Thank you, Kelly :) It is a well-timed article in my case. I'm introverted to the bone, I've come out of my shell to share my art and thoughts but interacting in the 'Notes' section is still foreign to me. I tend to post a note, and run away :)
I'm also an introvert so social media engagement never works all that well for me. I have to monitor how much energy I expend--so often I'm a post and run person too. But it does feel safer for introverts here at the moment than any other social platform.
This sounded so peaceful when I read, "A blank page to write. Hit publish and email out to subscribers. Easy-peasy." It brought me to a place I would like to live and plant a seed. Though Substack has changed since you started writing here, do you still find it a favorite place to write?
Thank you, Kelly! I, too, wish I had read an article this useful a year ago when I first attempted Substack!!! 🤪 I appreciate the realistic and encouraging tips and not selling the concept of a one-size-fits-all approach for success.
AND thanks for the shout-out (please don’t unfollow me 🙏🏻🤣)!!!! 🥰 I am honored and delighted to be amongst such an amazingly supportive and talented community of writers! [NOTE: I really wanted to say, "...excellent and admirable hobbits, I don't know half of you half as well as I should like..." but that would have really given away my inner geek quotient.]
I live in middle earth (also called New Zealand) so that quote is perfect. We celebrate our inner geek at my house. I think I wrote an article on it once?
Thank you! 😂 Also, please know my latest post was not a satirical piece in response to your informational pieces! There is a lot of "get subscribers fast" stuff out there, but your posts have actually been useful and I have learned a lot going through them. Thank you!
Thank you so much for this kindness. I went on the help section and couldn't find the answer to this. Is there anyway to write, edit, publish posts from your phone? I can start one but it will not scroll but so far and I have to stop, and I can't seem to edit from my phone either. I have a laptop and tablet I can use but using my phone is so much more convenient, first world problem, I know, but I had to ask.
Great question! I don't use the app on my phone as my phone is actually too old for it. Perhaps one of our fellow BYW friends can answer this one? Let's see if anyone else knows.
Technically, you CAN but I find it cumbersome. You can only post from the app. You have to write it and send it out on one sitting, which 😬. If you want to edit and such, you have to go to the substack website through your browser like safari or chrome, and then you can do it. I've done it before but I don't particularly find it a pleasant experience. Lol
Quite often I follow with a view to subscribe. If I enjoy their notes or I've come across a post (like this one) that sounded interesting and resonated with me.
This post is the perfect example really - look forward to seeing more!
Great question, Laura! I'm sure others are confused too. Think of it like a magazine. The publication is the magazine, the posts are the articles inside the magazine. So you might have a publication about "Music" and posts about "10 Ways Rock Music has Evolved" Does that make sense?
Thank you for sharing. I have definitely had some of these questions since starting my substack a couple of months ago, and my google searches did not answer them as effectively as you did. I also appreciate the help your post brings without trying to sell me a class on it. Everything about this post really resonated with me!
You can use Chat to talk with your subscribers more directly and they can reply to you. They're pretty similar to be honest, but I think chat probably works better with large groups of subscribers. More people can potentially see your notes, including people who aren't your subscribers yet.
Thank you Kelly! I'm brand new here and the analogy of the posts vs. notes gave me a perfect way to imagine (and utilize) them. BTW, I too am not a fan of the "I gained 50 Million subscribers in 3 months and now you can too" approach. It's like this generations version of a used car salesman.
Thank you, Kelly :) It is a well-timed article in my case. I'm introverted to the bone, I've come out of my shell to share my art and thoughts but interacting in the 'Notes' section is still foreign to me. I tend to post a note, and run away :)
I'm also an introvert so social media engagement never works all that well for me. I have to monitor how much energy I expend--so often I'm a post and run person too. But it does feel safer for introverts here at the moment than any other social platform.
Amén to that.
This sounded so peaceful when I read, "A blank page to write. Hit publish and email out to subscribers. Easy-peasy." It brought me to a place I would like to live and plant a seed. Though Substack has changed since you started writing here, do you still find it a favorite place to write?
At the moment, yes. I took a break from Substack for a while and it's been nice coming back and engaging regularly again.
This would have been really handy a year ago. But it's still helpful now. Thanks for this info.
Well it's really handy right now for sure. This platform is not intuitive.
Thank you, Kelly! I, too, wish I had read an article this useful a year ago when I first attempted Substack!!! 🤪 I appreciate the realistic and encouraging tips and not selling the concept of a one-size-fits-all approach for success.
