15 Substack Bestsellers Share Their #1 Tip for New Publications
If you’re new to Substack, this article is for you.
👋 Hey, I’m Casandra. I share really good business ideas to help you start and grow a business. I also share what I’m learning about building a business on Substack.
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If you’re new to Substack, this article is for you. I asked fourteen Substack bestsellers to share their number one tip for new publishers, and I’m publishing their answers here.
Building an audience takes time, and knowing if you’re on the right track is hard. That’s why it’s so helpful to be able to learn from people who have already done it. A big part of the magic of Substack is the community (see tips 8–11) and having a platform to connect and learn from each other.
15 Tips For New Publishers (from Substack Bestsellers)
These tips are straight to the point and cover the entire journey from figuring out what to write to promoting and growing your Substack to making sure readers want to stick around.
To become a Substack bestseller, you need 100+ paying subscribers, so reaching that status represents a huge vote of confidence. I’m a big fan of all of the bestsellers quoted here and am so grateful they shared their tips with us. Their publications cover a wide range of topics, so be sure to check out any that interest you!
1. Make sure you know who your audience is.
“Really visualize who you are writing for. Don’t fall into a trap of writing for some fictional smart person you hope is out there. If you can’t clearly describe who would read your stuff, they probably don’t exist.”
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,2. Write what you want to read.
“Write the newsletter you would want to read—not the one you think will ‘perform.’
Stop obsessing over niches, algorithms, or trying to sound like everyone else. Readers can tell when you’re being authentic, and they’ll stick around for your voice—not some polished version of what you think they want. Oh, and one more thing: promote the hell out of it. Writing is half the job; the other half is making sure people actually see it.”
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,3. Play to your editorial strengths.
“If you are a how-to writer, stay within your expertise. If you are a story teller, write because it fuels you. In either case, readers will tell you if your work fuels them.”
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,4. Test topic ideas before you write about them.
“Use Linkedin or Substack notes to test topics and stories and only write about them in longer form in your newsletter when you get good engagement.”
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,5. Consistently do the work.
“My advice is simply to write and publish every day. In every company I've built, I've never had success with hacks or strategies. It's always been growth over the long run by consistently writing and publishing.”
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,6. Build your free audience first.
“Focus on building your free audience first. Pour your heart into your writing, share notes daily, and think about the paid strategy later.”
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,7. But don’t be afraid to turn on paid subscriptions.
“Set up and turn on your paid tier right from the start. Don't wait until you have a certain number of subscribers. Some people will want to support you financially off the back of your free content.”
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, and .8. Use the right ‘Call-to-Action’ at the right time.
What do you want your readers to do? Calls to action (CTAs) to grow on Substack are essential. It’s important not to overdo them or you risk disturbing reader flow or worse overwhelming your reader with ‘things to do’. Here are three tips:
A good place for a subscribe button is after the first paragraph to capture early interest.
At the end of every post, guide your readers on what to do next—whether it’s joining the comments, upgrading to paid, or sharing your work on Notes. You can’t assume they’ll take action without a nudge.
I also use evergreen CTAs in my email headers and footers, ensuring key messages (like my membership offer) appear in every email. That way, even if I don’t mention it in the post itself, readers still see the opportunity and it builds awareness over time.
Substack’s “Join the Chat” button is another great way to encourage engagement if you’re using your chat strategically for your publication. Why not get creative with custom buttons or design up graphics and embed a url. The possibilities are endless.
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,9. Get to know your readers and other writers.
“Build genuine relationships with both your readers and other writers. Understanding who your readers are will make it so much easier to create helpful content. And knowing other writers will be a door opener for so many collaboration opportunities that can help you grow your audience much faster!”
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,10. Turn your newsletter into a community.
“Remember that a newsletter is a people business first and a writing business second. Your readers and subscribers are not just looking for information. They are looking for proximity, connection, community. That requires thinking different and beyond and spending time nurturing those relationships. Find your own way to support others, collaborate and be more than just a newsletter. Creating a community takes longer but it pays off.”
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,11. Don’t just build a community; start a movement.
You’re not just starting a newsletter—you’re building a community around a topic you’re passionate about. People crave deeper connections, and you have the power to bring like-minded individuals together and even spark a movement. Substack’s multimedia features help you amplify your reach, from Chat to deepen engagement, LIVE video to connect in real-time, recommendations to grow together, audio and podcasts to strengthen your voice, and Notes to show up as your authentic, multi-passionate self. This isn't just your newsletter, you can start a movement. If you capitalize on the community features to build a community that truly matters to you and others, Substack will change your life.
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,12. Leverage Substack’s many growth features.
“Build a network of people and collaborations around your original ideas that compounds and scales over time that leverages fully Substack notes, chat, recommendations and guest posts. You can reduce your Subscription price to stimulate customer lifetime value, lower barriers to entry, and reduce churn. Have faith that Substack boost will do the cross-promotions that enable you to scale your business, Substack has mechanisms in place to support you along the way like being Featured. Plan to be building for years, not months. Write the highest quality content you can but don't neglect the network effects, platform dynamics and unique value proposition of Substack itself: that collaboration scales visibility. Your readers and other writers in your niche are part of your journey and need to be taken along with you. This approach has helped me grow since it taps into the Zeitgeist of new discovery and Substack's own traffic spikes.”
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,13. It’s never too early to start promoting your publication.
“Promote your Substack. Even if you have a small audience on other channels let them know what you are doing. It is much easier to start with a few people cheerleading you.”
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,14. Focus on your strongest distribution channels.
“Leverage your strongest distribution channel—for me, that’s LinkedIn, where I repurpose key insights to drive subscribers.”
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, ,15. Don’t forget about retention.
“Everyone focuses on getting more and more subscribers, but people often ignore what's really important: Retention. Getting subscribers is important too, but retention is what builds a thriving Substack. If people don’t stick with you, growth is just a vanity metric. Focus on delivering consistent, high-value content that makes readers excited to open every single email. Your goal should be to build a loyal audience that voluntarily spreads the word for you, making growth easier and more sustainable.”
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,My number one tip? Just start! If you’ve made it this far and haven’t started your publication yet, what are you waiting for? Now is a great time to start a Substack publication, and you’ve got a big community waiting to help you!
To endless possibilities,
Casandra
PS. If you found this useful, please tap the ❤️ below. It helps me out a lot!
what an amazing roll up. Thank you for including me here, Casandra
Cassandra - As a Substack newbie, I appreciate your top notch insights, as well as who to follow and keep up with, regarding how to build out your Substack community. Helps me with my own wellbeing equation!
Thank you! 🙏