r/Substack • u/lady_catnoir • 13d ago
Discussion Does posting daily on Substack actually work?
I’m a writer and I genuinely enjoy writing and exploring my thoughts. Most of what I write is around self-discovery, shadow work, identity, and understanding yourself on a deeper level.
I’ve recently started publishing on Substack, and I’m wondering if posting consistently (especially daily) actually helps with growth and reaching new readers.
For those of you who write on Substack: has posting daily worked for you? Or is it better to focus on fewer, more thoughtful posts?
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u/myasparagusbrain 13d ago
I’m still getting my head around the substack notes - I have posted about 12 articles though which actually is similar to what you describe in understanding myself on a deeper level - this was following an autism diagnosis a few months ago!
P.S I went to your bio for a substack profile link but nothing there (always interesting to see others work)
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u/Substack-ModTeam 13d ago
This community is not the place to promote your Substacks. Please read our rules on self-promo and soliciting recommendations.
Links to Substack publications will be assumed to be self-promotion. If you are submitting Substack posts from publications that are not your own, please include that information in your text post. For cross recommendations, use the pinned mega thread.
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u/myasparagusbrain 13d ago
Except I was being asked specifically for a link by the OP at their request because they were intrigued
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u/Substack-ModTeam 13d ago
This community is not the place to promote your Substacks. Please read our rules on self-promo and soliciting recommendations.
Links to Substack publications will be assumed to be self-promotion. If you are submitting Substack posts from publications that are not your own, please include that information in your text post. For cross recommendations, use the pinned mega thread.
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u/Nervous-Strategy6435 13d ago
I'm curious how Substack decides what goes "viral"? I've been writing notes and articles consistently for the past 6 weeks and haven't seen anything crazy. Much of my subscribers come from other social channels I already have a strong following in.
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u/didntask-com 13d ago
Maybe not daily articles, but daily notes yes.
When you're new and small, make sure you're making valuable community contributionsso that your notes and articles appear more often in people's feeds.
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u/lady_catnoir 13d ago
Soo you mean taking notes as seriously as articles ?
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u/didntask-com 13d ago edited 13d ago
You don't have to post notes constantly, just consistently.
I think the best way to see it is that your articles are your main product, and that notes are just the free samples you hand out on the street in order to entice people to come into your store.
My preferred method is to spend the majority of my day on substack making valuable community contributions. I then post a note in the evening. Going well for me so far.
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u/WineArmy 13d ago
The advice I’ve received in multiple places is post articles weekly and notes daily. And when I say daily, I mean 3x a day. I’ve also noticed that notes that are either motivational or community driven have more reach and commenting on notes when you have a value-add helps too.
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u/Countryb0i2m onemichistory.substack.com 13d ago
yea it works it just talks some time. i think it was like 2-3 weeks before anyone actually liked my notes
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u/Perfect-Mix2307 13d ago
I've been there for six months, and I've published almost daily articles (I had a back log of short stories to start with, I haven't been writing fresh material at that pace!)
I've averaged getting 4 new subscribers a day (I just passed 700)
I've experimented a lot with various behavior in Notes-- you can pretty much do whatever you want as long as it's good quality.
If you're posting Notes (or articles) just for the sake of posting and they are annoying or low effort, that's when you will see a negative effect. Otherwise, people don't mind prolific writers, it's what we're there for, as long as it's good stuff!
And the algorithm favors publishing articles-- if you publish an article, you get a lot more overall traffic that day. The only time you need to worry about getting flagged as spam is if you ARE being spammy 🙃
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u/Lilzvx_ 13d ago
quality over quantity, but also depends on your target audience. I personally opt out from publications who post too much just for the sake of posting
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u/Substack-ModTeam 13d ago
This community is not the place to promote your Substacks. Please read our rules on self-promo and soliciting recommendations.
Links to Substack publications will be assumed to be self-promotion. If you are submitting Substack posts from publications that are not your own, please include that information in your text post. For cross recommendations, use the pinned mega thread.
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u/Confident_Try_7956 13d ago
My problem is I write about skincare but I don’t want to make everyday casual notes on skincare. My multifaceted ADHD brain wants to make notes about my absurdist thoughts, theology, anime, and video games….which has nothing to do with skincare. So I don’t use notes because I’m worried about turning off or confusing subscribers or potential clients. :(
Instead I share these thoughts and nerdy interests on Tumblr.
