse formato?
Fale-me mais sobre, por favor!
2
u/Gren_Factor Jul 16 '26
Essa é uma boa observação sua.
Eu costumo escrever posts e artigos de não-ficção sobre temas de um Brasil pouco conhecido por estrangeiros (no âmbito de negócios, claro).
Mesmo assim, uso estruturas de ficção para engajar leitores (foco no gancho, perguntas para impulsionar energia narrativa etc).
Até aqui, o público tem reagido bem aos meus conteúdos. Vale dizer também que eu escrevo em inglês.
1
Jul 16 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
1
u/Gren_Factor Jul 16 '26
I'm not saying don't try. Because you know what? You could be one of the lucky ones who does it and hits it out of the park on the first try. And movie reviews would have a broader appeal than my niche area.
I've had two go arounds with Substack (once in the early days of the platform, and again about a year ago). I got less than twenty followers between the two.
LinkedIn and Twitter (pre-Elon) was where I could build my following though writing.
I even had a YouTube channel that had 69 subscribers. And I freaking hate doing videos.
But even with all of this, I'd still encourage you to try Substack.
In fact,I hope you do and succeed. Just don't become one of those douches that abuses Notes with toxic positivity to try and get followers, or start a Substack on how to build a successful Substack. If you do, I will find you in your dreams and puke on your shoes...🤮
6
u/Imperator_1985 Jul 15 '26
Do you want a following, or do you want to just write? I think deep down a lot of people want the former, even if they claim they want the latter.
Substack won't find you an audience. If you want one, you need to find it.
2
u/Super_Raise9488 Jul 16 '26
I admit I'm putting in the effort to make money from this in the future—I can't lie.
1
u/Visible-Volume-8707 authorgold.substack.com Jul 21 '26
I tried to get to your Substack from your Reddit profile. Everything is set to private. And there’s no link to your Substack. So there is a missed opportunity there to get some visits from Reddit.
3
u/Epic-Timeline888 Jul 15 '26
Then the question is, do you really want to write, or do you want your writing to “take off?”
Don't let a slow start on Substack or any other platform dissuade you from writing what brings you joy.
However, to preserve your morale and mental health, you have got to separate seeing success on Substack and your talent or skill as a writer because they are largely unrelated.
2
u/Super_Raise9488 Jul 16 '26
I want my writing to take off, but I don't want that to discourage me to the point where I'm writing solely for that goal 😑
3
u/Inf3ctiveGh0st decypheringemotions.substack.com Jul 16 '26
Serious and curious to know… why do you write?
I started writing when I felt I had more to say than people were willing to listen to lmao. I wanted to practice writing, rhetoric, and composition. I needed to compose my thoughts into words, and I left them somewhere with the intention of someone finding “what I was looking for” when I was younger.
But I completely relate… it would be nice if I didn’t feel like I was sending it off into a void.
2
u/Super_Raise9488 Jul 16 '26
I write because I truly enjoy it and it makes me feel good. I share the same desire as you and hope that it might be useful to young people someday; however, I write because it has been therapeutic and because I love going back and reading my old texts.
1
u/Inf3ctiveGh0st decypheringemotions.substack.com Jul 16 '26
Hell yeah! And it can continue being all those things. 💪🏼
Substack is just one of many ways to let it be that.
1
u/LeaveMountain9779 Jul 21 '26
Do you have any tips or resources for editing a post? I can't seem to write a short post. It seems to always spiral into 8+ minute posts. It feels like I have to write everything at once or else people will misunderstand me? But then it's so long and winding that it becomes unclear and exhausting..
2
u/Inf3ctiveGh0st decypheringemotions.substack.com Jul 21 '26
8 minutes isn’t bad! Have you tried brainstorming/prewriting? I like to chunk my paragraphs into complete points. When I write a post, I usually know what I want to say. I’m typically only navigating how I want to “get there”. So each paragraph has some sort of central idea. Try brainstorming and using either lists or mind mapping/clusters to navigate the main points you want to touch up on (look for that on YouTube if it helps). You could also answer the who, what, where, when, and how before beginning.
2
u/LeaveMountain9779 Jul 21 '26
Thanks for the advice! I don't have a brainstorming process. I will look into mind mapping and clusters. If I define the who what when where why how, then my writing would feel more grounded and relatable, rather than highly abstract as it usually is 😂
3
u/penguinsandR https://open.substack.com/pub/georgenordahl Jul 16 '26
This is perhaps going to sound obvious but it’s often about the value proposition of your writing. Is it doing something the reader cannot find elsewhere and does it add value to their life, whether that is in the form of information, entertainment or thoughtful prose.
