I Asked 32 Writers for Their Best Substack Growth Advice

32 writers share the strategies, lessons, and small changes that helped them grow.

Over 2 months ago, I published this Note:

Inside, I also promised to turn it into a round-up post, and the time has finally come.

So here’s what 32 writers have to say about growing on Substack.

1. Gabby Gazdag

"In my experience, the only thing that really moves the needle is connecting with other people.

You can publish great posts or Notes, but if no one sees them, they won’t grow your reach.

Find creators in your niche, leave thoughtful comments on their posts, and reach out to collaborate so you can share audiences.

2. Yuvika Iyer

I’ve just discovered this simple routine that works for me..so i spend around 15 minutes engaging with other people’s Notes, then I post my own note…followed by another 15 minutes replying and staying in the conversation with others….it isn’t a big tip but it’s working for me…gives back to the substack community and feels human! 😊

3. Vinayak Ramesh

For me, Notes definitely helped with discovery. Like, a lot of people probably found me there first.

But guest posts, collaborations and just getting to know other writers properly worked much better for actual growth. And most of those didn’t even start with me thinking about growth.

Usually I’d just like someone’s work, leave a comment, maybe reply to a Note, then we’d end up chatting in DMs, sharing ideas, helping each other with something... and somehow it turned into a guest post, Live, podcast invite etc.

So I think that’s probably my biggest tip. Don’t go into every conversation thinking, “How can I turn this into a collaboration?” Just talk to people normally/genuinely.

Some of the best opportunities I got here came from people I actually became friends with first, and the collaboration part just happened later.

And one more thing, don’t open your first DM with “Hey, wanna collab?”....or “Hey, wanna recommend each other?”. That’s basically proposing on the first date.

So I guess my best tip would be: use Notes to get discovered, but build actual relationships if you want the growth to compound.

4. Dina-Marie

Hands down: restacks.

But I don’t think it’s just the act of clicking the button. It’s the mindset of leading from servicing and constantly sharing intentional (and random) acts of kindness, with most attachment. I spend around 15-30 minutes sharing brilliant work both of totally new people that I find here, and my own followers. I love learning through this, and it brings the most interesting and aligned people to my world.

5. Aisha | My Sacred Bridge

I spent some time finding a few creators who have Notes boosts chats. And every week, I consistently post my Notes and posts in those chat when the CTA goes out.

I always give a brief summary of what the Note or post is about and engage with at least 5 or more within that chat group. I’ve gotten quite a number of views and subscribers this way, and pretty consistently.

6. Magdalena Gereva, PhD

I think there are 3 factors:

1. Good preparation/strategy (incl. ready well planned materials for the main pillar or priority).

2. Clear personal brand - who are you; what is your mission; what is your competitive advantage in comparison with the writers with similar niche.

3. Right attitude - to radiate and SPEAR about your self-confidence, competence, desire to show personal attention and understanding (chats, Q&A, Notes+comments/or featured posts and interviews).

If we speak about growing our audience, this is a different question.
Shortly, I think here the most important is the engagement and communication with others in the network. Strong relationships occure when we are authentic, supportive and have a pragmatical and timely met need and reason to subscribe and pay for information. For this reason, we grow our audience if we communicate in the most appropriate and clear fashion our specific field/service/capacity/competence. Only then, the right subs will appear and share our content. Serious writers value their time - they need a shorter way to find what they are looking for...

Substack is not about emotions or “jump for joy” - it is about knowing: Who you are? and What you want to achieve? This is BUSINESS.

7. Quiet Atlas

✨Write something that people recognize themselves in.

✨Subscribers may come because of a topic, but they stay because they feel seen.

✨Growth follows resonance more often than optimization.

✨Treat every post as the beginning of a relationship, not a performance.

✨People return for trust.

🤍✨🌼

8. Book Club For Weirdos

Patience and consistency ✨️

I try to remind myself that beautiful, amazing things take time to grow, like a seed. Our ideas need to be watered and cared for gently. So much growth happens under the surface, our roots spread out in all directions before the first bit of green starts to sprout.

Consistency can be difficult when you’re first starting out. You don’t have your “flow” yet, you might not have all of your ideas organized, you’re still discovering your ecosystem! Sometimes you don’t even know where you want your destination to be, until you have written 5-10+ pieces of work.

I’ve learned that as long as I’m looking forward to what I’m writing next the consistency happens on its own! 😊

9. Danielle Wright

My best tip for growth: Stay true to yourself and celebrate other people! Build genuine relationships instead of treating every interaction like a growth strategy. Ironically, that genuine connection has been one of the biggest drivers of my own growth.

10. Vicki Portune Hughes

So far I feel like the thing that has helped me the most is in developing relationships with others on Substack, having meaningful dialog on their notes and posts, and genuinely contributing in meaningful ways. It has helped me curate a great recommended list of publications, opened up opportunities and collaborations, and widened my audience, adding followers and subscribers. I also think it’s been invaluable to do a few really high quality paid subscriptions to others who have successfully built from zero, because some paid Substacks have AMAZING benefits in their paid tiers have moved me forward much faster than I’d have done alone.