AND thanks for the shout-out (please don’t unfollow me 🙏🏻🤣)!!!! 🥰 I am honored and delighted to be amongst such an amazingly supportive and talented community of writers! [NOTE: I really wanted to say, "...excellent and admirable hobbits, I don't know half of you half as well as I should like..." but that would have really given away my inner geek quotient.]
I live in middle earth (also called New Zealand) so that quote is perfect. We celebrate our inner geek at my house. I think I wrote an article on it once?
Please share that article!!!
It's a pretty old one. I'll have to hunt it out. Perhaps it's time for a rewrite!
And I definitely will not unfollow you, Rebecca! I pinky promise.
Thank you! 😂 Also, please know my latest post was not a satirical piece in response to your informational pieces! There is a lot of "get subscribers fast" stuff out there, but your posts have actually been useful and I have learned a lot going through them. Thank you!
https://open.substack.com/pub/crinean/p/three-tips-for-success-on-substack?r=3ela9t&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
No, I loved it! It was great.
Absolutely. It's always great to be appreciated.
Andrew! You're a technical writer! I'm very excited to find that out. We may have to chat...
That sounds great!
Thank you so much for this kindness. I went on the help section and couldn't find the answer to this. Is there anyway to write, edit, publish posts from your phone? I can start one but it will not scroll but so far and I have to stop, and I can't seem to edit from my phone either. I have a laptop and tablet I can use but using my phone is so much more convenient, first world problem, I know, but I had to ask.
Thank you again, blessings!
Kim
Great question! I don't use the app on my phone as my phone is actually too old for it. Perhaps one of our fellow BYW friends can answer this one? Let's see if anyone else knows.
Okay, so someone on Notes says: "You can’t do it on the app, but if you go to substack on your phones web browser, you can do it there!"
Thank you Kelly
Technically, you CAN but I find it cumbersome. You can only post from the app. You have to write it and send it out on one sitting, which 😬. If you want to edit and such, you have to go to the substack website through your browser like safari or chrome, and then you can do it. I've done it before but I don't particularly find it a pleasant experience. Lol
Thank you Kelley!
Well not really a first world problem. They say everything is going mobile so you'd think it's possible.
I have kind of a technical question. When your stats say a reader came from "direct" what does that mean? 🧐
Yes, great question! Stats would be a good one to cover. So Direct according to Substack is one of three things:
"When someone types in your URL directly into the browser and lands on your publication.
When someone who is using a web browser anonymously lands on your publication.
When someone accesses your publication via email."
Substack sends out those emails suggesting a selection of Substacks you may like and I assume that is where most of these come from.
Not sure but good question. Hopefully we can get to thr bottom of this soon.
Very helpful, thank you!
Quite often I follow with a view to subscribe. If I enjoy their notes or I've come across a post (like this one) that sounded interesting and resonated with me.
This post is the perfect example really - look forward to seeing more!
This a great! Except now I’m confused about one thing. Is there a difference between POST and PUBLICATION?
Great question, Laura! I'm sure others are confused too. Think of it like a magazine. The publication is the magazine, the posts are the articles inside the magazine. So you might have a publication about "Music" and posts about "10 Ways Rock Music has Evolved" Does that make sense?
It does make sense. So my Substack “account” is Laura.Kendallwriter and publication is My Prosthetic Life? And my posts are the newsletters for MPL?
Thank you for sharing. I have definitely had some of these questions since starting my substack a couple of months ago, and my google searches did not answer them as effectively as you did. I also appreciate the help your post brings without trying to sell me a class on it. Everything about this post really resonated with me!
I'm glad it was helpful, Susannah.
Excellent common sense advice. And you answered several questions I've been asking. Thank you!
Thank you Kelly, I wonder if you might explain when and why to use Chat versus Notes and what the difference between them is.
I currently post my Truth Of The Day image as a note.
You can use Chat to talk with your subscribers more directly and they can reply to you. They're pretty similar to be honest, but I think chat probably works better with large groups of subscribers. More people can potentially see your notes, including people who aren't your subscribers yet.
Ah, I see. Thank you, Kelly.
Very clear and helpful tips, thank you!
So helpful thank you!
Good hints and information about how to use notes and posts. 🙏
Thank you Kelly! I'm brand new here and the analogy of the posts vs. notes gave me a perfect way to imagine (and utilize) them. BTW, I too am not a fan of the "I gained 50 Million subscribers in 3 months and now you can too" approach. It's like this generations version of a used car salesman.