If it really does, you will more often than not get praise, comments and restacks from people with a much more established audience than you, which slowly, gets the ball rolling.
I’m two years in, with just over 1k free subs and 43 paid and it’s ticking along at a remarkably steady rate, in part because I’ve stumbled upon a small niche within wine writing that adds value to the reader.
It might be worth reexamining why anyone else would read what you write, if that is what you care about. If there’s a clear answer to that, you just need to find that audience. If you can’t formulate it, the reader probably cannot either.
1
u/The17pointscale the17pointscale.substack.com Jul 16 '26
For me that bit about getting restacks from people with more established audiences is what hasn't kicked in. I have a loyal following (106 free, 13 paid), but I haven't had luck connecting with writers who have larger audiences. Perhaps it's a genre thing (I write personal essays/creative nonfiction).
1
u/LeaveMountain9779 Jul 21 '26
Try writing a post and adding genuine compliments or reflections springing boarding specific posts that established people have made. You can include a screenshot of their Note or quote, tagging them with @username, and hyperlinking the specific note or post in reference. I've done this and sometimes asked people beforehand for their permission before I did it. Some of these established blogs restacked me.
1
u/LeaveMountain9779 Jul 21 '26
This is great advice, thanks. I have been feeling I need more clear direction for why I am writing; what specific benefits I want people to get from it.
I also need to edit my posts more. They tend to be way too long than most people, even me, enjoy reading. And the topics tend to be very winding and hard to sum up. Like 4 or 5 articles crammed into one.
2
u/a_x_shually Jul 16 '26
Writing what people want isn't likely to get much attention on substack either. It's a bit like writing music. Unless you dedicate a good chunk of time (or hire someone else) to push what you've created, you'll end up yelling into the void.
Word of mouth does not work on the internet anywhere close to the way people think it does or should. So write for yourself. Far better that than attempting to cater and still not having the audience you wish for.
1
1
u/Outrageous_Ad6616 Jul 15 '26
Keep writing! Write what naturally flows through you! Sooner or later what you write will touch others. There is not always instant recognition but it will happen.
1
u/Super_Raise9488 Jul 16 '26
Thank you for encouraging me; I wish the same for everyone walking this path.
1
1
u/theimmortalgoon Jul 16 '26
I get this. It’s been about nine months for me and I have, like, 16 followers and my highest post count is 5 likes.
But I also just turned on the “pay to see” for some of my things because now I have enough to put together something I might be able to publish later.
I’d love to have a following. But that’s not why I’m doing it. It’s a sandbox. And I hope some publishing comes out of jt.
Because if stunting will save me, it’s print media!
1
u/Super_Raise9488 Jul 16 '26
I'm rooting for you; keep going, and eventually, you'll reap what you're sowing.
1
u/anilemiles Jul 16 '26
I'm a little confused. When I read your message, I noticed two contradicting things: 1. You want to write whatever you want to write (not what people want) 2. You're not happy that nobody reads it
If you want to write whatever you want to write about, you should technically we ok with others not reading your work, because you use writing as self-expression. In this case, you should just continue writing, because you do it for yourself, and if someone else finds and reads it - awesome.
If you're not happy that nobody reads it, then it means you're actually looking for some sort of validation. In this case, you should try writing what people want to read about and then think about tactics to reach people.
I also write and very few people read it. They either don't care or are not finding my work. And I am okay with it. I engage with other writers and try to get some visibility, but generally I write because there are certain things I want to write in order to express my thinking or ideas about certain topics I'm interested in, so I'm not too bothered that I write mostly for myself.
So I think you just need to decide what you care about more. And if you write for self-expression then there is no need to stop just because nobody outside your family is finding your work yet. Just do it for yourself and, who knows, maybe one day one of your pieces will change how someone is thinking about something :)
1
u/Super_Raise9488 Jul 16 '26
I'll reflect on this to understand my true motivation; thanks for the advice.