11. Daniele Sgarbini

Write x1 article per week on a specific date.

The more scarce you make your deep thoughts, the more people will take their time to read it.

Long forms readers are more likely to pay you vs every other demographic online.

So make it count.

12. Quiet Observations

Since everyone mentioned the basic ones, I will say that posting short form posts (essentially best bits from your article), sometimes with a link, so that the people curious about your note can read more

13. Dan Ackers

Write quality posts, at least once a week, and spend time having real conversations with the people in your feed. The notes are the main growth engine.

14. Sidney C. Solace

With me mostly notes, but not the stand alone notes on your own feed, but the comment notes. I look for experts writers, that write about topics in my field, like attachment, trauma, heartbreak etc and take the to time add a perspective under their essay in a friendly way.

I only do it if I really have to add something, and sometimes tell a bit about myself. Other people read it and can find me that way. I did it once with a neuroscience expert that is really populair, he wrote about limerence, which is of course the core of my work. It brought me 15 subscribers in 40 hours. That is exceptional, I realize 😉

15. Deferred Maintenance

I’ve been randomly postings a variety of random and/or unhinged notes of varying quality. Gives people a good idea of what they’re getting in to if they decide to check out my stack.

16. Teresa Trieb | sheBREATH

I make my readers feel seen.

I write about nervous system regulation and everything is based on real questions or cases from my work. I spend a lot of time observing my community and I noticed my best work rarely comes from brainstorming, but from noticing the same fear, misunderstanding or question appearing over and over again. When the audience realizes you truly listened, they become incredibly loyal.❤️

17. KunYuan｜RainbowCity🌈🔥

My best tip is to stop thinking of growth as only distribution.

On Substack, growth seems to come from becoming recognizable through repeated honesty.

Say what you actually care about.

Respond to people carefully.

Leave comments that add something real.

Let readers feel there is a consistent human being and a real field of thought behind the publication.

The fastest way to be ignored is to sound optimized.

The slower but stronger path is to become someone people want to return to.

18. Maurice

I noted a lull in Substack over the summer months, subscribers dropped and it seemed for no particular reason. I have committed to 1-2 posts a week and 3+ notes a day which I continue to do and now I am getting subscribers again.

I turned on paid subscribers on 23 Aug and now have 5 paid subscribers and 151 subscribers, I felt I turned the corner just by been consistent.

19. Ariella Bersan

My best tip is to get genuinely curious about what other people are saying here. Not just as a strategy to grow, but as an experience in itself.

Read, comment, ask questions, meet people through their ideas.

We all want to be seen, but sometimes we forget to look.

Substack—and life in general—has an interesting dynamic: the more genuinely curious and caring we are about other people, the stronger the connections we build.

And that kind of growth feels much more meaningful than just chasing numbers.

20. Mirela Vahdani

Writing about how other people’s posts impacted my work and teaming up with people.

The easiest model is co-writing.

21. Making Space for Grace

For me it has been exploring 🤍

With Instagram and other platforms, people seem to follow for the sake of following and then leave.

I am actually looking for people to connect with and would be helped by the book that I am writing. If I find something in their writing ✍🏻 here that speaks to me, then I reply and speak directly to what they are writing about and how it has touched me in that moment.

Most writers are readers at heart🤍 like myself. Happy we are finding each other here.

22. Lisa - Savour Change

It really is about the connections you form, the reciprocal nature of showing genuine kindness, commenting after actually reading someone else’s article, restacking where you really resonate with it. I’m still not as consistent as I’d like to be with Notes and posting articles, but I do notice a difference when I am here connecting more.

23. ARIYAH CODES

My biggest lesson has been to stop trying to “grow” and start trying to serve. Write articles that genuinely help people. Be present in the community. Respond to comments. Encourage other writers. Growth will come.

24. Tina C.

Just be yourself-your raw, unperfect, flawed, beautiful self. I’m learning that people really respond and engage when you’re open.

25. Sterling Pohlmann

All I have are basics like posting articles and notes consistently. And being clear in your profile and about page about what is in it for the reader, what they will get out of your publication.

The algorithm changes so much and so often any advice more technical will have the shelf life of a gallon of milk left all day in the summer sun.

26. Harvey Woodford

My best tip: show up consistently, comment like you actually read the thing, and let curiosity (not a growth chart) drive the conversation.

27. Rishabh Gupta

Be genuinely curious about others’ content in your domain. Authenticity compounds much better!

28. Phil Shorland

Early days, but just being nice to people seems to be going down well 😇

29. Ayodeji

Get other people to recommend you.

30. Amy | HerLegacyCode

Two things that actually moved the needle for me:

1. how up in other people’s comments before expecting them to show up in yours; subscribers came from conversations not content.

2. Get specific about who you’re writing for. The narrower I got, the faster the right people found me.

31. Peter Ashby Smith

Treat every article as a long-term asset, not a daily post.

Notes create discovery.

Articles create trust.

Trust compounds.

32. Famous

My approach is to publish high quality content, recommend other quality creators, and engage with posts that genuinely resonate with me.

---

What do you think?

Which one resonated with you the most?

Feel free to connect with the writers in this post. 🤍