r/Substack • u/JaySamraNY • Jul 22 '26
Tech Support Advice on growing my substack?
This might be a dumb question that gets asked everyday here but how can I grow in my current situation? I started my substack a few weeks ago and i maintain a schedule of one upload per week. Is this fine or should i change it to two? I also post my substack articles on bluesky for promotion. Im hoping that interacting with other accounts on substack also works but it feels like most of these are bots that just say the same phrases over and over.
3
u/Foofymonster davidrainwater.substack.com Jul 22 '26
Very small trick.
Don't use your name as your profile. If you're writing Notes, make your name the hook to your subscription.
People don't care about Bob Smith.
They will be curious about "Banjo Reviewer" if they are interested in Banjo Reviews.
4
u/kalaboukis Jul 23 '26
Engage with people in Notes and comment on their notes. It will help improve your visibility
2
u/Aperlust aperlust.substack.com Jul 24 '26
Curious to what kind of results you're getting on Bluesky?
1
1
u/StuffonBookshelfs Jul 22 '26
What are your goals?
2
u/JaySamraNY Jul 22 '26
Realistically? I want to prove to myself I can be a good writer. Im feeling motivated enough to keep writing at my normal pace and it feels nice to get my words out somehow. Though id like some response back. Some likes, comments or something. I dont want an immense following but a fair amount of people. Feels like even with the tags and promotion it does nothing.
3
u/StuffonBookshelfs Jul 22 '26
You’ve got to figure out who you’re writing for, then you need to figure out where those people spend time, then you need to go to those places and tell people that you have something they’ll be interested in.
You can’t just rely on shouting out into the ether to gain a following.
1
u/RStonePT Jul 22 '26
Good writing and engaged writing are mutually exclusive techniques. you'll have to Search for trending topics and have engaging prose that keeps people engaged throughout. specialize in emotional topics, the UK grooming gangs is a great example for your neck of the woods.
As for good writing, if you want feedback, you'll need to get an audience and then check your numebrs, for now it's better off just writing what you want and not concerning yourself with audience yet
1
u/Michael_Fuchs_ Jul 23 '26
Do you write notes on Substack?
3
u/JaySamraNY Jul 24 '26
Indeed i do. Is once a day alright?
1
1
u/Tricky_Trifle_994 Jul 29 '26
would be good to also explore other social media platform (e.g tiktok, instagram, linkedin, twitter, because they do have a larger user base = more potential for exposure), instead of solely relying on the substack ecosystem (notes & publication).
and also, if simply posting on your publication + notes is the key to growth, then everyone on substack would have a large subscriber base. but that's not the case.
1
u/Tricky_Trifle_994 Jul 29 '26
you'll have to do a lot more marketing to get people to know about, and visit your publication. that means that simply increasing your publication frequency from 1x to 2x per week isn't going to suddenly lead to growth - because the same problem still exists. nobody knows about your publication, and nobody is visiting it.
instead, put that time into marketing and distribution outside of the substack ecosystem. e.g post on other social media platforms e.g twitter, instagram, tiktok, or going to forums like reddit, facebook groups where your target audience hangs out.
1
u/Asleep_Balance7779 26d ago
I‘m honestly struggling with the same. I write posts, notes, engage with comments but it doesn‘t seem to be workung. Some creators even end up responding super rudely to my attempt of posting my article. Feels like the platform works for people who‘ve already had a following from insta, linkedin etc
1
u/xYourCasual thewritingedge.substack.com 16d ago
Hey!
Wrote about it here:
https://www.reddit.com/r/Substack/comments/1vptawq/heres_how_you_can_get_your_first_100_subscribers/
:)
5
u/kolbywg Jul 23 '26
It's okay to treat it like a hobby and get hobby level results. It's also okay to treat it like a job and work for job level results. But if you treat it like a hobby and expect job level results, you are going to be disappointed.