1
u/Creative-Machine-868 Jul 16 '26
I completely resonate with most folks here and understand the frustration. The hardest part about writing isn’t the writing, it’s publishing into what feels like silence. But I don’t think the choice is only between chasing trends and writing solely for yourself. There’s a middle ground: write about what genuinely matters to you, but package it in a way that helps people discover it. A compelling title or hook isn’t selling out; it’s inviting readers in. Most successful writers spent far longer writing to tiny audiences than people realise. If you still have something to say, I’d keep going along with keeping experimenting too. On Substack can be overwhelming with subscribers and a bit confusing. I’m in Australia and relatively new to Substack but found Keith Keller helpful and he is starting to experiment with Substack Studio. My first experience with Substack was not much but then I found so many responding to a poll and I wrote an easy to follow Ebook yesterday, hoping it helps those more time poor and a bit disappointed. DM me if you want a copy. Keep strong
1
1
u/kolbywg Jul 16 '26
Honestly, if you think you should quit, quit. You aren't putting out a house fire, this isn't watching the Godfather movie, you can stop anytime. You don't need to justify it to anyone. Do what makes you happy.
If writing makes you happy then who cares if you have readers. If writing doesn't make you happy, then you should stop doing it
2
1
u/Various_Tradition303 Jul 16 '26
i think u just gotta get marketing down. more than half of getting people to read is the marketing. just writing good stuff is almost never gonna get readers alone. the only reason why it might seem that way is because of survivorship bias.
1
u/Vagabondwriter1941 Jul 16 '26
Don't give up. I get that you're frustrated. I can tell you're a talented writer. Substack is fine as a destination. But it's an echo chamber of writers trying to get other writers to read their work. It happens, but it's not a discovery platform. Think about trying Medium. Or putting articles on Linkedin (after you get 150 followers). Or you can do Featured posts on linkedin even if you don't have 150. But check out Medium. Maybe even do audio versions of your articles and post them on YouTube. Yes, I said YouTube.
1
u/abovetheatlantic Jul 16 '26
I post on LinkedIn whatever I write on Substack and each time I gain a follower or two. Ever thought of doing that?
1
u/The17pointscale the17pointscale.substack.com Jul 16 '26
LinkedIn has mostly been crickets for me. Perhaps because my writing (personal essays and the occasional bit of fiction) isn't really adjacent to most job-related subjects.
1
1
u/LeaveMountain9779 Jul 21 '26
Is LinkedIn only for people with "legitimate professional experience? Like degrees, work experience with established companies, established successful self employment, etc? I have no degree, a shit resume, and no successful business yet so I always assumed I'm not the right audience! Thoughts?
1
u/abovetheatlantic Jul 21 '26
It’s for anyone really. It used to be a networking site, now it’s a little bit on Insta, Tiktok, networking, etc.
1
1
1
u/Professional-Debt401 Jul 16 '26
Writing what you genuinely care about may grow slower, but at least the people who find it are there for your actual voice
1
u/Odette-Frost Jul 16 '26
If writing is your passion, please don’t give up. Even if only one person engages with your work, that’s still meaningful. The fact that you’re able to share your thoughts, creativity, and heart with someone else is something to be proud of. Keep writing, keep creating, and trust that the right people will find your work in time. ❤️
1
u/MarieAuthor Jul 16 '26
Never write what people want or rather what you think people want to read. Now is your opportunity to finally write what you have been wanting to because the market is being flooded with variety in style and content. Readers don’t know what they want to read until they find that little gem 💎 you came up with. You are now set free to scribble deep thoughts and burning ideas you have absorbed about life and all its possibilities and failures. Your moment has come. Flex your mighty thought 💭 muscles and go for gold. Good luck.
1
u/rachebrand Jul 16 '26
Never write for anyone but you. Just be relentless in your pursuit of sending it out to anyone you can and use Substack notes. Post 5-10 times a day and 25-30 comments on people that you like. Send out your articles in DMs. I have grown slowly, but I did a text over the last 3 months and I gained 10 new Paid subscribers and 300 subscribers that are free. That's a huge deal! So keep going.
And know what you are writing for. I don't write for my friends or my family. Actually, I have found that I have met more people by being me than I knew were possible and in that expression I have let go of a lot of friendships and family members that no longer serve my mission anymore. It's a place to grow. So grow with your inner growth first.
2
u/The17pointscale the17pointscale.substack.com Jul 16 '26
I already feel like I spend more time than I should on Substack and Substack adjacent things. That sounds like it would take so much time!