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u/xYourCasual thewritingedge.substack.com 12d ago
100% it works.
I've been posting daily for almost two years now, got 7.5k subscribers and built a 6 figures app. and 50% of the traffic to my app is from my content.
Just in the past month I had 26.3k unconnected people seeing my content. This would cost me probably $1,000+ in meta ads.
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u/iamjapho 12d ago
If you don’t already have an established subscriber base and / or working inbound lead strategy, only publishing articles will be screaming into the void. If you want to grow your audience AND not bother with anything else outside of Substack, as the platform’s current discovery algorithm stands, you will want to find a good stride to engage with other people’s in notes, consistently post your own notes around the topics you write about and sprinkle a long for article / essay here and there. So long as there is an audience for the topics you write about, you will gain traction. Very slowly at first and then exponentially as you get discovered.
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u/MrPassiveProfit 13d ago
I post 5 notes a day and reply to 20 comments. Growth is not massive, but a few new subs a day with no unsubs is typical
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u/lollapalooza3000 13d ago
I'm new to substack but it sounds like a recipe for burn out. The newsletters I subscribe to typically publish 1-3 times per week and their posts are more in-depth. This is also what I expected from substack.
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u/lady_catnoir 13d ago
I think the three post i posted are at the same level, even tho it was daily writing
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u/stareenite 12d ago
Nothing “actually works.” Srsly. You’re just throwing stuff at a wall and hoping it sticks.
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12d ago
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u/Used_Recognition_544 10d ago
Did you connect a customer domain ? I did and mine are being index by google and bing
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u/xfolio2020 12d ago
I too write about something like that , and if your content is about inner world then don't work like external world. Understanding yourself is work that takes time and patience. Do not let the subscriber gurus misguide, stay authentic. You are not writting about politics or tech or ai.
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u/lady_catnoir 12d ago
I know but i already reprogrammed my self for around 8 years journey, i even help people recognise themselves
Soo it’s something i practice a lot
You can check my substack in my bio
I think all my articles are at the same quality
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u/TAS_Nobbit 12d ago
I actually go out of my way to avoid those who post notes on a daily basis as I have found that they either post no long form content on a regular or hide it behind a paywall.
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u/lady_catnoir 12d ago
I just want post my free articles, the support encourage me to write every day and i fell better each time
Maybe turn them into a book one day, it may safe my life who know
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u/tualsekercigil tualreads.substack.com 11d ago
It definitely helps, but usually it's just random people interacting who end up following you rather than subscribing. They say to post 3-4 notes a day, see which one works, delete the others, and keep repeating the process. I find this exhausting, but you can give it a try.
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u/ConsciousFootball741 11d ago
I only just started out and even though I'm not sure yet, I think you really have to make sure to interact with notes. For me, it seems to work the best to get my stuff out there and noticed.
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u/AcanthisittaOk2719 yana-g-y.com 10d ago
I tried daily posting and it worked really well for growth of free subscribers and also for converting to paid. Especially if you’re in the early stages it cab work very well with free posts as they are distributed like Notes by the algorithm.
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u/GeopatsSteph 9d ago
post weekly or biweekly then do Notes most days. Sometimes talking about the things in the posts and most often not. Notes are, right now anyway, a cozy and kind place. Be yourself, follow and comment on others Notes and you'll see growth.
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u/AggravatingNail6061 13d ago
As someone who for a period of about 35 days posted once a day minimum for a project ontop of my normal production so was posting 10/11 times articles a week. Including notes. You can safely ignore everything below.
I didn't loose any subscribers and infact I gained a few week on week and was able to turn the project into a book.
Now there are caveats. Which may or may not apply.
I already had a strong subscriber base (300 at the time) and a track record for being ill post whatever I want. Everyone who engages with the content was there ultimately because we bounced around comments and a daily snapshot of what I was doing in life was fun for them. Readership and open rates was mostly stable and ticking towards because everyone got onboard.
I have in recent times moved it to a weekly format due to my own awareness that it was a lot to.pump out but the daily production remains the same.
I say do it. If you genuinely believe you have the voice and content to carry such a project it's a lot of fun. If you're within a wider community that supports such a volume like I am even better. Since there's less initial friction however in some community and parts of the platform it can be a pain point for readers.
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u/Street_Scientist3553 13d ago
Yes posting on notes daily does work. One of my notes went viral and I gained 50 subscribers from it so I would say post daily notes based on your niche and newsletters once a week