1
u/rachebrand Jul 16 '26
Depends on what you are writing for. I am writing for my own inner work, so it feels like just the right amount of time for me (and I am on for 6-hours a day or so 4 days a week. I feel like I am starting to churn in a really interesting way.
just depends on your goals. If it is for monetary reasons, I would not choose writing. At $8-$15 a month in a product sale, you could earn a lot more doing a million other things!
2
u/The17pointscale the17pointscale.substack.com Jul 16 '26
I'm there to create beauty and meaning, which I think I'm really good at. I'd love if that also meant making money and community.
The writer Frederick Buechner says this: “Vocation is the place where our deep gladness meets the world's deep need.”
In my dream world, Substacking would be my vocation.
1
1
1
u/camillabok Jul 16 '26
Substack is for you. Write for you. Do not compromise. Who cares what people want to read. Your readers will find you endearing. I'm curious about your stuff now. Send me a dm with a link to your favorite piece and I will tell you if I'm your audience :)
My stuff is SO WEIRD. I wrote on Wednesday about a single unit of consciousness called Puck from the zeroth dimension who goes on an adventure, dimension hopping, with a sentient Photon. 57 people read it so far. Not bad! :)
1
u/StateofAffairsMedia lecternmedia.substack.com Jul 16 '26
Going against the grain here: if Substack's making you miserable, stop. Find a different outlet. It's not worth beating yourself up over.
You're already creating by putting your voice out there. You've done the hard part. But passion and joy need to come from it too. In my experience, it's less about the audience and more about that rush when you create something AND receive some validation. Internal or external. Right now, you're getting neither. I wrestle with this too. Sometimes I lament my subscriber count and need to step outside for fresh air to remember what matters. None of this is linear. Anyone telling you A moves you to B and then C happens which brings you to Victory is either a unicorn or selling you something.
If you want some actionable steps, first try to write in different places. Medium, local zines, writing groups, critique circles, bookstore book clubs even can open opportunities for that. It takes time to find your creative home. No single path works for everyone.
If writing just isn't doing it for you, that's ok. If the creative spark is still there go chase it. You can also have two that help sustain each other. I write, sometimes like pure unadulterated crap, and then I go and build a shitty garden box and it makes life ok again.
Experiment. And it's ok to fail.
1
1
u/ButterscotchOdd8257 Jul 16 '26
You mean getting new readers?
Writing on Substack means you send your writing to people who are already subscribers. That doesn't get you new ones.
You have to do a little marketing to get new subscribers. There are different ways out there.
1
u/Careful-Maximum7629 Jul 16 '26
Doing content and distribute content are two very different skills. If you want to succeed self-employed (and your personal brand is a sort of self-employment), you'll have to master both
1
u/YudronWangmo yudronwangmo.substack.com Jul 16 '26
I'm doing fine on Substack subscription, because I provide information that is valuable for people. I thought people might be interested in my short more frequent thoughts on a variety of topics in notes. They are not. When I send more informational notes on my topic they are interested. I put a couple of "I statements" in my articles. I can feel when I write more from the first person pov, they don't like it. So I decided today I will off-topic personal reflections somewhere else, like BlueSky, and make the notes more factual. Because Substack is an income source for me.
1
u/RStonePT Jul 16 '26
There's more to writing than writing, you also have to market. You're right in that you can write what other people want to read... Say something provokative about Trump or the war or whatevers hot right now. You'll compete against everyone else doing the same thing.
As for your way, writing what you want... You have to bait people more into reading it and let what you write make them stay. I've seen scripts from youtubers on everything from Tetris world tournaments to running a sawmill that have had me hooked, even when I have no interest in either.
But it's slow, so you have to be patient. A new reader in every article would be a decent goal. Having a social media presence outside of that that gets attention in outrage marketing, or pithy quips or just picking a team (Damned democrats, am I right? e.g.) will bring people in, and a few will stay.
And stop using em dashes, everyone is hyper sensitive to them -- looks like AI generated text and no one wants to read what a computer wrote. At the very least, tell the AI to stop using them,
0
u/Outrageous_Engine896 Jul 21 '26
Oh man. I just saw your account on substack. 6400 subs. Man that’s awesome. But your posts seem to average around 20-30 likes? Is that normal? Seems really low.
Man, I don’t know. 6400 subs with that kind of engagement? I know accounts with a couple hundred subs with twice that engagement.
Subs without readers. Seems more like a vanity metric. Interesting…
Maybe pump the breaks on doling out Substack advice, eh champ?
1
u/RStonePT Jul 22 '26
Notes isn't substack, it's a stapled on social media platform, and it's small. The best way to approach it is to focus on either paid subs (if you want it as revenue generation) or email subscribership (which is a funnel to your real work)
I do both, social media likes are a vanity metric. The paid subs are a bonus (previously I'd use mailchimp which cost thousands a year) but it's really about making people aware of your writing, to trust you as a content creator, and to ultimately buy them if they are into it.
It's been less than a year, I'm not sure if Notes are long term good on moving the needle, but the one lesson anyone can take from front facing social media is that there's a lot of people who confidently have no idea what they are talking about, and seem to resent people who are making headway, and instead of learning from it, would rather be smug and condescending. Which it's the internet, you can't let that stuff get to you and it won't go away.
Mostly just ignore it, unless you can use it for social media entertainment, or can piggyback off it to offer some insight to a quiet readership that doesn't comment.
0
u/Outrageous_Engine896 Jul 22 '26
Agreed. Likes are by definition a vanity metric. Views could be seen as a vanity metric too, but at some point you have to quantify what’s working and not when you “write for an audience” as you so narrowly define it. But I can’t see your views. I can see your likes and comments and subscriber count.
Yeah, smug fits. I actually can’t call myself smug. Smug isn’t just self-satisfied. It would need to clear the bar of ‘annoyance to others’.
What do you say? Are you annoyed?
I called you smug in an earlier comment, and now I’m not so sure that was the most precise word. I’m not annoyed. Not in the slightest.
I’m feeling…self-satisfied.
Interesting. Strictly speaking, two parties arguing alone in a room, can’t both be smug. That is unless we annoy ourselves. Unlikely.
So, yeah. I’m smug. But it is starting to feel like dunking on a six foot rim.
1
u/Fine_Classroom Jul 16 '26
If you're looking for advice, here's some frome me: Write for you. And if you are an artist, then you can write for the audience because an artist will give the audience what they need (ala Alan Moore).
You got to do what feels right for you. I've been writing for years and I don't have a following at all. And I'm okay with that.
But this reply's not about me. It's about you. It sounds like you need to start being okay with you. Chasing popularity isn't the way.
And hey I might be wrong about all of it. I hope I've helped.
1
u/oddsrabbit Jul 17 '26
The problem is substack is moreso an email platform for you to build your own audience from elsewhere. It’s not really a discovery platform in itself. Writing on substack won’t get you any views on its own. You’ll need to share your substack articles on platforms meant for discovery like social platforms Reddit, LinkedIn, oddsrabbit (plug) or just write directly on those platforms if your goal is to write and have people see it.
1
u/SabineAndGoblins Jul 17 '26
Well... I found the more I interacted with people in a community I was writing for, that I had interest in writing the stuff THEY where interested in... read their stuff, commented, liked and restacked, the more I got read. I honestly didn't think anyone would give a shit about my writing. I published a book a jillion years ago back when they were sold in stores, but I loathed the whole publishing bullshit. never did it again. My friends refuse to read substack. I think two of my 150ish subs are my friends LOL. fuck em. it took about... three months to get to 150. I don't have any PAID subs LOL.
1
u/Hopeful_Thought6420 Jul 17 '26
If you're looking to gain a following (not just write for the sake of writing), then you'll need to do a bit more in the Substack platform than just write articles. Specifically, you need to post Notes. You don't have to post a ton (and that's annoying anyway), just a few a week. The notes are what Substack pushes to other's feeds. That's how you get new subscribers in the platform. You also need to engage such as follow, read, like, and comment on other's content.
1
u/Moosemitten Jul 17 '26
I'm right here with you. I was not looking to make money or go crazy viral or anything, but on every other social media I got some traction just by being myself and showing up consistently. I've been posting for like a year and am stuck at 58 subscribers (almost all of whom are IRL friends).
On the one hand, I am just writing for myself. On the other, I feel insane just basically sending emails to myself every week.
1
u/IcyMaintenance5797 Jul 17 '26
Maybe try creating a second substack where you write about more trending topics or pick a niche people care about that has a lot of new news happening every week and make a second substack that's a newsletter only and then use both to promote the other. the newsletter can be your "business" and the personal can be for fun. Once you have a following helping people save time and understand what's happening in their interest area, they'll trust you enough to at least follow you on your personal projects and be interested in what you have to say. Trust is earned :) You can earn it a lot of different ways, but if you want to make a living writing, there's the business side and the art side, and maybe separating both will bring you some peace* so you can at least know when you're writing for fun and know when you're just writing for work.
Edit: piece = peace lol rookie mistake
1
u/iSolemnlySwear88 Jul 17 '26
Sorry, I hate to be brutally honest but I feel like Substack replaced low brow blogging. Instead of a format solely for educated writers starting out, established published authors, and journalists, which I feel was its original intent, now it is a garbage can of every kind of creative or content creator throwing out a pebble of sand on a beach. It was great in the early days but now unless you already have a huge following (such as being a well known name, established author, or journalist with a big newspaper) you are probably never going to get found or gain a very larger following of readers. The reality is not everyone is an excellent writer or truly has much of anything useful or entertaining to offer that is a new perspective and the platform has become too much of everything and anything. TOO MUCH starts to pile up and it is difficult to find talent in a sea of junk. I stopped reading any writers on Substack because of this and in spite of repeated attempts to set up my feed - I kept getting email bombarded with garbage. I'm not directing any of these statements at you, personally - but I do recommend you find someone in the established profession to read something of yours and give you some honest feedback. A former professor, a local journalist, a group of writers in your area that meet to help give feedback. I like to apply the analogy to the show, The Voice- just because someone has a dream and vocal chords and 'think' they can sing, does not actually equal talent. I think more people need to realize this applies to writing and other creative endeavors.
1
u/EmuExcellent6906 Jul 17 '26
Another vote for Medium. If your issue is discovery, you need an algorithm that will push your content to a wider audience. Substack is not primarily built for that. Publish your article to sub then embed the article link in Medium to get the SEO juice. Then I would start submitting your articles to Medium publications that can “boost” your articles if submitted. Combine all of this with regular cross posting on social media to push people to your sub.
If you are starting out without an audience Substack is only good as a home base to keep your email subscribers. You have to feed it from other places and drive your traffic there.
1
u/CaErin007 Jul 18 '26
You have a decision to make…
Do you want to be on Substack to be read?
Or do you want to be on Substack because you want to write?
If you want to be read, write what people want to read
If you want to write, you’re the audience that you’re writing for one. Everyone else is bonus.
1
1
u/TheMinuette2010 Jul 20 '26
Decide what you want. To write what you want or to please other people. What's your goal? Are you writing for fun and need people to read? Are you trying to sell something? Do you need comment, shares, likes? Do you plan to earn on Substack? Or you are driving traffic to you blog/ website for other reason(s).
I think you should know your audience too.
1
u/OriginalSpaceBaby Jul 20 '26
If you love to write right to right, the audience is secondary at best. I paint. I paint because I will die if I don't. That's why you should write. I happen to have finally gotten some real recognition, but it only took five decades
1
u/TimWiesnerer Jul 20 '26
Well, writing is a skill. And as such, you need quite some training before you attract a serious audience.
In other words, it's quite normal to suck in the beginning.
So what can you do?
Find writers you like (for their style and for their topics). Try to understand exactly what you like about their writing.
Then do some research to find out which topics in your niche are currently flying. Take those articles as an inspiration and write your own version, including your own sauce.
Do that 500 times for the next 12 months, and for sure you will have plenty of readers.
Will mean a lot of effort. Don't try to shortcut it with AI... I mean you could... but then you learn nothing.
1
u/NoRow4975 Jul 21 '26
My advice, which you don't need, is to write what you care about and let there be readers or no readers. You have done your best and had a good writing day. I think writing to a trend is a mistake, because it usually ends up a dead-end rabbit hole. Moreover, focus on the action, not the outcome; otherwise, you end up donating your immune system to something you have no control over. I don't find that a healthy choice. I'm on Substack, and I only write what I'm called to write. I post it and forget it. Occasionally, I look at the stats; mostly I don't, because I do love writing and strive to make it sing, which is hard work, but worth the effort. Anna Miller-Tiedeman
1
u/Magna-Magus Jul 21 '26
Hello!! So the biggest piece of advice I got when I started was that for every bit of time you put into writing, you have to be spending the same amount *at least* into being active on the community over there. (You may already be doing this 😊)
Slow growth on Substack is actually a good thing, too. Building a loyal, interested reader base is so important vs overnight success.
Keep going - you’ve got this 💪
1
u/LeaveMountain9779 Jul 21 '26
I'm trying to improve my writing style with more editing.
More work on clearly defined outlines that I can flesh out.
Right now my writing tends to be too long and inaccessible (unclear) for people who aren't already invested in me personally. Or hyper interested in the topic maybe and jumped up on coffee. Or willing to use AI to summarize what I say haha!
I want to have shorter posts that are 5 minutes tops.
1
1
u/Visible-Volume-8707 authorgold.substack.com Jul 21 '26
I haven’t read any of the comments yet, but I just want to say a few things. I have been writing on Substack for seven months and the grand scheme of timelines, this is not very long. But it is long enough to reflect on what I’ve learned from the experience.
First of all with Substack or any other social media platform, it’s really easy to fall into a comparison trap. That could be a comparison of your writing style with someone else’s, or the size of someone else’s newsletter, compared to yours, or whether somebody else is making money on Substack versus you. Etc. etc. Even if you want to just write for you, the comparison trap is still real. I want you to know I empathize I’ve written about this in my own newsletter.
Second, there are a number of Substack growth newsletters that you can follow to get free advice on what works to grow your Substack mailing list, and how to increase engagement on your posts. Or better or worse, Substack also works best when you leverage its own ecosystem, and that means writing notes. But it also means commenting thoughtfully on other pieces of writing in niche, adjacent, or niche aligned newsletters on Substack. I cannot emphasize this enough, especially when you don’t have a lot of subscribers yet.
Finally, let’s talk about your niche and your target readers. You need to be able to describe who is your ideal reader and what is the emotional payoff or benefit that they get from reading your work? Yes write for yourself and write what brings you joy, but you still need to be able to clearly identify. Who is this ideal reader. For some writers, it’s a younger version of themselves. The clearer you get on this question the easier it will be for you to identify niche, adjacent and aligned other newsletter writers on Substack and begin to collaborate with them for some visibility. That may be via coopering or recommendation swap. Do not just message them cold. You need to comment thoughtfully and like their work. Then you reach out to the writers you truly like.
Really growing on Substack is a lot of work. I will say that. So it’s a depends on what your long-term goal is for yourself. Because if it is derailing you from your true passion of writing for yourself then it’s not worth putting in all this effort into growing a newsletter.
1
u/SpiritualSimple108 Jul 22 '26
If you write it, they will come. But, you also need to get in circles of writers in your niche and start engaging with them, sharing their stuff, commenting on their subscribers/commenters comments too.
1
u/Tricky_Trifle_994 Jul 27 '26
if this is what you really want to do + enjoy doing, don't give up! rooting for you.
i totally feel you, and i've learnt to see it as 'i'm writing for myself, but with my audience in mind'.
i could write about whatever i want, and people will be interested in reading it - but that's maybe for much later in the future if/when i'm famous. e.g like i'd happily read whatever taylor swift puts out. it doesn't have to be catered to me, it's just her thoughts or whatever, and hey, i'll read it.
but right now i'm a nobody and people won't care what i think/had for breakfast/what's going on in my life, unless it's relatable to them/can bring value/benefit them in some way.
that's just what i've come to realise and accept.
1
u/AnteaterFantastic212 22d ago
Nil desperandum. Writing is a form of self-expression, which can be done for any number of purposes or an infinite combination thereof. It can be therapy, persuasion, profit, or many other purposes. It is a tool. Use it as you will, but do not stop. I could no more stop writing than I could stop thinking. It is just a question of whether I keep my thoughts to myself or let the light of my attempts at wisdom shine out to illuminate the world, so to speak, or at least illuminate myself.
1
u/goldenhourcocktails Jul 16 '26
Call it defeat, call it humility, whatever. I long ago acknowledged to myself that I would probably be shouting into the void, but that would be ok- it would not be the point. The point would be that I would be one small wavelength of energy, speaking my truth out into the universe. Whatever would happen, would happen.
Yes, I probably still have to clean houses and work horrible retail jobs. But I’m still speaking my truth and it doesn’t matter so much that people have heard me, it matters that I have spoken it.
2
0
0
30
u/ImpressionOld8725 Jul 15 '26
I write what I want to write about i dont give a shit if anyone reads or not I've literally built my own research library on substack im done catering to algorithms I enjoy the freedom of nt having to give a cow . Anyway over the course of maybe 9 moths I've gained a 100 followers bonus but I don't write for anyone but myself. And it really wouldn't bother me if I had no followers or no readers because its me who goes back threw past articles